Second World

Mage Section Match 1

Soaring Boar, level 45 Summoner (dwarf) Vs Selena, level 46 Elementalist (human)

*

The two magic users stood opposite each other. As Pallas yelled begin, the two started forming spell formations.

It was a matter of casting speed. Selena was evidently faster, she completed a three-rune spell before Soraing Boar and threw the spell where her opponent was standing.

Jack recognized the runes Soaring Boar was casting. It was Avatar Incarnation spell, which proved that Soaring Boar had passed Summoner's trial on the first try. Yet, his decision to cast this spell had been a mistake. This spell required five runes. Not to mention his casting speed was slower than Selena's. He only completed two runes when Selena completed hers.

The floor underneath Soaring Boar lighted up. Arcane Turbulence filled with fire elements shot up.

Soaring Boar had canceled his spell once he noticed the spell and tried to run away from the area of effect. However, his summoner class' movement speed was slow. He didn't manage to flee, so he changed his casting to another spell with one rune. Selena's Flame Turbulence consumed the space around him as he focused his mind to not get disrupted. His body was covered by Barrier.

Despite his Barrier protecting him from damage, he had been battered by Arcane Turbulence for a second. He was already inflicted with Disoriented status. His movement speed slowed, so he decided to just stand his ground and again cast the Avatar Incarnation spell.

Selena was surprised, she didn't expect her opponent to decide to tank through her spell just to complete his casting. Since it was so, she won't be courteous. She cast Elementalist level 35 spell, Ice Field. The spell covered the area around Soaring Boar, further slowing him.

Soaring Boar's barrier shattered due to the two spell's damage, but the time it provided had allowed him to complete his spell. An armored avatar appeared carrying a large two-handed hammer.

Selena was not flustered. She cast Fireball at Soaring Boar who was still inside her spell. Without his barrier, Soaring's HP was slowly going down from Flame Turbulence. He couldn't dodge the incoming fireball. He was already slow as a magic user, Selena's earlier two spells slowed him further. The fireball slammed onto his body, causing him to lose lots of HP.

He was still casting throughout the ordeals, his concentration was pretty solid. Seven metallic golems came out. It was not the normal dirt golem that Jack had seen before. These had bodies that looked much sturdier. Jack deduced the spell must have been altered using an evolved seed.

Selena's Arcane Turbulence ended at this time. Soaring Boar immediately turned around to run. He wanted to leave his summons to deal with Selena as he shot standard attacks from further away.

Yet, before the avatar and metal golems came to Selena, Selena had completed another spell. This spell had five runes. Selena could still calmly cast her spell despite seeing the avatar with the huge hammer running towards her.

<br/>Crackling energy shot out from her staff. It crashed onto the avatar, pushing it away while dealing damage before jumping to nearby metal golems that were approaching. It was Elementalist's level 40 spell, Chain Lightning. The lightning snake continued punching one golem after another, blasting them away. After frying its eighth target, it jumped to the ninth, which was Soaring Boar who was trying to run away. The lightning was too fast for his slow feet. It singed his back, before jumping back to the avatar.

Ten jumps? Jack was astonished. This meant Selena had max-leveled this Chain Lightning spell. Peniel had explained to him that Chain Lightning at its first level hit five targets. Each four level-up allowed the spell to hit an additional target. And here he thought that he was the only one with max-leveled elite skills in this tournament, he had seen two players with max-level elite skills already just from the first matches.

Soaring Boar's HP was already low before the Chain Lightning touched him. He was also suffering from the Burn effect, which caused him to lose HP periodically. Magic users were not known for their low HPs. Hence, when he was hit by the Chain Lightning, his HP was devoured already. He fell to the floor with a body that was still covered by burn and electric residues.

"Hm… Summoner is not a suitable class for dueling," Jack thought. He thought back to his duel with John. John would have a worse fate if he didn't grant him the time to call out all his summons.

After Pallas announced Selena as the winner, he said, "We have concluded the individual matches. We will now take a twenty-minute break before proceeding to the team match. You can enjoy the refreshments and snacks that we have prepared. For the Human and Elf teams, please make sure to return to this arena once the twenty minutes are up."

The void surrounding the theatre dissipated and the gardens surrounding it came into view again. Beside the theatre was a long table with drinks and fruits on it. The council must have set it up during the matches.

"Wow, your faction does know how to entertain their guests," Jack said to Paytowin. The two then walked over to the table with refreshments. Some came as well, but many simply sat, not moving away from their seats.

Jack saw many that remained seated had stern looks. It seemed that many had become nervous after the matches. Only one would win, many others would lose. No one wanted to lose. Their worry about losing might have started gnawing at them.

'Shouldn't I be the same?' Jack thought. Was he still relaxing because he was too confident of himself? Overconfidence was never a good thing. But he thought back to his past. He was not foreign to game competitions. He had learned to condition himself to relax under pressure, so he won't freeze up when action was needed. This kind of mentality was crucial in any kind of competition. Otherwise, you would have lost before you even began.

Jack took one of the drinks available. 'I am next, eh?' He looked over. His opponents were also looked relaxed enough to enjoy the refreshments.

Grace was there, surrounded by his male fans as usual. Those flies kept on trying to attract her attention but Jack could see that she just treated them as non-existence. Grace turned to where Jack and Paytowin were. She saw Paytowin and nodded at him with a smile.

Then her eyes and Jack's met. She turned away with a disgusted expression.

'What the… Shit! She still thinks me looking at her with lecherous thoughts!' Jack thought with lament.

"You should just tell her, you know. It is painful watching you two," Paytowin said while shaking his head.

"Nah, let it be this way. If she dislikes me without knowing who I am, then she dislikes me. This is the real me. I can't deceive her feeling by exploiting our past," Jack said.

"As I said, you are weird," Paytowin uttered. "But good luck," he said while lifting his fist towards Jack.

"Thanks," Jack said and bumped his fist with Paytowin's. It's their gesture to wish each other luck before a battle.

*

After twenty minutes, everyone returned to their seats. Except for the five Humans and five elves who walked into the arena. On the elf's side, aside from Jennifer and Grace, the rests were part of the men who continued to cling to Grace.

The surrounding was again covered with void and words projection appeared above.

*

Team Section Match 1: Elf Vs Human

Elf Team

Jennifer, level 46 Dragoon

Assured, level 46 Mage Knight

Wonderman, level 46 Technocraft

Unequaled Grace, level 46 Inquisitor

Bad Omen, level 45 Reaver

Vs

Human Team

Giant Steve, level 46 Sentinel

Storm Wind, level 43 Blade Dancer

Red Death, level 46 Assassin

Yellow Death, level 46 Gunner

Princess Purple, level 46 Priest

*

"Two healers?" Jack muttered.

"Those two classes do not focus mainly on healing compared to Priest and Druid. Maybe that's why they use two," Peniel said.

The elf team, after seeing the projection, also had a comment. One of the elven men in the team, Wonderman, said with a loud voice, "A level 43? Haha. Hey, Omen! Here I thought you will embarrass us for being a level 45."

"Well, now we know who to gang up on first," Assured said.

"Haha, you are right… Wait! I can't find this Storm Wind using my inspect."

"You stupid! You can inspect the other four, right? Then the remaining one should be Storm Wind! He must be carrying something that prevents Inspect."

"You are right. Hehe. You are dead, kid!" Wonderman pointed to Jack.

The others on Jack's team stared at Wonderman. They couldn't help but feel pity for the guy.

"All of you, do not do anything rash. He is not simple as you think. You all should listen to my orders before acting!" Jennifer uttered.

"Hmph, why should we? Although you are also pretty, we only listen to our goddess here," Wonderman said.

Jennifer was vexed. What did pretty have to do with listening to orders?

"Stick to the plan. We have agreed that she is the leader. Listen to her!" Grace uttered.

"Yes, my goddess."

"Of course."

"We listen to your will."

Somehow, Jennifer felt even more irritated now despite those men agreeing to listen to her.