Grand Gathering (2)

After the first day's matches ended, Victor and the other professors from Tris Magic Academy, who had been waiting and resting at the inn, were finally summoned by King Auston together with Dean Devis.

The three youths, who had finished the first day's matches with a perfect record, couldn't help but be in high spirits, celebrating a little at the tavern next to the inn.

When the tavern was at its busiest, the owner began loudly urging the patrons to place bets on the next day's matches.

Although the Imperial Arena could hold a hundred thousand spectators, the vast majority of Koennas City's millions of residents still had no chance to attend in person.

So, to make it easier for everyone to choose who to bet on, the tavern owner even made a show of pulling out a still-wet list of the tournament's Top Ten Experts, with the names of ten contestants who had the strength to contend for the title, along with their representative provinces, combat characteristics, and odds.

Among the three youths from Tris Province, Roger and Wesley's names also appeared prominently on the list.

Roger was ranked eighth, and his characteristics column read: Peak Squire, grand style, balanced offense and defense, no obvious weaknesses, stable performance.

Wesley's name appeared at the bottom of the list, his characteristics summarized as: Intermediate Magic Apprentice, Wind and Wood dual-element, cunning tactics, good at ambushes, a dark horse.

"Why am I ranked behind Roger?" Wesley glanced at the list and said disdainfully.

"Ranking doesn't matter; our odds are the same, both at one-to-four," Roger comforted him.

Donald withdrew his gaze from the list and smiled at Wesley. "That evaluation of you is pretty accurate. The person who wrote this list has some skill."

"Donald, first tell me clearly whether you're going to use that magic staff or not. If you plan to, I'll go ask what your odds are later and bet everything on you," Wesley said, as if he'd found a chance to make a killing.

"Right! I'll bet everything on you too," Roger chimed in.

"Forget it. I'm carrying it for self-defense. If too many people see it, I'll lose the element of surprise later," Donald replied calmly, taking a sip of fruit wine.

"Ah, what a waste of a friend. Rare chance to get rich, and you won't even help," Wesley pretended to be heartbroken.

"You're addicted to acting, aren't you? Honestly, I think poet doesn't suit you. With your talent, you'd have a brighter future as an actor," Donald teased Wesley, then turned to Roger and asked, "The top three on the list are all very strong. Have you seen them in previous years?"

"Last year's tournament champion, Pedro from Greenland Province, isn't on the list this year—he's probably over the age limit. Last year's second and third place are the top two on this list, Quisar and Mino. You should have seen them in today's matches; they've both just advanced to Formal Knight. As for third place, High-level Magic Apprentice Pas, I saw him for the first time today too. Given his strength, he shouldn't be unknown; he probably didn't sign up last year."

"Barring surprises, those two Formal Knights will probably take first and second. By the way, if you go up against Pas, do you think you can beat him?"

"No," Roger shook his head frankly.

"Shouldn't a Squire have an advantage over a Magic Apprentice?" Donald asked.

"That's a misunderstanding. On the field, Squires are almost always a higher level than Magic Apprentices. Look, every Knight Academy graduates a few Peak Squires, but if all the magic academies across the empire combined produce one or two High-level Magic Apprentices, that's already good. Magic talent is much rarer than knight talent," Roger explained carefully.

Listening to Roger, Donald silently assessed where his actual combat strength stood.

At this point, Donald's Divine Element for Earth, Wood, and Wind remained at one hundred and eighty, while his Water and Fire Divine Element had reached four hundred and eighty. Like Wesley, he was a dual-element Intermediate Magic Apprentice (the other three elements were below three hundred Divine Element). But compared to Wesley, Donald had absolutely pure and perfect Divine Element, so the same spell he cast was several times more powerful.

Calculating this way, Donald's combat strength should be significantly stronger than Wesley's. The reason he wasn't on the Top Ten Experts list was that his opponents today were too weak to force out his true strength.

However, Donald also had his weakness: his promotion time was too short, so he had mastered too few types of spells. For basic attack spells, he only knew six elements, and for basic defense spells, just the most fundamental twelve elements. His self-created Exploding Ice Bead, aside from being used in the magic rifle, had very few chances for practical use. The only Intermediate Magic Apprentice spell he had just learned, Blazing Meteor, he hadn't tried yet and didn't know its power.

Considering everything, Donald felt that if Pas had enough practical experience and a reasonable spell combination, the outcome against him would be hard to predict. As for the two Formal Knights, Quisar and Mino, without using the magic rifle, he should have no chance at all.

That is, if he had to rank himself on this list, Donald thought he would be around fourth or fifth.

Of course, if he used the magic rifle freely, that would be another story.

But unless absolutely necessary, he still preferred to keep a low profile, not using the magic gun lightly, and keeping it as a trump card for survival.

As for the tournament's top three being able to grant commoners noble status directly, Donald wasn't particularly concerned—as long as he meditated step by step every day, he could advance to Formal Magician within a year, and then seeking a noble status would likely be much simpler.

Dean Devis and Victor's group were indeed rewarded by King Auston for their fair judging, each receiving a promotion in rank.

During the audience, the king made no mention of the Tris Province Magic Academy's dismal results in recent years. Instead, he expressed satisfaction with the firm stance shown by the teachers and students of the empire's alma mater during the rebellion, and promised Dean Devis to increase the Magic Crystal Quota for Tris Magic Academy.

For magicians, who already held high status, a rank promotion meant little, far less important than increasing the academy's Magic Crystal Quota.

King Auston's sudden confidence in Magic Crystal allocation came because, after Donald successfully enrolled, he had received a guarantee from Natia Vida: starting next year, the empire's Magic Crystal Quota would increase by a full three percentage points. The extra amount allocated to Tris Magic Academy was nothing in comparison.

Late at night, half-asleep, Donald vaguely heard the professors returning to the inn. In his daze, he even caught sounds of laughter and chatter. He thought it was just a hallucination, turned over, and continued sleeping with his head buried.

The next day, the Martial Magic Tournament entered its crucial final day.

In the third round of draws, all three students from Tris Magic Academy had good luck, maintaining their perfect records and advancing together to the top sixteen.

Mino, ranked second on the expert list, defeated the ninth-ranked contestant, a rare Triple-element Magic Apprentice.

Pas, ranked third, used a high-level apprentice earth spell, Quicksand Trap, to trap the fourth-ranked Peak Squire, then completely subdued his opponent with dozens of high-level Stone Spikes.

Quisar, ranked first, faced an unranked contestant. Early in the match, he punched his opponent's helmet, and the Battle Qi-laden fist knocked the opponent unconscious even through the helmet.

In the fourth round, the eight matches of the top sixteen, the same province avoidance rule applied. Roger drew the sixth-ranked Squire, while Wesley and Donald were unlucky—the former drew Quisar, and the latter faced Pas.

Roger fought bitterly for twenty minutes before finally losing, stopping at the top sixteen.

Wesley made another surprising move. When he appeared on the field, loud laughter erupted from the stands. He had borrowed Roger's helmet and put it on his own head.

When the referee questioned him, he replied that as a handsome man, he had a duty to protect his face, especially since his opponent had a history of hitting faces.

The audience was once again doubled over with laughter. Attentive spectators naturally recalled that Quisar had indeed won several matches by striking his opponents' heads.

In the end, the referee had no choice but to allow Wesley to compete with the helmet on.

As soon as the match began, Wesley continuously used Thorn Spells to slow Quisar's charge, then unleashed a barrage of intermediate Wind Blades, Whirlwind Techniques, and other attack spells at Quisar.

When Quisar finally stumbled out of the dense thorns and was about to close in, Wesley suddenly announced his surrender.

Only then did the audience realize—he had never intended to fight Quisar head-on. He had planned all along to anger his opponent and then concede.

The stands erupted in boos. Quisar looked bewildered, but Wesley, still wearing his helmet, walked off the field with a calm expression.

Seeing both his companions eliminated, Donald, who had been relaxed until now, suddenly felt the pressure.

"Dean Devis, it looks like your academy will be wiped out again this time—not a single one making it to the top eight." The professor with the neatly trimmed beard spoke up once more.

Devis gave a faint smile and didn't respond. But Wesley, who had just forfeited and come off the field, couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Say, old lady, why are you so concerned about our academy?" He paused mid-sentence, then continued, this time in a muttering tone: "No wait, turns out it's an old man. Then why does he talk so effeminately and meddle in everything..."

"You!" The bearded professor pointed a finger at Wesley, his voice sharp.

"Me what? I once had a dog that couldn't guard its own door but kept running to other people's houses to cause trouble. That dog barked especially loud, too. It wasn't until we had it neutered that all its bad habits disappeared."

The bearded professor's face flushed red, but he dared not strike a student in front of the king and so many people. Besides, he knew that if it came to a real fight, he was no match for Devis.

Realizing he couldn't win a shouting match with a student, the bearded professor turned away and said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear: "Don't go easy in the next match. In the Martial Magic Tournament, even if someone dies by accident, it's fine."

The student nodded respectfully.

On the field, Mino won another round.

Donald stood up, ready to take the field. The student who had just been warned by the bearded professor also rose at the same time.

That's right—that man was Donald's opponent for this round: High-level magic apprentice, Pas.