Preparing for the Duel

Fran arrived at the Duel Arena ten minutes before the scheduled duel was to begin this afternoon, while her opponent Edmund had already entered.

Before Edmund went in, his group of friends, those who had nothing else to do, all came to wait at the duelist entrance.

"It's a pity that these Preliminaries are official matches, so they can't let us in to watch. Otherwise, we could at least see how top players fight."

Jasper's mage friend lamented that they could only wait here and could not go in to watch the fight; this was a rule that had been in place for a long time.

So when Fran arrived at the entrance, she saw seven mages gathered there, which puzzled her greatly.

When Jasper saw Fran walking towards him, his heart tightened, and he quickly turned his head to the side.

The monks gathered there did not react to Fran's actions, but let her go. Only after she left did they begin to discuss it.

"That female mage just now, do you think she was a match for Edmund?"

"The timing doesn't match up. She should be a competitor from another Duel Arena. She's gone there early to prepare. Who would arrive at the exact moment for Magic Duel?"

"That can't be right. I remember last time Edmund liked to come out and chat with us about twenty minutes before the duel. Why didn't he come out this time to tell us what his opponent looks like?"

"So I think Edmund's opponent hasn't arrived yet. I'm not sure about the other duels."

"Who cares about all that? We'll just see when Edmund comes out. If he's carried out just over ten minutes later, then they've definitely been crushed 3-0."

Jasper looked at the empty entrance and ultimately didn't say anything about how Fran had easily defeated him 3-0, but he just echoed her sentiments slightly at this moment.

He figured Edmund, having been reminded of his mistake, was prepared and shouldn't end up like him, being carried away after just over two minutes. He thought Edmund would at least last five minutes, right?

Fran entered the same numbered Duel Arena as her previous five duels. For some reason, she always had to duel in this Duel Arena, even though she had heard that the duel Duel Arena was randomized each time. How come this was her sixth duel and it was still the same number?

Fran took the Shield Device from the smiling staff member, who had been with her through six matches so far.

After Fran went inside and stood on that familiar little slope, the Greater Fireball in her hand was almost reflexively about to be fired.

Edmund stroked the Elemental Shield Spell Ring on his hand, which he had bought for 123 Gold Coin, and looked at Fran's appearance, a strange feeling welled up in his heart.

This was so different from the opponent he had imagined! He had originally thought that a mage who had won three consecutive victories would either have a gloomy expression, be covered in magical equipment, or be covered in scars.

How did such a fresh-faced young mage walk in? Her fair complexion looked like she hadn't even fought five Magic Duel yet, and her hair was still disheveled. What if she got in the way of things when a fight broke out?

Edmund's eyes flashed with doubt. This kind of mage was a typical newcomer. He felt that a mage with this appearance had nothing to do with Magic Duel.

Out of curiosity, and unlike Jasper, he didn't like to put pressure on newcomers; he actually preferred to chat with them before the duel began.

"Fellow mage, may I ask if the five 3-0 victories in your match record are all true?"

He waved and flashed a bright smile, radiating friendliness.

Fran found Edmund's actions somewhat strange. Before this, apart from the first duel, all the other mages had looked solemn when they encountered her, and no one wanted to speak.

However, since the duel hasn't started yet, Fran is still in the mood to chat with her opponent.

Yes, what's wrong?

Edmund's smile remained unchanged as he continued to ask:

"Can I ask you how you did it? You're so strong, if I hadn't been prepared, I might have really lost 3-0."

This kind of probing is common; many mages will simply curse him and say, "You'll see when the fight starts."

In some cases, like now, the other party will kindly point out the key to their battle strategy. This is a tactic that you might as well use, since there's no harm in doing so.

"Of course, my casting speed is faster," Fran said generously, without any worry.

Edmund's smile remained unchanged, but he was already starting to have doubts.

If he hadn't encountered Fran, he would have just thought she was fooling him, but before that, he had also heard Jasper say that this mage's casting speed was very fast.

This put him on guard, and he figured that since Jasper and the other party had said so, it must not be baseless.

However, he has not yet truly witnessed Fran's casting speed, nor does he know just how fast Fran's casting speed is.

However, judging from the mages he had seen who cast spells quickly, it should be about 0.2 seconds faster than a normal mage, which was the fastest speed Edmund could imagine.

At this speed, some mages with slow casting speeds might not be able to cast a shield at all.

In any case, the casting speed was so fast that a normal mage couldn't even cast a shield, which was quite a challenge to Edmund's understanding.

After that, both of them fell silent, no longer speaking, and waited for the final duel to begin.

The headlights suddenly blazed on, signaling the start of the duel. Edmund took a deep breath, clutching the Spell Ring on his right index finger, while his left hand began Channeling Spell.

What he was about to unleash was [Powerful Acid Stream], a powerful First Order Alchemy School spell.

This spell was an improvement on the apprentice-level spell [Acid Splash], and the one he had was the Battle Mage Corps's version.

Not only is the corrosiveness of the sprayed acid greatly increased, but its speed is also significantly improved.

As soon as he releases it, a deep green jet of energy will rush towards Fran in just 0.3 seconds, directly breaking through her Shield Device.

When he learned from Jasper that Fran would start with First Order spell, he had planned for this. If Fran did indeed play First Order spell, then he could say that he had won the first round in a sure thing.

However, Fran's casting speed exceeded expectations. Before he could even finish channeling [Powerful Acid Stream], the fireball exploded beside him, instantly triggering the shield ring on his hand and displaying [Elemental Shield] around him.

A bead of sweat trickled down Edmund's forehead. Without the Spell Ring he had purchased beforehand, he might have been instantly killed by the opponent's attack.

This isn't the outside world where mages can equip unlimited shield triggers. Here, every time a Shield Spell trigger is used, the number of spell scrolls that can be cast is reduced exponentially.

Fortunately, the Elemental Shield helped Edmund block the attack. Fran had already advanced to the second-tier Elemental School mage Order and gained the ability to control the Fire Element.

Edmund has absolutely no mechanism to enhance [Elemental Shield], and his Alchemy School Order offers no advantage in this regard.

So the shield that had just been raised, which could generally withstand at least three or four elemental spells, was now dim and lifeless, and it seemed that it could only weaken the damage of Fran's next Greater Fireball, or even send him to his death.

Fortunately, Edmund spent 2.6 seconds preparing the [Powerful Acid Stream] he had been channeling. He aimed at the smoke from the fireball explosion and unleashed a thick stream of dark green water towards the spot where Fran had just stood.

The spell was successful, and his preparations went exactly as expected, but Edmund's face showed no sign of a smile.

He used Spell Ring to counter Fran's aggressive attack this round, but what about the next round? He only has a newly purchased First Order Shield Spell Ring.

This ring should not be used a second time within at least four hours. Using it between four and six hours will cause the release timing to be off...

So it seems that he can only win one game right now, and then he will be defeated by his opponent in the remaining two games.

But when the clock struck three, Edmund sensed something was wrong. The smoke in front of him hadn't dissipated yet, but logically the bell signaling the end of the duel should have rung at that moment.

His spell should have hit the opponent at this moment. After all, given a mage's physical abilities, they can't move very far. He could have defeated the opponent simply by casting the spell back to the original position.

But why isn't it over yet?

Four seconds had passed when he barely stopped casting the spell. [Powerful Acid Stream] had developed a side effect after being modified by the Battle Mage Corps; he had to cast it for at least a second to cancel it.

As the smoke dissipated, he could only see a newly appeared mark on the wall of the arena in the distance, and he couldn't see Fran through any of the gaps in the smoke.

Alarm bells rang in his mind, and he immediately began to cast a shield spell, but he couldn't even lift his hand. He looked down and saw that a golden sand had bound his lower body.

"Isn't this the Alchemy School's [Heart of Quicksand]?" He was filled with shock. How could the other party cast this spell? Even he couldn't buy the spell scroll for this spell.

Due to historical reasons, this spell is generally difficult for ordinary people to obtain, let alone the spell scroll.

The yellow sand had already gotten into his neck, and the surrounding smoke had mostly dissipated. He wanted to know where Fran was casting her spell, but he couldn't see anything.

Just as his scalp was completely bound, he suddenly looked up, his neck, which was fixed in place by the yellow sand, throbbed with pain, and he finally saw Fran flying in the sky.

"The opponent actually has the ability to fly and can even hover in the air." This news made him basically lose hope for the rest of the match; he felt that he was now 100% going to be defeated 3-0.