Battle Mage

"All right. Want to go inside and take a look?" Antonidas asked.

"Of course."

They followed Antonidas into the hall. As they passed through the door, Karen sensed a detection spell. With no badge on, he could feel a detection spell monitoring him constantly. The first thing they saw inside was a massive magical screen displaying available quests. It listed requests like "Wanted: 10 pairs of gnoll incisors," "10 samples of murloc blood," and "Wanted: 1 Arcane Crystal."

There were several windows on either side of the screen. The ones on the left were for accepting quests, and the ones on the right were for turning them in.

Behind the windows sat some cute young female mage apprentices. "Apparently, the guild specifically assigned them this job. The pay is generous, and they also have high standards for looks.

To accept a quest, a mage first had to provide its number and show their badge.

The mage apprentice would confirm the quest and check whether the mage met its requirements. Some quests had prerequisites, to stop too many people who couldn't complete them from accepting and wasting the limited number of available slots.

For quests with unlimited slots, the apprentice would simply register the mage. For those with limited slots, they had to sign a contract.

At the turn-in window, the apprentice only needed to check the mage's badge, store the quest item, and notify the person who posted the quest to verify it." Antonidas explained the process to Karen.

"Most of the quests here seem to be low-level."

"Right. There aren't many quests for advanced mages, and they have high requirements. They handle those among themselves; they have their own quest system."

Antonidas was exceptionally talented and seemed to be quite popular. Plenty of people came over to greet him or ask him questions.

Antonidas proudly introduced the mages to Karen. They were all novice or intermediate mages, and their questions were about basic and intermediate spells. Karen had spent many years as a low-level mage, and his experience was extensive. He also had some unique insights, so he quickly hit it off with them.

Some time later, they formed a club called the Low-Level Mage Alliance and held several activities. Antonidas was the president, and Karen was the vice president.

One day, a mage came over and said to Antonidas, "President, that battle mage is here again."

"Battle mage?"

"Battle mages are a school of magic developed by us humans. They specialize in combat, focusing on a particular type of spell and casting it quickly. A battle mage has been coming here to cause trouble these past few days. I drove him off, but now he's back. Let's go see."

They went to the guild's arena. A transparent, bowl-shaped barrier covered a fifty-by-fifty-foot stone platform. One person stood inside, while another lay sprawled on the ground. These guys were too strong. That was the eighth one knocked down.

Seeing Antonidas arrive, the man standing on the platform spoke up. "Finally, someone who can put up a fight."

"I wonder who's the one who forgot how much it hurt last time and came back for more."

"Don't get cocky. I was careless last time. You won't be so lucky today."

"That man is Soth. At the last auction, he got into a dispute with one of our members over a piece of magical material. The president dealt with him when he came here to cause trouble. He couldn't accept that, so now he's back," someone beside Karen quietly explained.

"If you're so determined to get beaten, I'll oblige."

Antonidas helped the injured mage off the platform, then stepped onto it himself.

Both sides cast magic shields. Within a certain limit, the mana in their bodies could absorb incoming magical damage.

They were both intermediate mages. Neither had any status spells, and there were no buffs to apply, so the referee immediately announced the start.

Soth raised his hand and sent a string of fireballs flying toward Antonidas.

Damn, he casts fast. Those were practically instant! Antonidas had expected this. Unhurriedly, he used Arcane Missiles to detonate the fireballs one by one in midair. Soth had expected it too; the fireballs had just been an opening greeting. He immediately followed up with several nearly instant Scorch spells.

Fire elements gathered out of thin air around Antonidas, forming flames that scorched his magic shield.

The damage wasn't high, but the spell was hard to defend against and also increased the damage he took from fire magic.

Antonidas was temporarily at a disadvantage because of his opponent's casting speed. Frowning, he endured several Scorch spells and fired the ice elements he had been gathering for some time from his hand as an arrow at Soth.

Soth casually used Fire Blast to scatter the Frostbolt.

But he hadn't expected a smaller Frostbolt to hit him right after. It didn't do much damage, but it left ice elements clinging to his shield, slightly slowing the gathering of his magic. Even that slight delay meant he could no longer cast his small fire spells instantly.

Seeing that Soth could no longer rely on instant spells to gain the upper hand, Antonidas relaxed his frown. Soth was startled. Could Antonidas cast instantly too?

"Vice President, how did the president do that?" one of the mage members beside him asked Karen, baffled.

"The first Frostbolt was a level-five spell, dealing normal damage. The second was level one. He deliberately increased the mana output of the level-five Frostbolt without increasing his control, making the mana a little unstable and slowing it down slightly without letting it collapse. That takes incredible control over magic.

"The two Frostbolts moved at different speeds, but reached their target almost simultaneously.

"Neither Frostbolt was meant to deal damage. One had unstable mana, and the other had too little mana. He used them to interrupt Soth's instant casting and prevent him from keeping the advantage. Brilliant. No wonder he's Antonidas."

Soth's expression eased. At least Antonidas hadn't cast instantly too. He still had a chance.

The two began trading spells. To a novice mage, an intermediate mage simply had a few more damage spells that hit a bit harder; the difference wasn't huge. Their techniques were straightforward, and the fight was somewhat dull.

But Antonidas gradually gained the upper hand with his superb control over magic and deep reserves of mana.

Karen noticed that Soth wasn't worried at all. It seemed he still had a trump card.

Gradually, Soth began circling Antonidas and edging closer. The slowing effect of Frostbolt had long since worn off, and Soth was casting instantly again, suppressing Antonidas as he closed in.

Suddenly, Soth stopped casting and let Antonidas's spells hit his shield. Then he lunged forward, unleashing the fire elements within him as he charged at Antonidas.

Fire Blast. It was a control spell. The condensed fire elements would stun its target on impact. No wonder he had been edging closer to Antonidas. The spell had a short range and was mainly used against melee fighters who got too close. Who would have thought Soth would use it as a control skill?

Would Antonidas fall for it? If he did, he'd be in danger.

Antonidas gave a faint smile. He must have anticipated this move. He had activated a long-cooldown defensive spell, a fire-protection barrier, in advance. It absorbed the fire elements from the blast, so the attack dealt no damage and didn't stun him.

Soth was surprised that such a simple tactic had been thwarted, but he quickly regained his composure, unconcerned. He touched the ring on his hand and shouted, "Dragon Breath!"

The dense fire elements gathered into a huge orange-red dragon head, which spewed flames forward. Antonidas hadn't been prepared and took the hit. The massive damage shattered his magic shield, and the spell's effect left him paralyzed with fear.

Seeing Antonidas hit, Karen immediately shouted, "We concede! That's the advanced spell Dragon Breath. How can you cast it?"

"Heh. This is my mentor's Dragon Ring. It's enchanted with Dragon Breath. I helped my mentor with a quest a while ago, so I used the ring for it. I haven't returned it yet. Any more questions?"

"You only beat the president because of your equipment, and you even resorted to a sneak attack. What kind of skill is that?" said a mage beside them, helping the injured Antonidas off the platform.

"Equipment is part of your strength. Are you saying we're not allowed to wear it?"

"It's not even your equipment."

"I'm wearing it now, so it counts as mine.

"Anyone else want to fight?

"If you've got the guts, stop shouting from down there and get up on the platform."

The mages below already knew they couldn't beat him, and now he was wearing such powerful equipment too. They could only grumble, too afraid to step onto the platform.