Herad's unhurried war of attrition was much like the approach of most contestants in his group.
The matches of Kelson Firespeech, widely considered a seeded contender, were far more spectacular!
Although he had yet to become an intermediate mage, Kelson was exceptionally practiced at casting fireballs, outpacing his opponents by a clear margin.
For every two blasts his opponents landed on him, he could land three on them.
An advantage in casting speed was far more than a simple math problem!
Nor did the fights drag on until his opponents ran out of mana.
The more frequent barrage of fireballs threw their battle rhythm into chaos.
As the psychological pressure mounted, they soon found themselves unable to maintain their spell shields.
Battles between spellcasters might look monotonous, but there were still a few tricks involved!
Battle mages who regularly saw actual combat could do even more ingenious things with their spells!
Kelson's second fight ended in much the same way.
Even though his opponent had learned from the previous match, Kelson still dominated him from beginning to end.
Faster casting was simply faster casting. Disrupting an opponent's rhythm was no problem at all.
Seeing Kelson's excellent performance, Herad also picked up his casting speed a little, defeating his opponent with a more noticeable advantage in firepower.
He did want to mislead the bookmakers and gamblers for his own profit.
But putting on too obvious an act for money would be taking things a little too far!
His fairly impressive performance caught the interest of certain gamblers.
Although he still fell short of Kelson, some gamblers began backing this dark horse.
After all, gamblers were not purely interested in winning money.
They enjoyed a little excitement in their investments.
However, Herad had a bye in the third round, and his fourth match would not begin until the following morning, giving the excitement time to cool.
Sylvanas tried betting on Herad to win and won twice in a row.
Looking at the thousand gold coins she had earned, she excitedly picked Herad up and spun him around.
High Elves looked delicate, but they were much stronger than humans.
Warriors and rangers who exercised regularly could lift a massive bronze cauldron without breaking a sweat!
Being held by Sylvanas felt rather nice to Herad.
Feeling her soft, supple body against him, he almost felt his bones grow lighter.
But being held and spun around like this was rather less pleasant.
As a grown man, how could he let a woman pick him up and spin him around?
I should be the one picking her up and spinning her around!
But to Sylvanas, who had been an adult for over two hundred years, the newly grown Herad was still a little brother.
What's wrong with your big sister picking you up for a spin? Why are you struggling?
I used to do this all the time when you were little!
When the boyish-faced Lirath came running over with the other lads his age, they all froze in bewilderment at the sight.
This was the dark horse who was going to win the championship?
Why was their big sister completely dominating him?
Still, considering the difference in strength between a mage and a ranger, being overpowered at close quarters seemed perfectly reasonable.
Once Sylvanas had vented her delight, she finally put Herad down.
Herad, who rarely exercised, was already dizzy from all the spinning.
Nearby, Kelson had just finished his fight with crisp efficiency and happened to catch this comical scene.
He suddenly felt that he could take down his final group-stage opponent with his fists alone.
Kelson had been an adult for over a decade, giving him an advantage in physical fitness.
"Heh, what a frail little thing!"
After that moment of reflection, he left the arena in high spirits.
He felt certain he would advance from the group stage.
Herad also returned to his residence in Silvermoon City.
It was a two-story building with a modest footprint.
This was quite common within the city.
Even members of great families could not own overly large residences in Silvermoon City.
When Silvermoon City was first built, its leaders had not planned particularly far ahead.
They had simply built a city for a hundred thousand people, based on the population at the time.
Although the population continued to grow afterward, the leadership did not expand Silvermoon City.
Instead, they relocated people to the equally safe forests.
By now, Silvermoon City leaned more toward commerce than residential use.
Magical constructs regularly came to clean Herad's little house in the city while he was away.
These magical constructs resembled robotic vacuums in both appearance and function, except that they could hover just above the ground, and they kept the house practically dust-free.
It needed only a little tidying before he could move in.
In the downstairs sitting room, everyone reported their earnings.
Sylvanas had made a thousand gold coins from two bets and thought she had earned quite a lot.
Once everyone announced their winnings, she discovered to her surprise that she had earned the least.
Without any inside information, she had only wagered five hundred gold coins each time, so naturally she could not compete.
The thought that her own little brother Lirath had known the truth but kept it to himself made Sylvanas grit her teeth.
Seeing his sister's expression darken, Lirath hurriedly offered a suggestion with an ingratiating smile.
"Sylvanas, you've got more capital than we do. Bet it all on Herad tomorrow, and none of us will be able to beat you."
At her brother's words, Sylvanas's expression went from stormy to merely overcast.
As the Windrunner family's second-in-command, she hardly needed such a small sum.
But being outdone by a bunch of youngsters was still irritating.
Yet the thought of betting on Herad to win tomorrow gave her pause.
After all, Kelson had put on a very strong showing in today's matches.
Herad had demonstrated some ability too.
But a considerable gap remained between them.
Seeing Sylvanas hesitate, Lirath finally revealed their trump card.
"Don't worry. Herad became an intermediate mage a while ago."
Sylvanas's beautiful eyes went wide at this explosive revelation.
What did that mean?
It meant Herad had an excellent chance of winning the championship!
Advancing from the group, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the final.
If he won all four matches, she could rake in a fortune even without wildly favorable odds.
A few thousand gold coins would not particularly concern Sylvanas.
But tens of thousands were another matter entirely!
Gold coins were worth quite a lot.
A little over a hundred gold coins could already pay for a large house.
Who could turn down such a fortune?
Naturally, Sylvanas eagerly anticipated tomorrow's match.
It might well offer the longest odds of them all!
When the next day arrived, Sylvanas had prepared over twenty thousand gold coins.
She brought this sum, worth more than a hundred million, intending to make a killing.
Not all of it was her money, though.
More than half had been pooled by her subordinates.
Only a ranger lord who shared opportunities to make money could win her subordinates' wholehearted support.
Unlike Lirath and the other lads, who spread their bets around, Sylvanas had no intention of keeping a low profile.
She picked a betting operation at random and put all the money down.
The bookmaker was not alarmed by such a lavish wager.
Kelson had performed so impressively that his advancement was practically assured.
Of course, with such a large wager coming in, the odds still needed some adjustment.
"It's about to start! All bets are final!"
As the bookmaker called out, the match in the arena began.
Kelson, a fire specialist, wore a flamboyant red robe.
Combined with his active Flame Shield, his appearance completely outshone Herad in his blue robe and pale blue spell shield.
Flame Shield was more effective against fire attacks, but it was also harder to cast.
Kelson had not used it in his earlier matches, clearly saving this defensive spell as his trump card.
Clad in red robes and wreathed in rising flames, Kelson looked almost like a fire god descending to earth.
Yet Herad, who had previously done nothing but churn out fireballs, switched from Fireball to Arcane Missiles.
Arcane Missiles were not countered by Flame Shield, and their attack rate far surpassed Fireball's.
The relentless barrage of Arcane Missiles left Kelson scrambling.
"Aaah! How are you so good at Arcane Missiles too?"
Screaming in alarm, Kelson had no choice but to force a spell shield into place.
By reactivating this all-purpose defensive spell, he finally escaped the immediate crisis.
However, forcing the spell shield up cost him a considerable amount of extra mana.
The battle was already sliding against him.
Before you continue