The moment the match started both mages began their chanting. Seeing as this was the first chanter vs chanter match of the day it was a little anticlimactic as both fighters simply tensed up as they started their chants for the first few seconds of the match. Ajax could almost feel the excitement drain out of most commoners who were watching. Anyone who could sense the mana that was being focused in those chants was fully engaged.

Ajax was surprised to see the human was the first to finish his chant, the moment he released his spell however the princess was already moving. She was slow, maybe fast compared to regular mages but after watching the beastkin Ajax couldn’t help but feel she would be too slow to dodge the incoming fireball.

The fireball was halfway to its target when the elf finished chanting and an immense amount of mana was released. Ajax had initially thought she had a skill that allowed her to bluff the amount of mana she was conjuring but now there was no doubt. She had used almost as much mana as Ajax had in his entire mana pool to release a blizzard around the arena.

“[Ice Aspect Mana], [Snow Aspect Mana], [Water Aspect Mana] and [Wind Aspect Mana].” the king's oldest son let out a low whistle. “And to top it all off she has [Winter Domain] too.”

“What’s [Winter Domain]?” Ajax asked.

“An Epic skill that allows you to maintain control of any Ice, Wind or Snow mana you release.” Lexi said. “It’s very rare since in order to develop a Domain type skill you not only need to spend absurd amounts of mana all at once but also possess at least three compatible mana aspects.”

“So she can basically use that to mimic my casting form without the power drawback?” Ajax asked more than a little peeved at the idea.

“No.” Lexi answered. “It isn’t you she is mimicking with the domain, it’s the elven champion.”

“She must have some extreme level of concentration to keep that much mana under control.” The prince said. “She is now probably going to be using one or two word spells and reinforce them with the mana she released.”

Ajax watched as their predictions turned true. The princess followed up the initial mana release with a quick ice wall spell to protect herself from the roaring fireball. The wall was very thin for a split second as it appeared but the surrounding mana quickly poured in to thicken it to the point it could stand up to the fireball.

Following the ice wall the princess started tossing one ice lance after another at the human mage. The poor mage in question had little choice but to bring up one small earth wall after another in order to protect himself. Fire was usually all but worthless on defense by itself so he was forced to go with a generic defense spell he had no affinity for.

“How much mana does she have?” Ajax muttered though quite a few people picked up on it. “She has to have used more than five thousand mana already and she isn’t heaving her lungs out.”

“All mages that unlock the domain skill are split into two types. The Mind - Intellect focus and the Mind - Wisdom focus.” Lexi explained. “From the power I see in her spells I am guessing she is Mind - Intellect. I bet she’ll be downing potions to get her reserves back in time for tomorrow’s match.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“They all start out putting almost all their points into Mind.” Benedict continued, he was also familiar with the fighter type. “Funnily enough by doing so they manage to achieve a decently close result to your child training method where they end up with significantly more stats since the rest of their attributes grow through the low levels without points for quite a long time.”

The princess looked quite bored to Ajax now that she had set up the field. A few more ice lances later Benedict pointed out that she was throwing them in such a way that the earth walls her opponent used to block them ended up trapping him in one spot. The match then ended when she summoned an avalanche on top of his head as Ajax felt almost another thousand mana flow from the princess before it was increased by her [Winter Domain].

In what ended up as a rather big shock to Ajax the following match looked somewhat similar to this one. The moment the match started the elf started chanting a long spell before he released a large amount of fire looking to cover the arena.

“He has a Domain skill as well?” Ajax asked, surprised.

“That’s not a Domain” Lexi said.

“This is the elves putting all their eggs in one basket.” Richard said from behind Ajax. The man had been assessed by the healers and returned near the end of the previous match. “Both the other elves are there to see how their opponents react to her fighting style, just in case there is anything she needs to look out for.”

The explanation made a lot of sense but Ajax couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the elf in question. The fire he released onto the field at the start of the match did nothing more than get the dwarf to repeatedly use a water rune on his gear that doused him and his surroundings in water.

Not only was the initial spell all but useless now it also left the elf with next to mana as he scrounged up everything he had left and threw it at the dwarf. In terms of raw power it seems the elf was no slouch as Ajax could feel the fireball packed a serious punch.

It was here that Ajax got a good look at the dwarf’s defenses as multiple runes lit up. Ajax counted a water bolt, Ice shield and wind wall. The dwarf had to spend quite a bit more mana to neutralize the fire attack. That didn’t matter however as the dwarf then showcased why people used runes as he struck back with three earth spikes in quick succession, even faster than the elven princess had managed to launch her ice ones.

Much like the human mage the elven fire user was woefully lacking in terms of defense as he barely managed to deflect the first spear before the other two stuck him in the shoulder and hip.

Unlike the high end tournament those wounds weren’t enough to call an end to the match. The dwarf ended up sending a fourth spike that impaled him through the stomach before the match was finally called.

As the arena started to reshape itself Ajax stood up and headed for the tunnels. “I know you don’t need it but good luck” Benedict said as he patted Ajax on the shoulder.

“Show them what Gryndor can really do.” Richard nodded to him.

“Be careful out there.” Lexi offered as she gave him a quick hug and a kiss before Ajax finally descended the stairs.

“He’ll be alright.” Xavier tried to reassure the noble girl as she still looked in the direction her boyfriend had gone.

“Ha, only alright.” the prince laughed at the idea. “I have to say this next match-up is the most skewed one out of your entire tournament.”

“They all have at least twenty levels up on him, how can you be so calm?” Lexi lashed out.

“Because his opponent will use up at least half his mana pool and all he will accomplish is to make Ajax stronger.” the prince grinned as he looked across to the elven seats. The prince didn’t even plan to watch the match until he saw the expression on the elves' faces once they realized what Ajax could do to the mana Domain their princess was so proud of. “I know I can’t call him my apprentice but he really seems to be following in my footsteps.”

“You can hardly look at it like that.” the crown prince countered his brother. “You were giving it your all to create incidents that left foreign nobles gaping, he’s not going out of his way.”

“End result will still be the same so it counts.” the prince said with a cheery voice.

As odd as the argument seemed to be it did work in the sense that it put almost all of Lexi’s worries to rest. Ajax was unaware of the discussion as he looked out at the open grassy space the arena had turned into from the exit of the tunnel. He finally placed his helmet on his head and took the first step onto the grass ready for the fight to come.