Chapter 201
Complications and Disqualifications
(Mallory)
The day had been going relatively well. It had been over twenty hours since Cass broke the world by coming up with a completely unique magical school, one that she created for the sole purpose of healing the world and trying to make the world a better place.
“Of course, that’s what she would do, it was so… Cass.” Mallory muttered to herself, reflecting on the event. While everyone had kind of figured the little pixy would eventually do something like this, everyone figured it would be much later on.
Then when news of it spread, of course there were concerns that it was some new form of Instant Death Magic, or Catastrophic Injury Magic. Yet, being able to take a complex spell, and break it down into many linking layered parts, it was a process that seemed as simple as it was ingenious.
So simple that Mallory literally wondered why something like it had never been done before. It was only after discussing with Penelope that she understood exactly why this form of magic had never been considered before.
“You do realize that Cass lives, breathes, and experiences the world only in terms of how it relates to magic or Qi right? That she either can’t see, or is selectively unaware of the parts of the world that aren’t magical in nature.” Penelope said.
Hearing the seamstress’s perspective really helped form the concepts that Mallory herself had been dealing with into perspective.
“How are your classes going by the way? I meant to check in with you and see what you thought as sort of a senior to the curriculum that we presented.” Mallory asked.
“Honestly, it is a lot tougher than I originally gave it credit for. I figured, I’d drop in, likely clep a few classes and graduate with an undergraduate degree, what I have found is that everyday I come away from each class with not only new understandings of what is required from me to succeed. But also, just how far I can go. Honestly, after seeing her classes, I think it should be mandatory for anyone with a Unique class, as I’ve found multiple different avenues that I could progress my class, while simultaneously realizing that I know practically nothing.
“Did you know that she can mirror my skills? Not recreate them, but show and exact outline of both how I see and use the Skill, and how she wants me to use that very same skill. A skill that is an intrinsic part of me and my class, something that sets me as unique from all other classes. Just by seeing me do it once, she can mimic it and demonstrate new ways to push myself.”
“So are you glad she pressured you into joining?” Mallory asked.
“Yes, likely wouldn’t realize it until much later, how much I would have missed out by not taking this class. But again, this goes back to my original point.”
“Which is?”
“That only someone like Cass could come up with the new school of Harmonious Magic. With her constantly living and breathing spells, she is capable of creating spells at will, and deconstructing what spells and energies are being used for within seconds. Meaning that she is one of the few people who could actually even figure out what the base components of each spell are. If I was to cast one of these spells, it would be something sloppy and would constantly require practice to get it so it could function slightly as a link in the overall cascade work.”
“Okay?” Mallory asked, realizing that there was a purpose for this line of thought, but not seeing where Penelope was going with this insight.
“Your main concern is that Cass and or someone will eventually get to the point that they take some of the larger scale destructive spells that Cass thinks of and discards on a whim, and weaponizes them to conduct wholesale slaughter on the world using hundreds of micro-mages, is that the concern?” Penelope asked.
“Yes.” Hearing that, Mallory could only nod in agreement that this was the concern that she and all other Guild leaders were facing now that they understood the new school of magic that had been created.
“Well, all you can do is hope that Cass is one of the few mages capable of understanding magic to this extent, and furthermore you have to hope that she continues to only focus on converting beneficial spells.” Penelope suggested.
“I know, but what if I told you that other countries already had people working on this very process.” Mallory stated.
“You mean, effectively making it so a six person team could be the equivalent of a mobile nuclear device, I don’t doubt for a second that nations like Legrand and others are already trying.” Penelope posed.
“No, I mean, what if they already have a research team devoted to this, right now.” Mallory stated.
“Oh, I take it you have heard rumors to this effect?” Penelope asked.
“Not so much rumors, but active recruitment drives and the like.”
“I see, well that just means we need to be extra careful with whom we allow to come here and learn under Cass. Particularly those from external organizations.” Penelope said.
“Right, but even now dictations of her lessons are being provided to people as we speak.”
“Let me ask you something, how long will it take for those others to learn about magic the way that Cass can teach at a moment through intuition alone?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that not preparing for something like this will be something that I and other guild leaders will have to work out the details for. Heck, I know others are going to use this as a way to try to either get close to Cass or set controls over her.”
“Yeah, that’s going to go well for all those that attempt to restrain her.”
“I mean it Penelope, we need to be prepared for anything.”
“Oh, I agree. Though I doubt there much of anything that can keep a determined Cass away, save for a good puzzle, a book, or the worst case of all, a never ending library of books.” Penelope joked.
With that Mallory just pursed her lips, not having a thing to say.
“So that’s the real concern. Everything goes crazy and you think Cass will leave us to explore a never-ending library of rare tomes?”
“Yeah.”
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“That, is a valid concern.” Penelope noted.
“Not helping.”
“Well if you wanted…” Penelope began, but her words were cut off by an urgent set of reports from her contact.
“One second.” Mallory paused Penelope mid speech, as she began pulling forth an external document from her informant.
News and updates about the projects.
In order of detail from highest priority to lowest priority.
Priority 1 objectives: Identify Guilds and Empires who are working on creating practitioners of Harmonious Magic casting: Legrand, Maltese, Plastecian, Howard, Graceland, and Keplinger.
Priority 2 Objective: Keeping track of people trying to cold contact Cass. Two identified: RaSean and Alilian, both part of the Keplinger empire and part of an advanced team in the Arcanarus Tower.
Priority 3 Objective: What does Cass do, that I am not aware of: One Simulacrum is apparently getting the Fairies on floor 200 of the Arcanarus Tower to help prioritize rare and exciting books to read. One Simulacrum is involved in training Deolarian troops in Deolar as Princess Octavia. The other is going around as King De’Arcaneri, where he seems to be making friends with the four Cardinal Protectors. Then the main Cass has taken over as a Healer, Referee, and dual-announcer for a Mixed Martial Arts and Mage Combat Tournament. Coincidentally, this real version of Cass has also done something completely unexpected for any tournament…
***
(Cass)
“For our second match we will have the defending five-time champion for the Cultivators go up against the thirty-second contested, a last-minute addition and the former referee for these matches.” I begin, with my voice billowing loudly in the amphitheater.
“Here we have it Jean, the first testament of a legacy. Can the defending champion win everything for a sixth straight time in a row.” Bob, my male cultivator specialist voice begins.
“I don’t know Bob, I am extremely excited to see how this match will play out. What can you tell us about these two?” the female voice of Jean, the mage specialist asks.
“Glad you asked that, it looks like the defending champion is an Initiate Anti-Mage Cultivator.” Bob dictates.
“An Initiate, while being a five-time champion?” Jean asks.
“Yes, it would appear that the Champion has the unique ability to focus their personal resonance outside of their body in a fixed formation that creates a semi-permanent barrier that can be tilted about and used to block incoming magical attacks, but I don’t exactly see how it could block Qi based attacks.” Bob states loudly, as I give out the pre-match commentary, the defending Champion, and his challenger both look at me with wide eyed astonishment.
It is that stare alone that let’s me realize that something might not be exactly kosher in this whole process.
Playing on the hunch provided by the two participants’ reactions, I play it up.
“Well, I could see how that would be advantageous against the final match, the one that pits the winner of the Cultivator bracket against the winner of the Mage’s bracket, but how could they get through the Cultivator’s bracket unharmed?” The voice of Jean asks.
“That is a question that I too would like to have answered. Just remember that intentionally throwing a match is an automatic disqualification event for both participants in a sanctioned match. Which means that all their winnings will be forfeited.” Bob states.
At that point, both the defending champion and the former referee both stare at me like I am crazy. Then again, having three distinct voices and personalities at play going on all at once, I could see the concern. But I should let them know that we are all fine.
“Contestants, I want a good clean match. No flops, or questionable submissions. Any and all tap outs will be granted by me, if and when I think enough damage has actually been provided. With that said, I want a good clean match. And begin.” I state, effectively beginning the match before anyone can protest the fact that I personally warned them that I would be looking for any form of deceit on their parts.
Though, I was curious about this outward projection of an anti-magic field. That is all the projection could be. Watching it, I felt like it was both intricately beautiful and seemingly impossible to duplicate. Until I realized exactly what it was doing, or rather how it was creating an anti-magic ward around the cultivator.
Once I figured out what exactly the focused effect was doing, I was quickly able to backtrack how such a feat was possible. While I couldn’t exactly emulate the effect I was seeing, this new aspect of power that I had never imagined before made this entire process worthwhile for me.
For the Cultivator was sort of a genius, as they took the internal network of electrical impulses that a cultivator’s body produces naturally. These are the same impulses that cause casting and circulation of mana to be almost impossible, as the neural network of the body can only conduct one form of impulse at a time. With this, the Cultivator chose to take those internal impulses that disrupt magic and force them to be manifested outside of their body.
Watching this, I realized that this was something that I not only could reproduce, but should reproduce, particularly if I wanted to further my whole reason for trying to reach floor 250 of these towers. This external manifestation was something that I would no doubt need to replicate, but only now did I realize that there was something likely similar to this, but reverse for the magic side of things. While creating a Qi blocking shield using the internal impulses that hinder cultivation might not seem like a huge thing currently, in the future it might be the equalizer in battles. Something that would help even the playing field between an expert magician and an expert cultivator. A way that both sides could counteract the strengths of the other.
This was definitely something to consider in the future, but for the moment I had to watch this farce of a battle begin. And I do mean farce of a battle.
The thirty-second challenger apparently thought that just looking flashy would be enough to fool me. I watched as the former referee, now turned contestant number thirty-two made a flashy Qi infused strike, only to have it blocked by a weak attempt. That despite the former referee holding back from their full strength, still almost caused the forearm of the defending champion to buckle from the blow.
A quick look of shock from the referee almost let him give away their entire plan as he looked momentarily shocked.
“And there we have a half-powered blow nearly take the defending champion down. Had it not been a feint but a full strike we would have had an upset for this round.” Bob commented.
“Boo!”
By now the side from the mages was really against this match as it seemed that both contestants were working hard to try to salvage the rest of this match, while making it seem plausible that the defending champion could win.
“I don’t get it, why not go for the killing blow right there? I mean I’m no martial expert and even I saw the way the defending Champion’s torso was wide open to an attack.”
“I completely agree with you Jean. This seems to be clear collusion on the part of the two contestants.” Bob responds.
With that both contestants turn their heads towards me, the referee.
As soon as they make eye contact, “last warning, make this a real fight or this match will be forfeited.”
“Oh, that sounds bad, what does that mean?” Jean asks.
“Glad you asked. It means that by default one of the three matches will be permanently struck from the records. Remember you need to win two of the three matches in order to move on from your round. By having one of the rounds forfeited, it means that a winner would have to win out. Or if a second match was similarly forfeited, then both contestants would be disqualified.” Bob responded.
With that the two shook their heads and then began exchanging blows in semi-serious state, but it was all window dressing.
“This looks oddly staged. I mean half of the blows don’t connect, or when they do they don’t hit for full force. Also, I still don’t see how the defending champion can mount a clear offense with his Qi being manifested outside of his body.”
“Neither can I Jean, neither can I.” Commentator Bob’s voice sounded.
By now even a few of the Cultivators were protesting the clear lack of true competition.
Then finally, the defending champion managed to deliver a completely unblocked punch to the challenger’s face. Almost immediately the challenger grabbed at his face and then collapsed to the ground.
“I am not certain what a flop in a Cultivation fight would look like, but I am fairly certain that is what one would look like.” Commentator Jean’s voice rang out.
“You are a hundred percent correct there, oh and what’s this. It looks like the referee is coming to a decision.”
“Disqualified. This match has been forfeited, as the contestant clearly seems to be angling to throw the fight.”
“Oh, and there you have it Mages and Cultivators, a forfeited match due to perceived flopping. This means the round has no winner and we are now in a sudden death for the winner to need to take both of the next two rounds in a row in order to move on.” Bob commented.
“What happens if there is a tie? Is there an overtime?”
“No, this was the tie breaking round. Meaning that not only do these two contestants have to actually fight, but assuming one doesn’t win both rounds, then they are also disqualified?” Jean asks.
“That is correct. Let’s see if they finally take this seriously.” Bob responds.
I send out minor bouts of Healing Mana to both, making sure that both participants glow with a green aura indicating how much healing energy they are receiving. Here it is clear that the greater aura of healing mist is around the defending Champion.
“I am not quite certain what this is?” Bob states.
“Oh, I can answer this one. In this case the Healer has made their healing known. In this case each green cloud shows the amount of Healing magic each candidate received in order to move onto the next match.” Jean, the magical expert, responds.
“Oh, is it just me or does it seem like the Defending Champion required a lot more mana to heal than the contender?”
“That is correct.”
“Well, couldn’t this be explained because of the intense mana breaking shield that the Champion has?”
“You could be correct, but if you look the magic forms a cloud over the contender and wraps around and over the shield before seeping into the wounds of the Champion. This means that none of the mana is lost in this Healing process, and is likely being done to show how limited the anti-magic shield was to begin with.” Jean responds.
“You mean it could have been bypassed all along by a quick strike to the back or a blind spot around the shield?” Bob asks.
“That is correct. Also, I am only speculating here, but I think a supercharged spell, that is one that is filled with twice as much focus or one and a half times as much mana would be able to pierce that Intermediate defensive layer.” Jean responds, stating the inherent weaknesses that I noticed just by looking at it.
“Oh, and given how much of a one trick pony this defending Champion seems to be, any Cultivators that actually lost to this person in the previous tournaments can likely be considered weak.” Bob states, as the two continue to break down the inherent flaws of the anti-mage cultivator who has no other skills or abilities to fall back upon.
Somewhere at about this point, something in the mind of the defending Champion’s mind broke, as he stood up having his body feel completely healed from my spell work. That’s when he turned away from his challenger and began charging right towards me.
His legs pumped wildly constantly building up speed, as he clenched his fist and pulling back to strike, then he lunged towards me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Was all I said in three echoing voices before my body moved on reflex.
Blur.
The world stopped momentarily as I sprung into action.