Velvet blinked a few times. “Ceres?! But, yesterday you were a man!” She said, in a fake astonishment.

Tristan smacked her arm with a book. “Try again.”

“T, my best boss! I missed you so much!” She cheered, taking a step back. “So, your real name is?”

“Tristan Esmaeili.”

She had silver eyes, which meant, together with the red hair, that she was fully Ihilian.

Huh, I had never seen someone from Ihilia. She didn’t comment on that, since Tristan was more her superior than a friend.

“What about the Selection?”

“It doesn’t start until an hour. And sometimes we have to wait for several sloth mages that oversleep.”

“... Being a sloth mages sounds, every time, more and more strange.”

“It has the benefit of getting stronger the more they walk around dreams.”

I should’ve picked that Paradigm… of course, if I did that I wouldn’t have the skills to block corrupting memories, so I’d lose control the moment I said Andras’ name. In the end, knowledge is still the best for me.

“Oh, right. An… acquaintance of mine said something happens once the Selection ends, and that I should become stronger. Do you know what it is?”

“Ceres should’ve been the one telling you this… but he’s never had any apprentice, nor cared about the Mergifari’s inner workings, and he is too prideful to admit when he is in the unknown and needs help,” She said the last part in a teasing tone, amused. “But yes, there’s… you’ve been to the Arena, right? Same thing, just without power penalties.”

“Ugh, so it’s just great for people to take revenge, right?”

“Not really, you can just knock yourself out at the start. Let the combat mages who have something to prove duke it out and that’s it. Unless you, or your Selector, care about being at the strongest top list.”

“I don’t care about that, and Ceres…”

“He probably doesn’t even know there’s a list, but I guarantee you he has zero interest in it.”

Velvet relaxed for a moment, before shaking her head. “Still, even if I can knock myself out, I need to be ready for mishaps.”

Alrai knows I can knock myself out, so, if he has issued a warning… does he believe I’m too proud to surrender? No, we fought together in the Arena, so he must have foreseen something preventing me from surrendering at the start.

Suddenly looking at Tristan with pleading eyes, Velvet spoke sweetly, “Tristaaaan~, what tricks can I use to get super duper strong in two days?”

“Offer your firstborn to a devil and make a pact.” She answered nonchalantly.

“I’m not doing that. Oh, can I bring artifacts?”

“Ask yourself this: can I learn how to suddenly and correctly use artifacts in case of conflict in two days? Even when I have no experience handling them?”

“Can I?”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You like explosives way too much…”

“I don’t need explosive artifacts, I already have my figurines. My current needs are defensive spells.”

Velvet’s main weakness was her own body. She fared well attacking at long distance, but, if someone like Igern or Alrai got their hands on her, they'd fold her like a chair.

She had been toying with the idea of making a reinforced paper armor under her dress, like Cornelius’s metal one, but magic armors worked better at stopping magic projectiles, not a full blunt hit.

Yes, she might be protected from being chopped in half, in case of Igern’s ice blades, but the kinetic energy of the hit would break her bones.

“Fufu, don’t you know? Offense is the best defense.” Tristan mocked her. “Hit them so hard, they cannot get to you.”

“That’s plan number one. For number two, what if they get to me?”

“Team up with someone that can protect you.” She made a pause. “Velvet, you DO understand your Paradigm is a support one, do you? You get no physical enhancement, faster reflexes or a resilient body.”

She knew that, hell, she had one tapped Creftalia because she also was a support, and her defenses were trash like Velvet’s.

“Trying to get defense is gonna be detrimental. Look, I could give you a staff that summons a five meters wide magic ball for protection. Nothing could touch you until it broke.”

“But?” She sensed the problem.

“It weighs two hundred kilograms. Two hundred kilograms you will have to drag, at least during the ten seconds it takes to set it on, and then the ten to set it off. You could not escape nor run with it, so, if two mages ganged up on you, you will be forced to watch how they slowly break the barrier with you inside, as if you were a birthday present.”

“Now, that staff is useful, if you have someone with you, and are only using it for protection until they can save you. But, if you don’t, then it’s just stalling your beating.”

Velvet looked at her in silence, thinking. “So, should I focus on mobility?”

“Guerrilla tactics? Hit and run, hit and run?” Tristan mused, to which Velvet nodded.

“I know some witches fly on brooms, but I don’t know if mages can.” She hadn’t seen any, after all.

“It is an option, but has problems.”

So it WAS an option, Velvet thought, happy. Flying looked awesome, after all! “Which ones?”

“Magic consumption is one, as is the miasma accumulation. You can fly too much and forget, but if it catches you in the middle of the ocean, it’s a problem. Second, you become an easy target. You cannot hide in the air, and spells with a big area of effect can make you fall to your death in seconds. And third, experience. How fast can you fly in a forest without kissing a tree? Faster than your enemies can run? I don’t think so, and even less if you only have two days.”

“But, if I only use it to get away, it can work.” As Tristan previously said, if she had no interest in making it to the top, running away was an option.

Tristan sighed, but admitted it wasn’t a bad option. “If that’s what you want…” She signaled at a bookcase. “There should be some broom formation blueprints on that place. Remember, a broom is something personal to a mage, so don’t copy the homework, and, and I know I don’t need to tell you this, but, don’t take anything out from here, oh, and…”

Velvet saw her looking around the room. The whole room.

“I was bringing my shop's book collection, but I didn’t organize it. I want everything by name, date and category before you leave. The artifacts more magical to the left, the ones more mechanical to the right. The unfinished blueprints on the table, and the rejected ones in that drawer.”

“I also lost a screwdriver somewhere, put it on the table once you find it. I’m leaving now, the Selection is about to start.”

Tristan crossed the door, before turning around again.

“Oh, and…”

“And…?”

“The mouse is friendly, you can play with it. But don’t eat it.”

Do you think I eat mice?! Merrs it’s the catgirl here!

Even then… the idea of eating mice filled her with a snake hunger, so she really wasn’t in a position to defend herself.

“Of course. Good luck finding a future overworked apprentice! I mean, a good minimum wage worker! I mean, a happy, diligent mage searching for their non fraudulent dream j-”

“Velvet. Those blueprints aren’t gonna organize themselves.”

“Sorry, sorry!”

Tristan left, now definitely, so Velvet turned to look at the piles of documents, books, and random assortment of pages.

“All of this is for knowledge…”