POV Luana

I was quite nervous. Tomorrow we were supposed to meet Rich, but everyone else was quite skeptical about him, especially after we found our 4th member. I was glad that it was a woman, but she was also quite a lot stronger than her stat blocks would indicate like the rest of us.

We had also found a few more promising candidates, but none of them were good at tanking. I still believe that Rich should be good enough, but the final say wouldn't be with me but with the whole team.

We were already in Verdia, and I did love how there were good restaurants here with food to die for. When I finally saw the server bringing the food we ordered, I could hardly stop myself from drooling.

As I smelled the food in front of me, I also heard the voices of Adam and Horus. It seems that they were also returning to the table and just in time. As they sat down, I listened to what they were saying while enjoying the food in front of me.

"I understand that you are worried, and I agree to an extent, but we have had this discussion many times before. There simply isn't anyone else that's at our level that can keep up with us and isn't already a part of a different party," explained Adam once again.

"Yes, I can understand, but I don’t have to like it. I mean, we have all trained together for months, and even our latest member has a month with us. But already the four of us should be able to make our goal without any problems. We could just bring anyone as our fifth."

"Horus, our goal shouldn't be to just finish the requirement but to delve as deep as possible. The deeper we go, the more rewards we will get," I said between bites. Both of my companions went silent for a moment before Horus continued.

"So, you have always assured us that he can deliver, but how deep do you actually think we can go?" I needed to think about that. We basically had the perfect party composition, and everyone was a lot better than the average, but we were also at the beginning stage of rank two.

"We could probably make it to the 4th milestone and possibly a bit beyond. But if our teamwork is good enough, we might reach the core." I was interrupted by Adam starting to cough. It seems that some of his food went down the wrong pipe, and of course, Horus was looking at me like I was mad. Perhaps I was, but this dungeon favored the typical archetype of a party.

"You are crazy, you know that?" Horus said, which made Adam look at him disapprovingly. I did like how he was defensive like that. We continued to eat while enjoying the entertainment of the endless arena fights.

"Welcome back to our short break. Today we have had some incredible fights as always, but more will come. The higher ELO fight will begin in a few hours. But today’s big news is a new fighter. While his record currently is 9-1 and that loss is currently under review, the more impressive part is that he has achieved that record today. Yes, you heard me right, he has fought 10 times from the morning to the afternoon," one of the commentators said.

"While this is impressive, what my co-commentator so conveniently forgot to say is that he's only in the beginning leagues in rank two and has yet to fight anyone truly dangerous," the other commentator said.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Are you crazy? A few of the fighters he has fought have been downright dangerous and have had incredibly good performances before fighting him. But you are somewhat correct. Only time will tell how well he will do. Currently, unfortunately, we know nothing else, and the things we do know, unfortunately, we cannot yet disclose as this is the beginning league, so we are not allowed to disclose any pertinent information." - "Hang on, I'm receiving new information. It seems that the next opponent has been chosen for him, and I suspect his reign of terror will now come to an end. He's up against a mage. "

That comment made me concentrate more on the screen that was most prominently displayed. Up until this point, I was only occasionally glancing at the fights, but I did always like when mages won fights. Unfortunately, it seems that my smile and attention to the commentators clued my companions in on my thoughts.

"Luana, you really need to stop thinking that mages are the best," Horus said, to which I gave him a murderous look. "Fine, I will concede that on average mages are stronger, but so many have fallen because they think too highly of themselves."

That made me look away and concentrate back on the screen. I knew he was right, but those damn teachers and their philosophy were starting to affect my thinking. I wanted to be a fighter, unlike most who have access to mana. They usually only do it because there isn’t a better option as it pays well, and our equipment and the resources we require cost quite a lot.

The fight was about to begin, and I examined the fighters. One was a typical water mage, but the other one was a massive armored fighter who was using a large shield and a long sword. Although for regular-sized people, it would be more like a two-handed weapon.

"I bet two meals on the mage," Adam said, to which Horus scoffed. "Look how arrogant that mage looks. He might be able to do damage, but I think he will fail in the end. I will take that bet." They both looked at me, but I shook my head, to which they both looked at me questioningly.

"I’m not sure. Horus is kinda right." As soon as I finished saying that, I wished I hadn’t, as the shit-eating grin on Horus made me want to punch him. Also, the melee fighter's body structure kind of looked similar, but I couldn’t put my finger on who he reminded me of.

POV Rich

Facing down a rank two mage was nerve-wracking. I had no idea what kind of a mage he was, and I generally knew very little about them other than they can cause tremendous damage. This one, however, looked high on his own power, but I was about to find out if he had the right to be like that or not.

I kind of got the feeling that he was a water mage, but I wasn’t completely certain about that. One thing I knew definitely was that he was quite powerful, and while we were waiting for the referee's countdown, I could already see how he was preparing a large spell.

The moment the fight was declared, his spell activated, and my plan to try to dodge it was scrapped. A huge tidal wave of water approached me, and I simply didn’t have the time or the space to escape it. I held out my shield, but I was soon enveloped by the water, and it seems that the mage had complete control as I saw him squeezing his fist which made the water exert more pressure on me. With his other hand, he continued to create more water.

It wasn't real water. It had some properties like water, it looked and acted like water, but it was a recreation. Over 70% of it was just mana that loosely mimicked water, while the rest of it was a more accurate physical simulation of water.

I was like a weak candle about to be snuffed out. My mind screamed to burst and fight the torrent of mana with my own torrent of energy, but just before I did it, I pulled back. What was I, a stupid teenager? There was no need to show everyone what I was really capable of.

Instead, I made sure that the flickering light that was my energy inside this crushing mana didn’t go out. If I moved, I would also give away that I wasn’t going to die so easily. I made my sword disappear while hiding myself behind the shield.

I pulled out my throwing knife. I charged it up with double the energy I thought I needed. Quick calculations ran through my head to get my aim correct. I should do a straight throw as a spinning knife would be more affected by the mimicry of water. I put as much strength as my body could gather into the throw and watched as my knife cut through the magic and flew straight at the mage.

The spell that he was casting hid the approaching knife, so the mage didn’t even know what happened before he was teleported out. A few moments later, most of the water disappeared, and the remaining water quickly started to steam away.

Usually, when a fight ends, there’s cheering, but everyone was quiet. Even the referee hadn't called my win. But I wasn’t concerned about them. I was looking at my knife that was buried into the wall of the arena. Son of a bitch.

I walked close to it and tried to look inside to see that it was about half my arm's length inside the wall. The stone looked incredibly tough, but I guess it’s time to use that grip strength that I should have. I was able to get two fingers into the hole, and then I activated my ability and crushed with my hand, being able to get a chunk out of the wall. This won’t take long.