The rest of the trip wasn’t very eventful. Aida bought Sue lunch at a stall selling what looked to be soft shell tacos, but the ingredients inside consisted of some sort of root vegetable, sour fruit, and a roasted bird. The tacos were savory, but the combination of flavors and texture left Aida mystified by Sue's declaration that grain cakes were her favorite food.
Following their meal, Aida followed Sue around the same district the Tulvers’ Bathhouse was located, where she browsed some stationary shops. She left with a few bottles of colored ink wrapped in cotton cloth and a couple packages of paper. “I need to plan my strategy for the placement matches tomorrow if they’re really going to change the judging criteria,” she told Aida.
Yikes. Aida comforted herself with the thought that at least she had some new skills she could use, so that she wouldn’t embarrass herself too much. When they finally returned to the guard tower where they had left Sue’s fire float, they were both so exhausted they didn’t exchange many words on the ride back. Bidding Sue farewell outside their doors (Sue confessed that she was going to take dinner in her room to avoid distractions from her spar preparations), Aida flopped onto her bed. She opened her status box.
Congratulations! You have improved the following attributes:
FOC: 7 [+5 RP]
VIT: 5 [+5 RP]
Congratulations! You have leveled the following skills:
Mana Cycling (Lv5) [+3 RP]
Water Manipulation (Lv3) [+3 RP]
You have enough RP to learn a new Skill. Please select from the following:
1. Detox (Lv1) - Costs 5 RP to learn.
Total RP: 57
Aida sighed. She had a decent chunk of RP saved up, but she didn’t have any new skills available to learn. On the other hand, she did need some more practice with her current skillset, and she needed to see what her limits were before she entered combat. Deciding to get an early dinner so she could snag a training dummy for the rest of the evening, Aida headed down to the dining hall.
Ordering a vegetable stew with fish to supplement her mana pools (the day’s activities and meal had given her a nice boost), Aida was about to dig in at her favorite booth when Levi slid into the seat across from her with his own tray.
“Sue not joining you for dinner tonight?”
“No, she wanted to focus on preparing for the matches tomorrow,” Aida said, looking up from her stew. Levi was wearing a teal flannel that made his piercing bronze eyes pop. “I’m surprised you’re not doing the same thing.”
Levi raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’m not preparing?”
Aida grinned. “I don’t think eating dinner with me will give you any advantages.”
Levi laughed, the timbre of his voice bouncing around the hall unrestrained. “You’d be surprised.” He leaned forward. “Are you preparing?”
Levi’s cologne wafted through the stew’s aroma, the spicy woody scent gently tickling her nose. Her dinner looked even more appetizing. “I was going to get some practice in after dinner.”
“Great,” Levi said heartily, leaning back. “I’ll join you.”
Eyeing him suspiciously, Aida said nothing as she spooned soup into her mouth. As she was about to pry at his motivations, Aida felt a surge of anger aimed at her – or more accurately, someone who had just entered the dining hall with a measured heart rate and steady, controlled mana suddenly spasmed into incoherent, disjointed spikes. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Pritchard with his lackeys, staring at her and Levi and seething.
Aida giggled, but then caught herself and glanced at Levi. “Um…am I going to regret laughing?”
He smirked. “We’ll make sure you don’t.”
Ignoring Pritchard visually, Aida focused on the mood of the rest of Pritchard’s group. They were also nervous – and scared. A few of his compatriots drew him towards the ordering counter, attempting to soothe him. Curious, Aida glanced back at them, and opened their character profiles.
The one actively leading Pritchard to the counter was Shon, a boy with almond-shaped eyes and hair the color of walnuts, flanked by Abedi, a tall, muscular fellow with dark skin and golden hair. Myk, the skinny, awkward kid who had burned the confession letter meant for Sue, was glaring disdainfully at Aida and Levi on behalf of Pritchard. The last member of Pritchard’s entourage was Devinne, a boy with ice-colored hair and a faintly embarrassed look on his face.
Character Profile: Shon Yanomo
Elemental Affinity: Wood
Class Rank: 15/30
Character Profile: Abedi Bellow
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Elemental Affinity: Metal
Class Rank: 11/30
Character Profile: Pritchard Spoak
Elemental Affinity: Earth
Class Rank: 9/30
Character Profile: Myk Chy
Elemental Affinity: Fire
Class Rank: 6/30
Character Profile: Devinne Flau
Elemental Affinity: Water
Class Rank: 5/30
Turning back to her meal while still perusing their profiles, Aida thought she could at least hold her own respectably against them. Their attributes were pretty average, and with all the progress she had made this past star cycle she was no longer the utterly incompetent wimp the system had initially classified her as.
“You’ll want to be wary of Dev,” Levi informed Aida, scooping the last of the rice into his mouth. “His parents were not impressed with his final ranking last year, so they bought him tutors for intensive study during the holiday.”
“Really? Am I honestly in competition with him?” Aida asked sarcastically. “Top five versus dead last?”
Levi grinned, sending her heart fluttering. “Fair. I just mean you should focus on protecting yourself, because his mana might totally overwhelm you this time.” He glanced back at the group, who were now receiving their trays. “Are you done? We should go get some practice in.”
Nodding, Aida followed Levi out of the booth. They skirted the perimeter of the dining tables, avoiding Pritchard’s group but not the mean mugging from Pritchard and Myk.
Levi led Aida to the combat field. There were six flat dirt rings in the middle of the circular yard, marked with chalk. Spaced out along the combat field’s walls were wooden training dummies, standing sentry for the entire field.
Only a few of the dummies were taken. The students out here were serious, focused on their own dummies, except for a few girls who smiled and waved at Levi, who raised an arm and smiled back in return. They swooned, obviously.
“All right, let’s start with some warmups?” Levi asked, swiping his wand in three quick slashes, sending arcs of colorless energy speeding towards the dummy they commandeered. The mana dissipated against the dummy, but painted on red streaks that marked where Levi’s mana had struck.
Pointing her own wand at the dummy, Aida focused on bringing just a smidge of mana out, unwilling to expend more than she had to. The puff of mana that came out of her wand colored the dummy a light green over Levi’s confident red.
“What are you trying to do, tickle your opponent?” Levi laughed.
“This is a warmup, is it not?” Aida retorted. She aimed her wand again, allowing a larger portion of mana to emerge. This blob showed as a solid neon yellow on the dummy, looking like a splatter of highlighter ink. Deciding to go for it, she let the largest amount of mana she could control surge through her wand, which only ended up making the dummy look like a pumpkin, with a slight tinge of red. How much power does Levi have to get it red?
“That’s a pretty decent improvement,” Levi said, observing the hues. “I think for tomorrow’s placement matches you can do something between your second and third blasts.”
Looking quizzically at Levi, Aida took a quick peek around at the training yard. Sure enough, everyone else who was working on their blast combo seemed to temper their blasts to be a yellow-orange color. “I think I can handle that.” Gathering herself again, she attempted channeling the correct amount of mana, releasing it in three quick swipes like Levi - only to have all three fly off to the sides of the dummy, missing entirely.
On the other hand, it seemed like the walls of the training yard were similarly enchanted to the dummy, displaying the power level of her mana blasts. The first blast that struck the wall was peach-colored, and the two following became progressively more yellow.
Levi tittered, before clearing his throat and adopting a serious expression. “Okay, looks like accuracy is still an issue for you.” He took a stance next to Aida, his wand pointing straight in front of him at the dummy, his shoulders square. Aida mirrored his stance, standing next to him. “Your aim is fine when you don’t have to move, so that’s a good start. Unfortunately, that limits your range of attack; you’ll have to be super accurate and precise in order to land your skill.”
Aida nodded, understanding the logic. Levi continued talking, raising his wand arm and bringing it down slowly in a swiping motion, ending in the same square position with the wand pointing at the dummy. “We’ll go through the motions of adding the swipe, but we won’t release any mana until the wand is pointed at your target.”
Following Levi’s cue, Aida raised her wand, and then brought it straight down in front of her for a couple practice strokes, before releasing her mana on the last swipe. The straightforward exercise yielded a mana blast that hit squarely on the dummy.
Aida tried a few more times, with different starting stroke positions, each blast landing unerringly on the dummy’s torso. Levi had her progress to the next level, where she would complete the arc of the swipe, but still only release her mana right when the point of her wand reached over her target.
“Excellent,” Levi declared, after Aida had loosened up from her rigid form. “Shall we move on to a friendly sparring match?”
Aida reluctantly nodded, taking her position opposite Levi at the nearest training ring. She could see some of the students trying to covertly watch their match.
Levi fell back into his ready stance, holding his wand out in front of him like a sword. Aida mirrored him, shuffling her feet as she tried to feel comfortable in position. She glanced at him, waiting for him to make the first move.
She could tell he was trying to suppress a smirk, which stirred the smolders of the competitive fire she had long thought quenched. It’s just sparring. Biting her lip to keep herself from throwing all of her mana at him, she fired a controlled jet at him, which he easily sidestepped. He countered with a large, exaggerated sweep of his wand, sending a broad burst of energy at her that she ducked under. Catching herself on her toes, she sent a swipe of mana back at him as she straightened back into a standing position. He easily cut through the arc with his wand, letting her energy dissipate harmlessly to either side of him.
Levi began circling, his smirk broadening into a grin. Aida followed, keeping the distance between them the same. “Why don’t you do something for a change?”
“Don’t mind if I do.” With that, Levi charged at Aida.