Aida filed into the arena behind her cohort and was pointed into a ring with Levan Bota, currently ranked 19 in the class. After all the monsters Aida had been in close contact with, Levan’s attributes (despite still being higher than hers) didn’t seem intimidating at all.
Levan had an open, guileless face, with aqua eyes and dirty blond hair. He greeted Aida with a smile, none of the mockery in his expression that was usually present in her other classmates when they thought she wasn’t looking. “I can’t believe you pulled one over Dev yesterday.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t try to replicate it,” Aida assured him. Unless you make water for me.
The match kicked off, shouts and cries from the other two rings floating into the air. Since Levan seemed unwilling to make the first move, Aida tried incorporating Caleb’s training tips, focusing on expanding her mana flow throughout her body. In the small part of her brain that she had put away her confusing feelings from yesterday, she was glad she had entered Caleb’s body. Seeing how he used his mana to fuel his muscles helped her understand how she was supposed to structure her mana network.
She crouched into a ready position, keeping her eyes on Levan. He mirrored her, and they began circling. Some of the spectators in the stands began calling for them to fight. Levan obliged them, firing a mana blast at her. Aida swept it aside, surprised at how slowly Levan was moving. When Levan saw her dissipate his blast so easily, his expression focused on her. Still moving slowly - faster than before, but still slow and telegraphing his move - Levan aimed his wand at her. It wasn’t until the mana blast left his wand that Aida realized Levan wasn’t moving slowly. She was faster. Her mana was improving her reaction time.
Moving around the blast that Levan had sent at her, Aida ran at Levan. She didn’t feel any faster than normal, but judging from Levan’s expression of shock she was. As Levan raised his wand at her, Aida fired two blasts at him, then stepped off to the side and sent a third. In an effort to avoid her first two shots, Levan stepped right into the third one, which knocked him sprawling. Aida stopped, holding her wand at the ready, tense.
Levan scrambled up, awe and confusion blooming across his face. He formed globules of water around himself, then shot them at her, in a replication of her mana blast. Feeling giddy and a little sorry for him, Aida caught the three orbs he shot at her with an outstretched hand, absorbing all three into one large sphere the size of a beach ball. Spinning with her hand outstretched, the sphere of water floating at her fingertips, Aida killed the momentum of the spheres. Launching the watery ball up into the air, Aida focused her hardest. Ice Blast.
The ball sprayed outward into a cone, pelting Levan with hail.
A mana blast hit Aida square in the chest, knocking her down. Levan had taken the opportunity to strike while she was channeling her Ice Blast. Winded, Aida climbed back to her feet. Levan was finally moving at normal speed, covering his head as he ran out of the area her little ice storm was hailing on. Deciding to take the risk, Aida aimed her wand at Levan and cast Freeze.
It was a good choice. Levan still had ice on him from the Ice Blast, which saved her some mana. He also didn’t notice that anything was happening until the ice had solidified around his body. Aida held the ice, pulling her mana back until it was just a trickle: enough to sustain Levan’s ice prison, and prevent him from piercing her control, but not enough to drain the rest of her mana, which was dangerously low. Levan sighed and smiled. “I yield.”
“Levan Bota yields!” Professor Gemma’s voice echoed. Relieved, Aida released her hold, dropping onto her butt as she relaxed. With Aida’s control gone, Levan slowly broke out of his ice suit. Shivering, he came over to her, holding out his hand. Clasping his wrist, she let him pull her up.
“You lied to me,” Levan joked. “You said you wouldn’t do what you did to Dev yesterday.”
“I didn’t,” Aida responded, holding a hand to her head. The world was spinning, and she felt a little nauseous. “You had already released control of that water, so it was fair game.”
Noticing that she needed assistance, Levan scooped her arm over his shoulder so she could lean on him as they limped towards Healer Luk.
“I’m not complaining,” Aida said, trying not to slur her words. “But why did you yield?”
Levan shrugged. “I saw how much you wanted it,” he said, a bite of chatter in his words. “And to be honest, that was a really cool match.”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Aida laughed, unable to say much else. She shoved herself away from Levan as she landed on her hands and knees, emptying her breakfast onto the ground.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Levi clapped Aida’s shoulder as she passed him at the gate, shaking her roughly. “Great work, little droplet.”
“Little droplet’s out of juice,” Aida responded, trying to keep her feet. Healer Luk had handed a hot tea to Aida and Levan, to boost their energy after their fight. The drink was comforting, giving Aida fresh energy in addition to clearing her mouth out, but she still longed for her bed. Levi laughed at her response as he pushed her towards where Sue and Caleb were seated, his hand lingering on the small of her back.
“Aida, your first win!” Sue crowed as Aida made her way over to them. “That was great!”
“Levan was generous,” Aida said, though her heart swelled at the victory. “He definitely could have outlasted me. He still had it in him.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sue said dismissively. “Mental fortitude in battle is more important than physical fortitude.”
“Suelina’s right,” Caleb said earnestly. “Willpower can make or break physical performance.”
Sitting down with a grateful sigh, Aida sipped at the dregs of tea in her paper cup. “I wouldn’t mind having more of this.”
“Lily can probably come up with a brew that’s similar,” Sue told Aida. “No caffeine, though. She says stimulants are cheating and it’s better to encourage rather than override the body’s natural processes.” Sue lightly rolled her eyes at the philosophy.
“Do you think Lily might have taken something for her match against Levi?” Aida asked, watching as Levi said something that made Lily laugh. She struck a pose that reminded Aida of K-pop celebrities, resting her face on the backs of her hands that made a V shape. She smiled cutely at Levi, fluttering her pale lashes. Levi gripped his heart, a pained expression on his face.
“She might have, but I doubt it would make a difference against him,” Sue said, tapping her foot impatiently. She wasn’t looking at Levi and Lily’s interaction, and was instead looking at the rest of her cohort in the stands with a predatory look in her eyes. The purple gleamed. “I sure hope Wood class doesn’t take too long.”
Aida patted Sue’s back absentmindedly, trying to get her to calm down. She checked her stats. Unfortunately, no new breakthroughs. Her Mana Cycling progress bar had increased significantly, though. The system seemed to acknowledge her active use of Mana Cycling as a challenging skill, bringing her three-quarters of the way to reaching Mana Cycling Lv6. She had more modest increases in her skills for Freeze Lv2 and Water Manipulation Lv3, bringing her close to leveling those skills as well. Satisfied with her progress, she winked out of the notification boxes, catching the beginning of the Wood matches.
The combatants in the two other rings seemed to be mostly blasting mana at each other, while small plants slowly sprouted around them. Levi and Lily seemed like the most adept growers: several weedlike clusters were spidering out of the ground, strangling the stems that Levi was trying to draw out. On top of the botanical warfare, Levi and Lily were physically exchanging blows. Lily was fast, darting around Levi like a grasshopper as she aimed axe kicks after spinning kicks at him. Levi was fast as well, serious focus replacing his typical good humor. In between Lily’s kicks, which he either avoided or blocked with a braced forearm, he would thrust various elbow or knee strikes at Lily, forcing her to pull her kicks or risk injury. Finally, Lily cried out as she lost the mana fight. Levi had drawn her into a prolonged match, forcing her to grow more and more weeds, and ultimately splitting her concentration beyond what she could handle. With her sudden break in concentration, everything happened at once.
Levi caught Lily in her belly, bending her over his thigh with the force of his knee kick. Vines erupted from the ground, catching Lily’s arms and legs and winding around them in the blink of an eye. Within seconds, Lily was suspended in the air at Levi’s height, her arms and legs spread as if she were flying.
“Levi versus Lily, winner Levi!” Professor Gemma announced. Levi plucked a sunflower that was growing from the ground, tucking it into Lily’s hair. The flowerhead dwarfed her scowling face. The ensemble of her flower hat and vine clothing made her look like some small, angry fantasy plant creature.
Sue stood up, hopping on the balls of her feet as she cracked her neck. Spinning her wand in her fingers like a pen, she leaned down to give Aida a quick hug. “I’m going to head down now,” she declared. Her voice nearly cracked with excitement.
“I feel bad for Sue’s opponent,” Aida murmured.
“She’s a bit scary,” Caleb admitted quietly. They sat in silence for a bit. Even with her muted senses (Professor Luk had warned her and Levan that the tea was just a stopgap for the rest of the day, and that they still had to get a full night’s rest in order to recover fully), Aida could feel Caleb’s tension in being alone with her.
“Listen, Caleb,” Aida finally said. “I know yesterday was weird and uncomfortable for both of us, but I just want to make sure you’re okay.” She fixed a stern eye on him. “It was weird, but I learned a lot from it, so I can move on. Can you?”
Caleb blushed as he met her eyes. His lips were pressed into a thin line, emphasizing his jawline. She saw his Adam’s apple bob. He finally nodded. “Yeah, it was an accident,” he agreed.
Aida clapped her hands as she sat back in a more casual position. “Great! So, training session later this evening? I want to pick your brain on how I can improve my mana control in combat.”
“Of course,” Caleb agreed eagerly. He was clearly relieved to return to the topic of training. “You did really well your first time mana surging. The bulk of your improvement will come from just practicing surging more, especially since you’re still new at it; you’ll get more familiar with the technique…”