Aida spent the rest days training - more to establish a routine, than to actually eke out any significant improvement for the second half of the placement matches. She hoped she would be able to maintain a similar training schedule once classes officially started. I won’t fall below rank 15, at least. In that regard, the pressure was alleviated.
Her routine was simple. First thing in the morning, she would go for a thirty minute jog (more like a power walk, honestly) around the lake. Then she would take a quick shower (practicing her Water Manipulation with the free water) before grabbing breakfast, when Sue would usually join her. After breakfast, she would go to the training field, where she would practice her Mana Blasts and Mana Surging on the dummies until she had about half of her mana left - that usually brought her to lunchtime.
After lunch was usually when all of the other characters felt up to socializing - teenagers - as they finally decided their hunger needs outweighed their sleep requirements. Aida was able to convince Ezra to spend time with her after lunch to evaluate her attempts at Blast-Cycling (he had raised his eyebrow skeptically at her request, but admitted that she had improved greatly since Shale Port); the first day had just been purely for evaluation and critique purposes, so she was surprised when he followed her the next day back to the lake. When her mana would deplete to about a quarter, she would declare her Blast-Cycling attempts over for the day, and head up to the gym for training with Caleb before dinner. Caleb’s workout program for her consisted of a lot of exercises that reminded her of crossfit fanatics: sled pushing and pulling, carrying buckets of sand, squat lunges while carrying a load, as well as sprints and footwork - and whenever she tried to sneak in a mana surge to aid her flagging strength, he would shoot a small burst of mana at her to disrupt her concentration, giving her a stern look. Aida would gratefully devour her dinner, rush her shower, and collapse into bed, painstakingly using the rest of her mana to heal her muscles before being claimed by slumber.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
When Aida woke on Sparks Day, she considered skipping the matches in favor of squeezing in some more training - except this would be the best opportunity for her to observe her opponents, and possibly come up with a plan for when she faced them later in the star cycle. Resigned, she fetched her school bag. Just don’t get intimidated.
The dining hall was significantly more tense this cycle than last cycle - except the focus seemed to be on the top ten and bottom five. The middle echelons of the class were like Aida, apathetic about their outcomes now that they were already bracketed into the safe, essentially anonymous ranks.
“What’s the bag for?” Levi asked.
“I have to take notes on my opponents,” Aida informed him.
Levi sighed heavily. “You’re taking this a little too seriously.”
“I don’t want to risk the instructors finding an excuse to drop me from the top fifteen,” Aida said primly.
“That would never happen.”
“I would be the first this happens to,” Aida said darkly.
Shaking his head, Levi dropped the topic as Sue approached, her whole body tight. “Hey, Sue. How are you feeling?” Aida asked, concerned. She assumed Sue’s current pinched expression could be described as “constipated” on normal people, though all it did to transform Sue’s looks was make her look like she was smoldering.
Sue shook her head queasily. “Feeling pretty watery this morning, I need to get some spice into me,” she said, her voice strained.
“Do you think Lily will have something that can help?” Aida asked, spotting the girl come in with Vanita.
“No, it’s fine, I’ll just Mana Cycle while I eat…that should help. I just need to relax.”
Aida exchanged a look with Levi. “Any thoughts you’d like to share about your match today?”
Levi shrugged helplessly. “It’s Ezra. I’m going to get soundly chopped. I would rather have my first match be a sustain match.”
Seeing Aida’s brow come together in confusion, he leaned over to her to speak more quietly. “We call matchups like Match 1 ‘sustain matches’ because one element feeds the other, but the fed element doesn’t actually have increased effectiveness against the feeder element. Match 2 types are called ‘advantaged matches,’ because one element has an inherent weakness against the other.” Aida nodded, accepting his explanation, unwilling to ask more questions within earshot of Sue.
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When they finally went to the combat rings, Sue’s mood had gotten worse, despite the eye-watering spice in her breakfast. Levi and Aida bid Sue good luck before they headed to a seat in the stands.
Aida promptly pulled out her notebook and (barely-repaired) dip pen. “Can you go into more detail about how the sustain and advantaged matches work? What’s the strategy for each type of matchup?”
“Well, when you’re in a sustain match, it’s all about making sure your attacks count. It’s not exactly a ‘feed,’ like a one-to-one transfer of mana, but more of how your affinity can naturally absorb and process the feeder element. When you’re on the feeder side, you’ll have to put in - say - twice the amount of power you normally would to damage any other element. If you’re on the fed side, you might find that you’ll be able to regain some mana from the attack. That’s not always true though,” Levi added. “It really depends on how the feeder element shapes their attack - if they manage to hold their mana and concentration, and your Mana Cycling isn’t up to par, you’re not going to be able to absorb any of their attack at all.”
Aida exhaled, scribbling as fast as she could on her wobbly nib. “So, in an ideal match, I’d absorb all the attacks from my Metal opponent, and I’d have a bunch of mana I normally wouldn’t have?”
“Exactly.”
“And if I were to fight a Wood opponent - you, for instance - in order to beat you, I’d have to make sure I…put in enough mana to overwhelm you, more than you can absorb, or make sure my mana control is so tight that you can’t digest any of my attacks?”
Levi’s brow furrowed. “That’s…not the way I would describe it, but I can’t say that it’s wrong.”
“Okay, great. Now what about the advantaged matches?”
“Advantaged is a bit more straightforward. If you were fighting Sue, then your attacks would have greater effect on her - you’d effectively be dampening the fire of her soul, so she would have to struggle more in order to produce the same output she normally would. You don’t exactly have a natural resistance against her, though - your benefit against her is that you don’t have to use as much mana against her to wear her down,” Levi explained. “Now, if you were fighting against Caleb, same thing. His Earth would suffocate your Water’s flow, so if you wanted to beat him, you would have to be very clever with your skills, and figure out some combination of outlasting him and making sure your skills all hit.”
Aida tapped her notebook with her pen, leaving several dots on the page. “So that’s what the instructors intended with the new point system? ‘Afford more balance to disadvantaged elements,’ or whatever the phrasing was. It was to account for Match 2 types?”
“Exactly,” Levi agreed. He heaved out a heavy sigh. “It’s so demoralizing starting off the matches in a disadvantaged position.”
“Just score a point on Ezra,” Aida said loftily, slipping her notebook back into her bag. “Oh shoot, I missed the entire first match.”
“By the way, just as a point of reference,” Levi said, getting up and stretching. “Try and stick with your element’s theme when you need to curse. It sticks out when you use another element’s.”
Aida looked blankly at him. “’Shoots’ is something Lily or I would use,” Levi advised. “Aida used to say ‘drops,’ so give that a try next time.”
Aida grumbled about having her language policed as Levi headed to the gate. In her rank’s grouping, Abedi and Shon were lined up at the gate already. Exiting the arena, Tera was nursing a few burns, while Natalie looked pale and clammy, needing to walk with the support of the wall. Is it better to drown, burn, break a bone, or what? Aida wondered idly.
Her eyes drifted to Sue, who was sitting on a stool in front of Healer Luk, a humiliated expression on her face. Frowning, she searched for Caleb, only to find him walking slowly towards the gate with an equally sober countenance. Did Caleb beat Sue?
“That was a disappointing showing.”
Lara had slipped into the seat behind her, and was leaning forward on her knees to speak to Aida. Aida adopted a politely puzzled expression. Seeing her face, Lara elaborated. “Sue’s number two, but she lost to number four?” She shook her head, and said, almost as if to herself, “It’s almost like you seeped into her.”
“That was unnecessary,” Aida said, her lips barely moving as she tried to keep her composure.
Lara nodded somberly. “You’re right. That was a joke in poor taste. My apologies.” She stood up to leave, but paused to add, “Please tell her to get her head back on straight. I would hate to beat her only because she wasn’t at her best.”
Aida watched Lara depart. The impassive girl said all the right things, and arguably hadn’t done anything offensive, but Aida didn’t like her. She looked up and smiled as Caleb approached.
“Congratulations.”
Caleb nodded, conflicted feelings finally crossing his face. “Thank you.”
“It seems that match’s results were unexpected.” Aida nodded after Lara, who had just elegantly seated herself back among her friends.
“I wasn’t expecting to win either,” Caleb replied softly. He blinked owlishly at her. “Your advice worked, I guess.”
Aida looked at him inquiringly, and he finally smiled, the purple in his eyes glimmering, throwing off fireworks in her peripheral vision. “Your advice about focusing on something useful.”
Aida laughed awkwardly, waving the glitter out of her vision. “I’m glad my ramblings helped.”
Caleb opened his mouth to explain more, but Aida stood up abruptly. “Sorry Caleb, I’m going to go check on Sue.” Giving him a quick wave, Aida scurried down the steps to the gate, where Healer Luk was gently guiding Sue through. “Are you all right?” she asked anxiously.
Sue gave Aida a watery smile. “I’m fine. I just…want to rest for the rest of the day.”
“Let me come with you,” Aida offered. Sue shook her head.
“No, you should stay, watch how Abedi and Shon fight, so you can be prepared for them,” Sue insisted. She swiped her eyes with her wrist before forcing another tremulous smile. “You have to become the best Healer in Wyndia, right?”
Aida probed Sue with questioning eyes. Sue’s reply was adamant. Please leave me be. Hesitant, Aida slowly nodded, waving Sue goodbye.