The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  "Five hundred spirit stones? Did you just rob people before coming here? I only have two hundred. How can I carry that many on me?" said the director of studies.

  "Haha, don't mention it. You know we have a hard time here. Then let's bet two hundred. I bet two hundred that the Exil will be the final winner of this competition." Steve spoke while slightly increasing the volume of his voice.

  The director of studies did not answer immediately but he could see the students and the rogue mages looking at him. With the wager, Steve had successfully attracted everyone's attention. If he were to say no, wouldn't that mean that he was not even confident in the strength of the academy's students?

  The problem was that he really was not confident in them. After witnessing Jason's strength. If all the rogue mages were as strong as him, victory was not guaranteed.

  'That bastard! He purposedly mentioned this now and did not bother to speak quietly...'

  The bet was a trap. If he refused, it would be a harsh blow to the team's morale. In the end, he could only agree.

  Chapter 34: Dual casting

  The battles continued. Youngsters from both sides stood up on the stage and fought each other. So far, the score was fairly close.

  After thirteen different matches, the score was now seven to six in favor of the Exil. The situation was not looking good for the academy; they only had two more fights left and they needed to win both of them to win the exchange. The last two students who had yet to fight were none other than Alexander and Sonya Kress.

  Everyone's mood was gloomy. Nobody had high expectations for Alexander and many thought that they had already lost. It was already known that Alexander only had a modest performance index of 5.1; with that, his growth was bound to be limited.

  Nevertheless, the team captain of The Watchers coached Sonya before her match. "Do not worry about the outcome. Do your best and show them your strength. If you win, you'll bring glory to our organization. Once you officially become one of our members, you will be immediately rewarded with some resources."

  Sonya nodded and quietly made her way to the stage. The moral of the team was at its lowest but she needed to proudly hold her head. The small advice from the team captain did not help her much but she knew she needed to win.

  As for Alexander, he did not seem to be concerned by the events. He quietly browsed through the files on his X-Driver to check the information of the remaining rogue mages. There were only two that haven't fought yet: One of them was a young Russian man called Viktor and the other was a Chinese native called Wang Chong.

  Compared to the others, it did not matter if the academy won or not; as long as he himself won, he would still get his rewards.

  However, during the entire event, Alexander had been paying close attention to the results and easily noticed a trend. The five points of the academy were obtained from team battles and only one point was obtained from solo duels by a youth named Yaaseen Balackey from NXT.

  While observing the matches, Alexander noticed that the rogue mages were all stronger than the students of the academy. It was only in team battles which involved a certain amount of teamwork that the recruits of the organizations had the upper hand. They were used to working together while rogue mages would usually roam around by themselves.

  As for why the rogue mages were stronger than the students, Alexander also came up with a theory. It was very likely that the rogue mages took advantage of the awakening time.

  In order to awaken as a mage, one needed to be at least eighteen years old. As soon as one would go past that age barrier, they would immediately be eligible to awaken. The students of the academy all awakened at the same time, regardless of when exactly was their birthday but was it the same for the rogue mages?

  Rogue mages did not have any facilities or large gatherings like the academy did. They were not a structured organization yet and it was very likely that they would simply awaken right after becoming eighteen years old.

  The academic year started in September which meant that there was a huge period of nine months that the rogue mages could exploit. Regardless of when they were born, a student of the Earth Academy would always awaken in September but it was different for the rogue mages. If they were born in January, they could immediately attempt the awakening ceremony right after their birthday.

  This meant that they could have practiced meditation and spells for a much longer time than any of the academy's students. Although the rogue mages lacked resources and proper teaching facilities and courses, the additional time they had to practice easily made up for their lack of resources. They gained useful experiences and were more adept at fighting than any student of the academy.

  The representatives of the organization did not realize it at first but after a few matches, it was apparent that the rogue mages were winning because their mana reservoir was much larger than that of the students.

  "It is over. We are going to lose. Even if Sonya manages to win. What can that guy do?" said Sheila, one of the recruits of the Flemming organization.

  Sebastien Lafouche frowned but did not comment. He knew the situation was not looking good for the academy. 'Maybe this situation will force the entity behind Alexander to come out of the shadows.'

  However, while none of the seniors spoke, the other students started to voice out their opinion. Sheila could speak freely as she had won her battle but after a while, those who lost their matches also joined in. It was so easy to shift the blame on just one person.

  Alexander was considered the weak link of the team. Someone needed to be blamed for the defeat of the academy. Since they had the backing of their own organization, many students were trying to use him as a scapegoat for losing the competition.

  "If we brought someone from the organization, I am sure that he will snatch the final victory for us!"

  Seeing that Alexander was not saying anything, the students thought that he was too scared to speak. They continued to speak among themselves until Sonya and her opponent Viktor stood in their allocated area of the arena.

  Sonya held her short dagger tightly. She took a deep breath and started to calm down. She worked hard and practiced her techniques after her defeat with Alexander. She felt completely defeated after having lost in such a silly way but now, she was ready for all situations.

  Viktor was tall. His skin was abnormally pale but aside from his skin tone, he was quite handsome. "You are using daggers? Does that mean I can also use my blade?" said Viktor while pulling out a long sanguine blade.

  Sonya did not answer. It was not against the rule to use cold weapons but it was rare for mages to do so. Only the Watchers would usually carry daggers with them.

  The match soon began but contrary to the spectators' expectation, Sonya did not immediately use [Invisibility], instead, she activated the [Eye of the Storm], the very spell that previously caused her demise.

  She wanted to show everyone how much she had grown; how she would not commit the same mistake twice!

  Viktor quickly reacted.

  [Earthern Might]

  A thick Earth Armor suddenly covered Viktor's body, completely protecting him from the violent winds outside. Viktor could feel his armor shaking under the violent winds but he quickly stabilized the armor.

  "Boom boom"

  With each step Viktor took, a loud "Boom" resonated across the arena. One could imagine how heavy the Earth Armor was on his body. The long Sanguine Blade was the only part that stood out of the armor.

  Through the wind, Sonya could see the long red sword slowly making its way toward her. She frowned, her opponent's defense was impressive but she would not be defeated by this.

  The boyish girl stopped the [Eye of the Storm] and turned to [Wind Spears] to pierce through the Earth Armor.

  As she expected, Viktor quickly let go of his armor and used [Virtual Wall] to protect himself. As strong as the armor was, it would not be able to protect him against the spears.

  "So he is someone who fights defe
nsively. If it's like that, I must end it very soon. Or else, I will run out of mana like the other students!" exclaimed Sonya.

  [Wind Rush]

  She dashed toward the exposed Viktor, holding her two daggers threateningly. Viktor reacted but his move was not something Sonya could have anticipated.

  He let go of the wall and threw his long sanguine blade at her. Thanks to [Wind Rush], she easily dodged the blade.

  Unfortunately, the attack was not over. Sonya rushed toward Viktor when she suddenly felt a sense of danger. In front of her, Viktor was smiling at her; she did not understand why she would feel that way when suddenly, the long sanguine blade mercilessly pierced through her left thigh.

  Pain flooded her body; Sonya stumbled on the ground, doing her best to avoid pushing the blade further into her thigh. "What was that? How did the blade come back?" exclaimed Sonya. She was completely taken by surprise.

  ***

  From the Spectator seats, the director of studies let out a gasp of surprise. "Is it Telekinesis?"

  "Correct. He is quite impressive, right? It usually takes several months to master Telekinesis and even then, this spell is hard to use in combat," answered Steve while smiling. He could already taste the incoming victory.

  As for the students of the academy, they were all dead silent. They all knew that [Telekinesis] was an advanced spell. How many of them could use one? Even if Sonya lost, no one could blame her.

  The recruits of the Watchers commented, "She chose a frontal fight. If she used sneak attacks she might have been able to win."

  "Not necessarily. It is very hard to avoid being detected by someone using [Telekinesis]. I think that Sonya did fine."

  On the stage, Sonya pulled out the blade covered with her own blood while glaring at Viktor.

  "Little girl, don't be angry. Do you want to surrender? We can stop it now."

  Her response was immediate. "Never!"

  [Eye of the Storm]

  She was out of option and could not even stand up. She still had some mana but the situation did not look good. She watched as Viktor once again used [Earthern Might] to protect himself. She could feel the feeling of despair slowly creeping up on her.

  The [Eye of the Storm] was her most powerful spell but even that was not strong enough to deal with Viktor. What else could she do? Sonya was racking her brain, desperately looking for a solution.

  In the meanwhile, Viktor was slowly making his way toward Sonya; victory was already in sight. The referee was also preparing himself to intervene to stop the match at the right time.

  Then, the situation suddenly changed. Sonya raised her weakened arms toward Viktor and activated her [Wind Spears] but the peculiar thing was that the [Eye of the Storm] was still active!

  The wind spears appeared in front of Sonya and flew through the raging storm outside.

  Viktor panicked. His mind went blank; how was it possible to use two spells at a time? His earth armor could not stop the Wind spears but if he used another defensive spell, then he would immediately be swept by the [Eye of the Storm].

  Fortunately, Viktor did not need to make a choice. The referee jumped in just in time and shielded him from all the dangers.

  "Miss. Please stop. The match is over, you have won!" exclaimed the referee.

  Sonya still did not understand what exactly happened. She was just looking for a way to defeat Viktor and her only spell that could pierce his Earth Armor was her [Wind Spears] but she knew she could not cast two spells at the same time. However, her body unexpectedly reacted, allowing a miracle to happen.

  When she saw the situation, Sonya let go of the mana in her spirit circuit. Her mind was still racing, unsure of what exactly happened.

  All the spectators stared at the scene with astonished expression. It was especially true for all the seniors. "Is that dual casting? You have a first-year student that can dual cast?" exclaimed Steve with astonishment.

  Even the director of studies did not believe what he had just witnessed. Dual casting was an advanced technique that allowed mages to use two spells at a time. To activate a spell, mages simply needed to send in mana into specific spirit circuits. By changing which spirit circuits they used, they could change the properties of the spells.

  However, with the right state of mind, it was possible to send mana in one's spirit circuit and to make them independent of each other. It was possible to isolate different parts of the spirit circuit, causing them to not interact. This way, two independent spells would be activated at the same time. This was known as dual casting.

  Even Alexander was surprised to see Sonya use this technique. In his past life, it was only after more than five years that he finally managed to learn this technique. Yet, after just three months of exposure to magic, Sonya was already able to do so.

  "Sigh... This is the difference between talents... I knew I am only average but compared to people like Sonya, I am just trash. How far would I have reached had I had such talents?"

  Chapter 35: Extreme spell

  With Sonya's victory, the score was back to 7-7 but neither sides cheered. Sonya was brought back to the spectator seats after being healed by the medical team. Her wound had already disappeared but she was still dizzy and tired from the excessive use of her spirit circuit.

  Her friends immediately took care of her while the others sent her a few congratulatory messages. They made sure she was at peace for her recovery. She was the hero who managed to snatch a point in the solo battles and naturally, in everyone's eyes, Alexander was the villain who was about to waste her efforts.

  "For the next fight, Alexander Vagras from the Earth Academy and Wang Chong from the Exil. Will you please step on the stage," said the director of studies. His tone was dull. He was clearly not very confident in Alexander, especially after what his friend, Steve told him.

  "Andrea, I hope your last student is as impressive as the last one! Wang Chong is quite strong. He is different from the other rogue mages who joined us. His father is one of the leading politicians of China and he is really rich. He is one of the few that do not need to actively look for resources. Furthermore, his nineteenth birthday is not very far."

  The director of studies' high spirit collapsed when he heard his friend. He did not witness directly Alexander's strength and the only reason he was sent on this trip was to test whether there really was an organization behind him. Yet, there has been no results on that front too.

  When he saw Alexander stand up to go down the stairs, the director of studies stopped him when Alexander walked pass him. "Alexander, you do remember our deal, right?"

  Alexander paused briefly and smiled at the director of studies, "Of course, I will definitely win this fight. But can I ask something to Mr. Steve first?" said Alexander.

  Steven naturally heard Alexander and replied, "What is it?"

  "I was wondering... What are you planning to do with your remaining three hundred spirit stones? Will you be willing to bet them with me?" asked Alexander.

  Everybody was stunned. Everyone present had their attention focused on Alexander.

  "What do you mean by that?" asked Steve after recollecting his thoughts.

  "You were making a bet with our director of studies earlier. I was thinking of making a bet with you too for the three hundred spirit stones you have. But doing the same bet will be boring. How about that, I bet that I will be able to beat your student in two moves? Do you agree?"

  Alexander's proposition stunned everyone. They all let out a gasp of surprise, unsure of what Alexander was doing. Did he have that much money to squander or was he really that confident in his strength?

  The most affected was naturally Wang Chong who happened to be going down the stair at the moment. He almost slipped when he heard Alexander speak. "Who do you think you are sh*thead? Defeating me in two moves? I will make you regret ridiculing me!" swore Wang Chong.

  Steven looked at Alexander with interest, "Aren't you just a student? Where will you find all those spirit st
ones?"

  "True... I don't have them with me but the director of studies can vouch for me. I will win anyway so it does not matter," answered Alexander.

  "What a bold statement!" exclaimed the spectators. Everyone was intently looking at the director of studies to see his reaction.

  The latter was taken off guard, he did not know how to react but when he saw his friend, Steve's expectant look, he nodded. His mind was racing; "Does that mean that Alexander really has an organization behind him that can provide spirit stones?"

  "Since that's the case, I agree," said Steve while presenting his hand. He was confident in Wang Chong's strength. Why would he say no to three hundred additional spirit stones? It was not a small sum!

  Alexander shook hands with Steve to seal the deal and then said, "Alright, but before the battle, I first need to go to the bathroom!"