Armor? "Check" Weapons? "Check" Combat Attire "Check"
I made sure to check everything that I needed. And I am made sure to plan for a few contingencies. For instance, I don't want my hair to be chopped up in combat, so, I ended up having Viviola braid it like she did previously. It felt weird, and my hair typically didn't get in the way when I tossed and turned wielding my sword, but it is a good bet to leave no possibilities behind. As for the make-up, I made sure to decline it. One water spell later and my faced would look like a smeared art piece. Well, that was my reasoning to halt Viviola any further.
"Alright, I am ready." I said once I thought I was read. I had a faint doubt though, but hey, if not being prepared is a handicap, I will be sure to take it.
I ended up planning a but of handicaps. That of which included weighted braces and anklets. I also decided to not use domain, anything in this match. I would just relay on my stills as a combatant. Still, I did have a few non-domain abilities, though they weren't combat oriented. One of that seemed to accelerate my growth, regardless of the subject. Now, this was a broken ability. Why did I not bring it up? Well, since I didn't know how to turn it off, there is no use to be worrying about such things. On the bright side, I will be able to grow even further throughout the battle through honing my own abilities as well as learning new ones in the process. Is that why the Guild leader Gabriel didn't want me to train under anybody else> In a sense, this ability, which is called, Adept Pursuit, which is currently split under spell pursuit and body pursuit which increases learning via these two. A sub-skill, which is called Multi-pursuit, allows me to multitask. So, if I ended up doing magus training, that would count when it comes to increasing the learning speed.
.....Whoops, guess I forgot another one I had. It was also on the back of my mind. It was called "Raceless". Apparently, I don't have "Any racial weaknesses", but regardless of that, due to being in an "lightning elven form" my natural stats of speed and lightning aptitude was increased because of this. Though it is a mystery why this is the case, perhaps domain related. However, I don't think I will know anything else about it until I ended up evolving it. The Evolution requirement is "racial interactions." So it seems before I am gonna be able to untap the secrets, I will need to connect with many individuals. I already got pretty far. I ended up meeting a halfling, a light elf, a shadow elf, a dwarf. Who knows, in the future I might meet more.
Once again, I couldn't really do much about this, so, I am just going to have to relish in the thought of having another boost besides this one.
At my level 26 self, it was time, to which I ended up heading to the place where the battle would start, which, after taking a carriage a bit, seemed to drive for about half a day, to an old ruin mountainside, with one of the largest coliseums in the world, though it is drastically a hassle for someone such as a navigator to travel. That coliseum was owned by the guild for such events like bootcamps, training, and tournaments such as this one. Though it was in shabby shape and was unfit for ongoing gladiator duals, as Sierra explained to me about this, it still held up quite nicely, especially the ground of the tournament, which seems to have some sort of "repair rule" on it, giving adventures the thumbs up to go nuts...
No, no, nice try, me. You really wanted to use that as an excuse to literally forget your entire goal in the first place- a handicap progression through the quarter finals.
"You have arrived at your destination" the cart driver said as the wagon halted. There were a few other people in the cart beside me, though it seemed that most of them were civilians. Maybe here to watch the show?
Looking up at the coliseum, it was a archaic piece of architecture that looked quite broken. There was even fallen rubble on the ground, to which some janitorial staff of the guild seemed to pick up and put it on the side in a pice of stone, that seemed to still be piling up. Even as a piece of stone was about to fall close by me, I was considering whether or not to jump up and slash it. However, rather than that, it bounced off a midair barrier before falling down.
"Why hello there, Lumiya-" A voice said. I turned around to find it was the mage guy I fought. Not Xingrei, my magus teacher, but the mage guy. I found him during the 2nd event. His blend up magic for office and defense, was 2nd to none I fought, besides Xingrei. And he was the first to know that I could of touched him once.
I forgot his name, but I tried to play it out as normal as possible. "Hey, it is good to see you. Why the barrier?"
"Well, due the shaking structure of the coliseum, most of my students are now taking practice as to protect people via barrier magic."
"But, why do we use this place. Doesn't it look like it is about to give out?"
"Well, I heard that Guild Leader Gabriel tried to get it to where we could rent out the Great Alkeria Coliseum in the battle city of Brawlin, however it seems that the costs to get there as well as the costs to rent it out are a bit too much out of our current funds. For some reason the conversation ended up diverting to mages holding up the coliseum as well as protecting people from fallen debris. Though, on the bright side, at least this is giving my students practice."
"But, couldn't the battle just be on, like earth?"
"No can do." The Mage instructor denied. "Druids then would have the home field advantage, not to mention people with a high affinity with earth magic. With the coliseum , it has material that most magic can't freely extort, so that you can't use the ground in your strategy."
"Alright..." Well, at least my strategy didn't relay on the ground. "It is the first I heard about this type of stone."
"It isn't anything special. I am sure a high level earth magic spell could cause this to be launched at someone like projectiles. Though, I don't think you will find anyone like that at this guild."
That is relieving to here. "Say, do you know where the entrance in the coliseum is"
"Well, it would generally be over there-" He pointed to an entrance, which I ended up spotting some people from the wagon over there conversing before entering in. "However, I do recall you being apart of the roster of combatants, so you will want to go into the fighter entrance-" He explained that it was on the side of the coliseum, and there should be a receptionist help you the rest of the way."
I was worried that since this was my first time here, I would of ended up walking around looking for a way in the colosseum for quite awhile. Thankfully, that wasn't the case as I walked towards the fighter side.
I don't know why but it seems that I felt a sense of deja-vu, as I walked into the fighter's corridors with a receptionists greeting me.
"Here is my adventurer's card-"
Before I showed it, it seems already knew who I was "Lumiya right? Your match will be the upcoming next one. Please feel free to waiting in the fighters' area until then."
"Aren't you going to check my weapons and armor?" I asked. I was a bit confused how nonchalant she was. Then again, almost all of the receptionists I met were like that. Well, subtract that one at Event 2 as well as the timid Victor one. Still....
"Well, I detect no traces of violating magic or enchantments, not to mention it seems you aren't carrying anything in violation with the rules on hand either, such as potions. So, you should be good." Perhaps I have taken receptionists for granted. Their ability to detect magic is quite impressive. "Say, how might I end up gaining a skilled eye for magic?"
"Receptionists have their eyes enchanted once they join to be able to detect magics. So, would you like to join?" She said with a thin smile.
"Is it like a class or....."
"Receptionists is more of a job that a class. Once you become a receptionist, you will be unable to become an adventurer again, as that is per the guidelines. Still, would you like to join. I can personally make an appointment for you for Gaeus to take you for an interview. I am sure he would love to have new staff on board."
Scary... "Actually, now that I think about it, I think I am good. I still kinda like being an adventurer."
She began to laugh a bit. "Sorry for pulling your leg. Most of everyone is quite tense here, especially the participants in the tournament. As for the receptionist eyes, it is a enchantment based off of the ability "mage eyes", which is much better at seeing and detecting magic."
"How about seeing through techniques and aura?"
"Aura-wise, I think Hero's sometimes have an ability like that. And, as for technique focused ability, well, I am sure they are out there."
Yeah, these like powerful abilities. I know I shouldn't be greedy, but only seeing Lightning magic makes me feel like I am at a disadvantage. Still, I can get by with a handicap like that.
I ended up sitting in a waiting area, which only had 2 other people. One was Camren, and the other was Zarina.
Since I knew them and didn't have my beef with them, I decided to ask them what was going on with the match-ups. It seemed they were conversing with one another, to which I ended up interrupting to ask them about something.
"Hey, you two. It has been awhile."
The both turned to face me.
"Lumiya. It has been awhile since we first met. How is adventuring life?"
"Oh, it is pretty good. I haven't went on too much quests, due to mainly just training with my instructors as well as doing this whole rookie tournament thing. I am sure you and your party has the edge when it comes to experience."
"Oh, the day you met us we were on patrol; a basic quest. From what I can tell, you are quite skilled yourself, getting this far in the tournament. I don't think I saw your match."
I ended up giving an awkward laugh. "Oh, well that's-"
"Don't worry. I was joking with you. I heard that you were exempted from the match from my fellow heroes. Quite an impressive feat."
"Thanks..." I though the receptionists said that it felt grim in here. "Well, enough about me. How about you two, how were your matches?"
"Oh, well, there was a good amount of diversification. I fought against some mages, swordsmen. Though I would probably say the hardest I fought was the monks. I heard that they too were working on aura. They put up a good fight, but I was able to take them on. Though, that was the hardest up until now. Most of everyone formidable were knocked out by Hector and Damien."
That's to be expected. I mean, though they are pretentious and rude, it feels like they are quite the powerhouses themselves. And if Camren grew just as much, if not, more than I did, then I am sure he will be the force to be reckoned with too.
"How about you Zarina?"
She gave me a blank stare. It seemed that it was less that she was indifferent and more so that she didn't like me. I knew I wasn't popular in ex-life with girls, but c'mon on! How in the world did that translate to now. I just wanted to ask her for battle information.
She reminded me like an Sierra, but more introverted. Though she was human, she sure had the coldness to be a dark elf.
"Oh, she is doing good. She did real well in her battles." Camren spoke for her.
We ended up talking a bit more. The only reason I did that was to pretend like that wasn't a problem for me- seemingly on Zarina's bad side. So, right as I ended up finding the right opportunity, I ended up striking.
"Oh..." I ended up clenching my stomach with one hand. "Zarina, could you show me to the women's bathroom and join me."
Zarina, though hesitantly, ended up standing up to walk me towards the women's bathroom, to which was in down a hallway, and into a room with a traditional's women symbol for bathrooms.
After we entered, I immediately went back to the very conversation. Though I first wanted to ask her something.
"Do you like Camren?" Ok, ok, I know that I was a bit direct. But this should loosen things up a bit.
Immediately, she turned red. You would think she was a shape-shifting red skinned being with how red she turned and so suddenly too.
"W-w-w-what are you talking about." Her words and her body become so fidelity . I doubt in this state she could even pull her bow string back fully. This was by-far the worse attempt at being coy I have ever seen.
"Don't worry, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone."
She still seemed wary towards me. But it seemed that looking at me in the eyes seemed show the genuine curiosity and lack of malice.
She sighed. "Ok, fine. You win. Yes, I do like him."
"See? That wasn't so ba-"
"He's mine! You can't have him. I liked him first."
"Say what?" I was confused.
"You, wanted to ask me if I liked him. And..if I said no, you would ask what he liked. If I said yes, you would end up trying to assert your dominance. Is that correct?"
GOSH! Is that what girls do when they bring each other into the bathroom. I only did that because it seemed like what most girls typically do. I almost thought that boys thought about girls more than girls thought about boys. Though, guess that assumption is out the window.
"Calm down. I don't like him like that."
"I will fight you for him! I will tear you in-" She paused. "Wait, you don't like him?"
It seems that sound travels much more slowly to a lovestruck girl than, almost anything else. "No, I don't like him. I am just curious about you, girl."
Once again, I ended up having to pass the 5 second of of genuineness. Though after that, Zarina calmed down.
"Oh, thank goodness. I was a bit worried. I already have Circe and Harmony for company. If anything pretty girl comes into the fray, I will more than likely lose."
"Especially when you are so close to winning to." I ended up nudging her, teasingly.
"Stop it!!" She playfully pushed me away. "So, who do you like. I think I saw you talk to Damien or Hector, so one of those two?"
"No, both of them are a bit to, rude. Hector is a womanizer, and damien is just rude and arrogant."
"Well, I am sure that special someone will come." Zarina confided.
Hmmm, perhaps I could like...no, no, NO. I won't be worried about that stuff. Not know.
"Maybe." I shrugged. "Say, do you know about about the brackets and who is going up next?"
"Well, after the guy who is currently fighting, it will be your turn, them mine and Camren's. Then after that, it will be the semi-finals."
"Alright." So I have a bit amount of time. I don't know how long typically battles of this accord takes, but I was presume that it would end up taking a little more than a few minutes. Thank goodness I wasn't late. That would be embarrassing. "Do you know who my opponent is?"
"I think it is going to be Circe."
So, the mage in Camren's party. The one who is annoying and with red hair. Where have I herald that before? Well, I know that she is well versed in magic, though I should at least find more information before I end up facing her. Who knows what type of buffs she got. Though I faced her mage instructor, I don't think I could take him on without losing. Not right now, and especially how I am handicapped right now. Though if Circe's the resident mage in Camren's party has become stronger since I last say her, which is greatly a possibility, its best I find out. "So, do you know what Circe was working on in the past week?"
"Although we may have our differences, she is still a respected member of Camren's party at the bare minimum. I can't just profess her strengths and weaknesses so freely."
"If she loses first, Camren may have more respect for you."
"Really!?! I mean, ahem.." A hunter may be apart of the scouting family, with the likes of rogue, assassins, and thieves, but they definitely don't have the ability to hide their emotions. "Nice try. There is no way I am going to tell you Circe's abilities. Maybe she learned some "elemental spells" and maybe she learned some "conjuration spells". Maybe she learned to decrease cast time of spells as well as a few barrier spells.She also ended up hiding might of ended up hiding some sort of self-physically boosting spell as her last-resort, though I have never seen it before."
"Such a shame that you can't tell me. Thank you so much, for your help." I winked.
Maybe she was actually giving away her teammates new abilities.. Maybe she wasn't. Hehehe, she so was. But still, gladly appreciated.
Now that I was finished, I ended up leaving the bathroom, to which I ended up finding a very antsy and angry receptionists.
"What are you doing!! I have been calling for you for awhile. Don't you know that you match now. If you don't get on stage in a few minutes, you will be disqualified."
I waved off her warning. "Don't get your hair in a twist. Just show me where the match is." To which she ended up escorting me to the match.