Still unable to figure out what the big deal was, Jay decided to take some time to prepare for the magic competition. He thought he had a good chance, but Wendy was a higher level than him, which meant she might be able to beat him.
There wasn't much Jay could do, but practicing helped him keep the creeping anxiety away. He swapped between doing incredibly small manipulations—inch high horses and dragons and boats made of the various elements—and large-scale ones. The smaller ones were more detailed and required less power, but they required much finer control. The big ones were clunkier and required a great deal of mana, but they were way easier to control by comparison.
Jay liked practicing with manipulations that looked like animals. There was something about them that was both fascinating and uncanny. Even when he made them breathe or their "hearts" beat, something felt off. But still, he was improving and he was proud of how realistic his creations looked.
Once the tournament was over, he could finally look at that enchantment book and maybe keep his manipulations going. It'd be pretty cool to have little dragon spies or metal gargoyles at the gates. He wasn't sure that that was the direction he wanted to focus his magic, but it would at least make for a good side-project.
And so, Jay kept practicing right up until he fell asleep standing up. When he woke, the first thing he realized was that someone had kindly moved him to a nearby couch. The second thing he noticed was that he was missing breakfast.
He used a quick water manipulation to clean his clothes and took off. Nobody would notice he was wearing the same thing if he was lucky. Halfway to the cafeteria, Jay got stopped.
"Back of the line, buddy! We've been waiting 20 minutes for these pancakes and there's no way a tiny guy like yourself is cutting in front!" Similar cries echoed from those in the queue and so Jay was forced to dejectedly amble his way to the back.
"Dang hungry clods, always making me late to breakfast. I want pancakes. Why do I have to wait for pancakes, this is my place," Jay grumbled to himself. But still, Sarah's cooking was worth waiting for, and so he did.
After another 20 minutes and some more grumbling, Jay finally got to the front of the line.
"Sorry all, just ran out of batter for the day. We still have some sausage and biscuits, though! We'll have more for tomorrow!" Sarah's voice rang out and Jay's heart broke a little. His pancakes!
Still, he followed the line and picked up what remained of the breakfast options. It wasn't pancakes, but he still needed food before the magic tournament. He had trouble focusing on magic on an empty stomach, so it was paramount that he eats.
Unfortunately, Jay's friends had already left by the time he sat down. Little Silver made good company, but he wasn't a very good conversationalist. Instead, Jay had all the time in the world to think about everything he could mess up in the tournament. It wasn't likely, but he knew he had at least 2 good competitors and any mistake could mean he loses.
Finally, it was time for everyone to line up for the first challenge. This particular challenge had to do with controlling mana. You could use any element you want, but you had to guide it through a series of obstacles without touching them or losing control. Fastest time wins.
Jay had already decided on using lightning for this one. It was tricky to manipulate, but he could see the challenges and thought he could manage it. With lightning's speed, he was sure to place well, if not first.
"Three. Two. One. Begin!"
And then it was over. Well, mostly. They had rigged up a stopwatch to determine when everyone finished and three were already done. Jay's timer read "0.32 seconds" meaning it took him roughly .12 seconds to get his lightning to the finish line without hitting anything.
Kyle's timer was just the tiniest bit slower. Jay wasn't sure if he'd used light or shadow magic, but it had to be one of them. With a time of 0.35 seconds, it had to be fast. Assuming Jay had better reactions, Kyle was probably just as fast or even slightly faster at his manipulations.
But the one that astounded everybody was nowhere near the two of them. One person sat smugly looking at a time of 0.16 seconds, literally half of Jay's time. To achieve such a thing without starting early, they'd have to have an incredibly reaction time and an incredibly quick manipulation.
There was a single deduction for apparently touching one corner of an obstacle, but their final time was definitely still faster than Jay's. And he had to say, he wasn't surprised it was Wendy that had done it.
As Jay was busy musing over placements, several other competitors finished. Some had a time of a few seconds, while others took up to a minute to complete it. Those that placed in the top half got to continue, while the others were eliminated.
Since everyone took the challenge at once, they were able to move on as soon as the last person finished. For many of the top placers, that was more than enough to recover lost mana.
The next challenge was about power. Jay's metal mages had kindly set up a series of metal walls. Contestants had to break through as many as possible with one spell or manipulation. It was simple, but it was also easy to judge. Whoever got the furthest won that stage of the competition.
For this, Jay decided to go with his most destructive element. If lightning magic was known for speed, then fire magic was known for destructive power. Given the power and number of fireballs he could conjure at once, Jay had a feeling he'd do fine on this stage.
Still, 3 fireballs didn't seem like enough. In order to place first, he'd need to double it. So long as he fired all 6 as one spell, it should be allowed. The first three were easy. The fourth was a bit more difficult, but he managed it. By number five, it was getting tricky to handle them all. When the sixth ball was formed, he had no choice but to fire them all.
One after another, they soared towards the metal walls. Each wall was the same size, and so each fireball could handle one wall. By the time his fires stopped raging, he'd made it through 6 walls in total.
Kyle had a slightly harder time with this challenge. His elements weren't meant for attack power and so he instead focused on creating a small, piercing attack. His attack appeared to be a beam of water and it split the first three walls before it began to lose momentum. In the end, he only managed to break four and damage the fifth.
While some of the other competitors had good showings, only one other person broke through the fourth wall. Jay couldn't even follow what sort of spell she used, but her walls were split clean down the middle all the way to the ninth wall. The tenth wall was untouched, but still her results were incredible.
Having already won the first two competitions, Wendy had all but won the prize. Since each was weighted similarly, the only way for her to lose was to lose to both Jay and Kyle in the duels. Even if Jay beat her, she'd still win unless she placed lower. And—somehow—he had trouble believing she'd place low.
The mage fights happened on the fields that the melee duels had. None of the remaining competitors were weak, but they still dwarfed in ability compared to Jay, Kyle and Wendy. While they fought against each other, many conceded before they even fought the three of them.
In the rare case that one of them had to fight, they quickly ended it. The easiest method was to push them out and so both Kyle and Jay used a mix of water and earth magic to do so without hurting their opponent. Still, nobody could tell what Wendy was doing. Her opponents merely found themselves standing outside the ring as soon as it started. There was no fight or visible trace of what happened; there was only a victor.
The duels went on like this for a while until only the three of them remained. To avoid any unfair fights, all three would fight each other in a round-robin style. First up were Kyle and Wendy. Jay expected his friend to have a shot at avoiding her magic since he was so adept himself, but instead the match ended without fanfare.
Kyle had been left outside the arena without even a chance to summon his magic. Wendy was declared the winner and it was announced that the next fight would be between Kyle and Jay. More and more people were beginning to think this would be the fight to watch, and so the crowd grew larger and larger. It wouldn't have surprised him if everyone in town was there.
Backed by cheering fans, Jay took to the arena. Across from him, his friend and party member did the same. It was time to show them what a mage duel looked like.