"Could it be...?" I whisper to myself as I continue squeezing my way through the crowd to get to the underground training room.
My seat is already lost, so there's no point in trying to go back to the ring to see her up close for myself. The screens that appear all over show the blond-haired woman with a white face covering. Her blue glow has ceased as the announcer hypes up the crowd to bet on the stage 2 matchup.
I start walking underground behind the registration table, and the words that echo through the arena confirm my suspicions.
"The Ice Empress will now be moving on to the 2nd fight in 10... 9... 8..."
I roll my eyes and smile at the blatantly copied version of my fighter name but don't mind much as I have many other questions running through my head. As the noise of the crowd becomes muffled, the white walls and glossy floor of the training room come into view. Some familiar legacy fighters stand around after their matchups watching a big fight screen. Maria is on the big screen, instantly taking out her opponent in the ring with another overwhelming wave of Ice magic.
With my mind racing at why she's here of all places, and if any of my other teammates may be nearby, these thoughts are soon put to a halt as Max spots me from the other side of the room.
"Hey, it's you! We missed you this morning, I wasn't sure if you'd be coming back to the ring! Just in time!"
At his loud welcome, almost every hunter underground turns their heads to watch me walk over to the legacy fighters watching the fight over by the transport platform.
Monk doesn't get up from his seat on the ground on the other side of the room. His eyes are closed, and he's preparing for his upcoming match.
I'm greeted with more warm welcomes from both Sia and Ace, then we continue to watch the matches. I bet 100 gold on every one of the following fights, making 132 gold back on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds combined.
She moves onto the 6th and the payout on her winning is over 2x again and rising. I throw another 100 gold on the Ice Empress, and she freezes the stage 6 monster in an instant, winning without any resistance.
There were already murmurs about this newbie before, but now the topic of conversation has shifted to only her. Maria raises her thumb in the air, and the crowd outside goes wild as the announcer hypes up the 7th stage match.
Max turns to all of the other legacy fighters, ripping his eyes away from the bright screen on the wall.
"Do you see this? She's stronger than all of us... she just took out the stage 6 monster in a single hit."
He turns to me with wide eyes, then something clicks in his head.
"Wait. Her name... It's just like yours. Do you know this woman?"
My gaze is still on the screen as I wait for the betting odds to get high enough to place a bet. I just shrug and reply to Max in a low tone.
"First time I've seen her in this city."
His eyes move down to his wristband.
"Over a 3x payout if she wins? Ha! I'm in!"
There must be some high rollers that understand how tough that 7th stage monster is... Based on her performance in the ring, no casual viewer would bet against her now. However, I agree with Max on this one. Maria has the same buff as me; she'll be able to beat this Ghoul without an issue.
I smirk and nod.
"Me too, let's get a nice payout."
Ace and Sia stay away from betting, but their eyes don't leave the screen as the announcer counts down and the match begins.
A white-skinned creature with yellow teeth, a long sword, and a faint orange aura around its body teleports in, and the match begins.
Maria glows bright blue and runs forward with a trail of ice behind her. The Ghoul runs forward to match her speed in silence. Both of them swing their blades at each other.
Moments before impact there's a flash of red light. Maria's blade releases a pink-colored ice that slices the Ghoul in two, freezing both halves faster than normal eyes can see.
The orange aura of the Ghoul disintegrates in milliseconds, and Maria plants her feet to turn around and slash the frozen Ghoul with her sword again. By this point, the crimson buff covering her body is already completely powered off. She didn't have it activated for more than half a second.
The red-tinted ice shatters into a million pieces like snow, and the crowd roars as the announcer yells out in awe as the 7th stage was taken out in record time.
A dinging notification brings my coin total up to 21.5056 platinum.
Then, it's followed by the ice wielder in the ring putting her sword on her waist. After, she refuses to move onto the 8th round. I don't spot the royal guard coming into the arena to stop her, it seems like she said no on her own.
A blink of transport magic brings her right back to the small platform in the training room, and every head in the room turns to her.
Beneath the bright white mask and form-fitting lightweight armor, her eyes scan the room before locking onto mine for a split second, then facing forward again. She walks forward, and no one approaches.
I activate my telepathy skill instantly, and send a link directly to her. Before I get a word in, her voice sounds in my head.
"Meet me at the restaurant you went to last night after your match. They're watching and listening, I had to get your attention somehow, it seems like this did the trick."
She pauses for a moment, then goes on.
"Plus, I wanted to see how tough that stage 7 Monster really was... I'll explain everything once we're in a secure place to speak."
I gulp and look away before replying.
"Understood... Good match, you've gotten much stronger."
Maria sends a final message back before closing our link.
"You have too. Good luck on yours, I'll see you soon."
She continues to walk through the room and makes her way up the stairs. It's not until then that I turn around again and activate my inspect and appraisal skills out of curiosity.
Her gear is almost all the same, but her level has risen to 612... That's higher than me. She's been training while I've been asleep and trying to get to this city.
Just like Monk said before, there's some kind of widespread surveillance in this city, so we need a safe and quiet place to talk. However, this begs the question, how did she even know I was at a restaurant last night in the first place? Or, why not just leave the city to talk in private?
More questions race through my mind now than they did when I walked in here. I thought seeing her here would explain a few things, but it's only made things more complicated.
The last glimmer of her silver armor disappears through the staircase upward and I see Monk approach the transport platform as he's next up in the fight arena.
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