"Faster! No, not like that. Higher!" His mentor yelled at him to correct every mistake he made creating several wind blades slasling on the air around them.They trained inside a special room surrounded by a silent formation. The competition was really close, and his trump card was only his illusion, his air blade, and his air barrier.
His arms were numb after practicing for hours. The new slash on the wall didn't look as deep as what he made, supported by a new vibrational sequence spell he had learned recently. Lucky for him, his mentor practiced the same meditation exercise, so she can instruct him on how to apply it to his fighting stance. Massaging his arms, he paused and looked at his mentor, "How can we win from someone who moves faster than us?"
"There is nothing you can do; you have to anticipate their movement by giving them the illusion that you are attacking them from behind and, during that time, use your air blade. Here, try to attack this." His mentor used her zither to make several silhouettes of figures appear around him.
Three figures moved quickly before him and pointed their swords at his neck. Stunned, he couldn't do anything before the cold metal touched his neck. It was only an illusion, but he could feel the whole thing as if it were real. Vega tried again by activating his illusion.
Two slashing sounds activated behind the two figures, and they used their blocking stance to block the air behind them. One noticed what happened and stepped forward. Activating his barrier, he made the sword coming to him slower. Dodging, he then activated his air blade and successfully slashed one illusion.
The other two noticed it and surrounded him, pointing their blades right at his chest and neck. He lost again.
Vega tried it several times and felt his muscles sore. The practice was more intense than his normal practice with Dion. His mentor sneered, playing a sound that made him a little dizzy, and he had to repeat attacking the three silhouettes from different angles.
The intense fights helped him concentrate better. By his fourth time, he could kill two figures coming at him before the other one came behind him and slashed his back. The sword felt real, and he screamed, hurting.
On his tenth try, he killed all of them, but with several cuts around his arms and legs. He noticed the cut made him slower than any attack coming before him. Several tries later, he finally raised his hand, giving up.
"Pl.. please., no, no, more!" He shouted, stuttering, because his body couldn't handle it anymore.
His mentor smiled, looking like a beast finally cornering its prey. "That's good. That's how you needed to practice. Remember any intelligent creatures can be as unpredictable as practitioners or even adepts."
Mentor Addilyn approached Vega and offered him a flask of potion. By its color, he identified the potion as a healing one. Gulping the potion, he grimaced. The potion still tasted as bad as he remembered. Sitting down, he put the glass flask inside the new ring for him to reuse later when he find the time to make potions again.
The ring looked more alive with all the stuff he collected from the market with Dion. In the corner, he noticed two stones laying there sadly and felt the pain in his heart. All of his savings were gone in a flash, satisfying his greed as he traded them for shimmering items on the market. He even bought one drawer with carvings of a dragon, phoenix, turtle, and tiger, costing him almost half of his savings.
From Dion's mouth, the four animals symbolized the beliefs practitioners held. He learned many exciting things that almost made him desert his academy and move in with Dion. One sentence from Dion changed his perspective: "The adept is capable of mastering many magical means that you can use to attack from afar."
Being someone who hated fighting closely, he chose to deepen his magic so he didn't have to shed blood. He asked his mentor, "Is it true that adepts know more magic than practitioners?"
Professor Addylin looked at him like she read his mind and said, "Everything has its own advantages. Practitioners trained their bodies to move faster to make their attack seem fast. Yes, they can fly with their sword, which I know you liked so much, but it skipped several basic trainings that could hinder your future progress." She explained.
Vega's face got more red, listening to what his mentor said. But he still needed an answer and asked, "But, can we fly?" Realizing what he said, he amended, "I mean, can I fly now like Dion?"
"Yes, with magical tools, but as I said before, our crafters were not as good as the ones here. Even most of the lower practitioners already have their own magical swords that help them fly. We needed more knowledge of sigils. The advantages of being an adept are that you have more control when fighting with your tools. Even a simple spell can be used for different things. Here, do you know what this is?" Showing him a paper with a character on it.
"A talisman?" His mentor nodded and activated the talisman. A couple of fireballs shot toward him, making him instantly create a barrier, but he dodged them.
"See that? One talisman only contains one magic. Can I see your sigil?"
Vega took the pebble with some symbols on it and gave it to his mentor.
Mentor Addilyn activated the sigil, and five vines shot from the ground surrounding her. "Try to attack me."
Vega activated his air blade, but the vines blocked it from reaching his mentor. "Again!" So he tried creating his air blade from behind his mentor, but he still failed. He thought hard and made one appear from inside the barrier; the vines didn't move, but they vibrated, creating a resonance in the air and dispersing the air.
"You see how I apply my sound magic to an already complete spell model? That's why we have more versatility than practitioners. Their spells were always one-dimensional. Even Yichen found it difficult to change the direction of his spell after it's activated."
Vega now understands and prefers to keep his ever-changing spells. Even he could already change the direction of his air blade. He had an idea and asked his mentor to use the previous illusion to attack him.
Professor Addylin nodded and created three figures from behind Vega without using her zither.
Vega noticed the ripple in the air and created three air blades with his barrier. It was straining, but after his practice, he could divide his attention. The three silhouettes hit him at the same time, but the barrier helped him dodge the attacks.
Still keeping his attention on the barrier, he moved the previous three air blades to curve in the air and attack the figures from behind. Knowing that they would realize his attack, a sound illusion made them focus on him and let the air blade slash their necks. The fight was done quicker.
Vega bowed to his mentor, thanking her.
"I expect you to not use the sigil for the next competition." I think your new skill will be enough for this.
####
Vega stood nervously, tapping his feet on the ground. He originally thought that the competition would be a private event, but instead, the field was packed with practitioners who probably knew that he was an adept and wished him to lose.
"You, stupid egg!" Go down!"
"Yes, yes. Cao!"
"Crazy, "two hundred fifty"."
Several were jeering and mocking, but Vega could only understand a few of them and laughed at the literal translation the disciples used. The last one he didn't understand and planned to ask Dion about it later.
He felt a push on his back, pushing him to go down. He jumped and landed on the stone platform that was as wide as five small houses. He felt the formation brush past him, making the loud field quiet.
He took a deep breath and waited until his opponent arrived. Taking out the imaginary maze he built in his mind, he poured all of his concentration into the upcoming fight. Hearing the sudden noise, he looked up and saw a figure approaching quickly to the platform.
Vega gaped, but he shook his head and focused.
"Do your best," said his opponent, who turned out to be Dion himself. He bowed and smiled encouragingly at his friend.
"Same to you," Vega smiled, and the buildup of anxiety disappeared.
After they bowed, the fight started. Dion took out his sword and threw it in his direction. Activating his barrier, Vega also created two air blades and threw one in Dion's direction.
The noble blocked the air blade and jumped, approaching his opponent fast. Vega ran to the right while his hand was ready to shoot another air blade. The air blade missed, but he still kept control over the spell.
Dion took back his sword and made a circle, creating sparks on the ground. He threw several talismans in Vega's direction and clapped his hands together. The talisman exploded, creating two giant fireballs heading toward Vega.
Knowing the fireball had a huge amount of power, Vega created his barrier, supported by a vibration, to reduce the impact of the fireballs. BOOM! An explosion sounded, making his ears ring, and the condensed air threw him far. The explosion made him lose control of his spells.
Feeling nauseated because of the spell drawback, Vega pushed himself to stand while creating two small air blades behind his palm. When Dion's sword came slashing toward him, he used the air blade to block the sword, dodged left, and released the other blade. It made a cut on Dion's cheek.
When the noble's attention was not on him, Vega created several smaller blades, bombarding his friend from every direction. It made Dion step back and change into a defensive posture. Knowing his attack was successful, he focused on the gust around Dion, created by his previous air blade, and combined it all into one.
One huge air blade slashed toward Dion. Even though he was successful in dodging the airblade coming toward him, it still hit his right hand, making it difficult to hold his sword. Looking at the sneer in Vega's mouth, he knew that his friend was going to create a powerful finishing move. Transferring his sword to his left hand, he spins the swords really fast, creating a barrier around him. Hearing the sound of the wind slashing on his right, he tried blocking the air blade.
Dion found that the sound was only an illusion and felt a huge slash across his back, which made him lose his grip on the sword. He fell down and shouted, "I concede!"
The formation shined, stopping the second attack prepared by Vega. Knowing that he had won, Vega smiled and ran toward his wounded friends. His left leg still ached because of the explosion. Helping his friend to stand up, he apologized, "Sorry. I didn't mean to."
The noble felt a heavy weight resting on his shoulder. He felt the wind vibrate and looked up, seeing his mentor and elder Yichen come toward them.
"Congratulation Vega. I didn't expect that my sister already thought you would divide your attention like that. I think you can be considered the strongest apprentice in your academy with that level of skill."
"Thank you, elder. Can I help Dion to his room?"
"Of course, in fact, you can use that empty room of his. That kid rejected all servants I chose for him." With a wave of his hand, he made them float, bringing the two boys with him.
Mentor Addilyn smiled proudly, "Good job. You're worthy of being my apprentice." She jumped and followed the group flying.
They left the stone platform, some of the spectator pouted, unwilling to give their money to the winner. Some winners smiled after becoming rich overnight and left the platform quickly, afraid that someone would steal their earnings.