Sol and Nataly watched the next two fights, which were rather evenly matched compared to Victor's fight. All four fighters did their best, not only showcasing their abilities but keeping the audience entertained.
Though the audience loved the matches, they all began to realize that the winner of this year's tournament was already decided. No one had been able to defeat their opponent as easily and one-sidedly as Victor, and they knew it wasn't just a matter of bad matchups.
As the winner of the third fight was decided, Oeser gave his final commentary about it.
"What a phenomenal fight! The way Kayla pushed Piren to reveal his trump card of [Multicast], which allows him to double cast [Frost Wheel]! Though it won him this match, now his opponents know and will be ready for it! The real question is, what will they do with this information?!"
Sol stood up from the couch and headed towards the door.
"Good luck, Sol!" Nataly cheered him on as he left.
He appreciated her support and smiled back, "I'll be back soon."
Oeser introduced both fighters onto the arena. Sol's opponent was Lapis, who ranked 4th among the applicants. Contrary to her name, Lapis' dark green hair, which cut off at her neck, shimmered under the light of the sun. Of the two thousand applicants, she was one of the five people who actually managed to reach the end. Sadly, she and the 5th ranked applicant weren't able to defeat the knight at the final floor, which left them both one step away from the finish line.
Though she would have liked to defeat the knight she was paired against, she wasn't displeased with the outcome. She was paired up with a knight who attained near perfection with the spear, and in their duel, she was able to learn a lot. Even though it had only been two days since the exam, she had already improved her skills significantly and now believed she had a chance of winning if she ever had the opportunity to rematch against the knight.
As both of them walked onto the arena, Sol used [Analysis] like usual.
Name: Lapis
Race: Variant Human
Talents: [Viper Spear], [Serpentine Steps], [Viper Blood]
Level: 65
HP: 700
MP: 400
Str: 70 (+20)
Vit: 70
Agi: 115 (+70)
Int: 30
Wis: 40
Talent Skills:
[Viper Bite] Lv 7, [Serpentine Steps] Lv 8, [Poisonous Blood] Lv 2
Passive Skills:
[Intermediate Spearmanship] Lv 9, [Counter] Lv 6, [Strength Up] Lv 4, [Blurring Agility] Lv 2, [Increased Health Regeneration] Lv 4, [Poison Resistance] Lv 6, [Weakness Exploit] Lv 4, [Enhanced Reflexes] Lv 2
Active Skills:
[Piercing Lunge] Lv 9, [Ground Shrink] Lv 7, [Debilitating Strike] Lv 5, [Blurring Speed] Lv 7, [Mana Lunge] Lv 2, [Rising Viper] Lv 3, [Spear Fall] Lv 3, [Pole Slam] Lv 7, [Triple Stab] Lv 8, [Twisting Serpent] Lv 7
Sol was surprised upon reading her status.
'Variant Human? She doesn't look any different than other people.'
Just as monsters could mutate and gain abilities normally impossible for their race, the same could happen to humans. Mutations could occur for many reasons, and in the case of Lapis, it was due to her ancestry.
Though he found it interesting that she was a variant human, he also felt pity at her current misfortune.
'She specializes in poison and debilitating opponents before finishing them off. Since she can't use poison, she is essentially handicapped.'
This didn't mean Sol was underestimating his opponent. He knew very well from yesterday how fast she was, and even without her poison, if he wasn't on guard, he could lose in an instant.
'This is why I came prepared.'
Sol took out his Lipon and waited for Oeser's signal.
"Are both fighters ready?!"
Both of them nodded as they held their respective weapons.
"Then without further ado, begin!" Colors emanated from his wand, signaling the start of the duel.
Lapis immediately launched forward, running towards Sol in a mystifying way. Like her feet slid across the ground without any friction, she held her spear straight and lunged.
Being prepared for such an approach, Sol held his unactivated Lipon and slashed forward just as he pulled the trigger. A wave of cold wind blasted outwards, coalescing into a frozen blade. With his ice sword, Sol met her lunge with [Cross Slash].
The first strike parried her spear upwards, while the second went towards Lapis. She reacted to the second slash by carrying the momentum of her deflected spear to collide the bottom half of her spear with the second slash, negating its attack. The force of the second slash also pushed Lapis backwards, and she allowed it to in order to gain some distance and regain her posture.
Oeser commented on the quick exchange, "What a start! Beginning with an incredibly fast attack and responding with an equally strong counterattack, this fight will definitely be a good one! But do my eyes deceive me?! Sol's weapon can change elements?! From fire to ice, what else can it do?!"
Sol smirked at Oeser's commentary, 'Perfect. Just the reaction I wanted.'
He chose to use the ice element for this fight for two reasons. The first was to get that reaction from Oeser. He knew that the drama queen would make a big deal out of anything he could and draw more attention to the weapon, which would fulfill his promise to Fabio. Sol planned to slowly unveil the weapon's capabilities one at a time to make it more impressive to the spectators.
In fact, the Lipon had already drawn the attention of many adventurers and merchants since yesterday, and they had been searching for the maker of the weapon. If it was something that could be reproduced, a lot of people would want this kind of weapon.
'Now for the second reason I chose ice.'