Chapter 56: Top 8 (I)

My eyes narrowed at the question as my thoughts raced. That sounded like a trick question; no matter how I answered, it was I who’d lose. If that was the case, I decided to be truthful. “No.”

Her expression fell.

“I mean,” I tried to explain, “it’s just not because you are prettier. The other person has a nasty tongue on her. I’d rather eat my boots than converse with her.”

“So you think I’m prettier.” Melina beamed.

I rubbed my forehead. Was that all she got out of it?

“Fine, I’ll give you the boots,” Melina said.

I immediately shut up before the words jumped off my tongue, fearing she might change her mind upon hearing what I had to say.

“Just make sure you know what you are doing. There is no point in flaunting your abilities to impress me if you fail ultimately.”

I scoffed at her for doubting my skills. “Trust me, it wouldn’t even take five minutes.”

I held my palm towards her, asking for the boots.

Melina shot a quizzical look. “You want to fix it right now?”

“Well, my other match would be after the lunch break,” I said. “Now is as good a time as any.”

We moved to a more open site, adjacent to the antechamber, with a good view of the duelling ring. It was where most candidates observed duels and assessed their competition, but now that many of them had been eliminated, the waiting areas were freer.

I sat down, leaning against the wall, gesturing for the noble girl to hand over her boots.

Melina eyed me and where I was sitting. Perhaps it was unbecoming of a noble lady to sit just anywhere, but she merely thought for a moment before resting next to me. Then, one by one, she removed the boots.

I had noticed their build was a little distinctive, though the rune formation didn’t differ so greatly that it would be difficult for me to fix it. In any case, I didn’t have to do much.

“They’re not very comfortable to wear,” Melina said, rolling up her black leggings to strip off the socks as well.

Taking the boots, I made a thorough inspection of their build, making sure I didn’t embarrass myself after all the big talk. My eyes lingered on the dragon sigils on the back of the soles. There was a unique formation etched into them, perhaps to vouch for Dragonforge’s authenticity.

“Having second thoughts?”

I looked up to spare her a glance. “Just examining them.”

Done with that, I poured a bundle of my essence threads into the item.

“Don’t you need one of those pens?” she asked.

“No. There’s no actual runework needed here.”

In all honesty, it wasn’t even five minutes’ work. I had merely cut off the connection between the formation and the essence cell. I could have eviscerated the essence veins within, which would have been more laborious to fix. Instead, I merely blocked the veins by manipulating the silver alloy.

It wouldn’t even need a repair. Just pouring more essence through the right path would unclog the block.

Completing that, I returned the boots one by one to their rightful owner.

“You’re giving up already?” Melina frowned, peering between the boots and me.

“They’re fixed,” I said. “That is to say, there wasn't much of a problem to begin with. You could have fixed them yourself by pouring your essence into the formation a few times during the duel.”

Melina still seemed unconvinced.

“Check them if you will,” I said.

“I’m feeling too lazy now,” she said, resting the pair of fabricators at the side. “Let me just watch the duels now.”

The ones on the stage now were Elsbeth Solvyn and a boy in heavy armour with a sword. Elsbeth herself carried a sword, though she mostly dodged through her opponent's spree of attacks as an invisible force emanated from her, enraging her opponent.

“Psionic attacks,” I whispered, brows furrowed.

“Mind mages are truly scary sometimes,” Melina added.

The constant psionic assaults had already taken a mental toll on her opponent, yet he carried on, setting his jaw. His expression was one of unbridled fury, swinging his blade in tyrannical arcs.

Elsbeth made no move with her sword. She only parried a couple of times and evaded most of the attacks.

Although there was supposedly no slouch among the top sixteen, she claimed victory with ease. The mental stress she put on her opponent was invisible to the audience. Even I had a hard time grasping its flow with Fractal Sight, much less measuring the effort she put into it. From the ease with which she carried herself, it was unlikely she put in much.

Well, with Somnus’s Reverie, I had nothing to worry about from psionic attacks. And the only way we would meet in the duels was in the very final round, that was if Elsbeth could defeat Marnus Nerva.

Whereas the two contestants emptied the stage, my more immediate opponents entered.

On one side was the champion speedster, Leaf; on the other was an archer of little renown. Although there was no slouch in the top sixteen, most people could already imagine how this duel was likely to go.

Sure, the enchanted arrows could pack a mighty punch, but I didn’t believe the archer girl could find much purchase against the swindler’s wild acceleration.

Even Melina seemed convinced, as she asked, “What do you think your chances are against Leaf?”

The duel unfurled with the archer shooting a barrage of arrows, combusting at the smug speedster, whose figure blurred through the explosion to come right behind her. Instead of ending the duel right there and then, Leaf tapped her on the shoulder.

The archer lurched her arm to slam him with her bow, but her attack only met thin air as Leaf had already disappeared.

“Fair,” I answered, turning to Melina. Though I’d likely have to use more of my trump cards. “I’m surprised that despite his abilities, Leaf seems to go around doing odd jobs and swindling people at any chance he gets.”

“Yes,” Melina agreed strongly. “With his speed, he’d have no problem getting into the Oracle Academy. I even heard some knight tried to take him as their squire.”

“What happened?”

“He didn’t agree.”

Leaf took his sweet time in claiming victory. He didn’t personally beat the girl, instead waited for her to surrender after losing all her arrows.

As the referee announced his triumph, the boy came straight towards us with a grin on his lips.

“Brother Ari,” he said jovially. “It’s unfortunate that we may have to fight it out on the stage. Please go easy on me.”

I eyed the fellow. “Sure.”

The speedster blinked. “Nooo! You agreed too easily,” he whined. “Why do I feel no emotion in your tone? Are you perhaps lying to let my guard down, brother?”

“Unlike a certain someone,” I snorted, “I don’t lie.”

“I wonder who you are talking about,” the swindler said as he sat on the other side of the noble girl.

Melina giggled. “Congrats on your victory,” she said. “And also on your triumph yesterday. I certainly didn’t think you would win with such a large margin.”

“I didn’t think so either,” Leaf said with a lopsided grin.

“Congrats,” I commended as well. “I didn’t make a mistake betting on you.”

“You bet on him winning?” Melina perked up. “How much?”

“Not a lot,” I said. “Only about two crowns. But recalling the high odds, I’ll be making six or seven times that.”

I eyed the youth who had probably wagered all his wealth on himself.

“Six times two crowns.” The noble girl inhaled deeply. “That’s two months of my pocket money.”

Both the swindler and I stared at the girl.

“Your pocket money is fifty gold Leafs?” I asked.

“It used to be,” Melina keened, pouting, “but after I got these boots, Father cut my pocket money by two-thirds. Nowadays, I have to get by with a measly twenty gold Leafs.”

“Oh no,” Leaf cried. “How can they leave you with just twenty gold Leafs? It must be tough on you, my lady.”

“It is,” the girl insisted, “but both my parents are strict with how I spend my coins.”

I facepalmed. Perhaps Leaf did no wrong in swindling her if she were that careless about wealth.

“Two gold crowns is nothing,” Leaf said, “compared to what Brother Ari wagered on himself.”

“You bet on yourself as well?” Melina quirked her eyebrows, facing me. “On what, becoming the champion of the crafting competition or getting into the top eight in the duels?”

“My lady, you think too little of my brother,” the speedster scoffed. “He put up four crowns on becoming the champion of the duels.”

Melina’s eyes widened, evidently in disbelief. Clearly, she didn’t think I had much of a chance of winning, which also reminded me that she seemed to have some connection with that Marnus fellow. But at least she was courteous enough not to bash me over it.

“Well, even if I lose,” I said, smiling towards Leaf, “there’s no loss with what I already won on you. Hmm, that reminds me, when should I go about cashing in my winnings?”

“Brother, that loser talk doesn’t look good on you,” Leaf said. “You need to be fully poised and uppity until you become the champion. Only then can you hold your head high and collect your bounty.”

I snorted. “Will your shady gambling house still be there by that time?”

Leaf inhaled deeply as though taking offence, but I paid it no heed.

“You know both of my parents are of Fabled class?”

The swindler blinked. Even Melina seemed astounded. “They are?”

I smiled.

“No wonder I lost to you,” Melina said. “Only my mother has reached Fabled, while Father still hasn’t found his way. I think my elder brother will make it to Fabled class before him.”

I whistled. Here I thought only I was blessed, but it seemed both Melina’s parents and older brother had spoiled her well. Well, I believed I’d do the same if I got a cute little sister.

Meanwhile, Leaf wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. Sometime later, Cassius joined us after winning his bout. His victory hadn’t come easily, but the youth had persevered against the spearman, though the battle had taken a physical toll on his body. Hopefully, the two hours would be enough for him to recover for his next bout.

“Congratulations on your entry into the top eight,” I said.

“Thank you,” the knight squire said, sitting on my side. “Though I fear it is where I fail.”

His next opponent would be the victor from the battle now raging on the stage. It was Paximus versus an earth shaper named Alexi.

“I have no chance against Pax.”

“How can you say that without even fighting him?” I said. Besides, Paximus was still in the middle of his duel. It certainly didn’t seem easy for him, getting assaulted by shards of stone from all over the park. His spearplay obstructed more than half of them with his aura, but there were still too many that struck him all over his body.

But if anything, the boy could take a good beating. He was an Enhancement and Dawn Essence hybrid, one who specialised in self-healing. Unless the stone shaper could overwhelm his healing capabilities, there was no way he could claim victory.

But Paximus clearly had no intention of getting beaten up throughout the duel. His body moved swiftly through the air as he charged with his spear, a burst of lightning crackling from its spearhead.

The stone shaper only managed to obstruct the golden lightning for a minute until Paximus threw him to the ground, holding the spear tip against his neck.

Cassius shook his head in resignation. “Pax is both faster and more capable in combat arts. Adding his self-healing and that lightning spear he got for himself, I stand no chance.”

“Um, I may have to be blamed for the spear.”

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A/N: Sorry for the delay. I wasn't intending to make many changes to volume 1, but now I have decided to add 50k words of content into it, along with fixing all the inconsistencies and poor writing. Hopefully, I'll be finished by the end of june.

Also, I decreased the price of the tier to 6$. I'll still try to deliver 3 chapters per week. thank you for your patience.