The next two days passed in peaceful meandering. Lev and the radiant team's warriors separated after the first day, leaving him to find new things to spend time on.
Bypassing that issue entirely, Lev entered one of the libraries and read up the history of the Empyrean Empire. Regardless of how much he searched, there were no signs or mentions of Earth, but that was fine. Reading was fun on its own.
With his perception held back, time passed in a blink, and he found himself spectating the duels.
Below him, the first round of the day was about to start. Out of sixty-four competitors, half would progress to the next stage.
"HERE WE HAVE TWO PARTICIPANTS WHO RANKED IN THE TOP 25 IN THE MONSTER HUNT. PRISCILLA, A WELL-KNOWN PLATINUM HUNTER AND A DEADLY EARTH MAGE.
"OPPOSING HER, WE HAVE MARO, WHO RANKED 12TH. HIS LONGSWORD IS JUST AS LETHAL AS IT LOOKS."
Lev chuckled at Maro's flat face. The last comment could be twisted in quite a few ways.
"I would like to remind everyone here that a small pond and a patch of boulders have been added to the arena as usual. The request was made by both the competitors and the spectators a century ago. Water and Earth are the most demanding elements, so those should help the mages shine instead of being bogged down by their class choice."
That's nice. Fire and Lightning have an inherent advantage due to their potential, so this should even the odds a little.
"LET'S GET RIGHT INTO IT. JUST LIKE THE SELECTION PHASE, ANY PREPARATION IS NOT ALLOWED BEFORE THE MATCH STARTS. THAT BEING SAID, GOOD LUCK TO BOTH OF YOU, AND GIVE IT YOUR ALL."
"3"
"2"
"1"
"BEGIN!"
Priscilla immediately dashed to the pond behind her. Maro didn't rush in, giving her time to prepare in a show of good sportsmanship. They both shared a nod before the round truly began.
Lev leaned forward, taking it all in while straining his Perception to the limit. Water rose from the pond, shaped into sharp bullets and launched forward with impressive speed.
Maro darted to the side, sprinting as fast as he could while dodging the barrage. His sword flashed, deftly blocking some of the projectiles that were too tedious to avoid.
Within seconds, he was close enough to the water mage to launch a mana slash. Colorless in nature, the attack impacted a water shield in a blink, cleaving through but losing most of its substance in the process.
The two halves of the shield joined back together seamlessly as if they hadn't been cut in the first place. Priscilla constantly remained on the move, not wasting the small lapse in Maro's sprint to create more distance between them.
As more water streamed out of the pond and into Priscilla's bullets, or simply hovering around her, Maro used body enhancement for the first time. His movements immediately became much faster, and within moments, he was in Priscilla's face.
She was expecting the sudden burst, perhaps not to such a degree, and managed to launch a wave of compressed water at the warrior. Maro ducked, sliding underneath, and had to quickly jump away as a water beam almost pierced him.
Lev could see Maro's eye darken as the ground behind him exploded into sand and stone from the beam's power.
Two floating barriers immediately took form in front of him, blocking three bullets each before shattering. Not caring about mana costs, Maro flared his body enhancement at full power while reforming the barriers.
More and more beams were hastily dodged or blocked by both barriers at once. The water mage's reserves swiftly dwindled despite constantly creating more water above her.
No longer moving, Priscilla tried her best to catch Maro with one of her projectiles. Unfortunately for her, while she could keep the warrior at bay with several different variations of water projectiles, Maro was too fast to be hit by even a single attack.
Mana Barrier and Mana Slash. Good thing I don't need the former.
Both of them were staple skills for warriors. Seeing them put into use further proved their usefulness.
Less than a minute later, Priscilla held up her right hand with an open palm and fingers held apart, the sign to surrender.
The first round ended up being slow but far from boring. Seeing a water mage in action, smoothly manipulating that taxing element and almost winning, was an enjoyable show. Maro was just a bad matchup for her.
"Marvelous showing from both of our participants, please give them a big hand!"
Cheers and applause were sounded with more intensity than Lev expected. The spectators could tell just how hard it was to operate at such a pace while giving it your all.
Right, my Perception also skews things a bit. To them, the match happened a fair bit quicker than it happened for me.
With that last piece of the puzzle in place, the thunderous applause made more sense. Lev clapped too, having enjoyed the showing and learnt a few things.
Two more duels passed before Elias' name was called.
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"ON ONE SIDE, WE HAVE A HUNTER WHO ALMOST KILLED A FIELD BOSS ON HIS OWN. MEMBER OF A RADIANT TEAM, WILL ANYONE BE ABLE TO TAKE THIS WARRIOR DOWN!?
"OPPOSING HIM, WE HAVE BARAM, AN ABSOLUTE DEMON WITH HIS TOWER SHIELD AND SHEER PHYSICAL STRENGTH! BOTH OF THEM ARE FAN FAVORITES, YET VICTORY REMAINS UNDECIDED. WHO WILL WIN!? LET US FIND OUT!"
Damn, I wanted to face that guy. His shield is impressively enchanted, and I need to practice with my mace too.
It was not meant to be, and Lev didn't really mind. It remained to be seen who he would face.
Elias and Baram squared off in the arena. Elias held his long swords ready, both on the shorter side in that category of such swords, and stayed put without using his enhancement for now.
Baram on the other hand, simply held his large, dark blue shield in the air. Held by his right hand, Lev could see just how much it weighed given how Baram's feet sank in the sandy ground. His thick armor also added onto that.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"BEGIN!"
Baram roared the instant the countdown was up, slamming his shield into the ground. A stamina-powered skill rushed out, uprooting a large part of the ground in front of him in a localized earthquake.
Elias quickly darted sideways as a cloud of stone and sand flew at him. Baram didn't waste the opportunity, leaping forward with he grace of a bulldozer. Each of his steps left a small crater in the sandy ground, propelling him forward in mighty jumps.
Not caught unprepared, Elias easily dodged the first shield bash and thrust his sword at Baram's armored back. With surprising agility, Baram turned his shield in time to block the weapon, throwing Elias back from the rebound.
Both of them paused and reassessed each other. As one, body enhancements came alive before they moved again.
The next few minutes passed in a strange dance of offense and defense. Lev kept his eyes peeled for all their movements, observing how Baram twirled his shield around as if it weighed nothing, and how Elias evaded all his opponent's advances like water bending around a curve.
Neither seemed to be going truly all out, and it made sense. They had little chance to take out their opponent in a single rush. As it stood, they were waiting for the other to run out of resources first.
Lev expected Baram to be at a disadvantage due to his stamina-powered enhancement, but that belief was being challenged. The man looked just as ready to go as he had at the start.
Come on now, Lev gazed at Elias still standing tall and ready. Don't you dare lose so early. I need to get a skill out of you.
The match reached a boiling point after another minute of nothing meaningful happening. Baram grunted and deflected with more strength than before, almost knocking the swords out of Elias' hands.
Seeing that their tactics were getting nowhere, Baram caved under the mounting pressure first and used the active skill again. Shield raised high above, it crashed down into the ground faster than the longsword warrior could take advantage.
Unlike the previous use of the active skill, the effect was much more dreadful this time. Raw power spread out from the point of impact in waves, tearing the stone ground underneath a layer of sand further with each wave.
Stones the size of boulders were launched into the air as Elias hastily backtracked from the violently shaking zone. With such treacherous footing, he could only step back a few meters before a loud gong echoed throughout the arena.
Ducking just in time, Elias barely saved himself from getting splattered against a boulder flying at him. Undeterred, Baram swung his shield in a wide arc, launching another small boulder at him.
Elias rushed forward, side-stepping the large stone with ease, and reached Baram in a blink. The latter was waiting for that and utilized another burst of stamina before slamming his foot down on the already ravaged arena.
The skill visibly drained him as Baram staggered for a moment before righting himself. As if defying gravity, sand and stone rose into the air from around where his foot landed.
Elias, being up close, was also launched upwards. Unlike Baram, he seemed to be prepared and quickly made his move. He rushed, not at his opponent, but to a mid-air boulder to the side.
The shield bearer struggled to follow the movement, just barely moving to face the speedster, yet Elias had jumped away already, now behind him.
Baram turned around as fast as he could, bringing up his shield in time to block the incoming strike. He would've succeeded if Elias was executing a simple move. Instead, the man sommersaulted above Baram.
Lev watched with his mouth ajar as his friend's swords moved in from the sides, completely bypassing the tower shield, and slid fluidly through the narrow gap between the Baram's armor and helmet.
Barriers sprang up to prevent the lethal injury before Baram was swiftly taken out of the arena.
"WHAT A PERFORMANCE! THINGS WERE LOOKING A BIT DICEY FOR ELIAS AT THE END BUT HE PULLED THROUGH SPECTACULARLY!"
I'm not sure if I can even face him in melee, let alone long enough to get a skill… Lev thought to himself, impressed as hell. To begin with, he could just barely match the swordsman's speed when going all out while imbuing his armor with lightning.
Negating that one advantage did absolutely nothing, though. Elias had two weapons compared to Lev's one, knew his way around the longsword like the back of his hand, had a wealth of experience fighting with them, and was taller with a greater reach.
The latter might not be strictly true, but with Lev's smaller stature and lack of skill and Skill, it wasn't false either.
He also pointedly ignored the nagging feeling of a pending skill. At any moment, he could stop denying The System's assistance and accept the self-taught mastery skill. Lev just wanted to reap the maximum benefits by accepting it after having pushed himself to the limit. If the theories were to be believed, it actually improved the gains per level, similar to the enchanting skills.
Well, it's not like I'll be able to go all out for long, Lev smiled, watching the contestants leave the arena. A single lapse in concentration, and those swords will tear me in two. That is assuming we both meet in the arena in the first place.
His musings were interrupted when an attendant entered the waiting room for contestants. Lev was currently alone in the small room, and he stood up to follow the attendant without being questioned.
"When's my turn?" Lev asked as they made their way to the arena's entrance.
"The round after this one, sir."
Rolling his eyes, Lev refrained from asking further questions not to be called sir again. He checked his equipment, finding it all in top shape. The skinsuit had yet to take even a little bit of damage.
Summoning Stargazer from his ring, he handed the storage artifact the waiting Master. The crafter checked all his equipment once before scanning him from head to toe thoroughly. Not finding anything that shouldn't be there, he nodded at the attendant, declaring Lev ready to proceed.
Peering out of the entrance, the current round was between two hunters he didn't know about. One was a wind mage specializing in high-speed flight and precise attacks, whereas the other was an earth mage. Predictably, the round had devolved into both of them trying to snipe each other while defending against the counterattacks.
Lev paid half a mind to the round while thinking about his next steps. Once the tournament was done, there was a lot of work to be done on his skills and whatever rewards Drakys handed to him.
Like he had told the duke and Sherron, his main reasoning to solo delve platinum dungeons was to take his time before evolving. Rushing it wouldn't need more than six months by his estimates, but his team still wouldn't be ready to join him for a year or two.
Beyond that, his more immediate goals were learning the basics of how to utilize cores to power his barrier enchantments. Acquiring more runes would be a priority for spellcasting formations, whereas practicing crafting equipment would be the second task.
Crafting a bubble of his own for moving around wouldn't hurt either. Reducing travel times to hours instead of weeks would be a great boon.
But before all of that, he had some rewards to seize.
