Chapter 196: First Battle, Use Me

After the gifts were presented, the celebration reached its end, and the time was already nearing dusk; Aiboke had spent the most time on the "rejuvenation" process.

The final procedure of the celebration was the Arcane Competition, for which Xia Duo had been preparing for over half a month, and now, the outcome was about to be revealed!

The Lord of Epps waved the scepter in his hand, causing the surroundings to become bright, while simultaneously reshaping the venue, turning the southern half of the Central Plaza into a structure resembling an auditorium.

A row of seats rose beneath the Great Arcanist Statue, intended for the few people who had arrived with the Lord earlier, and to the south was a diamond-shaped platform.

It was no more than half a foot high, with the two sharp corners of the diamond pointing east and west, about ten meters apart.

And to the south of the diamond platform were the soldiers maintaining order, as well as a large number of the Territory's people.

As for Xia Duo and the others, they were divided into left and right sides. The guests were on the east; everyone from the Tower of Time was on the west, where Official Mages had seats, while Apprentices and ordinary people stood just like everyone else.

Today's protagonist, Aiboke, presided over this Arcane Competition; he first introduced the several important guests sitting beneath the Great Arcanist Statue, and only then began to describe the flow of this Arcane Competition.

It was at this moment that Xia Duo learned that the mysterious priest from before was an Arcanist nearing the Legendary realm, but more importantly, he came from the Mystery Temple of the Iolum Territory—the largest Temple of the Magic Goddess in Netheril.

Generally speaking, it was unlikely for someone of such status to appear in the Savile Territory.

Besides that mysterious priest, there was also Greta, a representative of the Princess—a female Archmage—as well as Gawani, a student of the Great Arcanist Buluode, who was also an Archmage.

There were two others; Aiboke only mentioned they were Archmages without introducing their backgrounds, but being able to sit in the same row as the previous three, their identities were surely not simple either.

At this moment, Xia Duo could not help but feel worried for the Lord and Niya, who were sitting with them; sitting beside a group of Archmages, even if not exactly sitting on pins and needles, must have been uncomfortable!

However, the sudden gathering of so many Archmages in the Savile Territory made Xia Duo feel vigilant; what could the Savile Territory possibly have right now to attract those people, and the big figures behind them?

The vast territory about to be pioneered?

It was possible, but not enough to make so many people rush here together!

His status and position limited Xia Duo's access to information; even with the wildest imagination, he could not deduce anything out of thin air, but since so many big figures were paying attention, Xia Duo decided he must perform well later.

Perhaps there was some immense benefit hidden in this simplified version of the Arcane Competition!

……

On the other side, Aiboke was already explaining the rules; the official rules were much the same as what Xia Duo had learned from Niya earlier.

Among them, two points had the greatest impact on Xia Duo—

One was that one could only begin to counter once the opponent's 【Magic Missile】 crossed the midpoint, which was equivalent to reducing the counter time, making it more stimulating;

The other was that the arena had a supporting Magic Array; as long as one party failed to counter successfully, even if they resisted with 【Mage Armor】, it would bring a spell combo effect to the opponent, making the opponent's next spell more powerful.

This forced both sides to succeed in their counters as much as possible!

This was simply the nemesis of Xia Duo's turtle tactics; Xia Duo's trump card for victory was having more spellcasting attempts than others, so even if he failed to counter a single time, he could just force his way through with 【Mage Armor】.

Once he held out until the opponent lost their ability to cast spells, it would be up to Xia Duo to do as he pleased.

But the spell combo effect excluded Xia Duo's greatest advantage; he really didn't know who had thought of this! In this way, it really was just a contest of technique!

And technique happened to be an area where Xia Duo was relatively weak.

Now that his biggest fallback was gone, Xia Duo could only do his best; he subconsciously glanced at Niya sitting beside the Lord, and although she looked nervous, she was also trying her best to hold on.

Xia Duo braced himself slightly; as for the other minor changes, such as the array dyeing the originally invisible Magic Missiles of both sides different colors, suppressing Magic Items, or providing a final protection, they were not worth mentioning.

"Tower of Time, Xia Duo!"

Hearing Aiboke call his name, Xia Duo reacted immediately; he hadn't expected to be the first to go up! However, he was not panicked; Aiboke arranging it this way surely wouldn't let someone from the Tower of Time lose right off the bat!

The facts were just as he had guessed; his opponent—a child who looked underage—walked up from the other side of the diamond-shaped battle platform.

"Pure White Tower, Jin Mu."

Hearing it was the Pure White Tower, Xia Duo knew the opponent was from the Iolum Territory, as Aiboke had mentioned when introducing those Archmages earlier.

The Pure White Tower was established by the Great Arcanist Buluode, a student of Iolum, but he was not too worried; the opponent might be smart enough to become a Mage at such a young age, but magic was never just about theory, it was also about practice.

And practical experience and technique required time to hone; Xia Duo felt this round should be secure!

……

On the battle platform, Xia Duo and Jin Mu were about ten meters apart; after the two stood still, they exchanged a salute.

After both had finished casting 【Mage Armor】, Jin Mu raised his volume slightly and shouted in a voice that still carried a childish tone:

"Xia Duo, I know this is the first match for the Tower of Time, but I won't go easy on you!"

Xia Duo couldn't help but find it amusing; although Jin Mu's voice had a childish tone, he was trying his best to sound mature in his tone, but the content of what he said confirmed to Xia Duo that this guy really wasn't very old.

Xia Duo did not speak, but responded with a spell; a Magic Missile, dyed red by the battle platform's array, whistled toward Jin Mu under Xia Duo's guidance.

However, it quietly disintegrated less than two meters after crossing the midpoint.

At the same time, Xia Duo had just countered the blue missile sent by his opponent, which had just crossed their midpoint by about a meter; it looked like Xia Duo had the slight upper hand in the first round.

"Don't get cocky! Again!" Jin Mu roared, firing another blue missile.

But in Xia Duo's eyes, this was just a child baring his fangs and brandishing his claws; this blue missile glided through space, and the Magic Net String that echoed along the way changed in the exact same pattern as before, without the slightest modification.

Doing it this way wouldn't give him a chance at all!

Just as the blue missile crossed the midpoint by less than half a meter, Xia Duo dismantled all the Magic Net Strings it had triggered, and the blue missile quietly dissipated just like that.

Of course, Xia Duo being able to perform such a spell counter so effortlessly was built on the foundation of his deep familiarity with the 【Magic Missile】 spell and his long-term training.

If the opponent had used an unfamiliar spell, it wouldn't have been so easy for him to counter.

In this round, Xia Duo only countered the opponent's spell without attacking, because he didn't know how many opponents were coming next; if he could conserve his spells, he would try to do so.

However, Xia Duo's lack of attack angered Jin Mu, and the spell counter just now felt more like a mockery of him; Jin Mu's mindset became unstable, and he began to grow anxious.

He was seen muttering something, and then the next blue missile took a long time to launch; but unfortunately, this spell disintegrated on its own before it even crossed the midpoint.

Jin Mu was stunned, his eyes gradually moistening as if he were about to shed tears at any moment; Xia Duo was also stunned when he saw this.

Truly just a child!

Xia Duo did not mock him, but instead released a red missile, flying toward Jin Mu.

This Magic Missile had undergone subtle adjustments by Xia Duo; although the macroscopic spell structure had not changed, the specific spellcasting elements had already been altered.

This was a modification that only a Mage who had deeply studied the Principles of magic could make; those spell-craftsmen who could only follow the book could not perform such an operation.

If Jin Mu still followed the previous counter method, he was destined to fail.

……

The suddenly appearing red missile made Jin Mu pull himself together, and coming from the Pure White Tower, he clearly could not be a mere spell-craftsman.

He successfully countered Xia Duo's Spell, though he only succeeded once that red missile was close to his body, and the wind stirred up by the missile blew the fine hair on Jin Mu's forehead.

This chill also made Jin Mu calm down; he did not continue to attack, but instead signaled his surrender, as he had already realized the gap between himself and Xia Duo.

However, although he had surrendered, he did not believe he would always be inferior to Xia Duo; when leaving the dueling platform, Jin Mu did not forget to issue a challenge to Xia Duo:

"Three years from now, I will come to the Tower of Time to challenge you!"

Hearing "three years," Xia Duo, who was walking down from the dueling platform, suddenly felt his legs go a bit weak; why did this line sound so familiar!