Chapter 197: Na Wei Ke

Returning to his seat, Xia Duo discovered that Jin Mu, on the opposite side, was staring at him from across the dueling platform. Xia Duo flashed a row of bright white teeth back at him, not taking it to heart.

The next three matches all featured people from the Tower of Time; Jianaer and Kaili also took the stage separately and successfully won their debuts.

However, Pa Luo Si, who had been injured due to his mentor's experiment, did not come, causing the Tower of Time to lose a contestant out of thin air, which also led to some discussion among the guests.

Even the crowd of onlookers was in a bit of an uproar, and the Lord and Aiboke did not look too pleased; winning or losing was a matter of ability, which could be understood, but whether or not one showed up was a matter of attitude!

Xia Duo couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for Pa Luo Si; it wasn't just Pa Luo Si—he reckoned his mentor would be given a hard time later on.

The matches following the Tower of Time were all outsiders. Xia Duo noticed that the contestants walking out from the opposite side varied in age, but there was not a single woman among them.

As fellow humans, there is no great gap between men and women in terms of thinking or willpower, but the disparity in the number of male and female Mages is so obvious that it reminded Xia Duo of the scientists on Earth.

Although the theoretical ratio of men to women should be balanced, the actual ratio is quite skewed due to various reasons. With men and women Mages placed in Netheril, where the social structure is even more backward, the disparity in the ratio is even more apparent.

This is likely a problem that even the gods cannot solve. Xia Duo only let the thought pass through his mind before focusing his attention on the match on the dueling platform.

The layman watches the spectacle, the expert watches the technique.

The ordinary people watching could only see red and blue missiles whistling back and forth, appearing and disappearing suddenly, and they were satisfied just cheering a few times.

But Mages like Xia Duo could see the specific details of the counter-spells used by both sides in the duel; of course, due to the distance limitation, the details were actually quite blurry.

But there was still a great harvest!

Such as the techniques of counter-spelling, or the logic behind counter-spelling; every time he watched a match, Xia Duo felt as if he had learned new Knowledge, and in fact, that was indeed the case.

These outsider Mages were indeed very skilled; the vast majority were not "Spellcasting craftsmen" who just followed the book, but true Mages who had their own understanding of Spell Principles and the essence of the Magic Net.

At this moment, Xia Duo felt pressure, but also excitement. Even if it was just a simplified Arcane Competition, there was so much to be gained; what if it were a tournament initiated by a Great Arcanist?

……

The first round of matches ended quickly, and in the end, only ten people entered the second round, with the Tower of Time accounting for three. Although there was some behind-the-scenes manipulation, since the Archmages did not object, it was still within the scope allowed by the rules.

However, the second round was not that simple. Apart from Xia Duo winning relatively easily, Jianaer won very arduously, almost exhausting all his Spells against his opponent, and Kaili was defeated easily.

"Xia Duo, it's up to you next!" Kaili encouraged, though his gaze was fixed on a person on the opposite side; Kaili had just lost to that person.

He had even been mocked by the other party. Listening to this less-than-sincere encouragement, Xia Duo still nodded and accepted it; it was indeed up to him next.

Jianaer had almost exhausted all his Spells. If it were a formal Arcane Competition, even if it wasn't one match per day, there would be specialized recovery methods to ensure contestants started in their best condition.

But this time in the Savile Territory—

Jianaer was effectively out.

Compared to Kaili's perfunctory encouragement, Jianaer's support was much more substantial; he whispered to Xia Duo, discussing his analysis of the other competing Mages.

There is a proverb in Xia Duo's hometown that says, "One person's plan is short, two people's plans are long." Xia Duo believed in collective Wisdom, otherwise, he wouldn't have gone off to organize anything.

With Jianaer's analysis, Kaili was also drawn in, and the plan of three became even longer. Although Kaili was a bit unreliable, being able to provide one more analytical perspective was enough.

……

In the third round, five people participated, but in reality, Jianaer could not participate, so there were only four. Xia Duo's opponent was the same as Jin Mu in the first round, also from the Pure White Tower.

And seeing them sitting together, perhaps they were even under the same mentor.

"Tower of Time, Xia Duo!"

"Pure White Tower, Na Wei Ke!"

Following Aiboke's roll call, Xia Duo walked briskly to the dueling platform, exchanged bows with Na Wei Ke opposite him, and then each cast their Protective Spell.

Neither of them had any desire to converse; both simultaneously cast 【Magic Missile】. Xia Duo was improving, and others would not fall behind.

Xia Duo's first attack was dismantled just past the midpoint, while the opponent's blue missile was only successfully countered by him at a position more than a meter past the midpoint.

Was this going to be trouble?

A stray thought flashed through Xia Duo's mind, which he quickly cast aside, focusing all his attention on the duel, but his second attack was still quickly countered by the opponent.

And Na Wei Ke's second attack closed in on Xia Duo by another half-meter; Xia Duo's total reaction distance was only 5 meters, so nearly two meters were gone.

It was not that his reaction speed was insufficient, but that the spellcasting details of Na Wei Ke's second spell differed from the first, and Xia Duo was doing the same.

But in terms of quickly understanding the opponent's Spell Principles and then countering them, Xia Duo had already lost!

From a rational perspective, for the sake of the final round to follow, Xia Duo should concede in time, but if he couldn't even beat Na Wei Ke, how could he ensure he would definitely win the next match?

In the end, he still had to take a gamble. Rather than waiting for the next match to gamble for at most third place, it was better to gamble right here for at least second place.

In the blink of an eye, Xia Duo had made his decision!

Generally speaking, Mages pursue stability in spellcasting rather than maximum effect, the most direct reason being, of course, for the sake of their own lives.

A spell going out of control might not necessarily hurt the enemy, but it would certainly hurt oneself first. If it were in a Spell Laboratory, then there would naturally be no need to worry, but in a normal Magic Net environment—

What Xia Duo was actually relying on was his own physical fitness, which far exceeded that of ordinary people, to hard-tank the spell backlash; of course, this was the worst-case scenario.

The best-case scenario was that the spellcasting succeeded, the opponent could not counter it, and then, under the blessing of the venue's "Spell Combo" Magic Array, even without any adjustments, the opponent might not necessarily be able to counter it.

Back in the second round, Kaili had been hit by his opponent's combo, which directly triggered the protection of the venue's Magic Array.

However, wanting to take a gamble couldn't be too blatant; at the very least, he couldn't let the Lord and Archmages above think he was a person who loved to fight and kill.

Next, the 【Magic Missile】 that Xia Duo cast, although still a missile, could have an "s" added to it—this was originally something Xia Duo had prepared to peek into the Second Layer of the Magic Weave!

Now that he was using it on the fly, even if he failed, it would let those big shots know—he, Xia Duo, was already approaching a 3rd Level Mage, and he had been an Official Mage for no more than a year at most.

The Lord, Aiboke, and others from the Tower of Time should be even clearer that he had been raising his Permission Level in the Tower of Time for less than a month!