Chapter 25: The Art of Battle
I was super excited when we first began. With that being said, Donkor was way too fast! The moment our spar began, Donkor dashed forward. I barely had time to counter his attack. We exchanged blows before I managed to get some space between us.
From what I was able to gather, Donkor had enhanced his legs with magic. Not only that, he used a wind spell to propel himself forward and to suddenly change his direction. By using these two skills simultaneously, his agility was second to none. However, the brighter the light, the darker the shadow. If I stayed calm, I would be able to find a weakness.
"Sense of Good and Evil, pull!" Donkor stretched his hand out before pulling it back.
I felt a sudden and strong tug pull me towards him. My first reaction was to resist, but instead, I decided to jump forward. I flew towards him at a high speed. His face was filled with shock, but he readied himself.
He swung at me horizontally. Using my sword as a shield and platform, I pushed myself upward as soon as our swords made contact. I flipped over him.
"Armament: Ice." I enchanted my sword.
Upon landing, I swung my sword at his legs. He barely dodged, but I did graze his left leg. I charged at him, refusing to let him escape. The prey had become the hunter as I relentlessly attacked him.
I wasn't surprised at all when he was able to almost perfectly deflect all of my attacks. There was now some distance between us as we were breathing heavily. I began to chant a waterball spell.
"I won't let you finish!" Donkor propelled himself forward.
I barely finished the spell in time and caused a water ball to explode between us. Both of us were hit, but I didn't cast this spell for damage. With my ice sword, I once again charged at him. I felt my hand slowly become numb as I continued to attack. My teeth were chattering.
"That trick of yours only did you harm, Smarus. It seems like I will win this round," Donkor smirked.
He cast his series of spells again, but this time, he was considerably slower.
"Huh!?"
I used this opening to attack. An upward vertical swing to disarm him, and a horizontal swing to end him. I stopped right before my wooden blade made contact with his neck.
"Check mate," I smiled.
"I-I yield," Donkor raised his hands.
A gust of wind blew, causing both of us to shiver. Before either of us could say anything, I heard a soft series of claps.
"Th-that was amazing Donkor!" Sonia encouraged him.
"Sonia, I lost though…"
"It was amazing nonetheless!"
The three of us sat in a circle. I cast a small fireball so that we could use it as a source of warmth. I pulled two blankets from my inventory and handed one to Donkor.
"Smarus, how did you win?" Donkor immediately asked once we warmed up.
"You used the wind to make yourself faster. You also enhanced your legs using magic. Therefore, I used a waterball to make your wind have a chilling effect, and my ice sword to speed up the process. That way, when you use the combination of your spells, it would cause your muscles to contract and limit your movement," I explained to him.
"So you used my own magic against me… and you used a harmless spell as well? Is this what you meant by using our abilities to the fullest?" He thought aloud. "However, if I had noticed, your plan would have failed…"
"But you didn't notice," I commented.
"There must have been a better way to say that," He sighed.
"I think… I think Smarus's plan worked because it was against you," Sonia chimed in.
I smiled to myself. The reason why I wanted Sonia to analyze our fight was because she was an alchemist. The nature of her class allowed her to observe and dissect any information that she obtained. Of course, this extended to magic, skills, and combat. Her intelligence was also high, so her keen eye was able to pick up even more information.
"Please explain, Sonia," Donkor turned to her.
"W-well, first off, your confidence was in your magic…" She was still a bit shy.
"Naturally. I trained hard to master my technique."
"Th-that's the problem. Since you have a high affinity with wind magic, you don't have to chant it. Therefore, you use two spells simultaneously. However, you rely on it heavily, and it became a crutch for you," She explained.
"And all I had to do was swipe it from underneath you," I chuckled.
"Smarus, must you add your comments?" Donkor sighed.
"Sorry."
"Furthermore, it seems like you never considered the weaknesses of your skill or the side effects. Look, your legs are overworked from such a short battle," She pointed out. She was slowly becoming more confident.
"Come think of it, I am still slightly winded…" Donkor mumbled.
"And just because you have high affinity, it doesn't mean you should ONLY use wind spells. With your class being a paladin, I'm sure you had neutral or other element magic. A battle is between the minds of the two opposing parties as well as their bodies…" She took a deep breath.
I get it, Donkor has a lot of things to fix. I wanted her to give me her analysis now.
"Don't forget Donkor, your opponent will always find a way to exploit you. Smarus was a good opponent for you in that sense."
"Hey, Sonia, what do you mean by that?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Not everyone is as noble and honest as you, Donkor," She ignored me. "The point of battle is to win. Sometimes, that means using cheap tricks. You're too narrow-minded, but that can also be a strength in battle…" She kept on talking!
Did she have anything for me!? This girl was giving a whole five-page essay to this guy! Did she even pay any attention to me? I sat as I listened to Sonia giving Donkor the play-by-play breakdown.
"I see… I still have a lot to learn. Thank you Smarus. Thank you, Sonia. I will learn from this experience," Donkor bowed his head.
Sonia blushed heavily, and she wasn't able to get any words out. I, on the other hand, was annoyed. I sighed.
"Good for you Donkor. Sonia, have any pointers for me?" I asked.
"You're scum," She pouted.
"Noted," I grumbled.
"Donkor will beat you next time," She crossed her arms.
"He can try," I sighed.
"Ahem! Smarus, if you don't mind me asking, what is your affinity?" Donkor broke the tension between us.
I never thought about it. A person's affinity was basically how well a person could use a type of magic. Depending on how high your affinity was, you could even skip the chants of lower-level spells. I never tried to search for my affinity since I only really used three spells. However, I knew my answer from playing the RPG.
"Darkness," I answered.
Both of them gasped. It made sense. Fire, water, earth, and air were the most common affinities. Light was common among elves and classes associated with it like healer. But Darkness? Well… it had a negative connotation.
"Figured," Sonia commented.
"Yo, what's your beef?" I instinctively refuted. "Why are you so mad at me?"
"Because you beat Donkor," She stuck her tongue out at me.
"Petty piece of crap.
"Smarus, was that necessary?" Donkor sighed.
"Get your girlfriend, Donkor. She's ruining our training," I complained.
They both turned a deep shade of red. Not even Donkor was able to comment, and Sonia was already flustered from before. I sighed as I stood up.
"Whatever. Let's call it a day for now. You have a lot to digest Donkor. Tomorrow, we'll discuss a new way to train."
"R-right." He nodded his head.
I waved as I walked away. I also had a lot to learn myself. I was so focused on leveling up that it actually hurt me instead. I barely knew any spells… kinda. I remembered most of the spells from the game, but I found out that it's actually pretty hard to learn them. That was why I only learned three spells during my adventures. However, as usual, I had a plan.
I skated to the library. There was a week left before the tournament. The day before the tournament, the board of education will filter out the top students for the tournament. I needed to get that secret floor in the library.
"Hello again, Smarus!" Minerva greeted me with a happy face.
"Greetings, Madam Minerva," I smiled at her. "How are you today?"
"Oh, you! I am well now that I get to see you. It's good to know that fine gentlemen like you still exist."
Do all old people say things like this? Regardless, she was a nice lady, so I didn't mind.
"If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask me," She reminded me.
"Thank you. I will keep that in mind."
I walked to the second-highest floor. This place was still empty. I supposed that students were more invested in making cliques than preparing for exams. Either way, it was useless since it was a surprise tournament this year.
I needed to get the remaining research logs. Why would I need the books if I already knew about the secret of this library? Well, first off, it was because I forgot the details of the logs. Also, I needed to check them out. If I jumped straight to the end of the quest, Madam Minerva would probably think that I was a spy. There was also one more important detail.
Minerva was guarding the secret since she was one of the original researcher. How was she able to survive for hudrends of years? It was beyone me… and I didn't care. That wasn't my motive to being polite though. It was just common sense to respect your elders.
Either way, I was on a strict schedule. I searched the entire library, getting each book that I needed. There were ten in total. I walked back at the librian's check out and put them in front of Madam Minerva. Instead of her usual smile, she frowned.
"This is a… perculiar selection of books," She looked at me in the eyes.
A shiver shot down my spine. The formerly nice lady was now giving me a look of warning. It was crystal clear that she did not want me to read these. Especially after specifically searching for them.
"Our policy states that a student can only check out three books at a time," She said coldly.
Something told me that if I agreed, I will never see these books again.
"With all due respect, Madam Minerva, I'm technically not a student yet," I smiled.
"But why then books… These ten specifically?" She tilted her head.
I thought about the answer. I doubted a being that survived for centuries could be decieved so easily.
"Because I need to get any advantage I could get. I have people to protect, and if this can give me even the slightest of strength, then I'll take it," I came clean.
There was a long and awkward pause before she spoke.
"This is a dangerous path you are walking young man."
"Better me than my allies and friends."
She stared at me and leaned in closer. I held her gaze before she eventually sighed.
"Fine. I'm not your teacher or mother after all. Read them at your own risk, Smarus," She gave me a final warning.
"Thank you, Madam Minerva."
I took the books and put them in my inventory. By this point, the sun was already setting. I grabbed a quick dinner at the cafeteria and went to my dorm. I dumped all of the books on my desk. I sighed as I prepared myself for a night of pain. I haven't pulled an all nighter to study since I was in college… well before I died I guess. I sat down and opened the first book.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone