Arena 2

"Are you new? I don't think I've seen you before. Your get-up is hard to overlook ," Monroe asked as he walked around me, looking at me at every angle.

"Yes, now stay still, for a moment, will you?" I said with some irritation flowing out from my voice.

"Oh, come on, it's not every day some stranger comes to me begging to let him into my development process," he added, still circling me.

"I'm guessing your development process so far has been you going into the ring trying something new to see if it works, and then getting your ass kicked to next week?" I responded.

"Wha...? Who told you that? Have people been talking behind my back again?" I asked with a genuine tone in his voice.

'What the hell did I get myself into?' I thought as I blocked Monroe's parroting.

After a few minutes, I finally returned to reality.

"So, how are you planning to help me?" Monroe asked.

"Simple, by beating the ever-living crap out of you until you get it right," I said, causing some shock from Monroe. "I'm joking. Calm down. Well, mostly."

"What? What do you mean mostly? What the hell did I get myself into?" he asked me then himself.

"You were not wrong by using the Trail by Error method, but you weren't right either. You've been focusing too much on the results, and that's not the best way to go about it," I added.

"Wrong? What do you mean by that? Isn't magic all about the results? All academics and scientists say that magic is just another form of Math and Science, and it should be treated as such," Monroe asked, but this time with actual curiosity.

"Well, without going too deep into arcane theory, let's just say that for your purposes, they aren't fully right," I responded.

"That just means they aren't wrong either, right?" Monroe pointed out.

"Yes, let's just say that magic is more than just structures and patterns. It's more like music. There is a science to it, but it is so much more than just equations and rhythm," I said, trying my best to explain it to a 14-year-old. While he can be reasonably intelligent, he can be rather stupid sometimes.

"Mhm? What do you mean by that? Do I have to learn how to play an instrument?" Monroe asked while scratching his head.

"What? No! Actually, that wouldn't hurt," I quickly responded, shocked at both his simplicity and accidental cleverness. "Learning to play an instrument might help you get some insight into what you've been missing."

"Oh, really? I'll choose the piano, no wait, the violin. No, no, no, I know! The guitar," He declared in triumph.

'I know, I asked him to let me teach him, but he's accepting all of this too readily. I knew he was simple, but not this simple. He must have grown quite a bit before I met him. I want some Sweet Ice Tea; I need some sugar in my blood after talking with this kid.'

Bzzzt!

I felt something vibrate. I took out the Arena Card from my pocket only to see the front face had changed showing my name, a stranger's name, and a ring number ID. Ghost, Takeshi, D1.

"Oh, you have an upcoming fight? Uhhh, against Takeshi? Bad luck for you?" Monroe said, looking over my shoulder.

'I'm not insecure about my height, I'm average for my age, but somehow it bothers me that this boy is taller than me.'

"Where is D1?" I asked, shaking his hand from my shoulder.

"Oh, so you are new? Come this way, Casper, I'll lead the way," As he took off somewhere.

I followed him around a few stages, then around a few others, until he finally stopped in front of an outer edge ring.

'This looks familiar?'

"It's the stage right next to where you got your ass kicked, isn't it?" I asked, completely done with his bull.

"So you realized? Hahaha," He laughed his ass off.

'I would kill him if he wasn't important to the plot,'

As Monroe laughed, the fight on the ring ended, and the referee announced the results. Once the other gladiators were off the stage, I walked up and stood on the left side. The ring wasn't big or small; it was around 9 meters by 9 meters. As I stood there, the referee came over, and I showed him my card. He swiped it over his glove and returned it to me.

"It's your first fight, so make sure to follow the rules. No dirty business, nothing below the belt, and nothing that can cause your opponent any permanent damage, got it?" the referee clarified.

I nodded in response, and he went back to the edge of the ring. As I waited a few seconds, I looked around the room and was a little shocked to find Brooke; on the other side, I found Kevin and Chen.

After a few seconds of waiting, a young androgynous Asian teen stepped up to the platform, walked up to the referee, and show him, their card. After that, the teen walked to the opposite side of me and waited.

The referee made sure we were ready and began the battle by lifting his right arm.

Immediately, Takeshi jumped back a few feet to the edge of the ring and cast a spell over the ring. A thick fog blocked my vision, leaving me blind, where I stood.

'Water magic, and a Conjurer. Since they have never seen me fight before, they decided to take the defensive rather than the offensive. It's a bit of a shame I'm considerably proficient at water magic too.'

I cast an augmentor type spell that covered my body in a layer of steam. I then manipulated the vapor to make a few tendrils and spread them out like a spider-web across the arena.

'I found them, it looks like they are a little flustered that they lost sight of me.'

Takeshi was preparing a spell, but I made them stumble as I appeared in front of their vision like a white shadow. Not wanting the fight to end a few seconds after it started, I grabbed them by the collar and threw them back across the stage.

With a wave of my hand, I cleared the fog from the stage, revealing Takeshi on the floor and myself where Takeshi was only moments before. Takeshi, before they even stood up, cast a water dome around themself.

"You will gain nothing from going on the defensive; the advantage of water is its adaptability and versatility," I found myself trying to give them a tip; that's the old fool in me.

Apparently being clever, she expanded the dome with incredible force. 'Using the defensive nature of the water dome as an attack. Clever'

Unfortunately, the worst opponent against a water mage is an Ice mage, especially a water mage so inexperienced. I raised my right arm and froze the water wall just as it was about to clash with me. As fast as the wall froze, it crumbled into shards onto the ground.

"How is that possible?" Takeshi said, flabbergasted.

"Mhm, well, your spellwork was quite simple. That's not a detriment; in fact, it was that simplicity that allowed you to cast spells so quickly, but that speed sacrificed power." I said, holding a blade of ice to their neck from behind.

Their head whipped back as she saw me stand behind them, the blade now touching her neck.

"Next time, add some movement to your dome; while moving water won't entirely prevent it from freezing, it will considerably increase the time it takes to freeze," I continued to lecture Takeshi.

"How are you here?" Takeshi said as she looked in front of her again, to once again be shocked. She saw an already melting ice statue, where I stood before.

"I haven't moved from this spot since the beginning," I answered.

The blade began to expand and quickly encompassed the kneeling Takeshi's body, leaving only her head unfrozen.

"Victory to Ghost, 1 victory, 0 losses. Defeat to Takeshi, 19 victories, 1 loss," the referee announced.

With that, I walked down from the stage and returned to the now quiet Monroe.

After a few minutes of silence, Monroe finally spoke up, "Um, hey, quick question. I don't think I was hallucinating, although I have been known to do that; did you create an ice clone out there?"

"No, I created an Ice Puppet," I said back.

"And the difference is?"

"The difference is one is as a toy while the other is an independent conscious life form. One anyone can make with a drop of mana and a proficient level of mana control; the other is an entirely new form of magic," I explained.

"Oh, but still, I've never heard of someone making such a realistic puppet; in fact, I don't think anyone has ever made such a functional puppet using a spell. The only ones I've heard of have been Golems and Automatons. And Golems don't even look human, while automatons take crafters and artificers months of work," Monroe rambled on.

"As I said, one needs a proficient level of mana control and manipulation," I corrected.

"I have pretty good control over mana. How do I make a puppet?" Monroe asked.

"You have horrible control over your mana. No offense," I retorted.

Monroe looked at me as if I had just told him I had run over his puppy.

"Here, put your card on your palm. Now attempt to move it up to your arm over your shoulder, landing on your chest, using only mana," I directed.

Monroe placed the card on his palm and tried to move it, but the card refused to budge. He worked harder this time, putting more force on the card. Only for the card to fly off his hand and land on the ground. He then tried and tried again only to fail half a dozen times, until he was sweating bullets and breathing as if he had just run a marathon.

"It's impossible. I've never even heard of people doing this. What's the use of moving a card during a fight?" Monroe said as he gave up and placed the card back in his pocket.

"The 'use' is having incredible mana control. That allows one to do what other thought was impossible," I said as I took my card and placed it in my palm. The card swiftly moved up my forearm, up my bicep, over my shoulder, and finally landed on my chest, like a click-on badge.

"What how? Unrefined mana is not that powerful or stable, for that manner. Mana alone should be essentially useless unless you use it in a spell," Monroe said, placing the card back onto his palm.

"Whoever said that? We assume it's useless, but that's because we haven't found a way to use it yet." I clarified.

Monroe only looked at me in confusion. After a few minutes, my card buzzed again. 'Ghost, Carl, C3.'

At the same time, Monroe's card buzzed as well. 'Monroe, Kust, E2.'

"Looks like we have to go our separate ways. Here," Monroe said as he took his card and passed it over my card, "I'll add you to my contacts. Hit me up after you win, or I'll hit you up after I lose."

'He has changed his attitude. Was it something I said?'

During the conversation with Monroe, I was observing the entire room. I finally saw the grid system labels on the floor and walls. With that, I headed over to my left, and 3 rings in.

'I won't get much of a challenge here; I need to class up as soon as possible. I used Ice magic before, but unfortunately, that's only my second-best type of magic.'

It took me until my 26th birthday to manage to get my own Mark in my past; since then, ice was my secondary affinity.

When I arrived at the ring, there was a male around 20 waiting. He wore simple brown leather armor, with a short sword on his left side. I moved towards the referee and swiped my card.

I then moved to my side of the ring and waited.

"Start!" The referee commanded.

I immediately released thick steam that engulfed my immediate surroundings. I gave relevance to my stage name and essentially disappeared from view.

Carl was ready and cast a spell that surrounded his body in a torrent of wind. The wind then congregated around his legs and back, propelling him at incredible velocity around the ring.

'Assuming his attire is for function, he's a pure augmentor with a wind affiliation, maybe even an affinity.'

Carl, as an augmentor, had no choice but to close the gap; he has no mid or long-distance attacks. Carl was cautious of the unknown opponent, covered his body in a hurricane-like wind, and rushed into the steam.

I walked three steps to my left and dodged the blind attack thrown by my opponent.

"Aaaah!" Carl screamed as his body appeared out of the fog.

Without hesitation, he cast a spell causing a rush of wind to be expelled from inside his body. His exposed skin now beat red.

"That's not fog!" Carl voiced in a rage.

"I never said it was. You assumed it was fog. When facing an unknown opponent, never rush in blind; you had the time to check and assess." I lectured again.

'Bad habit of mine. I really need to stop that.'

Carl stood up and converged his wind on the edge of his short sword.

Carl was stuck. The steam now covered more than half the ring; while his wind affinity could help him reduce the effect of the blazing smoke, it could also be a double edge sword. His spell could only circulate the air in his surroundings, while the fresh air could protect him for some time, soon the clean wind would be replaced with burning fumes, burning his skin, eyes, and throat.

"How can a conjurer cast a wide area of effect spell so quickly?" Carl asked while trying to wrack his brain to come up with a solution.

"It's not a conjurer spell." I said.

I circulated the mana within my body and pushed off the floor; as I left the confines of the steam, my body burst into flames. A trail of smoke and flame followed my white silhouette as I rushed towards the terrified Carl still holding his wind-covered sword.

A pale ghost, followed by flame and ash, landed before the paralyzed Carl. A blazing hand extended with incredible speed and landed squarely on the chest of Carl. Without much effort, the man lifted off his feet and flew backward out of the ring, a flamed trail left in his place.

A wave of my hand and the ring returned to normal.

"Victory to Ghost, 2 victories, 0 Loses. Defeat to Carl, 15 victories, 5 losses."