Despite being ready for their most likely tactic Tom had still taken a solid blow to the shoulder and that alone had left Ajax feeling furious. The referees had inspected what was left from the crossbow after the match and had found that it technically didn’t violate any of the duel rules.
The way they achieved this is by creating the crossbow to be a specifically single shot use, none of the runes were meant to do anything but give more power to the shot resulting in the crossbow breaking in more than one place after the arrow was shot. The single focused creation added on to the fact that it was clearly a one use item and not technically a weapon meant it just made it under the rules for a level twenty five duel.
The weapon however didn’t just surprise one side of the duel as numerous members of the other side seemed to have no idea that such a weapon was going to be used. As much as Tom was patched up right after the duel ended by a skilled healer, their opponent's reputation was going to suffer much worse and there was no quick way to mend it.
The real repercussions of the duel however weren’t seen until the next day when dozens of somewhat talented commoners swarmed the guards barracks looking to join up. Tom had worked wonders for the guards PR team, and as a reward he would spend his last remaining two years building trust with some of the guards most talented members and looking to recruit them once their service was finished.
The rest of the week had felt somewhat mundane for Ajax following the duel, he had spent most of his time training, very little of his time was dedicated to his alchemy nowadays. The reason for that was that he was finally past the beginner phase. He now needed to work with mana infused ingredients and that simply wasn’t something he could afford all that often outside the dungeon.
With the new week starting, Ajax's academy classes had come to an end for the year. All they had left were their exams but those wouldn’t happen for another month as all the focus was now on the tournaments that will be starting up.
For once Ajax and the rest of his class were separated. With the first year tournament being the first to start Ajax was given ample free time to watch them as he waited for the sixth year tournament to begin.
The first round of matches did exactly what it was supposed to do. With commoners being limited to twenty-one years of age to join for the first year tournament none of the people who made it to the twenty-five spots were even level twenty-three. Every single match had been a blowout.
That’s not to say that there weren’t a few surprises among the commoners. While most were finished in the first two or three attacks, there were three who made it all the way to six and one who made it to seven before finally losing. Three of them had promptly been given offers for joining the retinue of quite a few noble houses.
Ajax could see the appeal of this system, and while he did agree that it worked there was also a darker side to it. It was pretty obvious from the look of the commoner stand-out. The reason why he had made it that far at such a young age was simple. He didn’t focus all that many of his stat points into Vitality. This would give him a much stronger fighting base but it also made everything far riskier as his health was much lower. Not only that but his next two levels worth of points would need to be put into Vitality so while his level might grow his combat prowess did not.
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The second round of the tournament was much more engaging however. With all of the students now facing each other the matches started to branch out in terms of outcome. Since the brackets weren’t randomized but based off of their scores in training a few matches ended very quickly. Benedict, Annabeth and Lexi all finished their opponents in dominating fashion.
It was the princes’ match that caught Ajax’s attention however. Despite being the youngest in the class by almost two years, if one didn’t count Ajax, the prince was definitely up there in terms of strength. What surprised Ajax was the mirage illusion magic that the prince employed.
The princes’ opponent was a mage and despite being able to tell when a mirage was used with him [Mana Sense] that didn’t help all that much. Being a spellblade meant that faces were much harder to tell apart from genuine casts. By the time the first few exchanges happened the prince had already managed to land a few slices on his opponents arms.
“Whatever that marriage spell is has to be based on a Rare skill at least.” Ajax murmured as he watched the fight. “He isn’t chanting anything so it isn’t a spell.”
“That’s a decent first guess.” a voice to his left surprised Ajax.
“Headmaster!” Ajax jumped a little.
“The skill is one he gained from his bond,” headmaster Manashaper continued without even acknowledging Ajax’s surprise at his presence. “It’s too early to tell if the skill is a Rare or an Epic variant but it certainly is perfectly suited to a hybrid spellblade.”
The match below sung heavily into the prince's favor once his opponent started panicking and blasting out all of his mana in wider spells that the prince couldn’t dodge. The potency lost by spreading the spell out so much meant that it wouldn’t be enough to make it past the defense provided by the high quality gear the prince had.
“Looking at it you could say that it's the opposite solution to your style.” the headmaster continued as they both watched the prince lower his somewhat battered shield to reveal that nothing did more than lightly dent and scratch the first layer of defense.
“What do you mean?” Ajax asked.
“A hybrid spellblades worst problem is being forced to exchange spells with a true mage on even ground.” the headmaster explained. “A physical fighter would rarely be a match for an equally powerful spellblade, their only chance being staying defensive until their endurance wins out. In the battle with a mage the roles are usually reversed.”
“The hybrid tries to stall out the mage.” Ajax put two and two together. Read complete versıon only at 𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕·𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎·𝚗𝚎𝚝
“Exactly, something that illusion skill is perfect for.” the headmaster went on “Your solution is more unique. You force the situation back into the first scenario even against a mage. What your spells lack in power they make up for in flexibility and casting speed. Essentially allowing you to outmuscle a mage with a multitude of weaker spells at the cost of a large mana cost.”
“That’s not my only choice.” Ajax said, a little defensively.
“Oh but it is, from what I’ve seen anyway. Your boosting skill relies on your mana just as much though the conflicting reports I've seen on it so far haven’t let me work out why the end result is still the same. You burn through your mana quicker than normal mages do. If you run out before your opponent is dead, or before you escape, you lose.” the headmaster said.
‘Not exactly seeing as I can use his spells and mana to fuel my physical enhancement’ Ajax made sure not to say that however, clearly the king had kept his Legendary skill under wraps so Ajax wasn’t going to spread it further just yet.
“I do have to say however that out of everyone in the first year class, besides you maybe, Lady Goldmacer is the scariest to have as an opponent.” the headmaster said as he got up and left towards his daughter who finally entered the viewing stands, changed from her battle gear to a more luxurious attire.
Ajax couldn’t help but agree with the headmaster. Few people had figured it out and by the time they did it was too late to stop it. Annabeth had a few trusted member of their circle intentionally hold back during their practice sessions or go all out even with the tournament approaching.
Her plan was finally revealed in the second to last day of classes as the brackets for the tournament were revealed. She had not only managed to work out how the classes were scored but by changing the result of a few people she had managed to set up favorable match-ups for group, not only that but she had even managed to set herself on the opposite side of the bracket from both Benedict and Lexi, who would most likely meet in the semi-finals and push each other to show any hidden tricks.