Valterion: The Space/Arch? Mage

Chapter 106: Improvised Combat (3)

Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC

We line up next to the counter. There is a bit of open space before the tables we sat at earlier begin – right where Kevin and Olivia just fought. Olivia jumps up onto the counter and turns to face us again.

“Alright, thanks to Sara, we’re now faster than I planned, which means we can do our first light exercises today instead of next week. As you all don’t know the Reinforcement spell yet, we’ll do some light sparring instead.”

She leans back and opens a drawer to take out a small box. Then she sits back up and opens the lid. Inside are about two dozen silver rings. They emanate a bit of magic.

“Those things are probably the best invention there is… At least for this course,” Olivia chuckles. “They form a full body shield around the wearer. It doesn’t stop blows completely, but it dulls them. So, the best is if you don’t get hit. If you’re hit though, the shield will turn red where you’ve been hurt, so we can analyze what went wrong later on. There is more to them, but that’s something for later once you know Reinforcement.”

Olivia pauses to hand out the rings. I’m one of the first ones to get one, and immediately slip it on my finger.

“Oh, it tries to connect to your interface. I’ll allow it, one second.”

It does? That’s probably one of the things Olivia meant with there’s more to them. A window pops up, showing a toggle to switch the shield on or off. The second button with the name reset is greyed out. I shrug and tap the on button. The ring vibrates slightly, then I feel it reaching out to the magic flowing through my core. I feel that I could resist this, but I don’t. Once the connection is formed, I feel a slight draw on my magic. It’s barely noticeable, but a translucent shield forms around me. It covers me from head to toe, about one centimeter above my clothes.

The others around me experiment with their rings as well, and one by one, shields appear around most of them.

Olivia grins. “Good, now please form up in pairs and face off, then just try to hit your opponent or block them respectively. We’ll do that for a few minutes to get you warmed up. After that, we’ll do single matches against me and add in a bit of improvising.”

That sounds interesting!

Lydia looks at me, and I nod. Everyone shuffles around until all students face off in pairs. Lydia stands opposite me and grins. “Don’t hold back, or I’m gonna beat you!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I reply, and we both turn to Olivia. She’s currently helping some students with connecting to the shield ring, I guess. It doesn’t take long though, and she returns to her usual spot on the counter. “Alright, let’s start. Just do what you think is best and we go from there.” She claps, and the students rush at each other.

Lydia and I both hesitate a moment before we both take a step forward. She is the first to go on the offensive and lifts her right foot to kick at me. I take a hasty step back and avoid her kick. That unbalances her, and she lands awkwardly.

I try to capitalize on her mistake and swing my dominant left fist at her. She’s quick to recover though and lifts her right forearm to block. My fist connects with it, and a slight pain wells up in my hand. Ouch!

I notice Lydia’s and my shield both turn a bit red at the point of impact, mine slightly less so. This didn’t work as I expected…

We both stare at each other again, and I notice that the pair to my right has already finished their bout. One of them, a boy, lies on the ground, his shield completely red all around him, while the girl stands with a grin on her face and not a single speck of red on her shield. If I remember right, she’s one of the few who know martial arts. I gulp. Good thing I didn’t face her.

My distraction costs me though, and only a last-minute warning from my Space Sense saves me from a fist to the head. I lean to the side and Lydia hits my shoulder instead. The shield immediately turns red, and I have to take a step back to keep my balance.

It hurts!

Lydia is quick to capitalize and rushes me. I don’t have time to bring up any defense and Lydia’s body collides with mine. This time I lose my balance, and I fall on my back. Lydia lands on top of me and her big grin fills my vision. An alert on my interface tells me that I’m incapacitated. I let out a long breath.

“Got you,” Lydia grins and rolls off me. I rub my sore ribs and sit up. Ouchie. I slowly stand back up and look around. Most of the fights have already ended with one person’s shield being completely red.

Wait! I do a double-take. There is one pair with both of their shields red. What happened there? The final fight finishes just this moment, and Olivia claps.

“That was fantastic! Well done, everyone. You can sit back down if you want.”

We all do so and look at Olivia expectantly. What has she planned now?

She waves her hand, and a holo-projector comes alive. Suddenly, there is a projection of all the students facing off. Another wave of her hand later, the projection zooms in and only shows one of the groups. It the boy/girl pair that was standing next to me. The recording starts playing, and we all see just how easily the girl beats up the boy. It took less than thirty seconds, and the fight was done.

“That was unfair!” The boy who got beat up complains. The girl meanwhile wears a satisfied smirk.

Olivia ignores the complaint. “Did you see how much of a difference martial arts have made? That’s why I recommended it earlier.” Now she looks at the boy. “Do you think you would have had a chance if you had had access to A&D magic?”

He shakes his head. “Probably not… She immediately rushed me. I don’t know how I could have cast a spell. But it was still unfair!”

“It was, but fights against A&D Mages will always be unfair. Never forget this. Now let’s watch the next fight. Another interesting thing happened there.”

The projection switches and it now shows Lydia and me. The recording starts at normal speed and shows the few exchanges we’ve had. Then suddenly it slows down and zooms at my face. I watch my eyes move to the side.

Oh! That’s when I lost the fight. I got distracted by the fight next to us and Lydia used my distraction!

The recording zooms back out and shows the remainder of our fight, including my embarrassing defeat. I blush a little.

“Can someone tell us what decided this fight?” Olivia asks.

A lot of hands go up. With the zoom-in, it was pretty obvious. Kevin tells the class what I have already noticed, and Olivia gives him a thumbs-up.

“Exactly, distraction is key. Especially against A&D Mages, as it can interrupt their casting if you’re lucky. Therefore, always try to distract your opponents.”

Olivia continues to show a few other fights and points out a few things that happened there. Then it’s finally time for the most interesting thing of the lesson: the one-on-one fights with Olivia plus the promise of finally doing improvising stuff. Not that we know much about the topic besides Olivia trashing Kevin with a broom of all things.

She joins the martial arts girl at her table and sits down. I should probably stop calling her the martial arts girl, but I can’t remember her name right now… It was something that begins with V.

Before I can figure it out, Olivia speaks up. “I’ve promised you earlier to do one-on-one fights with you before the lesson ends. We will do so each week, sometimes against me, sometimes against your classmates, or at other times against Kevin or another A&D Mage. We will also be in a different classroom every week, so expect changing settings on a weekly basis.”

Changing settings? That’s insane! But it also makes sense… It’s probably to show us real-life scenarios. I mean we’re inside a coffee shop right now.

Olivia looks at martial arts girl and grins. “You wanna start? If so, attack me. You’re allowed to use everything you find within the room. I’ll only defend myself this time. You win if you land a solid hit. You have two minutes until you lose.”

Martial arts girl returns the grin and nods. Then she springs into action and kicks up the table. It flips over and in Olivia’s direction. Olivia quickly stands up and takes a step to the side, out of the table’s trajectory.

Martial arts girl falls into a stance, and eyes Olivia cautiously. Her eyes flicker through the room like she’s looking for something to use to her advantage. Suddenly they brighten, and she rushes forward – right past Olivia, ignoring her completely.

She reaches her destination at a flowerpot which she grabs and throws at Olivia. Then she takes two steps until she goes down in a slide until she connects with Olivia’s shins, or well the shield above her shins.

Olivia finishes dealing with the flying flowerpot, and then she claps. “Well done, Valerie! You successfully distracted me which brought you the first victory of today.”

Ah, that’s her name.

The battles continue, with most of the students losing to the clock. Lydia doesn’t win either, unfortunately. A few students are clever with the use of furniture and manage to break through Olivia’s defense which enables them to land a hit and win. One student even jumped behind the counter and grabbed a few knives which he threw at Olivia. This earned him a win as well. The next one who tried it lost because Olivia hid behind an upturned table in time.

While watching all those battles, I slowly come up with a plan. If everything works out, I’ll get the fastest victory of the day. There are only two students who have to fight before me, so I start with my preparations.

I lazily stroll behind the counter and grab an empty mug. Then I place it under the coffee machine and fill it up with freshly brewed coffee. Next, I take a piece of cake and place it on a plate together with a fork and knife. Then I walk back around the counter place everything on an empty table and sit down. I start to eat the cake very slowly while ignoring the weird glances from the other students. It’s quite good.

Meanwhile, the other battles have finished, and Olivia gets up. “Was that everyone?” She asks and I lift my hand.

“Over here, Olivia. I’m the last one.”

She grins and walks over. “I thought you were already done.”

I grin back. “Nope, I needed a bit of time to prepare.”

Olivia sits down. “Alright do your worst, whenever you’re ready.”

I ignore her and continue to eat my cake. A few seconds later, I look up. “Want a piece?” I indicate the cake, and Olivia’s gaze snaps to it.

I take that as a yes and slowly push the plate over. Her gaze follows.

Perfect!

I shove the plate all the way over to her while I grab the mug of coffee with my other hand. Olivia still looks at the cake.

That’s the moment when I throw the coffee at her and immediately grab onto the knife. Then I jump up and lean over the table to mime stabbing her.

Her shield turns scarlet red as soon as the hot coffee hits it and Olivia jumps back in surprise. The other students cry out in disbelief.

My knife did nothing besides adding a bit of a dramatic effect. Olivia, now standing, stares back at me. “Wow, that certainly came as a surprise. Well done!”

I smile broadly and lean back. This was fun.

Olivia shakes her head and waves her hand. The splattered coffee starts floating and moves back into the mug. Then she turns back to the class. “Alright everyone, looks like we’ve got a winner. Sara here managed to surprise even me. I certainly wouldn’t have expected her to throw coffee at me…”

That causes a few chuckles among the class. “I definitely won’t fall for the same trick again. So, take the week and come up with new ideas guys, I’m looking forward to it. This also marks the end of today's lesson. I’m sending you now the instructions for the Reinforcement spell. It’s not that hard, so who knows maybe one of you can surprise me with the spell next week.”

I get a ping on my interface after she finishes and take a quick look at the Reinforcement spell. She’s right, it doesn’t look that hard. Just a week to learn it stretches things a lot though. Especially because I’m posing as a Junior Utility Mage. I shrug inwardly. We’ll see how long it takes.

Afterward, we all say goodbye to Olivia, give back the training rings, and leave the classroom. Lydia and I talk a bit with the other students on our way down to the lobby, then we return toward our dorm room. When we arrive, we are immediately bombarded with questions from Alina and Lucy who have already finished their lessons for the day.

So, we start talking, and both girls listen very attentively. Later on, we get some food delivered and talk while we eat.

“Wow, I didn’t expect all this to be so effective,” Lucy speaks up. “I mean I’m just learning my first offensive spells, but they are so strong. I didn’t think a non-A&D Mage would be able to stand against such power. But surprise and distraction make sense… My spells take up a lot of concentration to cast. At least for now.”

Lydia nudges me. “Maybe we can ask Olivia if we can borrow those training shield rings? I think if the four of us train together it will help a lot.”

“You’re right! Let’s ask her next week.”

Lydia blushes a bit and clears her throat. “Uh, well, I could ask her tomorrow as well…”

Tomorrow? “What’s tomorrow?”

“Uhh, she asked me if I wanted a coffee… And I said yes?”

Ohhhh.

We all jump up and rush her.

“That’s so nice, Lydia!” Alina cries and I can only agree. She deserves this!