Chapter 148 - Dueling! (Patreon)

{Library, Hogwarts}

{17th Oct 1991} 

{3rd person POV}

...

Rigel watched Susan disappear from his vision. His eyes lingered on the entrance for a bit before he sighed and leaned back. The thought of adding Susan to the list of women he had slept with while cool wasn't really as important as the fact that he would get another boost to his Mana reserves. 

Gone were the days when he had to struggle every day to consume his mana before sleeping to increase his reserves. With just one ritual, he was able to increase his reserves by percentage boosts.

'It's even a simple Ritual with no side-effects. I remember Daphne telling me about how Rituals function. They were the magic of a forgotten era whose traces could have such massive effects. Not only that, but the first ritual that I came into contact with was one that perfectly matched my own powers.' While he had gotten a little too sidetracked by sex, he had made the effort to remedy that situation.

'Status.' Rigel thought as the status screen appeared in front of him. He had gotten so much stronger than before, though he still needed to go so much further.

...

[Name: Rigel Black]

[Age: 18]

[Gender: Male]

[Family: Black {Father(Deceased), Mother (Deceased)}]

[Level- 4 (123/200)]

[Mana- 1034/1034]

[Mana Control- 20%]

[Allegiance- Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, Most Ancient House of Gaunt]

[PHY- 7/20{Race Limit}]

[REF- 14/20{Race Limit}]

[VIS 12/20{Race Limit}]

[AGI- 11/20{Race Limit}]

[Mana Points- 5]

...

'Now that I have a way to increase my Mana other than exhausting my own reserves every day, I can stop dumping the points I get from level-ups and use them to increase my other stats. Maybe maxing out Reflex would be a good option, as that would help a lot in dueling.' Rigel thought. The thought of the dueling was a little depressing, as he had tried to find someone capable of dueling but had been unable to find anyone human who could teach him the basics like Daphne taught him dancing.

The existence of a dancing skill and gave him a way to get better at wizarding duels with the help of the system. Still, he had a last resort that he could use. Rigel sat up from his seat and walked out of the Library. Madam Pince harrumphed as he walked out of the Library. The old librarian was likely miffed at the disregard for the sanctity of knowledge that we just turned into a gossip room.

The Room of Requirements was on the other end of the school, and it took him 10 minutes to reach it after walking and navigating through the old castle. After standing in front of the painting, he walked back and forth three times with the image of what Rigel wanted firmly in mind.

The magical doors appeared, and I swiftly slipped into the room. It had transformed into a large hall, almost half the size of the Great Hall. It was empty except for the two dummies and a bookshelf that held half a dozen old tomes. The dummies were a lot more interesting; they were like humans personified with legs and arms and a wand in hand—like perfect partners.

'Those would be the books on dueling forms and other books related to the art; the dummies, on the other hand, should be interesting.' Rigel walked over to the bookshelf and read the names of the books on their spines.

'''Dueling: The Art of Offense and Defence'''

'''Dueling forms: Which one's the one for you?'''

'''Common Duelling Spells'''

'''Spell Chains: The Art of Multi-casting'''

...

While each one had its own benefits, Rigel picked the one that showed the Duelling form first. He walked over to the dummy on the left with the book in hand and turned to the first page. As he read through the first page, the dummy moved. It was agile. It moved with a fluidity that seemed almost alien as it copied the stance depicted in the book.

'''Dueling stances are essential for wizards and witches engaging in magical combat. While the specifics of each individual's stance may vary based on personal style and training, there are some common elements and principles that are typically observed...'''

Rigel skipped the basic information shown in the book and focused on the first stance. The man in the picture was showing a standard stance, the one shown in the book. He was turned on the side, with legs spread as the dominant arm forward, wand in hand.

'''A Wizard's Stance: One of the most basic stances that every duelist should know. Most of the stances further described in the book are an amalgamation of the basics from the wizard's stance and fine-tuned to focus on one of the attributes. The main advantages of a Wizard's stance lie in its balance and the adaptability to change...'''

Rigel stared at the dummy as he thought about the missing table. Barely a second later, a table materialized in front of him, and he placed the book on it. He walked over to the dummy and stood in front of it. He tried to mimic its form as he twisted it in place. Turning almost 60 degrees to the left, he lowered his body slightly and extended his wand arm in front of him. 

As soon as he was done, the dummy moved, still unnaturally fluid; it took a step forward and whipped the fake wand it held at Rigel. Rigel carefully scrutinized the motion before he attempted to do the same; as he took a step forward, he immediately noticed the change; while the Dummy had managed to remain level-headed, his body dipped slightly as his stance was disrupted.

The dummy moved back fluidly. This time Rigel paid attention to its footwork, noting how it moved forward and backward with the opposite foot first before dragging the other one to maintain its stance. He tried again. This time, when he moved forward, he dragged his left foot (the one behind his body) with him and then adjusted the position of his left foot to maintain perfect form.

'Huh, this is kind of like fencing!'

...

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AN—I needed to introduce dueling. I got too sidetracked with the girls. Now we'll have a lemon with Susan tomorrow before we focus on the Trial and then Halloween night!