Chapter 245: Wins and Losses (Patreon)

Nisha was swept along, as was Aaren next to her as they cheered with the rest of the spectators.

Those that bet on Sera Elizabeth’s position as the challenger to take the arena in a storm moaned and vented their grief with loud angry shouts while the others that went the safe route and made a small profit from betting on the famous [Slice and Dice] Felippe celebrated their earnings with loud cheering as well.

Amid the frenzied crowd, most of them went to turn in their betting tickets, while the remaining few who were down on their luck and spent their last copper left the arena entirely.

Their teacher Tyne Pinewood brought Nisha and Aaren along to leave as well - aside from the last fight, most of the combatants failed to catch his eye and were unsuitable to expand the horizons of the two young ones.

The group returned to the corridors and stalls that lined the inner structure of the arena building and excitedly recalled the fight they just witnessed.

Nisha could not hold herself back and impatiently asked the [Eternal Warrior] a question that burned on the tip of her tongue.

“What exactly happened when Ser Felippe used his signature skill?

He should have been impaired from the wounds on his legs, but he accelerated all of a sudden and used his thrown weapon to rapidly approach Sera Elizabeth.

Why did that happen?”

The last segment of the fight contradicted itself.

Clearly, the archeress had set a trap and succeeded in wounding the mobility of her enemy and planned to take advantage of it.

Yet right after that, the man accelerated and ignored the distance between the two fighters, using his longsword to put an end to their duel, ignoring his legs that got damaged by the arrow trap.

“Good observation. The little girl actually did fairly well and obtained a great advantage with her trap, it would have benefited her greatly once the fight dragged on.

Speaking of that, it was very decisive of her opponent to disregard his plan to corner her slowly and stake it all on a single rush to decide the match.”

Normally, Tyne Pinewood would have been too lazy to explain everything in detail, yet he had gotten addicted to the attention and feeling of accomplishment once his students admired him.

He spent a bit more effort and forced himself to talk more about the underlying reason.

“[Slice and Dice] got his moniker from this particular skill, it’s something he only managed at the fourth rank.

By attaching part of his aura to his weapon, Felippe can project his aura over a vastly increased distance than normally.

Although I don’t know the particular name of his skill, the principle is more or less the same and light aura is particularly suited to this movement method.

Once the aura is contracted to a minimum, the warrior uses the rebound to press forward and extend the same distance again.

Without great control over aura, it’s not possible to execute this two stage skill, but he managed to pull it off and used the rebound force to move forwards instead of relying on his legs, which were damaged in the ambush.”

Tyne Pinewood looked around, trying to locate a particular stall. He had a goal in mind, but he had not been in the arena for a long time now, many of the locations changed spots or moved to a different floor.

Walking next to them, Aaren was torn out of his excitement over the match and seriously listened to the analysis of their instructor.

He had already been more than glad to be allowed to watch a grand match in the arena as part of their warrior class, yet on top of that they had a real expert at their side who could analyze the match for them as well.

A common villager might never have the chance to enjoy the same treatment in their entire lives.

The young man constantly bumped into other pedestrians as he was unable to tear his eyes from their teacher.

“Since he had already suffered an injury from the ambush, Felippe either had to stake it all or gamble on an unknown outcome after a long dragged out fight that could have gone either way.

So he ignored the projectiles in his wounds and forcefully executed his [Slice and Dice] skill to close the gap.

In the process, some of his tendons and muscles most likely got torn and damaged and the injury worsened.

As we can see, his decision to stake it all worked out and he managed to subdue the other duelist in one swift strike and the state of his body did not matter anymore.

Right as he left the combat pit, he should have had several priests tend to his wounds in order to recover.

Since they managed to invite two combatants at the knight realm, the arena managers naturally are not going to skimp on the expenses to invite some priests for treatment.

Similarly, that Elizabeth girl will also get the best treatment and recover swiftly.

They both should have gotten valuable combat experience, which is why they agreed to these matches in the first place.”

The [Eternal Warrior] managed to finish his explanation in one go, partly due to his excitement over his dedicated students and partly due to his embarrassment of being unable to find the correct stall, constantly speaking helped to cover up the awkwardness.

Fortunately, the prideful warrior was not forsaken by his attempts to gloss over his aimless wandering and the three of them arrived at a service stall managed by the arena.

“Go ahead and register. You can also use your adventurer’s card if you have one.”

Directing towards a friendly smiling receptionist, Tyne Pinewood fell back into his old ways and lazed off against a nearby wall, closed his eyes and rested without telling the two youths why exactly he brought them here.

Left without a choice, Nisha and Aaren could only follow his instructions and obediently line up.

Thankfully, there were only a couple of people ahead of them lining up, and they reached the stall quite quickly.

Standing behind the counter, a beautiful receptionist greeted them with a polite smile and a small bow.

“Can I help you two?”

Aaren wanted to faithfully execute the mission entrusted to them by their instructor, but he was suddenly too shy to speak with a mature and beautiful lady.

He gathered his courage and tried to overcome his sudden muteness, but eventually the young boy only blushed and turned his eyes down.

Thankfully, he was not alone on this mission.

Next to him, Nisha took over and addressed the receptionist.

“Yes, that would be welcomed. Our instructor asked us to register here with you, can you explain for a bit what services you offer?

This would help us immensely.”

After mingling with the receptionists from the guild thanks to her friend Aubrey and her education on etiquette as a noble, it was quite easy for the elf to phrase her request in a polite and concise manner.

The charming woman opposite of them showed signs of understanding and opened a part of the counter to invite them inside the stall.

“Of course, this is part of my job after all. Since your teacher asked you to register, it should be the arena league registration.

To make sure that the matches are fair and you can receive your rightful compensation for any matches you participate in, it’s important that all participants update their registration beforehand.

The [Adventurers Guild] and the arena set up a collaboration and share the records in regards to the cultivation level of their members, and as such you can use your guild card to register here.

Would you two like to sign up with the arena?”

Giving them a quick rundown of the duties assigned to her, the receptionist showed them a device designed for measuring cultivation strength.

Several other receptionists inside the stall currently did similar tasks and either worked on paperwork for young warriors and magicians drawn to the arena league.

One of the test devices was free to use, hence the two students did not hesitate for long and agreed to complete the sign up procedure.

Since Nisha already owned a guild card, it was easier to complete her registration, whereas the process for Aaren was a tad longer, hence the receptionist started taking down his personal details first.

The steps were quite similar to the time when Nisha registered with the [Adventurers Guild], they mostly took down name, occupation and combat strength, while details such as place of residence, affiliation with any organizations and other data was only added on a voluntary basis.

As the young man needed the same information to apply for a scholarship position at the [Royal Academy], he had long since learned the necessary data points by heart and finished filling out the form quite quickly.

The charming attendant entered the temporary form in the unified guild and arena database and brought the duo to the free measuring device.

“Now that the paperwork is done, we only need to measure your provisional strength and issue you an arena pass, it’s a card very similar to the guild card.

The only difference is that the arena pass tracks your wins and losses, combat rating as well as funds you can use to purchase equipment, place bets or acquire services within the limits of the arena.

Please place your hand on top of this crystal and pour your aura or mana inside, depending on which combat style you prefer.”

As a professional, the attendant had completed this procedure many times and easily accepted that two students were going to join the arena league.

Although the arena did not enforce age limits or prevented anyone from participating, the matches had to be exciting and provide entertainment, or the managers would lose money.

Therefore, anyone was free to join the fun as long as they could fend for themselves.

Aaren nervously placed his hand on the crystal and did his best to rouse the energy coursing through his body.

Fiery red aura swirled and filled the crystal on the counter, lighting up two mana stones embedded in the casing of the measuring device.

“Oh my, second rank fire aura, that’s a very nice result.

Although it’s not past the first great divide, it’s still rare to find talents with the same strength at your age. I’m impressed.”

This time, the receptionist was not only paying lip service, youngsters seldom made it to the second rank already.

Even the talents from the [Royal Academy] had to follow a strict cultivation plan and go through harsh training to barely make it to the second rank during their first or second turn.

The straightforward praise embarrassed the boy though and he hastily looked down to hide his blush.

“It’s nothing much, it’s all thanks to the resources our teacher provides to us, I just broke through a few days ago while training with the pills and supplements he provided to us.

My talent is not that good.”

Fumbling his way through the final procedures, the young man received his completed arena pass in the end and hid behind Nisha, who eagerly stepped forward.

The elf did not want to interrupt when the receptionist was talking to Aaren, but now she was free to ask as many questions as she wanted.

“You said this helps to establish our initial combat rating, does that mean the arena does not take only our rank in consideration when arranging the fights?

That seems counterproductive when you are preparing to measure my cultivation rank.”

Although Nisha questioned the process, she still obediently put her hand and poured her energy into the crystal.

To avoid exposing too much of her strength, only wispy specks of dark aura and fiery clouds of fire aura tumbled inside the device, mixing with each other at times and lighting up three of the embedded mana gems.

The mixture already showed signs of high activity, if the dragon did not hold back her life and death aura, perhaps the entire device would have broken down.