The Undying Magician - Book 1 - Chapter 35.5 - Mock Battle Part II (Patreon)

                                                                                       Nathan

                                                    Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 16 | Sunday

I focus entirely on the sword wielder as he draws his sword, leaving a pistol holstered at his waist. The cadet has a freckled face, with brown hair, and equally brown eyes. He has on a uniform with the number two on its cuff, marking him as a second year. But despite that, he seems a little nervous.

“The sword wielder is a second year, and has a pistol holstered at his waist,” I state into my id card as the sounds of bullets being fired continue coming from the direction of the others’ battle. “He also seems to be lacking in confidence.”

A few seconds pass as Cyria continues sprinting across the valley until she makes it to the base of their hill and begins zigzagging from tree to tree – likely in an attempt to make sure he doesn’t try shooting her.

Not that I think it’ll be a problem, considering how nervous the cadet seems. And how his gun is still holstered.

Suddenly, the gunfire comes to a stop. Soon after that, Rebecca’s tired voice comes in on the call saying, “We’ve dealt with the other two, but Sophia was taken out, and Aidan is too injured to move.”

I frown slightly at that update before shaking my head and responding, “Alright. Come back up Cyr-”

Before I can finish speaking, Cyria’s voice enters the call abruptly saying, “No! I want to handle this guy myself!”

Her words only make my frown deepen as I look through the scope again to find her still climbing up the hill towards the enemy cadet.

Didn’t realize she was this prideful.

But…

“I can’t let your pride get in the way of the battle,” I begin before scaling my scope’s view back slightly to get a bigger view of their battle and continuing, “that said. Rebecca, go find a position to watch their battle from, and fire an arrow into the enemy if she loses. If that still doesn’t work, I’ll shoot him when the red blanket goes away.”

Once I finish speaking, I see Cyria pause for a second in her climb near a tree before continuing again as her voice comes in through the call, “Thank you.”

Well, that takes care of that.

At least I can take this free time to consider what I’m gonna say to everyone outside once this battle finishes… because there’s no way they didn’t miss me getting shot in the eye and shoulder and healing almost instantly when each cadet is being streamed by the simulator to those outside in the class…

As I’m thinking, I also watch Cyria as she finally reaches the top of the hill, only several meters away from the flag with the enemy cadet in between her and it.

Although now that I think about it, it’s also possible that the instructor might answer their questions before the mock battle even ends.

I relax a little at the thought, but despite that, I doubt he will.

Knowing him, he’ll probably just make me do most of the work, only speaking up when he has to.

In fact, he might purposely cause me more trouble…

I tense up again at the thought before shaking my head and focusing on Cyria and the cadet through the scope of my rifle.

Their battle actually started out pretty evenly matched, with the cadet surprisingly managing to keep up with Cyria’s strikes.

That said, it doesn’t last for long. Especially not after the guy trips as he’s trying to block her strike.

Which probably isn’t a very good idea if you want to survive a duel.

Anyways, their battle just continues going down hill after that, with the guy taking cut after cut after cut from Cyria until he finally makes one mistake too many, allowing her to send her sword straight towards his unguarded neck, only for it to be blocked by the same blue and purple barrier as before. The cadet then teleports out of the BFS, which is followed soon after by an explosion of fireworks echoing throughout the simulator, signifying our victory.

“Congratulations to Nathan’s team on their victory,” Leo’s voice echoes throughout the BFS as it begins to shrink down to normal, leaving me and the others in a simple gray room. “Now please exit the BFS so we may move on to the last mock battle of the day.”

Once we leave the BFS, I find myself being stared at by every last cadet within the room, with the exception of Aidan, Sophia, and Rebecca, who hadn’t seen what had happened.

Not even a full ten seconds later, the sniper who I had defeated in the mock battle walks forwards with his arms crossed and asks, “What the hell was that?”

His question sets off several others from the gathered cadets, causing the room to be filled with question after question after question as Aidan, Sophia, and Rebecca all look around in confusion.

“How is a first year able to use a spell to that extent?” “I thought he had a fire affinity? How was that fire?!” “What happened!”

I let out a mental sigh of relief after finding out that they all seem to truly believe it was a spell.

Suddenly, Leo raises his hands and claps them together, silencing the room as my confused teammates all send me odd looks, having at least partially figured out that something happened with me. The instructor then nods his head at me, prompting me to speak.

“It’s a new fire mana based regeneration spell developed by my teacher, Instructor Leo,” I state, getting to the point of the cover right away in order to leave out any chance of them jumping to their own conclusions.

This causes another commotion that doesn’t last for long as everyone turns to look at the instructor in question for his confirmation.

The man begins messing with the BFS panel as he speaks, “Nathan’s correct. I gave my apprentice a spell of mine both as a test, and as a way to keep him safe.”

Right as another commotion seems to be about to break out amongst the cadets, Leo continues speaking, “Now, Bridget’s team and Phillip’s team, you’ll be the last mock battle of the day.”

His words bring an end to the discussion for the moment as the two teams look at me, then each other, then begin walking towards the BFS itself.

But judging by the way the students are looking at me, this isn’t over by a long shot.

Although Arthur doesn’t seem to care much, despite also having an affinity for fire.

Wish that could be said for the other fire affinity cadets. The ones that are currently glaring at me with a look that makes me wonder if they’re planning on challenging me to a duel anytime soon.

Which probably wouldn’t be a good idea for them to do, considering why they would be doing it in the first place.

But some people just don’t make much sense…

“Nathan Fox, I challenge you to a duel,” one of the first year cadets in my Fundamentals of Fire class says after walking up to me.

I just stare at him before opening my mouth, only to close it again as the instructor shouts from behind the panel, “Nathan accepts, and it’ll be in two weeks’ time!”

The cadet in question – whose name I don’t even know – nods his head with a glare towards me before walking back to his team, leaving me with my jaw dropped open in shock.

What. The. Fuck?

Suddenly, I feel a pat on the back as Aidan’s voice comes from behind me, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine if you have your teacher’s training.”

I turn back to look at him, only to find a happy grin on his face.

My eyes narrow before I turn to look at Cyria and the others, who also have pleasant looks on their faces and aren’t even bothering to hide them.

They’re enjoying this. Probably because I didn’t tell them in the first place.

I narrow my eyes even further before closing them with a sigh.

Whatever. No choice now but to go along with it.

After that thought, I turn towards the BFS to watch the last mock battle of the day.

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