All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.
Richard was in the field and track team, he relied on his physical strength a lot more than normal mages. Being a Wind mage, he could create tailwind that could greatly enhance his speeds. He was really strong, and very skilled with powering his body with mana. His teammates were also mages that relied on a enhanced body to fight, which was not too common. Ben's teammates all wielded Mana Media, paving the way with money. They weren't completely reliant on their tools, even without them, they were still very skilled for amateur mages.
"Who do you think is going to win?" Flynn asked, all of his teammates except for Drew were quite interested in the fight. "Are you not excited about the fight?" Kevin asked Drew, who was busy programming some sort of code on his laptop. "Not really, the results are quite clear," Drew said, not even batting an eye. "Then who will win?" Kevin asked Drew, wondering why his was so certain. "The Mana Media would outlast Richard's team. So if they don't do anything dumb, their is a slim to no chance that Ben's team would lose," Drew said.
A sharp whistle marked the start of the battle, Richard and his teammates instantly enhanced their bodies with mana. They began to charge at their opponents with speeds that Earthlings could only dream of. Pulling out small disks from their pockets, Ben's group activated their Media. The small disks turned into blasters, and they unleashed their attacks. The beam of concentrated mana focused on Richard, forcefully stopping him in his tracks. Normal Earthlings that were hit by the beam would've definitely been evaporated, even armored tanks would fail to stand its ground against the blasters.
Allocating most of his mana to his arm, he blocked the laser from completely turning him into cooked meat. His mana reserves were draining quickly, but once he gave up his defenses, he would definitely be badly hurt. Clenching his teeth, he kept on pushing against the ray of mana. One by one, the blasters in their hands began to overheat. The mana cyrstal engraved inside of the Medium that acted as a rechargeable battery dimmed down, as it needed to be recharged. "You would have demolished them if they attacked you with those blasters," Flynn said to Kevin. The beams were pure mana that was highly concentrated, so
"It's over," Richard thought, as he grinned. He and his friends rushed fowards, enhancing their bodies with mana once again. His fists brimming with mana, he swung at Ben, but when his noticed Ben's expression, something felt off. Activating one of his three Media, a thin bubble enveloped his whole team. Slamming into the bubble, his fists created a large dent in the barrier. But before he could penertrate the barrier, it bounced back immediately. He threw a flurry of punches at the barrier, but it still stood there completely intact, as if it was mocking Richard's stupidity. "Did he really try to break through a mana barrier with brute force?" Brian said, shaking his head. "Wind mages don't have spells powerful enough to break through the barrier," Josh said.
"This is a good chance to test out my new spell," Blite thought, studying the barrier. Blite was a fire mage, who was also very skilled in physical fights. "Combustion," he casted, as he punched the barrier so fast that even Flynn failed to capture his movements. A large explosion occurred, much more powerful than a normal fireball. The whole bubble distorted, but it eventually regained its shape. Looking up, the spell seemed to have somehow captured Drew's attention. He had already put up a sensor that records every fluctuation of mana before the first battle began. The readings that the sensor got were surprising. "What did he do?" Brian asked Drew, noticing that he was monitoring the battle. "He powered up his arm to the very limit. By punching down with such speeds, he compressed the air into a small puck. Lighting it on fire, it creates a small explosion," Drew explained. At first, he was quite impressed by the spell's power. But after a rough estimation of the mana required to cast the successfully, which was about ten times of what a fireball spell would cost, he lost interest in the spell.
Looking at the bubble, which seemed to have became a lot thinner, Blite punched it again. "Combustion," he casted, using the same spell again. Judging by his pale face, the assumption that Drew made was definitely not wrong. His fists were also in bad condition since they received the same amount of impact as its target. Overall, Combustion was definitely a spell that needed a lot of improvement in order for it to become practical in real battles. Blite sat down on the ground, panting as he tried to catch his breath. A hint of killing intent flashed in Ben's eyes, as he suddenly deactivated the barrier. Activating his last Medium, a plasma blade appeared in his hands. His Medium were all very good quality, so they had built in mana crystals. Due to this, his mana reserves were still full in contrast to Blite, who was on his very last drop of mana. Swinging the glowing blade at Blite, he couldn't defend in time. The plasma cutter tear right through Blite's shoulder, opening up an ugly wound. Richard acted immediately, retaliating with a punch. But before his fists could come into contact with Ben's torso, Richard was blasted by a beam of mana.
Unguarded, he was sent flying as his skin blistered. With two of their teammates taken down in an instant, the other three people surrendered immediately. "That was an exciting fight," Flynn said, seeing the power of wealth in full action. Although the fight looked to be quite intense, in reality, Ben's team never casted a single spell. "I bet you could solo them if they fought like that," Flynn said. "I don't think that they are that dumb," Kevin replied.
Their next opponents were decided by drawing straws. As Brian picked out their next opponent from the box, his made a weird expression once he saw who they were up against. "Who did you get? Ben?" Drew asked, wondering why he made such a face. Flipping the piece of paper that had their next opponents name written on it, Brian decided to let them see for themselves. Once they saw the name, they instantly understood why Brian had such a reaction. Goose!
Getting into the arena, the expectations they had for their first battle were all shattered. They couldn't get charged up against such weak opponents. Goose's team however, was quite excited. After getting their first win, they thought that they were qualified as a decent team. "I'll take on Flynn, while you..." Goose began to give out orders, preparing to take down Flynn's team. Flynn and his friends stared at each other, not knowing whether to be worried about their lack of insight or amused by their mysterious confidence. "So, who wants to deal with them?" Flynn asked. Everyone shaking their heads, this was definitely a first. "Let the snakes finish them off," Flynn said, wanting to see the serpents in action. "No! I've just updated their learning pattern, what if their bad fighting skills influence the system negatively?" Brian said, refusing.
"Fine, I guess I'll take them on myself," Flynn said, walking fowards. "Get him!" Goose yelled, as the five of them ran at Flynn. "No body enhancing?" Flynn thought, watching the sluggish movement of his opponents with a tinge of mockery. The ring on his finger glowed, as a pink gas slowly spread out around him. Normal mages could easily feel the mana fluctuation and sense the gas, but Goose and his lackeys were so inexperienced, they didn't suspect a single thing. As they got closer and closer to Flynn, their sluggish movements became even slower. Slowly, their limbs turned numb as they stood there like a statue. They were still conscious, but the anesthetic spell Flynn casted completely paralyzed them. Walking up to them, he patted Goose on his shoulder. "So your plan seemed to have failed," he taunted, ruffling Goose's hair.
His fists imbued with mana, he began to knock out his opponents one by one since they couldn't surrender with their mouths also paralyzed. Regrouping up with his teammates, Flynn shrugged. "That was way more boring that I anticipated, I somehow thought that they were going to put up a decent fight," Flynn said. "Why didn't you just knock them out with the anesthetic gas?" Josh said, wondering why Flynn purposely dialed down the effects of the spell. "I wanted to punch Goose in the face," Flynn replied nonchalantly. Josh almost rolled his eyes because of his childish behavior, but at least he only punched him in the face once, which was definitely an improvement for Flynn's standard.
"Well I hope our next opponent would bring us a better fight," Flynn said.