63 The Coming Week
For the rest of the days after that, the activities and preparations of Ravenville's Battle Arena team had continued on unimpeded.
Although their first match in the regionals had already been set to take place on the second day of next week, there's not really much more of a tension than usual in the players' daily routines.
That was not to say that the people were slacking off either.
With the schedules imposed on them by the coaching team, no one would even have the chance to do any of that in this period of time.
However, with the ever increasing intensity of the training, there was also a more spirited atmosphere that surrounded the air of the campus around this time.
If nothing else, the whole school ground had now suddenly become far livelier after the first week of classes had passed for the semester!
This could mostly be attributed to the fact that many students had finally gotten over their readaptation period to the university lifestyle after their long holidays.
And coupled with the regionals' schedules having been released to the public the day after the internal team had gotten them, this had also become the period of time where the many Arena fans within the university had started to become active once again.
From the normal fans of the sport to the hardcore followers of the Illusions, these were the people who got excited together with the team whenever they won, and also felt similarly devastated when they lost!
Right after the Warrior Crown's schedule had been made public, the vicinities of both the training fields and the stadium were now almost always crowded by both supporters and onlookers alike.
Irvine had even heard from both Derrick and Greg that with the Tournament officially being a week away, some other related clubs of the school such as the Ravenville's Daily Papers and the Arena team's exclusive cheerleading club would now be having a bit more interactions with the team during practice hours!
Compared to the Tier-2 college that he'd gone to the first time around, Irvine felt that the degree of influence that the Battle Arena team wielded in this school was very huge.
Also,
If there's one more thing to be noted regarding the occurring changes in the day-to-day situation here on campus, it would be the frequency of some of the new regulars' names that're being mentioned by the students.
.
Following the update of the school website's official rosters on Monday, the more enthusiastic part of the fans had already started to analyze the names of new and returning players on the rosters.
And among them, 2 names had come up far more often than others.
Irvine Lang and Medea Dormer!
The two names had very easily caught the eyes of many hardcore supporters because of their positions and years information that were listed on the rosters.
Both of them were 1st year students standing alongside the other 1st strings of Ravenville's Arena team.
Two freshmen within the regulars!
It was unprecedented.
With a quick search through the internet, it hadn't taken long for the people to then realize that their school was currently hosting 2 of the 7 Starseeds from last academic year!
"...Ruined City Block terrain for this season, and 2 Starseeds for the next 4 seasons including this one!"
"Amazing right! Like this, we might even get to see another additional Crown or two being displayed in our school before we graduate!"
Although there were always some fans that're more skeptical about putting two 1st year students in the regulars no matter how excellent they were, for the most part, people were excited about it!
After all, in all the years of college Battle Arena, how many Starseeds hadn't been incredibly dominating in their later performances?
"She's even so pretty too! Seems like it won't be long before the boys in our uni create a private fanbase just for her." One girl commented.
"Well, the girls have already had their funs last year with Clint Silver anyway, now it's our turn!" Another male student replied to his girlfriend with a grin.
Several similar discussions like these had also begun to take place in many different locations all around the campus ever since the new rosters had been released.
.
.
Wednesday afternoon.
As if being influenced by the festivities and liveliness of it all, there're also some people within the team's 3rd string that were more energetic than the rest.
*BAM*
"Haa!!"
They were namely the few walk-in players who had successfully entered the team back on Monday.
On the field, Wilson had just finished kicking some sort of padded hitting equipment before him when a very loud yell came out of his mouth.
He was rather excited because his kick this time had sounded a little bit better than his previous ones.
Unfortunately, his current attitude was not so well-received by the attending coach.
"Mister Wilson, don't just stand there after you've finished, you're holding back the line for the rest."
"Ah-- Right! Sorry sorry~" After being openly reprimanded, he circled back to the rearmost position on the line with a smile, allowing the next person after him to finally come forward.
The players of the 3rd string were currently doing a simulated pushing and knocking practice for both the Guard and Fielder positions.
All of them had formed multiple lines of 4-5 people each and were now taking turns to have a go at the hitting apparatus with their more preferred combat styles.
Of course, with no one from the 3rd string having achieved Stage-2 in their Physical State, the damages that each of these players had done were a little underwhelming when compared to their seniors in either the 2nd or the 1st.
Nonetheless, all these people were still players who'd had enough potentials to get approved by the school's coaches, so the basic of their combat prowess were already solid enough as they were.
.
"Idiot."
Just as Wilson reached the back of the line, Ella who was standing in front of him mocked his earlier display of childish attitude with derision in her voice.
*tsk* *tsk*
"You don't understand El, my attitude reflects my motivation to improve." Wilson posingly explained,
"A downer like you won't be able to pass the string's promotional match in time for this year's Uncrowned Tournaments, you know?"
"You-- That doesn't have anything to do with it! God, you're so unbearable when confident." Ella was slightly incensed by the provokation of Wilson's faked smug look.
"Oh really?"
"Watch me, I'll pass the September's promotional match with ease and fly all over these so-called invited students and you too. Heh, I'll kindly leave you behind to make friends with the rest of the 3rd strings then."
Although Ella was now clearly more easily provoked than before, that just went to show her own happy mood after having safely and officially entered the team this time.
This in turn, had also made Wilson to secretly feel glad for her.
"--Haha, that's the spirit!"
"..."
"--By the way, are you going to watch our school's match against the Armadillos next Tuesday?" He suddenly changed the topic and asked,
"Obviously. What, you're not?"
"Of course I'm going! We have to support our bestest buddy there!"
"'Bestest buddy'... Does he call you that as well?" Ella shook her head while feeling speechless.
"That's a good idea, maybe I should ask him to!"
"Please stop." She quickly put a lid on Wilson's antics before he could think of doing anymore embarassing things in front of her,
"Anyway, speaking of him--"
Ella's eyes then floated slightly away from their current training field to look at the second to next adjacent field in the distance.
It was placed right beside both the 3rd and 2nd strings' allocated space.
Wilson reflexively followed her line of sight as well, they did this until both his and Ella's sights were locked on to the small dotted figures on that far distance.
On that field, the figures of both Irvine and Baron could be spotted seemingly conversing with each other.
Next to them was a number of archery targets that were usually only used for Rangers' practice.
From far away, it had looked like the two of them were using them for some sort of demonstration right now.
"What do you think they're doing? The regulars should be training inside the stadium right?" Wilson asked in passing while his eyes still locked on towards the two blurry figures.
"..." At first, Ella simply stayed silent without replying to him.
Only after a couple more seconds had passed did she finally spoke another words,
"Who knows, those guys are still too far from us right now..." She muttered,
"If you really want him to consider you his 'bestest buddy' too, you'd best try to catch up to him even for a minute faster. I know I will."
"..." Wilson's eyes changed for a split second before returning to normal,
"...So does that mean you want to become his buddy as well?" He joked.
"Stop talking."
.
.
On the wide and empty grass covered field.
Away from the rest of the practicing players, Irvine pointed his right index finger towards an archery target while standing half a meter away from it.
'Once more, here goes...'
He then began to compress as much air as he could at the tip of his finger and concentrated hard.
Irvine continued the process until the space in front of his index finger became slightly distorted by the pressure before stopping.
"...Next." Beside him, Baron who was standing with his arms folded and wearing his usual pokerface, prompted him to continue the moment he'd measured that the amount of compressed air on Irvine's finger was sufficient.
"Right." Following the cue, Irvine began to construct a thin and long shape of a gun barrel in his mind.
It was a rather tricky part because he needed to construct the image very quickly before the compressed air went out of control and explode.
The moment he thought that his mental visualization was firm enough, Irvine then released all of his compressed air all at once, creating a very loud explosion sound!
*BOOOOM!*
A blast of pressurized air burst out, but only in the direction in front of him before heading towards the archery target in a flash!
*CRACK* *fssshhh*
After it had made the contact, all that's left of the target board after the wind had dispersed was a large and messy holes with several broken splinters littered on the ground.
'Failure...' Irvine looked at his results with a wry smile.
His [Blast]'s explosion was once again too dispersed.
Both he and Baron had been doing this practical training for over 45 minutes now.
Before this, Irvine had asked for help towards this 4th year Ace Guard of Ravenville to teach him with the best way in learning this famous [Air Pistol] move that the other party specialized in.
When Irvine had suddenly come up to the towering giant with this request, be it Derrick, Greg, or even the rest of the 3rd and 4th years had all turned their heads to look at the scene with weirded-out expressions on their faces.
He could've even sworn that he'd heard Greg muttering 'What balls...' under his breath as he walked up.
Because of his bearing and personality, not many people would willingly interact with Baron on normal day-to-day basis. This was the case even amongst the people of his same year.
The only people that talked to him like normal and even had daily conversations with him were probably only limited to the Head Coach, Lark, and the Captain, Renee Morgan on the team.
This was why when Irvine had casually and politely approached the guy for advice an hour ago, the expressions of his teammates that're looking at him had been very colourful to see.
'Though it was also unexpected for me when he suddenly accepted to help and even accompany me here to give advice. What a nice guy... Is he just timid?' Irvine thought to himself.
"--You release the visualization too early. Don't get distracted by your own explosion."
Baron observed the mess that Irvine had made of the target with his attempt and moved towards another identical one beside it to demonstrate his successful version once more.
Baron was the type to only say what was necessary or required of him when interacting with people, so their whole interactions were mostly Irvine asking the questions and Baron reacting when he'd noticed something wrong with his tries.
And when words had seemed insufficient, he would simply resort to demonstrating it directly for Irvine to observe, just like what he was doing now.
Unlike Irvine, Baron hadn't taken too long in charging the appropriate amount of compressed air before successfully releasing it.
*sssshhhh* *BANG*
The [Blast] explosion that he'd released was far more centralized and concentrated than Irvine's, making them sound very similar to a gunshot.
'He visualized the gun barrel and forced the explosion into the constraints of its shape almost instantly... And not only that,'
No matter how many times he'd seen it, Irvine still couldn't help but to admire him. Baron was the type of player that not only focused on control, but also on the power of [Blast] for his Ability's proficiency.
This fact was evident when he'd seen how fast Baron had collected the amount of compressed air required for the shot.
After it was released, the target that Baron was previously pointing towards still stayed relatively intact without any hints of destruction afterwards.
That is, except for the small dotted hole right in the middle that pierced the thick board all the way through and even created a long pipe-shaped dent on the grass behind it at an angle.
This was the level that Baron had achieved even before getting drafted into the OPL.
Irvine had always felt that the moment Baron achieved his Stage-4 physique, he would have no problem at all playing regulars or even starting for some of the weaker pro teams.
'Pinpoint firepower... This is what I need to learn to have at least some damaging capability in the tournament. Otherwise it would be a waste of [Blast]...' Irvine nodded silently as he pondered the methods he'd learned up to now.
Just then, his attempt had made the explosion he'd created to burst out like shotgun shells instead of a pistol, destroying more area than it should.
It was fine if the burst explosion had carried as much damage as the pistol, but this was not the case.
His earlier damage was very much dispersed, causing it to carry only a fraction of the original move's own power. This was not Irvine's aim.
If the target's wooden board had been changed into an exosuit just now, his calculated damage for that shot would've been far less than Baron's version.
"Again." At some point in time, Baron had already pulled in another pair of targets closer while Irvine was still in the midst of his contemplation.
He then proceeded to take a step back to indicate for Irvine to continue.
'What a cool guy... Though I can understand why people would consider him scary...' Irvine thought in his mind.
Even back in the future, Baron was one of those players that reporters were always reluctant to engage with but still had to in the end, because of his fame and skills.
Though right now, he just looks like a posing young man that tried hard to be like his future self in Irvine's eyes.
It couldn't be helped because Irvine's still too used in seeing his future appearance on TV.
"Alright, let's do this again--"
"Lang, Baron!!"
Right as Irvine was about to have another go with the new target, the voice of the assistant Head Coach, Thompson, suddenly resounded from back at the stadium's entrance a little ways away from their positions.
He and Baron turned to look at the guy, which prompted him to jog lightly towards them.
*step* Step*
"Oi, stop that for a bit." He waved his hand as he arrived,
"Baron, you've been called by the Head Coach to his office. Looks like some people are looking for you. Lang, head back in with me to practice while you wait."
"Yes, sir."
*nod*
At the order, Baron simply nodded his head and gestured for Irvine to go back first.
He then turned and started walking away without saying anything else to the two.
""...""
Not long after he'd left, only Irvine and Thompson was left on the field.
"...Some people?" Irvine had become slightly curious as to who're the people that had come looking for Baron at this point in time.
