46 The Day of the Sparring Match

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"HOORAH!"

On Magnolia Thorns' training fields, Sylphie was pumping both her fists high up in the air while jumping up and down.

The only problem was that this was not the first time she'd done this sort of thing today, as proven by the fact that none of her teammates around her had shown any reactions to it.

Eventually, one of her friends, which was the girl that had invited her out previously, had no choice but to calm her down.

"Sylph-- Er, that is... Captain. Could you stop doing that, please."

"Huhuhu... No!" The platinum-colored ponytail on her back swung left and right before turning to her friend with a smug look on her face.

"..."

"Where's your spirit!? Today's our sparring match, and it's against Ravenville!! That's Irvine Lang's school, you know!"

"Yeah, we know... We've just finished the briefing remember?" She felt speechless.

"Huhu~ I wonder if we'll get to see him in action?" Sylphie was filled with anticipation for today.

When she'd heard that their sparring match had been decided to be against Ravenville University a couple days back, even she was surprised at the coincidence.

"I wonder about that, he's still just a freshman in the end." Her friend on the other hand was feeling a bit skeptical about the chance of them seeing the Starseed on the field today,

"If it's next semester, we might have a chance of seeing him on the Silver Crown, but school has just started this week..."

"Meh, what of it? Many previous Starseeds started playing 1st string immediately the moment they entered college." Sylphie shrugged her friend's comment off.

"...That's true. But I still don't understand why you're so fixated on that guy--"

"If my evaluation of him is correct, I'm quite sure we'll play him today." She grinned.

Nobody seemed to notice but Sylphie's eyes changed slightly for a fraction of a second when she'd mentioned playing against Irvine.

"...That much, huh." Her friend was not really worried that her Captain's performance might be negatively affected by her current mood.

If anything, the fact that she'd be playing against someone she's interested in might even boost her strength greatly.

'That's the kind of person she is...' She sighed silently.

The only thing she's curious about was the reason Sylphie had put that much emphasis on this one Starseed amongst the few others.

"I'm more worried about the other thing. Do you remember what our coach said, another Starseed's also recently enrolled in Ravenville."

"..."

Hearing this, Sylphie also felt inclined to reply a bit more seriously as well,

"Medea Dormer. I know, she was in the same License Exam as Irvine Lang after all." She nodded, "She's very good too..."

"It's really like a stroke of luck for them this year... At the very least, next year's Ravenville might just become one of the largest contenders for the Crown."

"Hm... 'Next' year huh?" Sylphie didn't say anything more at the moment.

"By the way, you don't seem too interested in Medea Dormer, why's that?" Her friend asked again.

From her understanding, this Captain of her didn't discriminate against genders when she's fixing her attention onto an interesting player.

"Oh, she was crazy good too, don't get me wrong... If you ask me, Medea Dormer's someone with the ability to become an all-star Ranger in a couple of years. Talents like her wouldn't stop blooming in just the college Leagues."

"Then...?"

"But it's different than him... I dunno how to explain this since it's not an analysis but more of what I feel than anything, but--"

Sylphie tried to express what she herself had sensed for her to focus more on Irvine Lang.

"You know when you see those talented people and you feel like they're very naturally good at 'something'? And they've also realized it, that's why you can anticipate their growth as a player for years to come as they polish that 'something' further and further right?"

"Err... Yea I guess?" Her friend wasn't too sure where her Captain was going with this.

"With Irvine Lang, it felt more like the guy himself was still trying to figure out what his own 'something' is. And yet he's already polished the rest of the things ASIDE from that 'something' to the extreme... Or something like that?"

"Okay, you've lost me."

"But then you remember that his physique didn't match the level of polishedness of his skills! It's weird, and I love weird!"

"You're weird."

"...You know, you're really mean sometimes."

"So you're obsessed with him because he's not talented but hardworking, is that it?" The friend tried to conclude what Sylphie was trying to say from her very 'technical' speech.

'...What he's shown is not just at the level of hardwork. It's more like years of high-level experience. But then again, his physique...' Sylphie confusedly thought to herself.

"Well we don't really know if he has some crazy talents or not. Maybe he does but has yet to fully realize how to best make use of it in Arena, and therefore people also couldn't really see it." She shrugged.

"Alright, alright. So do you think he's going to be a threat during our match?"

"Heh, what a foolish question." Sylphie suddenly began to show the glint in her eyes as she imposingly smirked. She continued,

"I dunno."

"..."

"...How would I know, his only recorded performance is the License Exam in April."

"You useless Captain."

"What!!?"

.

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*step* *step*

"Hey Lang, can you help--"

"--us with the equipment downstairs?"

"Stop finishing my sentence dammit!"

Back in the Ravenville's Arena Facility building 2nd floor, Dan and Dennis were entering the training room to call their junior for help with the equipment packing. But then,

""Geh!?""

Just as they came in, what they found in front of their eyes was the figure of Irvine doing some muscle training with weights on hands and trickling sweats covering his bare upper body.

Although training personalized skill was still one that'd give the best short-term effect during competitions season like the one coming, that's still not an excuse for him to neglect his overall Physical State.

*Huff* *Huff*

*phew*

"--Hm? Oh! Yea I'll be right there." After a few reps, Irvine finally noticed the arrival of the twin 3rd year Fielders and responded accordingly.

"What're you doing?? Today's the sparring match remember?" Dennis asked with a cautioning tone in his voice.

The sparring match between Magnolia and Ravenville had been agreed upon by both sides to be held within the other's home ground in Delta City.

Because the members of the Illusions had to take into account their travel and prep time, many of them had already applied for a full-day leave for their many different classes that day.

Though in the end, there were still some who either don't have any classes on Friday or had simply chosen to skip altogether without reporting. None of them would spend their time training right now.

Their departure time had already been set for 12:00 o'clock at noon and right now was already 10:30 in the morning.

Beyond light warm-ups, most of the 1st string members had simply decided to individually adjust either their physical or mental state right about now.

After all, their enemy was the top team in Delta City and was also a regular for the Silver Crown. It was not one they could take lightly even for just a sparring match.

"Don't worry. I'll finish by 11 and spend some time inside the pod until departure. Everything's been timed perfectly."

"Spend some time inside the-- ...Dude, you have GOT to find some other hobby than this..."

"Speaking of which, we've really never seen you in any other rooms except the bedroom and the training room when you're in the Facility..."

Dan quickly retorted with a weirded-out tone while Dennis commented on his own observation.

""...""

"It's just, I need to quickly get back my-- I mean, improve my Physical State to one appropriate for the Silver Crown. When I think about that, I get restless doing anything else, so... Might as well."

"So your daily schedule's really just a cycle of class, homework, and training now?"

"Well... Not really like that." Irvine quickly denied,

"Oh?"

"I also have to self-reflect on the training and do video research on different playstyle. I can't just train blindly."

""...""

"Good god... Dennis, I think this one is--"

"--yep. A lost cause indeed."

The two of them nodded with a serious look on their faces.

'This was not normal! No healthy college student could spend every 24 hours of their days like this!'

"I mean, there must be SOME form of entertainment you indulge in between those crazy schedules right?"

*clink*

Irvine put back the weights he'd been swinging around for a while and was now wiping his face with the towel on his neck.

"Mm, of course. I also keep myself up-to-date with every OPL events."

Before sleep and between classes and training were usually the times he'd utilized to stream watch matches and browse sports news.

"That's-- Better, I guess. But it's still about Battle Arena in the end..." Dan gave up midway through.

"Haha, don't worry. I enjoy it so it's not really a chore for me." Compared to his living and mental condition before his return, Irvine's current lifestyle was already more than enough fun for him.

At least he kept steadily improving everyday.

"By the way, guys." This time it was Irvine's turn for inquiry, "Have you heard anything about the try-out results?"

"Ha?? Try-out?" Dan looked confused at the question which prompted Dennis to remind him,

"The one on Wednesday dumbass. The walk-ins' try-out." He then turned to Irvine himself to answer,

"Coach Thompson said the results will be released Monday morning, I don't think they'll be leaking it anytime before that. Why? Someone you know?"

"Something like that."

Irvine remembered that yesterday, the morning after the try-out, the two people, Wilson and especially Ella, looked really fidgety and unfocused the whole morning.

When he'd asked Wilson about it, the man had explained that the results for the try-out wouldn't be announced right on the day so they were feeling way more nervous than ever.

At least, before the test, the two of them could convince themselves that all they need to focus on was doing their very best.

But now, after everything had been concluded, all they could do was just to sit around and wait for the results.

And it had seemed that the waiting period itself was killing them.

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"They any good?" Dan asked casually.

"I dunno, they're just friends from the same class and major, so I've never played with them before."

"Well, I guess comparing them to you would be stupid..."

Though they didn't really show it, both Dan and Dennis respected this junior of theirs that worked far harder than his high achievements had seemingly shown.

From the two's eyes, the image of Irvine was very different from what a young Battle Arena prodigy would look like.

And they both knew that it was Irvine himself that was different, not because their preconceptions were wrong.

After all, they both had many experience in fighting with different Starseeds of different schools during their participation in the Silver Crown last year.

And almost every single one of those Starseeds had had that hard-to-approach aura that they carried with them everywhere.

Truth be told, even Medea held a similar feeling of aloofness about her.

But weirdly enough, Irvine didn't have that.

If one could cast aside his unusual single-mindedness towards Arena and nothing else, Irvine had always seemed like a normal good-natured guy to everyone.

At times, he had looked a bit more mature than his age because of his polite mannerism, but it was usually overshadowed by his passionate natures that came out during practice.

When watching pro matches together with the rest of the team, Irvine would also shout out in annoyance or excitement whenever something good or bad happened to the team he'd supported.

His attitude towards the sport was very relatable to a regular fan.

And that had made him looked more like a regular guy than one of the most talented prodigies of his year.

"Ah, I'm done here by the way. Let's go."

"Hm? Go where?"

"...Didn't you guys come here to ask me for help with moving the equipment?"

"Ah... That yeaa--"

"--On second thought, I think we'll just get Clayton. He's just lazing about anyway."

Irvine's diligence with his training had made the two brothers felt a bit uncomfortable in asking for help with trivial stuff.

"? Alright?"

"Just don't let the training affect your performance in today's match alright? You're playing after all."

"...All of us are playing idiot. It's a sparring match."

"--Shut up! You're ruining my 'cool senior' moment!"

"Don't worry." Irvine thanked the two for the advice, "You guys too right? It's been some time since the two of you did your combo play after all."

The two of them grinned at the mention.

The Twin, Dan and Dennis Young of Ravenville's strongest 'weapon' was their double-team play with each other.

Last year, the collaboration of the two Fielders had managed to control almost any target that they'd set their eyes on and led them around by their noses.

Be it a Guard, Solver, or another Fielder. Hardly anybody could ignore their presence whenever the two were brought onto the field.

Suffice it to say, both of them were a type of Fielder that focused more on pure control and trapping rather than damage dealing.

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Unfortunately, since regular training had started just last week, they had been forced to be on different teams in every practice match.

All these time, they would only be put together during specific formation training when their combo was being put to use, but otherwise they'd been separated for most of the practice.

The main reason given by the Head Coach was for the both of them to not end up too dependent with each other if and when their combo was sealed through some form of strategy.

Lark wanted them to each have their own method of either attacking or defending whenever they'd end up being separated from one another.

But because of that, the two had been feeling very shackled outside their comfort zones all week long.

Today's sparring match would be their time to freely play their best in a long while. So Irvine's guess had hit the nail on the head when he'd asked if the both of them could hardly wait.

"...Hoho, we're going on a rampage this time alright." Dennis began to stretch subconsciously after hearing his words,

"We'll put a lead so high on the Thorns, your performance won't matter Lang~" Dan also strongly exclaimed with a laugh.

"Mm, we'll see about that."