170 Mock Battle

Hera woke up late the next morning. They all agreed to the mock battle for the middle of the afternoon. Thomas wanted to talk to Bonnie before the fight and asked everyone to meet them in the guild at 2 PM. Blue was still sleeping, and so was Alex. They ended up staying up late at the bar.

With a snore, Blue shifted on her bed. Hera looked towards the window. The sunlight created light shafts that hit the side of her bed. She slowly raised her hand and started playing with the shadows it made. The small dust particles danced around her fingers, reflecting the light back at her. It was almost like the sprites from the underground forest.

"It would be nice if my light spell worked like that," Hera mumbled to herself.

She looked back at Blue and lowered her hand. She triggered her light spell, trying to make it as dim as possible. A small light appeared in her hand. Hera moved her arm around to make the spell dance with the dust. She yawned and kept staring at the particles. It was a small but beautiful scene. The particles danced around her light as the shadows created a scenery out of this world. Hera played with the dust and light until the drowsiness overtook her.

About one hour later, Hera woke up. In front of her, there was a notification.

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Spell acquired

Dancing Light

Rank: Novice

Creates a small light around you. The light can move at your command and follow specific patterns. The mana cost is spent each second the spell is active. The intensity and radius of the light will affect the mana cost.

Range: 5 meters

Base Radius: 10 meters

Base mana cost: 10 mana per second.

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Hera blinked a couple of times, trying to focus her eyes and read the notification.

"How did I got a spell sleeping?"

"What?" Blue asked from the bathroom.

"Nothing, I'm talking to myself," Hera replied while scratching her head.

She remembered seeing the light and playing around with a spell. There was a moment when she thought that the light was moving on its own, without her moving her arm, but she just assumed it was an illusion since she was almost sleeping again. Thinking about that, Hera realized that she had no idea where her spells came from. Poison spray was a reward, so was the poison needle. She got fire arrow, mend, and bark skin using the trainer. Grease fire, dancing lights, and blinding flash were evolutions from other spells, and all she got by accident. Affinity sight was something she got from Helena. The only spells she actually created herself were pulse and light. If she wanted to focus more on her magic, she had to understand how that worked.

Hera opened the grimoire app she had on her tablet. It was there since Helena gave her the spellbook, but she barely ever used it. Instead of a straight text file, she could place images, tables, drawings, and even tag each spell. Part of her wanted to have a physical book, but she had left her spellbook back in Hazelpond. Still, this was the best next thing. She spent the next hours writing down not just each spell's description, but also how the mana in each spell felt and how she unlocked them.

While she was writing, Blue, Alex, and Runir took her out to eat, but she focused on the app and not the conversation during their meal. By the time they had to meet Tom and Bonnie at the guild, Hera managed to write down all of her spells. She was still nowhere closer to understand how all that worked. This was just her first step, but Bonnie and Helena should be able to give her some direction.

Arriving at the guild, Tom was already waiting for the group.

"It's good to see you all. I hope you feel rested from your slumber," Thomas smiled at the group.

"I had a good night of sleep, and having spells for a hangover helped a lot," Runir said.

"Same here," Blue nodded.

"Yeah. But I still like my hangover cure," Hera joined in.

"Most excellent. Now, Hera. Would you be so kind as to accompany me to the reception? I'm afraid I require your aid in a matter."

"Sure. What do you need?" Hera walked towards the reception.

"I wish to take advantage of your position as a silver cardholder."

Hera raised her eyebrow, "How?"

"Explain to the clerk about our battle and that you wish to rent an arena for it."

"Sure, but why do you need me for?"

"As a silver cardholder, you are able to do a certain amount of mock battles a month free of charge. If not, payment shall be required. Of course, I am not trying to force you to do so. Please, if you wish not to use it with us, we can pay for it."

"No, no. Don't worry, I'll help if I can," Hera replied. It wasn't like she had an interest in fighting other people regularly.

Talking with the guild attendant, Hera understood why Tom asked for her help. To rent an arena, they would need to pay 10 000 gold, plus another 1 000 for the equipment they would wear in there. But because of her silver card. Hera could rent the arena for free once a month, and she could take up to three people along with her in there. Using her silver card made the fee for using the arena drop from 16 000 gold to just 2 000, which Tom paid instantly.

They all moved to the underground floors. The arenas were one floor below the ATRs. In there, Tom explained why they had to come here for the battle. They had to change their equipment to the wooden training ones that were available in the arena. These weapons had an enchantment placed on them that would lessen the physical damage, but increase the power against barriers. A shield generator in the ceiling would synchronize with their bracelets and levels, creating a shield around each participant that could absorb all damage. When the damage reached a certain threshold, the shield would turn red, and that would signal that the combatant was out of the battle. The barrier also took into account the armor of each of them when applying the damage. Some places had a stronger shield where the combatants could use their own weapons. Sadly, the one in Brinefront had just the most basic functions. If they wanted a place with a better arena, the closest one would be on the 4th layer.

They all gathered on the elevator and headed down. The arena wasn't much different from one of the ATRs. The entire room was white, made with several plates of some couched material. The main difference was the size. Instead of the rectangular shape, the room was a square, with an octagonal ring in its middle about half a meter from the ground. On the wall by the door, there was a small closet with several weapons. After getting geared up, Tom walked to the middle of the room.

"Very well. Now that we are all here, allow me to share the rules of our training bout. Since we have a full hour here, we shall fight inside the ring. If you fall off, you are disqualified. The same is true if the barrier turns crimson. For starters, the teams shall be Bonnie and me against the four of you."

"Four versus two? That doesn't seem fair," Blue said.

"True, it's not like you guys pose much of a threat," Bonnie replied with a smirk.

"Say what now?" Blue turned to the researcher.

"You heard me, or are you scared?"

Blue stared at Bonnie. Her eye even started twitching.

"Ok, ok, calm down. Don't pop anything, Blue," Hera jumped between the two, "Are you sure about that?" she asked Bonnie.

"Yeah. You guys have no chance," Bonnie tried to play it cool, but Hera could see she was just putting up a front.

"Ok, then. Let's do this!" Alex jumped to the ring.

"Are you sure?" Runir turned to Tom.

"Trust me, this battle will help us all."

Everyone took their positions while Tom activated the barrier. Blue light emanated from the middle of the ceiling, covering all present inside the room. Jumping into the arena, he stepped in front of Bonnie, facing the rest of the team.

"Shall we have a countdown?"

"Sure," Blue replied, still staring daggers at Bonnie.

Everyone started to count together.

3…

2…

1…

Go!

Alex was the first to move, dashing to the side of the group, trying to move around Tom. Bonnie noticed the movement and sent two frost bombs to the sides. They exploded about halfway between the two parties and covered the floor with a thin layer of ice and water. Alex started the combat with a full sprint, but the speed made her slip on the frost and lose her balance, falling outside of the arena. She attempted to hold on, grabbing the corner of the platform and pulling her body up, but the tip of her feet touched the ground before she could climb back up.

Blue didn't notice what happened with the assassin since she rushed towards Tom as soon as the fight began. They had fought side by side during the rampage, and the two were very aware of how each other fought. Tom would make small movements to dodge while waiting for an opening to strike. When fighting monsters, Blue would do something similar, moving around and counter-attacking any aggression that came from the monsters. However, it had been a long time since she fought against something that allowed her to use her grappling techniques.

She started her attack by punching Tom, leaving a big opening on her side. The fighter easily dodged the attack and responded with a stab. Blue twisted her body, getting closer to him and grabbing his arm. Tom was surprised by the movement. That small hesitation was all that Blue needed. She put her weight under Tom and tossed him into the air, making him fly towards the ice-covered edge of the arena.

At the same time, Hera and Runir were heading towards Bonnie. Both of them already passing through Blue and Tom. Yet Bonnie didn't waver. This was all part of the plan. She launched an air bomb towards the two, staring Hera down in the process. It was such an obvious attack that Hera didn't know if there was a trick to it. They easily dodged the spell, but something felt wrong. Bonnie could have activated the explosion between them to send them to the sides. Why she didn't do it? Instinctively, Hera dropped to the ground, covering her head to avoid an attack. Runir only had time to look towards her, confused, before the air bomb exploded in the center of the arena. The spell was much more powerful than anyone expected. It sent not just Runir but Blue and Tom flying off the octagonal platform.

Hera raised her head and saw that Bonnie's legs were frozen in place. She must have thrown two spells in quick succession when the fight started to make sure she wouldn't be blasted by her air bomb. Hera quickly got up and looked around. They were the only two remaining in the arena.

"Who came up with that plan?" Hera asked.

"I did, but Tom helped," Bonnie replied.

"Nice work, but do you have a follow-up?"

"I do, but it kind of needed Tom to hold someone back until I get out of the ice."

Hera looked at her weapons. She only had an axe right now. The arena didn't have a training chakram, so using her wire trap style was out of the question.

"Tell you what. I'll help you get off the ice, but you don't use the air bomb again. I kind of wanna see how you fight one on one," Hera said with a smile.

"Just the air bomb? Everything else is fair game?"

"Yeah. I mean, I already have a pretty big handicap here. I'm missing one weapon, and I'm not sure if poison would work. Not just because of the barrier, but I don't want to poison anyone here. So the only spells I can use are light and fire arrow."

"And you don't want to use grease fire because it's hard to contain it?"

"Exactly," Hera replied.

The rest of the group just watched the scene. Blue was punching a wall for being tossed out of the arena so soon.

"Ok, deal. But walk back to the start."

"No dice. You said the back-up plan was just for Tom to allow you to move," Hera said.

"But you are two levels higher than me!"

"So? You just took out three people who are at the same level as me."

Bonnie and Hera stared at each other for a moment.

"Fine, stay there," Bonnie started to break the ice around her feet. Hera even helped with a couple of fire arrows, "Tom, can you give us a countdown?"

3..

2..

1..

Go!

When he finished the count, Hera dodged to the side. She had noticed that Bonnie was preparing a spell even before asking. An ice fist flew through the area she was standing on. Hera rushed towards Bonnie, sending two fire arrows aimed at her head. Hera knew that the barrier would block most of the damage, but even so, she made the spell only hot enough to singe Bonnie's eyebrows. Bonnie ducked and started to rapid-fire her fist spells one after another. They were much weaker than the previous one, but the first to hit Hera already packed a punch. Hera ducked low and used a blinding flash to try to disorient her opponent. It worked to a certain degree, but Bonnie didn't stop her barrage of attacks even without sight. Hera got closer, but her foot slipped on ice. Bonnie created an area of frost around her, using the water from her frozen feet.

Hera smiled. If she tried to stop, she would fall, but she couldn't let her friend win on her own against all of them. Not only would that be a problem for everyone's ego, but Blue would flip out. Pushing forward, Hera's body slammed Bonnie making the two fall off the platform.

"And we have a tie!" Alex yelled as the two hit the ground.