Chapter 18 Spar

The spar was quite a simple match that didn't reflect true combat in any way.

'Venion said we have to block the attacks, so dodging isn't allowed.'

'But parrying is, right? Then we shouldn't have too much trouble.'

Lucas wanted to be the first to block, putting his teaching of Liam into practice. He wanted to scope out his opponent's abilities.

"Start"

With Venion's signal, the fight started. Robert used a combination of hand signs and words to conjure up a fireball. 'As expected, he would use his core elements.' Lucas kept it simple and merely spoke a single rune, the beginner word for water. Instead of trying to create a shield or firing off a water ball, he just let his sword soak in it for a bit, making sure that every part of it becomes wet. "Block this!"

The fireball wasn't extremely fast nor slow, so Lucas had the time to predict where it would land. Figuring out it would land on his face if he didn't block it, he wasn't even surprised about Robert's tactic. Not that it mattered to him, he slowly raised his sword to his side waiting for the right moment. When he almost could feel the heat of the spell he swung his sword through the fireball.

"Look at this moron, slicing up magic doesn't work, idiot! Huh?", there wasn't any big explosion of fire or screams from his target. The wet wood couldn't be burned by that level of flames so they dissipated when they came into contact with the sword. Lucas practically cut the flame in two while ducking a tiny bit.

"He's cheating! He ducked, he avoided my spell!"

"No, it's fair, continue."

"What? But..", yet Venion didn't bother looking at Robert anymore.

"I didn't break the rules since I partially blocked it. The rules that were told in the beginning haven't been broken, so why would we need to stop?"

"Shut up!"

Robert looked distressed at what Lucas had just done, in his mind, only magic could stop magic. His idea that magic was the strongest thing there is was shaken. But he didn't give up, "Master, can I shoot something else now?" Normally it would be Lucas' turn, but it didn't seem like Robert wanted to give up already. "Go ahead."

Thanking his master, Robert immediately started a second spell. Lucas stayed quiet throughout the whole ordeal. It was obvious that his next attack would be stone related, he just didn't know what it would be. Blocking a boulder would be a lot more difficult with a sword. When Robert was done he placed his hand on the ground. A stone arrow-looking object grew from the ground and flew towards Lucas. Blocking it would've been difficult because of the weight difference. Condesed stone is a lot heavier than a single wooden sword. He couldn't exactly move from his position either or it would be seen as dodging.

'You should try that out.'

Conjuring up a strong bit of wind through multiple uses of the beginner rune of air, Lucas was able to divert the arrow from its original path. Landing right beside him Lucas stood steady. 'How was he capable of neutralizing a spell made from higher runes with beginner runes?' Robert was amazed by Lucas' techniques. Although he was a bit annoyed he couldn't hit him, it didn't matter as much anymore.

Lucas thought there would be another remark about he was cheating, but nothing came. "Huh? Are you not going to question it this time?"

"You didn't block, but you didn't dodge it either, no rule was broken, I don't have anything to say."

Lucas was actually impressed by this turn of events, Robert, who was so proud of his rank had to admit a mistake to someone below him.

"Alright Lucas, now it's your turn."

'There was no offensive light magic in the tome and I can't use dark magic. I should use low-level runes for now.' Instead of going flashy and using higher-level runes to create a spell, he opted for a much simpler technique. Lucas created a wind blade and sent it flying. Air magic is a lot faster compared to the other elements, even though it was a bit looked down upon because it was mostly invisible until later levels. Robert took a few seconds before recognizing that the runes belonged to air magic, and prepared an earth spell to create a solid wall. 'Idiot, the blade will arrive before you're done casting'

Just like air magic was fast, its counterpart was slow.

The blade formed and shot forward, Lucas was already imagining Robert being hit and crying, but he underestimated Robert. Although he was a privileged kid with almost no worries, he still worked really hard in order to impress his father and mentor. At the last second, the wall grew from the ground, right in time to stop the blade. Lucas was genuinely impressed by Robert's performance, but the person in question didn't look very happy. 'I was almost hit by that blade! I need to be faster!'

"Alright Lucas, since Robert got two shots in, you can shoot another spell as well."

Nodding, Lucas thought of his next attack. 'Let's see how fast his reflexes can be.'

'Are you really going to use higher-leveled runes just to prove a point? We need to hide our capabilities as much as possible.'

'No, you're wrong, although it would be useful later on, if we show a certain level of incompetence, we would be tossed aside. If Robert can reach it, we also need to show some level of progression.'

'Fine, do whatever you want, you already do that anyway.'

This time he used a stronger version of the wind blade. This time he used a spell made out of higher runes. The set-in-stone effect would be a wind blade that was a lot faster but less impactful. Robert immediately recognized it this time, but he also knew that with the increased speed he could never set up a decent defense in time. If defense didn't work out he could only think of one more thing, using offense. Learning from Lucas' use of beginner runes Robert created a bunch of small rocks and launched them in the trajectory of the blade. Due to the reduction of the impact, the rocks blocked the blade, cleaving them into pieces. Robert could only feel a rush of wind, but the sharpness had dissipated.

They stared at each other for a moment, Lucas was acknowledging Robert's presence for once and Robert didn't spout any insults toward Lucas. Robert then spoke, "Commoner, it seems you aren't as useless as I thought, I'll allow you to become my rival!"

"Who would want to become your rival?" Lucas said not confirming or denying that statement, merely mocking it. During their little spar, the duke arrived and watched them with a certain glow in his eyes.