Smiling Chief Restaurant, at 10 am...
Nick sat at a table in the restaurant's dining area opposite to Carla Jenner, his business partner who wore a well fitting grey and white pants suit and whose long, brown hair flowed down to the middle of her back.
He had been in the restaurant for about three hours being debriefed by Carla about the contacts she had made while he had been wrapped up in his exam. Nick chewed on some fancy french bread while he listened. Soon, Carla finished up her speech:
"...I need that many soul healing scrolls and beast capture scrolls to meet current demand."
Nick nodded his head multiple times in understanding before reassuring her:
"I'll produce them as fast as I can in the exact quantity that you asked for. Fair warning, since I am planning to dive deep into my cultivation and magical training, there won't be any excess supply."
Carla accepted that without complaints:
"I expect that. Oh, how was your exam, did you improve at all during the ten years that you were within the Never Ending Battlefield?"
Nick was not surprised that Carla knew the details of the exam since she seemed to have a special relationship with the academy. He replied:
"I made a few improvements and I learnt much. I should be able to get to rank 3 within a few years."
Carla replied:
"Good to know that you're making progress in terms of your magic powers. If you need any advice, you can always ask me for some."
Nick broke his indifferent expression and smiled lightly before replying:
"Oh, then can I ask? How long did it take you to become a rank 3 Magician?"
Carla thought about Nick's question for a while before answering:
"From the formation of my mindscape and the laying of my foundation laws, it took me about fifteen years to become rank 3. I was still attending my academy at that time which wasn't typical since most Magicians graduate their academies at rank 2 and become rank 3 later during their employment with an organization."
Nick felt that that made sense, the academy is more of an academic environment and most people would probably make more progress in their magical training out in the field. Nick asked another question:
"Do you take the time to explore other realms?"
Carla shook her head while maintaining a plain expression. She replied:
"Although, I am a rank 4 Magician, that is mostly through closed door cultivation and using resources that I've purchased. Exploring other realms, although beneficial, is dangerous and I am content with gradually growing my power while maintaining my status within my family."
Nick listened intently and although he was not of the same mindset, he could still understand Carla's perspective.
(That's not how I want to live though. I want to explore all kinds of realms and grow stronger until I am the strongest and most knowledgeable.)
Nick thanked Carla for answering his questions and after agreeing on a timeline for him to produce his scrolls, Nick left the restaurant using Blink and soon returned to his commercial building. He gave Dewy a few instructions and then went to his office to think.
(My schedule for the next month will involve honing my Eyes of the Fated and Spacial Awareness talents while I prepare the necessary materials for my soul path cultivation. My soul has been in a weakened state ever since the last time that my Soul Capturing Coat was destroyed. Soul cultivation is painful and arduous but since that is the path I am most familiar with, I can't neglect it, not to mention that I still have my deals with Slade and Sahashi Miyamoto to honor. I'll create the scrolls that Carla wants on the side which isn't too difficult with my increased skill level.)
"Let's start by developing some spells."
Nick smiled childishly when he raised that intention.
(Spell making is my greatest skill and tool and it has saved my ass more times than I can count. I know that I can be great!)
For the next month, Nick dived into his work and did not leave his commercial building except to go to combat classes that were taught by Thompson Varrow. Varrow recognized Nick's improvement in handling his sword but was slightly disappointed to find out that Nick had lost the morning wyvern bone sword that he had given him.
Nick still just practised sword movements from the menacing crane sword technique when he went to combat class and did not interact much with the other students even though they kept their eyes on him for much of the time that he was present at class.
Some even tried to talk to him but other than a shallow greeting, Nick did not respond to their attention. At the end of the month, Varrow demanded that Nick spar with one of his classmates:
"Go and show me that I'm not wasting my time tutoring you."
Nick softly retorted:
"Why don't you show me that you're not wasting my time by having me play with children."
A vein bulged on Varrow's forehead in response to Nick's remark and although he felt like to give him a few tight slaps, he controlled himself and instructed:
"I wasn't making a suggestion. Go and spar with someone."
Nick shook his head, replying:
"For it to even be slightly fair, I would need to spar with five someones."
Varrow raised his right eyebrow after hearing Nick's arrogant opinion. Although he was sure that Nick had improved with the sword by leaps and bounds, he did know of his improvement in overall magical combat since the end of the last exam.
(What is giving Nick such confidence? They were all within the Never Ending Battlefield for ten years. If he has improved, so has his classmates. Why would he want to recklessly take on five at once? Hmph! Don't be a an arrogant whore.)
Varrow squinted his eyes while smiling smugly and replied:
"Have it your way, Nick. If you lose, I'm going to give you training so hard that you would not believe it. Kevin, Marcia, Perry, Christie and Blair, you will be sparring against Nick Capitol. Don't any of you dare hold back!"
Nick internally sighed in response to Varrow's reaction to his words. Although he had been practising the menacing crane sword technique, he had not revealed the improvement of his magical powers to Varrow.
(He has already seen most of the other students' improvement and assumed that mine was around the same as theirs. I learnt long ago that in life, no one really knows what you are and people will always underestimate you no matter how well you have performed in the past. This has more to do with their own limitations than my own.)
Nick didn't speak anymore to Varrow and just moved to the location where the spar would take place which was about a little over a dozen meters away. His opponents looked nervous; Nick already had a reputation as a powerhouse in the year since rumors spread among the students about him defeating seasoned soldiers during the exam.
Marcia stood at the opposite end of the battle area over fifteen meters away with other students and looked at Nick with a troubled expression, thinking:
(Is he really as strong as people say?)
Kevin who had fought with Nick before puffed out his chest and declared to Nick:
"You may have beat me last time but heroes never lose to the villains twice. My crew and I will take you down."
Three of the other four students looked and Kevin with a little bit of disdain and cursed him inwardly for being shameless:
(Who is in your crew? You are a lone, shameless fart.)
(This idiot. If talk was shit, he'd be a clogged toilet.)
(Sigh. What is Varrow thinking, making us spar five against one? Just let this idiot, Kevin, battle Nick alone.)
...
Marcia, however, looked at Kevin with hope. Kevin and her had spent some time together during the exam out in the wilderness and she had confidence in his skills. She had also improved by alot, so much so, that Don had started treating her with a little respect.
She looked at the other three and internally made assessments:
(Blair uses earth path, Perry uses plant path and Christie uses shadow path. All three of them are among the top performers in the class besides Kevin and I. We should be able to beat Nick in a spar with this line up. Maybe I'll get to see the superstar get embarrassed; that will be payback for ignoring me all this time.)
Nick observed the three from many perspectives, unaware of and indifferent to their thoughts.
(My training of my Spacial Awareness talent throughout the past month is paying off. The images that appear in my mind don't seem to be as random as they were before and they are less frequent when I am not focused. These five...are done.)
Nick wasn't going to waste his time tending to sheep, he wasn't going to trash talk or gloat either.
(Just cold action.)
Nick raised his right index finger to the level of his face and began forming the laws for a spell within his mindscape. Within his mindscape, thousands of Valteesian symbols formed, radiating with bright, red light and upon the completion of the spell's laws, they burst into waves of magic power, consuming the solid magic ice below wherever they they went.
Nick watched on indifferently as a bright sphere of red light the size of a basket ball formed at his finger tip and then shrunk to the size of a marble. Nick lightly blew on it and the sphere then floated rapidly towards the five opposing students who had been preparing their own spells, but clearly Nick was the faster caster.
(Mars.)
Kevin was momentarily confused by the size and innocuousness of Nick's method. In most cases, their spells would bleed magic power as they were cast, giving an indication of it's strength but Kevin felt nothing from this sphere of light.
(Is it a dud?)
Kevin quickly shook his head, rejecting that possibility but since he was not finished preparing his spell as yet, he could only watch as the sphere of red light reached within six meters of them. By that time Kevin, Marcia, Christie, Blair and Perry had finished their preparations and were about to defend against Nick's method using their own offensive spells but then suddenly, the sphere of red light burst out in dull flash from meters away; its light expanded in all directions and moved towards them at three times the speed as before.
Varrow opened his eyes wide in surprise as he sensed the magic power that was now emanating from Nick's attack.
(In all my years of instruction, no student has tried to kill their classmates right in front of me. The guts on this kid!)
With a flick of Varrow's right index finger, a gust of pale wind was generated at both his sides and then flowed at incredible speed towards the five students opposing Nick, quickly carrying them away to Varrow's side before Nick's spell could come into contact with them; Varrow's wind forcefully cancelled their spells so that it could more easily move the five.
From the time that Nick began casting his spell to the time of Varrow's interference, only seconds had passed and the other students watching the spar from some distance away did not even have time to react before the aftermath of Nick's spell became apparent.
The red light from Nick's spell quickly receded into its center, resolving into dust and forming a crater within the dirt ground that spanned ten meters across and that was about six meters deep. The effect of Nick's spell seemed simple but the feeling it had given the watching students when its magic power had burst out sent a shiver down their spines. They went into an uproar:
"That was space magic for sure!"
"If that spell had come into contact with those five, would they have lived?"
"Nick Capitol is a bastard, he tried to kill his classmates!"
...
Varrow rubbed his chin as he looked at the scene in front of him, saying:
"Good, good, good."
The five students at his side were seated on the ground and could not clearly recall what had happened. They only knew that as soon as Nick's spell burst out with power, they were carried away from the battle site. They looked at the crater in the ground with confusion and fear. Marcia and Kevin had similar thoughts:
(Did we almost die?)
After having experienced the peculiarities of the Never Ending Battlefield, they knew what it was like to have been at death's door and their intuition was currently screaming at them that that was exactly where they just were.
Varrow chuckled slightly as he walked towards Nick and after reaching the battle site and examining the crater, he declared while fanning the other students off:
"Nick won the spar, no doubt about it. You can all shut up and go back to what you were doing."
Under the influence of this Regular Magician's pressure, the other students were forced to turn their attention away from Nick. The five that had lost quickly moved to group up with the other students.
Nick looked Varrow in the eyes and indifferently spoke:
"Sir Varrow, I don't tend sheep."
Varrow chuckled some more before replying:
"Well, that's too bad since chances are that you'll probably have a flock to protect one day. What is the name of your spell?"
Nick didn't mind giving that information; he replied:
"Its name is Mars."
Varrow nodded in response.
(Don't worry Nick, I'm not good at naming things either.)
Varrow soon spoke again:
"I thought that you would have more of an inclination to blade or sword magic since you only practise with the sword when you come here but I suppose I was wrong. I don't know much about space magic so could you fill me in on what just happened exactly?"
Nick raised his right eyebrow in response since he thought that what happened should be obvious but he explained anyway:
"My spell created a center of gravity within a condensation of light and when the light burst out, so did a wave of gravitational force that sucked into it everything physical that the light touched, crushing those things into feint dust in a matter of milliseconds."
(I had used this spell in its initial form back when I had a confrontation with Andrew Wiles but that version was too imperfect and if Commander Wallace wasn't present, I might have hurt myself casting it. The latest version that I managed to piece together in the past month is more controlled, precise and functional so things worked out well enough.)
Varrow shook his head while smiling bitterly after he heard Nick's explanation, saying:
"I appreciate your power, I really do, but next time, don't try to kill my students. It would be a problem for me if they died."
Nick quipped:
"Weren't you the one that said, 'Don't you dare hold back!'?"
Varrow's right eyelid twitched when Nick used his own words against him, thinking:
(This kid...)
"Fine, that was my bad. Anyway, you are very strong considering that you only started your second year about seven months ago. Space magic is powerful but not many people practise it seriously. Do you need me to find you a tutor."
Nick laughed internally when he heard that.
(A tutor? Can you just find someone who has a greater attainment than space path master?)
Nick shook his head and replied politely:
"Thanks for the offer, sir Varrow, but I mostly like to do things on my own when it comes to my magic."
Varrow looked at Nick with a relatively soft expression and simply replied:
"Fair enough."
Varrow paid no attention to Nick for the rest of that class and Nick simply practised his sword technique until it ended. When Varrow declared class to be over and some students were going to attempt to speak with Nick, Nick suddenly disappeared from view like he was never there.
Nick quickly returned to his commercial building where he caught sight of workmen loading trucks with his beast capturing and soul healing scrolls. During the past month, he had created thousands of them with relative ease. His understanding of rule path had increased after all, so it was no problem using his spell, Copy, to rapidly create scrolls even when having to use his soul path methods to create the soul healing scrolls.
Nick soon ignored the workers and then went to the second floor, to his workspace where he had a design for a formation laid out on canvas over his work desk. This was a design for a soul refining formation, similar to the break soul formation but Nick was trying to create a vastly better one with more potent effects. If he was going to devour fifteen million magic beast souls to earn the Soul Cradle talent, he needed a way to quickly refine his own soul so that he wouldn't explode into a million pieces.
Nick's progress was slow, however, because he had low attainment in formation path even though his soul path attainment was high.
"Sigh, I just have to spend the time and hopefully, I don't fail. My Eyes of the Fated talent is useless here because there is no such thing as an affinity for formation path. Since tomorrow is Saturday, I should just spend the next two days working on this and see how far I get."
Nick did exactly that. Over the next two days, he worked on his soul path formation non-stop, even ignoring calls that he got from Cindy Reece who had wanted to get into contact with him for weeks now.
(I don't have time to clap cheeks right now!)
The process of creating the formation was taxing on Nick's mind since there were literally thousands of combinations of laws that might form part of the formation but only a very small portion would result in a successful formation, in addition soul path materials had to be taken into account.
Nick also always kept his Spacial Awareness talent active in order to further hone it and this further drained his mental energy. By Sunday night, Nick was completely exhausted and when he had enough, he screamed out:
"This is suffering!"
After he said that, his head fell down on his desk as his body remained sitting on his work stool. Nick's consciousness was slowly fading out due to his mental energy being depleted and during his last few moments of consciousness, he, for some reason, kept one word on his mind:
(Suffering...suffering...suffering...)
Nick soon lost consciousness and after what seemed like hours, Nick suddenly found himself standing in an almost cylindrical space with dirt walls on every side of him.
"Where is this?"
Nick looked up and saw a grill made of bronze bars that barely blocked the clear blue sky beyond it.
"You know something, that bronze grill looks familiar...even the size and shape."
Nick shook his head in denial.
"I must be misremembering..."
Before Nick could say anymore, a voice sounded from somewhere very close to him:
"What brings you to the Pit Of Suffering?"
Nick turned around, shocked and on alert.
"Huh?"
Nick soon realized that a few meters away from him, a gaunt man sat on the ground while leaning against the dirt wall, looking at him. The man had a white complexion and had no visible hair, looking like a monk. The only clothes that he had on was a piece of greyed cloth tied to his groin. Nick quickly noticed one notable feature about the man - while his eyelids remained open, his eyes were not visible and only two dark holes were present where his eyes were supposed to be.
Nick looked around to see if the man might be talking to someone else. After seeing no one, Nick asked the man:
"What do you mean that this is the Pit Of Suffering?"
The man only seemed to keep his face directed at Nick's position and did not respond to Nick's question? Nick asked again:
"Hey, can't you hear me? What did your words mean?"
The man continued to stare at Nick with his empty eye sockets and ultimately Nick decided to just stare back for a while. After a few minute of uncomfortable silence and vacant stares, the man finally spoke again:
"It looks like I can feel your presence because of some kind of talent that you are manipulating. You are looking into the Pit Of Suffering through a sort of spacial projection but you're not really here and you cannot communicate with me directly. That's interesting..."
Nick was shocked by the contents of the man's words.
(I'm here because of my talent...spacial projection? Is this situation due to my Spacial Awareness talent.)
Nick felt like that should be unlikely but here he was with no other explanation. The man suddenly laughed and then continued speaking:
"I've been stuck here for over two hundred years so it's nice to have some company, even if I can't see you or touch you. Did you know that this Pit Of Suffering is a soul path mystic domain? Yes sir, it works by refining the soul down to nothing and it does so as excruciatingly as possible until you barely have any soul left. Who would have thought that a grand rank 8 World Class Magician like myself would end up like this. You know, they used to call me the world slayer, now they probably wouldn't even bother calling me a pile of shit for concern of making shit seem too pitiable..."
After the man said that, he went silent as a grave, no longer speaking. Nick had been listening intently and was stumped by some of the information.
(What is a mystic land? This man is supposed to be a rank 8 Magician? If this really is the same Pit Of Suffering that I freed Courage from, then does that mean that the places in my visions are real?)
Nick was stupefied by the implications of that and remained silent for a few minutes. When he finally came to terms with the possibility, he concluded that:
(I'm too weak and ignorant to be over concerned about whether the places in my visions are real or not. If a rank 8 Magician could be trapped down here, how would I even begin to understand this place?)
Nick shook his head and smiled bitterly.
(I shouldn't waste my time here though. The man said that I am a spacial projection and that I am not really here. In that case, it means that I am probably not in danger. That gives me enough breathing room to look around.)
Nick patiently walked around the pit that wasn't very large to begin with, being about the interior radius of a corn silo. It didn't take long before Nick began realizing that laws appeared on the walls and ground wherever he looked.
(The man said that the Pit Of Suffering is a soul path mystic land? Without being certain what a mystic land is, if it is a soul path anything, then my Eyes of the Fated Talent allows me to look directly at its laws. Hmmm...this mystic language is not Valteese. Slade, have you ever seen it before?)
Nick got no response from Slade.
(I guess that shouldn't really be surprising considering that Slade has never been around in situations like this one. In any case, this is a new mystic language and assuming that it is related to soul path, I might as well try to study it. As for what these laws mean, even with my soul path scholar attainment, my intuition indicates that it is probably impossible for me to decipher the whole meaning behind all these laws or even a large enough portion of them to be of any use, at least as I am now.)
Nick followed through with his intention and studied the laws for a seemingly long time. Nick didn't feel the least bit tired from his work and mentally recorded every symbol that his eyes were able to observe. After going through a few hundred thousand symbols at the lower parts of the pit and examining each one at length, Nick came to a few conclusions:
(The overall message that these laws convey are meaningless to me, like a child trying to understand a sentence said in Portuguese; the child might be able to identify one or two words but the whole sentence just sounds like gibberish. I can, however, decipher what individual symbols mean by putting in some effort to understand the context and usage based on other mystic languages that I know, like Valteese which is universal so its linguistic rules probably can be applied here in some ways. Alright, I've studied all I can, how do I leave this place?)
As soon as Nick had the latter thought, his vision went dark and he suddenly found himself lifting his head off his work table. His back felt incredibly sore, obviously from sleeping at this table using a stool for support.
Nick slowly got up and used his smart phone to make a call to Dewy who answered immediately.
"Hey Dewy, I'm hungry, could you bring up some waffles with fried chicken and gravy, lots and lots of gravy?"
Dewy replied plainly:
"Sure thing, sir. You had me worried for some time since you haven't left your workspace in two and a half weeks so hearing your voice is a relief."
Nick frowned in response to Dewy's words.
"Two and a half weeks?"
Nick quickly looked at his smartphone's screen and seeing the date, immediately knew that Dewy was not lying to him.
(I was asleep for that long! How? Why? Fuuuccck!)
Nick hung up the call and quickly went to take a shower before getting dressed in his usual attire of a pair of blue jeans and a polo shirt, making sure to place Pressure Piece at his side. After eating the breakfast supplied by Dewy, Nick ran out the door so that he could make it in time for Varrow's next class.
*******************************************************************
"Sigh. You've missed so many of my classes Nick, why shouldn't I just disregard you now?"
Nick faced Thompson Varrow who sported an obviously pissed off expression and decided to reply with the words of an old song:
"...because all we have is right now..."
A vein visibly bulged on Varrow's forehead when he heard Nick's tone and use of words; Nick was clearly fooling around.
"Since you are so adept at being truant, you don't need to practise the sword for the next few classes, just sit right here and watch your classmates act appropriately. Learn from them."
Nick shrugged his shoulders but did not argue. Doing so with a Regular Magician was a waste of time so Nick did as instructed and watched his classmates as they were lectured and as they sparred.
During this down time, Nick immersed himself in his own thoughts.
(I did not think that I would have been in the Pit Of Suffering for two weeks. Well...I wasn't exactly 'in' the pit. Anyway, the new mystic language that I examined was interesting. I bet I could piece together a spell with the symbols that I already know. Hmmm...that should be possible since I am at least able to decipher what individual symbols mean...probably.)
Nick got to work immediately to test out his guess, but not on a random spell and instead used the new mystic language to reword one of his most memorable spells - Soul Pressure.
With Nick's scholar attainment in soul path and his Eyes of the Fated talent, dissecting Soul Pressure was as easy as picking his nose but the hard part was arranging the symbols of the new language just right based off of Nick's vague understanding of them. Using his mindscape that thought about the symbols at a speed faster than a gaming computer, after two hours Nick was able to create a version of Soul Pressure using the new language that seemed viable based on his intuition and understanding of the spell.
Combat class was about to end so Nick knew that if he was going to test the spell, it might as well be now when the circumstances were somewhat appropriate. Nick slowly formed the laws for the spell, trying to increase its chances of success as much as possible, although with his high attainment in soul path, unless the spell was filled with errors, it was unlikely to fail at activation. Nick soon finished forming the laws within about one minute and so he cast the spell:
(Soul Pressure.)
A pressurizing force immediately erupted from Nick's soul and spread throughout the combat class. Varrow frowned while doing his lecture which had now been interrupted by Nick's spell.
The other students all almost simultaneously fell to their knees in distress, causing a series of loud thudding noises. No student was able to move, even the strongest among them and many vomitted where they knelt, not being able to wipe away the vomit from their mouth afterwards. Many even urinated blood on the spot while also bleeding from their mouth, nostrils and ears. Soon, a dense cloud of miasma began forming over each student which prompted Varrow's frown to deepen.
He looked over at Nick, who was clearly the culprit and ordered:
"Stop you idiot! Don't go trying to kill my students again!"
Nick was a little shocked by the effectiveness of the spell since it was more potent than he was used to by manifolds. He immediately cancelled the spell and Varrow acted quickly to heal each student. After the students were fully healed, Varrow spoke to them:
"The incident was caused by Nick testing out a spell that accidentally affected you all, never mind it. Class is now over, you may all leave."
Some students tried to push the issue:
"But, Sir Varrow..."
Varrow's voice immediately became cold in response and he sternly repeated himself:
"Class is now over, you may all leave."
With no other choice, the other students left, many while glaring at Nick for his unprompted attack on them.
Varrow walked over to Nick and said:
"You made some enemies today, are you fine with that?"
Nick shrugged his shoulders and replied:
"I make enemies every time I breathe, it makes no difference."
Varrow raised his right eyebrow when he heard that, not sure if Nick was joking or not.
(This young man is...different.)
"Sigh. Tell me honestly, why did you attack the students like you did and I may decide not to discipline you?"
Nick replied honestly:
"I was testing out a spell that I just reworked with a new mystical language and evidently it was more effective than I could have predicted."
Varrow thought about Nick's response for a few seconds before responding:
"That makes sense. The dense clouds of soul miasma were created because many soul path laws were suddenly etched into each student's body and when I tried to heal them, doing so seemed more difficult that should have been the case for rank 2 Magicians. What mystical language did you use, it is clearly one that is extremely suited for soul path?"
Nick responded, feeling grateful that Varrow shared his analysis with him:
"The mystical language does not have a name yet. I only recently...uhhh...unearthed it but I figured that it would do well when used in soul path spells."
Varrow looked at Nick weirdly and then remarked:
"You practise multiple kinds of magic and act as if it is a typical thing. Do you know how weird you are for doing so at your level. Even I stick mostly to wind magic and use other types of magic only rarely for non-combat situations. If you don't mind me asking, how many paths do you cultivate?"
Nick thought about how he should answer:
(I shouldn't give the full number of five: rule, soul, space, blade and formation path but I shouldn't try to obviously mislead him either since he has seen me use some of my methods.)
Nick put up three of his right hand's fingers in response to Varrow's question and Varrow's own response was to sigh:
"That's too much for someone at rank 2, your too unfocused. You have too much talent to waste it like that. Decrease the number to two at least until you get to rank 3."
Nick slowly shook his head and replied:
"I can't do that or my plans will go up in smoke. Besides, you have no right to give me such instructions."
Varrow's right eyelid twitched when he heard that last part.
(Since when was the last time that, I, a great rank 5 Traveler Magician, was reprimanded by a junior. Hmph! This boy is too arrogant! Too daring!)
Varrow spoke while squinting his eyes:
"Fine, if you won't obey willingly, how about this. Since you caused a severe disturbance in my class that threatened the other students' lives, you have two choices: either do what I just advised or go through a test and if you fail, you must do as I advised. You can refuse all together but I will still discipline you."
Nick sighed internally in exasperation:
(Damned if I do, damned if I don't.)
Nick chose the only real option:
"I will undergo the test."
Varrow smugly replied:
"Good."
Varrow proceeded to summon a sword from his space band and stepped backward by ten meters in an instant. He spoke to Nick while brandishing the sword:
"This is a rank 2 intermediate apprentice grade sword called Rough Scar. I will use this sword to defend myself while you cast one of your best offensive methods at me. If I successfully block or destroy the attack, I win, otherwise you win. Don't worry, I wont use my own magic powers to defend or attack and I will only rely on Rough Scar's magical qualities in order to make this a fair exchange."
Nick complained:
"How is that fair? You've probably been training with the sword for two hundred years."
Varrow retorted, annoyed:
"Hey, you little bastard, I am not that old! Just prepare your method, you only get one chance and don't you dare think of going back on your word with a Regular Magician. There are entire realms full of graves where people who did just that rest in pieces."
(I will show Nick that he cannot allow himself to be unfocused in his cultivation if he wants to be effective in battle. He'll thank me later.)
Nick did not speak anymore and unsheathed Pressure Piece from his left side with his right hand.
(A battle of blades is most appropriate.)
Nick took an attacking stance with his right leg moved forward and both his hands holding firmly onto Pressure Piece's handle. He begun forming the laws of one of his spells within his mindscape while also trying to adjust his mindset for battle.
Varrow observed Nick's stance with disappointment.
(He's using his sword. That likely means that he is not using a space path or soul path spell. That's too bad. How does he intend to beat me using a path that he just dabbles in. I was expecting to see a space path spell similar to the one that he used weeks ago against the five students but I expected too much from an arrogant junior. He better keep his word after I humiliate...err...uhh...educate him.)
Nick's body suddenly radiated a feint dull-red glow as he exuded much magic energy; he then swiftly raised Pressure Piece above his head with both hands, following which he swung it down while his arm muscles bulged. Where the sword's blade swung through the air, a partial arc of red, rippling magic power was formed.
When Pressure Piece's tip reached within a few inches off the ground, the red arc of magic power shot forward like a bullet.
(Dominating Splice.)
Nick's expression was dead serious as he cast his spell, thinking:
(I even used Eyes of the Fated weeks ago to improve the speed and intensity of Dominating Splice to what should be the limit of what an intermediate grade spell of its particular design can reach. Don't blame me for being ruthless, you asked for this.)
Although the red arc was fast, to a rank 5 Magician, its movement was still fully observable even without the magical enhancement of Varrow's senses. Varrow internally snorted as he performed a swing with Rough Scar in order to destroy the red arc:
(Rough Scar has a blade made out out basic mythic steel which resists foreign magic laws like oil resists water. Watch me tear your attack apart, Nick.)
Varrow's swing and movement was so quick and profound that Nick could not fully keep up with them using his eyes. Rough Scar soon seemingly cut into the red arc like butter but to Varrow's surprise, it was not because the sword had damaged the red arc which was evident by the fact that the red arc continued to press forward, only about three feet from reaching Varrow's body.
(This magic power passed through my sword using its own magical qualities. Nice trick but, the exchange is not over yet. Since I failed to defeat it with offense, I still have enough time and distance to form an impenetrable defense.)
Varrow quickly retracted his sword with a speed and skill that Nick knew that he could never imitate as he was now. Nick momentarily grew concerned that he might actually fail in his assault but he unconsciously held tighter onto Pressure Piece and reassured himself:
(I am not a loser!)
Varrow finally brought Rough Scar within millimeters of his body as he held it with both hands in front of his torso and above his waist with its edge facing the incoming red arc. In this moment, milliseconds felt like hours to Nick but to Varrow, they flew by exceedingly quick. With bulging muscles and a clear mind, however, it was all the time he needed to properly defend himself.
(Peerless Sword Technique - Swift Wall)
In an instant, Varrow dragged Rough Scar two feet below his waist using its handle and without changing its orientation. The air directly to Varrow's front rippled violently.
Nick was unsure if he imagined it or not, but in that instant, Varrow's front seemed to resemble a towering, deep silver shield. Nick opened his eyes wide in shock.
(That's not magic power!)
Varrow felt smug and satisfied at this moment, knowing that he had won already. One moment later when the red arc collided with his sword technique, however, his smug disposition collapsed as the red arc passed through his sword technique like it was not there and cut into his torso from chest to belly, leaving his shirt ruined and a shallow but bloody wound.
After a brief reprieve that spanned milliseconds, to add insult to injury, red streaks appeared all over Varrow's torso, branching out from his initial wound and then suddenly creating over a dozen more shallow but bloody cuts in his upper-body.
Varrow who still had Rough Scar raised at the time looked at his injuries and muttered with disbelief:
"This is no ordinary junior."
Nick quickly sheathed Pressure Piece and pumped his right fist into the air, saying softly:
"Resist one offensive blow, pass through one defensive hurdle. That's simple but effective domination."