Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 67 - Choosing the Arena floor

Previously:

After they were done with their entrance exams for the day, Kiel and Elaru go to the Arena, where Kiel hopes to watch as many battles as he can and increase his experience in the field of magic battles. However, Ashar's Arena has 30 different floors to pick from with different activities so Kiel finds it hard to choose which floor to go to.

* * *

Elaru patiently waited for approximately half a minute, before she sighed and interrupted his pondering. "You should start by watching the regular matches. Choose the floor and buy the appropriate daily ticket."

"Thank you, captain obvious!" Kiel snapped.

Elaru looked at him with her eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me you don't have enough money to buy the ticket?"

Kiel's eyebrow twitched. "It's not that. The problem is picking the floor."

The floors were separated by the general rank of warlocks participating and the types of events they were participating in. Kiel had a general idea that he probably shouldn't pick anything below B rank, but that eliminated only half of the floors from his choice.

Elaru's mouth shaped an "ooh" before she started pondering. "You should pick a floor running A ranked battles. Those are floors 21-24."

Kiel's eyebrows furrowed. "Why A-ranked? I think my level is closer to B rank than A rank. Watching A ranked battles right from the start might delay my progress."

Elaru grinned. "As you probably already know, Muni exams are scored in a way that reaching 25 points in the practical exam would mean that the person is comparable to A+++ ranked mage. However, since the practical exam allows for a large degree of creativity and provides you ample opportunity to utilize your smarts, it is possible that you could reach 25 points while having strength below that rank. Often it is the basic spells used in an unorthodox way that makes the difference between a win and a loss."

She continued telepathically. "If you want any chance of scoring full points, you'd need to be at least an A ranked warlock. From what I've observed of you while you were a non-mage, your martial arts were B rank at most, and in the period of two days it is impossible for you to reach A rank in martial arts."

Kiel nodded in agreement. "That's what I was thinking as well. Previously, since I had very little mana, the only way I could increase my fighting strength was to practice martial arts. Now that I don't lack mana, things are different. Since I am more accomplished in magic than martial arts, I should adjust my fighting style to focus more on magic instead of physical attacks."

Kiel paused and looked Elaru in the eyes. "Therefore, since I can't reach A rank in two days and need to alter my fighting style, I should aim for the peak of B rank, and therefore watch the top of B ranked battles."

Elaru grinned. "Who says you can't reach A rank in two days? I said that it is impossible for you to reach A rank in martial arts. However, if you change your fighting style to focus on magic like you mentioned, it might be possible for you to become an A ranked warlock in the span of two days."

Kiel's legs almost gave out. As if becoming an A ranked warlock was as easy as that! It takes years of hard work and battle experience! He, on the other hand, only had two days! Two days!

Seeing Kiel's frozen expression, Elaru decided to elaborate. "Think about it. You scored full points up to now, which means that as a mage, you are already A+++ ranked. That means that you certainly have the capabilities to reach the same rank as a warlock.