B4 - Chapter 43 - Jitters

"The winner is Lotte from Regarth!" the judge announced, with what seemed like even more confusion than with what happened with Garet.

Against everyone's expectations, Lotte had stolen what should have been an almost guaranteed victory from Tresnia. That's not to say that Tresnia always won crafting competitions, but those practitioners from the other schools usually took time to blossom. In this early stage with green students, the others usually couldn't compete, and the flame alchemist seemed quite disheartened by the loss.

With that, the first half of the first-year competition officially ended, and next up were the duels. The students were released; however, the next competitors weren't called up yet because some work needed to be done, so there was a brief intermission. During this time, the audience and students alike could move freely, grab food, relieve themselves, or even leave. At the same time, new guests could enter, and throughout the rounds, they could come and go freely.

As for what was happening in the arena, the expert Stone Shapers cleared the area again, but this time with additional help. Other mages, not just from Tresnia, came out and began installing enchanted items into the stage and the surrounding area. These were clearly safety devices to keep the audience safe in case of magical mishaps and to keep everything contained within the dueling platform.

At this point, the others arrived, and the two winners were given a lot of attention and praise. Garet was particularly chuffed, proudly declaring his victory despite not seeming to do much, while Lotte was a bit more reserved than her previous smug performance. Lily suspected that the extra taunting was an instruction from Professor Sylwel, even though Lotte certainly had her venomous moments.

"How did you manage to win? I thought that fire alchemist would've had it in the bag?" Thomas asked.

"Ha! If not for Professor Sylwel reading Tresnia like an open book, that might have been the case," Lotte admitted.

"He predicted this?" Lily asked, wondering if the transmutation specialist somehow dabbled in fortune-telling.

Lotte nodded. "He said they wouldn't be able to resist picking such a mundane and simple recipe that has become as routine as breathing. There's nothing simpler than a detox potion in magical alchemy, after all. If they picked a minor healing potion, I probably would have lost."

"Your blood wouldn't have worked in a healing potion," Lily said, nodding. "But why did your blood work at all? I thought it was deadly poisonous no matter what? I honestly thought maybe you were planning on poisoning the judges."

Lotte giggled before shaking her head. "You can thank the professor for that idea. In almost all cases it's too hazardous, but when diluted to the extreme, it can be used as a catalyst for detox or other antidote mixtures. I'm sure you noticed that even though I used a solvent with the tiniest drop, I still didn't dare more than a drop of the diluted solution."

To prove her point, Lotte pulled out the vial, which she had evidently kept, and it was still almost entirely full. It was actually a surprise that nobody called foul of Lotte's actions, since she had used something that wasn't included in the ingredients, but apparently not. In terms of the legality, they must have likened it to the flame alchemist forgoing the use of magical tools since his flames were undeniably better.

[I wonder if anyone's bloodline created healing blood, such as ancient phoenixes, if that would be allowed to be submitted? They'd need a strong connection to their legacy for it to be physically changed, but would it be valid? Then again, if they still properly brewed a healing potion and only used it to give it that extra kick, I suppose that would be valid.]

Lily agreed, and suspected that if Lotte hadn't followed the proper brewing procedure and done most of the grunt work herself, the judges wouldn't have accepted her result. The only point she could be docked on was the incorrect allocation of her supplies, but the sudden use of a catalyst had fixed that detriment.

While the stage was being built, the group quickly left to grab food and freshen up. As the duel neared, some of them began to feel last-minute jitters, but they tried their best to reassure one another. As for Lily, she was busy mentally visualizing her performance and how she would secretly use the wand.

[Relax. I know you can do it.]

They returned to the stands, but when they arrived, they were told to get ready to go down to the ready room. Lotte and the rest staying behind all wished them good luck, as they were led down by Professor Elius to the waiting spot.

Upon arriving, they saw that each school had a private section for their students, and from here they had probably the best view of the dueling arena except maybe for the headmasters. A pair of staff members came to check on them and, under Professor Elius's watchful gaze, confirmed that none of the students had any unregistered external aids. Even Mana potions weren't allowed, meaning those with higher capacity or better regeneration had an advantage over others. If you didn't, then you had to make up for that through control and keeping your usage between rounds to a minimum.

As this was being explained, Lily noticed that Professor Elius looked at her and gave a knowing smile. Yes, perhaps this was why she was considered the secret weapon for this event, as her initial evaluation had proved her regeneration was a level above her peers, and it had only grown since then.

I wonder if that Stremweth tester has warned them about me? He seemed quite disturbed by my regeneration. All of them did.

While Lily was lost in thought, the checks were complete, and then they announced how the duels would work. It was very similar to the Regarth festival, with the common rule that the first to trigger the other's Ward was declared the winner. However, what was described next was quite different.

Rather than declaring whoever won the finals the winner, they used a point system based on each school's combined performances. This meant the school that won the finals could still lose the group evaluation, which Lily assumed had happened to Rose last year.

As for how the points were tallied, each win earned the corresponding school three points. Then each student who reached the quarter-finals received another two points, three for the semi-finals, and five for the finals. As for the ultimate winner, that was worth an additional five points. Lily did some mental math, and from the sounds of things, this seemed quite reasonable: if the final winner received ten or more points, they could almost single-handedly win everything, regardless of their peers' performances.

In addition to that, the semi-finals and finals were best of three, while everything else was single elimination. It might have been harsh, especially for anyone getting kicked out in the first round, but there were too many students and not enough time to give them all their fair shot. For smaller tournaments, or for more senior students, these were often changed, but that luxury wasn't afforded to the first-years, who had very little expectation put on their shoulders for now.

There was one last hiccup to solve, and that was that there were only thirty students competing, meaning that two students needed to receive a bye so that there would be sixteen competitors for the next round. Apparently, these two extra slots were sometimes given to an outside clan, but nobody took them this year, so byes were necessary. The first bye went to Tresnia as the host, while the second was left up to chance.

Should I cast Lunar Radiance on myself? Lily pondered before ultimately deciding not to. Even without it, she was quite lucky, so she might get it anyway, but in truth she actually didn't want to skip her first round. If Lily received the bye, she would have less opportunity to reveal herself, which she needed before she revealed her glyph.

Actually, maybe I should cast Lunar Eclipse then… Or would that do the opposite and give me the bye, since I don't want it?

While Lily was busy internally debating whether she needed good or bad luck for this occasion, the random draw finished and was announced.

"The second bye goes to Daphne from Abwany!"

Lily blinked as she realized that she had lost her opportunity, although it seemed it wasn't needed. She glanced at the box holding the Abwany students and saw them cheering for the girl who got a free pass, and Lily almost sighed in disbelief. Yes, the bye had gone to her mysterious stalker, which seemed like quite the odd coincidence, or maybe she was being paranoid.

So your name is Daphne, huh… I guess I won't get to see what magic you use until the next round.

But Lily didn't have much time to ruminate on that, as the brackets for the first round were being revealed. For this first round, they were all assigned a number connected to their school, and then this was randomized. That meant you didn't necessarily know who your opponent was, but you did know which school you were facing.

Lily looked at her number and saw that her first opponent was going to be from Stremweth. As for the rest of their group, Hana and Clarissa were both up against Tresnia, Arthur was Abwany, and Thomas was also facing Stremweth. The two noble girls seemed a bit peeved at their prospective first round, probably because of their competitiveness and the assumption that Tresnia would perform poorly.

Arthur didn't seem to care either way, only mentioning that he hoped Piety wouldn't charge him extra for healing in the future. Thomas, though, looked a little distraught.

"Damn, why did it have to be Stremweth?" Thomas muttered.

"Sorry, Thomas, that's just luck of the draw," Clarissa said, sounding genuinely sympathetic. "I'd offer to swap with you if I could."

"Don't worry, all I can do is try my best," Thomas said, trying his best to smile.

At first, Lily was confused, since Thomas had always shown so much confidence, but now he was being almost uncharacteristically meek. After all, he had made it to the semi-finals in Regarth's tournament, so he was clearly a good duelist. However, Lily set her bias aside, looked at it objectively, and then clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Stremweth were practically all pure-blooded nobles, and it was even rumored they didn't allow human students to join them. Regarth certainly had a favorable bias toward Demis for Headmaster Fabrelis' own goals, but Stremweth prided themselves on it. Thomas was kind of like an investment; he would eventually bear fruit, but as first-years it was hard to deny the natural advantage a powerful bloodline had.

And Stremweth would no doubt send their five best bloodlines.

Lily wanted to reassure him but was honestly struggling to think of what to say. She even wondered if her trying to offer encouragement wouldn't be like a slap in the face, since from Thomas' perspective she was a pure-blooded Demi from an extreme bloodline. Not only that, but seeing herself going against Stremweth in the first round actually caused a bit of a slip in her own confidence.

Lily nervously licked her dry lips. What if I mess up and lose? I'd be letting down Arakil and everyone who believes in me. Forget silver spoons; these are the kids born with golden, gem-encrusted spoons, and they literally eat, breathe, and sleep duels! Meanwhile, I've been spending all my time drawing glyphs and gazing at the stars…

[Lily! Calm down.]

Lily's self-destructive thoughts screeched to a halt.

{Arakil?}

[I don't know what's caused you to suddenly panic, but you really need to believe in yourself. You've gone above and beyond, and while I don't want you to have an inflated ego, I truly believe you can win this entire thing.]

{But these are all professional duelists! I didn't even do the Regarth one!}

[That may be true, but you've also conquered two floors of the dungeon, not to mention everything else you've done. These kids might have been weaned on duels since birth, but I've watched you defeat monsters, stand up to a dungeon-possessed dryad, forge and refine your own Mana Core, and pull off plenty of other achievements these kids could only dream of. Trust me, you've got this.]

Lily let out a sigh, her nerves finally calming.

{Thanks Arakil…}

[You're welcome. I wish I could give you some more encouragement, but you're being called to the stage.]

"Lily, this isn't the time to daydream; you're up!" Professor Elius said, sounding a little concerned.

Lily blinked, and it took all of her self-control not to scream.

Why am I going up first!?