[STT] Chapter 86: Nice Weapon (Patreon)

Lady Eris

By the time Ben arrived at the arena, Eris had been watching the arena for quite a while. She had her mana threads spread through the camp, so watching the duels wasn't that hard to do.

She was always watching the interesting things happening at the camp, and duels were always interesting.

The Tier 5 could only sit around doing nothing for so long, she had to entertain herself somehow.

Thankfully, no one could see her threads, and no one knew she watched.

She'd been taking her duties as the one sent with the expedition to protect the younglings seriously, and that's why she'd gotten rid of the necromancer shaman she'd found, and even cleared the area of dangerous monsters a few times, all to protect the young nobles.

But most importantly, the rift they'd scouted turned out to be quite an unexpected surprise.

The information they'd received was that it was a Tier 1 rift, but it had turned out to be an evolving one, and it was quite an anomaly to boot. She hadn't sensed it in time. But when she had, she of course had to scramble to fix things.

Especially given the time dilation.

Originally, every group should have been put in its own copy of the rift, but that of course didn't happen.

The rift master wasn't supposed to be able to do anything like that, either, but somehow he had. There was definitely someone—something—behind the scenes pulling strings. And she'd investigated. She even found the one who did it, and dealt with them, given that their authority was limited given they had to come in vessels lest they attract the system's ire.

But the rift had still evolved past what it should have.

Still, that had been resolved, with only a few casualties, given that a lot of the little birds were, at the end of the day, nobles trained from birth.

They knew how to handle themselves.

Eris had to admit she was proud of them. Even if most of them were little shits. Regardless, she was a bit tired of chores.

So she loved watching.

That was why she was interested in Ben so much.

He was talented. That was why she'd ordered that Ben, a commoner at Tier 1, be sent into the rift.

She wanted to see how he would react and if he would survive. It was a good chance for him to grow.

And to her surprise, he had survived. Not only that, he'd reached Tier 2 and even cleared the rift.

With everything that went down in the rift, he still came out. Eris had been worried for a bit.

She thought she'd have to intervene to help him out, but thankfully she hadn't needed to. And this made her all the more interested.

And now, the threads carried noise from the arena to her. And she listened, and watched as the noble boy, Martin, challenged Ben to a duel. She was surprised when Ben accepted.

There were a few reasons for her surprise.

First off, Martin was from House Rayne, which was an old wind House, strong, known for its battle mages, with a particular branch that specialized in fighting with a chain whip which they could manipulate with their winds all the more.

Eris could see the noble had one on his belt.

It was quite the potent weapon in the right hands.

Rayne had quite a few elders on her level, and it used to stand with House Vane, though went over to House Sterling when House Vane started losing ground.

Still, it was a good, strong House. So for Ben to go up against a noble from that House was a bold move, as the young boy was still just a Tier 2. He wasn't strong at all.

Second, Martin himself. He was considered disappointing, given his poor talent, and had been stuck at Tier for over a year while his younger cousins passed him, which was unacceptable for a child of House Rayne. That was precisely why the boy had tried recruiting a commoner. Still, to be fair to him, he was very good at what he did.

He had, as most Rayne did, a wind affinity.

Pair that with the way he seemed to have spread his essence over body and mana path, he had the strength as well as the mana to face someone like Ben. So Eris was not sure how Ben would handle it.

The third reason for her surprise was Ben himself.

At a glance, she knew he was Tier 2. He hadn't been Tier 2 for long, either. His body was utterly weak for the tier he was, and as far as she could tell he'd put most of everything into the mana path and not much anywhere else.

Which, to put it mildly, was a fool's choice.

The nobles were taught better than to do something like that. The first few tiers, you always spread your essence over multiple paths so that you could grow yourself equally, which would help you get through the future bottlenecks that would come your way.

But what Ben had done...

Only a madman does that.

She, unfortunately, knew quite a few madmen like that. So she knew how bright they burned. Typically, they fell, but the beauty was in that they burned so, so brightly.

It reminded her of someone.

His mana was far too potent and far too dense for someone this early into Tier 2. Not to mention it obeyed him like nothing she'd seen at that tier.

With her eyes, she could see the constructs carved into his body, and they were neater than they had any right to be. In fact, it was possible that he had quite the skill in the shaping school.

Very interesting.

It was interesting how his body hadn't collapsed, though it would if he walked further on this path without a plan.

Even with all that, however, he was merely starting out, whereas Martin was already so far ahead. Would he be able to overcome this gap with just his mana?

She was curious, and that's why she was watching.

It was a shame that he was fighting a noble, though, as that would not end well even if he won.

Especially if he won.

A battle duel, not a show of magic. Ended by yielding, knockout, or if the other dies. They were young, they were not trying to kill each other, so of course, death was off the table.

Still, they would take it too far, as the young always did.

She would have to keep an eye on this duel.

As she focused her senses on the arena, she found that the noble, Martin, had just put his weapon away and spread his arms wide, inviting Ben to strike first.

Foolish.

He was asking for trouble.

Even if Ben was not a threat, that wasn't how you should face someone.

Eris shook her head. This would be a quick fight. She was more interested in watching what Ben could do with his mana than anything else.

Had she been lesser, she would have failed to see when the boy moved. Fire exploded under his feet, and he disappeared, teleporting behind Martin with his fist ready to strike.

Coated in some kind of body strengthening skill, he punched Martin. Much to her amusement, Martin was sent flying from the explosive force.

The crowd which had been laughing and whispering grew silent.

Eris was impressed.

His mana control is exceptional. I thought it would be, but this is...

The mana was almost excited to obey. It was amazing to see.

Still, that skill is quite interesting.

It seemed to work heavily off the concept, so it had to be Rare at the very least, and since she knew he'd had [Fire Burst] prior to what she assumed was the evolved version of the skill, there were only a few candidates this skill could be.

[Ignition Step], huh...

That one was pretty rare, she'd give him that. It was also very good, especially given how powerful his mana was. He was going to be a terror at higher tiers. Assuming, of course, he survived.

Even now, the more he blasted around, the faster he grew.

What an interesting fellow.

Martin managed to stop himself mid air using his wind before he landed on the ground, and glared at Ben, who was standing calmly, waiting for his opponent. Why would he stop, though? He had such a good lead.

Eris shook her head.

Kids these days...

Martin didn't waste a moment. The boy was fast to recover and attack, creating a shield of wind in front of him and rushing Ben, a sword of air forming in his hand, still too prideful to draw his weapon.

He's even more of a fool than I thought.

Why would he avoid using his best weapon for pride's sake? He was still a child. Pride was a dangerous sword that cut both ways, and Martin had just handed it to his opponent.

Still, Martin did well against Ben, and Ben was forced to block his strikes.

Ah...

Eris saw Ben's strategy now. The boy was testing his opponent. He wanted to see what Martin could do. He wasn't trying to defeat him, he was trying to learn. That was a very mature way to go about a fight, especially at this age.

He was also very calm under pressure, though she imagined much of that had to do with that [Focus] of his. That skill was quite something. Its influence had extended to his very soul, and that was not something she'd seen in a long time.

She could see how it let him think and plan and strategize even in the middle of a fight. Not to mention the fact that it seemed to have a very interesting concept behind it that let him observe and learn, much different from what she'd seen in [Focus] all the times she'd faced it previously.

Then again, that only made sense, since [Focus] was one of those skills that grew along its user, so it was always unique to its user.

Ben seemed to be analyzing Martin's movement, his magic, everything, much like a sponge absorbing water. And Eris could tell it was working.

She watched as Ben deflected every one of Martin's strikes, and avoided the wind spells, and she was starting to see the end of this fight already.

As unexpected as it was expected, Ben was going to win this duel. It was surprising, but her opinion that he might struggle had quickly shifted the moment the fight started in Ben's favor.

He'd been trained well, suspiciously so. Movement he didn't seem to even think about, the muscle memory, the way he created space between himself and his opponent, the way he reacted to strikes and spells, everything was very well thought out and practiced. This was no mere commoner who stumbled into power, as it was said. No, Ben had been trained.

Her attention returned to the duel as Martin pulled his whip out, swinging it in the air and the wind started to pick up. Dust and debris started to rise around them.

Ben's speed was probably so much that Martin could no longer see him, which made sense, as [Ignition Step] accelerated him the more he used it. Which was why it was such an annoying skill to be on the receiving end of the longer the fight went on.

Still, Eris wondered if Ben had a way to counter Martin's weapon. He was in for a nasty surprise if he didn't.

Martin swung his whip, and the wind answered. A huge gust of wind tore the ground around him, and with it, it carried all the debris it had picked, all heading straight toward Ben.

It was a good plan, to use Ben's speed against him. All that debris would make it hard for Ben to see Martin or the whip.

But to Eris's surprise, Ben's eyes flashed and he shot forward, disappearing completely into the storm of debris.

Then, the wind died down.

Martin looked around in confusion. Eris could not help but chuckle.

It seemed Ben knew exactly what to do against the weapon.

He was now standing next to Martin, his hand grasping the whip, along with the hand that was holding it, blood dripping from where he'd torn off the arm using a [Mana Cannon].

The crowd was deathly silent.

"This is quite a nice weapon." Ben said. "I'll be taking it." He yanked the whip away and swung it at Martin, who fell to his knees, bleeding.

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