Close Combat Mage
chapter-5

Chapter 5 – Encountering a Challenge

On the second morning, Suo Jia arrived at school on time while his mother also left to rush to work.The world is just like that: even though there are many things we don’t want to do, we have to endure and do them anyways.

Suo Jia sat in his seat with a downcast mood. His mind was filled with endless thoughts about his mother’s pale-white, creased and scarred hands. Suo Jia knew that soon his mother’s hands would be completely worn out, while Suo Jia was powerless to stop it.

His mother may have a child as old as he was, but when she gave birth to him she had only been around 16 years old. This meant that his mother was currently only 24 to 25 years old, and that this was the most beautiful period of age for women. Right now, however, his mother could not enjoy this because of him….

Suo Jia knew that as he sat in his warm classroom and absorbed the information that the teacher was presenting, his beautiful mother was instead sitting in a chilly room using piercing, ice-cold water to wash clothing, bundle after bundle. Only after washing enough clothes would others pay her the money. Thinking deeply, Suo Jia’s body could not help but tremble. He could not wish for anything other than being able to help his mother.

“Hey!” Just as Suo Jia was thinking painful thoughts, a clear and delicate voice rang from beside his ear.

Stunned, Suo Jia opened his eyes, and puzzled, he looked towards the direction of the voice. He saw that, for some unknown reason, all those cute and charming girls in his class had gathered in front of him (E: Harem plz). With three layers inside, and three layers outside, they tightly surrounded him. Suo Jia could not understand; what did these girls want to do, and why were they surrounding him?

Just as Suo Jia was pondering this, a girl with long blue hair attractively bent over, sized him up, and asked in a suspicious tone: “We were all very curious; how did you enter this school? Is it possible….that your talent in water magic is greater than a girl’s?”

This…

Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia’s face involuntarily blushed. It was definitely strange for a male’s water affinity to be higher than a female’s. It was similar to how unconventional it was for a female to be stronger than a robust male. Calling him a freak was definitely not wrong; he was definitely not a normal person.

In reality, Suo Jia knew very well that his talent in water could not be called exceptional. Compared to others in his class, he was actually the weakest. His strong point was his ability to control the water, not his ability to use water magic!

Seeing Suo Jia blush, yet not answering her question, the blue-haired girl could not help but pout, arrogantly declaring: “Since you refuse to answer me, fine….I want to challenge you, and see exactly on what basis you were able to enter our class!”

“Challenge!” Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia’s eyes could not help brightening. In Suo Jia’s mind a challenge was just a performance, something that Suo Jia enjoyed and had much confidence in.

Pondering, Suo Jia nodded without hesitation and accepted the girl’s challenge. Since he had never gone outside, and never had any friends, Suo Jia did not know that a challenge was not an individual performance, but two people taking the initiative and attacking each other to reach a certain goal!

The girl had not expected Suo Jia to accept her challenge so happily, and she could not help but be shocked at his response. Originally, girls didn’t fight much. The reason she had brought up the challenge was to simply to simply give herself face. If Suo Jia had taken that chance to explain his reasoning, then the girl might have sulked for a bit, and it wouldn’t have been a big deal. However, she had not expected Suo Jia to happily accept it!

No matter how good her ability is, a girl is still a girl, and before even starting the fight, she began to feel apprehensive. She easily backed a few meters away in a mechanical matter, stiffly turning towards Suo Jia to say: “Fine…since you agreed to the challenge, then….then I will not show mercy!”

As she spoke, the girl reached her hand behind, pulling out a magic staff from her waist, and told Suo Jia: “Hurry up and stand. You had better receive my water sphere magic seriously, or else, beware….beware…” Besides from saying ‘beware’ a few times, the girl couldn’t think of any other menacing things to say towards Suo Jia.

Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia excitedly stood up, and walked to the empty space nearby, standing to face the girl directly. In Suo Jia’s mind, he thought that if his opponent wanted him to receive a sphere of water, then that definitely meant that she was willing to perform for him. If that was the case, then he would obediently wait to receive it.

While thinking of this, Suo Jia smiled at the blue-haired girl, and lifted his right hand. Waving a finger at her, he confidently said: “Fine, I’ve already finished preparing. Go ahead and throw it!”

To Suo Jia, his idea of a challenge was just a performance, or a game. These types of things were nothing major, and he had become an expert on them. But to the girl, the situation was completely different.

To the girl, the challenge was a battle, a fight. Even the more courageous blue-haired girl, was shaking from her hands to her feet. However, seeing Suo Jia, who was calmly and comfortable standing there with a completely relaxed smile, this….this manner meant that he could be one of those top experts!

In this world, there exists a profession called a traveling bard. He will spend his entire life traveling to different cities around the world. Every time he visits a new place, he stays at a hotel and shares his knowledge. All well known figures become a part of his song, and reputations are thusly built.

It can be said that traveling bards are the most authoritative critics! Epics about legends, epics about heroes, and epics about treasures all originate from their mouths. The evaluation of such an epic would thus be a top assessment!

At present, the challenge had turned into a performance, a game, to Suo Jia. Unconsciously, he had shown the poise and temperament of an epic-level figure. All in all, not only did he cause the surrounding girls to stare in daze, even the teacher that had just entered the room, prepared to stop the battle, was obediently closing her mouth. Every single person wanted to witness the epic-level figure fight!

In this world, there is a very popular saying that is upheld as the truth and passed down in generations—when confronting your opponent, whether it be you or your enemy, one person will definitely be intimidated. If you are not intimidated, then your enemy definitely is!

Whether or not this statement is the truth will be put aside for now. Facing the relaxed and composed Suo Jia who was filled with confidence, the blue-haired girl could not help but be frightened at that point. However, she was unable to say anything, and spilled water cannot be recovered. At this point, the “prepped arrow could not help but fly forwards”.

Biting her lip hard, the girl lifted the cute and delicate blue staff, swiftly speaking the incantations necessary to activate the water sphere magic. Very quickly, a blue sphere rippled out from the magic staff, whizzing in Suo Jia’s direction. Seeing this, the female instructor standing behind the crowd nodded her head in praise. This young girl’s talent was definitely good! Being able to produce water sphere magic so quickly was definitely not an easy task!

“Well delivered!” Right as the female instructor was silently admiring the attack, Suo Jia was watching the water sphere fly towards him at high speeds. Eyes brightening, his right hand flashed out with a shout, and the perfectly round sphere of water was suddenly pulled to a length of ten meters, with a thickness of a thumb. Under Suo Jia’s clever hands, the water was manipulated so that it wrapped around his body, fluidly coiling around him.

Seeing such an episode, the people watching opened their mouths wide in shock, unable to believe what was happening in front of them. What was this? Was this some type of acrobatics performance, or a magic performance? This was too incomprehensible; nobody had ever manipulated water like that before! Everyone knows that water was composed of the most basic droplets of water to form a large body—a water sphere, not a water ribbon!

Seeing the shocked expressions on the surrounding students’ faces, Suo Jia could not help but be secretly delighted; To show off to the spectators, Suo Jia’s hands suddenly pushed and pulled….causing the long water stream to circle once, and then like a dragon controlling the seas, it leaped up towards the blue-haired girl opposite of him.

“Ya!” Facing the berserk water stream leaping towards her, the blue-haired girl shouted hysterically. Unable to evade, the girl could only use her hands to cover her face, her whole body taut, and gritted her teeth, waiting for the pain to hit her.