Close Combat Mage
chapter-94

Seeing the round-faced girl’s frightened state, Selena coldly smiled and said, “The reason I chose you is because you don’t have any courage at all. Once you actually enter the arena, you will be afraid. You might not know this, but battles draw blood, and can inflict damage onto people, to the point that….one can even lose his/her life!”

“Ya!” The round-faced girl cried out sharply at Selena’s words. She hurriedly covered her own mouth, as she said in a shaking voice, “You…don’t you scare me. I won’t believe you.”

“Ai…” The female lecturer sighed in response to the round-faced girl and said, “No, she’s not trying to scare you. What she said is true. Once you enter the tournament arena, drawing blood is merely a minor thing. The slightest mishap can cause one to be crippled, or even lose one’s life. Although these chances are very small, such things have actually happened quite a few times.”

“Wa!” Crying out once more in shock, the round-faced girl began to tremble as she said, “Then….then I won’t compete against you. I won’t attend this tournament at all; you can just go instead.” After saying this, the round-faced girl ran back like a rabbit into the group of girls, practically leaving a trail of smoke behind her, and was unwilling to show her face again.

Most girls are cowardly. After hearing that entering the tournament was so dangerous, all the girls began to shrink backwards. This time, Suo Jia didn’t try to make things difficult for them, and didn’t try to force them into entering the tournament. In reality, the thing that Suo Jia was looking for was not strength, but courage!

After learning for an entire year, Suo Jia already had a very deep understanding for all of the water magics. In regards to the few apprentice magics, no matter whether it was the Moisture Technique, Swamp Technique, or the Ice Sphere Technique, their killing powers were too weak. It could be said the first ranked ice magics were the only equivalent to other elements’ beginner’s magic formidability. At the current stage, water mages weren’t any different from a priest; they didn’t have any methods of attack.

Both would lose, but Suo Jia didn’t want everyone to lose so thoroughly. Losing this competition was fine, but they couldn’t lose a person. Being defeated wasn’t scary, but if one shivered with fear under an enemy’s attack, they’d completely lose face. Even worse, if one was scared to tears, then in the future, none of the water elemental mages would ever be able to face the public again.

Boldness and courage were the two standards that Suo Jia was currently looking for in his companions. Since the competition required three people to enter, Suo Jia would rather choose those with more guts. Even if they lose, they would at least show everyone the water elemental mages’ drive and braveness.

The selection immediately ended once all the girls began to shrink back from the front. Rejecting the lecturer’s order to return to the classroom, Suo Jia said sincerely, “Instructor, there’s still a month left until the tournament. I hope that you can give the three of us a week’s break so that we can focus on training. As I’ve said before, we’ll definitely win this tournament!”

Profoundly looking at Suo Jia, the lecturer firmly said, “That’s not a problem. Actually….the other elemental mages all started to train in a closed room three months ago. This being the case, granting your request for one month off is nothing.”

Suo Jia nodded, and shot a meaningful glance at Xue Er and the other girl, signalling them to stay behind. Afterwards….under the lead of the female lecturer, all the other girls left the training area.

After the last girl had finally left, Suo Jia slowly turned around. He looked at Xue Er and the thin-lipped girl and said profoundly, “Since you two want to enter the tournament, then you can’t lose face. Even if we lose, we must lose with a straight back. For the sake of giving you girls a chance of experiencing what the tournament will be like in advance, the three of us should first practice against each other.”

Faced with Suo Jia’s suggestion, the two girls nodded without any hesitation. The only difference was that Xue Er was passionate and unrestrained, cheering in high spirits. In contrast, the thin-lipped girl only nodded slightly. Her expression remained unchanged, and was as cold as it was before.

Suo Jia slightly sized up the two girls. Although they were all the same water mages, and also had the same innate talent in their class and held the greatest strength among the girls, they had completely different personalities.

The feeling that Xue Er gave off was like a rolling sea. She was passionate and bold, and dared to say anything she thought of. Her personality was extremely straightforward and down-to-earth, giving anyone she met a feeling of carefree and ease. She was like the daughter of the great seas.

On the other hand, the thin-lipped girl was different. One could never even think of seeing any ripples of change in her expression. She never smiled, and she was like a silent icy mountain. However, despite this fact, nobody doubted that underneath her icy exterior, she possessed a blazing heart!

After contemplating for a while, Suo Jia said, “We’ve all known each other for so long, and have been classmates for a year now. However, although you two know my name, I still don’t know yours. Right now….I want to get acquainted with both of you.”

Suo Jia warmly smiled and said, “My name is Suo Jia, water elemental mage apprentice. I’m 8 years old this year, and I live in Holy Light City.” After he finished, Suo Jia smiled at the two girls, waiting for them to introduce themselves.

The first to reply was Xue Er. She candidly replied, “My name is Aimi Xuete. I’m 8 years old this year. My family lives in Labuladuo Ocean City, and I’m a water elemental mage apprentice!”

As soon as Xue Er finished speaking, both her and Suo Jia turned to face the thin-lipped girl. Under their gazes, the girl’s small mouth moved slightly, then she said in a low voice, “My name is Francis Aila. I’m 8 years old this year, and my family lives in Icebound City. I’m a water elemental mage apprentice.”

(TL Note: I have no clue why she got a new name….apparently “silver-haired girl” = “thin-lipped girl” = Selena = Francis Aila. I found this extremely confusing and spent a while trying to figure it out, but my only conclusion was that the author sucks at remembering names. >.< P.S. He did the same thing for Vulcan’s Roar/Wrath and Atlantis’ Wisdom/Crown T.T)

“Eh….” Hearing Aila’s concise and cold self-introduction, Xue Er gave an exaggerated shiver. As her shoulders shook she said, “God, can’t you say that with a bit more emotion? You’re freezing me to death.”

Hearing Xue Er’s words, the thin-lipped girl’s expression seemed to change from its natural state. However, unless observed closely, one wouldn’t be able to tell. After a moment of silence, the thin-lipped girl coldly said, “Sorry, I’m used to speaking like this.”

Grudgingly rolling her eyes, Xue Er shrugged her shoulders. Suo Jia watched the two girls’ expressions and actions with a helpless look on his face. He couldn’t help but shake his head as he laughed, “Alright, both of your names are a bit long. Fortunately, both of you have the character ‘Ai’ in your names. Therefore…from today onwards, Xue Er is just Aimi. As for you, I’ll just call you Aila.” Suo Jia said to the thin-lipped girl.

“Hey!” Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the thin-lipped girl shouted loudly, “What is that? Aren’t you being a bit too lazy? Why must you call us by such random names? Calling her Aimi is fine since that’s her original name, but Aila isn’t my first name, it’s my family name, got it?”

“That! Eh…” Hearing Aila’s words, Suo Jia scratched his head and awkwardly replied, “But your name is really too long and difficult to remember. Besides, Xuete isn’t an appropriate name for a girl. At the very least, even Xue Er sounds better than Xuete!”

Helplessly rubbing her head, Xue Er frowned and said, “Forget it, it’s better if you just call me Aimi. Although it’s only my name, it sounds much better than Xue Er. Otherwise, if I’m always called Xue Er, I’ll get too used to it.”

“Hehe….” Having gotten away with his idea, Suo Jia snickered and said, “Right, isn’t that better? You’re Aimi, and she’s Aila. Now it sounds like the two of you were sisters.”

“Yea…” Nodding her head in agreement, Xue Er pouted and said, “It definitely does sound like we’re sisters. It’s too bad that one’s a first name, and one’s a last name. Although they both have the ‘Ai’ sound, the way they’re spelled is entirely different!”

Casually waving his head, Suo Jia firmly said, “I don’t care if one is a first name, and one is a last name, or if the ways they’re written are different. As long as I can call you two by something that can differentiate the both of you from each other, then it’s fine. Let’s not bother discussing something so useless anymore, and start competing!”

Suo Jia retreated and said to the two girls, “Right now, the two of you should fight against each other first. The regulations are like any other proper battle; you must use all your strength to compete!”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the two girls regained their energy. They pulled out their staffs, and faced each other 50 meters away, prepared to initiate their attacks as soon as Suo Jia gave the command.”

“Ready….start!” Following Suo Jia’s voice, the two girls simultaneously raised their staffs. A blue light shot outwards from both of their staffs, as they shot out Water Spheres at practically the same time towards each other.

“Peng!” With a muffled sound, the two Water Spheres collided in midair. Both fell apart upon contact. In terms of activation speed, the two were exactly even. However, in terms of the size of the Water Sphere, Xue Er’s was larger; it was nearly two times greater than Aila’s!

Suo Jia couldn’t help but click his tongue in admiration at the enormous Water Sphere that Xue Er had produced. Even if the current Suo Jia tried as hard as he could to create a large Water Sphere, it would not necessarily be as large as Xue Er’s. Her talent was definitely enviable.

However, in the end, Water Spheres were just Water Spheres. No matter how they were used, they would break apart upon encountering any obstruction. Although Aila’s Water Sphere was smaller, she wasn’t at a disadvantage. At flying speed, Aila continuously shot out Water Spheres one after another to hold back Aimi’s large Water Sphere. Eventually, the two had reached an impasse.

“Che….” After expelling a few Water Spheres, Aila gritted her teeth. She knew that if she continued to expel them like this, even if she wasn’t at a disadvantage, it wasn’t like she would be able to gain any advantage either. Her body suddenly swayed as she waved her staff. A Swamp Technique shot outwards, with the target being directly under Aimi’s feet.

Due to a moment of carelessness, Aimi walked into the swamp. The moment she was thinking of pursuing Aila, she discovered that she had actually been trapped by the swamp. Although she could still move, it was extremely difficult for her to walk. At the same time, she would have trouble dodging Aila’s next spell.

Helpless, Aimi could only activate the Aqua Aegis Technique. She wanted to quickly leave the Swamp Technique’s effective area, but unfortunately for her, Aila had calmly and clearly planned this. No matter how much Aimi struggled to escape, she would immediately fall into another area of the Swamp Technique. Aimi could only helplessly remain in a difficult situation as she tried to dodge the Water Spheres. With nothing else to do, she could only grit her teeth and fling out her own Swamp Technique.

Both girls were stuck in swamps without any means of escaping, and thus stayed in their places as they continued to attack each other. Seeing this, Suo Jia couldn’t help but smile bitterly. What did this count as? A battle like this didn’t display a single trace of skill. If they entered the tournament with this kind of attitude, it would be strange if they didn’t lose.