The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  [Earth Spike]

  When casting [Arcane Explosion], there would inevitably be a short period of weakness in the [Frost Barrier]. Using this tiny window, Alexander activated his spell, causing a long spike to rise from the ground.

  The girl's talisman of protection was instantly triggered, bringing an end to the fight.

  "It was a good fight," said Alexander to comfort the girl.

  She wore a disappointed expression on her face, "I was not even close. I know you hid your real strength. You did not even use [Invisibility] or [Dragon's Breath]."

  Alexander smiled as they walked out of the battle room, "You are right but using these advanced spells is hard for me. There is a high probability of me messing up and therefore, I prefer to use low-level spells. Do not underestimate their power."

  "Alright, can we stop talking about the fight? What are you planning to do now?" asked the girl.

  Alexander awkwardly looked at the girl. 'Looks like this girl is relatively familiar with me but I don't remember her... I should use the Archivist to check.'

  "I am staying here. I have another battle in an hour and a half. I'll just meditate in the spectator area."

  "Ah... Alright. I have to go, some friends are waiting for me. See you later then." The girl said goodbye and quickly left the magic stadium.

  'Sigh' There was no need to speak to the instructors. Alexander quietly made his way to the spectator seats and started to meditate. He needed to replenish his mana and the only way to do so was through meditation.

  He tossed a few herbs in his mouth, to reduce the amount of mana flowing from his mana source. Before meditating, Alexander also took the opportunity to go through his memories to look for the blonde.

  He quickly found her. Her name was Emily, one of the people he met at the awakening ceremony but afterward, they seldom saw each other. 'I am not that familiar with her... She's trying to get closer to me?'

  'Egriss, the Archivist is so useful. What would I do without it... Furthermore, I have yet to use my memories from the other worlds. It will only be when I go to Loha that my memories will really be useful.'

  Chapter 27: Sonya Kress

  Without any surprise, Alexander easily defeated his next opponent. He did not go all out during the group stage and only obtained a modest amount of points. His opponents were first-years who managed to collect the same amount of points but as he continued to win, the strength of his opponents gradually increased.

  By the fourth fight, all his opponents were second-year students. The system was doing its best to match up students with the same power level. As time went by and as the system would obtain more and more data, the students would be evenly matched. This would result in longer matches, giving both students a better opportunity to display their skills.

  Alexander's fourth match was against an Australian man named Michael. He had a rather nerdy look but his spells were on point. Alexander invested a lot of efforts to defeat him and even had to rely on intermediate spells to break his defense. He nearly exhausted all his mana in this fight. After that battle, Alexander decided to temporarily stop practicing the body posture and to devote the rest of the week to meditation.

  The last-minute attempts to increase his mana reservoir did not help much but it was better than nothing. Alexander had yet to make much progress when he faced his fifth opponent on the next day.

  Sayaka Mitsuki was a strong independent girl. She had been scouted numerous times by the different organizations but chose to stay true to herself. When she faced Alexander, she was wearing a modern kimono suited for combat. She lived her entire life near the sea and as a result, she chose to specialize in water type spells.

  There was nothing wrong in specializing in a particular type of spells. It only resulted in developing certain spirit circuits more, giving her water spells more power while reducing the effectiveness of the other spells.

  Alexander barely managed to defeat her as his mana reservoir was about to run dry. He was pushing himself to discover the limits of his strength and it was clear that he had reached those limits. Without the use of the stargazers' powers, he could only go that far. He could only do so much with sixteen spells.

  Alexander's sixth match was against a tall dark-skinned youth. He presented himself as Toba Lavange. He was tall and strong. During the fight, Alexander quickly realized his opponent liked to use a mixture of physical strengthening and Earth spells.

  Toba's arms and legs were longer than average; when strengthened with magic, they instantly turned into deadly weapons. However, as it involved some physical fights, Alexander was able to use Arado to bridge the gap somehow. He still did not dare to face Toba head-on but used his increased agility to dodge the attacks and use his own offensive spells at the right time.

  In the end, Alexander won but he had to rely on Ianto, the Mariner. By activating his spirit circuits at the same time as he adopted the body posture of Ianto, Alexander managed to hide the constellations effect. At the same time, when casting [Water Lance], instead of having one water spear, two appeared at the same time, taking Toba by surprise.

  With six wins under his belt, Alexander decided to slow down a little bit. He did not necessarily need to win. As long as he used his spells, he would still get decent grades.

  It was with this mentality that Alexander went to his seventh battle. Alexander walked onto the stage once again where his next opponent was waiting.

  "You are finally here. Alexander Vagras. You ran away from me for a while but in the end, you cannot escape this fight!"

  Confused, Alexander looked at the woman in front of him. Her black hair was cut relatively short giving her a boyish look. She wore tight black pants and the academy's jacket. If it was not for her bulging chest, Alexander would have thought that she was a man.

  "You are?" asked Alexander as he did not recognize the woman. This time, he was not embarrassed to ask as he genuinely did not remember her face.

  The woman did not get angry. On the contrary, she laughed it off and answered, "I am Sonya Kress. I challenged you one month ago but you refused the challenge. I know the headmistress helped you to some extent but this time, you won't be able to escape!"

  "Sonya Kress?" Alexander did not remember the woman's face but he did remember that name. He would never have thought that the new recruit of The Watchers would have a such a boyish appearance.

  "I had nothing to gain in fighting you but if the headmistress had allowed the bet, I would not mind getting a few Earth Credits from you," said Alexander.

  "Yeah. Some rules are stupid but there is nothing we can do. You better go all out. I won't hold back since you can already use [Invisibility]."

  Alexander turned toward Sonya and met her wild burning gaze. He could feel her excitement and desire for battle. He quietly smiled and said to himself, "You are bound to be disappointed then... I will use my mana reservoir but no star energy this time."

  "Would you mind if I use some weapons?" asked Sonya.

  "Weapons? As long as they are not guns, you can go ahead."

  When the instructors saw Alexander and Sonya, they all became visibly excited. Their job has been boring for the most part. They needed to look at each fight and give a rating from 0 to 10 on the students' performance.

  This task was easy but at the same time, boring and repetitive. Most first-years only knew the basic set of moves. While second years were stronger and more diverse, the outcome of the fights could often be predicted. After almost two weeks of examinations, the examiners did not feel like they could be impressed anymore.

  However, that was until Alexander and Sonya were about to face each other. Both were on the special watchlist of the headmistress. It meant that both had great potential. At the same time, Sonya was already a confirmed recruit of the Watchers while Alexander was rumored to come from an unknown organization!

  The instructors were not the only one excited. Most of the other students in the magic stadium shifted their gaze to the giant
screen showing Alexander and Sonya entering the battle room. Fights like this were rare and would normally only take place near the end of the examination.

  ***

  Alexander and Sonya stood in the empty battle room. They faced each other, waiting for the countdown to start. Alexander looked at her expectantly. She asked for permission to use her weapons; he was curious about which one she used.

  Most mages would usually carry one or two cold weapons. As ancient relics were rare, they could only turn toward simple weapons.

  Sonya opened her jacket and from the inside pockets, took out two short daggers. The blades were weird; one of them was wavy while the other was completely bent.

  "As expected as someone from the Watchers. One weapon for frontal combat and the other for sneak attacks like cut-throats."

  The countdown started and the two mages prepared themselves. Alexander nonchalantly waited in a comfortable position but Sonya looked completely focused; she even bent her legs and adopted an aggressive stance.

  Soon, the countdown reached zero and the battle started.

  [Invisibility]

  [Invisibility]

  Unexpectedly, both of them had the same idea. The room became seemingly empty. While Alexander and Sonya could no longer see each other, the instructors and students outside were able to see them very clearly.

  Sonya lunged forward, thrusting her straight dagger forward but failed to hit anything. Alexander had already stepped aside and was now waiting in a corner of the room.

  With the two of them being invisible, the first to cast a spell would end up revealing his or her location.

  Sonya was startled but she did not panic. It was not the first time she was fighting against an invisible opponent. The Watchers were full of people who learned [stealth] and [Invisibility]; she knew how to counter them. Sonya had already learned a few detection spells but the problem was casting this spell would leave her vulnerable and expose her location. Against an opponent like Alexander, she did not dare be careless and as a result, the fight turned into a battle of patience.

  As for Alexander, he jumped into a corner of the room as soon as the fight started. It was the area of the room that was less likely to be attacked. Despite the experience of his previous life, Alexander could not do anything against an invisible enemy. He was not a god and could not detect Sonya without using a spell. "Wasn't she supposed to only know [Stealth]? Did she improve herself that much in the space of one month?"

  Alexander was tempted to use Jagur, the Observer. With the power of the constellation, it would not be hard for Alexander to find Sonya's location. The problem was the instructors and students outside the battle room. During his fight with Toba, Alexander dared to use his star energy because the battle involved some physical fights. He could easily adopt the body postures without looking suspicious but now, what would people say if he suddenly started doing hand seals or taking a weird pose?

  Sonya moved around the room and continued to strike around her. She was slowly feeling her frustration swell up. It was the first time since she became a mage that she was facing such an annoying opponent outside of the organization. 'Should I use a spell that can affect the entire room? I should try something; if we play the waiting game, the five minutes will be over before I even find him.'

  Alexander clicked his tongue in silence. He knew Sonya was going to act soon. This battle was not just a battle of patience but also a psychological battle. Since he displayed his knowledge of advanced spell two months ago, everybody believed that his mana reservoir should be able to contain a huge amount of mana.

  No one would expect that his mana reservoir was nearly crippled two months ago. It shrank so much, to the point that Alexander could not even use an advanced spell. Furthermore, Alexander did not even actively try to expand his mana reservoir. At the moment, he probably had one of the smallest mana reservoirs across the entire cohort.

  A whole minute after the fight started and the battle room still looked empty. Alexander had to use some mana to maintain his invisibility spell, leaving him with a little less than half of his total mana. [Invisibility] could only last for one minute; if the caster did not resupply his spirit circuits with mana, then the spell would automatically deactivate.

  "Let's make a move now. I know the perfect place to hide and wait. I won't need to constantly move around the room. She will never find me there."

  Alexander knew he would not last for the whole five minutes but he did not really care. Winning or losing did not mean anything to him. If nothing happened during the next minute, then, he would at least reveal himself to look like he was genuinely defeated.

  Sonya started feeling nervous. A whole minute had passed but she had yet to find her opponent. She could not maintain the status quo any longer. She moved to the center of the room and activated her spirit circuits.

  [Eye of the Storm]

  An air current started to form around her small silhouette. In just a few seconds, the faint air current grew in size and force, turning into a violent whirlwind. The entire battle room was swept by the powerful wind attack. Only Sonya stood in the eye of the storm. Her invisibility spell was instantly canceled when she used the wind spell.

  Her short hair messily danced with the wind. She looked around her cautiously, hoping to find Alexander but even after a few seconds, she did not find any trace of her opponent.

  When facing the [Eye of the Storm], Alexander would be forced to use a defensive spell to protect himself. Outside of the safe spot, the wind was violent and could easily carry a man and smash him against the wall.

  "Impossible? Why do I still not feel his presence? As long as he is in this room, he should be forced to use a defensive spell!" exclaimed Sonya.

  She increased the flow of mana in her spirit circuit, causing the wind to move around even more violently. She waited and looked around her but still, nothing happened! "No one should be able to survive in the battle room with such violent winds... The only safe place is the eye of the storm but there I am clearly the only one in there. Even if he was invisible, there is no way we could both fit in such a tiny area!"

  At that moment, Sonya suddenly realized something. Her eyes widened as she dreadfully raised her head.

  "Hello!"

  When she looked above her, she suddenly heard Alexander's voice but by the time she could react, her vision was completely blinded by a flash of light. She did not see what happened but one thing was certain; her talisman of protection was activated to protect her.

  ***

  "Ingenious! What a clever way to use [Sticky Steps]!"

  "Yes, he used the spell to climb the walls and to walk upside down. Compared to the girl, he did not waste any energy during the first minute."

  "It is also clear that he has a certain understanding of the [Eye of the Storm]. He knew about the safe zone of the spell and did not hesitate to enter it even if that meant that he would be close to the girl. His [Invisibility] should also be on point if Sonya did not manage to detect him at such a close distance."

  "His physique is also quite good to be able to remain upside down in the middle of the battle. His [Wind Blades] at the end was also quite impressive! But his control is beyond anything I've seen; he was able to cast a spell without Sonya detecting it? It requires extreme control over the mana flow."

  The instructors outside were very satisfied with the fight they had just witnessed. It was not an extraordinary battle but they witnessed a few moves for the first time. Furthermore, the outcome of the battle was something they could never have predicted.

  It was especially true for the instructor in charge of marking Alexander. When he saw the profile, he was displeased with the marks and the long list of comments:

  "6. Not using his full strength. Should be matched against a stronger opponent."

  "5. Completely one-sided battle. The student is clearly not matched against an adequate opponent."

  "8. Still not going all out. The student looked confident in
himself even as he was fighting a 2nd-year student. Should be matched against higher ranked students."

  "8. The student has yet to use any advanced spells mentioned in personal reports. Suggests increasing the difficulty."

  The comments continuously suggested matching the student against stronger opponents. It was a clear sign that the student had been slacking off during the group stage and that was something the examiners were not very happy about.

  However, the system would always try to balance things out and after using the feedback of the examiners, Alexander was eventually matched against people of his caliber. As much as the instructor did not like people hiding their strength, he had to admit that the fight today had been impressive. However, he still noted down the need to match Alexander against even stronger opponents. He was curious about just how far that student could go.