The First World Sphere

Chapter 64: Captivating Beauty

Chapter 64: Captivating Beauty

We had hours to warm up, and I was fighting second this time, knocking Pascal down to third. Since the barracks were adjacent to the yard, we got to see the massive and fancy Harbinger ship land. The Harbinger class ship was the mainstay of the Skyholme navy, but this one was a renovated ship with no weapons. I guessed it was either owned by the academy, or one of the students had connections.

The other academy students who exited were an array of individuals with the exact same uniform. White with gold trim. It made our motley crew look like a bunch of refugees. I steamed a little since this was an intimidation tactic, and it was working. I could see uncertainty catching.

I sighed and spoke, “Looks like they couldn’t decide what to wear, so one person chose it for all of them. I hope they all have the cleanliness spell, too, because they are all going to be eating dirt when they fight us.” Mia chuckled first. It got everyone going. So as they approached the yard, my group was all snickering and giggling at them. The only real way to ensure we maintained confidence was for Gareth and me to dominate our opponents.

I moved next to my friend, “Gareth, end it quickly. No playing with your opponent today.” He looked a little perturbed, so I explained, “We need to break their morale. That means we need to show them how outclassed they are.” He nodded in understanding.

We continued stretching, and they had some really handsome and beautiful members of their academy. I guessed maybe magic could buy looks for Skyholme’s elite. Wait, most of them were wearing makeup. Really? I was speechless.

The spectators from the capital island came from the Harbinger ship and other skyships docking. They traveled well with a sizable crowd that was easily going to dwarf ours. It was going to be standing room only very quickly. I nearly started laughing when I saw Freya selling meat on a stick and sending her runners for resupply. She was going to make a killing today. If she was smart, she should charge triple the price to visitors. Even at that price, they would think the food cheap.

Things got interesting when we got a closer look at our opponents. Gareth was facing a massive dark-skinned male around my height. He moved with a fluid speed as he sped through sword forms in his warmup. He was impressive, and I noticed Gareth side-eyeing him. My opponent was a woman. She was tall, maybe 6’1”, and was wielding a staff. She had a platinum blonde ponytail with red highlights that whipped around as she did a warmup routine. Studying her, I noticed her lower body had power, she was extremely effective in adding speed to her staff with her narrow hips. Her flexibility was on par with mine. She performed a split when she saw me tracking her and smiled at me teasingly.

I think it was another intimidation tactic, so I did a high kick and held myself in the pose for a few seconds before transitioning into a rotating back kick with the other leg. This got a lot of stares from our visitors and claps from the stands by the locals. It was not a difficult move to do without a target. Gareth, seeing how well they received my effort, was quickly put on a display of backflips, kicks, and rotations. Faster, stronger, and with more grace than I had shown. Gareth’s demonstration was made scarier by the fact he was so large. My opponent focused on Gareth with obvious fascination. I admit I was jealous as the bright blue eyes of the staff wielder remained locked off Gareth. Whoever she was, she was a natural beauty.

We had maybe 1500 spectators as the warmups finished, with more locals trickling in as they closed their businesses for a few hours to watch. The opposing academy removed their bright white and gold uniforms to reveal tight-fitting gray clothes underneath. I noted that these clothes were just loose enough not to show their muscles flexing. This was very clever, and Callem’s sour face made it clear he was not happy. Reading an opponent’s muscles was one of things he trained fervently at our academy. That advantage was now slightly muted.

Callem, being the head of the host academy, got the inter-academy tournament going. He regained his irritation at the uniforms of our opponents and spoke, “Thank you all for attending a display of the great youths of Skyholme as they forge their skills in the first year of the academy. I thank our guests for being gracious to come out to our humble school and compete with our students. The first duel....” Callem continued and listed off all the pairings. The visiting school only brought their top students, enough to match against us evenly.

Gareth was soon in the center with his opponent. The match started, and neither moved for seconds. Then Gareth attacked two-handed and switched to one-handed a few breaths later. His opponent parried the first three strikes but missed Gareth’s punch when he went one-handed. The solid connection could be felt by the thud and flow of blood from the boy’s nose. Gareth didn’t give him time to recover. Gareth quickly went to two hands, chopping at his legs. The boy tried to retreat but deflected Gareth’s sword into his shins. Bone and blood were produced as he toppled with a grunt. The match was called in Gareth’s favor, and some stunned people were in the crowd.

My opponent was extremely concerned and moved to the fallen boy. I guessed they were a couple. She was definitely too attractive not to have a suiter. It took a few moments for the healer to get the boy stabilized and helped out of the arena. Gareth stood by me, “Was that fast enough, Stormy?”

“Yeah, maybe a little too bloody, though,” I said as I saw malice forming in the opponent’s eyes.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Gareth said. “He had the ability to read my mind for my next move. I had to adlib the entire match and not think at all...just letting my body act.”

My mouth didn’t work for a second, then I asked, “How did you know?”

“Instinct. It was one of the tier 2 abilities Callem had been training me to counter. I knew it by how he reacted to my first sequence,” Gareth relayed. That was incredible.

I was being called forward. The pretty blue eyes of my opponent had turned icy cold. I approached and stood across from her, and she rasped, “Your boy toy embarrassed my brother. Now I have to embarrass you.”

So Gareth got the pretty girl angry at me? I said the first thing that came to my head, “So he was just your brother? Does that mean you are single?” Her eyes flashed in confusion before going cold again, and she launched a flurry of attacks.

She was good as she pressed me and had me on my toes. I tried to tease her a little, “You know your eyes are quite beautiful when you are not furious.” My comment spurred her on, and I finally retaliated with some offense of my own. I nearly stumbled as she didn’t block a blow to her knee. I didn’t want to hurt the pretty young woman for some reason. I tried to pull my strike and thankfully did. As I connected with her knee, my knee buckled instead. Her face turned smug. I was forced to roll away from her counterattack.

The bitch had some type of ability that transferred wounds to the attacker! Thankfully my self-inflicted damage was quickly healed. I switched my mentality to just stick exchanges, avoiding body strikes. Her smug visage faded as my limp disappeared in seconds. She disengaged, and her chest was heaving, and she was sweating profusely. I was covered in dirt from my roll and sweat as well. I cast my cleanliness spell on myself and smiled at her, “Your makeup is running. I actually think you are more beautiful without it.” Her eyes softened a little from the constant icy stare at my compliment.

My plan was to make her mad and wear herself out. If I couldn’t hit her, that meant she would either have to exhaust herself or I would have to wrestle her into a submission hold. I was still a little bit weary of getting close to her for the latter. She was an exceptionally skilled fighter. She spoke, “Sorry, Storme, but I am ending this now.”

Wynna was speaking loud enough for me to hear as I mixed the egg, ground beef, bread crumbs, and spices together. “So readings are private. Everything on your sheet will be known only to you. After you finish reading it, you can go and talk with Storme, your employer.”

Sammie asked a question, “But if he is paying for the reading, why doesn’t he get to see everything on the sheet?” Good question! Yeah, why Wynna?

“Storme knows readings are private and is trusting you to tell him what you think is necessary. Now who is first? We will go into the sunroom,” Wynna finished.

Sammie was first, and as I was rolling out the meatballs, she came into the kitchen, and I paused, waiting for her to talk. She just put the sheet in front of me to read. “Trust, right?” she said. I nodded and looked at it. I noticed Callem looking through the large arch with eager eyes.

“Don’t tell Callem what is on your sheet,” I said loudly enough for him to hear. “Only if he guesses correctly can you confirm it.” She nodded with solidity. I liked her. I studied the sheet.

Abilities

Focused Strike, Tier 1

Power of One, Tier 1

Wyvern’s Heart, Tier 2

Harmonize with Wood, Tier 1

Traits

Adaptive, Tier 1

Strong Bones, Tier 1

Affinities

Axes, Tier 1

I hopefully kept my face impassive as I read the sheet to irritate Callem. I put the paper on the stove, letting it burn up in the magical heater. I was getting the sauce ready next, so it was already lit. A person usually had just one ability at tier 1. Sometimes it took some effort to find a use for it. Two-tier 1 abilities were still common. But three tier 1 abilities...that was rare. And on top of that, one was a tier 2 ability? Sammie was special.

Focused Strike just doubled the power of a single attack. Not powerful, but it had a short cooldown of 30 seconds and used almost no aether. Since Sammie did not have an awakened core that was good news for her. Power of One was useless in a group setting. It was similar to Aelyn’s duelist ability. When Sammie fought by herself, she experienced a slight increase in all physical traits.

Harmonize with wood was a sculpting ability. She could use it to mold wood with her mind. It was tier 1 and only affected a small area so no making furniture or building skyships. But she could make small things like small sculptures and objects. It used aether, and her pool was small, so she couldn’t make much.

I knew most of the tier 1 abilities as Gareth, and I had studied books on them. Tier 2 abilities were very rare, and I think Wyvern’s Heart was an increased endurance ability. Her traits were her genetic characteristics. Adaptive was common for humans, and strong bones meant she had dense bones that were hard to break. Not bad at all for a future tank!

“Sammie, everything looks great. Remember, don’t tell Callem until he guesses correctly.” She nodded emphatically. “Callem will help turn you into a strong front liner. You have all the tools, and I am happy to have you on my dungeon team.” She beamed at the praise and looked longingly at the food I was preparing. Thankfully I was prepared enough for ten people.

Sammie sat down, and I was excited to see what other secrets Remy and Lana held.