"Even with the help of the potions, your hopes to get to the magus stage are unfounded. Isn't it better to have leverage on your peers for now and advance to the next stage? This way your rank among them might improve."
It was true, but what genius would agree to give up on their dreams to stand at the top for some short-term gains?
"Still no. If I can't aspire to the top, I will lose my motivation to get stronger. I'm sorry, but you need to get someone else."
"There's no someone else! Tomorrow is your fight against Lena Stormborn, and you already know you can't beat her. Consuming the potions won't reduce your chances of getting to the next stage as much as you think; since it will help you to get to the Advanced Mage stage earlier, your chances to advance further will still improve."
Seeing she was slowly changing her mind, he pushed more.
"Does your family even have a relationship with a seventh-rank potion brewer to give you those potions when you're at the sixth stage? If you win the tournament, I will add to the deal 3 seventh-grade potions of your choice."
She was convinced by now. Getting 9 seventh-grade potions was impossible for her family even if they offered their whole fortune. Just the costs were in the millions, and that didn't include the lengths they'd have to go to create a strong relationship with a seventh-rank potion brewer.
"And additionally, I still get a favor from you whether I win or lose?"
He nodded and pointed at the training room nearby.
"Yes, now let's go in and I will instruct you on advancing."
Jaina took the box with the potions, they entered the training room, and the advancing process began.
--------
Shana's group went to the tournament to resume their matches the next day. The first semifinal fight scheduled for the day was Prince Florian versus Elsa Scarlet, a water and air mage and one of the five geniuses.
The fight was intense, and most of it was a long stalemate that no side could break. In the end, when both sides were exhausted, the advantage of having powerful weapons started to get more obvious. Florian only had to instill a small amount of mana in the weapon to generate a powerful attack, while Elsa had to spend more mana to block it.
Eventually, the battle ended with both fighters kneeling on the ground. Slowly, Florian managed to get up on his feet and Elsa collapsed to the ground, ending the fight with Florian's victory.
"That was unexpected! Prince Florian showed might beyond our expectations and managed to get to the finals! Does it mean the Miyena Kingdom will get two spots in the top 3 again?!"
Gale nodded in appreciation yet sighed with pity.
"If my guess is correct and the empire boosted Jaina, his originally low chances to be above everyone other than Lena are now nonexistent."
Next, was Lena's turn. As soon as she got into the arena and faced Jaina, she could feel something was off. She probed Jaina with her mana sense and found out she couldn't get any information.
Jaina, who felt Lena's probing, smiled at her in response and didn't react. Gale's speculations were right; the empire decided to boost its candidate and they have done so splendidly. Jaina was boosted all the way to the Advanced Mage stage!
"What am I feeling? Jaina is an Advanced Mage! Is it the reason the empire's candidates did their best to stall yesterday? Our favorite genius might have to settle for second or third place!"
Steve told the crowd what happened, and the crowd booed indignantly. Everyone felt that the empire bent the rules and couldn't accept their loss. Their kingdom was close to making history in the tournament, yet the empire used its abundance of resources to trample on those efforts.
"Silence!"
Derek's voice shook the crowd and waves of powerful mana surged in the colosseum, making everyone turn silent with paled faces. The suppression of a magus wasn't something they could take lightly, especially given the fact most of them were just magicians.
"Don't be too harsh, Derek. They were just slightly agitated."
A feminine voice was heard by everyone, and the suppression was removed, letting everyone breathe with relief. It was Alice, one of the representatives of the 5 academies. She also didn't like Derek's intervention. Since he lost, he should've accepted that loss instead of pouring resources on someone just to hide his incompetence.
After the commotion passed, the referee counted down to zero, and the fight began.
Jaina, who was a water and air mage, opened with air spells. She believed that her casting speed and her connection to mana would allow her to overpower Lena by brute force.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom Lena used fire snakes to suck the air of wind spells. Despite the air blades' superior speed, her control was perfect and she managed to weaken the spells by half. As for the other half, they were met with a stone barrage that easily took care of them and continued toward Jaina.
Jaina didn't have a reason to worry; she used the classic water defense spell, water sphere. The water sphere started evaporating from the fire snakes but held enough even to protect Jaina from most of the stones before collapsing.
The stones were exploding inside the water sphere in an attempt to deform it, but the strong current carried the debris behind Jaina and ejected it. Water cannons were formed around Jaina and started shooting water jets at the same time as Jaina was dodging the remaining few stones from the barrage.
"How is that possible? Lena's spells are only slightly less powerful than Jaina's, an advanced mage! Look how she raises her stone walls from the ground, they keep denting and adjusting their defending angle to deflect the powerful water cannons with the least pressure possible!"
At this point Steve was basically fanboying Lena, encouraging her and cheering for her along with the crowd to win the battle. Jaina was enraged by the commentating, she felt deeply wronged! Everyone was cheering for Lena to defeat her, and it was affecting her mentality.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH TAKING AN OPPORTUNITY TO GAIN MORE POWER?"
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