Fifteen minutes to go until the first fight and nerves were sky high. The highlight of the sester was just a few minutes away, and it dawned on everyone that a single mistake could cost them all, be it their collective goal of taking Prestige Academy to the top, or whatever personal motivation was driving them.
Carlos ndes, Nora’s replacent, was the most nervous of them all.
He was pacing around the room, waiting for the mont his na would be announced, and as such, his anxiety rubbed off on others.
“Would you quit it already?” Sangook roared, which wasn’t surprising as he was always the first to let his temper loose.
“Don’t talk to him in such a manner,” Jaehyun argued before anyone else could.
Sangook turned to him with a sneer. “What did you just say?”
Jaehyun frowned. “I said you shouldn’t talk to him like that. Everyone has their own way of dealing with being unnerved. You do not have to be an inconsiderate brat every single ti.”
“You little!”
“That’s enough!” Kim Yiseo ordered and the quarrel paused. “What do you both think you’re doing? We should be using our energy for our opponents, not ourselves. The least you could do is think before you act.”
Despite how irrational and prone to irritation Sangook always was, he wasn’t entirely dumb. Yiseo’s words had put so sense into him, and even though he had still clicked his tongue disrespectfully, at least he kept his mouth shut.
rlin, on the other hand, had pulled himself away from the squabble for what he would assu was the first ti. He was more focused on his phone as he tried to settle one lingering matter that had been on his mind for days.
Janeth Park.
After trying several tis to speak to her about the System and how she had tactfully eluded him, he ca to realize that she was really ignoring him. It wasn’t exactly a groundbreaking discovery as the hints were there, but it was a painful one nonetheless. In fact, rlin had been left with the assumption one ti that he was blocked, but his ssages still being delivered told him otherwise.
rlin, however, now decided to take the hint. He sent a less subtle ssage than all his prior ones, telling her that he needed to tell her a secret, and it was not related to him having asked her out or anything of the sort, specifically including that both Sunny and Nora knew about it already. He had also ntioned that he had no intention of asking her out again and he was okay with her decision, so she didn’t have to be on guard around him. It was false, but it was either that or the truth, and the truth was the worst thing to pass across at this point in ti.
As soon as he sent the ssage, he put off his phone, blocking out all distraction to focus on the tournant—starting with Carlos.
“What can you tell us about your Hex?” rlin started, and everyone turned to him; the room fell silent.
Carlos paused. “What do you an?”
rlin shrugged. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? There’s no point in pacing around and biting your nails. The best thing to do right now is to take your mind off negativity. We’re facing students handpicked from the number one academy in the world; the competition is stiff. But we’re not exactly walks in the park either. We cleared Towers to be here.”
“I didn’t,” said Carlos. “My team failed. I don’t even get why I was chosen to replace soone like Nora in the first place. This was a mistake.”
“Probably because you were from Dragon Eye and you perford the best out of all the choices?” Man-Shik said.
“That’s not the point,” Carlos argued and Man-Shik raised his hands in defeat.
rlin had failed to take that into account. He had forgotten that each Cohort was split into different teams to venture into the Towers, and not all had passed. But, honestly, what did that matter now?
“We’re a team,” said rlin. “We’ll help each other to attain victory.”
“Oh, yeah? And how exactly do you suppose we do that?” Oh Jihye chid in, arms folded, legs crossed, and hair braided like she was going on a date not to fight. Maybe if there hadn’t been a requirent for everyone to arrive in the waiting room in their tracksuit, she would be in a gown.
rlin didn’t dwell on her tendency to piss him off, though.
“Before every fight, we will all analyze and help the fighter co up with the best ways to achieve victory. It’ll obviously not be foolproof, but it’ll raise each person’s chances by a considerable percentage. So, Carlos, tell us about your Hex. There’s only ten minutes left before you’re called up. We’ll help you.”
Carlos blinked, surprised. Then Jaehyun chuckled.
“rlin’s right,” said Jaehyun. “Go on. Tell us about your Hex. Every single detail.”
Carlos glanced around, and besides Sangook who only fed him a cold stare, Kim Yiseo who was practically expressionless, and Oh Jihye who scoffed, everyone nodded for him to go ahead. He heaved out a sigh and sat down.
“As you all may know, my Hex is petroleum,” he started, “and I’m a Creation Mage. My body is like one big refinery, and with my mana I’m able to manipulate the hydrocarbons present in my body to create, well, petroleum. Like this.”
Carlos’s Grimoire flipped open to its first page. Everyone watched as mana visibly flowed through his body from his skin, and his palm opened up in its center in the sa manner as Yiseo’s did whenever she was about to shoot a web. A strong sll of gasoline permutated the air first, and following it was the sound of sothing bubbling just underneath Carlos’s skin. A second later a thin light green liquid shot out like a fountain from the hole in his palm, but thankfully it didn’t spray everywhere. It condensed into itself, forming a bubble.
Petroleum.
“What can you do with this?” Kim Yiseo asked as she crossed her legs.
Carlos glanced at her and blinked. “The way it is, it’s practically useless,” he explained. Then he dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a lighter. “But with this, then I basically beco a Fire Mage.”
Park Yuri inclined her head. “You’re more of a support type, aren’t you?”
Carlos turned to her and nodded.
“Then this will be tough,” she added.
She was right. And from what rlin had gleaned from his little research into Carlos’s fighting style, the boy wasn’t very creative with his spells. And to win, creativity was key.
“What spells do you have?” Chima asked.
“Uhm… Blackfire. For this I douse my opponent in petroleum and ignite it. I’ve never used it before because it’s fatal, and I don’t want to be arrested. I don’t think I’m gonna use it today either.”
“That’s fair.”
“There’s, uhm, Bitun Bind. You guys know what bitun is, right?” Everyone just blinked. “Well, it’s a very thick byproduct of petroleum that is used to make asphalt, you know? The roads. With this I can slow down my opponent’s movents or even keep them in place.”
“I saw you use that during the sparring class,” Hakyun noted. “Pretty sick.”
Carlos smiled. “Thank you.”
“Anything else?” Kim Yiseo urged.
“Petroleum cloud,” he answered. “I ignite a bubble of petroleum over my target and send down a rain of fire.”
“Is that all?” Oh Jihye asked after a few seconds of silence from Carlos. “Really? Nothing else? That’s disappointing. What are you? A C-Class Mage?” she added with a scoff.
“I am a C-Class Mage,” Carlos replied with a frown.
Oh Jihye raised a brow. “Hmm…”
“Your opponent,” Lee Jaehyun intercepted the conversation, “what do you know about them?”
“Uhm, Lena, er… She uses magma,” Carlos began, scratching his head after his little display of magic was put to an end. “B-Class Mage. She didn’t exactly do much during the first round. You guys saw it too, no? They all worked as a team so perfectly that they all didn’t need to use their arsenal very much.”
He was right. rlin had spent his Saturday watching the first round of the tournant. Crown Academy had been so decisive that they hadn’t so much as been forced to use more than two spells each. It was a problem, but that was what being a Mage was all about. Resolving problems.
“Defeating a Mage with the ability to use magma will be one heck of a task,” said Man-Shik. “That stuff is crazy versatile. Isn’t it like both liquid and rock at the sa ti?”
“Molten and semi-molten,” rlin replied. “You need to change the way you fight.”
Carlos raised a brow. “What?”
“From the list of spells you gave out, it’s obvious that you rely on petroleum so much to fight—”
“It’s my Hex?” Carlos interrupted.
“That’s not what I ant,” rlin continued. “Man-Shik said magma is versatile, but it’s not the only thing that’s versatile. Petroleum is too.” Everyone’s ears perked up. “The sa way magma can be in either molten or semi-molten form, so can petroleum be in not only solid or liquid form, but even gas.”
Kim Yiseo humd. “Are you telling him to fight with the gaseous form of petroleum?”
rlin nodded. “Precisely.”
“Makes sense,” said Hakyun, nudging his glasses. “Honestly, it makes complete sense. The degree of heat of magma is roughly around 1,300 degrees fahrenheit, if I recall correctly. If petroleum touches that, it turns into gas.”
“B-But how do I control it?” Carlos asked. “I can only control the petroleum form?”
“Are you certain?” Jaehyun asked. “Have you ever tried to control a form besides its liquid form?”
Carlos blinked, stunned.
“Even if you can’t control the gaseous form, that doesn’t an you can’t still put up a fight with it,” rlin said.
At that mont the speakers in the waiting room beeped.
THE FIRST DUEL OF THE SECOND ROUND OF THE TOURNANT WILL BEGIN IN APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES. CONTESTANTS CARLOS NDES AND LENA ALVAREZ, PLEASE CHANGE INTO YOUR BATTLE WEARS AND MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE RING. FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION AND A WIN POINT ADDED TO THE OPPONENT!
“That’s ,” Carlos said, heaving out a deep exhale before rising to his feet.
“Rember,” rlin added. “Gaseous petroleum can be toxic, depending on the amount. Too much and it can be fatal, too little and it could very much be no different from air. But just the right amount and victory can be yours.”
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