However, while Angel was willing to give up willingly, Dox was too financially embarrassed to make an exchange.
Dox hung his head in dejection. Indeed, Angel was different from Vay. It was almost impossible to take advantage of Angel.
As Dox wallowed in his misery, the voice of the Wise Sovereign resounded:
"The next duel is about to begin. Both participants, please enter the arena."
As soon as the words fell, the scene fell silent. Quite so ti passed, yet no one stepped onto the platform.
Originally, it was supposed to be Vay’s turn from their side, but Vay was currently in a dazed state. The atmosphere around him was so low and depressive that anyone who got close would find their world turning black and white, just like Vay’s.
On the other side, things were different. Almost all of Gray rchant’s apprentices had already lost, leaving Magic Elephant as their only choice. Yet, for so reason, Magic Elephant remained motionless, seeming to hesitate.
Gray rchant, anwhile, was whispering with the Wicked Woman at the side. Gray rchant appeared sowhat excited, while the Wicked Woman had a cold expression. From their expressions, they seed to be arguing. Their conversation took place within the Mind Ribbon, so others were unaware of the content of their dispute.
The arena was empty, on the verge of falling into awkward silence.
At that mont, the Wise Sovereign calmly stated, "If no one enters the arena within the next half a minute, it signifies forfeiture from both sides, and the apprentice duel will end here... with no winner."
The Wise Sovereign’s words amounted to issuing a final ultimatum.
Angel glanced at Vay, who still showed no response. He then glared at Dox and finally turned his gaze to Kaier.
If Vay couldn’t enter the arena, Kaier would have to go instead.
Without needing Angel’s reminder, Kaier was already aware of the situation. He began taking deep breaths before standing up, ready to step onto the arena.
On the opposite side, the quarrel between the Wicked Woman and Gray rchant had finally ended, seemingly with Gray rchant losing the argunt. As their dispute concluded, Magic Elephant finally stepped onto the arena.
Just as Kaier was about to follow, a shadow suddenly sped past him, with lightning speed, landing in the center of the arena.
Yes, it was a fall.
It was indeed Vay who entered the arena, but his entrance was quite unique, having been smacked into the field by a giant stone entity resembling a mosquito swatter.
Due to this unconventional entry, Vay hadn’t yet collected his wits and was lying face down, with his head to the ground and buttocks in the air, on the arena.
When Vay regained his senses and opened his eyes, he saw the Magic Elephant, wearing a brown elephant mask, with an astonished expression visible even through the eyeholes.
One looked bewildered, the other astonished.
In the next two seconds, Vay began realizing what had happened, quickly standing up from his awkward position with a displeased face, while Magic Elephant remained astonished.
Recalling his prior landing pose, Vay felt his face flush hotly, as if sothing was leaving his body...
Turning around to see Magic Elephant’s astonished gaze, he found it glaringly offensive.
Without a doubt, it was his own master who kicked him. Vay wouldn’t dare complain about his own master, but Magic Elephant, this outsider, looking at him with such an expression—was this mockery?
The thought ignited a fla of resentnt in Vay’s heart, and he stared fiercely at Magic Elephant.
However, Magic Elephant’s gaze turned from astonishnt to confusion.
He didn’t understand why Vay suddenly harbored hatred toward him, and on such a significant scale.
If he knew Vay’s thoughts, he’d likely feel quite aggrieved.
The astonishnt on Magic Elephant’s face wasn’t because of Vay’s posture. Unlike Dox, Magic Elephant never engaged in idle chatter. Not even the nosiest among them, Fembrose, would mock soone’s position for self-gratification. It’s not about morality—it simply doesn’t matter to them.
The only ones who care about your embarrassnt are usually those who know you. After all, even if there’s teasing or mocking, one must at least be familiar with the person, right?
As for why Magic Elephant showed Astonishnt, it was because he didn’t expect Vay to be the one stepping up.
He thought Kaier would be his opponent.
After the fight between Kaier and the Shepherd, the Shepherd did a review. After much discussion, they concluded that Kaier’s trump card against the Shepherd was the Alchemy Golem, confird by the Shepherd through Black Shepherd to have power nearly at the Official Wizard Level.
And the robe made from Simos’ skin that Kaier wore displayed defenses nearly at a dominating level. They speculated it was prepared explicitly to deal with Magic Elephant. However, Kaier probably didn’t expect the Shepherd to force this trump card out as well.
Thus, Magic Elephant was astonished when Vay, not Kaier, ca onto the arena.
There was another thing that puzzled Magic Elephant—
Could it be that the opposing side’s strategy involving Kaier was discovered by the Wicked Woman?
Previously, the Shepherd advised Magic Elephant not to compete. If the opponent wore a robe made of Simos’ skin, his defeat was assured. Magic Elephant himself thought it was unnecessary to enter the fray and suffer.
The defensive power of Simos’ skin could withstand a strike from a True Knowledge Wizard, and Magic Elephant believed he couldn’t break through such formidable defense.
Yet, Magic Elephant did enter the arena.
This was because the Wicked Woman insisted on Magic Elephant competing, and he had no right to refuse.
Why was the Wicked Woman so adamant about Magic Elephant entering? The reason was simple; the Wicked Woman wanted Simos’ skin.
Compared to the Chupacabra material the Wicked Woman was searching for, Simos’ skin was of a higher rank and more effective. The Wicked Woman had never even considered the materials on Simos before; she would have been satisfied with just obtaining Chupacabra materials. But now that Simos’ skin was right in front of her, how could she not be tempted?
Forcibly taking it wasn’t an option; in her mind, there was only one way to acquire Simos’ skin: after Magic Elephant’s victory over Kaier, strip the robe made from Simos’ skin directly off him.
Previously, when Angel took victory spoils from Gray rchant, the Wise Sovereign didn’t intervene, indicating such actions were permitted by the rules. Thus, the Wicked Woman believed they could similarly take the robe from Kaier as a spoils of victory.
How was Magic Elephant supposed to defeat Kaier? The Wicked Woman, having suggested this plan, was prepared to help Magic Elephant with all her might. She even handed one of her trump cards to Magic Elephant to ensure his victory.
However, Gray rchant didn’t support the Wicked Woman’s idea.
Gray rchant still needed the help of the Wizard, who called themselves "Earl Mi," on the opposing side to retrieve his mories from the mirror, and didn’t wish to complicate matters.
Yet, the Wicked Woman felt these were two separate issues. Gray rchant would offer fair compensation for retrieving his mories, a fair trade.
The Wicked Woman’s desire for Simos’ skin was also within the rules, so the two matters shouldn’t conflict.
Do they really not conflict? The Wicked Woman likely didn’t believe it herself.
Simos’ skin’s value is entirely different compared to that mirror. Moreover, the offer to help Gray rchant retrieve his mories was clearly a gesture of "friendly goodwill," not necessarily driven by what Gray rchant could offer in return, as the compensation remains unknown—whether it’s worthwhile or not is yet to be seen.
Even understanding the underlying issues, sotis greed can cloud judgnt.
The Wicked Woman was in such a situation, deceiving herself into thinking her issue and Gray rchant’s were unrelated and separate matters.
Magic Elephant clearly understood the key points here; how could the Wicked Woman not see it? Yet, Magic Elephant had no voice, nor choice, and under the Wicked Woman’s duress, he had to enter.
But upon entering, he was t with a shock imdiately.
Kaier, donning Simos’ skin, didn’t show up on the stage; instead, it was a descendant from the Noah Family stepping in!
Clearly, the ghostly shadow had already made this person lose their combat ability for a short ti through the fungal barrier. Why did they recover so quickly? Has the mycelium infant completely been removed?
And, what should he do now? The descendants of the Noah Family, if they also brought a trump card, he wouldn’t be able to defeat them. Should he use the card that the wicked woman gave him or not?
If he uses it, what happens afterwards? Also, this card is precious, even the wicked woman treated it as her heritage. If he doesn’t use it on Kaier, how will he explain it to the wicked woman?
Moreover, using such a card against a Noah descendant in front of the Black Earl, and the Noah descendant could get injured or even die, what would they do afterwards?
Shortly, due to Vay’s appearance, various thoughts flashed through the Magic Elephant’s mind.
Every one of those thoughts made the Magic Elephant feel troubled and conflicted.
In this situation, the Magic Elephant continued to display a look of surprise.
Unfortunately, Vay didn’t know there were so many twists and turns. He was already in a low mood, got "kicked" onto the stage, and the opponent saw him in an embarrassing state. Vay’s sha and anger were already maxed out.
Originally not intending to fight, Vay’s montum kept rising higher and higher.
While the Magic Elephant, due to the various thoughts in his mind, had his desire to fight reduced.
Originally, the Magic Elephant should have had a stronger montum, but now such a contrast appeared, surprising everyone.
With all sides’ thoughts surging and this strong contrasting comparison, the duel finally comnced.
...
While Vay was fighting, Angel moved his gaze away from the arena.
It’s not that Vay’s fight wasn’t interesting. His combat thod this ti was completely different from when he fought the ghostly shadow before. It was more aggressive, like a wild lynx fighting recklessly, facing the Magic Elephant head-on. It was exciting to watch, but Angel now had sothing more intriguing on his mind.
His gaze fell on the Alchemy Golem beside Kaier.
Previously, they only discussed the skin of Simos and hadn’t ntioned the Speedy’s matter. But whether it was Angel or the Black Earl, or Kaier, they were all curious about what had happened to Speedy at the ti.
Why was Speedy entangled by those four black-faced sheep before? Why didn’t Speedy take action?
Moreover, after Speedy left the scene, it should have imdiately reported back to Angel, but Angel waited for a long ti, and Speedy never actively expressed the situation to Angel.
All these strange reactions made Angel curious.
When Angel cast his gaze at Speedy, Speedy showed no reaction, just like an actual Alchemy Golem.
It wasn’t until Angel actively communicated with Speedy through the power of the contract that Speedy slowly ca to its senses.
The exchange between Angel and Speedy was conducted privately, and outsiders didn’t know what they talked about. But Angel’s expression sotis paused for several seconds, showing a contemplative look, indicating that perhaps there was really sothing fishy going on.
After a while, the exchange between Angel and Speedy finally ended.
Dox, seeing this, curiously asked, "What’s the situation?"
Angel pondered for a mont, then spoke in the Mind Ribbon: "Speedy ntioned sothing interesting. It wasn’t that it couldn’t break through the encirclent of those four black-faced sheep, but rather it was unwilling to."
Previously, the Black Earl had noted that Speedy seed to have no intention of breaking through the encirclent, and Angel’s words now confird the Black Earl’s initial speculation.
Indeed, Speedy chose not to break through on its own accord.
"I called out to Speedy at that ti..." Kaier remarked at this point.
Angel: "I asked Speedy, but it didn’t respond. Most likely, it heard your call but wasn’t willing or reluctant to break through, so it simply pretended not to hear it."
Dox raised an eyebrow: "For such an Elental Creature that even defies its master’s order, what’s its reason to exist?"
Though Dox’s words were harsh, they represented a mainstream opinion, and from the overall situation in the Wizards’ Realm, he wasn’t wrong.
However, Angel shook his head: "It didn’t actually defy the order."
Under the curious eyes of everyone, Angel briefly shared Dox’s past experiences and emotional journey.
The reason Angel stated that Speedy didn’t defy the order was because when he made the contract with Speedy and other captured wind-oriented beings, one stipulation was that it wouldn’t make them oppose Wind Elental Sprites.
Although the Storm Ridge and White Cloud Village in the Tidal World were in a hostile state, no matter how fiercely they fought, they rarely attacked newly born Wind Sprites.
Having experienced this themselves, they knew well that the birth of any Elental Sprite isn’t easy. Furthermore, many Elental Sprites hadn’t awakened intelligence, lacking ideology or opposing hatred. What was the point in targeting them?
Angel had traveled in the Tidal World for so ti, understood their sentint, and hence, he agreed to this provision in the contract.
And Speedy was precisely following this provision, choosing not to attack those four black-faced sheep.
"So, those four strange sheep are Wind Elental Sprites?" Dox inquired in astonishnt: "They didn’t seem like it to ."
Clearly, those sheep had physical bodies. Although their energy operation was odd, it didn’t fit the pattern of an Elental Creature.
Angel shrugged: "I thought the sa as you."
Angel didn’t believe those four black-faced sheep were Elental Sprites either.
However, Speedy was firmly convinced: even if they weren’t Elental Sprites now, they had the embryonic form to beco one. As long as they could experience an Elental Tide, transforming into Elental Sprites was just a matter of ti.
In other words, although those four black-faced sheep weren’t yet Elental Sprites, they had the potential to beco them.
They could be likened to a sprout or seed; just a spring rain would make them erge.
Due to Speedy’s belief that they were just a step away from forming, it worried about even slightly overexerting its force, potentially devastating this cluster of "un-germinated seeds," stripping them of their qualification to advance. So, Speedy didn’t dare to act rashly while encircled by them.
This was the core reason why Speedy didn’t break through the encirclent.
"Are you sure it’s telling the truth?" Dox asked.
Angel: "I can only be sure it’s not lying to , but whether it’s mistaken, I can’t guarantee."
Even though Speedy gave an explanation, Angel still found it hard to believe that those four black-faced sheep could be the "seeds" of Elental Sprites.
Angel had seen too many Elental Sprites in the Tidal World, and the majority remained unintelligent. Sprites with intelligence and speaking ability, like Dangross, were scarce.
Even most Elental Sprites hadn’t achieved awakening intelligence. How could a "seed" that wasn’t even an Elental Sprite have extraordinary wisdom, engage in conversation, employ tactical pincer attacks in combat, and even "cross-species date"?
It sounded absurd.
Angel really couldn’t believe it.
But since Speedy ntioned it, it wasn’t impossible. Perhaps Angel just lacked experience or was fussing over nothing?
If experience was the asure, the Black Earl surely had the most authority to speak on it among them.
With this in mind, Angel shifted his gaze to the Black Earl, wanting to know his opinion on the matter.
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