Close Combat Mage
Close Combat Mage - Chapter 98: Preparing to Fight Fire Arts Pt. 2

The entire school had the earth, water, fire and wind four major systems. Each system was divided into the warrior and mage professions, so every grade had a total of eight education facilities. Eight delegations, four mages and four warriors.

Because the Holy Light Academy required ten years of study before graduating, it had a total of nine grades. With every grade having eight regions, there was a total of 72 regions and 72 delegations. Suo Jia, Aimi, and Aila’s group of 3 were one of the 72 delegations. They were the youngest group of water mages, and in the history of water mages, they were inevitably seen as the weakest group.

The individual grade grand competitions were the first to be executed. For Suo Jia’s group, they had to first defeat the similar grade level’s earth, fire and wind three systems of mages, as well as the earth, water, fire and wind four systems of warriors, before they could be known as the grade’s champions and obtain the right to challenge the higher grade levels.

Due to a result of each school district having eight teams, in order to speed up the competition schedule, the competition had to adopt an elimination system. If one won, he/she could continue in this competition. But if one lost, then he/she were eliminated. That’s why in total, eight would become four, four would become two, and two would become one. Within three rounds of the competition, they would be able to decide on the grade champion.

Looking at the past thousand years of history, water elemental mage apprentice had never made it past a single round, and were more or less spectators. Only until five grades later when they became Novice Mage Trainees would they slowly become stronger.

Of course, this year was different. Suo Jia, Aimi, and Aila had the goal of becoming their grade’s champions. As for challenging the older grade levels after becoming the champions, the three of them hadn’t thought that far yet. After all… just winning their grade level was already an extremely difficult task.

According to the rules, the team with the worst performances last year had the right to be the first to pick their opponents. If the result was the same and they still lost, then they would simply continue that way in future years. That’s why… historically, the water mages who had never won a single round, were the first to be able to choose their opponents.

Since he was the only guy, as well as the team captain, when the time came for the captains to gather, Suo Jia obviously stepped forward bravely. Standing together with the other seven team captains, he stood within the competition area, and the challenge procedures continued from there.

What was worth mentioning was that the grade competition was not held within the Lord’s Guild Hall, but instead held inside the nine great branch buildings simultaneously. Because of this, each of the locations were packed with the spectating students.

Although the sub-venues weren’t as large or luxurious as the Lord’s Guild Hall, nor were they as complete, they could still easily accommodate for each grade’s eight delegations, as well as the 800 students. With almost a thousand gathered in the field all cheering in high spirits, they all encouraged their own delegation on.

A crucial point was that the Water Arts did not have a warrior division. Otherwise, Suo Jia would definitely choose to be a warrior, and would not be a mage. However right now, there were actually a group of individuals representing the water warrior delegation; what did this mean?

In truth, they weren’t real water elemental warriors. Strictly speaking, they were ice warriors. Because they were naturally born with unique physiques that allowed them to cultivate ice battle qi, they could freely utilize cold qi to freeze their opponents during battles.

Although ice warriors could control cold qi, they could not control water, and could not become mages either. Their unique gifts allowed them to become frightening quick-freeze warriors. They were powerful, and were not below fire elemental warriors in terms of strength; the ice warriors could even slightly restrain the fire warriors.

Surveying the entire competition field, more than eighty percent of them were male, and there were only a few girls. Of course, there were still places where the girls gathered, and that was naturally the region that Suo Jia’s classmates were. There were almost a hundred girls, and they looked like a hundred skylarks. They were chattering among themselves, both lively and cute, causing students from other elements to look in this direction from time to time.

On the competition field, Suo Jia and the other seven captains arrived in front of the judges. Sweeping their gazes over them in an imposing manner, the judges frowned and said, “Based on the performances of the past years, the first to choose their opponents are supposed to be the water mage delegation. Who is the captain? Take one step forward.”

Hearing the judge’s words, Suo Jia took a small step forwards, and indifferently said, “I am the water elemental mage captain.”

Doubtfully giving Suo Jia a glance, it was very obvious that the judge was surprised that the water mage captain was a male. Could it be that… the Water Arts were no longer the girl’s realm? When did a male become the outstanding one?

However, confusion was personal; he still had his work to carry out. Deeply looking at Suo Jia, the judge said in a serene voice, “Based on past performances, you are free to select your opponent, right now… you should indicate who your opponent in this competition will be!”

Faintly nodding his head, Suo Jia turned his body and faced the other seven captains. Seeing Suo Jia’s turned body, the other seven pursed their lips in disdain. If they had to face another opponent, then the results would be difficult to predict. But facing the water mages, then this was already a guaranteed win. This wasn’t even a fight between the two people at the same level.

Seeing the other seven captain’s prideful faces, Suo Jia began to feel anger stirring up within him. They dared to look down upon others; sooner or later he was going to let them feel his strength. For now, it was still best to just pick an opponent before doing other things.

Suo Jia’s gaze swept across each of the seven captains. He smiled and pointed at one of them while saying, “Alright, I choose that fire elemental mage captain to become our sacrificial lamb!”

“What!” The seven captains, as well as the judge, cried out in shock at Suo Jia’s words. “Classmate, are you sure you choose the fire elemental mage captain? You need to get this straight, since the first year, the Fire Arts division have been the reigning champion for the past 18 years. Are you sure you don’t want to carefully reconsider your decision?”

Resolutely waving a hand, Suo Jia said seriously, “No need to reconsider. I choose the Fire Arts.” Suo Jia then turned around, and walked off the platform before the judge had the chance to continue blabbering on.

After leaving the platform, all the girls swarmed around Suo Jia, and a chaotic jumble of questions ensued. Seeing Suo Jia’s completely confident and satisfied expression, the lecturer smiled, “Let Teacher guess, you must’ve chosen the wind elemental mages, right? Relatively speaking, the Wind Arts, although stronger than the Fire Arts, have limits to their strength. If you chose them, our chances of victory are a bit higher.”

Glancing at the lecturer, Suo Jia shook his head, “No! I did choose mages, but not the wind elemental mages. Since our goal is to become the champion, then there’s no point in considering any other places. Thus, I directly challenged the fire elemental mages!”

“What! Are you crazy? The Fire Arts mage apprentices are the strongest. That fact is certain. Why would you choose them!” The lecturer cried out in panic.

Coldly looking at the lecturer, Suo Jia profoundly said, “I’ll say it again. Our goal is this year’s championship. Aside from first place, even second place is of no value. In that case, we have to directly challenge the Fire Arts division, which has held the championship position for the last 18 years!”

The female lecturer gaped at Suo Jia. Just as she was going to reply, the other seven captains walked off the platform. She knew that this meant the subgroup divisions had been completed, so anything she said at this point was meaningless.

The lecturer stayed silent. Suo Jia couldn’t be bothered to mind her; instead he called Aimi and Aila over and whispered to them, “Listen, when we go against the Fire Arts group later, the first competitor will be Aimi, and the second will be Aila. Any objections?”

“Wa!” Aimi excitedly hugged Suo Jia’s arm while happily shouting, “That’s great Suo Jia, really amazing. To think that you gave me the limelight! Hehe….” Aimi stood on her tiptoes, and kissed Suo Jia on the cheek.

Suo Jia knit his brows. He had absolutely no reaction towards Aimi’s kiss; he only felt that his previously clean face was now damp from the kiss.

Wiping his face clean, Suo Jia looked over at Aila and asked, “What about you? Do you have any objections to this arrangement? If you do, you can say them now.”

Shaking her head, Aila replied, “This arrangement is very reasonable. However….are you really not going to go up first? Are you really willing to give such a great opportunity to us instead? You should know that the two of us alone are enough to blast off our three opponents. You won’t have much of a chance to go up.”

Helplessly smiling, Suo Jia said despairingly, “I also want to be the first to go out. However, if that happens, then won’t the two of you have no chance to go up at all?”

Faced with Suo Jia’s question, Aila pondered for a bit before resolutely shaking her head and saying, “No chance. Absolutely no chance at all. If you go out, then I’m afraid the competition might end in only a single minute.”

Lightly patting Aila’s shoulder, and moving closer to her ear, Suo Jia whispered, “Relax, I’ll have my chance eventually. Moreover…since I’m the last one out, our victory in the competition is better ensured. There’s no way we’ll lose, since…..we need to create history!”

Awkwardly shifting away, Aila tightly pursed her thin lips. It seemed that she was extremely uncomfortable with how close Suo Jia was to her. After subconsciously moving further away, Aila said, “You should be the one relaxing. I’ll definitely use all my efforts to go forth in this competition, and strive to defeat the Fire Arts!”

Suo Jia nodded happily. Just as he wanted to say something else, the judge on the competition stage commanded that the Fire Arts group’s and the Water Arts group’s first members were to enter the stage.

Not daring to waste anymore time with words, Suo Jia hastily whispered in Aimi’s ear, “Aimi, since you’re the first one up, you have to be more cautious. We’ve already concluded that fire elemental mage apprentices are normally proficient in Fireballs, Sea of Fire, and the Soulfire Circle. As soon as you go up, immediately activate a Aqua Aegis, and then use the Swamp Technique to trap them in place. If they aren’t captured by it, then just directly start blasting out Water Spheres, and see who consumes all of their magic power first!”

“Yea…” Confidently nodding, Aimi smiled and said, “Don’t worry, with my Heaven’s One Holy Aqua Aegis, their Fireballs and Sea of Fire won’t harm me at all. This round is definitely my victory!” Aimi gracefully stood up, and began to stride towards the stage under the thousands of gazes from the audience.