Chapter 51: An Empty Stage

When Max arrived at the indoor arena, it was extremely busy. Every stage was occupied, and a multitude of students had gathered in the seating area to watch the duels eagerly. Max and Harry registered for their duel and collected their tags. Max had not expected such a large crowd in the evening. However, considering how recently the official duels had begun, all the students were still eager to level up, improve their attributes, and obtain new skills. Naturally, they wanted to test their newfound strength.

As time passed, this enthusiasm might die down or perhaps not, since every noble and commoner wanted to get their name onto the leaderboards. Thus, Max guessed that the duel fever would not end anytime soon. He figured that things might change once they moved to the second year, but he did not know the conditions in the second-year duel, so he could not predict that either.

As he walked on, he noticed that many people had gathered around one stage. Curious, he moved closer and craned his neck as the spectators stood on their toes, watching with great enthusiasm. Looking down at the stage, he noticed two students fighting. Both were male, and he could not recognize either of them; they certainly were not from his class.

One student was a Mage who used Ice Elemental magic, while the other was an Archer. It was a fairly balanced matchup, which also made it an entertaining fight. Mages used skills based on their class's elemental abilities, which suited medium- to long-range combat. On the other hand, Archers were long-range fighters and generally struggled in close-range combat.

However, in this duel a true long-range match, the Archer had the upper hand. Max watched for ten seconds, and within that time, the Archer showcased two different skills, dismantling the Ice Elemental attacks. Considering that Mages were also heavy damage dealers who could overwhelm opponents with a barrage of attacks, the Archer was doing remarkably well at evading them.

The Mage constantly created ice balls that exploded upon contact, freezing everything around them. This made things difficult for the Archer, who had to move around the ice-covered platform to avoid the exploding ice balls and prepare for any large scale attacks. It was a struggle, but he managed to keep himself safe. While the battle continued, Max looked around the crowd and suddenly noticed something: the vast majority of the spectators were female students, with very few male students among them.

"What a lousy battle!" Marlak, whom Max had told to keep quiet, suddenly whispered.

"Come on, man, what else do you want to see in a duel? Two competitive, capable students are fighting each other and showing their full potential," Max whispered back, surprised that the frog considered a good fight lousy.

"Well, I can understand that these are inexperienced humans, but they should at least know their enemies' weaknesses and strengths. For example, the Mage should target the Archer's movements, and to do that, he should target his legs. Instead, he keeps throwing ice balls at his opponent's body or head. Meanwhile, the Archer has failed to exploit the delay between the Mage's attacks. Mages need time to create each attack, so the Mage spends a second materializing every ice ball. The Archer should have used that delay to his advantage. Instead, he keeps running around, anticipating his enemy's next attack so he can defend himself. Pathetic," Marlak explained.

"Well, that seems reasonable, but these are beginners, so we can't judge them too harshly. They will learn sooner or later," Max replied, acknowledging that the frog's analysis reflected a basic understanding of combat rather than simply showing off skills for the spectators.

The duel continued for its full duration, and since neither student won, the Arbiter decided the outcome, choosing the Archer because of his agility on the difficult, ice-covered terrain.

Following that duel, Max moved toward his assigned platform. Due to the large number of matches, their duel had been scheduled for a specific stage, where he had to wait through two more duels before it was their turn.

"Pets are not allowed in the duel," the Arbiter declared as soon as Max entered.

Max looked around for a safe place to leave Marlak. Finding nowhere suitable on the platform, he walked over to the side stands and placed the frog on a chair.

"Just wait. I'll finish the duel in seconds," Max said as he placed Marlak on the empty chair. Very few students were sitting in that section, with only a handful remaining from the earlier fight. However, he figured that a crowd would inevitably gather once they realized he was fighting, much as they had during his previous duel.

"No problem," Marlak said.

Seeing this unusual scene, a few students turned their heads and noticed the frog. Leaving Marlak in the stands, Max returned to the stage, where Harry was already standing on the opposite side with a big smile on his face, looking toward the stands. Max glanced back and noticed a group of people sitting there to watch his duel.

These were the other guys he mentioned who would target him as a punching bag, Max thought. Looking at their faces, he recognized no one, though a few seemed familiar. When they noticed Max looking at them, they responded with broad, mocking smiles.

"These bastards…" Max cursed. He already had a ton of issues to deal with, and now these guys were trying to mess with him for their own amusement. Gritting his teeth, Max decided to show them what he was capable of by using the guy standing in front of him as an example. A devastating beating should put them in their place, ensuring they would never think of messing with him again.

"Ready?" the Arbiter asked.

Max turned toward his opponent and nodded.

"Begin!"

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Once the fight started, Harry turned invisible. However, Max could not understand the point of disappearing since he could still track him. Thinking this, Max extended his Mana Sense and detected his opponent, who had moved to the edge of the stage. Max could only shake his head at the sight. However, before he could use mana to move faster, the mana signature he was sensing suddenly disappeared.

Max's heart jolted in shock. How could he no longer sense the guy? It seemed as if his Mana Technique for sensing aligned mana signatures had suddenly stopped working. Something similar had happened earlier that day when the assassins attacked him. However, that was understandable, since those people must have been professionals with enough experience to suppress their mana. But how could this guy do the same?

"God damn it," Max cursed inwardly. 'Had he been lured into a duel by these guys?' The thought occurred to him as he considered the situation. Moreover, he had underestimated his opponent. The guy must have intentionally provoked him into a duel. Having easily detected the man's invisibility earlier, Max had assumed he was nothing special, but everything had changed in a second.

Max swiftly cancelled his Mana Sense and activated the [Eagle Vision] skill, hoping it would help him detect his opponent. However, the skill failed to reveal the man's position. As Max struggled to locate him, a multitude of students began gathering around the stage.

Unable to find his opponent through Mana Sense, Max promptly activated [Guardian Aura] and drew his sword. As he braced himself for battle, he resolved to slash at anything that dared to touch him.

"I should start reading a book about Mana Techniques," Max muttered, acutely aware of his lack of knowledge.

While Max struggled to locate his opponent, students continued crowding the stands. Marlak, sitting silently in the front row, found his view obstructed as students stood in front of him near the handrail.

Consequently, he could no longer see the battle. Moreover, as more students gathered, everyone cast strange glances toward it. Although Marlak could not see the stage clearly, he could sense the ongoing action. He could tell that Max's opponent was slowly closing in without a care, while Max frantically looked around, struggling to locate him.

"Very incompetent," Marlak muttered.

While Marlak shook his head at Max's predicament, a group of people on the opposite side of the stands watched the duel with great anticipation.

"Noel, why did you choose this guy? He's an incompetent fool, a nobody," a girl sitting with the group asked the young man seated in the center. He was tall, with a square face and short black hair.

"A nobody? Isn't he the heir of a Grand Duke?" Noel asked.

"Yes, he is the heir, but why target him? He wasn't your competition in anything, certainly not in combat," the girl asked.

"I don't know. I want to enjoy beating and humiliating a son of a Grand Duke," Noel replied. "Usually, they were the ones who did that, so why not do it to them this time?"

Being talented did not mean a commoner could do whatever they wanted; they needed power to act as they pleased. Noel lacked that power, having come from a small town on the eastern side of the kingdom where people constantly faced unfair treatment and heavy taxes. Thus, this was not merely a whim he had acted upon. Deep down, he had always hated nobles.

Now, he was inside an academy as a capable person who could easily defeat anyone in the first year. With that confidence, he could legally beat down and humiliate anyone.

"Why do you care so much about the guy? Do you like him or what?" Noel asked the girl.

"Oh, what are you talking about? Hmph!" The girl suddenly grew shy, and her face reddened.

"Hey, everyone, look at Patricia. She like this inept noble?" Noel said loudly enough for the nearby group to hear.

"Shut up," Patricia said, looking toward the stage where Max was still struggling to find his opponent.

Max stood still, wondering why the guy had not attacked him yet. More than thirty seconds had passed since Harry had turned invisible. Thinking back, Max realized that the exact same thing had happened earlier that day at the Dungeon.

Are there limitations to concealing their mana presence? Max wondered, figuring that moving quickly might reveal a mana signature if someone was constantly monitoring it. He did not know the exact reason, but he had to find a way to detect his opponent.

I should have put Marlak in my sleeve. In that case, it could have probably helped him to locate the guy, Max thought. However, that would have been considered cheating.

How could he detect an invisible guy? Suddenly, a thought occurred to him: he could use the [Field Energy Analyzer].

Were artifacts permitted in the duel? The duel rule pamphlet had not explicitly stated whether they could be used or not. Weapons were allowed, that much was clear. In that case, students could also use artifacts acquired during their Dungeon raids, making their use in a duel logically acceptable.

Regardless of whether it was allowed, rather than stand idly by, he could at least try it and see whether the Arbiter objected.

Shortly afterward, Max retrieved a small artifact and activated it. A translucent screen immediately materialized. [Field Energy Analyzer Activated.]

[Environmental Energy Analysis in Progress...]

[Environmental Energy Detected.]

While it was in progress, he quickly glanced at the Arbiter to see if he would raise any objection, but the man stood by without stopping him, which meant he could indeed use the artifact. Max let out a sigh of relief, and soon, the result came.

[Primary Energy: Mana]

[Mana Density: 4]

[Energy Stability: Stable]

[Abnormal Energy: None]

Max examined the details, but everything appeared entirely normal based on the information displayed. He felt that the artifact lacked the capability to detect an invisible person. Since the energy stability registered as stable, the mana-density reading merely indicated the overall availability of environmental mana rather than a localized fluctuation at a specific spot.

Finding no use for it in actively locating his opponent's position,Max put away the analyzer. It did not matter, nor was he worried about losing to the guy. Lifting his sword high, he brought it down.

[Sword Tempest]

Since his opponent was not ready to attack and wasn't moving rapidly while maintaining both invisibility and mana concealment, Max decided to strike every part of the stage, forcing the guy out of invisibility.

With his skill proficiency increased to 22%, the attack's range and coverage had greatly increased. Furthermore, with his Mana Channeling also greatly improved after his battle with the snake, he could definitely smoke the rat out of its hole.

[Sword Tempest]

A rain of attacks landed across different parts of the stage, leaving everyone in the stands confused. Sword Tempest was an wide area skill, using it continuously would deplete one's mana reserves within few attacks. Given the restrictions on consumption usage, how was Max going to win?

However, the spectators did not know that Max had mastered his Mana Channeling Technique and could use Sword Tempest with precise mana consumption instead of blindly spending his reserves.

As the attacks continued, something finally fell out of nowhere and landed on the ground.

"Oh, there's a big rat that was hiding in a hole," Max mocked the guy, who was still lying flat on his face on the ground.

"You've had your fun! Let's end this," Max said as he swung his sword.

[Sword Tempest]