Following Dan Vonter, Ellena also won her first match easily, the pillars showed a difference in skill gap with the other contestants, Ellena was more of a fighter class, in terms of technique and practice, Ellena may be even stronger than Dan. She was well built for a noble, unlike other girls, she exuded a strong sense of masculinity when it comes to fighting, her blows and swings were heavy and strong. Lan was carefully observing her fight, Unlike Dan who is flexible and all rounder in all aspects, Ellena conformed to a style, committed towards her tradition, she fights with stances, use techniques and stick to rules, which is a definition of noble upbringing, the Raskira family was also known to have their own style of swordsmanship. Though Ellena doesn't showcase her family legacy here, it's well embedded in her body language, Lan could see little traces of it.
" No wonder, the pillars are different from the rest. " commented Pera.
" Indeed, they are strong, I wonder how Quillen will fare against them, " said Lan.
" He may have a challenge with either of them, " replied Pera.
" Ellena spars with Dan often, " said Lan.
" Ellena and Dan had been sparring daily non-stop ever since the red hound test, " added Zenora.
" Looks like someone motivated them, haha- " said Pera referring to Lan.
" It's good for them, I guess. " said Lan.
" Zenora, Who do you think is stronger? Dan or Ellena, " asked Pera.
" It's hard to tell, who would win if they are pit against each other in a real fight, Dan is good with both spells and sword, while Elena is much more of a fighter than a slayer, she can use spells but she isn't as good as Dan in terms of spells rotation and utilization, " answered Zenora.
The matches between the contestants went on pretty quickly and then came Anon's turn. Just like Pera said, Anon was a genius in spell utilization, he casted boost spells not to gain advantage over his opponent but to confuse them, normally in varae's hunt, low level boost spells were used to quickly cover distance, enhance senses but in human to human fight, it's only effectiveness is to gain a small surge in strength, which used effectively could throw their opponent off guard, when one uses boost spells, people are expecting a fight so they also use boost spells in order to be not in disadvantage. However, Anon used boost spells only when he was not exchanging blows, his opponent couldn't help but be curious as to what he was doing, the match was even, neither of them was outperforming each other. Anon's opponent was a Ren affinity and above average Fighter-Magic class student. Irritated by Anon's unusual behavior, he became agitated and rushed at Anon recklessly, Anon hold his ground firmly without breaking a sweat, on the other hand his opponent who charged recklessly and had been using boost spell from the start was showing signs of exhaustion, his breathing had become unstable. Low tier boost spells can be used for a long time but its effectiveness lies in the beginning when the one using it is in good condition. Its effectiveness also diminishes when the user is exhausted and running out of magic.
Anon, noticing that his opponent has started to lose breath, proceeded to attack relentlessly. Now, He started using boost spells while attacking, over the sudden increase in strength, his opponent was exhausted and irritated, lost his balance and made a mistake in counterattacking. Seizing the chance of the slow counter attack, Anon finally deflected his opponent's sword out of his hand. Anon advanced to the next round, it seemed that the student council was impressed by Anon's performance.The crowd couldn't understand how Anon won but Lan noticed his tactics.
" I have no idea what just happened, that seemed so natural but I thought it was Anon who was getting cornered," said Pera.
" Me too, Anon was using boost spell only when he was retreating and not fighting, i don't know why he did that, was he trying to confuse his opponent?," said Zenora while rubbing her chin.
" No, just like you said, he is a genius in spell utilization." Answered Lan.
" you know what he did?," asked Pera. Zenora and Pera were eagerly waiting for Lan to answer their curiosity.
" Since I have not used any magic spell, I don't know how it feels like but tell me how are boost spells normally used?," said Lan.
" To gain a brief increase in strength and speed, in varae hunting, it is used to cover distance and fight weak varae since it consumes only a little amount of magic but for fighting a varae there are higher tier boost spell that can give massive advantage, so low tier boost spells are mostly used for covering distance precisely." Explained Zenora.
" Exactly, it is expected to use it like that and in a spar, how much of advantage it will give?," said Lan.
" not much, like a five percent increase in strength?," added Pera.
" You can feel a slight difference in force when exchanging blows but not enough to overpower the opponent," replied Zenora.
" So if you used it at the beginning of a spar, his opponent would quickly get used to the increase in strength, you see since it's not a major increase in strength anyone will get adapted to it quickly and Anon fought with his raw physical strength and he activated the boost spell only when he is retreating and not exchanging blows, the reason for that is I believe he is using the spell to regain his stamina and strength a little faster than his opponent. Isn't that a genius move?," said Lan with excitement.
"Woow! I didn't even think it could be used like that and yes boost spells are just like drugs in a sense. It increases our body function so using it when tired, it will make our body recover from fatigue faster." Pera's eyes were brimming with ideas and excitement.
" But wouldn't his opponent also recover stamina at the same rate since he is also using the spell from the start?," asked Zenora.
" Good question but his opponent is using the boost spell to fight, which means he was using it to exert more strength while Anon was only using it to recover strength which made the difference, you can even say he was never tired in this whole fight. Didn't you see Anon never counter attack until the end? he was only evading and deflecting his swings. So he wasn't using any unnecessary moves while his opponent was charging, throwing blows recklessly to overpower Anon making a lot of large movements." Answered Lan.
" That is true, " Zenora admitted.
" I told you Anon is a genius in magic, he may as well be selected." Commented Pera.
" but he is lacking in swordsmanship, that last blow to deflect his opponent's sword from his hand, it was a bit forceful. He relies too much on his magic and luck. If he fights against someone like Ellena who has a strong foundation in swordsmanship, he sure will lose." Said Lan.
" Hmmm, That may be true too but I'm more impressed you are able to observe all of this and see through his trick even from here," added Pera and praised Lan's impressive observation.
" Haha, I noticed it because I'm used to doing petty tricks like that," said Lan in response to her compliments.
What Lan couldn't say was that it was all thanks to his unnatural senses and vision. Lan's senses had already surpassed that of a normal human being and even magic might not be able to rival it.