Since arena administration organized fights are only in four hours, the girls go first. They need ten arena fights for admins to know who to match them with roughly. They avoid total mismatches here; those are boring to watch. Crowd wants spectacle, organizers provide.
Free arena fights are simple. When a fight ends, a bold one steps onto the freed arena and asks if anyone wants to clash. If no, they leave.
If multiple step up at once, they settle peacefully or—more often—fight for first arena slot. But usually even winners leave after, having spent much magic energy. Can't fight empty, right?
Fights aren't free either. First on arena makes a money bet, challenger must match it. Many refuse due to lack of coins.
Admins take 10% commission from winnings for arena use. Not free, huh?
Admin-organized fights differ. Fighters pay nothing, but winner gets ticket sales cut and bet cuts from those who backed the loser.
Loser gets token pay for a couple days' food and local hotel. Some live like that: fight, lose, lick wounds in hotel. Repeat. Either broken wills or fight addicts.
They hope this time opponent's weaker, they'll win. Miracle never comes. Wouldn't wish it on foe. Total lunatics. But arena has cheap fighters in them, so does nothing. Always weirdos betting low odds for big payout. Cycle of gambling madness in nature.
When we girls returned to arena, a fight was ending. Ice mage bound opponent in ice chains; he yielded to avoid frostbite.
"So, who wants to go first?" I asked, turning to the girls.
As Ai Tutu raised hand eagerly, Mu Nujiao silently headed to arena. They were carrying the loser on stretcher; he got frostbite anyway.
Arena went quiet spotting such beautiful young girl in combat zone. Realizing no illusion, sleazy comments flew:
"Cutie, wrong place!"
"Kneel for me!"
"Masochist? Then come, I know how to handle 'em, tons of experience!"Such crap from all sides. Stands packed. Free fights draw crowds; folks love freebies.
"One hundred thousand yuan! Who'll match my bet?!" Mu Nujiao asked loudly, clearly, ignoring the sleaze. Face unchanged.
Silence fell again. Hundred grand good money for mid-level mage. Mo Fan got that for Scale Demons job, nearly died too. And he was private hunter agency. League hunter missions way cheaper.
No surprise after thirty seconds silence, middle-aged man in black cloak jumped down. Loose black hair, week-old stubble. Scar by one eye. Overall unkempt. Felt second-tier mid-level.
"Don't hold it against me, little one, but money's been tight lately, only a hundred and twenty thousand left in the account, and I still need to repair my armor after the raid. I support your bet." He notified Mu Nujiao and the others present, who began mournfully shouting that they had missed a good chance to make easy money.
When the opponents moved to opposite ends of the arena, the part-time judge lazily raised the loudspeaker and announced the start of the fight:
"Begin!"
After his words, Mu Nujiao's opponent instantly used wind paths and rushed toward her, casting a Mid-level earth element spell on the move. The girl, noticing this, stayed in place and began casting a Mid-level wind element spell herself.
As soon as the man closed to a distance sufficient to hit her with the spell, Mu Nujiao unleashed a third step Initial-level plant element spell "Binding" at him. The man tried to dodge, but the flexible vines under the girl's control followed him.
For a while, the peculiar chase with the vines continued. Finally, it annoyed the man, and without noticing the critical danger to himself, he dispelled the earth element protective spell in his hands and began preparing a Mid-level wind element spell for attack. Apparently, he had been preparing the earth spell for defense.
When he finished, he sharply changed direction and got a bit closer to Mu Nujiao to hit her precisely. The vines followed right behind him, but it didn't bother him. Once he knocked the girl out of the fight, they would stop on their own.
"This is the end, girl!" The man shouted, preparing to launch the spell.
Mu Nujiao didn't bother responding. She simply activated the magic she had prepared at the start of the fight: second step Mid-level "Wind Trap." This spell was identical to the first step "Tornado," but could be hidden relatively close to the mage and unleashed at full power at their command.
The unsuspecting man plunged straight into the tornado's epicenter. Instead of tossing its target upward, it spun him in one direction, and the vines that finally caught up joined the fun.
A couple of seconds later, the tornado dissipated, revealing the man wrapped in a vine cocoon. Even his mouth and nose were plugged with vines. He struggled actively, but his face turned red, then purple. His struggles grew weaker and weaker as air ran out. Finally, after two minutes, he lost consciousness, and the vines unraveled and quickly withered without magical energy support.
"The girl wins!" The part-time judge announced, breaking the silence on the arena.
After his words, the sparse audience burst into applause. And rightly so. The girl had masterfully controlled her vines, blocking the opponent's approaches. Then she deliberately created a small gap in their path, where she had set a trap in advance.
I even clapped. The girl had played well tactically, not relying on brute force suppression. It was clear the training against beasts stronger than her hadn't been in vain. And by the way, I see her family still hadn't splurged on a wind element Spiritual Seed for her.
I'd have to fix that oversight. I had a couple of interesting ideas, but they needed testing. Sigh, so many things piling up on me—when will I get to rest?
The arena guards quickly revived Mu Nujiao's opponent with a bucket of cold water and collected the girl's rightful winnings, naturally taking their legal ten percent commission. So the girl became ninety thousand yuan richer and, surprisingly to me, seemed overly thrilled about it.
These were small coins for her, or was she just that happy about the win? She hadn't shown such intense emotions fighting monsters. Look at that grin across her whole face. She might pull a face muscle from the unaccustomed smile.
Returning to us, the girl was still in her own world, smiling and staring at the wad of cash in her hand. Well, whatever keeps the child amused, as long as it doesn't get killed. Once she snaps out of it, I'll question her in detail.
TuTu just glanced at her friend, quickly noticing the arena was empty due to the public's stunned reaction to Mu Nujiao's victory, and decided to take advantage. That's why I brought them here. I watched my girl stride quickly toward the arena.