Walking down the hallway, Katachi was interrupted by a student with a buzzcut, holding a box of wooden tablets. He seemed to have something to say to Katachi, because he walked to his front from his back on purpose.
"Hey, new kid. Who're you betting for?"
K : "Huh?"
Katachi stared at the student blankly upon hearing the word 'betting'. The word 'betting' alone seemed to hold a lot of weight, so just uttering it in the hallway itself seemed surprising for anybody.
K : "W-What do you mean, betting?"
"Well, the tournament on Friday has a few competitors. You can choose which student would get the championship, and one of the teachers, Mister Mint, is going to treat the students who manages to guess the winner right to a feast."
Katachi stepped back slightly at the otherworldly piece of good news. Mother Rin would have normally rebuked at how gambling and the like was bad, but the strange thing about it was that Segus mentioned nothing about abstaining from gambling.
*Cozy's Notes : Oh, I don't know, CONSIDER THE HISTORY OF SEGUS. You will find that he was far too poor to worry about stuff like gambling in the first place, of course he would have no comments over something he couldn't even afford to do in the first place.*
(I might want to try it, but that seems a bit risky... They even dragged a teacher into this...)
K : "Isn't... Isn't that against the school rules?"
"Well, think of it as a personal bet. If the students manage to guess correctly by luck or chance, they would have a nice treat for free. But if the students managed to guess the outcome using actual magic, then the treat is a prize and a form of encouragement for them. It's a bit sketchy, but what makes it good is that it doesn't pay to make a bet. Why not give it a go?"
Katachi leaned against the wall slightly.
K : (If what he says is true, then it wouldn't be bad for me to participate, since it's not actually gambling. I would just have to guess the winner by random. Although, I really want to win to get that, but it would be better to step back a bit, and shake attention off myself. Besides, I wouldn't want to end up doing something against Mother Rin or Segus should anything happen.)
K : "Uhm... Who can I choose?"
"Well, there's last year's champion, Deku, and the guy who fought him for the finals, Cillian, the semi-finalists last year, the potential magi like Zul, or Jason, or even Djinnje, but if you're feeling lucky or magical, you can try anyone you think will win."
K : "I guess... I'll guess Cillian."
"Cillian, huh? Okay then, place this on your circle."
Katachi picked a tablet from the tray the student was supporting with both arms, and held the wooden tablet with the name Cillian engraved onto the magic circle on his left arm. It glowed slightly as Katachi's name formed on a small corner of the tablet, in fine print.
"Good, good. Well, I hope your guess is right, new kid. Good luck!"
The student quickly broke conversation and leapt towards another student eagerly, in a fashion that seemed like he was getting paid for collecting those votes.
K : (... Well, that sure was interesting. But to think an event like this is so big, that such means are imployed... Whatever it is, I have to practice a lot.)
*** ***
"All participants, single file! Queue here to order the weapon you will be using!"
The various participants lined up in a straight line, taking turns to place their wooden pieces into the order boxes in the waiting area.
There was a unique ordering system for the tournament that the students had to participate in, should they want weapons to use during the tournament. The tournament strongly promotes using magic, but there will be cases where physical weapons are needed, be it for channeling a medium or for blocking magical projectiles. Real weapons would pose a a big threat, so participants had to order their own wooden weapons to use in the tournament.
Each student would use a wooden piece they were given on their magic circle, engraving their name onto it, and place the piece into a box tagged with whichever weapon they desired, for example a sword, or a spear, or polearm, or even the custom box. The school will proceed to supply that weapon to them. It was a safe method of ensuring that nobody could cheat during the tournament, since everyone would be getting their weapons right before the tournament.
Katachi waited patiently for his turn, but someone in front seemed to be making a show of some sort.
A student was apparently angry at something.
"This is ridiculous! There's no option for a bladestaff?! How am I supposed to use any of my Ohde magic?!"
"Look, you have two choices. You can choose a physical weapon for pitiful self-defense, or you can choose a wand or stave to channel better and boost your magic. You don't HAVE to get a bladesta-"
"But my magic revolves around the wave cutter! How am I supposed to use my magic without proper equipment?!"
"SHUT UP AND LISTEN, YOU DAMN FOOL!!!"
The line of students all froze at the teacher-in-charge's outrage.
Students would often respect and obey the teachers in this academy strictly, because every teacher held the power to place a demerit seal onto a student. A teacher can place a maximum of 3 demerit seals on a student, and the number of demerits a student has would affect how others interact with them in school. To talk back to a teacher requires either bravery, or pure stupidity.
"There's a customs box here, specially made for whiny ass-wipes like yourself who have to use a specific weapon. You can put your vote in, then request for a special order. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"
The student nodded his head in fear.
"... Good. Now make your choice already. There's at least two dozen others behind you, and we don't have all day."
The student put his wooden piece into the custom box, and mumbled something to the teacher. He then walked towards the exit, ashamed.
"Next!"
That call had repeated for a good number of times before it was finally Katachi's turn.
Approaching the table, Katachi looked at the small wooden boxes once more intently.
The small boxes have labels on them to indicate which weapon was to be manufactured should the wooden piece be placed into it. It was a surprisingly simplistic system for such an advanced, magical place. Inside the sword and spear boxes were quite a number of wooden pieces already.
K : (A lot of people chose swords and spears, huh... I'm not very good with a sword, and it'd only trouble me if I use both hands for a spear... Hmm... Sword or spear?)
Katachi switched back and forth between the two, unable to decide which was better.
The others behind him were getting impatient at his indecisiveness, and began jeering and rushing him.
"Hurry up, idiot!" "Pick up the pace!" "How much longer do I have to wait?!"
K : (Not good... The people behind me are urging me to hurry... I better choose one fast.)
Out of panic, Katachi's eyes swiveled all over the table, looking at other weapons as well. The polearm, mace, flail, axe, there were so many options available that it was easy to become confused by the ideal weapon of choice.
Finally, one caught his eye as comfortable.
Out of pure instinct, Katachi shifted his hand over the empty box labelled "Dagger", and let go.
The teacher-in-charge stared at Katachi placing his wooden piece into the box nobody had so much as given a second glance to. The boy was not sure whether that stare was in doubt or in disbelief, or a mixture of both.
"... Whatever your choice is, I'll respect your decision, kid. I'm just saying, it's very brave of you to emphasize on speed rather than reach."
K : "Uhh... Thanks."
Taking a left, Katachi exited the area.
*** ***
The next morning, a small crowd gathered at the announcement board.
Katachi had already completed the assigned course within a single lesson, which means he was now completely free on every single day besides Tuesday, where he had a course on magic affinity. With time to spare on a Thursday, he went towards the board as well, out of curiosity.
K : (? What are they gathering for?)
The students were crowding at the strangely-shaped board that rested on a peculiar stand, or pillar. It made the board look like it was toppling over, but it wasn't. It had been slightly more than a week since Katachi arrived, so he was already used to a spectacle like such.
On the board showed the tournament participant layout.
It seems that the students will be divided into two divisions, which will then reconnect to determine one final champion. The information about the battle rules and judging system were also displayed to the right. After reading the judging system and the rules in battle, Katachi went down to the main topic at hand - His own placement on the tournament.
K : (... ! I'm in the same division as Cillian... Cillian de Vorsche... ?)
"Hey all you people, look, Cillian and Trug are already in the same preliminary division. We're in for a good show."
K : (Wasn't Cillian the guy I betted for?... Looks like I've picked a tough fight...
... Where's that Mafer person? Is he in here?)
Katachi glanced around at the divisions, and finally found Mafer's name - Right next to Deku.
K : (! He's going to fight last year's champion for the preliminaries? That's... That's a surprise...
... Is Bael in this tournament?)
Squeezing his way through the crowd, Katachi looked and pondered for a good long 10 minutes - To no avail. Bael's name was not present at all amidst the 32 participants.
K : (Huh. She didn't participate. That trap she laid back then was actually pretty dangerous, she should have signed up for this if she was already that powerful. She might potentially win the tournament... But, then again, her not participating is good too, that's one less competitor to deal with.)
"Hey, new kid."
K : (?)
Katachi spun around, and saw a student with a buzzcut looking at him.
K : (The guy from yesterday...) "Oh, it's you again."
"Yeah. What name were you looking for? You've been staring and searching since I came, and I've been here for 5 minutes."
K : "Oh, er, nothing. I was just looking for the name of a friend."
The student chuckled a bit at Katachi's response.
"Worrying about someone else's safety before your own, new kid? You'd be wiped out early with that kind of attitude."
The student then left, leaving Katachi bewildered at the insult.
K : (... That guy... How rude! If I ever fight him, so help me, I will prove him wrong.)
With a new resolve burning within himself, Katachi forced his way out of the crowd, and towards the field.
*** ***
Having no lessons meant that Katachi was free to do anything he wanted in the academy. That included anything within the rules, as well as personal training sessions that normal students with jam-packed curriculums would never have the time for.
Katachi stood alone in the field, with the sun at the 9am mark. He was merely sitting on a sandy patch, meditating calmly.
The field was empty because lessons for students would normally start at 9am. The students' rituals they had to perform would take up a lot of time, to around a couple of hours at least, so the students were given leeway to perform their rituals at 6.30am in the morning. For those with short prayers, they could spend the two hours however they liked, but by 9am they still had to attend any lessons they still had.
Katachi felt happy and free, for he was not bound by this limiter at all.
He had pretty much completed his course on the first lesson, because of the specifics the Words of Power had. After all, there was an unspoken rule amidst the Scholars, people who wielded the Words of Power.
The Words of Power, when challenging each other, worked on a special and highly numerical system known as Precedence Levels. Because of such a deadpan, inorganic system, it was as good as suicide to teach another Scholar the meanings of their symbols.
K : (... The teacher had been smart to limit what he taught. Although it was smart, it's not quite good enough.
... I hope my trump card is still in effect.)
Katachi got up, and walked under a tree beyond the boundary of the open field. Picking up a branch, he snapped a stick off of it, and began fiddling and twiddling with the stick around his finger.
K : (The trump card aside, I have to make sure he doesn't get an advantage over me at all. The books from the library so far doesn't seem to be beneficial at all, but maybe... Just maybe...)
He began slashing at the air with the stick in his hand.
K : (In any case, I'd have to try to win the tournament as fast as I can. The first lesson itself is a hairline crack on the mirror just waiting to shatter and ruin it completely. I have to gamble everything at this one junction. Whether I succeed or fail... I'll have to plan for it only after I know the outcome.)
Practicing the simple parrying and stabbing techniques from an Ohde book, Katachi continually stabbed and slashed at the air, his mind and conscious completely separate from his actions.
K : (... I might need Bertund's help on that and that... Best not to assume this flimsy plan might actually work. I need to raise my precedence level as quickly as possible. That's my safest option right now, since it's the only way I'm ever going to beat Rekter...
... I'll go ask him after I finish practicing this.)
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