Chapter 277: Dark Demon at the Moon Palace Gala (3k)
Perhaps this novice tournament wouldn’t immediately change their intentions.
But it would cause some impact to them.
And often, the ultimate changes in direction were formed by such factors accumulating bit by bit.
…
The reason “Hero’s Child” was valued was not only because of the frequent appearance of various true or false “prophecies,” but fundamentally because he had inherited his father’s legacy.
“Bright Hero” Brett Gold and “Valkyrie” Alvaraite Saint Diemond were known as the kingdom’s dual swords.
However, the hero’s reputation among the people was actually higher than that of the Valkyrie.
This was partly due to the inherent spread of the term “hero,” and partly because the hero ultimately ended his journey by sacrificing himself.
No matter what era, the public would always have more respect for “sacrifices.”
Alvaraite’s reputation did not match Brett’s precisely because she was still alive!
If “Hero’s Child” could also become a hero, he would surely inherit the previous hero’s reputation and rise to prominence.
So, the importance of “Hero’s Child” went without saying.
…
At this moment, although it was foreseeable that “Hero’s Child” would lose, he still felt extremely disheartened.
He could sense that the audience had high expectations of him.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t meet those expectations.
He could only grit his teeth and think about winning next time.
When he descended from the competitors’ platform, Wit completed the handover with the next contestant.
That contestant was a second-year senior, who looked at him without mockery but with sympathy.
It seemed that a senior from the Knight Academy patted his shoulder and comfortingly said, “Losing to David isn’t shameful.”
But was it really not shameful?
One could say that wisdom is seen differently by different people.
Wit was depressed in the common room for a long time until Robert came looking for him, which made him reinvigorate.
“Tudor and Justin also lost!”
Robert’s consolation was straightforward.
Wit thought about it carefully and found it reasonable, so he let it go.
But Dark’s victory brought too much impact to him.
If he aimed at Dark, he would be unwilling to accept the normal failure.
…
As for how the audience outside viewed the matches, whether they would make irrational remarks after disappointment, it didn’t matter much.
St. Maryan would be like a protective cocoon for the child; as long as he didn’t read the newspaper—he wouldn’t be affected.
…
Following Wit, the matches continued as usual.
At ten o’clock, in the thirteenth match, another first-year student appeared under everyone’s watchful eyes.
Emma Maltis clenched her teeth slightly and, after the start, centered her strategy around the “Golden Beast,” launching a series of attacks and defenses.
But the second-year senior seemed to have studied her, using a completely restraining tactic that decimated her lineup.
A bitter defeat!
An expected defeat.
An unexpected tragedy,
Without a second-tier mana spirit, she was at a disadvantage when dueling with upperclassmen.
Emma summarized her experience and learned from her lessons.
After leaving the field, she recorded every detail of the duel while her memory was still fresh, preparing to write a thorough analysis report on it.
…
Then came the sixteenth match at ten-thirty.
Sarah Swati cleverly used the “Sphinx Cat” to lock down the opponent’s sacrifice with “Ultimate Skill: Shadow Step,” becoming the third first-year student to win an upgrade match!
When the referee blew the whistle and announced the result, she waved to the cheering audience, her gaze falling on the golden-haired youth in the spectator area, as if saying, “I did it too!”
People can only move forward if they have something to strive for.
Sarah Swati’s victory was no accident but the result of wisdom and diligence.
…
Professor Jones nodded contentedly from the ring.
Seven new contestants’ matches had concluded.
Three students’ victories had already surprised her greatly.
Originally, this should have been a battle to hone their skills.
To teach students that failure was also precious, thus achieving a positive effect.
But now, it seemed that some victories had a better motivational effect, which was acceptable.
…
It wasn’t until Sarah Swati’s match ended that the first-year students suddenly remembered that today’s novice tournament was a lesson for everyone.
They still needed to analyze and summarize one of the matches!
So, which match should they target?
Psychologically, many people might want to analyze the most exciting match.
But upon careful consideration, they might choose another goal.
After all, the most exciting match was also the longest and hardest to analyze.
In contrast, other matches had visible highlights, were shorter, and were very friendly for the young magi who primarily focused on completing homework.
The most typical example was Sarah Swati’s match.
By restricting the opponent’s sacrifices to stop their summoning, this tactic was highly effective both in the match and in real combat.
For first-year students lacking high-star mana spirits, this was a way to achieve victory.
This might lead to discussions on how to respond if they couldn’t summon high-star mana spirits.
…
In summary, from eleven o’clock onwards, first-year students gradually left the venue.
By eleven-thirty, the Big Princess and her entourage had also left the spectator area.
Although the novice tournament was not over, it was no longer just for first-year students.
Dark met up with Diana and Rose around eleven-ten and then went to Traveler’s Street for a small celebration.
Taking advantage of their fresh memories, they entered the library that afternoon to start working on their assignments.
Dark and Diana analyzed and summarized their own matches, while Rose chose to analyze the more challenging match of Dark, asking him questions during the process, to which Dark responded.
The learning atmosphere became increasingly intense.
…
The whole afternoon passed in a flurry of activity.
Having completed all this week’s assignments, Dark finally began serious contemplation on the refinement of “Ultimate Skill Cards.”
Perhaps to others, “Ultimate Skill Cards” had limited use, but to him, they were clearly very useful, capable of replacing “Magic Spell Cards” to some extent.
The method of refining “Ultimate Skill Cards” involved selecting a “Mana Spirit Card” as the object.
Essentially, “Ultimate Skill Cards” extract the ultimate skill from the “Mana Spirit Card.”
Generally, these would be existing ultimate skills within the “Mana Spirit Card.”
If delved deeper, it might be possible to extract “ultimate skills that can be learned but are not yet mastered.”
Take “Huhu” as an example.
Ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of “Huhus” were white or blue cards.
Even among blue cards, only “Solidity” was the ultimate skill.
If one attempted to refine “Solidity” from a blue “Huhu”—assuming success—most likely, “Solidity” would be extracted.
But the user of this “Ultimate Skill: Solidity” card would only be a mana spirit with potential to learn this skill.
Further exploration might yield a low probability of extracting “Power Split,” “Power Trick,” and “Defense Split,” these divine skills.
This would compensate for the shortcomings of blue “Huhu.”
Thus, “Ultimate Skill Cards” had certain practical value, though their application conditions were stringent.
Dark hadn’t decided which ultimate skill to target yet.
Unlike most students who didn’t know which ultimate skill was useful, he had too many choices, making it difficult to decide…
So he planned to spend the entire night thinking, and then go to Traveler’s Street the next day to gather materials.
…
By seven o’clock in the evening, Diana and Rose had finished their homework and started contemplating the ultimate skills they wanted to extract.
Diana tilted her head and asked, “Can ‘Bear Bond’ be extracted? And can it be used on other bears?”
Dark shook his head blankly, indicating he didn’t know.
Rose wanted to extract the ultimate skill “Moon Palace Gala” from her mana spirit named “Aurora Moon Rabbit.”
The reason was that the cooldown for this ultimate skill was too long—24 hours!
Dark only knew about her having this mana spirit at this moment and was stunned!
“Aurora Moon Rabbit” was a mana spirit favored by females, once topping the “Mana Spirit Beauty Pageant List.”
Legend had it that Aurora Moon Rabbit originated from the moon, a pet of a past Moon Goddess. Born with auroras, its seven-colored ribbons were condensed from auroras.
Swinging the ribbon could create auroras, dreamlike and ethereal.
A rare Aurora Moon Rabbit could transform into a lunar beauty!
But Rose’s Aurora Moon Rabbit possessed a different skill—”Moon Palace Gala”!
This was a grand aurora illusion, like a mirage, transforming into a magnificent and luxurious Moon Palace in the air—the legendary moon palace!
Not only majestic and beautiful beyond measure, it could also enhance charm and healing effects within its range during moonlit nights.
On a full moon night, it could release a strong healing light wave, a powerful area-of-effect healing skill!
In short…
Even excluding special effects, the ability to manifest the moon palace alone made “Moon Palace Gala” a sought-after divine skill!
Dark suddenly realized.
Another function of “Ultimate Skill Cards” was probably to “refresh cooldowns”!
Some ultimate skills with long cooldowns could be bypassed by refining “Ultimate Skill Cards”!
