---------LEGEND---------
PLAYER/USERNAME
Alexander/AlexFae
Amber/Davina
Grace/Lasair
Xia/Genevieve
-------------------------------

Xia tried to stifle that question inside her, it wasn't the time to think about it and she didn't see a time in the future when she would. It was better to focus on the little tournament in front of her and the possibility of leveling up quickly and improving some aspect of her life without making other parts of it even more confusing than they already were.

The groups were formed and Xia found herself together with Davina and Wiorryn fighting against a trio made up of two [Hunter]s and a [Guardian]. The groups were divided in a way in which the [Seeker]s were penalized, this was because the beach offered no way to plan the fight by exploiting hiding places or luring the opponents into some ambush and therefore any player who didn't have a character focused on first line combat would have found it difficult to win.

[Wiorryn: okay, how do we organize ourselves? Do we try to prevent our opponents from hitting Davina while she casts her spells?]

[Genevieve: One of our opponents is armed with a bow, the other two can hold us while the other targets Davina.]

[Davina: what if we surprise them?]

[Genevieve: why are you always trying to throw yourself to the frontline lately? Do you regret creating a Seeker?]

[Wiorryn: I've noticed it in live. Are you still trying to master the naginata?]

[Davina: The only way I can become less vulnerable when I'm caught off guard or pushed away from the rest of the party is if I learn to defend myself properly. So, shall we try again?]

[Genevieve: ...at least this is a controlled scenario and we don't risk anything if we lose. Ok, let's do it.]

[Wiorryn: I'm following you, girls!]

They waited for their turn, when the time came, they positioned themselves in front of the opponents with Xia and Wiorryn in the front line and Davina behind them, in a position that put her at risk of being hit by an arrow. Xia nodded to the carrot-haired elvreth who responded with a thumbs up.

They were given the green light to start fighting. Predictably, their archer took aim and tried to immediately interrupt any spell Davina might have cast, only Davina wasn't preparing any spell: holding the naginata with both hands, she reached Xia's side just as one of the two opposing melee fighters were on top of her.

[UltraChad]
[Level 13 – 96%]

Davina's naginata surprised Xia's opponent by making him groan as the blade cut through his avatar leaving a red mark that vanished shortly after, Xia left no time to recover from the moment and hit him with two quick sword strikes that cut in half his HP. The opposing [Hunter] replanned his strategy and aimed his arrow at Wiorryn, who however dodged the arrow with simplicity and without giving any opening to the [Guardian] with whom she was engaged in combat.

Their duel only lasted a few minutes, they had managed to break the rhythm of the enemy team before they could regroup and when they did so only their [Hunter] remained, who surrendered aware of his limits and that he could not win in a three against one fight.

The other battles proceeded without overly arousing Xia's interest, Xia assumed that Lasair and AlexFae with their respective groups would have won and in the end the winner among them would have been the one who would find themselves crossing blades with her, and instead that didn't happen; the ease with which AlexFae was defeated by Dravaros surprised her. He had double the levels, it was a given, but Xia expected AlexFae to put a fight, to take away a slice of his HP, but instead the duel between the two was so rapid that she realized what had happened only when AlexFae exploded into colorful bubbles. Dravaros was a [Seeker] and there was no doubt about this, the spells he had used confirmed it, only that his extraordinary reflexes allowed him not to lose concentration and not leave points uncovered even when reciting spells in melee. That was a true champion, probably, the promise of the next LotA world championship.

Xia was even more surprised when it was Lasair's turn, who Xia didn't consider to be the strongest in their party in absolute terms just because AlexFae had higher stats. Again the two players she had bet on the most managed to easily get rid of the other players until only Lasair and Dravaros remained on the field; Xia could see that Lasair was more alert and attentive after having studied this mysterious opponent as Xia had done, on the other hand, he instead appeared relaxed and confident to the point of being almost hurting to the nerves.

[Genevieve: you can do it. I know you can]

[Lasair: thank you, but his strength is not just in levels…]

[Lasair]
[Level 17 – HP: 79%]

[Dravaros]
[Level 47 – HP: 100%]

The atmosphere was tense, the two opponents studied each other while Xia held her breath and clenched her fists against her chest, then, as if someone had given them a signal, they began at the same moment to draw the somatic components of their spells in the air.

“[Power Strike]!” Lasair exclaimed, the blade of her sword glowing with luminous energy that was promptly projected in a wide arc between her and Dravaros.

Dravaros moved with the fluidity of water; he avoided Lasair's spell by bending down just enough for it to just graze his hair, meanwhile he continued to maintain concentration on the spell he was preparing. [Seeker]s had more spells and more power than the other three Aptitudes, but they also took the longest to cast.

Lasair spent no time attempting to cast a new spell and instead attempted to feint aiming for the left shoulder only to correct her shot and aim for the head instead; Dravaros moved as if he had fought Lasair more than a hundred times and knew her every move and technique by heart.

“[Howling Gust].”

From the palm of Dravaros' hand a whirlwind of white energy hurtled straight into Lasair's chest, making her scream and knocking her at least six feet into the air and five feet back.

[Lasair]
[Level 17 – HP: 0%]

Lasair disappeared in many colored bubbles even before touching the ground, Xia knew that she wasn't dead and that the cry she let out was more of surprise than pain since the LotA system was set to transmit more or less 1/10 of the true pain that any kind of blow or spell would actually cause on a real body, yet, Xia's blood boiled. How… how dare he debase her… uh, TEACHER like she was nothing?? Considering how little self-esteem Lasair had, removing her from the scene with the same level of effort someone might put into tying their shoes definitely hurted her to the core.

“Genevieve?” Davina called out to Xia with a questioning tone in her voice.

“That guy needs to learn a lesson," Xia replied softly.

“Calm down, we're facing an impassable mountain. If we start fighting without thinking we'll only make a fool of ourselves,” Wiorryn whispered.

Xia's new acquaintance was right: she wasn't a skilled swordsman like Lasair and the gap in levels between her and Dravaros was the same, if she had thrown herself in head first Xia would have been defeated even before moving a single strike. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

This didn't help Xia too much, however: since the immovable object that was Dravaros had done nothing but wait for his turn to fight instead of helping his team, they decided not to proceed with eliminating his companions before moving on to him and while Wiorryn and Davina were careful to keep his two companions away, Xia stepped forward to face him with maximal focus and a plan in mind.

Dravaros put himself on guard, Xia prepared her spell. "[Spider's Web]!" Xia exclaimed, stretching out her hand towards him, it was a plan she had already tested multiple times, to trap the opponent within the limits of the area of effect of her spell so she could hit him taking advantage of the moment of distraction.

Except in this case he lunged forward, closing the gap with Xia ahead of time and catching her off guard. He tried to pierce her abdomen with his rapier, but Xia managed to deflect his weapon with hers at the last moment, somehow managing to dodge three of his sword blows before stumbling and finding herself in a position where to get hit it was an inevitable fact.

Xia was defeated, but not beaten. Instead of attempting a last desperate defense she decided to take advantage of the fact that Dravaros too was concentrating on hitting her to carry out a counterattack or a parry, so, an act of defiance: the moment his rapier pierced Xia's head, Xia's sword pierced him in the side.

[Genevieve]
[Level 17 – HP: 0%]

[Dravaros]
[Level 47 – HP: 98%]

[YOU DIED]

“As I've suspected, you've talent. Get back when you're stronger and we'll settle this,” Dravaros gave her a nod, a sort of respectful bow before Xia's view of the world faded and was replaced by a loading screen.

- - -

Xia reappeared at the teleportation obelisk of a nearby village, there in addition to the losers who had decided not to return to the beach or stay online to chat with each other, there was also Lasair and AlexFae, one seemed at ease and was discussing with some players - it seemed that they were negotiating the sale of some object - while the other had sat down on a bench and was with her head lowered and her fists clenched on her knees. All she was missing was the small storm cloud above her head.

“Hey,” Xia walked over to Lasair and sat down next to her on the bench, “looks like I've been defeated too.”

Lasair turned her head towards Xia and gave her a warm smile, "I'm... sorry, maybe you should look for another t-teacher."

Xia gave a light slap on Lasair's golden haired head, "it was impossible to win, he had more than double our levels and seemed to read our every move the moment we were about to make it", Xia purposely avoided telling her that she had managed to hit him, letting her know that would have hurted her even more, “we both did our best. Sadly, it wasn't enough.”

“So you don't think it's my fault?” Lasair fixed her eyes on Xia's, she had the expression of a scared little puppy.

"Of course not! Why should I??" Xia put her hand where she had slapped her, right on the top of Lasair's head and moved the hand, making short caresses, "you did the best you could and it went badly, but we can always take our revenge, sooner or later."

Lasair closed her eyes and seemed to enjoy the caresses a bit like a person lost in the desert enjoyed a long drink of water after days of endless thirst. After a while Xia realized that Lasair was also wagging her tail vigorously and, a little embarrassed, Xia stopped petting her. Lasair reopened her eyes, they looked at each other without saying any words for neither of them knew how long.

“I… I-I have to go! See you f-f-for the next game!” Lasair exclaimed out of the blue.

“Lasair! Wai..." but Xia didn't have time to speak, where a moment before the blonde Shinepeak had been there was now only emptiness. “…See you next time.”

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