CHAPTER 18: “EXCELLENCE IN GAMING”

 

“I saw...the game patch notes.” Eusyca_ said quietly.

“Ah…” Ai had seen it too.

The fight between the paladin and Morion had just ended, another battle was currently taking place but some of the crowd had dissipated quite a bit since they only came to watch Morion fight. The man had another fight later so most of the crowds would probably return to watch that.

Ai felt that it was a bother to leave the area, he was still curious. The fight he just witnessed didn’t truly showcased Morion’s fighting abilities, though it did show that he was indeed somewhat resourceful. So Ai stayed. What he didn’t expect was for Eusyca_ to stay seated as well. She looked mildly uncomfortable to be there, her eyes looking away from Ai’s.

“I was wrong.” She grumbled under her breath.

Ai’s eyes widened but he didn’t answer. He knew that Eusyca_ was prideful, so hearing her admit that she was wrong was not something he thought he would get to do.

“S-so, I’m s-sorry, okay.” She muttered, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment. “You’re stronger than you look.”

Then as swiftly as she said those words, she got up and left the scene, almost running out of the seating area. Ai was too stunned to call her back. Did she come here just to say those words? If that was true, then...she was much nicer than he’d thought.

The owl, sensing its friend’s good moods hooted then pushed its head to Ai’s cheek to which Ai answered with a light feathery touch on the owl’s head.

The fights continued on far into the day.

To be honest, Ai glazed over much of the fighting players. He paid attention to some, like a flashy mage or a fast oriented paladin, but most he forgot as soon as the players left the battle. As he expected, there weren’t any mediators among the contestants. There were other scholarly type classes like mages, priests and a few bards, but no mediators. It made Ai wonder if there even is a player like him who was committed to using the class to its fullest potential. Or try to, anyway.

The day soon turned to almost dark, Ai had probably watched over a dozen matches by now, all of them did nothing to peak his interest. He found that the arena didn’t have many scholar classes at all, which was the ones Ai was interested to see the most since they had the same class type as him. 

Hmm...could their match be for another day? Or maybe physical based classes were better for PvP content after all? Scholar types excelled in ranged attacks, but the melee classes that he’d seen were all so quick to approach their enemies that it might be hard for the scholars to actually get some distance to cast their spells.

Just as he thought that, a mage stepped into the arena this time. The mage was a male character with short blue hair that stood out underneath a traditional wide brimmed, pointy top witch hat with long robes to match as well. In his hands was a wooden staff that didn’t look special at all. The few crowd members that were there murmured to themselves as they curiously examined the mage.

“Is that...who I think it is?” One whispered.

“Maestro...that Maestro?!”

Ai looked at the mage more intently. That was Maestro? The Maestro who had posted that forum topic about mediators and how useless they were? He was here? In the arena battle? Ai didn’t expect to run into him at all to be honest. He’d only seen his name in that one forum thread about mediators, to see him in the digital flesh was something entirely different.

By the name Maestro, one expected that he was a bard class, but he was a mage through and through. Maybe he enjoyed switching between a couple of accounts? This was the man who tried the mediator class too. For two weeks, up to level 20 with no progress whatsoever.

A little bit of doubt inched itself closer to Ai’s conscience. 

Ai hadn’t been playing as much as Maestro claimed he did. He played for roughly three to four days yet right now he was level 15. He did admit that there were some vague and cryptic paths with the mediator class that he got lucky with, but playing for two weeks and getting nothing at all?

The other side of the arena door opened, letting Maestro’s opponent in. 

Long black ponytail, the deep red armor, the blood gem sword, the stoic face, it was him. Morion. Ai watched as the tall man walked elegantly to the arena, his eyes staring straight at Maestro. The villain was prepared for the battle and nothing else. Maestro however, was a lot more chatty than Ai assumed.

“Well, the villain is here!” He exclaimed, arms wide and open. “The Arena Event’s champion. Whatever shall a mage like me do?”

Morion didn’t reply, his eyes lazily stared at the blue haired mage, clearly uninterested. 

“Hmph.” Maestro clicked his tongue. His joly expression souring and turning into a strained smile. “Would you still not tell me how you unlocked your unique class?”

It was then that Morion reacted. 

He tilted his head in confusion then loosened his stance and replied with a tone of voice as flat as his expression. 

“I told you, at the -”

“Yes, yes at the mountain before the Dwarven Kingdom.” Maestro then laughed emotionlessly. His teeth gritting in anger. “Funny thing is Morion, none of the dwarves there know what the hell you’re talking about! Not a single NPC said anything about that damn sword, not even a single reference, and that makes me think you’re lying. So, are you going to tell me or not?”

Morion’s left eye twitched ever so slightly. He looked tired, as if this wasn’t the first time he’d ever had to deal with Maestro and his inquiries. 

Seeing that his opponent wasn’t answering his questions anymore, Maestro sighed. “Guess I’ll just have to drag the information out of you.”

Ai didn’t know what he expected for the mage to do, but what he didn’t expect was for Maestro to tap his staff to the ground once then disappear into thin air. Morion seemed surprised as well as his fighting stance laxed for a moment, his eyes scanning his surroundings.

Morion’s eyes suddenly snapped to one corner of the arena. He swung his sword and deflected multiple fireballs that appeared right in front of his eyes. With each deflect, he slowly started to get pushed back inch after inch. Then, as he deflected the last one of the fireballs, a magic circle appeared right beneath his feet. Fortunately, his instincts managed to save him, making him jump up to avoid Maestro’s timed spell. 

A slight chuckle, then the mage appeared from the corner where the fireballs had come from. 

“Ah, you’re so fucking annoying in battle.” He was smiling but his voice told Ai that he was starting to get annoyed. “Just stay still and let me hit you.”

Another barrage of timed magic projectiles came, all focusing on many sides of the Villain, and each projectile he dodged or reflected with his shimmering blade.

Watching the duel, Ai realized what made Maestro so different from the other mages who fought before. The other mages mostly relied purely on their spells. They chanted and cast them and let the spell do its thing, hoping that it will hit the opponent. That was also another difference that set the melee classes and the ranged classes apart. Melee classes had a bit more control over where their skills would hit, they could swing their preferred weapon and the weapon would go in the direction that they wanted. For ranged classes however, once they unleashed their spells then it was up to the game to decide what happened to the spells they just cast. If a mage casted a fireball, all they could do was cast it but not control what happens to the fireball after, whether it hit or miss or even go to a different direction.

Then there was Maestro. He didn’t just let the game decide which way his spells would go, he seemed to be predicting them. With each different tilt of his staff and delay of his casting, his fireballs seemed to be hitting Morion’s specific weak points.

When the villain swung his sword one way to deflect the fireballs, Maestro would tilt his staff the other way and unleash a new fireball towards Morion’s unprotected side. If Morion wasn’t so speedy and ready on his feet, Ai was sure the man would’ve gotten at least singed. 

Ai also noticed that while Morion was showing signs of getting tired from dodging all those fireballs, Maestro was still freely casting spell after spell. A multitude of fireballs, sometimes mixed with other elements, and a snare spell that would freeze players on the spot occasionally thrown into the mix. Where did he have all the MP or stamina for this? Could it be that these fireballs didn’t cost that much MP? Usually the less MPs or stamina a spell costs, the lesser the damage, so why was Maestro using it as his main damage dealer?

Or maybe the fireballs did cost a lot of MP but Maestro just has the MP for it? No, Ai ruled that out. No matter how much MP the mage had, he’d been casting nonstop for a while. If the fireballs were heavy damage dealers that cost substantial amounts of MP, then no matter how big Maestro’s MP pool was, he would’ve drained it by now at the rate he was casting fireballs.

So the spell was cheap with almost no cooldowns. 

Ai thought deeply to himself. Below, at the platform, the standstill continued on. Morion hadn’t made any offensive moves yet, probably because of the endless fireball onslaughts. Not to mention Maestro kept turning invisible from time to time, reappearing elsewhere. The entire ordeal was definitely taking a toll on Morion’s focus and strength.

“Are you ready to tell me yet?” Maestro said, his eyes narrowingly stared at Morion.

The Villain wiped his mouth. “At the -”

Maestro growled viciously then threw another elemental projectile. This time, Morion’s strength seemed to have failed him as he failed to deflect it. The projectile brushed against the side of his face, staggering him slightly.

It seemed like this was what Maestro was waiting for. Another swing of his staff later, a magic circle appeared at Morion’s feet. This time, too unbalanced to dodge it, he fell right into the circle. It wasn’t a snare circle this time, but rather a powerful magical blast and looked immensely painful. 

When the light of the blast subsided, Morion was still standing there, albeit slightly leaning on his sword, panting, and singed with a few scratches. Maestro seemed to have drained himself as well with that last spell, he was also out of breath.

Ai finally realized what Maestro had been trying to do all along. The fireballs weren’t damage dealers, they were distractions. Maestro wanted Morion to trip or stagger so he could blast him with one of his powerful magic spells. The snares were extra help to keep Morion in one place too. That had been the plan all along.

 

 

 

Eusyca_

 

 

 

Graph to illustrate melee vs ranged damage and control balance: