80TH GEAR - SMART ADVICE FROM A FOOLISH FATHER

It’s midnight.

I am laying on my bed, unable to sleep. I occasionally find myself raising my clenched fist in midair, celebrating like an idiot. I never thought Fluonessia’s confession would impact my mind this much. All I can think about is her.

I rolled to the left. I rolled to the right. It doesn’t matter as my mind is wide awake. If I try to clear my mind, I will realize that I was grinning ear to ear fifteen seconds later. I guess this must be love.

“This is not good. I have an early class tomorrow.” I muttered to myself.

Tomorrow is Monday, and that means I will meet Flu once again. Scratch that, we almost meet every day, even on Sundays like these. I can hardly wait for morning to come and see her adorable smile.

“Hup.” I raised my body.

I know I would not be able to sleep at this rate, so I have to distract myself from thinking about love. I looked left and right and saw the portable magnetic whiteboard at my desk. I stood up and turned the lights on, and then grabbed the whiteboard and the notes I copied from the Speedmage Tactics book.

The only thing that can distract me from thinking about Fluonessia is pondering about Speed Battle strategies.

My room is on the second floor, and we have an open balcony on the third floor. I decided to go up there with my magic tablet. I sat next to the railing and had a great view of the beach and the night skies full of stars.

I am worried about Flu’s incoming battle against Vincent the Teleporter. There are roughly three weeks left before the judgment time. And there are also two months left before the National Speedmage Tournament. I also have to come up with a plan to defeat Lilith Nightshade.

I put two magnets on the magnetic whiteboard that has the diagram of a Triangle. I put them on the 1st Checkpoint Tower and started my visualization strategy. I pictured the pink magnet as Fluonessia, and the white magnet as Vincent.

“Now, what would Vincent do?” I asked myself.

Vincent is a Speedster, so naturally he would try to touch as many Checkpoint Towers as much as possible. I moved the white magnet ahead to the 2nd Checkpoint Tower. I do not know yet how much Flu’s Stardust Accel would fare with Vincent’s Photon Accel, but I guess Flu must have at least gotten 80% of the distance covered.

Now, what would my strategy be once Flu touched the 2nd Checkpoint Tower? Should I go with the Phoenix Arrow tactic since Vincent is a Speedster? Or should I utilize Flu’s Stardust Accel to build up speed and have a drag race?

And if we fail to stop Vincent from implanting Teleporter Swords from each Checkpoint Tower, what should we do to counter Omnitouch? It’s not like Flu can use Aether Switch in a wide range like Lilith. We will also have a problem once Vincent uses the Land of Swords.

I scratched my head. Just thinking about this makes me troubled.

All of a sudden, I heard a familiar deep masculine voice.

“Rocket Jump.”

A huge macho man with black hair and brown eyes immediately landed on the third-floor balcony, just next to me. He had his feet coated with flames to jump from below. At first, I would think it was Cruzo since their macho body build was almost similar, but this guy is bigger and Cruzo cannot jump that high even with magic.

“What is my foolish son doing here on the balcony in the middle of the night?” My father, Flint Wardenorth said.

“What is my foolish father sneaking up to the third floor in the middle of the night?” I asked back with a cringe.

“I got work to do and I had to stay until midnight.” My father scratched the back of his head.

“Oh yeah? You’re working on Sundays?” I rolled my eyes.

“Urp!” My father forced a smile and shushed me. “Don’t wake up your mother.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I said.

My father saw the whiteboard on my hand that has a diagram of the Triangle in it. His eyes locked on the colored magnets.

“I heard that you and Miss Asahime are entering the National Speedmage Tournament. Are you out here planning your strategy?” My father asked.

“O-Oh, yeah. But I am not planning for the tournament. Vincent challenged Flu, so they will have a final Speed Battle before he gets his voyage to Yamato”

“So as I heard.” My father scratched his beard.

“That is why we will give Vincent the Speed Battle he deserves. I wonder if I can have Flu learn a speed spell that can counter Vincent, but I do not know which is which. I’m not a mage, so I do not know how to even try those things written in your book.” I gave a dry laugh.

“You two will be fine as is.” My father said with a smile. “You just need… experience.”

“Huh?”

My father sat beside me and grabbed the magical tablet. She started browsing videos on the magicnet and saw the Speed Battle between Flu and Lilith. He started playing the video until he stopped when the camera pans to Lilith’s navigator: Gaylord Draculus. I can also see myself gritting at the side of the video.

“Look at this vampire over here. See his smugness?” My father laughed.

“Yes.” I nodded.

My father pressed the play in the video and showed the scene in the Triangle where Flu is doing Chain Trampolines in an attempt to get past Lilith and score a point by touching the 2nd Checkpoint Tower. The camera slightly switched to the navigator Gaylord. For some reason, his smile seemed to be forced.

“Do you see the difference in his smile a few seconds earlier?” My father asked again.

“Yes. He seems troubled and hiding a lot of pain.” I said.

“Gaylord Draculus knows the limitations of his Speedmage Lilith Nightshade. He knew that if you kept on pushing forward, Lilith might be able to fail to intercept Miss Asahime’s advances.”

“But Flu continued to push through that.”

“Yes, but…”

My father continued to play the video until the last Air Trampoline of the chain. Lilith managed to block Flu in the nick of time, and then the video paused showing Lilith’s face; her mouth wide open, seemingly gasping for air.

“If you advised Miss Asahime to conserve her energy and not use big moves until Lilith was worn out, Miss Asahime would have touched the 2nd Checkpoint Tower after two or three more tries using a standard Wind Accel. If you were also aware of the vampire’s face, you would have known that they have no way of countering that tactic, and you have already tired Lilith enough that renders her unable to cast her Gravity Field.”

I gasped as my eyes opened in shock. There is no way we could prove that his advice will work, but my father is the legendary coach of the Eaglecrest back in his glory days. He made normal Speedmages enter the nationals just by using basic Accel Spells! And he was also the coach of Professor Comette Azure, the legendary finalist in the World Speedmage Tournament!

My father also played the Speed Battle between Vincent and Ericka. He pressed fast-forward until it jumped to the moment where Ericka used the 2nd Time Freeze and gained the lead. Then the camera pans to Vincent’s navigator- Justine, with a troubled face and a frown.

“Little Miss Azure would have won this Speed Battle if you saw Justine’s face in here.”

“N-No way! How?” I asked in full curiosity.

“At that moment, he knows that the only way to defeat your President is to use their ace: the Land of Swords. If you only read his facial expression, you would have seen their trump card coming and commanding Ericka Azure to get away from the center of the Triangle as fast as possible. From there, you should have commanded Ericka to switch playstyle to a Speedster and completely avoid Vincent’s assaults until the time runs out.”

I remembered Ericka's last Speed Battle with Flu. Ericka immediately switched playstyles from Striker to Speedster just to defeat our star player. She must have figured it out on her own and tried that tactic on Flu. That may be the reason why she challenged Flu on that day.

I was completely baffled. These mind games my father is showing me are at a world-class level, as if he was playing chess and countering every move the opponent makes. It shows me how much of an amateurish coach I am compared to him!

“Figuring out a tactic to defeat a Speedmage includes defeating their coach and navigator. And the relationship between Speedmages and Navigators fits like a watch on a person’s wrist. Every hand has a different watch, every watch has a different design, every design has a different clasp, and every clasp has a different swipe. All you need to do to steal the watch is to know that specific swipe.”

“Are you teaching me how to snatch a luxury watch right now?” I laughed.

“Maybe. But you can surely take inspiration from it. Once you learn how to read your opponent’s subconscious, you will see that playing Speed Battles as a coach and a navigator is a lot like playing poker.”

Side note: My father is roped up with some shady things. I had heard one rumor that he skipped a teaching class just to go to a luxurious casino and beat one of the richest gambling players in the underground world. I heard he did an underhanded tactic to draw all five pieces of Exodia in a poker match and won in a landslide.

That explains why his comparisons and metaphors sound weird. He is a top-rank snake, and he uses his wits on illegal things.

I stretched my arms up in the air and yawned. All those Speed Battle tactics wore my brain out.

“Welp, it’s time for bed already. I still have to go to school tomorrow.”

“Sleep well, my foolish son.” My father said,

“You too, my foolish father,” I said as I started to walk with my tablet and whiteboard in my hand. But before I made my exit, I glanced at him one more time. “Oh, stop flirting with the school nurse just so you can steal some magical drugs and sell them to the black market. Professor Dakedavra will notice it sooner or later.”

“H-How did you know that?” My father gasped in surprise.

“I’m more perceptive and smarter than you think.”