Chương 146: Battle Simulator 1

Damion and Elicia moved quickly away from the throng of students who had gathered to watch his challenge. It was rare for an elite student to be challenged and having eight challengers was unheard of. However, given the mystique surrounding Damion, even if only one standard student challenged him, there would have been a large crowd. The students were not the only ones discussing Damion's performance in his eight on one match, the professors were eagerly discussing the match as well.

Headmaster Sorin was particularly satisfied, but more with his having convinced Damion to join Silver Spire Magic Academy than with the young mage's success. As Damion walked with Elicia he did not pay attention to where he was going. Instead, he was looking at the notifications from the Magic System.

Ding [Spell True Sight mastery increased to D Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] Ding [Spell Ice Shield mastery increased to E Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] Ding [Spell Ice Breath mastery increased to E Rank] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Increase a Magic Spell in Rank – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit] Three of his spells had increased in Rank and he got credit for completing the quest three times in a row earning him an impressive 1, 500 store credits at once.

This brought Damion's current store credits to 2, 241 and he could not help but want to spend them all. What he would spend his credits on would have to wait until tonight since it would take him time to review all his options. What was occupying most of Damion's thoughts was why his skills had suddenly increased in mastery. He had felt these skills had been on the verge of increasing their Ranks, but he had not been able to push through to reach the next Rank.

All Damion could come up with was that he had used them in actual combat today. If that was a necessity for increasing the mastery of his spells he would not be surprised, but it would take some experimentation to be sure.

"Where is the battle simulator?" Damion asked Elicia. If he was going to figure out if using his spells in combat was key to increasing their rank then that was the place to do it. Damion still had Icy Grasp on the verge of increasing in Rank and he hoped he could grab another 500 store credits.

"I'll show you the way," Elicia told him.

"The battle simulator is on the upper levels of the spire."

"Are you able to come in with me?" Damion asked as they walked. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"It would cost points to bring someone in with you."

"How many points?" Damion asked.

"The battle simulator costs 5 points per hour. If you want to bring me in with you for your two free hours you would use up the 10 points allocated to you this week."

"Would you like to come in with me?"

"Perhaps in the future when you have plenty of points. Besides, I think you will get more out of going in alone. I would just lower the difficulty for you." When Damion arrived on the floor of the school containing the battle simulators he expected someone there to govern the use of the battle simulators, but instead they were just in a round room with a dozen terminals in front of a dozen doors leading to the battle simulators.

Elicia walked to a terminal and showed Damion how to check which battle simulators were free and how to book time. Damion was surprised to see all the simulator rooms were open at the moment. This told him either this time of day was not preferred for training or everyone that could afford to use the rooms had been at Damion's match.

"What kind of battles can I fight?" Damion asked.

"You can simulate a dungeon, wild encounters, single encounters or progressive encounters."

"Dungeon and single encounters I understand. What are wild encounters and progressive encounters?"

"Wild encounters is a simulation where you will be in the wild and as you explore you will have encounters with Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts randomly. Progressive encounters start off with you fighting one Ferocious Beast and once you defeat it a new beast will be generated for you to fight that is slightly stronger. The longer you fight the stronger and more Ferocious and Demonic Beasts you will have to face."

"Set the battle simulator for two hours on progressive encounters."

"Done," Elicia said as one of the doors to the battle simulators opened. Damion walked over to it but paused before going in.

"You don't need to wait for me," Damion told Elicia before heading into the simulator. Despite what Damion told her, Elicia not only had to wait, but she wanted to wait. The terminals outside the battle simulator rooms did more than just control the simulator. Someone standing at a terminal for a particular simulator could watch the occupants battle in real time. Once the door closed on Damion, Elicia hit a few controls on the terminal and brought up the spectator functions.

She then forwarded the connection to watch Damion's fights to Mage Teft and the Headmaster. The interior of the battle simulator was not what Damion was expecting, it was a large empty room with a number of enchantments engraved on the walls. The magic in the enchantments was glowing and with each passing second they glowed brighter. After about five seconds the entire room changed.

Damion found himself no longer in an empty room, but in a field with a Ferocious Beast that looked similar to the Wind Wolves he had fought before in front of him. Surprisingly, his True Sight skill did not tell him the Rank of the Ferocious Beast. He guessed it was due to this being a simulation and the creation in front of him was not a real Ferocious Beast. Since he was here to practice his magic in combat situations, Damion quickly raised his hand and cast Ice Shard at the Ferocious Beast.

The spell shot out and impacted the Ferocious Beast in the head. The Ferocious Beast dissipated into a cloud of smoke and a moment later another Ferocious Beast appeared. The second Ferocious Beast was the same type as the first, a wolf looking creature with long spiked hair around its neck. This one was slightly larger than the first and Damion assumed it was also slightly stronger. Unfortunately for it, the Ferocious Beast fell to a single Ice Shard before it could do more than growl at him.

A third Ferocious Beast appeared, again the same type as the first two, but this one was much larger than the prior ones. This Ferocious Beast immediately jumped towards Damion but was brought down by his Ice Shard mid-leap. When it vanished, in its place formed three Ferocious Beasts of the same size. Even though Damion knew he was stronger than these three Ferocious Beasts, facing three at once got his heart beating faster.

Two of the wolves charged towards him with the third circling around to try and attack from his side. Damion side stepped out of the path of the two Ferocious Beasts charging at him and away from the way the third was moving. Casting Icy Grasp, Damion reached out and took hold of the closest Ferocious Beast causing it burst into smoke a second after he touched it. With one down, Damion raised his palm towards the third beast that had turned and was now charging towards him.

Casting Ice Shard, the ice crystal leapt from Damion's palm and caught the Ferocious Beast in the throat. The final Ferocious Beast was now right on top of Damion, but he cast Ice Breath, and the Ferocious Beast froze in its tracks before turning into a cloud of smoke like the others.

"F Rank Ferocious Beast round complete. Now beginning E Rank Ferocious Beast round."