February 5, 2023, Early Evening
"Um.. uh.. can I just give up?"
Mei Mei held a slender sword in her hand and stood in the middle of the underground arena, her legs trembling.
The academy students who saw her immediately recognized Mei Mei. The senior student from the lake dormitory. And they knew that the lake dormitory specialized in healing. Most of them couldn't even fire a weapon or swing a sword.
So why was Mei Mei participating in the tournament when she had already entered the academy and become one of the famous students in her field?
"Sister Mei Mei? What are you doing there, Sister Mei Mei?" said a junior student from the lake dormitory.
"Mei Mei? The naughty girl who sometimes sneaks into the boys' dorm just to peek at them changing clothes?" A junior student from another dorm said, remembering hearing that name from somewhere.
"Who spread that weird rumor?!" Mei Mei shrieked in denial upon hearing the gossip about her.
"Heh, my opponent turns out to be a weak little girl. Well, even so, I have to thank you for making it easier for me to enter the final."
Mei Mei's opponent was a swordsman who looked skilled. He carried a two-bladed sword on his shoulder while smirking at Mei Mei, who stood like a frightened rabbit.
"A little injury to your legs and hands is enough. Little girl, you'd better give up if you don't want any scratches on your tiny little body."
Mei Mei's forehead twitched. She didn't accept being called a weak little girl by a stranger she didn't know.
"Huh? What do you mean, ugly old man? Have you already won against me that you can speak so freely, huh?"
"Uwoh, here it is. Angry rabbit mode."
The students who knew Mei Mei immediately exclaimed. They knew that Mei Mei disliked it the most when someone badmouthed her. Once, a senior student from the fire dormitory insulted her small, petite body, and that afternoon, the student returned with a bruised face.
Mei Mei gripped the slender sword tightly in her hand, her aura changing. From a timid rabbit to a fierce rabbit ready to beat anyone who came within ten meters of her.
"Heh, interesting. Even a weak little girl has quite a strong fighting spirit." The swordsman began to take his stance.
The five-star Hunters who supervised underground where Hunters trained were the Pig and Rooster Shengxiaos.
A swordsman named Yuze Tao and a martial arts expert named Jie Lin.
"Hm.. I know that twintails girl. Isn't she a senior academy student in the lake class?" Jie Lin rubbed her chin, trying to remember where she had met Mei Mei. But she was sure the girl studied at the academy.
"Why is she participating in this Zhan Dou tournament?"
Yuze Tao, the Pig Shengxiao, shrugged. "I don't know, for experience maybe? I once heard that in peninsula of Korea there are Hunter Healers who fight on the front lines."
"Very ambitious. Well, our job is just to supervise the duel. We don't know which Hunter is a traitor. It could be that girl, or her opponent." Jie Lin crossed her arms under her chest.
Yuze Tao nodded in agreement. He raised his sword high.
"The first duel of the second round of the Zhan Dou tournament is about to begin. Participants number one and two, please introduce yourselves first."
"My name is Shen Dong. My home is in Foshan and I will be the best swordsman Hunter this year—"
"In your dreams!" Mei Mei interrupted. She smirked disdainfully at her opponent. "Old men like you don't need to dream too high. My name is Mei Mei, a student of Qincheng Magic Academy in the lake class. And I will defeat that ugly-faced old man."
"What did you say? You bastard twintail girl?!"
"Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou!"
The spectators cheered enthusiastically as the two participants provoked each other. The swordsman wore a look of seven generations of annoyance. The same went for Mei Mei, whose face was no different from her opponent's.
"Haah, such a young one. The first duel of the second round of the Zhan Dou tournament begins!" Yuze Tao lowered his hands.
Both immediately rushed forward. Swinging their swords.
Clang!
In the underground room usually used by one- to three-star Hunters for fighting training, a 100 cubic meter cube room. The clang of swords echoed loudly.
The area used as an arena was in the middle of the room. An 80 square meter space was where Mei Mei and her opponent, Shen Dong, could run around.
There was a transparent wall separating the spectators from the arena. The transparent wall was made of runes inscribed on the floor to prevent any magical or physical attacks from hitting the audience.
The spectators, some of whom were academy students, and others Hunters and residents of the lower city or those who came from afar, stood cheering enthusiastically, shouting 'Zhan Dou' as they watched Mei Mei, the agile little girl, skillfully dodge her opponent's sword swings.
Unexpectedly, the rabbit girl could fight quite skillfully, though not as well as Sizhu or her other new friends.
But speed alone was not enough to defeat an experienced swordsman.
Crat! Mei Mei's left arm was scratched. Shen smirked at this and immediately swung his sword repeatedly.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Crat! Crat! Mei Mei was forced to walk backward by the opponent's sword technique, which matched Mei Mei's agility in dodging. A lot of red blood immediately flowed from all over her body. On her arms, thighs, and even calves. But none had yet managed to penetrate her main body because the swordsman was still holding back.
"Hey, hey, just give up, little one. I don't want to hurt your beautiful skin. You seem to be struggling with all those scratches."
Shen Dong stopped his movements and allowed Mei Mei to catch her breath.
Mei Mei cast a low-level healing spell while maintaining her stance.
"蒙造化女神之恩,祈賜我少許慈憫.
Méng zàohuà nǚshén zhī ēn, qí cì wǒ shǎoxǔ címǐn.
(Through the blessing of the creator goddess, bless me and grant me a little of your mercy.)"
A soft green light glowed on the scratches all over Mei Mei. Then, as if time was sped up, Mei Mei's wounds closed without leaving a trace.
Shen whistled. "Looks like I can have more fun with you."
Giving Mei Mei no time to rest, he advanced and thrust his sword forward.
Mei Mei immediately jumped to the side. She ran from the subsequent attack and parried another slash.
Clang! Clang!
"You can't keep running around, little girl."
Thud! A kick from the side hit her waist. Mei Mei was pushed one step to the side before a slash from below aimed at her chest.
Mei Mei immediately knelt on one knee, her sword stuck in the floor with trembling hands and blood dripping quite heavily.
"You don't have to push yourself like this. Why don't you just give up?"
A sword was placed at Mei Mei's neck. With this, the duel would end.
If it were a normal duel.
Mei Mei gripped the opponent's sword blade with her bare hands. Not caring that her palms were now bleeding. She then smirked.
"Caught you!"
Pulling the opponent's sword, Mei Mei thrust her own sword forward and managed to stab the side of the opponent's waist.
Shen Dong was caught off guard, his left waist was deeply cut and bleeding profusely. He was about to swing his sword to free himself from Mei Mei's hand, which was holding his blade, but Mei Mei had already jumped back.
"You little brat?!" Shen Dong made an annoyed face because of his carelessness. This time he would not hesitate to kill the twin-tailed girl.
Mei Mei wiped the sweat flowing from her forehead. She smiled. She smiled because she had managed to inflict a significant wound on her opponent. A green light had just glowed on her chest, closing the long incision from below her ribs to her shoulder.
"I won't give up. Last night, I truly realized how weak I was. I couldn't help Sizhu and the others fight and could only watch from afar while they fought for their lives.
"Yes, I am indeed a weak little girl. A little girl who needs to be protected by others. A weak girl who can't fight with her own hands."
Mei Mei took a stance, this time her gaze serious. Her feet firmly planted on the ground.
"But now I have decided! I will become a strong girl to stand beside them. I will become a strong girl they no longer need to protect!"
Shen Dong gritted his jaw in anger and tightened his grip on his sword. He also took a stance to perform a deadly sword move.
"You!! I won't lose to a little girl like you!"
The two charged at each other. With swords in hand, both swords were raised high as their bodies leaned forward.
The tip of Shen's sword approached his opponent first due to his height and long arms. Aiming directly at Mei Mei's neck.
As Shen's cold, sharp, blood-patterned iron almost touched Mei Mei's neck...
"Healing magic is not only used to heal someone. Healing magic is used to aid the growth of cells or tissue organisms in living beings. They don't just repair but grow to be better. Therefore, a user of healing magic can use it on their own body and increase their muscle strength for a few seconds.
"Depending on the level of healing magic used, excessive use of healing magic on oneself can also cause cell destruction. Therefore, it has now been clarified that only low and medium-level healing magic can be used on an uninjured human body and give it a rapid muscle growth in an instant. Although its effect is far different from body strengthening magic, the strength it produces can exceed twice that of body strengthening magic, even if its duration is seven times shorter."
At that time, in class, Mei Mei yawned hearing her teacher's explanation. However, now that explanation was very useful to her.
As the sharp sword blade almost touched her neck for a split second. Mei Mei finished casting a low-level healing spell on herself.
"蒙造化女神之恩,
Méng zàohuà nǚshén zhī ēn,
(Through the blessing of the creator goddess, bless me.)" Mei Mei jumped, spinning her body higher than the swing of Shen's sword. Cutting a few strands of her twin tails. "祈賜我少許慈憫.qí cì wǒ shǎoxǔ címǐn. (And grant a little of your mercy.)" The slender sword in her hand managed to scratch Shen Dong's neck. In that very second, as Mei Mei was floating upside down in the air, blood gushed like a broken dam then collapsed from Shen Dong's neck.
Crat!
Mei Mei landed softly on her feet. Meanwhile, Shen Dong fell to the floor as his hands reflexively covered his wide-open neck.
She quickly walked to her opponent and cast a medium-level healing spell.
Touching Shen's head gently.
"靜心歸元,
氣轉萬脈,
靈光入骨,
百創皆合.
"Jìng xīn guī yuán,
qì zhuǎn wàn mài,
líng guāng rù gǔ,
bǎi chuāng jiē hé.
(Calm the heart and return to the origin,
Energy flows through a thousand meridians,
Spiritual light penetrates the bones,
A hundred wounds unite and heal.)"
Shen, who had been writhing and groaning in pain, slowly stopped moving and began to calm down, feeling the pain disappear from his wounds.
He checked the wounds that had just opened wide on his waist and neck like someone frantically checking their wallet.
Then he immediately stood up and drew his sword back at Mei Mei with a terrified expression.
"Y-you! A big mistake to you for healed me! The rules say until one of us cannot continue fighting or surrenders, the duel is not over! You really made a big mistake, little girl!"
Mei Mei shrugged as she picked up her sword lying on the floor.
"Do you want to feel that pain again? Alright, Come here." Mei Mei raised her sword while her index finger pointed at Shen Dong, telling him to start attacking.
Shen Dong shivered seeing Mei Mei's smiling face. Her face seemed to say that she would gladly make him die many times and heal him back over and over again.
Dropping his sword. Shen Dong then prostrated himself, his buttocks trembling.
"I surrender! I admit my defeat!"
"That girl with twintails is surprisingly quite talented in combat. She use low-level healing magic to her feet for jump boost right before her enemy slash her throat. Maybe she will become a front-line Hunter Healer like the Korean Hunter Healer you mentioned, Yuze." Jie Lin clapped her hands lightly seeing Mei Mei successfully make her opponent surrender. As a fellow woman, she felt proud of her.
Yuze Tao chuckled softly hearing that. He also clapped his hands lightly.
"Uwooh! That perverted bunny girl won!"
"I didn't expect that perverted bunny girl to live up the rumors."
"Cheers for the victory of the perverted bunny girl!"
"Who are you calling a perverted bunny girl, huh?!?"
Mei Mei pointed her sword at the noisy senior academy students who were cheering.
"Such a young men." Seeing one of the duel participants had surrendered, Yuze stepped into the arena. "With this, the winner of the first underground preliminary duel is Mei Mei!" Raising Mei Mei's hand high.
The sound of applause immediately responded to the cheer with great fanfare.
"Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou!"
***