Who would have thought that a tournament of earth mages held inside a large mountain outside the city would be such a popular place? Standing in one corner of the arena and looking around, I was amazed at the scale of this seemingly underground tournament, which was not approved by the Gaolin government, and at the same time calmly noticed ordinary schoolchildren and earth magic students watching everything from giant stone stands. No matter how this place is remembered in the canon, in reality everything was denser and not so underground. If it had been otherwise, the fame of the fighters would not have spread beyond Gaolin, and the residents would not have gathered here in droves.
Entrance to this place cost money, and the founder of the fights, Sin Fu, charged about as much for a ticket as my father used to earn from selling fabrics. Judging by how many people I saw at the entrance to the mountain and how many I saw now in the stands — and no one had bought the cheapest seats in the front rows — I came to the conclusion that he was obviously not poor. Like the locals, who were able to fill all the seats, so that the echoes they made resonated off the cave walls and the glowing crystals above our heads, making us feel uncomfortable.
On the other hand, this did not describe the situation with the tournament participants, as it was completely different. The final prize for the winner, which the judge mentioned before calling us, did not come from his pocket, but from the amount that had to be paid to participate in the tournament. In theory, if everyone contributed, there should have been a bag of gold, which is an impressive amount even for me, a man who has worked long hours in a mine and a smithy.
Oh, and of course, the tournament wasn't a standard elimination tournament where participants fought their opponents and the winners faced off in the final battle. The winner of the previous match fought all subsequent opponents. It was a so-called battle of attrition, which was supposed to demonstrate the endurance of the earth mages — their most important trait. But in this strange and charming place, there was an innocent rule: one of the strongest fighters, with seemingly superior endurance, was put up first to break the bones of the previously unregistered mages.
"First round!" shouted the referee, raising his arms. "Glyba, against the scarred Kamnereza!"
"I wouldn't brag about your muscles if I were you. You must have chosen your nickname after riding a stone cutter!" Aggressively disposed after my previous words, Glyba raised his hands and gestured that he would break me into pieces.
He took control of his fear and turned it into anger, not worrying about the difference in size. As strange as it may sound, the main feature of earth mages was their muscles. Their size did not always play an important role, because if it did, women's magic would be weaker, children would not learn anything, and even the Avatars would have problems lifting heavy weights.
Muscles rather allowed you to increase the mass you could lift off the ground, but here the quality of Qi came into play, which was improved during training, when opening the chakras, and directly depended on control. The power of earth magic depended on these two factors: you could look like a child but with excellent Qi, you could lift rocks, or you could be a not particularly muscular girl but cause earthquakes. It's just easier to get the best effect when these qualities are combined, which is why most of the really powerful earth mages seem so great. And vice versa.
How can muscles affect magic? The thing is, it was the Earth's Qi that directly influenced the development of the body, so it's no coincidence that most Earth mages are bodybuilders, and the old ones stay in perfect shape. And I suspect that this is precisely why all the Boomis live so long — this secret has yet to be studied. True, Qi only helped development — lack of training and proper nutrition will not make you Apollo. Here I am, I wouldn't be more than 180 centimetres tall at almost fifteen years old if it weren't for my control over Qi, its qualities, and training to the point of exhaustion. All the numerous scars on my body are proof of the work I put into developing my magic.
"Let's see how well the stones cut your body!" Glyba finally tore the pile of stones from the arena, amused. Rough, without any style, the uncut pieces of unknown shape looked fragile. After a pass of his hands, they all turned towards me with their sharp edges and flew through the air.
Shuh*
Standing on one leg, I made a swift swing that shattered the stones as if they had collided with a much stronger material. Pebbles and dust flew in all directions, eliciting cheers from the audience. After the strike, stones of this size did not even look dangerous.
"Phew, Kamnerez showed why he's called that, but will he be able to withstand the impact of larger stones? Glyba is starting to lift the arena next to his opponent!
The commentating judge saw two large slabs appear right around me, this time, it must be said, very smooth. Breaking free from my opponent's grip, they almost crushed my body and turned it into a pulp of flesh and blood, from which shattered bones would have fallen out. Now there was something to learn.
"Wait, he just took and ripped smooth hexagons out of the walls that almost crushed him! Cylinders are flying at the Block, which he cannot break — the strength of Kamnereza's projectiles is obviously much higher!
I copied the blacksmiths who showed how to beat metal and threw fast-moving shells at my enemy. The first two hit his body and made his bones crack — the idiot tried to break them like I did. The rest stuck right into the barrier that had formed. Unfortunately for him, the projectiles changed the shape of the metal, and the cardboard, which could hardly be called a wall, was instantly pierced.
"Wow, the hulk almost fell off the arena and lost! At that moment, the hulk picked himself up and extended the arena, creating a stone platform under his feet." We remind you that according to the rules, you have to fall off the arena, so the fight is still going on!
Yeah, right. One problem — my projectiles were accelerating well, but I couldn't increase their initial speed. Muscles, qi quality, none of that helped when you literally don't know how to use the power aspect of your magic.
"Make a move," I squinted and focused on the panicking Glyb. My muscles were ready to explode at any moment. My concentration was at its peak. At that moment...
"This is real earth magic!" He suddenly thrust his leg forward, raised one hand, and tore off a piece three times the size of his own body. I saw how the battle mage moved and used the earth. In the same second, signals from my eyes reached my brain, and my muscles were hit by electric shocks. I perfectly repeated his movement, tearing a beautiful, faceted piece of stone in the shape of a core with the greatest penetrating power from the ground.
Boom*
"Unbelievable!" the judge shouted in shock. Either my eyes were deceiving me, or they were thinking the same thing. Two powerful projectiles collided at equal distances from their launchers, and Kamnereza's cannonball simply wiped out the oncoming rock. The boulder was thrown out of the ring, and Kamnereza won thanks to his correct cut!
The spectators cheered, and I gained combat experience — it was powerful, but very slow, which was not an advantage in a battle with a large number of opponents. But it was perfect for destruction. The boulder seemed to be focused on that; his goal was to break his enemies, not to use every moment of the battle wisely. For me, such an opponent was the easiest and most useless. Perhaps that's why I was so looking forward to the others.
Immediately after me, the other opponents began to enter the arena.
"Just look at him, running around like a frog!" One mage took advantage of the excellent movement abilities of earth mages, throwing himself high into the air along with some stones. All he needed to do next was accelerate the projectile's fall to cause a violent earthquake. It was the people who came up with tricks like that who were the hardest to fight.
Some buried themselves in the ground and literally dug like moles, while others used small but extremely fast projectiles to attack, quickly exhausting their bodies. But every time, I maintained the same high standard of attack:
"Just look, he's copying his opponents!" Pushing myself high into the air with a cylinder projectile, I sent a real rocket at the "frog" who wasn't expecting such a pirouette. The shock wave that rolled across the ground caused a web of cracks. Even protection didn't help.
"Is it just me, or is he loosening the ground faster than his opponent? - Plunging into the arena and loosening the soil, I went behind the "mole" and squeezed the stone around him into an ultra-dense monolith from which he could no longer escape.
"He even had the strength to deliver such quick blows in the air. I'm wondering where he gets his strength from! - Standing in front of three stone columns, I cut them into tiny discs with blows in the air, which I then fired at another fighter. It was only through control and unflagging pace that I managed to defeat him by numbers.
"What do we see? The dark horse managed to make it to the very end, defeating his opponents with their own abilities. Just look at his body — bruises the size of my muscles and a breathless face. Apparently, he paid dearly for his desire to show off in front of his opponents," the constantly smirking judge shuddered slightly as soon as I looked up. There was nothing in common with what he was saying. Yes, I had bruises, my body was in so much pain that I would probably have to take a bath in my ointments, but I didn't show off.
The victory over magicians who were objectively not the weakest was achieved solely through control and proper technique. And before I copied the technique, I couldn't even always defend myself against it.
"Hah, since Kamneres has reached the final, it's time for the last opponent," - mole-badgers came out onto the arena and began to clear everything of stones and restore the tilted battlefield. The locals had tamed these true magicians of the earth, who could restore the arena in seconds, no matter how badly it was destroyed. I watched their movements as intently as I watched my opponents. The moment you've all been waiting for. The newcomer against the world champion! The blind bandit!
As soon as the animals dispersed, they revealed a person who had not been in the arena a second ago. Standing with her assistants, dressed in a green dress, a cloak and a belt with the sign of the earth above her head, a little girl with faded eyes looked somewhere in my direction. The stands erupted in cheers, and there was real excitement.
"This battle will be legendary!" shouted Xing Fu, and the champion's belt was taken from the little girl's hands, and the cloak, which was only for show, was removed from her shoulders. Finally, we were left alone in the arena.
"…Nice to meet you," I nodded respectfully.
"Ha ha, so you've heard of me. Then why aren't you trembling with fear?
The little girl smiled broadly. Here was an example of a person who surpassed any muscleman with his skill and quality of qi.
***
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