3 Chapter 3: Five years later (1/2)
”Do you seriously think you can defeat me?”
My opponent scoffed as he punched me. I blocked his fist as best as I could, but his strength was overwhelming. Despite my best efforts, I was sent hurtling several meters back, slamming into the ground with a cough.
”Ugh…”
Wiping the blood from my mouth, I climbed to my feet and narrowed my eyes behind my glasses. Good thing that punch didn't knock my glasses off my face, or I would have been blinded. And in a fierce battle like this, losing my vision (or having it blurred to near blindness, thanks to my horrible eyesight) would cost me the match.
My opponent leered, already thinking that he won. And he had every reason to. In terms of parameters, Tie Quan's stats were above mine except in magic. But I hadn't been able to cast a single spell.
”Give up,” Tie Quan sneered as he stepped toward me. I merely dropped to a crouch and got ready to cast the only spell I knew.
I was confident that if I succeeded in casting it, I would win the battle.
Unfortunately…
”You think I'm stupid enough to let you cast your summoning spell?!”
Tie Quan suddenly appeared in front of me, hammering my midriff and interrupting my spell. I doubled over, blood bubbling from my mouth. He them smashed an elbow into my face, knocking my glasses askew and reddening my vision. As I sprawled on the ground, he stomped on my spine, causing me to shriek in pain.
”The match is over.” Teacher Ruff Fielding quickly interceded and stepped in to separate Tie Quan from me. He gave my opponent a stern stare. ”You've already defeated your opponent. There is no need to go overboard.”
”Hmph. It's that trash's fault for not giving up.”
Tie Quan gave me a baleful stare before leaving the arena. The gigantic holographic billboard above us announced his victory, and showed how many points were allocated. Tie Quan snorted when he saw that he only earned two points.
As for me, I normally would have points deducted from my Matchmaking Rating, but right now my MMR was zero.
The ninety-ninth loss in a row, huh? I thought bitterly to myself as I tried to crawl to my feet. Teacher Fielding offered me a hand and I gratefully took it.
”It's not too late to change your class, you know.” Teacher Fielding looked at me in concern. ”The summoner class may be powerful in the late-game, but right now the meta revolves around fast, early-game aggression. Your opponents are not going to give you the time or chance to cast your summoning spell.”
”…I know.”
I merely nodded as I accepted Teacher Fielding's assistance to get to my feet. If I had mastered a few summoning spells, perhaps it would have worked out better. Generally, the more powerful the summoned beast, the longer the time and the more magical energy it required to summon it. I had learned extremely advanced summoning spells, but the summoned beasts I had dominion over took too long to summon. Three minutes at least – more than enough time for my opponent to pummel me to a pulp.
Just like how Tie Quan obliterated me earlier. And not just him – I had been losing miserably for the last ninety-nine matches.
Before I could summon my magical beast, I was completely helpless and vulnerable. Summoners could be powerful when allowed to complete their casting, but opponents knew that and often exploited the window in which they were weakest, taking them out before they could summon their familiars. the current meta relied on brutal, swift assaults that took out the opponent in under a minute, or at least defensive magic that helped to mitigate that and turn it into a battle of attrition in the wielder's favor. Unfortunately, summoning as a class of magic fell out of favor of most people and became unpopular because of its tremendous weakness and the impractical time window it required for the caster to finish his spell.
The reason was simple.
The monsters in the real world weren't going to obediently wait three minutes just because you asked them to. And neither were your opponents obligated to do nothing and wait for you to cast your spell either.
I now understood that Angelica was a special case. I didn't know how Dad – Shun Yin – did it, but he was able to summon Angelica near instantaneously. Yet Angelica was extremely powerful. Was it because she was a human-type spirit? An Angel? Or was there something different about their contract? I wasn't sure. Dad told me that Angelica was different, was special, and Angelica told me that Dad was an extraordinary summoner, but that wasn't helping me in my own summoning.
Right now, I was crushed one-sidedly by every student in my school.
”You should head to the infirmary,” Teacher Fielding instructed. I nodded wearily, and trudged in the direction of the infirmary.
While walking along the corridor of Jing Tian Magic Academy, I could feel the stares from my fellow schoolmates weighing down on me.
”Look, it's that Richard Huang again.”
”He's in quite the miserable condition. He probably lost again.”
”How many times has he lost now?”
”About a hundred?”
”Why does he insist on using summoning?”