Chapter 372 (1/2)

After Paolo’s silent transformation, the Ghosthound said nothing, but he returned to the crowd. Donny could see that those of his volunteer honor guard that were part of Paolo's crew were particularly reverent in their gaze, while Kayle's crew seemed somewhat displeased.

But the other match ended in a surprise; to finish Kayle off, Tina summoned a Flame Tiger, which stayed in a fixed position, but threw constant fireballs towards Kayle. Using her remaining Mana, Tina controlled Kayle's movements, forcing him to accumulate damage. And her Mana lasted longer than his Stamina, which was surprising.

Kayle sat down on the bench, sighing and depressed. He rolled back and forth. He threw his hands up to the sky.

He sighed again.

Finally, he looked in the Ghosthound's direction, and coughed. ”Hmm... I really feel like I am only a single step away from understanding something profound...”

The silence was deafening, so much so that Paolo's snort echoed throughout the arena.

After a few seconds, the Ghosthound walked out onto the arena once more. ”Your knives... why don't they just cut through everything? If you cede those things beyond your range, it's only fair you demand that range belong to you.”

Then he walked away. From his hunched posture, Donny was sure that the Ghosthound felt embarrassed from his first outburst, and even more uncomfortable from the forced second, and would spend some time hiding.

But to his credit, Kayle began to chuckle, and then laugh maniacally, a strange aura appearing around his knives.

”Kukuku... to think... I was neglecting my ultimate weapon...” Kayle laughed, a silvery glow surrounding his weapons. Now it was Paolo's group's turn to have ugly expressions as they looked on at the arena.

The final was Alana versus Tina, the powerful blessed individual of the Ghosthound going up against the unknown girl from Donnyton. Tina, perhaps channeling her inner flame mage, had dyed her hair a vivacious shade of red-violet that was difficult to look away from. A lot of the men among the audience were looking at her in a way that made it clear her rather close fitting robe was popular among them.

Meanwhile, Alana was more metal than woman, wearing very serviceable chainmail mixed with shaped bone plates, specially made by Sam. She had a spear that was glittering with runes, which she was slowly polishing as the crowd repositioned themselves to gather around the central stadium, where the final match would occur.

Tina was surrounded by a group of people with similarly bold hairstyles. One girl had a mohawk, and the tall, gangly male that was holding Tina’s hand had his hair in pigtails. They talked quietly amongst themselves. While watching them carefully, Donny gestured for one of Daniel’s aides to bring him the info that he had on those kids.

It was strange to think of them as kids, considering they were probably of an age with himself, but… Responsibility had a certain propensity to warp your outlook. To Donny, these people who hadn’t run a Village for almost a year were just kids, enjoying their relative freedom. Not that he would begrudge Randidly his lost innocence, but…

His newfound power and influence came with drawbacks.

There really wasn’t any true information to be had about the kids, only two of them had received Classes from Donnyton, including Tina. The other 3 had gotten them from Franksburg. Not that it really mattered, but… Donny made a mental note to push a little harder for the information exchange with the other town. Donnyton had all the expertise, but Franksburg had numbers an order of magnitude higher than Donnyton, possessing somewhere between 5 and 10 times the population.

Tina’s Class was Fire Caller, and her stat gains, if not her Skills, were recorded here. It was a Class that no one had achieved since, which showed it was rare, and the stat gains were high, which meant it was powerful. But neither of those explained. Why she had done so well in the tournament. Not to doubt her skill, but…

Donny’s eyes were flinty as he examined the group. There was something amiss.

The fight started without fanfare, the two fighters 20 meters apart. Instantly, Alana rushed forward, holding her shield in front of her, while the spear was pressed tightly against her body. As expected, Tina danced backwards, throwing Fireballs and trying to create space.

When it became clear that Fireballs were far from cutting it, she began alternating the typical Fireballs with Flame Slashes and Fire Grenades. This caused Alana’s speed to slow down, but it was far from being able to stop her, or inflict any real damage.

Then, with a shout, Tina pointed upward, and her flaming bird descended, spewing fire towards Alana. This was the first real damage that she was forced to face, and there was a split second where Donny’s eyes narrowed, watching the fight. Because Alana hesitated.