Mythshaper

With everyone awakening different types of Gifts, it was almost a pain to keep the rules of the practice duel fair. To maintain even a semblance of equality, different rules were invoked for different types of Gifts.

The boy I was fighting, Kash. had the Gift of Harden, allowing him to harden his skin. Theoretically, it would be difficult to defeat him in a true duel. So, taking his Gift into account, the instructor decided that anyone duelling Kash would need to earn 24 points to win, instead of the usual 12.

That boy couldn’t even cover his whole body with Harden, much less keep it activated throughout the duel. Needless to say, the advantage leaned heavily in Kash’s favour. But as if that changed anything.

Kash’s skill was better than half the class, but honestly, it was subpar.

After I invested half of my unallocated points into my attributes, he could barely keep up with me. That’s not even counting how easily I could catch him off guard. Whenever my duelling cane charged towards his head, Kash would instinctively close his eyes, preparing a futile block.

I didn’t even need to use my Shaper skills as I slowly pushed towards victory.

“Three points to Arilyn,” called the referee. “He is victorious, with a final score of 24 to 7.”

“Phew,” I breathed, removing the helmet from my head. A quick check of my Profile told me I only needed one more victory to complete the first layer of Duelling.

My eyes darted through the hall, searching for Priam. He stood with a group of others, having already fought two of his regular duels—and won both with barely any effort. Honestly, if not for wanting to complete Way of Duelling, there was nothing here for him. He could practically win against more than half the class without even activating Celerity. That was how far ahead he was.

Well, now it was time for me to find out just how far ahead he was compared to me.

With that thought in mind, I approached him, duelling cane in one hand, helmet in the other.