As Arran walked off the arena floor, cheers and jeers sounded from the audience.
Although he felt some embarrassment at suffering so public a defeat, the only part of him that had been injured was his pride, and despite his annoyance at being defeated, he could not help but be impressed by how easily his opponent had secured a victory.
That the man was stronger than him was clear, but even then, he should have been able to at least put up a fight. Yet instead, he had fallen for what appeared to be a simple magical feint.
His opponent had distracted him with a fireball, then used the distraction to hit him with some other kind of magic — Earth, perhaps? — and take him out before he could recover.
It was a simple and seemingly well-practiced tactic that had left him completely flummoxed, and in a real battle, it would have cost him his life before he even knew what had happened.
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Forbidden Sphere Chapter 96
"She's what?" Arran looked at Liane in confusion, unsure whether he heard her correctly."The Patriarch's granddaughter," Liane repeated. "She arrived in the city just this morning, to see my father. She's a novice, and if you join her, none of the others will dare touch you.""But why would the Patriarch's granddaughter want to recruit me?""She doesn't," Liane said. "She didn't intend to recruit anyone. But my father has known the Patriarch for a long time, and when I called in some of his favors, she couldn't refuse.""You called in your father's favors for me?" Arran looked at Liane, surprised that she would have gone that far to help him. Whatever there was between her and Darkfire, she only barely knew Arran."Consider it payment for a debt I owe you," Liane said. "I know you and Darkfire were going to travel together, and I got in the way of those plans."
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 97
"…this is white witchflower. You can tell it apart from white dragonflower by looking at the edges of the leaves, which should be serrate rather than dentate. White witchflower is a powerful poison, while white dragonflower has potent healing properties. Now, if you look at the…"Arran suppressed a yawn, trying his best to feign interest.Snowcloud was usually cold and quiet, barely speaking at all for hours on end. Yet whenever they encountered plants and flowers she deemed interesting, she would launch into lengthy monologues on their medicinal properties and how to tell them apart.To Arran, all the plants still looked the same, and the main thing he had learned so far was that he had no interest in herbalism whatsoever.Between Snowcloud's silence and her enthusiastic lectures on the local vegetation, he thought he preferred the former. At least when she was silent, he didn't have t
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 98
As they made their way to the capital of the Sixth Valley, Arran was surprised at how normal the Valley seemed.He had somehow expected the Sixth Valley to be like a much larger version of Windsong's monastery, filled with nothing but mages who were constantly in training. But instead, what he found were endless fields with crops and cattle, littered with small farms, and the occasional village or town.From what Arran had seen of the Valley so far, it might as well have been any random part of the Empire, with the only difference being the mountains he could see in the distance behind him.Yet even those vanished into the distance as they traveled further from the valley's edges, until finally, only the thinness of the air was left to remind Arran that they were still in the mountains.As they traveled, Snowcloud remained her quiet self. She seldom spoke, and when she did, it was about plants by the
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 99
The man closely examined the mark on Arran's wrist, seeming to study every detail at length. Arran was already beginning to worry that something was wrong when the man finally nodded."From this day forth," the man said in a serious tone, "you will be unable to teach the True Path to those outside the Society, who haven't taken the Oath.""But I don't even know what the True Path is," Arran replied. "What if I talk about it unintentionally?""You don't need to worry about that," the man said, a practiced smile on his face. "The Oath will prevent you from discussing anything related to the True Path with outsiders, whether you intend to or not."Arran frowned. "What happens if I try to do it anyway?""You will find that you are unable to do so," the man replied. "Even Archmages are unable to break the Oath.""So that's it? I'm free to discuss other Society mat
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Arran followed Snowcloud out of the inn, and in short order, they had left the city behind."How long can you run before you get tired?" she asked him."As long as I need to," Arran said. Although he had never tested the limits of his endurance, he knew that even running at a sprint for hours did not leave him noticeably tired."Then follow me," she said. In an instant, she dashed off along the road, her moonlit silhouette almost disappearing in the distance before Arran could even respond.Immediately, he followed, sprinting after her. He caught up a few moments later, then slowed his pace to match hers as he ran beside her."Why are we in such a hurry?" he asked.Although he did not know the reason, he would have been a fool not to understand that she was fleeing something. And anything that was cause enough for her to flee would certainly be a danger to hi
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They ran until Arran lost track of the days and nights, crossing so many hills and forests that he thought they should be several hundreds of miles from the border, if not more.Snowcloud's potion kept them awake while they ran, but as the days progressed, it began to exact a toll well beyond its disgusting taste.As the days passed, Arran's coordination seemed to weaken gradually, and he would fall regularly, tripping over roots and rocks that he normally would have seen a hundred paces away. It seemed that although the potion kept him from feeling tired, it did little to cure the actual effects of his lack of sleep.In those rare moments when they weren't running, Arran's vision would sometimes randomly turn blurry, as if the world was still moving around him. Worse still was that at times, he would see shadowy figures at the edges of his vision that vanished the moment he tried to look at them.At
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 102
"The Shadowflame Society was founded thousands of years ago," Snowcloud began, "by a powerful mage known as the Saint of Shadows. He was the one who created the Society's secret teachings — the True Path — and armed with his techniques, his followers built the Shadowflame Society into a powerful sect, dedicated to advancing their knowledge of magic."At the time, there were many other such groups in the Empire. Although sometimes conflicts occurred between them, they mostly co-existed peacefully, and their power strengthened the Empire, allowing the Imperial Family to expand it until its borders stretched so far it would take years just to travel from one end of the Empire to the other."Among the sects, there was one that stood above the others. Known as the Radiant Society, it had techniques and spells that surpassed anything the other sects knew. When the Radiant Society announced that it would create an alliance to further th
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 103
The next day, Arran was all but recovered from the journey. Between his Body Refinement techniques and a good night's sleep, all that remained of the ordeal was a vague feeling of weariness, which he took to be an after-effect of Snowcloud's potion.That the potion had any after-effects at all came as a surprise — with his Essence-strengthened body, even most light injuries normally healed in a matter of hours. That the potion's harm lasted beyond that was worrying, and he resolved not to use it again unless he had no other choice.Snowcloud was already sitting at the cave's entrance, and as he sat down in front of her, she gave him an appraising look."You recovered quickly," she said. "Are you ready to begin?""Ready and impatient," he replied.She responded with a smile. "Let's get started then. The first thing I will have to do is teach you a decent Body Refinement tech