42 Spar
Sophia was confident that she could snatch Hans of his golden ring, but the situation took an unexpected turn.
After they arrived at the training hall, they were greeted by its expansive, well-lit space. The white floor and the walls made it even brighter, especially to Hans's eyes.
They moved beside a sparring platform that was slightly raised in comparison to the normal floor while being connected to it by two steps.
While Hans stepped up on the platform, Sophia took out an expensive-looking phone from her pocket and proceeded to tap the screen a couple of times before holding it to her ear.
In the absolute silence that enveloped the deserted training room, the sound of the phone ringing echoed, audible even to Hans.
"Beeeep, beeeep, beee- "
Before the third beep could finish, the call was answered by the other side.
"William," the woman called seriously, prompting an immediate response from the other end, "Yes ma'am?"
"I need you to SPAR with my young friend here. Come to training hall number one and don't forget to bring your spear along."
"…I'll be there in a minute," the male voice replied.
After a couple of minutes, the doors of the training room were opened, revealing the young man standing behind it.
His light brown hair matched his eyes and he was dressed in what seemed like a training suit with a blue and white colour.
In his right hand, he held a silver spear, but since it was causally posed on his shoulder, it looked more like a traveling stick.
Just by the way he was holding it, Hans could tell that the spear was extremely heavy.
The man who had just entered was quite concerned about the reason he was summoned.
Looking around for a moment, the man thought, 'It's not new for her to call me to spar with someone to show them the guild's power, but this is the first time I've been summoned to the training room No. 1.'
'The materials used for the fortification of the structure here are all precious and are made specifically to sustain high-ranking awakened attacks. Where is this fearsome adversary I have to face this time?!'
He shook his head left and right, searching for the opponent, but in the entire room he could only see the guild master and a young boy.
'Maybe he's not here yet,' William thought, relaxing his tensed shoulders.
But the moment he approached the guild master, her announcement shattered that assumption.
"Get up, you can start immediately."
'What!? Could it be that I have to fight with this guy?'
William wasn't one to discriminate against someone by their age, since he himself was twenty-six years old and was considered young and a prodigy for his age, having reached B-Rank through countless efforts and training and holding the precious position of vice guild master in a big association like the Blaze Guild. Yet, it seemed strange to him that someone as young as Hans could possibly spar with him.
Also, guys younger than twenty-one weren't typically involved with the awakened, despite themselves being one. This was because their family members would normally stop them from doing such dangerous jobs and even after the catastrophe, schools were still a thing, forcing most of the young people to attend them until their mid-twenties.
Well, those two limitations didn't apply to Hans, since his family couldn't tell him anything and he had dropped out of school as soon as he was able to.
But no one knew that despite being young, Hans was already a powerful mage, probably the best they could find in Chicago.
Reluctant to fight, William readied his weapon, holding it with both hands before assuming a battle stance.
'It doesn't matter that he's young.
If it'll help the guild, I'll win. Nonetheless... I should hold back enough to not accidentally kill him. I think about 20% of my strength should be enough. Right? Please, lord, tell me that he is strong enough to survive that much of my power.'
William was a rightful guy, someone who definitely didn't want to be charged with murder, however, he was still afraid of losing and embarrassing himself after underestimating his opponent.
Just as he was ready to dash forward and strike Hans with his spear, the red-haired woman's voice halted William in his tracks.
"William," he turned around, meeting her gaze.
"Do not hold back. He might look young, but he should be about the same rank as yours," she advised.
"What???" William was astonished hearing this and glanced at Hans in disbelief.
"This kid has the same rank as me?"
He kept switching his gaze between Hans and the guild leader, silently questioning the validity of the statement, "Are you for real."
But the woman's serious expression compelled him to reconsider his approach.
'If what the leader says is true, then I think I'll need to change my strategy. It's time to go all out. Just, please don't die, I'm still young and don't want to spend the next few years of my life rotting in prison,' he thought to himself, acknowledging the gravity of the situation.
Even if he was uncertain of his opponent's strength, William charged at Hans, wielding his long spear which produced a menacing swish through the air.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Hans calmly observed his opponent, analyzing his body with the skill {Mystic Insight}.
[Name: William Johnson
Age: 29
Class: Stone Lancer (RARE)
Lvl: 175
Strength: 225
Agility: 111
Endurance: 213
Wisdom: 39
Class Skills:
{Earth Spearmanship (Rare)
Effect: Enables the user to imbue their spear technique with the earth attribute, increasing the weight and the force of strikes or slashes.}
(Unawakened){????}(Rare)
Skills:
{Spearmanship} (C-Rank)
{Hand To Hand Combat} (D-Rank)
Description: A powerful warrior with incredible potential, he has not yet fully mastered all his class's skills and some even remain unawakened. However, he possesses remarkably refined spearmanship.
If he continues to grow at his current pace, it would take about half a dozen years to reach S-Rank.
Evaluation: Mid B-Rank]
'What a pity,' Hans thought to himself.
It was a well-known fact that the person standing before him was a prodigy. William had gained fame online for his rapid growth in the ranks, becoming a B-Rank awakened and had also managed to climb the ladder to become a vice guild master, all this despite having only awakened a couple of years ago
However, it was indeed a pity that such a talent had emerged relatively late, if he had awakened earlier, Chicago City might've already become the birthplace of an S-Rank awakened.
Other than that, Hans wasn't concerned about anything.
He deftly avoided the spear slash that was extremely fast, causing the heavy spear to smash to the ground, creating an incredibly loud noise. However, thanks to the fact that it was specially made to withstand such attacks, the floor remained intact and didn't develop even a single scratch, nonetheless, just the shockwaves created by the spear's hit were enough to reach Sophia, causing her hair to flutter.
The spear once again regained its speed, this time aimed at Hans's waist, but the boy skilfully jumped, effortlessly avoiding the attack yet again.
They exchanged a few blows, which actually just included William's attacks, while Hans was simply avoiding them, following his opponent and reading his strong but not-so-fast movements, thanks to the passive effect of the skill {Mystic Insight}.
'He's really good,' while William acknowledged, he didn't seem to show any signs of fatigue.
'It's about time to get serious!' he decided and soon the white spear he held was enveloped in a golden aura, making it gleam in the already well-lit room.
After that, William advanced, anticipating his opponent's countermove.
Hans was really tired of acting like a warrior and had already collected enough information about his opponent, so when William's aura erupted from his spear, Hans determined that it was time to start fighting seriously– time to fight like a mage.
Sophia watched the battle unfold and wondered why Hans had refused to engage in armed combat when given the chance.
Just as she saw the vice guild master imbue his spear with aura, Sophia waited for Hans to respond, expecting him to infuse his aura in his fists and try to fight and in such a scenario she was confident of her victory.
However, contrary to her expectations, Hans manifested something entirely unexpected, it wasn't aura, it was...
"Mana?!"
"Mana!!"
Both the onlookers in the arena exclaimed in unison.
