PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Such a situation would be normal during events like the challenge battle that took place at the end of each month, but finding this kind of meeting on a common day was a bit unusual; especially if one looked more closely and identified a couple of different badges.

The reason was none other than the duel of a servant of the sect who wanted to become a disciple, but therein lies the anomaly and anyone who stopped to think about it for a second would realize the problem.

It was not normal that such a common and uninteresting event would have attracted so much attention, because in addition to a couple of people who attended because of the curiosity of seeing someone die; a duel like this rarely attracted a spectator.

But today’s duel was different, not only outer disciples but more than one inner disciple and even core disciples could be seen roaming the training area to attend such an event.

Of course, anyone listening to the conversations happening between the highest-ranking disciples would realize that they were not interested in the event at all but we’re more interested in the reaction of a certain person who was the target of the one who organized such fanfare.

And that person arrived just in time accompanied by someone who would become a victim of circumstances or so everyone presents believed, it was a pity that these people were destined to be wrong.

Everyone here believed that Desmond would be brutally killed in the duel and they had reasons to believe it as they knew a thing or two about the unusual arrangements made for the showdown.

But the biggest problem with their reasoning was that they were unaware of Desmond’s real strength, which would become the determining factor that would make everyone here nothing but buffoons.

.....

To be fair, neither viewers nor those plotting against Mei Fei Long were to blame for underestimating Desmond in such a way; after all, he was a servant... how strong should he be?

The fact that they will select Desmond’s current adversary could already be considered a blatant and cynical abuse; they would never think that such an arrangement was not enough.

The problem in question is that they thought of Desmond as someone who would not exceed the maximum level of the zero-star class, having such a level as a servant would already be considered amazing in the first place.

But Desmond was someone whose strength as an Elementalist was already infinitely close to the middle level of the one-star class and although mana users were at a disadvantage in close combat against an aura user; such was not entirely the case for Desmond.

Due to his combat style and the use of a reinforcement skill as advanced as Full-Drive, Desmond could fight hand-to-hand against an aura user of the same level as long as they did not use high-level martial arts.

Such was the assessment Desmond got from Mei during their training last week, although that took into account the results of that training in advance.

Originally when Desmond trained with Mei he had the same recurring problem, his attacks were unable to break through the defensive barrier around Mei’s body, and although Desmond knew the solution was to infuse mana into his attacks in the same way that Mei infuses Ki into her attacks, he wasn′t able to do it.

Therein lies the difficulty, Desmond had not been able to control a second internal mana flow while holding Full-Drive, the few times he had tried it had ended up interrupting the ability and there were even occasions where he ended up injuring himself.

In the end, Desmond chose to ask Mei’s advice and her answer helped her a lot, she told Desmond that it was not a question of control or at least not a question of conscious control.

Only with those words, Desmond achieves a basic understanding of what he needed to do, so he spent several days training strenuously not in the use of Full-Drive but in trying to train his body to use mana when attacking; trying to create a type of muscle memory.

And finally, he succeeded, after which Desmond did not need to devote a portion of his concentration to exert such a mana boost that he could focus his conscious efforts on maintaining control of Full-Drive and thus maintaining the ability to bout him.

Desmond had not only learned a little about Mei’s fighting style over the past week but had also achieved some mastery of a skill that he had trouble with in the past, all thanks to Mei’s advice.

With all of the above, Desmond was quite confident in himself that he was not the least bit nervous as he walked with Mei towards the place where his opponent was waiting for him.

As Mei and Desmond passed they heard more than one person speak behind their backs but chose to ignore them, the only detail that caught their attention was the occasional comment about Desmond’s opponent.

To no one’s surprise really, Desmond’s opponent was quite unusual, not the person as such but the status of him... an inner disciple.

There is no doubt that the people who conspired against Mei Fei Long have no shame in fixing such a ridiculous opponent, but to the surprise of many Desmond and Mei’s reactions were not what they expected.

They were smiling, they did not seem in the least concerned about the arrangements made for combat and although many people believed that this was due to their stupidity or ignorance; the most perceptive noticed more.

While Mei and Desmond waited for the agreed time for the fight to arrive, a familiar figure made an appearance in the surroundings, Miao Xiauyue.

In a beautiful floral robe different from the one she wore last time, her mere presence completely changed the mood of the people around her and the compliments were soon reaching her ears; but Miao Xiauyue had her attention on more than just those bootlickers.

Desmond immediately felt Miao Xiauyue’s gaze on him, giving to her a brief signal with his gaze, Desmond continued his conversation with Mei who continued to pretend not to be distracted by Xiauyue’s presence.

If he had to be honest, Desmond would rather not have to deal with Miao Xiauyue at all, but given the relationship, they both shared with Mei, such a thing didn’t seem feasible, and as much as Desmond was uncomfortable dealing with the girl, the truth is that they both had interests in common.

Of course, there was a reason why Desmond didn’t like dealing with Xiauyue and that is that she was too insightful, Miao Xiauyue’s intellect was in no way inferior to her beauty and that made her a difficult person to deal with; especially for Desmond.

In that sense Desmond could only blame himself, Desmond was used to having to lie and manipulate the people around him to achieve his goals, such was his modus operandi when dealing with strangers and otherwise he would not be in such an awkward situation with Xiauyue.

In the few interactions, Desmond and Xiauyue had had in the last week, she had noticed more than one of Desmond’s subtle lies which had led to an argument between them.

If not for the friendship they shared with Mei and their subsequent discovery of their common goals, it was not an exaggeration to say that the relationship between Xiauyue and Desmond was on the fast track to an enmity.

But in the end, they both reached some kind of unspoken understanding, in short Desmond, made clear his intention to help Mei with the people conspiring against her, and Xiauyue immediately joined him with this task.

As for the rest of Desmond’s intentions, as long as he was not a threat to Mei Fei Long or the sect; Xiauyue didn’t care.

In fact, some of the plans they formulated together were related to the combat that Desmond would have today.

That is since they were here waiting for their enemies to show up to witness the results of their conspiracy, wouldn’t it be a shame if Desmond and Xiauyue didn’t take the opportunity to spill some blood?

Maybe they’ll be lucky and their enemies will be stupid enough to reveal themselves if Desmond provoked them enough and let’s be honest, among Desmond’s many abilities to piss someone off he ranked high on the rankings.

And of course, Miao Xiauyue would have her role to fulfill but that would have to wait, due to the weight of her status it would be counterproductive if she intervened too early in the events that would happen next as perhaps it would make her enemies too shy to introduce herself.

Once these were presented then she could come out of it and flagrantly begin to sever limbs and dish out pain to teach those hiding in the shadows a lesson, anyway, what could they do to her? She was the daughter of the sect master and the number one disciple of the sect, she was the ultimate trump card when the sect tried to compete for resources so few would dare try to hurt her.

And everyone who really dared to try ended up paying the maximum price, these people could only blame themselves for thinking of her as a soft and defenseless woman; when her whole body was a deadly weapon.

And so on this seemingly common day, in a seemingly common event, Desmond and Miao Xiauyue waited for their adversaries to appear so that each one would play his role in today’s play.