A clerk working in Sky Tower took out a registration form and asked Nausica to write down her information.
Nausica looked at Angor first. “You’re not doing this too? You know, when opponents are weak.”
Angor shook his head. “I still need to recover. Maybe some days later.”
Nausica whispered to Angor, “You can ask Toby to fight for you. The bird is surely strong enough to help you get past the first level quickly.”
Angor already had such an idea after watching how “King of Beasts” battled. Nausica was right. Toby could definitely beat down opponents in the first level easily. Since Toby learned the sequence of gravity, its improved burst power compensated the bird’s lack of strength. Toby was already extremely fast. Now the bird was even faster AND stronger.
Still, Angor decided to wait. “Not now. You go first. I absolutely don’t want to run into you in a match.”
Nausica complied and shrugged. “You’ve got a point. Frankly speaking, I don’t know what to do if I’ve got to go against you in the arena.”
She paused and smiled again. “You know, if that really happened, I won’t go easy on you. I’ve always wanted to fight you for real.”
“Neither will I. But I only learned a Cleanse spell. I’m no better than a mortal. There’s no way I can win,” Angor complained.
Nausica chuckled and began filling her paper.
The registration form was simple enough. She only had to write down her title and the organization she belonged to.
Her organization was, naturally, Brute Cavern. As for title… When Nausica planned to use her own name, the clerk gave her a friendly warning by saying, “Miss, I suggest you create a new title because certain Occultists can use your real name to harm your body. As the fairest battleground in the south, we wish to prevent anyone from winning this way.”
Nausica gladly listened to the advice and re-picked a title for herself. She did not give it much thought and left the word “pirate” on her paper.
The clerk raised an eyebrow at the name and reminded Nausica of something else, “You can’t change your title again once it’s determined. Are you sure you want to use this name, miss?”
Nausica nodded without a second thought.
“Miss, you should know that your title in the Sky Tower will accompany you till the very end. Even if you reached the Tower of Infinity, you still have to use the same name. As a place for battles established by Floating Mech City, a better title will help display your name to others when you become a wizard. Combined with the fame of Floating Mech City, your name will likely become your own title in the future. For example, ‘Lord of Night’ Moodick gained his title because he wrote it on this paper at the beginning. Now he’s one of the most famous wizards from Sleepless City.”
Now Angor understood why those challengers used those showy names. They were preparing for their “possible” bright future. However, nine out of ten of those people would be disappointed.
Nausica considered again. If the advice was true, she did need a better title.
The clerk waited patiently. He also wanted Nausica to use an attractive name. Insignificant names would not be able to help them advertise Sky Tower.
A moment later, Nausica wrote down her final decision: King of Blackberry.
She earned this title when different countries put her name on their bounty list when she was still a pirate. She got used to being called like that.
The clerk was pretty satisfied at the “King of something” style and put away the registration form. However, he had no idea what “Blackberry” referred to.
“King of Blackberry. As per the regulations in Sky Tower, as a challenger in the first level, you must join at least one battle each month, or your credit in the tower will become lower. A lower credit means less merit point income when winning matches,” explained the clerk. He added, “To maintain your credit, please make sure you come here and accept a schedule within a month.”
“There’s no need. I’ll join a match now,” Nausica said.
“Alright, please follow me.” The clerk brought Nausica to the lottery drawing section with a bright smile.
…
Sailum and Angor had been staying silent when Nausica did her job. When she finally determined her title, they began to whisper to each other and discuss what kind of title they would use.
“I’ll name myself the ‘Glory of Versailles’!” Sailum said, “When I become a wizard, I’ll make my name known to the whole world, and Versailles will see me as their pride! Maybe Queen Sharon will give me a personal audience!”
“Glory of Versailles… that sounds a bit childish. Nausica once mentioned that the rose gardens at Versailles Principality are pretty famous, so maybe you should call yourself ‘The Rose of Versailles’?” Angor joked.
Sailum thought about Angor’s words carefully. “Rose of Versailles? That sounds pretty good. It both displays where I’m from and our special product. But… should a man call himself a rose? Hey Angor, you’re going to challenge the tower too, right? What name will you use?”
Angor thought about it for a while and shook his head in the end. “I don’t know. I don’t like showy names or those that take too long to achieve. I’ll think about one when the time comes.”
“Choose carefully. I’m expecting a good one from you!”
Nausica returned from her lottery.
“Who’s your opponent, Miss Nausica?” Sailum asked eagerly.
Nausica only smiled. She pointed to the glass screen on the wall of the hall. “My match will be displayed there. Check it out yourself.”
Information on different arenas scrolled on the screen. Things like who won the matches, who was promoted to the next level, or how many merit points they earned…
A piece of message caught their attention: King of Blackberry VS Monarch of Eternal Freeze, Arena 7, Level 1. Match starts in 30 minutes.
“Monarch of Eternal Freeze…” Angor mumbled the name.
“Ah, that guy.” Sailum saw the name too and displayed an indifferent expression. “Miss Nausica will beat him in seconds. Um, I don’t think I have to watch the fight.”
“I’ll not watch it either,” Angor agreed. He feared that something might ruin his expectation about Sky Tower again. A weirdo who called Frost as “Freezing Earth”… Angor would not want to see that apprentice again. Who knew whether that guy would create other names like “Eternal Freeze” or something just for simple cantrips?
Nausica did not mind having fewer audiences. “Okay then. Wait for my good news.”
…
Nausica stayed at the tower for her match while Angor and Sailum left the tower and parted ways.
Sailum was going to choose some spells that went well with his art. Angor was planning to go find Dave at Prome’s Alchemy Shop.
Angor reached the shop uneventfully. There were still a lot of people gathering at the front door. They came to ask Prome for alchemy service. But Master Prome was still away, and Dave was trying to explain the fact to the customers.
When the crowd dispersed, Angor walked to Dave.
“Master Prome is out today, please come back next—oh, Angor!” When Dave heard footsteps from behind, he let out his routine explanation without a second thought. But he realized he did not need to do that when he turned around and saw Angor’s face.
“What brought you to the shop? Oh right! You broke through, no?” Dave took Angor into the shop happily. “I’ll give you the information on the challengers in the Sky Tower now.”
As they agreed last time, Dave would share his participant information with Angor. However, Angor was not an apprentice last time so he could not take the information stored in a crystal ball.
The shop looked similar to his last visit. All kinds of objects were places in disorder. Dave struggled a little to find a vacant table and asked Angor to place his crystal ball on it. Next, Dave took out his own crystal ball and controlled it to transmit information to Angor’s.
“It’ll take some time because there’s a lot of information,” Dave spoke while controlling his mana flow. “Maybe ten minutes.”
“Take it easy. I’ve something to ask too.”
“What is it?”
“Like I mentioned last time, I want to try out alchemy, so I’m here to buy some basic materials for practice,” Angor explained. He then asked, “Do you have any? I’ll buy them at the average market price.”
“You’ve just begun to study alchemy, and you’re going to use materials already? Isn’t that a bit too early? You should study the theories and basic spells first,” said Dave. He was puzzled by Angor’s decision.
“Well, I’ll combine it with practice. Since I still have merit points left, I’ll use this chance and learn by practice.”
Dave thought about the remaining balance of Angor’s merit points and did not say anything further. Dave wished to quicken his skill development by wasting money too but he was too poor for that, so he had to progress slowly. He only managed to create his first creation after spending five years.
“I’ve got a lot of low-leveled materials in stock. You can use them for fresh practice,” said Dave. He paused and asked something, “I forgot to ask, which field of alchemy are you going to study?”