Genius Seventh Prince 154 A Top Contestant Figh

"It's just a small effort anyways." 

"Hmm... that's true. Here I am, cracking bones and you are trying to patch me up with a bandage-esque healing spell." Nodding seriously, Leilena poked fun at his modesty.

Hearing the joking tone, Greyson did not take her seriously and just shook his head. 

"Sorry, I'll try to provide better healing service when I am more at my peak. Should we head out soon? The next location should be the one with all the wooden tokens. We should try to get the best placement that we can. That might get us some unknown perks."

"No, we should wait it out. I still need time to fully recover. Who knows what's on that side? We can't just pop over. Remember what Prince Braiden said? They cannot keep watch over what happens on the inside, so there are a lot of people who have no qualms about murdering under these circ.u.mstances. Didn't we just kill a group of four earlier? But no one will know it was us."

"I don't think there would be anyone that would be hard for us to handle even in this state..."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Too naive, my student. Of course, individually, almost no one can hold a candle against you. But who said anything about them having to attack you one-on-one? They could just come out you with a group of magister level stage five magicians and there would not be much you could do to fight them all off at once. Plus, I can't tell if it's your young ambition that pushes you towards wanting to get the best placement you can, but it's unnecessary. We can just get any one of the top 32 tokens and make it to the next round without any issues. The awards are not that big a deal in front of the main goal of coming, right?"

Pausing, Greyson reflected that he had no put enough thought behind the situation. A little too eager to prove himself, he had unknowingly tried pus.h.i.+ng to get the top places. Sitting down, he began to meditate next to his teacher to calm himself while she focused on recovering. Once he a.n.a.lyzed their situation, they should not be too far behind the leading groups if at all. Both his teacher and he had not run into a truly difficult fight and ended each challenge in a decent time. Even taking this small break to recuperate and heal would not largely impact their overall results in this part of the compet.i.tion. From the past two stages of the selection to this current dungeon one, Greyson could see there is not much time in between for rest. Therefore, he needed to stay in good health, so he would not have to partic.i.p.ate injured in the succeeding stages.

A couple of silent hours pa.s.sed before Leilena exhaled deeply and opened her eyes. Jumping up, she no longer looked deeply affected by her wounds. Sensing the movement earlier, Greyson was already walking towards the exit with excitement. Part excitement to get the token and see how well he did in this stage of the compet.i.tion and part relief that this dungeon adventure was coming to an end. Chuckling at her little student's endearing behavior, Leilena also picked up the pace and caught up with him. Both glancing at each other, they stepped into the doorway at the same time. Now completely used to the feeling, Greyson calmly waited for his sight to return and for his feet to hit solid ground.

Starting as a small dot, the light slowly opened up and turned into a new scene. Curiously looking around, the teacher and student pair saw the wooden tokens hanging. To their shock, all of them were still there! Breaking out into a wide grin, Greyson had to admit that the feeling of winning was still great. Almost running over, he wanted to quickly grab onto the first wooden token. He and Leilena discussed earlier on who would get the first-place token. He wanted to give it up at first as a way of showing respect, however, she easily convinced him to just take it. This was because her goal was just to pa.s.s through the compet.i.tion and prove her biological family wrong for underestimating her. She did not need first-place for this to happen. Also, although she was not some useless ornament, he did end up solving the hardest issues for them in the dungeon since he was stronger. Unable to say anything against her logic, Greyson understood that he should reap the rewards that he deserved. Everyone needed at least some selfishness to survive.

His hand barely grazed the token before he sensed the incoming attack. Putting up an earth s.h.i.+eld as quickly as possible, he was still sent flying backward by the colliding explosion. Protected by some sort of s.h.i.+eld, the tokens were not at all affected by the action. Using the wind element, Greyson caught his balance and stopped his body's momentum in mid-air. Turning towards the origin of the sneak attack, he saw a group of five figures walking out of the dust. Leilena silently joined him by his side to fight against the newcomers. Slowly becoming visible, Greyson finally got a decent look at the group. They were all women; four of them were extremely beautiful while the one in front could only be described as average. However, she seemed to be the leader. Her unique point was her big, blue-grey eyes that matched the symbol of the Yce family while her hair was not black but dark blue. Dressed in almost glowing silver armor, she had a valiant and confident air that was hard to ignore. Recognizing her almost right away, Greyson was surprised to have run into her at this point.

The young woman leading the group was none other than Eris Whitstone from the Maewen Kingdom. Placing third in the second round, she was important enough for Greyson to look her up and do his research. She was the second princess from the Tier One Maewen Kingdom who was extremely favored by her father for her talents and intelligence; the most likely choice to be next-in-line for the throne. Currently a magister level stage five magician, she was born a dual-element - water and lightning - magician which set her apart from her other siblings. From a young age, she showed high intelligence and inborn traits for leaders.h.i.+p. Secretly building up her own forces and economic resources with no help from her parents, she was a woman who stood out from the crowd. Her only fault was her lack of a betrothed partner. Such an issue was surprisingly important for future heirs to the throne. Greyson accredited her lack of pursuers to men's ego. They did not wish to be lower in a relations.h.i.+p. This type of thought process was not as common in a place like the Snow Country which acknowledged Queen-run kingdoms but still existed in most of the aristocratic families. 

Meeting face-to-face with this famed princess, Greyson almost immediately readied himself for battle while glancing at the other four women. They were all gorgeous beauties in their own right, but held the modesty of a maidservant while trailing behind Eris. From the earlier heat after the attack, Greyson guessed that the attacker had come from these four and was a fire element magician. The power behind that attack was most definitely magister level stage five. Going off the other three's equally confident stances, they were also probably at that level. The pair were not only outnumbered but also outmatched. Normally, equal level and stage opponents did not really matter much to Greyson, however Eris was not someone to be underestimated. 

On other side, Eris' eyes also lit up when she spotted Greyson. Everyone part of the selection paid extreme attention to this young black horse and she was no exception. The young woman next to Greyson was unfamiliar to her, but Eris' attention seemed to stick on Leilena slightly longer than usual. Stopping just in front of the pair, a charming smile broke out on her face.

"And this beautiful young lady is?" Pulling Leilena's hand, Eris kissed it lightly. Just a slight brush that stayed within the borders of proper etiquette. But it was just that this etiquette was laid out for a man to a woman normally...

Ever-smiling Leilena's expression suddenly paused in confusion as she stiffly nodded and spoke her name.

"Leilena... Leilena Holland." Finding the Roland surname left a bad taste in her mouth, Leilena just used her adoptive parent's surname to introduce herself. Anyways, she was registered under this name in the compet.i.tion, so it was not as if she was lying.

"Sister Leilena, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Putting her right hand over her left shoulder, Eris gave a polite and graceful bow. Her maids, on the other hand, seemed to want to glare a hole through Leilena's previously outstretched hand.

Observing all this as a bystander, Greyson suddenly felt that Eris not having a betrothed may not be for the obvious reason...

Shaking his head, Greyson did not dive deeper as he had no interest in idle gossip. 

"You must be Greyson. I have read much about you." Holding out her hand, Eris gestured for a handshake. Obliging, Greyson nodded to confirm his ident.i.ty.

"And you must be the famous, Princess Eris Whitstone. I have also read much about you."

"Haha, all great things I suppose. My biography is grossly exaggerated and pompous, all that's missing is a halo. Your story, though, is based quite purely on fact. As it only includes what you have accomplished in this selection." Remaining the right amount of humble, Eris joked.

"Legend usually has some parts based in fact. I doubt it's that far off base. I'm not all that great." Playing along with it, Greyson returned in kind.

"Well, that seems far enough with the pointless pleasantries. I have a suggestion for how we do this, would you care to listen?"

Indicating for her to continue with his hands, Greyson was all ears.

"I'm not someone completely unreasonable, nor am I so shameless as to just beat you with numbers. I have my own pride as a genius. So, this is what I will do. I will fight with you for the first-place token. If I win, my group and I will get the first five tokens while you and Lady Leilena will get the 6th and 7th. However, if you win, I will let you take the 1st place token. The remaining five after will still go to my group while the 7th token would still go to you. I believe that this is the fairest way to go about it. Otherwise, it would be a little too nice of me to completely give up the best spots even though I have the advantage." 

Hesitating, Greyson knew that Eris' suggestion was fair and helped him out. But it seemed to be a shame that Leilena would have to get the 7th place token no matter what. Maybe he should just risk it and try fighting them all? As thoughts flew by in his head, he was interrupted by Leilena who spoke up in his stead.

"We accept this wager."

"But-" Greyson interjected but was stopped by just a glance from his teacher. Honestly, he also knew that this was the best way and he truly did want to try his hand at fighting Eris without worrying about her allies. Thus, since Leilena seemed sure of her decision, Greyson did not try to fight back.

"Perfect." Brightly smiling, Eris waved her hand and the four maids backed away without a word. Turning her full attention to Greyson, she found herself more excited than she expected. Leilena also cleared the s.p.a.ce for the two to start fighting.

Putting out her hand, she gripped onto a matching silver spear that appeared before slamming into the ground with an intimidating *thump!* As a now Tier Four Blacksmith, Greyson could tell almost right away that this spear was a powerful top tier four magic tool.

Matching his opponent, Greyson brought out Genesis this time. He wanted to use the full range of his elements and not just the water element, so he used his tier three magic tool instead.

Silently looking at each other for a moment, Eris broke into action first. Her first action was not to come close to him but instead to cast a large encompa.s.sing Ice Meteor attack. Confused by such an attack, Greyson easily dodged the coming chunks of ice and watched as they broke apart the ground. After the dust settled, there lay a newly created crater in the ground that stretched almost the entire open field. Not losing her easygoing grin, Eris summoned a wave a water that filled the crater to the brim. Now like a small manmade lake, she balanced herself on top of the water as did Greyson. Slightly understanding her ideas now, Greyson had to say that it was a pity that she was trying this with him. As expected, her next move was to release lightning into the water from her feet. Lighting up purple, the entire water was arcing with electricity. Now making her move, she moved unhindered by the environment and instead thrived. In just a moment, her spear thrust was already upon Greyson. Although a.s.suming that Greyson was paralyzed with pain, she did not get careless and made sure to keep herself ready. 

As she feared, Greyson looked up at her completely unfazed. At the same level, anyone versing someone of the same element would have difficulties ending fights quickly as they both have certain amounts of resistance towards their own element. Lighting up with a blinding purple flash, he parried her spear thrust with his sword. Like a crack of thunder, they both recoiled from each other.

"It seems I have made a fool of myself early in the match." Although she spoke such words, Eris did not seem too fazed by this change of events. She knew that her little plan was temporary, anyways, because the dungeon healed itself. In line with her thoughts, the ground was already starting to recover and become flat as the water flowed outwards and seemed to be draining away.

Almost immediately after speaking those words, Eris no longer held back. Spurred into action, her legs lit up with the purple of the lightning element. In a flash, she arrived in front of Greyson once again and began to show her superb spear skills. Slightly pressured by the outcoming attacks and ease with which Eris handled her spear, Greyson could feel that he was losing ground. No matter if it was closer or further away, Eris could smoothly wield her weapon despite its length. Knowing his practice with his weapon lost by far, Greyson did not think to end this with his sword. In an instant, Genesis disappeared while snow-white scaled appeared on his arm. Catching the spear with great strength, he caught Eris by surprise and twirled around slam her away with his newly appeared tail. Having to let go of her spear, Eris tried to lessen the tail's impact by putting both her arms up and summoning a water wall. However, everything happened too fast and she was still sent flying away. 

"Part dragon? White scales... You must be the descendant of some Snow Dragon. How interesting!" Armor cracked a little, Eris spit some blood from internal injuries. Gesturing with her hand, the spear that was in Greyson's hand disappeared and reappeared in her grasp. Expecting such a result, Greyson did not panic as such an ability was quite common.

Not backing off at all, she once again pounced towards him. Surprised she was going for the frontal attack once again, Greyson wondered what her plan was. As he expected, her attack was not so simple. The step right before Greyson her foot and the ground contacting it turned to ice and she used that to quickly slide around him and stab from behind. Trying his best to keep up, Greyson dodged towards the left side but Eris still managed to cut through his right shoulder. Fading into his shadow, he reappeared some feet away to catch his breath and began to rapidly heal his shoulder with the light element. Once she spotted him once again, Eris obviously did not want to wait around and threw her spear sparkling with lightning. At the speed of light, the spear arrived so fast that Greyson could only set up a fragile s.h.i.+eld to divert the pointed end to the opposite direction of where he was dodging. The spearpoint exploded into the wall next to him as Greyson rolled away safely. Half-healed, he no longer concentrated on his shoulder but his opponent. 

Since Eris did not focus on ice magic, he decided to forego using the fire element and instead used his earth element. A warm, brown glow radiated from him as long, metal-enforced branches shot from the ground towards Eris. Dodging around while attacking with both her spear and water element, she watched as they bounced off the branches uselessly. Realizing she was continually moving backwards and losing ground, Eris stopped suddenly and burst towards Greyson instead. She tried to use the branch to propel herself towards him, but was instead caught by the new th.o.r.n.y branch that sprouted out to grip onto her ankle. Hissing in pain, she felt the sharp edges dig deep into her ankle. Coming to a complete stop, she knew she had to break apart the grip as she would risk tearing her ankle apart if she tried pulling her foot out. Sending out violent sparks of lightning, she tried to explode the wood. Seemingly harmless thorn bush-like branches reflected the lightning right back at her as she let out a grunt of pain. Grinning widely, Greyson knew that the metal of the earth element worked well against both water and lightning and was the bane of someone like Eris. The rest of the branches swarmed over and put an iron grip around the rest of her limbs and body. Slamming her into the ground, the branches left her completely immobilized.

"It seems that this round goes to me!" Greyson happily announced.

"Hm. It would be nice if you released me now, though." Although she was slightly disappointed, Eris did not wallow in it.

"Of course." Waving his hand, the branches receded back into the earth. Ma.s.saging her sore wrists and ankle, Eris walked briskly over and took the 2nd Place token for herself. Without turning around, she started towards the exit confidently. Her maids followed her lead but did not forget to send deadly glares towards Greyson on the way out. Chuckling to himself, Greyson paid no attention to them and joyfully bounded over to grab his 1st place token for himself. Leilena also quickly grabbed hers and went over to Greyson to start pulling him towards the exit.

"What's the hurry?"

"There's definitely going to be another group coming soon. We have to leave so we don't have to fight them!"

Right on cue, Greyson heard the commotion of people arriving. Without further ado, he put his effort into running to the exit. The last fight with Eris did exhaust him. Such a large range earth spell was not easy to control and required a lot of mana.

When they stepped through the black doorway, Greyson felt that they landed somewhere dark. Feeling around and swallowing some dirt, he could not resist the urge to roll his eyes. The exit led them straight underground! While cursing these dungeon creators in his heart, Greyson began digging his way out. Thankfully, he was fairly close to the surface and made it to the top quickly. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, he opened eyes to look around and noticed Leilena also making her way up. Looking pretty miserable, they both laughed out loud seeing the other in such distress. 

"You know, if the target was not me, I would think that this dungeon master was pretty fun." Leilena giggled.

"No, I'm quite glad knowing that I will most likely never have to meet this person in person. If I ever do, remind me to punch him if I can." Greyson replied gruffly.