Percy and his host had decided to try and keep the second domain and the enchanted swords secret for as long as they could. Kassorith's all-out attack wasn't that hard to avoid once their opponent knew it was coming, so they understood they couldn't keep relying on it. Still, they hoped it would be enough to at least get them through the first fight. It was an ambitious – if somewhat risky – strategy.

Sadly, things didn't go according to plan.

As soon as the announcer declared the start of the battle, their opponent began to release large volumes of pink mist from her body, instantly lowering visibility in the arena. At first, Percy thought that it wouldn't affect them too much. Between their thermal sense and Mana Sense, they should have all the tools they needed to see right through the substance.

He couldn't have been more wrong. Within seconds, it became apparent that the mist was boiling hot, greatly affecting Kassorith's ability to lock onto the woman's body heat. Even worse, the substance was dense with Blue mana, making their opponent all but invisible.

'What even is this? It can't be a steam affinity, can it?'

Steam mana – the very same that Femel, the Holy Child that Elaine had killed inside the Thirsty Valley had wielded – was the fusion of fire and water. Among all the common, composite and rare affinities Percy had ever heard of, it was the closest match to the woman's mist. Still, he had no explanation for its strange colour.

Did the woman possess a blessing too – on top of having a composite affinity?

Under other circumstances, running into somebody this talented would have been unthinkable. Then again, Percy didn't forget where he was or who he was facing. These elite disciples were among the best mages a greater spring had to offer.

However, it soon became clear that his initial assessment wasn't entirely correct. The moment the substance reached Kassorith's nostrils, a wave of dizziness slammed into their head, almost knocking them off the flying greatsword. Percy's host was forced to climb even higher in search of clean air. He even summoned a handful of spinning longswords by his side to keep the toxic gas away.

'It's poison,' the Blue guessed. 'But it's not the corrosive kind you'd get from an acid affinity. I bet it's the result of a bloodline rather than an affinity or a blessing. She mixes it into her steam to knock her opponents out.'

The good news was that its effect didn't seem that potent. They probably had Kassorith's innate resistance to toxins to thank for that. Had it been a human Blue facing the woman, they might have passed out already. However, that didn't mean that Percy and his host could afford to breathe the substance for an extended period of time with no repercussions.

Having to keep their distance from the mist was just the start of their trouble. Kassorith's all-out attack could only be unleashed once, and would leave them vulnerable afterwards. They had to make sure they located the woman before firing it, but she had hidden herself well inside the mist. Finding her was becoming even harder by the second as the substance kept accumulating in the arena, the thick plume of scorching poison slowly rising toward them.

Their opponent appeared more than happy to wait. She hadn't made any other moves. She merely released her corrupted mana at a leisurely and, most importantly, sustainable pace, slowly increasing her advantage.

'Any ideas?' Kassorith asked.

Percy didn't immediately respond. They could hurl weaker spells at her and hope they got lucky, but even a Blue with low mobility wouldn't have much trouble dodging a bunch of isolated and unfocused attacks like that. The only thing they would achieve would be to deplete their mana faster than her.

The best approach would probably be to push their domain to the floor of the arena and use it to funnel the mist away. Not only would that get rid of the poison, it would allow them to locate their target. The problem was that the woman clearly knew what she was doing. Percy wouldn't be surprised if she had trained herself in fighting like this her whole life. Maybe she didn't participate in a tournament every day, but she was likely used to ambushing her opponents in enclosed spaces where they couldn't get rid of her poison.

Since the very start of the battle, she'd been fighting against Kassorith's domain with her own, protecting her advantage. She even seemed to know how to shape it so that they couldn't tell which way it was emanating from as she moved silently around the battlefield.

'I've got nothing… Not unless we want to reveal our trump cards earlier than planned,' Percy ultimately said.

If he piled his domain on top of his host's, they would quickly overpower their opponent's, forcing her out of hiding. Alternatively, his sharpness and lightness runes would improve both the potency and the speed of Kassorith's attacks without adding to their mana cost, allowing them to hit her more easily or even win in a battle of attrition. That said, they didn't want to concede one of their future advantages so early into the tournament. Their opponents would only grow stronger the farther they progressed, so they had to get used to winning under unfavourable conditions.

Kassorith clicked his tongue. 'What's her goal anyway? She doesn't seem to be in a rush to attack…'

Listening to his host's question, Percy couldn't help but crease his brow.

'Right… is she planning to outlast us?'

As far as he could tell, the tournament's battles didn't have a time limit – they could potentially go on for days, since Blues could stay awake and even fight for a long time. However, Kassorith would have to land somewhere eventually. Flying atop his greatsword didn't consume much mana, but keeping it airborne for hours on end was mentally taxing. What the woman was doing with her mana and her own domain wasn't costless either, but she was probably used to fighting like this.

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Was she betting on them passing out from exhaustion before she did?

It certainly made sense, since Kassorith wasn't allowed to touch down anywhere outside the arena. If he grew tired first, his only option would be to fall into her trap.

'What an insidious way to fight,' Kassorith said, though he didn't sound very annoyed. If anything, the realization seemed to have put him at ease.

It was a good strategy – one that neither the spectators who had come here for entertainment, nor the other contestants waiting patiently for their own fights would appreciate. It would have likely worked on almost anyone else. It wasn't against the rules either, nor did the woman seem to give a shit what anybody thought. Unfortunately for her, they couldn't have matched her with a worse opponent.

Percy grinned. 'Never thought I'd find myself challenged to a staying-awake contest… Let's see which one of us lasts the longest.'

Hours passed, with the two combatants doing nothing but stabilizing their dominion over their side of the battlefield. The pink mist was thickest near the floor of the arena, but it had slowly risen higher. Still, there was a limit to how high the wall of poison could reach without scattering. Once it surpassed the invisible barrier protecting the spectators, it had nothing to box it in. The gas wanted to spread in all sorts of random directions, and the woman's domain wasn't strong enough to hold it in place that far away from her body. Certainly not while fighting off Kassorith's. As for the latter, he just had to stay afloat a few dozen metres above the floor and make sure that the substance never reached him again.

The crowd booed as they watched this most-boring battle unfold – or rather, refuse to unfold. Even the other contestants seemed to join in at some point, cursing at the woman's twenty generations of ancestors for giving birth to such an annoying mage. Percy and Kassorith didn't care in the slightest about any of that, however, knowing full well that they had this one in the bag. Instead, they talked about other things to pass the time.

'I've noticed that many of your people have composite affinities,' Percy said at some point.

Other than Kassorith and his current opponent, there was also the lava user from the previous battle, and an ice mage who had participated three fights earlier. Given the fact that they were dealing with elite disciples, some special affinities were only to be expected. Still, rare affinities were supposed to emerge at similar rates to composite ones, yet Percy hadn't seen as many of those on Thess'kala. It was either a huge coincidence, or something else was going on.

'Most of them are acquired,' Kassorith said, before elaborating. 'Mine is innate – I inherited it from my mother. But a lot of the people you'll meet in this tournament started off with a common affinity and got it upgraded using some rare treasure.'

Percy perked up at the sound of that. He'd thought that resources like the Lotus of a Myriad Rivers which had caused such a stir on Remior were hard to come by. That didn't seem to apply to a greater spring.

'Do you think there will be any such treasures in the reward pool?'

'Probably.' Kassorith shrugged. 'Don't expect to find one that can grant a rare affinity though. They do exist, but they're extremely difficult to find, even for the strongest worlds.'

Percy couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. He might have chosen not to change his pure affinity to a common one, but he was still holding out for something better. A life affinity which he knew would pair well with his bloodline would be ideal, but he wouldn't have said no to something like time or space either.

'Well, I suppose that a composite affinity is still on the table if I grab a couple of different treasures…' he reminded himself.

Percy was admittedly a little envious of his familiar for having two extra sets of mana channels and so many options to choose from during a fight. Perhaps, if he could obtain "petals" capable of granting an earth and a lightning affinity, he could consume them both to get a metal one like Kassorith.

It would be just as good for runecrafting as his pure mana – if not better, in some ways. There was a good chance he would be able to fuse it with his soul mana to produce a "phantom" variant too. The only thing he wasn't sure about was whether it could be spun into some kind of silk for him to use with his trait. As for the cyan powder that he needed for the Aurora Dew, it was no longer even a concern. Percy could use his Spiritforged Effigy to swiftly produce enough crystallized mana to last for decades – or even centuries – before changing his affinity. Even storage wouldn't be an issue, since he had more empty spatial amulets than he knew what to do with.

Then again, this might not be the best idea. A metal affinity would definitely be a lot more suitable for him than water, but it might be best to wait – just in case he found something even better down the line.

'Let's see what they have first. No sense in worrying about this now. Maybe I can pick something for Nesha or Elaine instead…'

Percy fully intended to prioritise himself, of course. Not only that, but he would rather pick things exclusive to Thess'kala if he could help it. The rest, he could find elsewhere, since he hoped and expected to visit more greater springs in the future. That said, eight rewards were plenty – assuming that he and Kassorith made it to the very end of the tournament – and Percy would be keeping half of them according to their agreement. He wouldn't rule out the possibility of choosing one or two for his friends.

"Are you planning to stay up there forever?!" a female voice suddenly asked, piercing through the pink mist.

"Depends," Kassorith replied with a chuckle. "Are you going to withdraw your poison and fight me properly?"

The response wasn't immediate.

"I can do this longer than you!" the woman eventually shouted, though the unease in her voice betrayed her inner doubt.

"Then shut up and keep pumping out mana," Kassorith said.

This was probably the first time since Percy arrived on Thess'kala that he didn't disapprove of his host's snarky remarks, the woman having somehow managed to make herself even more annoying than Kassorith.

Eventually, the sun set, the film of clouds above everyone's heads getting darker as a result. The crowd grew quieter too, probably getting sick of booing for so many hours. Some still shouted every now and then, while many had chosen to leave the stadium altogether. Perhaps, they planned to return a couple of days later, once the match was over. Or maybe not even then, having decided the event wasn't their cup of tea. Most had remained, however, resigning themselves to waiting patiently for the frustrating fight to end.

The sun rose and then set again.

And again.

By the fourth day, Percy and Kassorith felt quite tired. Their core burned from overuse, as even the slow trickle of mana keeping the greatsword afloat had begun to take its toll. Their head pounded like crazy. Even though the Insomnia trait had eliminated their need for sleep, it couldn't help them keep their domains deployed for days on end. At least, they'd cheated somewhat, taking turns to push against their opponent's willpower. They couldn't stack their domains without revealing their secret weapon, but nothing stopped them from using them one at a time.

All things considered, the fight wasn't going great for them, but they knew the woman couldn't be having a good time either. She also had to constantly release the poisoned steam, and she had nobody to help her keep her domain active, nor did she possess a spectral trait to prevent her eyelids from drooping. It was just a matter of time before she collapsed.

It had to be.

Sure enough, the woman seemed to finally realize that this was a lost cause on the fifth day. The flow of mist stopped early in the afternoon, her domain receding as she spoke,

"Fine, you prick! I guess you want to win this more badly than I do! I surrender!"

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