Magic, Mechanics, Shuraba Vol 1 Chapter 14

Volume 1 Chapter 14 – Conclusion of the Match

“WHAT! A DRAW?! NOOOO…… This can’t be possible…… This absolutely cannot be possible!”

But time was up. According to what was shown on the screen, the match was a draw. Tia naturally found this result to be unacceptable.

She had already broke through Ouyang Tao’s protective wall and even smashed it into smithereens. Under the impact of such an explosion, he should have lost his barrier and could not possibly be on stage anymore.

Also, if he was still here, where was he? Looking around the stage, there was nothing but Tia and a pile of ashes. Nothing else could be seen.

Not just Tia, even the other students and professors were shocked. If Ouyang Tao was still on stage, where was he?

While everyone was deeply discussing this, a noise stirred from the stage. Something that could not be seen dropped onto the floor. And with the removal of the light manipulation camouflage, Ouyang Tao could now be seen.

At this point, the youth’s face was covered in ash while his body was stained with blood. He was seen slowly climbing out of the half destroyed vengeful spirit machine —— he carried out emergency maintenance on the fallen vengeful spirit and hid inside it, thereby avoiding Tia’s final blow.

After staggering for a few steps, his legs turned jelly and he collapsed on the floor as his chest rose and fell sharply.

“Hehe…… Haha…… Huhu…… Huha…… Huha……” The lethargic Ouyang Tao opened his mouth widely, and from the sounds, one could not tell whether he was laughing or catching his breath. Even so, he held up his right hand and made a V sign in Lu Yun’s direction —— that was his declaration of victory.

All the students watching seemed to have forgotten Ouyang Tao’s commoner status and were all clapping. Some even cheered out loud for him.

Lu Yun also found it hard to hide his happiness as he let out an obvious smile. He noticed that the protective charm at Ouyang Tao’s chest was dimmed, which also meant that he had cancelled the automated function in this disadvantaged battle.

This result was a significant setback for Tia. She stood rooted to the spot in a stunned manner —— never had she ever thought that her trump card would become her opponent’s final trump card used to force a draw. This was so ironic!

The medical team immediately rushed onto stage, and prepared to lift Ouyang Tao onto a stretcher but was then rejected by him. He struggled for a bit before standing up. At the same time, two workers carrying score sheets entered the arena to let the partic.i.p.ants sign —— they had obviously had wanted to record the results for future reference.

Ouyang Tao saw the sheet. He had gotten an A- grade. However, it was commented that his attacking style was far too simplistic. Also, his use of materials and magic was far too excessive. But no matter what, this was a result that he was very satisfied with. He took the pen and signed it quickly.

However to Tia, C+ was a grade that was difficult for her to accept. Such a grade was like an insult to her.

b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you better remember this! Tia turned and stared intently at the back of Ouyang Tao before gritting her teeth and signing on the score sheet.

After that, the partic.i.p.ants left the stage. The magic array on stage activated and replenished all the materials used up, allowing the next match to continue.

Due to stubbornly insisting that he was fine and refusing to go onto the stretcher, the medical staff supported him down stage to the spectator seats: “Professor Lu…. I…. I….”

“You did very well. Don’t speak and sit down and rest.”

“Mn……” Ouyang Tao nodded before his body went soft on the seat. The medical staff pa.s.sed him an isotonic beverage and checked his injuries. They confirmed that it was only light injuries before leaving him.

All the students watching had already begun to discuss about the match.

On the other side, Tia was sitting silently at a corner of the spectator seats. However the upbringing of the daughter of n.o.bility was indeed different. Even though she was furious, her face did not show much rage, there was only a little change in expression —— Tia had to swiftly adjust her feelings and composure as there were still two more graded matches for her.

Lu Yun sat beside Ouyang Tao. He was originally unsure of which direction of training he should provide for Ouyang Tao but now, witnessing his outstanding performance, he had a rough lesson plan figured out for him.

However just before that, he was curious about some stuff and asked him: “Ouyang Tao, I saw that there was a light orb in your left hand the whole time. What was it for?”

“Ahh, that is…… That’s how I control all my creation and operation magic, and……” Halfway through saying, he stopped and gulped down several mouths of his isotonic drink and continued: “And I also used it as a radar just now.”

“It has such a function?” Lu Yun had initially wanted to remind Ouyang Tao that he should not have too much actions in the midst of battle. However after listening to his explanation, Lu Yun changed his mind.

“Yeah. Because I combined various forms of control magic into it, therefore there was always excess magic leaking out to the surroundings. At the start I wanted to try and reduce the leak of magic. However, I found out later that by feeling the feedback for the magic, I could find out the situation of the surroundings without looking. Hence, I made a little improvisation. Luckily I had this function just now or I would not have found the two invisible machines.”

“Ohhh. So that’s it……” But what Lu Yun was most interested in was actually Ouyang Tao’s last move. “Oh yeah, how did you repair the Vengeful Spirit?”

“I repaired it just like that.”

“Just like that?”

This time even Lu Yun was shocked.

Lu Yun understood Tia’s skill extremely well. All the machines and robot created by her had gone through several times of “personalisation”. Simply speaking, they all possess several technical details that Tia herself made. Light manipulation camouflage was one of her specialities, a secret technique of hers.

Furthermore, Tia was very detailed in her creations. All the key parts of her creation were installed with a self destruct function. Therefore, even if the other Mechanical Engineering students and even professors tried to research her creations, no one would be able to breakthrough her technique.

However, during the match’s time that limit that pa.s.sed by like the speed of light, Ouyang Tao actually saw through her technique and cracked it!

This, was undeniably a rare talent!

“Actually, there are only certain key points that require some technique, mainly……” Ouyang Tao just carried on talking but Lu Yun stopped him.

“It would be good enough as long as only you know about those things. No need to say it out.” Lu Yun said as he signaled to Ouyang Tao with his eyes to look at the surroundings.

The other students were all focused on Ouyang Tao, waiting for him to divulge the details of Tia’s technique. When Ouyang Tao understood this, he stopped talking.

Lu Yun had started to become excited. If Ouyang Tao really had such a talent, with a bit of guidance, and some systematic training and advice, he would undoubtedly become a top cla.s.s Mechanical Engineering Magician.

Although he had many good points, Ouyang Tao’s flaws were also very obvious.

Lu Yun muttered under his breath, a.n.a.lysing for Ouyang Tao as softly as possible: “Although you won the first match beautifully, but the next time, you won’t be so lucky. Currently, you have three big flaws.”

“Please say.”

“Firstly, it’s concerning your use of magic stones. Throughout the whole match, you nearly did not use any magic stones. Look at Tia, all her creations were fueled by magic stones. This way you could reduce your usage of magic.”

Just as Lu Yun said, throughout the whole match, Ouyang Tao totally did not use any magic stones: “Magic Stones…… Basically, I rarely interact with it. Which is why I didn’t really know how to use it. But you’re right, I’ll go and research about it.”

“Secondly, you really need to go learn about creating machines and robots. You can find out all the necessary information in the library.”

That’s right, one must start learning from the basics. Ouyang Tao nodded: “Okay, I’ll go research studiously.”

“Thirdly, you lack experience. Certain basic techniques of fighting aren’t there. You need to practice more.”

“Yes, I realised that too.” Ouyang Tao was very self aware. If he wanted to create the machine Tia made, he predicted he would need up to three times the amount of time.

“Well, let’s see, we shall focus on these three things for your lessons for now. I shall help you set a detailed lesson plan and a timetable. You will complete the tasks using your own methods. How about it?”

“Mn, Thanks Professor Lu.”

With his future direction so clear, Ouyang Tao was very happy.

But at the same time, he realised that he had unconsciously accepted the idea of fighting in battles.