Late morning… Inside the small crow forest...
Mohini lazily opened her eyes to see Kent, who is sitting before the pond in a meditative posture. She hurriedly stood up to take a closer look, as she felt something was wrong with Kent's posture.
"Is he unconscious?!" Mohini muttered while observing the body condition of Kent. Even though Kent sat in mediative posture, his breath is very slow, and his body metabolism is very weak at the moment.
"Master, you finally woke up!" Lambu, who is resting beside the boulder in pig form, oinked with a painful face.
"What happened with the young master?" Mohini asked, thinking of possible reasons for Kent's current condition.
"I don't know. He practiced a movement-restricting arrow spell on the fish and me for the entire night. Suddenly, he stopped his practice and stared at the movement in the water for a long time. I swam in deep water, worried that he might have found any mistake in my transformation. By the time I came up, he sat like that."
Lambu replied, fluttering his eyes before standing with a painful groan. Due to the rapid movement in the water for an entire night, Lambu's body is aching with pain.
After hearing Lambu's reply, Mohini stared at Kent closely, checking for any internal injuries. But Kent seemed fine, except for the peculiar condition.
Lambu also found something wrong with Kent and moved along with Mohini to take a closer look.
"Madam, is the young master experiencing the Samadhi (enlightenment) state?" Lambu, who woke up to see the situation, asked Mohini as she is observing Kent from a close distance.
"No… It's not Samadhi. He is still breathing, and his body's metabolism is still functioning at a slow pace. It seems like he is experiencing awakening." Mohini replied without moving her gaze from Kent.
"Awakening!?" Lambu muttered with wide, open eyes.
[Awakening: 'Logical realization']
"But, madam, the young master didn't achieve 100% proficiency in any spell. How can he experience awakening?" Lambu asked with a confused gaze.
"How could I know? Even if one achieves 100% proficiency in a spell, it is not guaranteed that he will experience awakening. So, we just wait and see how it turns out." Mohini replied, walking back to the large boulder.
Inside the subconscious space, Kent's thoughts were moving at a rapid pace as he stared at the image of wind movement. The wind chain arrow spell played repeatedly before him.
He saw several variations in wind chain formation and its effect. Till now, the wind chain arrow spell played more than 10,000 times before him. Kent thoughts still struck on the two main forces that were guiding the wind chains.
While Kent is immersed in the world of wind chains, an uproar rose in the Sky family wizard school.
A magic flyer is circulating all around the campus, and more than 10 new posts have been created about it in the school forum.
The headline of the magic flyer is "Fat King chose Kent... The role out is 1:2."
[1:2 rollout means that if Kent loses, Fatty needs to pay a double payment. Kent is Fatty's default winner pick. Other gamblers can bet against Kent, but they need to bet with Fatty.]
Blackie purposely bought a magic flyer by spending 10 gold and circulated the news about gambling picks for the upcoming tournament. He purposefully highlighted Fatty Ben's pick at the top, and below he mentioned other people's picks.
Inside the big food hall of the Sky family, Paul stood on a wooden table and began addressing all the disciples.
"Hello everyone! As you all know, Fatty King chose Kent this time, and the rollout is 1:2. It is a golden opportunity for you to double your savings. So, please bring out all the stored money; if possible, take a loan and bet on the first game itself.
As Kent can't surpass the first round against young master Arul, I suggest you use the only chance of your life to double your coins."
Paul finished his speech with a smiling face, and the disciples began clapping and shouting with enthusiastic cries.
"Young master Paul, we heard you have partnered with Red Fox. Is that true?" One of Paul's lackeys, who is pre-arranged, asked in a loud tone, grabbing everyone's attention.
Maintaining his proud look, Paul replied... "Yes, I have partnered with Red Fox, and we picked Mia Snow as our candidate. For your information, we have gathered more than 500 gold coins. So, please show your support and actively participate to win a large sum."
"Wahhh….' A loud clamor broke as they heard 500 cold coins, which are multiple times the family money of several disciples.
"Paul… Paul… Paul…" As the lackeys began shouting Paul's name, excited disciples joined.
Meanwhile, Fatty Ben, who received the news through his lackeys, did not dismiss the 1:2 pay roll or condemn the disciples who were posting negatively in the school forum.
"Let it be. This is my last bet." Eighth, it is victory or fall; let fate decide." Fatty muttered, counting the new-label tickets sent by the gambling syndicate for the tournament.
A golden rat is printed on each ticket, and they came in different colors. Fatty is preparing everything for the stall set up at the entrance of the arena, as he already received permission from the Sky family school.
Red Fox, Blackie, and Whitey already prepared their stalls before the Arena entrance. In order to highlight Fatty Ben, they kept the best spot near the entrance gate for Fatty.
On the other side, the Sky family estate, situated behind the school grounds, prepared a grand entrance, waiting for the respectful elder of the Autumn Wind sect. The patriarch and all the elders, including Thea, were standing before the estate entrance, and the patriarch and his family stood in front.
A band of musicians got ready with their wands to announce the arrival of the esteemed elder.
Thank you for reading...