As a member of the lower class of society, Mabel knew just how debasing that whole could be. She had seen the dark side of need, and as an impoverished child, she had been choked by the strangling encompassing chains of poverty.
So, for as long as she could remember, it had always been her life long goal to escape the oppression. Joining a noble family was something that could only be characterized as a dream. She longed to package her entire offspring into the enviable ancestral lineage of a noble family. That way, they wouldn't have to suffer from the same background that she had. So, refusing to rely only on her beauty, she had worked really hard to make sure that she became a force to be reckoned with in the magic world.
Sure enough, it had taken quite longer than she had expected, and had definitely taken some sacrifices, but at the end of the day, her hard work paid off. Mabel had actually managed to pull it off by attaining some level of sucesss in her world. And she was slowly becoming a household name. Mabel, decided to capitalize on this success, by trying to flirt with Marquis Val a little, just to gauge his reaction.
She tucked her hair behind her ear in slow suggestive motions, and asked him subtly;
"Is there anything else you would require Marquis Val?"
She slurred the 'q' in Marquis Val, just enough for him to notice it, and also made it seem as innocent as possible in order to not make a huge wave in the water.
But unfortunately, much to her chagrin, she discovered that he wasn't in the least interested in her as a woman. He maintained that same cold steely gaze of his that stated clearly that either he wasn't in the mood at all, or he simply didn't see her that way. Mabel was a beautiful creature,she could tell when a man was interested in her. And right now, it was clear that Marquis Val wasn't in the least interested in her. It was a huge disappointment.
He stood up to leave;
"Glad we could have this talk Miss Mabel. I'll be on my way now."
Mabel also stood up out of respect. "Take care Marquis Val."
He echoed her own farewell as he opened the door; "Take care Miss Mabel."
The door shut behind her. Mabel bit her lip. She didn't intentionally flirt often. And even when she did, the results were always favorable. But that whole thing with Marquis Val had been cringeworthy.
But Mabel decided that she wasn't going to simply sit back and accept her fate. It would be categorically foolish of her to simply relax now after coming this far. One thing she had learnt in her journey in life was that nothing was ever really given. If she wanted something or someone, she had to go after it (or them) with all her heart. That was the only way she knew.
At least, with the way things had aligned in place for her, she wasn't completely hopeless in regards to this particular situation. Asides from the fact that she was beautiful, and asides from the fact that she was already a fast rising star, there was also the fact that she had been granted unique access to Zavier. This was a window that she wasn't willing to sabotage by her own inaction.
Meanwhile, the mood that pervaded the contestants was way different from that which ruled over Mabel's own heart. The end of the first round had brought with it a wave of exhaustion. Fatigue ruled over all the contestants who had trudged back to their dorms in long columns of exhausted steps. Everyone was visibly tired, and Zavier was no exception. Every bit of him wanted rest. His eye lids were heavy over their eye balls. And they were dropping constantly as if they had minds of their own.
So, just like him, and all the other contestants, as soon as they hit their dormitories, they all slept off and drifted off into oblivion. It had been a pretty tiring day and no one was spared the contagious pandemic of exhaustion. Zavier slept peacefully that night. His night was so deep and heavy that his mind couldn't even conjure up any dreams at all.
The very next morning, Zavier woke up feeling rather refreshed. It seemed a good night's sleep had done the trick. He didn't get up immediately. His morning routine usually involved staying in bed for a few extra minutes and reflecting on anything that could have possibly missed out of his mind the previous day.
As he pondered on those things, the Multisystem's iconic voice came to him;
"Zavier Adam, this is to remind you that your Mesmer level had attained the fourth stage. Consequently, you have now the ability to control up to six different clones. In addition to the four clones, you can now add two more clones and systems!"
The message was clear enough. He had come a long way in this clone business. Six clones seemed impossible at the beginning, but now, it had been attained. Zavier surprised himself when he saw that he wasn't exactly joyful at the news. This was supposed to be an upgrade, but the frugal part of Zavier just refused to see it that way. And upon further reflection, he understood why.
Judging from the previous battles he had only recently just fought, Zavier understood that it was no longer about numbers anymore. What was the point in having so many clones if they were all weak? The results of Zavier's personal analysis was direct; quality would always trump quantity. And because of that, he couldn't really bring himself to rejoice at this news 'upgrade.' At best, even if he added two clones, it would only give him the advantage of numbers. And that alone wasn't enough to carry him through to the finish of the battle.
His combat power was the most important thing. So, Zavier made the executive decision to postpone the matter till much later. As of that moment, his primary concern was gettting better himself. He couldn't afford to allow something else entirely derail him from his goal. Therefore, fueled by renewed resolve, Zavier jumped out of bed and started to prepare assiduously for the second stage of the tournament.
The second stage- that was really all Zavier could think about. The organizers, in their wisdom had paced out the timelines between the rounds of the tournament. The second round was three days away. Basically, Zavier had about seventy two hours to come up with fresh new attack strategies that didn't involve using blood blade.
Zavier juxtaposed his own current ability, with that of the trio from Melbourne High School, and Rebecca herself. He wasn't too egotistical to think that he could actually beat them all if he could even somehow manage to get to a higher level before then. The Multisystem seemed to have picked up on his worrisome thoughts and proceeded to give him a helpful advice;
"The Multisystem has detected a cardiovascular compression that is most likely induced by tension in your brain's activity. Be advised, you can turn on training mode. As the boat, you can temporarily authorize one or more specific system permissions to all other clones."
Xzavier received the message with excitement. Behind all the technical vernacular, the Multisystem was simply trying to say one thing; by linking them all, they could all train together simultaneously, thereby increasing the efficiency of their learning curve dramatically! It was brilliant really. But the Multisystem still wasn't done with the whole explanation thing;
"...a gentle reminder also that you can still further develop the potential of the Mesmer system. The ability to cast illusions goes hand in hand with the blood blade."
That was all the push he needed. If his clones could now all work in sync with each other, then the ere as really no need to put them on the sidelines for a battle that they were too weak to participate in. So, Xzavier decided to put into play this new development, and make all his clones to practice illusion. By his calculations, it would be a ground breaking speed for him to acquire a new skill, and within three days!
Zavier got to work immediately. Instantly, he created two clones and went on to turn on training mode. In doing so, he temporarily activated the Mesmer system for all the clones, and set them up to train vociferously to hone the illusion skill. The took quite a while. But eventually it was completed. And in due time, because at that very moment, a gentle but pronounced knock came at his door.
Zavier paused for a bit. It came again, and this time, his visitor announced her presence;
"Zavier don't be a snob! Open up! I know you're in there!"
He couldn't help but smile to himself. That was the energetic and domineering Dahila. Her voice, much like her attitude, matched her personality completely. He got up and reached to open the door promptly.
"Dahila I'm a little busy righ---"
Without any regard for his persona space or his state of mind, she ignored him and charged into his room in her usual assertive manner. Zavier was more amused than annoyed. He often wondered on just how inexhaustible the spring of confidence within her was.
"You should be thankful to heavens that someone like me has deigned to visit you in your cubicle..." she waved her had around the place, "....or whatever the hell this is..."
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