Chapter 173: The Wand

'Hey… What are you doing here?'

As Reiji was enjoying the duels going on in the Arena, he heard someone speaking at him…

The voice seemed to be from an adult lady and Reiji has an urge to quickly reply…

However, this method of connecting to other Sentient Arcana was quite similar to how Ryu, the Cloak Arcana, communicated with him…

'Sigh~ Why are they always finding me first?'

Reiji thought after being found by another Sentient like him… 

'Hey… Wooden Sword—or perhaps, Bamboo Sword… I'm talking to you.' 

Reiji can hear her clearly but he stayed silent…

'What now? Are you pretending that you're not hearing me? Haha!'

The voice doesn't seem offended and even found this quite funny…

'Alright, alright… I can understand you… But don't worry. I'm not a Cursed Arcana or something. I won't sell you out. I'm also here to investigate the tower. Are you from the Mind Collection?'

The voice tried convincing him that she's a good Arcana but Reiji didn't immediately fall for it. 

However, her knowledge about the Mind Collection and her words about investigating the tower seemed to be genuine…

The female voice kept bothering him and Reiji has no way to block her from talking to him.

'Haa… Fine. What do you want?' Reiji finally replied to the Arcana.

'I knew it! Haha… I almost doubted my senses. What took you so long to reply?' She seemed excited after Reiji decided to communicate with her.

'I'm a shy Arcana. Anyway, how can you sense my presence--- Don't tell me…' The wooden sword remembered how the others easily sensed him.

'That's right! I'm also a Blessed Arcana! Nice to meet you!'

'How can so many Blessed Arcana appearing these days?'

'Oh… So you've met other blessed beside me?' The female voice seemed to be quite interested in that topic.

'Well… Technically, I haven't met you yet…'

'You're right… I can't move right now as I'm on an undercover mission…'

'Really? What kind of Arcana are you?'

'That true! I'm a Wand Arcana and I'm hidden inside my wielder's robe so you really can't see me… Hehehe.'

'A wand?' Reiji was immediately reminded of something…

'Are you perhaps the Mythical Wand?'

'Whoa? You know about me?' The Arcana appears to be truly surprised after Reiji recognized her.

'Well… I remember that there are three interesting young people in this tower… I met Rufus and Nika already but I haven't seen Yui Sakura. The wielder of the Mythical Arcana yet.'

'Amazing…  Are we that famous?!' 

The wand sounded like she was so excited… After realizing this, Reiji tried to lessen the hype.

'Not really. I just heard it from the Mind Collection. There's barely any Sentient Arcana that knows you.'

'Ahh… I see. That's good. I'm on a mission so they can't spread the fact that I'm a genuine Sentient Arcana. But hey, I've seen you before.'

'Me? I don't think so.' Reiji replied thinking that the wand wasn't serious. 

'No! I'm telling the truth. I've seen you being summoned before! Did you act like your not a Sentient Arcana because you didn't want that huge and sweaty Arcanist to wield you? Ha! You're quite picky, aren't you?'

What in the world is this woman trying to say? Reiji was dumbfounded by her words. 

However, he took a deep breath to calm himself down… This is not the right time to argue with someone…

Reiji decided to just ignore her for now as Rufus's turn is getting close…

'Hey! Are you ignoring me again? I'm telling the truth… I've seen a similar-looking wooden sword being summoned by a big human. I heard he's called Noel… Noel Faust!' 

'Eh?'

Reiji finally remembered. 

Yui Sakura summoned her Mythical Wand on the same day that he was summoned.

He also recalled from Enri's words that the one who summoned him was indeed Noel Faust, he was one of her students in the Academy and he remembered that she described him as fat and was also the son of an influential person of the kingdom…

He no longer doubted the Mythical Wand…

'I see… Our reports said that you just recently awakened… However, it looks like those reports are not true. You've been a sentient Arcana since day one... Impressive.'

Reiji replied after he understood what was happening. 

He recalls the report from one of the members of the Mind Collection. The member said that the Mythical Wand that Yui owned only showed signs of being a Sentient Arcana after it was successfully Awakened.

This Wand truly hid it well…

'Did you hide it even from your wielder?' 

Reiji tried probing her since she said that she can't move… He would truly be impressed by this Arcana if she even managed to hide it from Yui. 

'Well, not for long… She found out about it since she's really perceptive… Keke… She just became the newest Red-Robed Arcanist in this tower so you haven't seen her yet… Perhaps, if your wielder managed to pass the evaluation, we might meet again…'

'Hey… Are you leaving now? Tell me about your relationship with the Mind Collection...'

Reiji waited for her reply but she already cut off their communication link or something… 

It was annoying.

"Rufus and Lee. Proceed to the fifth arena."

The call interrupted his thoughts as Rufus proceeded to enter the arena.

'Master Reiji, Lee is known for his brawling skills. What I remember is that he has a gauntlet Arcana with him so made Magic Items that supports his Rare-Rank Arcana.'

'I see… How about his armor?'

'His armor? Let's see…' Rufus glanced at his opponent. He's wearing his combat clothes that fit his body…

'A thin leather armor… I don't think it's meant to defend against physical attacks… It should be for his defense against Arcane Magic…'

Reiji nodded after hearing this. He noticed that Lee is quite a muscle guy so he can probably take physical attacks. His only concern should be Arcane Magic that could penetrate his defense…

'Very well… Let me handle this again…'

'Are you going to control me again?'

'Mhmm… How about this, try to hit him several times. It doesn't have to hurt him. As long as you managed to tap his sword to his body. That should be fine…'

'Really?! That easy? Alright… Let me do that, Master!'

'Go ahead… In case you failed, just throw me to Lee and I'll handle the rest…'

Rufus was amazed by his master's confidence so he didn't felt nervous even after facing the bulky Lee in the arena.

The referee approached the two and reminded them about the rules of the duel…

"Have a good fight…" He said before jumping away to give space to the trainees.

Rufus held the shinai in his hands as he faced Lee…

As he previously saw his master doing a simple stance, he managed to pick it up easily and used a familiar Chudan no Kamae.

Lee only smirked after seeing the thin wooden sword in front of him. He raised his left fist with a gauntlet as he emitted a menacing aura…

"Rufus… Make sure not to surrender quickly… I'll try my new skills on you…"

"Try your new skills?"

"Yes… I need to practice a bit… I'm sure that I'll face Lexi or Nika later on so I should be ready…"

Lee smiled as looked down on Rufus…

'He's trying to get on your nerves… Don't get intimidated. I'm sure that he already learned about your performance a while ago.'

'Yes, Master!'

Rufus replied in his mind as he focused on Lee's every movement. 

Lee should be in the top 10 of the Trainees' Rankings. Nevertheless, he believed that as long as he did what his master was telling him to do, he would be able to win this fight without any question.

Thud!

Lee stepped forward and it created a small shock wave…

'Oh… His boots are actually a magic item.'

Rufus felt the fluctuation of Spiritual Energy on his opponent's shoes. He's sensitive to this kind of fluctuation since he's a crafter as well… Spiritual Energy fluctuation wouldn't go unnoticed as long as it is within his five meters.

Whoosh! 

A straight punch almost landed on Rufus but he managed to duck in time…

As expected, all Lee's Magic Items only have enough Arcane Magic to distract him and his true finishing move was still with his gauntlet…

Even the punch that he did just now was accompanied by a ball of unknown Arcane Magic. 

It must be his new skill that he just talked about…

'His speed is not as fast as I thought… I can do this…'

Rufus imagined that his dagger just lengthened as he utilized his swift drawing and slashing skills to hit Lee on his body several times…

"Hahaha! What's with that sword? I even used Arcane Magic to defend my body… But your sword strikes are so pathetic… Can you beat someone with that lousy swing?"

Lee laughed loudly after getting hit by Rufus's sword swings…

He then invited the young man to hit him several more times just to show his superiority.