185 Chapter 185

There was no trembling or scorch marks on Rebecca at least not more than there already were. Due to her lightning attacks, she hadn't witnessed Rebecca actually taking the potion. Therefore she had previously thought that her scream had been due to her attacks. Now, it felt that Rebecca was suffering from the symptoms of some disease that had lain dormant until now. She was howling and was scratching her skin with her nails trying to claw her insides out. Her ghastly wails didn't stop even after the lightning had vanished completely.

Nadia wasn't entirely sure what to do but she could not just keep attacking someone who was that defenceless and in so much pain. Even though this was a competition that she had to win at any cost, she was not entirely okay with hurting a defenceless person in order to achieve her purpose and did the only thing that she could; she waited.

Zavier could also tell that something was very strange with what was transpiring on the stage. Rebecca was acting very strange. She wasn't someone who would easily give in to a little pain. She had a very obsessive attitude towards preserving her image in front of others as he had already witnessed before during the first round. She was too proud to be acting that way and there was no way in hell that Nadia's attacks were powerful enough to have such long lasting after effects that even after cancellation of skill, Rebecca was still suffering from such an intense bout of pain.

Zavier remembered that earlier she had drunk something from that bottle and guessed that it must have been the cause of her current condition. But Zavier didn't understand why she would do something like that.

If Rebecca had known the consequences of drinking such a thing, why did she still do it and that too during the middle of a match? Zavier wasn't sure what Rebecca was thinking. He even thought that the contents of the bottle were poisonous and had caused an adverse reaction in her body which quite explained why she was suffering like that.

Zavier decided to stop thinking about it since he clearly didn't have enough data to determine what the right answer was at this moment. He looked slightly confused though which might have been the reason that Calista noticed how flustered he was on the inside.

Calista could tell that Zavier had no clue about the current situation so she decided to explain the situation to him clearly. This was also to tell the rest of the team about the challenge that they might face if what she was dreading came true in the next few moments.

"Did you notice that she had taken out something from her clothes just before she started acting like that?"

She knew that Zavier's perception skills were quite close to Valerie's and her own so she knew that he must have seen that too.

"Yes, it was some kind of vial."

Calista nodded in acknowledgement with a serious look on her face. She knew Zavier would definitely have noticed it.

"Did you also see that she drank whatever was in that vial?"

"Yes, I did. Was that something bad for her? If so, why would she take that when she knew that she was going to end up like that."

Zavier finally decided to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind until then.

"The vial that you saw wasn't some kind of poison or harmful substance. It was a potion. You know what a potion is, right?"

Calista seemed a little doubtful. She thought that she had seen him get confused at the mention of the potion. No matter how late he had developed as a mage, there was no way that he didn't know anything about a potion.

"Of course, I know what a potion is."

Zavier responded confidently when he noticed that Calista had been looking at him in a weird manner. At the same time, he totalled his memories prodding for anything related to potions. The potions he already knew about were healing potions and those that calmed the mind. Kacie had brought one for her previously when he had gotten injured but that was about it. He hadn't done any elaborate research about the subject. He just knew that they existed. That had been the reason that he had felt flustered at first when Calista had mentioned it.

Soon he found the answer that he was looking for. Apparently, his knowledge on the subject was totally pitiful. The potions that he understood were the most basic of all potions but even they were quite expensive to have. Even a family like his couldn't just indiscriminately use them as they wanted.

From his memories, he was able to infer that there was another kind of potions that were used by mages all over the world to evolve into superior ones. Some were also able to evolve a muggle into a mage in a matter of minutes. If a muggle had access to a potion, he didn't even have to practice or rely on natural talent to become a mage. A potion was the solution to all their problems.

Similarly, a low level mage could ascend to a higher level mage both through practice and through the usage of a potion that could help increase their mana level in a speedy manner by forcefully increasing their mana storage in the body.

But life was not all rainbows and unicorns. Drinking a potion was like swallowing a bomb of nutrients into the body. There was a chance that the nutrients would enable the individual to climb higher onto the ladder of evolution and there was a chance that the nutrients wouldn't be compatible with the body and the bomb would burst and would mess up his insides terribly.

The after effects of the potion intake in case of failure included the possibility of serious health issues that might hamper the daily life of the individual, and a possibility of degenerating to a lower level in terms of the ability to handle mana that is a high level mage could turn into a low level mage in the blink of an eye. On top of that such a mage would have no hope of improvement for the rest of their life.

There was also a very low chance that the failure in evolution through the potion might lead to the death of the individual. But such a result was only in extreme cases and usually the mages had to keep in mind the two former possibilities when they had to decide whether or not to take a potion in order to improve themselves.

It was not as if there was more harm than good in the usage of the potion. Otherwise, it would not have been so hard to get one's hands on a potion. If someone managed to successfully endure past the intake of the potion and was able to succeed, there would only be handsome rewards waiting for them. The benefit was definitely worth taking the risk of destroying one's own future.

Although mages did take potions despite the risks, they made sure that it was under ideal conditions so that they would be prepared for any kind of result. Almost no one had the guts to take a potion in the middle of a match like Rebecca had done. No one would have the guts to do so when they were completely exhausted and out of mana.

But Rebecca had taken a risk like that just so she would be able to create an opportunity for herself that would enable her to win against her opponents to reach the final. This was more important to her than her future or any potential that she might have yet to explore. She had risked her everything just to get a chance at getting into the Caesar University.

Everyone in the audience contrary to Rebecca's intent thought that she had done such a thing because she didn't want to concede defeat to her opponents. They felt that it was another way of going out while preserving her grace and pride. Still, no one faulted her for it because the alternate way that she had devised was nothing less than risking her life.

Nadia was confused and didn't know what to do after she saw the state that Rebecca was in. It wasn't something that she had readied herself for. She was unsure if she should take advantage of the situation to win once and for all. She felt that it was too mean to hurt Rebecca when she was already in so much pain.

Calista thought for a moment as she too was slightly confused with what was happening. She felt that it was against ethics to attack the opponent while she was still preoccupied but the thought that Rebecca might succeed in her evolution was jarring to her. She was dreading the fact that Rebecca had a chance to turn the tables on their team if she managed to succeed. Even though it might feel a bit mean to the audience and that they might gain some ill will, she was unwilling to let this chance go.

She looked at Nadia and asked her to continue attacking Rebecca. Even though it felt a little unfair, Nadia was still very much within her rights if she attacked Rebecca at that moment. After all, she had not forced Rebecca into such a situation. She had done it of her own accord without the influence of any pressure or foreign suggestion and the whole audience was the witness.