novelraw Chapter 248 -248-A Mage? That’s Me!
Chapter 248 -248-A Mage? That’s Me!
Inside the Fallen Arena, the atmosphere was absolutely electric.
It was not every day that members of the royal family personally took part, so the excitement today was at an all-time high. Under the host’s deliberate hype, nearly every spectator had been swept up into a feverish frenzy.
Seeing that the mood had been stirred enough, the host gave a light cough and continued,
"Next, our duel matches will be divided into two brackets: the male bracket and the female bracket."
In the Abyss, people were more accustomed to dividing sexes as male and female, rather than men and women.
Even humans, in this place, would only be referred to as male humans or female humans.
At the same time, Fallen City warmly welcomed humans and all other races. After all, most members of the demon race possessed extremely long lifespans.
It was said that their average lifespan exceeded three hundred years.
But the price of longevity was that the demon race’s strength usually advanced very slowly, and even the experience they gained from clearing Instances was greatly reduced.
Humans and the other races, on the other hand, were shaped by entirely different world laws. Though their lifespans were comparatively short, they could raise their power to astonishing heights in an incredibly brief period of time.
So the moment it was confirmed that tonight’s mage duel would include competitors from outside races, the demon-race spectators instantly became even more excited. Cheers rang out one after another, and the entire arena stands churned with fanatical energy.
At that very moment, however, the female bracket seemed to run into a bit of trouble.
"Why won’t you let me in?? I admit I have a male body, but in essence, I’m actually female. That’s my gender identity. How can you force me to compete alongside those stinking males??"
"What, are you discriminating against us elves now? I’m going to organize a protest!!"
Faced with a contestant this unreasonable, even demons found themselves getting a headache.
In the end, the person in charge made him sign a waiver acknowledging life-and-death risks, then tacitly allowed this bizarre elf to enter the female bracket.
When the demon-race audience saw this, they were all dumbfounded.
"They say the elves are the strongest race among all peoples. But after seeing them today, I’ve realized they’re actually just the most advanced!"
"So if I’m male, but identify as female, and I’m also gay, then my spouse should be female, right??"
"The hell kind of logic loop was that? Damn, you’re a true demonic genius!"
...
Standing at the registration area for contestants, Caelan stared blankly as that male elf swaggered his way into the female bracket.
You can do that???
As expected of the elves—they were always ahead of the times!
Standing beside him, Evelyn watched the elf race’s stunt and immediately grew so angry that her chest rose and fell sharply.
"This is outrageous. Completely absurd!"
"I seriously want to punch that guy!"
Even though awakeners were now classified according to level and star rank, generally speaking, males still held more advantages than females.
Just as Evelyn was at a loss for words, the Caelan beside her suddenly began walking toward the female bracket as well.
"I want to try too!"
He swaggered over to the official in charge and said,
"Hello, I’m a male mage awakener, but my gender identity is female. May I join the female bracket?"
The official gave Caelan a glance, did not even bother thinking about it, and immediately shook his head.
"Sorry, no. You’re human. Your people don’t have that custom. Only the elves possess such a fine tradition."
Caelan froze for a second, then the corners of his mouth twitched.
"Then why is it that the elves can do it, but we humans can’t??"
The official answered in a matter-of-fact tone,
"Because your human race is not that open-minded yet."
In truth, even the demon race of the Abyss maintained quite a bit of contact with the myriad races beyond. The two sides had even established diplomatic relations.
Because of that, the demon race was generally familiar with the situation among the elves—and chose to respect their customs.
As for humans, however, no such tradition existed at present, so the official refused Caelan’s request.
Caelan shook his head helplessly, but still unwilling to give up, he continued,
"If you put it that way, doesn’t that mean our female bracket is at a huge disadvantage??"
"Are the elves really that shameless??"
The official glanced at Caelan, surprise coloring his voice.
"Human, you sound very shocked. But from what I understand, whenever your myriad races hold competitions, aren’t the elves always like this?"
The official’s thinking was simple: respect the different customs of the myriad races.
But that one rhetorical question left Caelan completely numb.
For a moment, he had no idea how to refute it.
Because even in the world of the myriad races, the elves really had always operated like this.
Seeing Caelan fall silent, the official sighed helplessly.
"To be honest, I know this isn’t exactly fair. But there’s nothing we can do. We demons also have to respect elven culture."
"But personally, I think what the elves are doing is absolutely ridiculous!"
At this point, a trace of indignation appeared on the official’s face.
"In fact, the females of our demon race are excellent as well. But with the elves pulling stunts like this, they practically monopolize first place in the female bracket every time. We can’t do anything about it."
Caelan deeply agreed and nodded heavily. At this moment, he suddenly felt a strong sense of camaraderie with the official in front of him.
"Sigh, nothing can be done. The elves are just that shameless."
"Exactly. They’re shameless!"
The official nodded, then seemed to recall something. Looking at Caelan, he asked in confusion,
"You’re here to participate in this duel too, right? But judging from your appearance, you don’t seem like a magic-type awakener. Can you take out your staff and let me see your class?"
Caelan remained completely calm and directly drew his longsword.
Only now, the longsword appeared before the official in the form of a staff.
"Don’t worry. I’m a veteran mage."
As he spoke, Caelan casually used a simple slash of sword energy.
But with his weapon switched into staff form, what he released was no longer a sword arc, but the signature skill of a mage: an Energy Bolt.
On the surface, Caelan’s Energy Bolt looked almost no different from that of a genuine magic-type awakener.
But only Caelan himself knew that the Energy Bolt he had cast was actually the result of using [Universal Simulation].
Still... if the goal was merely to fool them, there was absolutely no problem at all.