Perhaps it was due to the fact that he didn’t have any reputation in the city and also couldn’t reveal his ident.i.ty, but the rest of the mages wasn’t as chatty as Jack and the "mercenaries. Benjamin struggled to have a conversation.

He made a round and quickly realized that the battle mages were friendlier than the potion mages. It could be that since the potion mages usually hid in their labs making potions that they were lazy to interact with others.

Benjamin soldiered on through the crowd - he needed to become a familiar face in the mage scene of Rayleigh City. Through his efforts, a good number of mages now knew that there were some newcomer mages in the city, headed by Benjamin. This was the first step to becoming influential.

The entire mage gathering wasn’t just about eating, drinking and chit chat. Benjamin quickly realized that Mage Vinci prepared quite a few activities – but only after having his tummy stuffed.

"I hope everybody is having fun tonight." He walked toward the staircase and announced to everyone, "Still the same old every year, we are looking for potion mages and welcome you to join us. If you are familiar with handling potions made for most low-level magic, we can definitely offer you some attractive benefits."

Some of the mages fidgeted enthusiastically at his announcement.

Benjamin understood now the reason Mage Vinci was so willing to spend money. This was a two in one advertis.e.m.e.nt and talent acquisition. He could maintain his high reputation and continue the prosperity of his magic potion store business through this method.

Although it was simple, it was still effective way.

Benjamin couldn’t help but think that if he were to leak his name regarding the Water Ball incident, would any mages come running to get his autograph?

It was a shame though, that before anyone could come running to him, his enemies would arrive first.

"Next we will have our usual actives; I’m sure many of you can’t wait any longer." Vinci stood at the stairway and continued, "To improve Rayleigh City’s mages’ abilities, our match interchange will soon begin. The winning mage can exchange one silver coin for an incantation from the losing mage. The mage with the most wins will enjoy half off in all of my magic potion stores nationwide for half a year. I hope everyone will join in."

Benjamin’s raised his eyebrow. This was taking business to a whole new level.

However, disregarding the marketing of the event, he felt that the chance of changing one silver coin for an incantation was too good to pa.s.s up. From an objective point of view, it could certainly improve a mage’s ability. On a personal level, Benjamin could totally exploit this compet.i.tion.

He could save tons of money on incantations whilst also slowly build a reputation for himself. He could show off his skills so he would no longer be some n.o.body that everyone gave a cold shoulder to.

After announcing the rules, servants came out to guide the mages through a few corridors before arriving at the backyard. The villa’s backyard was humongous - providing a location for the mages to battle. The entire decor gave a netball court vibe as layers upon layer of metal netting strengthened by magic was used to separate the viewers from the partic.i.p.ants to guarantee the safety of the matches. There were about twenty different ‘arenas’ that the mages could use.

The mages gathered outside the metal nettings. There were a few who couldn't wait and immediately entered and started to challenge other mages.

Benjamin thought about it before walking towards the "Viper" mercenary group. He pat Jack’s shoulder.

"What do you think? Do you want to try it out?"

Jack laughed out loud, "Oh wow, that’s courageous of you. Although I can’t compare to the really talented ones, but I have made a name for myself. You’re really challenging me?"

Benjamin shrugged and smiled, "I’m just trying my luck, all in the good name of sport."

Jack naturally did not say anything further to stop him and agreed to a match.

They entered the metal nettings after informing the servant in charge of the count. They found an arena and closed the door behind them. Each of them stood at separate ends of the "net ball court".

"You’re new, you should start first," said Jack.

Benjamin didn’t bother to decline and started chanting, thus marking the beginning of the match.

The match between the mages was not a death match, as such, deadly moves were banned. Usually, s.h.i.+elds would be activated prior to blasting each other. If you were unable to knock out your opponent then you would have to admit defeat, so n.o.body would get hurt.

However, Benjamin did not intend to use this method. He wouldn’t just be challenging one person; his ultimate goal was to redeem as many incantations as possible. Therefore, using magic to blast each other back and forth was too much of a waste of time and energy.

Unleas.h.i.+ng a slight magic oscillation, he did not first barrier himself with a s.h.i.+eld. Instead, he summoned a few Water Bombs and tossed them at Jack.

Jack countered by chanting incantations and a stone wall was raised, blocking the explosions from the Water Bombs. The bombs did not destroy the stone wall.

"There’s no need to test my strength. Just..." Jack wanted to say something but was cut off.

The splashes from the exploded Water Bombs, as if controlled, became a few streams of water and flowed around the stone wall, before heading towards Jack.

Jack’s expression changed and he immediately started chanting, summoning a cl.u.s.ter of sand to form a Sand Ball. The Sand Ball provided 360 degree, all angle protection, which he used in an attempt to s.h.i.+eld off the agile water current.

Benjamin let out a cheeky smile while continuing to control his magic. The water currents formed a large Water Ball that wrapped around Jack and his Sand Ball. The entire Water Ball started to spin wildly, creating a water vortex prison.

Benjamin felt an instant relief and returned to his calm self after seeing this. It was as though he was now sure of his victory.

As for Jack who was in a was.h.i.+ng machine of a Water Ball...

"Th-this..."

Jack was stunned when he became trapped within the Water Ball.

Normally, in these circ.u.mstance, his natural reaction would be to break out. However, when he wanted to summon his magic to penetrate the Water Ball, he realized that he was unable to sense any elements.

He couldn’t sense any of the ever-familiar soil elemental energy - the only element he could sense was water. However, there also seemed to be a strong repulsion out of nowhere so that he was unable to control the water elemental energy.

In other words, the Water Ball prison had turned him into a mere mortal.

Hidden within the Sand Ball, Jack’s face was full of horror. What... What sorcery was this? Since first becoming a mage many years ago, he had never encountered such an unusual magic.

Since things had progressed to this stage, the result was inevitable. The pounding of the water current’s waves slowly shattered the Sand Ball that was protecting Jack. He was totally helpless to retaliate.

With utter disbelief, he raised his white flag within the Sand Ball.

"I-I surrender!"

Benjamin nodded and stopped his magic. The Water Ball and the Sand Ball swiftly diminished into the air, leaving a dumb founded Jack bent over in the middle of the battle court.