“I miss being able to shower…” Brand sighed as he caught sight of the blocks. Arguably the most irritating effect of his heavy use of pyromancy was his weakness to water. Drinking it was fine but when it got on his skin it tended to drain him. Luckily he didn’t sweat and had no need to clean himself up after the first round, and besides, he could have just incinerated any dirt on himself.
Scanning the room, he noted to that he’d spotted a few other fire mages during the performances, and lightning users too. Although they seemed like popular magic types, some of the mages had really stood out in the crowd.
As these thoughts stewed in his head, he ambled over to the table and foraged himself a modest plate of food. He didn’t want to lose whatever he ate now halfway through the next round after all, and he had a pretty average appetite when it came to it. Speaking of which, if the next round was going to be a race he had some planning to do. He thought about what strengths and weaknesses he might have as he chowed casually. Speed and agility would probably be involved to some extent, and he had those plenty, so he was feeling pretty confident on the whole.
When the time came for the next event to begin, Brand listened intently to the speakers explaining how the trial would work. Sounds interesting enough, he thought to himself, until one phrase metaphorically sucker punched him in the face. Winter Mountain Zone.
“Oh no.” he remarked. Water being cold and solid as well didn’t help much. If it had just been a contest of speed he might have been able to blast himself through a snowy zone, but with the gate mechanic, it was clear he was going to have to actively explore the area.
As the starting signal sounded, he shook his head clear (as best he could, anyway) and launched off. If he was going to struggle later on in the race, he reasoned, he should get as far as possible now by powering ahead of-
“OOF!”
Brand clutched his head as several mages left him in the dust. He looked around wildly as he tried desperately to get his bearings. “Huh? Wha-?” he noticed the same tragedy had befallen another hapless mage nearby. Curious, but in a hurry nevertheless the pyromancer prodded the air in front of him. It felt solid. The pyromancer shook his head in frustration and burst into flames, shifting into his knight form and charging ahead.
Bam.
He didn’t fall over this time, but the impact did not help his attitude. He kept going, and kept hitting or near-missing the barriers along the way. He was falling even further behind. This is hopeless, he thought, there's no way of getting ahead, how is it so - then he did something that surprised him. He stopped, wondering why he’d done something so idiotic and then found himself standing still and thinking, much to his own horror.
Suddenly his whole demeanour changed, the frustration was gone, and for a second it was if he didn’t even notice how many mages were overtaking him every second, a few even giving him funny looks. He ignored them, and set off again. The pyro-knight leapt up and glided low through the air, holding one palm out, which he used to project a small but constant gout of flames ahead.
Onlookers might soon realize what he was doing - as he neared a barrier, the flames would hit it as if were a normal wall, making them visible to him and allowing him to figure out a safe passage through the obstacles. Gradually, as he began to overtake some of the more inept mages who kept getting hit by the invisible walls, he would pick up more speed, getting more used to this method, until he was quickly climbing the ranks back toward the middle of the race.