Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; Ben's

The waiter, Jonathan, steps to the side and waits until we're done writing down our preferences. I'm actually the first one to finish as I send him a blank slate. Well, mostly blank, as I checked the box next to the question asking if I was a Mage. Other than that, I'm in for a full-on surprise!

I hope I won't regret this afterward, but now that I'm over the initial shock, I find the concept of a dinner in the dark very intriguing. While the others are typing, I look up more information about such dinners on the net.

Huh, this dates back to Earth time as well? Crazy! There are actually several restaurants that offer such dark dinners here in Imperia, but Ben's is by far the most famous and also most exclusive. Looks like Tim utilized his connections again if he managed to secure a reservation that fast. According to the information I found, Ben's is booked out for weeks in advance.

Anyway, the others finish their lists as well and we send them all back to Jonathan. He tells us to have fun, then leaves the room. As soon as the door closes behind him, the lights go out and we're left in complete darkness. I follow Jonathan's advice and deactivate my holographic interface.

Now I really don't see anything anymore. Not even my hand right before my face.

"You all okay?" I recognize Nick's voice from across the table. We all voice an affirmative and slowly our conversations start back up while we wait for our food and drinks.

We don't have to wait too long until I can hear the door opening. It's still completely dark and I now get the purpose of the airlock-like antechamber. Slow and deliberate steps come closer to our table until I hear something being placed before me.

Slight sounds of tableware being placed on the table come from all around the table immediately after. Then, a pleasant-sounding female voice speaks up. "Welcome to Ben's. Your first course is now placed before you. As you are all Mages, you can detect your plate and utensils before you by simply focusing on the magical emanations. Now, please enjoy."

A spell is cast, and my Space Sense informs me that something before me has vanished. Suddenly, an amazing smell arrives at my nose and I breathe in deeply. Wow!

They must have teleported some food coverings away… I close my currently useless eyes for a moment and focus on the magic around me. The woman was right, there are slight traces of magic right before me. I can even feel the shape… A knife, a fork, a spoon… Of course, there is a plate and a glass as well. "Bon appetite!" I call out before grabbing my utensils.

Even with the magic sense, it's quite hard to actually find my food. While I can feel the plate, I still don't know where the food is placed on the plate. Somehow, I still manage, and I cut down my first piece of something and place it in my mouth.

Double wow!

It tastes like fried potato, but also bacon. Like the bacon is stuffed into a potato which was then deep fried in oil. Still, it isn't fatty… Just amazingly good. I let out a small moan of pleasure which is immediately followed by my friends' own moans. That leads to laughter and finally even more moans. It's just that good!

The more I explore my plate, the more things I discover until finally, the plate is empty. I wash down the final piece with a big gulp of red wine that I discovered halfway through my meal. Next, course! This was only the beginning!

We call Jonathan and tell him that we're ready for the next course. He claps his hands and our empty plates vanish. Then he tells us that the second course will be ready in a few minutes.

Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC

We arrive back at our dorm with bursting stomachs. The food was so good and with our eyes out of the picture, it felt like the taste was just a nuance more. I can't describe it, but we all agreed to eat at Ben's again as soon as we can get another reservation.

The boys left after we arrived back on campus and the four of us basically fall into our beds, not able to do anything else. The food coma got its claws into us! I bid my friends goodbye and am asleep almost immediately after.

Classes start again the next morning and the other three leave for their respective courses. As I don't have to go to Beginner Space Magic anymore, I've got the morning free and go for a walk across campus. After about an hour of walking, I end up at the Gravity Ball fields and watch some random people practice. They are nowhere as good as the college teams that I'm part of, but they are still fun to watch.

After lunch, it's time for another round of presentations in the Exploration Course. Unfortunately, today's reports are more standard without that many special things happening to the students.

In the evening, we've got Gravity Ball training, and I meet up with Alec, Drew, and Amanda for dinner beforehand. We're joined by Frieda, John, and Gary. Those three are the remaining people on our team. We're one of three teams in FBC's first year, and we're currently also the best-ranked at the top of the table. I don't want that to change!

Sure, three times seven doesn't equal 36 people who made it on the teams, but the remaining 15 are currently substitute players. They are also mostly used on the other two teams as the seven of us are just that good at the moment.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Anyway, Frieda and John are both offensive players while Gary plays next to Alec in a defensive role. Those four are supported by Amanda who switches between both roles whenever necessary. That leaves the two special roles for Drew and me. I'm the jumper, obviously and Drew operates our catchers as the controller.

Frieda, the tiny brown-haired woman next to me speaks up between two bites of food. "Are you excited for tomorrow?"

Alec snorts. "Obviously! Who wouldn't be? I mean we're playing against RMA's first team. They've got a freaking ducal scion on their team!"

Yeah, our upcoming match is the long-awaited one against RMA, against Lisa and her team. If we lose, they pass us on the table. We can't have that.

"True, true," Frieda replies, then looks at me. "Hey Sara, you've got connections to Lisa, right? You know anything about her team?"

I shake my head. "Nope, nothing more than what we saw on the recordings of their matches. Both Lisa and I decided not to discuss our teams as it would take all the fun of the matchup."

"Makes sense… There's no honor in knowing too much about your opponent beforehand," Gary's deep voice rumbles in reply. The massive young man looks exactly as one would picture a defensive player: bulging biceps, legs as big as tree trunks, and tall as hell. He's got a weird sense of honor but otherwise is a big softie.

I give him a thumbs-up and grin. We go silent for another while and continue to eat. About five minutes later, Drew interrupts the silence. "I think we should practice John's plan a bit more tonight… It might be worth it to try it against the RMA team."

We all stare at him as if he's gone crazy. Even John does because John's plan is absolutely ridiculous. It completely changes our gameplay and is even riskier than playing without a goalkeeper. "Are you serious?" I blurt out.

Drew nods. "Yeah… I mean they obviously watched our games and they know that we play without a goalkeeper… I think they are just good enough to exploit that weakness."

"So why don't we just play with Amanda as goalkeeper? We don't have to go as far as utilizing my crazy plan… You know, I invented it when I was drunk as hell, there's no way that's going to work," John chimes in.

Yeah, that makes sense. No one in his right mind would think of something like this. When we first practiced it, it was just for fun to cool down after training. As the whole tactic of John's plan is as fun to play as it is ridiculous, we started something like a tradition after every training session.

But now Drew considers it a valid plan? That's crazy. But it's Drew… So we still should consider it. He's not been wrong with his tactical analytics so far. Amanda must have thought the same, as she speaks up right before I can. "Can you explain more? You've probably got everything written down already, right?"

Drew nods. "Yeah, of course. But I think we should head over to the fields first."

"Agreed," Amanda replies. "Now I'm really curious about what benefits you see in an all-on assault strategy."

Half an hour later, we're at the Gravity Ball fields where Coaches Zero and Dalton are already waiting impatiently. "About time you guys arrived!" Coach Zero calls out when we rush toward the locker rooms to change.

"Sorry, coach," I say when I get back out and wait for the others on the pitch. "Drew tried to convince us to try out John's tactics for real this time."

"Seriously? Are you crazy? That's your most important game." Coach Zero replies and I nod.

"Yeah, you know Drew… He wouldn't suggest it if he wasn't sure."

"That's true… But we'll still practice your normal tactics beforehand. We can fit in the other one toward the end of training," Coach Dalton throws in from the side.

Meanwhile, the others have arrived and we immediately start with running a few laps to warm up our muscles. After that, the coaches throw up a simulation of an enemy team. I notice a stark difference though. There are only five holograms. I look at the two coaches who wear big grins on their faces.

Oh no!

Amanda next to me blanches as well and gulps. "We're so dead," she whispers and I silently agree. Training with the coaches participating is always a living hell.

Alec calls us together to discuss some final details. A minute later, we form up on the field and are ready to start. The coaches and their hologram team stand opposite us.

Coach Zero calls out. "If you manage to score five goals in the next 15 minutes, I'll let you try out John's tactics. Otherwise, we'll continue as planned. You know… Never change a running system."

She ends with a broad grin and a whistle signals the game's start. One of the attacking holograms kicks the ball to the right, where a catcher is waiting. I don't teleport in between, as I know that Coach Dalton is just waiting for me to do exactly that.

Instead, I bide my time and slowly walk across the field. Drew positions his catchers in the meantime while Gary runs toward the receiving enemy catcher. He holds his bat at the ready and swings it at the low-flying catcher right before the ball arrives.

The bat hits the catcher dead center and has it crashing to the floor where it bounces a few times before flying back up. Those things are quite robust and we learned in an earlier match against the coaches that it is perfectly legal to swat them away.

Anyway, Drew has one of his own catchers positioned right in the trajectory of the ball and John is already moving close to receive the ball so that we can start a counterattack.

That's when I feel a flicker of Space magic. I smile slightly. Coach Dalton was forced to make the first move. He appears right before Drew's catcher and slightly touches his bat to the ball so that the catcher misses and the ball flies on. One of the holographic attackers is now about to receive the ball. Gary reacts quickly and tackles Coach Dalton to the ground.

This gives him a five-second penalty where he isn't allowed to teleport. It's a very important rule in professional games, as it eliminates the enemy jumper for five whole seconds – an eternity in Gravity Ball. The rule also wasn't in place during the tryouts as the coaches wanted to see us play without any kind of contact to avoid injuries. Now though, after we had to watch a lot of safety guides, it's fair game!

But that's not important right now. With Coach Dalton out of the picture, it's finally my turn! I cast my own Teleportation spell and aim for a spot between the ball and the offensive hologram. Right before I vanish, I see Coach Zero running in the same direction with a feral expression on her face.

Shit! This is going to suck…

I reappear and quickly kick the ball toward John. I try to teleport away, but Coach Zero arrives like a steamroller and crashes into me, shoulder first.

"Ooooofff!" I exclaim and roughly land on my backside. A timer of five seconds appears on my interface. Dammit, I was too slow.

I get back up and look at what's happening. John has already passed the ball toward one of Drew's catchers. From there, the ball bounces over to Frieda who jumps up, does a flip over one of the defensive holograms, and kicks the ball at the highest point of her arch.

It sails toward Amanda who runs parallel to the right edge of the field and somehow misses every single one of the enemy's catchers. Frieda always does this, it's crazy. Amanda gets the ball under control and runs a few more meters before passing it to another one of Drew's catchers. He immediately flips it around and gives the ball a little bit of spin.

I still have two seconds remaining on my timer. I clench my muscles in anticipation. The ball arrives at John again who ran into position right in front of the goal. He feints, then swats the ball with his bat into the top right corner of the enemy's goal.

Or he would have swatted it there if not for coach Dalton appearing at the last moment to kick it away.

Oh boy, this is going to be a loooong game.

My timer hits zero and I'm back in action!

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