Rob soon arrived at an open clearing, with a cement ground ahead in the form of a large circle, and seats surrounding the large stage. A quick glance at the area around him allowed him to see the various magical arrangements placed around to ensure the safety of the students, like the magic circles placed all over the ground and walls.

Anna came running from behind, panting lightly while wiping the sweat on her forehead. She also looked around, her eyes gleaming with excitement and nervousness.

She then looked at Rob’s back, clicking her tongue and walking up to him. “Can’t you wait for a lady?”

“Why should I? I’m just a dumb little pig commoner, right?” Rob chuckled and added, “And what’s that? You’re already sweating before we even started?”

“Shut up! If you waited for me, then I wouldn’t be sweating this much!” Anna inwardly cursed Rob and took out her handkerchief to wipe her sweat. After that, she put it back in her pocket and looked around, and found a pair of vacant seats.

Rob also saw them, and since they were the last to come, had to seat side by side.

“Oh…” Rob stared at her, a trace of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

“What are you disappointed at?!” Anna growled and glared at Rob fiercely.

“I didn’t say anything, Miss Auburn.” Rob rolled his eyes and went on to ignore her presence.

With the ignoring tactic once again at play, Anna was helpless to do anything, and she was forced to repress her anger. Instead, she focused her gaze on the stage, where two students were already preparing for combat.

Fighting in this world… Fighting where your life would actually be on the line, with no save points or resets, it’s so scary!

As she felt her heart once again thump loudly in fear and anxiety, yet there was also a mix of excitement.

Rob took a glance at her and snickered, “You shouldn’t be too excited. Most of us here are just apprentice mages or knights, we don’t have that much stamina or mana to fight for a long while. Besides, we’re only here for a spar, not a fight to the death.”

Hearing his mocking words and seeing his annoyingly confident face, Anna snorted and said, “So what? It’s not like you’re any better than them.”

“Maybe…” Rob yawned and closed his eyes, leaning back on his chair and closing his eyes.

This asshole… Anna stared at Rob’s sleeping figure, and thoughts of malice bubbled in her mind. Please, if God does exist, punish this prick and make him fight against a strong opponent so he gets humiliated!

…

“Leo Regulus, please get up on stage,” Corine Windsoar, their teacher, called out from her seat.

Hearing his name being called, a young man with dark skin, light blond hair, and lion-like yellow eyes stood up from his chair as his imposing figure released a burst of powerful aura. His fighting spirit surged, and he revealed a toothy grin.

“Hahaha, I’ve been waiting for this!” Leo walked up to the stage with slow and steady steps, his imposing back radiating with strength.

He was Leo Regulus, the heir to the Regulus Dukedom, and a prodigy with quasi-Grand Knight strength. He’s also a practitioner of Lightning Lion Arts, their family’s unique martial arts that combines the might of heavenly lightning and a divine lion into a human body!

As his eyes darted around the crowded seats, he waited for his teacher to call out the name of his opponent.

Hmph, it seems like nobody here is a worthy opponent. If only I’m in Class 1-A, there are plenty of terrifying monsters there that would get my heart boiling in excitement. Like the Crown Prince or the heir to the Convir Werewolf Tribe, and even that Bloodthorn bloodsucker!

His eyes carried a trace of disappointment to them, but he still knew that everyone here was still young flowers that haven’t bloomed. Who knows what the future had in store? Maybe a few of them would go on to become Royal Mages and would give him the excitement he needs a few years down the line.

“As for your opponent…” Corine Windsoar glanced through the paper in her hand and picked out a random name, thinking to herself, Ugh, this would be a boring match regardless of who he fights.

“Rob Fortune!” Corine Windsoar shouted.

Huh? Who is he? Leo Regulus scratched his head in confusion and looked around when his eyes landed on a young girl clutching her stomach as if she was struggling to hold her laughter.

The strange girl was shaking the ugly guy beside him… who was sleeping?

Sleeping in the middle of class? Leo Regulus’ eyes shone brightly when he saw this. This meant two things, either he was utterly confident in his own skills, or blinded by his own ignorance that transformed into arrogance.

He smiled on the stage as he hopefully thought, Let’s hope that it’s from confidence, Rob Fortune!

“Huh? Is it my turn?” Rob slowly opened his eyes and lets out a tired yawn, catching the attention of everyone in class.

“H-He’s sleeping?”

“Heh, this commoner must be thinking that he’s unbeatable after fighting against those common folks.”

“Tsk, he’s causing the nobles to mock us again!”

“Rob Fortune… Sigh, it seems like I have a bad apple in class already!” Corine Windsoar shook her head in disappointment and was already forming plans to remold this bad student into an honest and upright kid.

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“Hehehe, serves you right! You’re fighting Leo Regulus, he has quasi-Grand Knight strength and practices their family’s Lightning Lion Arts! You’re fucked!” Anna whispered with a satisfied smile.

“Eh? Quasi-Grand Knight?” Rob glanced at Leo on the stage, and his curious stare turned blank and impassive. “Simply trash.”

“T-Trash?! Are you even hearing yourself right now?!” Anna almost shouted, but she didn’t want to embarrass herself and continued to whisper.

“So what if he has quasi-Grand Knight strength? He’s still just a little kid. This would be a cakewalk.” Rob yawned and stood up from his seat.

He slowly walked up to the stage with a slumped back, his eyes bored and uninterested.

“Rob Fortune, you seem to be quite the interesting opponent. But if you continue to be arrogant, you’ll eventually face your own defeat!” Leo Regulus warned Rob, his eyes squinting with slight rage and excitement.

“See? He’s already getting angry, just like a wild beast!” Rob looked back at Anna and laughed lightly.

“A wild beast? Did he just call a Regulus a wild beast?”

“Is this kid ignorant or just arrogant?”

“Wait, is he speaking with that girl over there?”

“Oh, poor girl, I wouldn’t want to be friends with that guy even if I’m forced to.”

Sensing all the stares directed at her, Anna almost wanted to bury her head in shame and curse Rob in her mind. Fuck you, Rob!

While everyone else was surprised by Rob’s strange actions, Leo Regulus instead wore a grin and wasn’t offended in the slightest.

Hmph, let’s test your true nature, Rob Fortune! Are you simply arrogant, or someone who’s confident in their own abilities to act so unrestrained even when you’re up against me?

“Come!” Leo shouted loudly as bright yellow electricity crackled around his body, forming the silhouette of a divine lion.

“Oho? That’s a pretty interesting martial arts you have there.” Rob smiled lightly, and said with an arrogant tone, “For the creation of an ant, that is.”

“Cheap taunts won’t work on me, Rob Fortune! So you better get serious now if you don’t want to lose!” Leo Regulus once again warned and waited for Rob to take action, to give that nameless commoner a fair chance, even if he acted in an unpleasant manner.

“Heh, it’s not a taunt, dear noble Duke, it’s simply me stating a fact.” Rob shook his head and wore a sleazy smile. Then, with a wave of his hand, mana surged out of his incomplete Mana Heart and formed a long staff made out of solid dirt.

“A staff? Are you sure you want to fight in close quarters with me?” Leo Regulus stared at the staff with confused but curious eyes.

“You don’t have to worry about me, dear noble. You should worry about yourself instead.” Rob chortled and tapped the tip of his staff to the ground, his eyes squinting in slight delight and excitement.

Heh, my luck has risen drastically! I can already steal luck from three different sources, get 2 F Rank luck in one minute from one source, and my range has expanded to 5.2 meters! After fifteen minutes, I have stolen up to 90 F Rank Luck already, and in total, have gathered well over a single E Rank Luck! This school really is a treasury of luck!

“Hmph, very well!” Leo Regulus slammed both of his feet to the ground, and his yellow eyes shined brightly with crackling electricity erupting all around his body.

“Hup!” He lunged forward with great speed, his figure turning into a bright electric blur that appeared right in front of Rob in the blink of an eye.

“Heh…” Rob chuckled and waved his staff, sweeping it up from the ground and producing a cloud of dust in front of him, while the dirt beneath the soles of his feet extended out and pushed his body high into the air.

Dodging Leo’s attack at the nick of time, Leo Regulus stopped in his tracks and started to cough as he passed through the cloud of dust. He also rubbed his eyes and wiped his nose and mouth. The coating of electricity around his body that acted as a natural armor started to waver and turn unstable due to his unstable breathing and poor vision.

Leo’s mind was shaken as he struggled to think of a plan. This… How was he able to let the dust in? The lightning armor should have blocked it! My family’s martial arts have been refined through generations, a simple trick like this shouldn’t work!

At the speed I was going, a casual cloud of dust would mess with my breathing, while blinding my eyes. Shit, now that I can’t see, I can’t use my speed advantage since I won’t be able to process my surroundings! I’m practically unable to move nor attack!

In just one move, Leo Regulus found himself in a precarious situation, unable to see nor breath properly, causing his armor to turn unstable and his speed to become a disadvantage instead. Eyesight was an important part of his martial arts because if he can’t see, his speed would harm him instead. Running at such dangerous speeds would inflict serious damage to his body of flesh and blood if he were to ever ram into a solid object.

There were a few things Leo Regulus could do right now, most of which would bring him some sort of disadvantage in the process, but he had to make a move now! His rapid thoughts swirled and clashed in chaos as he finally came to a decision.

I’ll use most of the mana in my body and release it in one big blow that would cover the entire stage. If this doesn’t end him, I’ll rely on my stronger physique to defeat him! I’ll solve that dust cloud mystery later! Leo Regulus gritted his teeth as he regulated his breathing in a split second.

Less than a second has passed in total in the outside world, but Leo Regulus had great combat experience after years of training. He went on with his plan as electricity erupted from his body and flew out in a large circle, covering the entire arena while dispersing the dust cloud around his body.

In the next second, Leo Regulus opened his eyes as his vision darted throughout the entire arena in a flash, but he didn’t see anybody lying on the ground or any signs of his enemy.

Instead, he was there, all alone on an empty arena.

He soon saw a shadow beneath him, a large shadow.

Leo looked up towards the air in confusion, and when he saw Rob high up in the sky, with a staff that had a big chunky end pointed to the sky, he realized what Rob had planned in just a five-second encounter.

“No hard feelings, ‘kay?” Rob laughed and, with one big swing, the large hammer-like end of his long earthen staff collided with Leo Regulus’ head from the side.

BANG!

The sound sent shivers down the spine of the spectators as they visibly saw Leo’s hand cave in and explode with ruptured flesh and leaked out blood. Corine Windsoar sat on her seat in a daze, unable to process what had happened, while Rob landed safely on the ground.

“G-Give help!” Corine Windsoar broke out of her trance as healers hurriedly arrived at the bottom of the stage where Leo Regulus’ bleeding head was twitching like a barely living corpse.

He’s… alive. Corine Windsoar silently heaved a sigh of relief and ordered, “Bring him to the infirmary! Stabilize his condition as fast as possible! I won’t tolerate any accidents from happening!’

As they left, Corine Windsoar flew up to the stage and gave a glare at Rob Fortune, before saying in anger, “And you! Why did you do that?! This is a spar, not a deathmatch!”

In response to her question, Rob stared at her in a daze, before blood suddenly leaked out of his lips.

“H-Huh?” Corine Windsoar was surprised when Rob’s body started to wobble. She hurriedly arrived at his side with a gust of wind and helped him up. Using her mana, she inspected Rob’s body and was shocked to see the internal damage inside of him.

“Sorry, teach. It was either me or him getting severely injured back then. That last desperado of his connected with my staff and my body got almost shocked to death.” Rob explained as he coughed out more blood.

“Shoot, here!” Corine Windsoar pulled out a vial of healing potion from her packet and helped Rob drink it. “Sigh, you little kids. This is a spar, a spar! Why were you two dishing out dangerous attacks like that so quickly and without hesitation!”

“Thanks, teach.” Rob wiped his lips as he slowly walked down the stage and back to his chair.

As soon as he sat down, his previous weak and sickly appearance returned to normal as he yawned. “Fucking child’s play.”

“H-Huh?” Anna was about to ask if Rob was okay, but all of a sudden, it was as if nothing had happened to him like his blood-puking scene was all a facade.

“Ugh, that martial arts has such a big flaw that even I found it at a glance. You just gotta spray a cloud of dust at the right moment, when they’re about to take a breath… Nah, I won’t explain it to you.” Rob chuckled and looked back at Anna with a grin.

“See? I told you he’s nothing but a child.”