Chapter 82: The Duelist
Among the crowd there was a black haired, scruffy bearded person wearing a purple and black robe. He was a teacher of the campus and heard a rumor that piqued his interest. He was sitting patiently in a reserved area for academy instructors and elders within the stands.
‘Could it be the rumors are true?’ he doubted.
The rumors of yesterday’s matches was mysteriously spread overnight. Unfortunately, this student in question did not bother announcing when he would start doing challenges again and only announced that it would be again today.
As such, many who came to watch also waited. Some went to challenge others in the arena while others betted on the current matches, but they all waited for this student from yesterday.
——
Teo stepped out of the rented room wearing a cloak and leaving his weighted shackles inside his interspatial stone.
Last night, after his friends left, Teo immediately went inside the inner world so that his body could rest. While inside, he studied the the talisman designs and tried to come up with a way to upgrade them even further.
Initially, he wanted to use arrays instead of talismans, he knew many basic arrays with similar functions but instead opted into converting these arrays into talismans. Of course he kept the base design similar to the original talismans but improved some of them with the time he had.
When morning came, he spent half the day experimenting and reading. He had already copied all of the books in the library except for the ones that were handwritten in the section of the second floor that focused on ancient arrays.
‘Luckily all my enemies yesterday had the same advantages, but today I doubt that it will be the same.’
Teo took a deep breath and sighed.
Exiting to the arena, the bright light of the outside shimmer through his eyes. Looking at the crowd in front of him being three times bigger than last night, he felt surprised, a little nervous but he gritted his teeth and kept calm.
“There he is!”
“It’s him! The little guy from yesterday!”
The spectators from last night easily identified him but despite the fact that his name was announced, most of them had long forgot it.
Many of their gaze focused on Teo containing a hint of disbelief. Teo’s stature was quite short and even after wearing a cloak his appearance looked slim. His finely toned arms were shielded by the long sleeves and cloak that he wore so they could only judge his strength from their first impression of him.
Teo sat down waiting for a stage to finish. He looked through the crowd and already many other students made their way down from the stands. His eyes quickly found two faces from yesterday. One was Ash and the other was Erin. The other faces he did not recognize, but the guards let more than 15 people wait there.
He then saw another figure and the corner of his mouth slightly curled upwards.
‘Looks like he is here as well, just as I planned.’
A stage finally opened but the guards advised Teo to wait until the main stage was open. This was because among the crowd, many talked about last night’s match and the increase of spectators most likely due to this reason.
Once the match on the main stage finished, Teo stepped up and the judged announced that he is open to any challenges to any other students.
“Who would like to challenge?” the host asked the 15 students directly opposite to Teo.
Out of the 15 who stood there, only 10 would be allowed to challenge. The younger students did not dare challenge first, so the oldest student who was a seventh year came to challenge. Despite having the rumors spread so easily, in most of the older seniors’ eyes, it was just rumors, which caused many of them to doubt it and not attend.
Noticing the challenger’s physique, Teo could guess that this person was not a speed type nor the strength type but more of a well rounded fighter.
“‘ s’it true that yar bettin’ against any amount?” the challenger asked.
“No. I’ll only be betting what I can afford,” Teo answered.
It could be said that Teo’s wealth, even after all his purchases, still exceeded the amount an average student should have.
Even after purchasing blank books to create his own personal library, all the materials for arrays and inscriptions as well as the weapons and equipment he bought to train his body, he still had enough gold to last him for a very long time.
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“That’s great! I am Ragnar, I’ll be offerin’ 5 gold coins!”
“Okay!”
Teo stepping up to the stage, preparing his sword.
“Let’s have a good fight!!”
Ragnar jumps on the stage with one leap, also took out a long sword.
After receiving the amount from each competitor, the judge explained the rules once more and announced the start of the fight.
“Take this!” Ragnar shouted as he dashed forward swinging down his sword.
Instead of evading, Teo swung his in retaliation, an unseen elemental glow emerged suddenly surrounded Teo’s sword. Their swords clashed against each other.
‘Heavy!’
Teo was pushed back a 15 steps on the first collision. Even after increasing the weight of the sheath, as he slashed downwards he was still forced back 15 steps.
Ragnar on the other hand was surprised. He initially thought that he would force Teo down on the floor with his strike but Teo was only forced back while standing up.
‘Looks like I can’t compete with power, let’s see how fast he is!’
Teo lowered his stance and instantly jolted forward! His sword held low, preparing for a rising strike. Full speed! His hands quickly disappeared as he ran by his opponent’s flank!
*Bang!*
Their swords collide once more, but this time Ragnar was caught off balance! Barely able to read Teo’s intent, he blocked at the most vulnerable spot of his side! His battle experience was enough predict where Teo was going to strike. He was caught off guard for the second time as he noticed Teo’s sudden acceleration that could rival the eighth grade seniors!
‘He is fast indeed, but his strikes are too telegraphed,’ Ragnar thought.
Ragnar excelled in fights and like Tordin, he loved to fight. By experiencing under a thousand fights during the his time at the academy, he was close one of the top 64 within the overall match this year and was ranked third among the seventh year students.
Teo’s clear advantage was using his eyes to easily read his opponent’s next move, but with Ragnar’s experience, he could easily read Teo’s intent as well!
The speed difference was not overwhelming, which made the fight at almost equal strength.
As they exchange blows and maneuvers, the spectators including Ragnar was baffled! A third year student exchanging blows evenly with a seventh year student! This was truly unbelievable!
But even without the restraints of his training weights, his arrays on his weapon and shoes, as well as his [God’s eyes], Teo could only compete with this senior!
Each blow, Teo was getting information about his opponent. He could guess that his opponent was not an idiot, and could probably be hard to trick! But at the same time, his opponent was also doing the same. Ragnar was studying Teo’s patterns of attack and habits, each strike slowly told of Teo’s weaknesses.
Suddenly, Teo throws a card towards Ragnar!
‘!!’
Ragnar quickly retreats and dodges the card! He quickly moved his line of sight away from the card because he knew that Teo had used a blinding inscription during yesterday’s matches!
‘Heh, So he knows it too!’
As the card flew through the air, Teo dashed forward to attack Ragnar’s legs!
*Bang!*
Ragnar blocked again! Despite his focus on the card, he did not lose sight of Teo’s movements.
‘Che!’
The card landing on the ground not activating at all. It was a fake inscription that Teo had prepared to test Ragnar’s reaction. He also used this tactic last night to ensure a victory for him but Ragnar was experienced enough to avoid any damage!
Within the stands, the purple and black robed figure showed a slightly disappointed expression. This person was Deacon! After hearing of that light blinding talisman being used right last night, he initially thought nothing of it, but when he heard that this talisman was not used in a stack, his interest was piqued.
Upon seeing the student that was absent earlier this morning, in the back of his mind, he thought that there is a possibility that the rumor is true since Teo’s achievements in inscription was fairly high.
“Is it true? Or were they mistaken?” he quietly muttered as he continued to watch the match below.
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