On the roof of a large building in the west wing of Galvane that taught magic theory quite a distance away from the armory, two peak A rank students stood. They were near the edge of the roof, looking in the direction of the armory and watching a five-year old boy.

One of them was a tall female with long blonde hair and pointed ears, an elf. She was wearing a badge with the number “8,” on the sleeve of her uniform, the badge had no green lights on top of it. This meant that she had accepted and defended her position from the required three duels for the day.

The other was a young human male with white hair. On the chest area of his uniform, a badge with the number “1,” could be seen. The badge still had three green lights glowing on the top of it. This meant that no one had yet dared to challenge him for the day.

“He defeated the Ripper, I can’t believe it… The Ripper can hold their ground against people ranked in the one-hundreds...” the elf murmured in disbelief.

They watched as the boy was swarmed by students, presumably challengers that wanted to take his daily duel quota. The boy retreated into the armory, and quickly returned holding a new sword. Holding the newly acquired sword in one hand, he pointed it in the direction of three students that were among the previous swarm. Even at this distance, the elf and white-haired boy could tell that the three students he pointed the sword at became visibly angry. The boy they were watching was now engaged in battle with all three of those students.

“Those idiots, they’re throwing away their lives. The Ripper was the only B rank above the five-hundreds, and even they were beaten. There’s no way C ranks, even if there are three of them at the same time have a chance of defeating him,” the elf critiqued.

“Well, what do you think of Hope so far, Cain?” she questioned the white-haired boy next to her.

“Nothing special. Another weakling, like I thought. Looks like he’s just riding on his dead father’s coattails,” Cain answered.

“Only you could say that! His potential is terrifying, and he's clearly a threat to everyone else. He’s obviously a genius like you, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to defeat someone from a higher tier of power! We need to deal with him before he gets any stronger! How about we ambush him tonight?” the elf suggested.

“Calm down, Daria. Don’t be stupid. Do you know why students only fight one another when they’re dueling in Galvane?” Cain asked the elf.

Seeing as she was silent, he continued, “The headmaster is hiding his power, he’s an immortal. The old man is obviously holding up the rules and dealing with things behind the scenes. I guess only weaklings like you would be afraid of Hope,” Cain smirked.

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Daria cast her head down in shame.

“Even if he proves me wrong and isn’t actually a weakling, I’ll still benefit from it. Without a doubt, he will challenge me to a duel. When that time comes, perhaps I’ll gain some insights from defeating him. Whether I’m right or wrong, in the end, I’ll be victorious in both scenarios,” he added.

“SO THIS IS WHERE YOU’VE BEEN HIDING!” a voice boomed from behind the two.

Even though she was a peak A rank, just like Cain, she was unable to sense when the presence had entered the roof.

Cain and Daria turned around, and saw a large man covered in scars that had wolf-like features standing at the door to the roof. The beastman wielded a ridiculously large serrated two-handed claymore that was larger than both Cain and Daria, and wore a badge that had the number “6,” on it. He was also at the peak of A rank.

“Cain! I challenge you to a duel!” the beastman shouted. After the shout, one of the three green lights on top of Cain’s badge darkened.

“We can begin now. Have you chosen a location?” Cain asked, unfazed.

Daria looked at the beastman, then back at Cain repeatedly.

“Here!” the beastman replied as he swung his giant claymore that was wrapped in flames in the air.

During the swing, he shouted, “BLAZE B—”

The beastman wasn’t able to finish his phrase. The flames covering his claymore vanished. He just stood there, standing, holding his claymore in mid-swing.

The ground beneath him was dyed red with his blood. His body was impaled with several icicles sprouting from the floor, and his blood dripped from the tips of the numerous icicles, drenching the floor. He had died a standing death.

Cain hadn’t moved from his initial position. As soon as the beastman announced that the duel would take place here, Cain’s magic was cast faster than the beastman could perceive, even with the heightened senses his race possessed.

Cain looked at the corpse of the beastman in disgust, and thought, (As I thought, I wasn’t able to gain anything. I’m so close that I could feel it… Immortality is almost within my grasp.)

Daria, who stood next to him, had her eyes widened in surprise.

Without turning to face her, he said, “It looks like you’re ranked 7th now, Daria,” with that, Cain turned back to face the direction of the armory. As soon as he faced the armory, something flew past him. An object had narrowly missed his head.

Blood was dripping from a cut on Cain’s cheek. A dagger was thrown at him from the direction of the armory.