Duel (1)

"14th rank, Cleo Pollard…With my current stats, I should be able to win…I also need more points…" Shye thought to himself as he stared right back at Cleo.

"Hmmm? Sure! I'll do it, on one condition…" Shye replied

"A condition?" Cleo raised one of his eyebrows in curiosity as he replied

"Yeah…Let's have a bet. The winner gets 200 silver coins from the loser, what do you say?" 

He needed money right now and if he's gonna duel this guy anyway, he might as well profit from him as much as he can.

Shye believes that he wouldn't lose this duel anyway because after fighting to the death against the gale leopard, he already has a bit of life and death experience compared to this greenhorn Cleo.

In addition to this, he was stronger and quicker compared to that time when he defeated Alexander Smith.

Meanwhile, Cleo scoffed, he couldn't believe what Shye just said.

"Ohoh? You? want to bet against me? How laughable! Just because you got too lucky during the past few days, you think you can win against me?!"

Cleo said in a loud voice to purposely garner attention

In response, Shye smirked confidently and said

"What? Are you scared?"

Veins popped on Cleo's head after hearing Shye's words.

"Me?! Scared?! Of you?! Delusional! Absolutely delusional! Let's do it then, how about we increase the bet to 300 silver coins huh?!"

Shye was stunned, he couldn't believe that instead of 200 silver coins, this guy was willing to give him 300 silver coins instead!

"You think I'll be scared off by a mere 300 silver coins? Let's do this!"

After Shye agreed to the duel, the two of them started to walk towards a wide empty space in the middle of the training fields.

On the way, Shye was surprised as a notification popped up in front of him.

[Congratulations! You've earned 30 points!]

"What the…? How did I earn points from a simple conversation?!"

He then looked around and saw his classmates admiring how cool he was for accepting the duel.

Some of his female classmates even looked dreamily at him.

"Ohh…? So I can earn more points just by spicing up a conversation and responding in a cool manner huh?"

Shye grinned after discovering another way to earn points.

Shye and Cleo walked towards the weapon rack in a corner to retrieve a wooden weapon before walking toward the middle of the training grounds to begin their duel.

The two of them stood a fair distance away as they stared daggers at each other while holding wooden weapons.

Cleo had a long wooden halberd while Shye picked a wooden greatsword as his weapon.

Seeing that the duel was about to start, their classmates excitedly walked towards the dueling area to watch the spicy duel between two students in the top 20.

As for their instructors, they had a bit of bad blood between them so they didn't stop the duel at all.

Instructor Brodley knew that his student, Cleo Pollard, was higher ranked than Shye, and seeing how confident Cleo was, he believed that Cleo could easily beat Shye.

On the other hand, Instructor Fienna smiled coldly. She already saw Shye's true skills and she even got a report from the guards that he managed to take down a gale leopard on his own.

Although the gale leopard was only an E- ranked creature, it was an apex creature. 

Even second-year students might not be able to defeat a gale leopard alone.

In addition to this, she suspected that Shye might even be able to get a spot among the top 10 with his current skills.

Instructor Fienna watched the duel with anticipation. She couldn't wait to insult Instructor Brodley after Shye won.

The duel finally began, the two competitors were circling each other while slowly closing in.

Most of Shye's classmates were a bit nervous because Shye was their captain. If their captain loses here, it would be a heavy blow to them as a class.

In addition to this, the fact that Cleo is higher ranked than Shye makes them even more anxious.

Upon seeing a chance, Shye made the first move and slashed his sword downwards with only fifty percent of his strength.

*PAH*

Unfortunately for him, Cleo was very skilled in using the halberd so his downward strike was easily blocked by Cleo.

"Hahahaha! Is this all Shye Crowley is about? I admit that your strike is indeed a bit heavy, but if this is everything you've got, then this duel will be too easy for me!"

Cleo arrogantly said as he pushed his weapon forward which made Shye step back.

A shadow of a smile appeared on the corner of Shye's lips as he thought to himself.

"Cleo, Cleo, Cleo, arrogant guys like you are the easiest ones to defeat!"