Bullying the bully

"Fight!"

"[Fireball]!"

The second the fight started, Mike launched his signature spell toward me, making sure to load as much mana as possible into it. Although its speed was pretty impressive, the distance between us made it pretty easy for me to have the time to send out a small orb of mist in retaliation.

*Boom!*

Once again, my mist penetrated his spell, and when I made my element expand, the fireball lost its stability and exploded. However, this didn't dissuade him from continuing to stay at a distance, thinking it would be harder to win if he engaged in close combat.

"[Fireball]!" *Boom!*

After a couple of seconds, another ball of fire was fired, and yet again I countered it easily.

"[Fireball]! *Boom!*

"[Fireball]! *Boom!*

"[Fireball]! *Boom!*

It was such a stupid situation. If not for his stupid pride in his element, he would've realized that I spent a lot less mana in order to diffuse his spell than he used to cast it. However, it was as if he couldn't accept that his 'almighty' fire element had such a clear weakness.

Although it was mostly thanks to the [Conjurer] Manual that I had enough control to pull it off, Mike should've already tried to mix his attacks up even more, instead of going full-on DnD wizard mode, just spamming fireballs at me. Even if he just walked a bit closer, it would be a lot harder for me to react in time.

Finally, his frustrations got the better of him, with his face twisting in anger, "You coward! Fight me like a man!"

It was pretty silly, really. If I suddenly started to run forward, I would just make myself susceptible to his attacks. There was no need for me to move until he started to mix up his attacks. Therefore, I just put on an innocent smile, successfully making him even angrier.

This was also the trigger for him to finally pour out his remaining mana into a much larger spell, which was proved by the fact that he started to conglomerate his mana, making his whole body shine in fiery red.

"[Snake of Flames]!"

'[Dome of Mist]!'

As a huge serpent of fire emerged from his outstretched hands, I chucked a cloud of mist on him, covering his sights completely.

Although his spell still went through the dome, he didn't know where I was anymore, making him unable to control it and aim at me accurately. So it wasn't hard to just dash forward, to the side, and dodge the big snake while keeping my scythe pointing towards the ground.

*BOOM!*

As his spell hit the ground where I had been standing, I had already made my way into the mist, where Mike had no idea where he could walk without accidentally exiting the ring, making him automatically concede the duel.

"[Fireball!]"

Once again, he desperately cast his signature spell, missing me completely as I was on the other side from where he aimed. It did, however, manage to blast away a part of the dome, clearing his vision enough for him to see me beside him.

*Boop, Thud*

A small push was all that was needed for him to fall outside the ring on his ass, something the judge's gaze didn't miss, "Winner of the duel, student James!"

It was pretty anticlimactic, however, it was all thanks to the amazingly stupid performance of Mike, who never seemed to think about fighting using all the tools he had available. He didn't even use the flame trap that he had used against Adriana during the survival event.

In the end, his pride in his own family name made him unable to back down, unable to accept that a silly little bit of mist was enough to defuse his mighty fireballs.

Turning my body around, I started walking while making sure that Mike remembered my demand, while he was still too confused to understand what had happened, "Do make sure to send me the money before I go out tonight. I want to enjoy some good food, after all!"

The crowd around us didn't stop me as I walked away from the training grounds, finally letting me release the devious smile I had withheld. 'Easy money, baby!'

==========

It was so hard to keep myself from laughing loudly, seeing the large number on my bank account.

[Bank account balance: 1,050,250 USD]

It hadn't taken Mike even an hour to send over the money, most likely afraid of rumors floating around stating that the Denver family didn't keep their promises. Therefore, the money was registered to my account as soon as I got out of the shower.

The amount was, to me, breathtaking, an amount of money that was more than enough for me to live a life in luxury for years and years to come if I wanted to. Sadly, sustaining the life of a hunter was a lot more expensive than living a normal one.

All of the artifacts, items, potions, Manuals, etc. were expensive, incredibly so. A simple three-star Manual could go for as much as 500,000 USD, which was also the biggest hurdle for commoners to rise in status and power.

Most commoners would never be able to afford a Manual higher than two-star, and even though these could be incredibly useful, they were seldom as powerful as, for example, Mike's [Pyromancer] Manual, which was a five-star.

Therefore, they could a lot of the time only succumb to the fate of having a Main Manual of lower star grade and try their best to hunt enough to be able to afford a higher grade in the future as a Side Manual. The problem with this approach was that they cemented their fate of never being able to get a Universal Understanding of a rare Manual, as everyone's side Manuals were restricted to a Greater Understanding.

For most people, this didn't matter. The higher the grade of a Manual, the harder it was to gain a complete understanding of it. So even though they had to accept that they might not be able to create a guild or become a noble, most hunters were content with gaining enough individual power to make a living.

Me, I already had both of the Manuals I was planning on using already, but there were a lot of things I wanted to get my hands on. Though there was no need for mana essences either, as I could absorb mana from dungeons, there were a lot of artifacts and items I wanted to get my hands on.

The most important being materials to use in order to craft a weapon for myself, I doubted that the royal armory would have a scythe, after all. Though this was something that wouldn't be too relevant for a long time, I wanted to make sure I had the funds needed when the time came.

*Knock! Knock!*

Just as I was celebrating my newfound assets, and was about to put on some clothes, someone knocked on the door, throwing my celebratory mood off.

'Is it Sophie? But aren't they supposed to get ready to go out?'

Without thinking, I opened the door, surprised by not only the predictable Sophie but also three other people in the form of Arthur, Sarah, and Anna. In their hands were bags of what looked like heaps of alcohol and food.

"...what's happening?"

I just couldn't understand what was happening, all I knew was that I needed an answer. Right now.

Strangely enough, instead of a question, Sarah and Sophie's faces turned red, while Anna cupped her head with her hand as her gaze became intense. Explaining what was happening, Arthur stepped forward, scratching his head. "Uhm... Shouldn't you put on some clothes?"

Turns out, I had answered the door without thinking, with the only coverage on my body being the towel wrapped around my waist. 'Shit...'

*Bam!*

Slamming the door, I quickly found some clothes to wear, in the form of a set of my student uniform, and transformed sub-me, who was luckily in the practice room, into the lovely pet Bobby, who hid under my bed in case Sophie would do something stupid.

==========

Letting them into my apartment, and leading them to the training room, which was the only space big enough for all of us to sit down, I couldn't help but sigh as we sat down in a circle, with them planting the bags in the middle of it.

"Haaa... So? Why exactly are you here?"

Being the most comfortable of them, as she had visited me a couple of times before, Sophie answered my question, "Well, the reservation at the restaurant got canceled for some reason. And as I know that you like to stay at home, we figured we should stay here before we got out!"

Although she was wearing a normal smile, her eyes couldn't hide the fact that she enjoyed this situation immensely.

Looking at my sudden visitors, I couldn't help but feel even more uncomfortable when I noticed what they were wearing.

Sarah dressed in a very exclusive-looking red dress, Sophie in a blue turtleneck and a pair of white jeans that couldn't hide the hugeness of her curves, and Anna wearing a very revealing black dress that was open on the sides, showing a big part of her thighs.

The only one that didn't appear to be all too dressed up was Arthur, wearing a pretty basic white dress shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

Meanwhile, I was just wearing the same student uniform as I always did.

I could feel a headache incoming as I knew there was no escaping this. Even worse was that Sophie seemed to want to make things even harder for me, although it might also just have been a case of wanting to see my 'pet'.

"Say, James, shouldn't you bring Bobby over? I didn't even see him when we walked in. I brought a lot of snacks for him!"