The Fight And The Plot

Blake and Dan were standing opposite each other.

"Fight!" a robotic voice from beneath the ring announced.

Dan was using a sword. The AI will automatically boot any critically injured participant off the ring.

Blake, who had no skill with any weapon, chose two gauntlets to perform his only skill–the viper's punch.

The viper's punch followed a simple but difficult principle. You have to kite and defend against your opponent while waiting for the perfect opportunity. Once your opponent's defense loosens up, you strike hard, fast, and accurately because you might not get a second chance.

What made the viper's punch difficult is that the user needs to have an extremely fast reaction, high speed, and good prediction ability because of the close-up dodging. Prediction is needed because some punch might be made in advance. It took Blake a whole year to master the viper's punch.

When Dan started swinging his practice sword, Blake shifted sideways, dodging the punch, but the sword grazed his clothes, tearing them off. It shocked Blake that Dan was faster than Jerry. Dan must have absorbed six or more viscid awaken cores.

Dan appeared in his face with his sword, disrupting Blake's thought. If he had only absorbed one crystal awaken core, then he would have lost. However, he has absorbed three crystal awaken cores, which raised his fitness level.

The fight continued and Dan started swinging the sword like a storm with Blake in the middle.

Blake was dodging left and right, blocking the ones he couldn't dodge. He was like a leaf that was about to be swept by the storm but was merely surviving due to his luck.

The place became eerily silent as everybody watched the battle unfold. Most students have only absorbed three cores at most, so seeing their mate perform impressively made them rethink.

Dan started pressing forward with his sword bombardment, which made Blake move back step by step. From the students' view, Dan had the upper hand and was suppressing Blake so badly; Blake had no chance of retaliating.

Unknown to them, Dan was getting frustrated. He had lost count of how many times he had swung the blade. However, the only thing he touched was Blake's gauntlet.

Dan increased the speed, trying to push him off the arena. Falling off the arena means disqualification. Blake, faced with such a perilous situation, was still calm. Finally, Dan pushed and pressured Blake to the edge of the arena.

Blake stood on the edge and stopped dodging. He finally understands the rhythm of Dan's sword art. He started blocking at a very fast speed that made everybody feel their hearts in their throats. A mere slip from him might send him to the hospital for a year.

Dan became anxious and impatient. He was getting tired; the blade storm couldn't be maintained for long at his fitness level. He increased the speed of his sword storming to the max.

Blake started looking like a god of prediction in his eyes. He was blocking every strike at such a close distance without a single slip. Blake's wrist, forearm, fist, and palm worked like they had developed their mind. All the spots covered by the gauntlet were used for defense. He hasn't attacked all this while.

The impatient Dan finally made a mistake.

'This is my chance!' Blake thought.

Blake redirected the sword downwards with his left hand, and threw a punch with his right hand at Dan's face, making Dan lose balance. He followed up by smashing his left fist into Dan's left side of his ribs. The second punch sent Dan flying.

He was about to run and finish the fight, but the arena's AI had already booted Dan.

"He got critically injured just like that? I need to learn to control my strength," Blake muttered.

"Blake wins!" The arena said.

Blake just winked at Ella before rushing to the skill library.

He saw the shortcoming of the viper's punch. It is a punch suited for assassination. In such a close-up fight, he might never have had the chance to attack if Dan was stronger and more patient. Some people might have more endurance than him. He needed something with good attack and damage power.

When he entered the skill library, the female teacher, who he just found out that her name was Alyssa Lowell, just said to him, "Choose only two skills. Choosing too many without mastering any is foolishness."

When Blake entered, he saw black glasses like sunshades. The library was just like an eyeglass display center. He saw about five sword skills like sword storm and lightning sword. However, there were not many skills. He would have loved to take a cool and fancy skill, but he required a skill with very powerful, damage-rendering skill to kill crystal core awaken beasts.

After checking the five sword skills, he selected one; the sonic sword. Although not as fancy as the sword storm which leaves the opponent breathless with multiple slashes like Dan's; the sonic sword is used for maximum single damage, like the viper's punch. It used speed, strength, and accurate timing to deliver a terrifying strike.

He wouldn't have taken it because he had something similar, but that was the most impressive thing from the descriptions. The library was almost empty.

He just found out that Brooke City is a third-class city, which made him frustrated. The Basic Academy in Brooke City is not up to par with first-class cities.

He would have loved going for archery as his second skill, but the price of a good bow is frightening. It is about two hundred thousand cosmic dollars. Moreover, he will have to keep buying arrows. That discouraged him.

He just picked a random whip skill because of the impatience in Alyssa's eyes.

"Follow me to the training room." Alyssa walked away, not giving him a chance to object. He just followed her with the glasses. When he entered the training room, he sat on a soft chair, before wearing the glasses for the sonic sword skill. By this time, Alyssa has left.

After wearing the glasses, Blake felt like he entered another world; a virtual world. A man with a sword started performing the moves. Blake could adjust the speed of the video. The glasses were just like virtual reality glasses, but the current world's technology made them more portable.

Staying in the room and observing every detail, ranging from the hand movement to the stance, and the angle of the slash, Blake found many complexities. He had to stay in the room for hours. Alyssa was the one who came to chase him away. He dropped the VR skill book before leaving.

When he came out, everybody was looking at him strangely. He thought his dye had started washing off; however, the dye was still intact.

He didn't think much about it. After all, who cares about a stranger's judgment?

It was already dark. He left school and started walking around the city. The modern city gave him a futuristic, sci-fi vibe. However, their weapons and armor, covered in runes, gave him the feeling of an ancient city.

The only modern weapon he saw as he toured the city was a big cannon on the tall fence of the city. The sci-fi vibe made him rethink why humans developed their weapons using ancient runes instead of technology.

He went to get some clothes, eat better food. It was already 8:00 p.m. when he finished touring. He trekked home, reminiscing about his past.

When he reached the school gate, he saw two men dressed in black armor.

"Mr. Blake Shaun, you are charged with murder. Please come with us," One of the men said.

"I didn't murder anyone," Blake said, but they just dragged him away.

He found himself sitting on a chair in a dark room with a little bulb. They left him without doing anything. He has been sitting for one hour. Although his heart was racing, he calmed himself. Their behavior means he was just a suspect without any evidence.

Just as he was about to sleep, the door opened. He saw Scarlett dressed in her pajamas.

"Why did you injure Dan?" She asked the moment she sat down.

"It was solely to get the pass," Blake said nonchalantly.

"Then why did you kill Don?" Scarlett asked.

"I don't remember killing any humans. Except he's an animal. I've killed a few," Blake said with a smirk.

"Stop lying. I already switched off the cameras," Scarlett said coldly.

"You killed Don. Jerry and his friends testified. If that wasn't enough, you sent his elder brother, Dan, to the hospital. His parents are protesting for you to be expelled," Scarlett said angrily.

"I have no issues with that," Blake said casually, which irked Scarlett.

"You don't know your current situation. It is because you are a student of the Basic Academy, that's why you haven't been tortured yet. The moment you're expelled, unscrupulous means will be used on you. The protest is spreading, so your existence is already disrupting the city's business flow. Killing you will be more beneficial for the city's growth. Moreover, you are unimportant," Scarlett explained his situation solemnly.

"This is a perfect plot by Ethan," Blake muttered.

"Although Ethan behaves like a jerk around you like you pressed that button of his; he isn't that type of person. Moreover, he doesn't have the power to control the Transcendent force. I thought you would call Jasper. The Rothschild controls Brooke City," Scarlett said calmly.

"How much do you know about Ethan?" Blake asked seriously while gazing into Scarlett's eyes.

The question stumped her.

'What do I not know about him? We went to college together, stayed in the same group, and…' Scarlett discovered that she did not know much about him, apart from their school life.

"Most people claim to know others, but they know basically nothing. Meet Alyssa. She will have the evidence to free me and catch the plotter. I saw something on her computer," Blake said calmly.

———

"Alyssa, what did you keep? This might be my only chance to get rid of this pest chasing my woman," Ethan, who was listening to their conversation from the roof through a device, muttered.