The duel began.
Lian moved first, closing the distance—but before he could fully commit, his opponent fired a volley of ice arrows.
He clicked his tongue and stepped back, dodging most of them by a narrow margin.
More came instantly.
The opponent didn't even slow down. The sky above them filled with hovering ice arrows, all aimed and waiting, like the whole arena had turned into a frozen storm ready to drop.
Lian shifted his stance and activated his defense.
A water wall rose around him, forming a dome that swallowed the incoming barrage. Ice shattered on impact, cracking sounds echoing through the barrier.
But it wasn't perfect.
A few slipped through.
One grazed his ear, another hit his shoulder.
His position slowly started getting pressured.
Still, he held on.
Just a few more minutes.
And exactly as he calculated.
The opponent's rhythm broke for a split second, slipping into cool down.
Lian didn't waste it.
The water shield around him broke apart—then reformed, splitting into multiple massive spheres that lifted into the air.
They hovered for a moment.
Then all at once, they turned and shot forward toward the opponent.
He attacked and froze a few of the incoming spheres mid-air, letting them crash down before they could reach him.
But one slipped through his blind spot.
It slammed into him.
"Fuck… I got hit."
He braced for impact, expecting damage—but then he paused.
"…Wait. That's it?"
There was barely anything. No real damage, almost as if a bucket of water splashed over him, soaking his clothes.
He frowned, licking his lips without thinking.
Before he could think further, something sharp pierced into his chest.
Tiny needle-like pins were lodged deep in his body, crackling with electricity.
The current surged through the water covering him, instantly growing more violent.
His body froze for a moment as pain shot through his nerves, muscles locking up against his will.
But by then, Lian was already closing the distance.
He desperately summoned another volley of ice arrows, though this time there were far fewer in number.
Lian charged straight through them.
Ice arrows struck him one after another, each hit dragging his body temperature lower. Cold spread through his entire body and one of his hands started going numb, but he ignored it and kept moving forward without slowing down.
His opponent stared at him in confusion, unable to tell whether Lian was genuinely stupid or completely insane.
The moment Lian got close enough, he raised his hand to attack, but a massive floating shield of ice instantly formed between them.
Lian tried shifting around it, but the shield moved with him, constantly blocking his path and preventing him from reaching his opponent directly.
He suddenly stopped and pressed his palm against the ice shield.
Lian released pyromancy flame at full intensity.
The thick shield lasted less than three seconds before rapidly melting under the heat, turning into steam. The instant an opening appeared, Lian rushed forward and blasted flames directly at him again, this time with slightly lower intensity than before.
His opponent reacted quickly and tried to roll backward to avoid the attack, but the flames were faster.
For a brief moment, the fire brushed across his body.
The thick leather armor he wore reduced some of the fire damage, but not enough to block it completely.
That guy laughed mockingly.
"This armor was made from a Sequence 3 Predator. Your ether attacks won't do much to me."
Lian looked at him with an almost bored expression.
"Yeah? Let's see how true that actually is."
The next second, flames erupted point-blank.
Lian gave him no time to defend or counterattack, continuously pouring flames into him at full intensity.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Lian kept the attack going for a full five seconds until his ether reserves were completely drained.
The armor was indeed resistant to ether-based attacks, blocking most of the flames themselves. But it couldn't fully stop the heat generated by them.
The flames were formed from ether and carried ether properties.
But the heat didn't. It was simply a physical byproduct of the flames.
His skin began to burn under the overwhelming heat. His eyes dried out, and his throat felt like it was on fire, forcing him into a violent coughing fit.
Lian stopped the flames just before his ether reserves completely ran dry.
That guy barely got a few seconds to breathe. The moment his coughing eased and he started standing properly again, a sharp punch slammed straight into his face.
Close combat was the only option left now that Lian's ether reserves were dangerously low.
His nose cracked from the impact, and for a second, he nearly blacked out.
Lian pressed forward relentlessly, using his fists to keep the pressure on and denying his opponent any chance to regain his footing. By dragging the fight into close quarters, where the opponent was weakest, Lian managed to maintain the upper hand so far.
The audience watched in stunned silence.
This didn't look like a proper duel anymore. It looked more like a street thug beating the hell out of someone in some back alley.
It was rough, messy, and completely backwards compared to how ether users normally fought.
But it worked absurdly well.
Lian wasn't particularly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but he knew the basics, and more importantly, he understood timing.
In a real fight, technique and strength alone weren't everything. The situation mattered just as much.
By staying unpredictable, Lian had managed to remain untouchable in almost every battle so far. That had slowly become the core of his fighting style.
Right now, his opponent was already in far worse condition.
The bracelet absorbed most of the physical damage, while the leather armor took the most of the ether attacks, but neither could protect him completely. His skin was slightly burned, bruises covered his face, and every punch from Lian only made things worse.
Then, with one final hit, the bracelet shattered.
The guy collapsed unconscious on the spot.
The instructor stepped forward and announced Lian as the victor.
The crowd was visibly shocked.
Most of them hadn't expected a Sequence 1 to actually defeat a Sequence 2. They knew very little about Lian besides the rumor that he had killed a Sequence 2 fox before, so some thought he might be able to hold his own for a while.
But dominating the fight against a Sequence 2 was a different matter entirely.
About a minute later, the guy slowly got back to his feet.
The instructor glanced at Lian and spoke calmly.
"That was a good fight, but the way you handled it was completely reckless. You only won because your opponent was dumb."
He crossed his arms.
"If this were anyone from Class A, you would've been knocked out within the first two minutes."
His gaze briefly shifted toward Lian's bracelet. The crystal embedded inside was covered in cracks, already on the verge of shattering.
"And stop relying so much on hand-to-hand combat. The higher your sequence becomes, the less effective that approach will be."
Lian lowered his eyes toward the bracelet in silence.
The damage was worse than he expected.
Only a few ice arrows from a Sequence 2 had pushed it this far. If the fight had dragged on any longer, the bracelet probably would've shattered completely.
He let out a quiet sigh.
These were the kind of opponents he would be facing from now on.
And unless he reached Sequence 2 soon, anyone significantly stronger than him would wipe the floor with him.
The instructor then turned toward the other student.
"And you."
The guy stiffened slightly.
"You lost because you lack actual combat experience. That's the main reason why a Sequence 1 managed to beat you."
The instructor's tone turned colder.
"This is the problem with all you clan-backed trust fund babies. Your reaction speed is terrible, and you rely too much on expensive runes and strong armor."
He pointed at the shattered bracelet on the ground.
"You've had an easy road so far. Nothing ever forced you to adapt, learn, or fight properly."
After lecturing both of them for a few more minutes, the instructor moved on while another pair of students stepped forward for their duel.
Lian looked at him and spoke calmly.
"Well, since you lost, when can I expect a meeting with one of your clan's higher-ups?"
The guy looked visibly annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to my dad about it," he replied in an irritated tone. "But don't expect much."
Lian frowned slightly.
What a crappy attitude.
Lian spoke in a demanding tone. "Don't forget your side of the deal… or we'll have no choice but to duel again."
The guy clicked his tongue and started walking away.
"I'll let you know once they decide on a date."
Lian watched him leave, then handed the bracelet back to the instructor.
The instructor removed the cracked crystal, replaced it with a new one, handed the bracelet to the next student, and announced the start of the next duel.
Lian was about to leave the training grounds when someone tapped his shoulder from behind.
Bella looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Don't tell me you seriously forgot about me."
Lian turned toward her absentmindedly before giving a tired smile.
"Yeah, my bad. I'm exhausted. Almost forgot about you for a second."
Bella snorted softly.
As they started walking, Lian glanced at her.
"Also, what's the deal between you two? That guy looked like he genuinely hated me for no reason."
Bella gave an awkward smile.
"We used to be friends before all this. Then one day he confessed, and I rejected him."
She sighed.
"At first he acted normal about it, but after that he started getting weirdly persistent. Always trying to force conversations, showing up everywhere, acting like I owed him something just because he liked me."
Her expression turned slightly uncomfortable.
"And when I kept avoiding him, he got more aggressive about it."
Then she looked back at Lian.
"Anyway… thanks for fighting him for me. Hopefully he stops bothering me after this."
--
A few minutes later, after talking with her for a while, Lian said he had something he needed to take care of and left.
He headed toward the separate section reserved for Class A students.
The difference was obvious the moment he entered. The equipment here looked far more advanced and expensive compared to the standard training area.
Lian walked around for a bit, searching for someone.
Then, in the distance, he spotted a slim guy with round glasses holding a massive cube in both hands, his eyes filled with concentration.
There he is.
"Lin Ling," Lian called out as he walked closer.
Lin Ling looked up immediately.
"Lian. Good timing, actually. I've got something important to tell you."
Lian casually handed him back an aqua-blue stone that looked almost like a polished water gem.
"Thanks for letting me borrow your lame water rune."
Lin Ling took it and slid it back into his rune deck without much thought.
"What do you mean lame?" he said. "Also, how'd your duel go?"
"Not bad," Lian replied. "Fought a Sequence 2 and won, but it was a close call. If he was even a bit stronger, I probably would've lost."
Lin Ling blinked.
"Damn."
"Wait, shit, I almost forgot the main topic. I seriously need to tell you something."
Lian glanced at the giant cube in his hands.
"What's that thing anyway? Looks kinda cool."
Lin Ling looked down at it.
"Oh, this? It's for ether control training. Think of it like a game."
He lightly tapped the surface of the cube.
"There's a three-dimensional maze inside. You turn your ether into a thread and guide it through the maze."
He adjusted his glasses before continuing.
"It's insanely hard. If your focus slips even a little, the ether disperses halfway through and never reaches the end."
Then he stopped mid-explanation and groaned.
"Ah, shit. I got off topic again."
He pointed at Lian.
"Don't interrupt me this time. Just listen. This is important."