Dante stepped out of the training room with a bruise around his eye. It was hard to believe he could read her movements, but Kaela—she was just too fast. That even he could read it, it make no different. The result? Dante walked out of the training room looking like a raccoon.
Still, you had to admit—Kaela was strong. No wonder she never paid attention to a random passerby like him.
Luckily, there was an upcoming tournament for young Artificers at the academy, open to those at the Framework level and below. It would be a good opportunity to improve himself—and the prize wasn't bad either.
Dante had already signed up. To participate, he'd first need to go through ranked matches. Every day, the organizers would schedule one fight for him in the arena. If he won enough of these preliminary matches, he'd qualify for the finals.
Winning in the finals came with a hefty reward—generous scholarship money and, more importantly, knowledge that could push him further along the path of an Artificer. Plus, doing well might attract the attention of Factions—organizations made up of powerful Artificers, often as influential as top-tier powers outside of government. These Factions could be coalitions of noble families, sub-kingdoms, or powerful individual Artificers. Every year, they came to the academy to recruit promising talents. Members of a Faction would receive significant benefits—but in exchange, they'd be required to swear loyalty.
The idea of Factions was still new to him, but he pushed it aside for now. Today was his first fight in the Academy.
Standing opposite him was a young man wielding a staff—pretty standard stuff. Dante read all his movements. Some of the strikes passed just millimeters from his face, but Dante moved like a trained pro. Or at least, it felt that way. His movements weren't perfect yet—there was still room to improve. Still, his opponent didn't pose much of a challenge. Dante just had to record the attack patterns, calculate, and counter. Victory came easily.
He had already surpassed the expert level using just a single module and his innate talent.
A few days later came another match. This time, Dante deliberately let his opponent land more moves so he could study and learn. But due to a few small mistakes, he ended up with some injuries. Annoyed, he quickly ended the match.
And the match after that.
By the fourth match, he finally ran into an opponent who could give him some trouble. This one was tall and could use elemental component. Elemental components typically consumed a lot of capacity, and most people below half of Framework level couldn't use them efficiently. However, a few could tap into elemental power early if they had a Talent harmonized with that element. Dante's opponent had an affinity with earth.
Dante rushed in, aiming to smack the guy on the head. At first, the opponent managed to block a few blows but quickly started struggling. Feeling disappointed by how weak the guy was, Dante was about to finish the match when—
"Wait, please give me a second to perform my technique, please," the opponent said.
Dante was stunned. 'Fine, I'm here to learn and gather data anyway.'
He nodded, signaling his agreement and stepped back to give his opponent space.
"Thanks a lot, thank you," the opponent said, then began channeling something into the ground, initiating his component. One second. Two seconds. ... Five seconds.
"Hey, why are you so slow? At this pace, I could whack you on the head ten times before you finish," Dante frowned. After three straight wins, he now had to face this joke of a fighter? How's a slow technique like this supposed to work in real combat?
"My bad, please be patient," the opponent said apologetically.
Dante sighed. "Fine."
A few more seconds passed, and finally, a golem made of earth formed and started moving toward him.
It was slow as hell.
Dante smacked it on the head, but although freshly formed, the golem was quite durable. Without a weapon-infuse component, he couldn't do much damage to it.
'Right, I'll go back and embed a weapon-infuse component. It was a mistake to think a regular staff was enough.' Shaking his head, Dante returned his focus to the match. The golem was tough but extremely slow. Dante easily circled around it and closed in on his opponent.
The other boy, also a student, had a smug grin. Dante saw the smirk and immediately felt uneasy. Still, he pressed forward and swung his staff.
The opponent's expression shifted from confidence to panic. His eyes went wide as he raised his hands to block.
"Wait—"
But Dante's staff struck his head with a thud. The boy collapsed unconscious from the blow.
'What the hell? Is this guy an idiot? Why would he grin like that?'
"That's what you get for mocking me and not taking the fight seriously."
Just then, Dante sensed something was off. He turned—only to see the golem raising both arms and moving toward him.
BOOM.
The golem came close and suddenly exploded. Dirt and rock fragments flew everywhere.
Dante had sensed something wrong and managed to back off, but not in time. The blast knocked him back. He barely managed to raise his shield component and protect his face. Still, the debris struck him, leaving bruises and cuts. He fell to one knee, wincing from the pain.
Meanwhile, the idiot from earlier had taken the full force of the blast while lying on the ground. His body was now buried under dirt and rubble—his condition unknown.
Dante was rushed to the infirmary.
Later, alone in the emergency room:
"Goddamn idiot, you moron, you absolute $#@%@#."
Dante cursed loudly in frustration. He couldn't believe how incredibly stupid someone could be in a match. That guy had actually made things dangerous. If Dante hadn't activated his shield in time, his handsome face would've been history.
He checked himself. Luckily, everything important was still intact. The rest were just external injuries and bruises. The doctor said he'd be fine in a day.
While waiting to recover, Dante went back home, locked himself in, and decided he wouldn't return to the Academy for a few days.
He wanted to upgrade himself.