Meanwhile, Alizée was trying to talk Cassian out of the duel as they walked to the arena.
"Please don't do this, you can't win."
"Don't worry, I can't lose."
He didn't quite look confident; instead, he held an emotionless look with only a hint of determination.
"Liar, you don't even have a weapon, and your class…"
"Don't worry."
"Why?"
Alizée became emotional again, her breaths became shorter and more rapid. Her voice, higher in tone, sounded more desperate.
"Why do you go this far? You could get injured. Then you will miss the dungeon, why can't you see that?"
"It's fine if you don't understand."
Cassian tried to push ahead, but Alizée caught his arm.
"At least let me give you a weapon."
"I'm fine."
Cassian pushed past the stands and into the dirt lot that was the arena. By the rules, Alizée couldn't follow him.
On the other side was Kurt, and the stands were already filled with people despite it being class time. Even several teachers, including Jackson Crumb, were in attendance.
"Kurt, let's decide the wager of the duel."
"You don't even have any equipment. What could you offer me?"
"My life."
He spoke without hesitation.
"That does sound interesting, and what do you want from me?"
"A piece of uncommon equipment."
Since Kurt was B-rank, he must have at least one piece of uncommon equipment on him.
"Aren't you asking for a bit much for your life?"
Kurt smiled and began to taunt.
"Do you think you will lose to an F-rank?"
Jackson Crumb interrupted the back and forth, "The school has decided to back this match; the winner will receive a skill stone. As such, this duel must follow regulations strictly.
"A skill stone?!" Many people began to gossip in excitement.
Skill stones simply allowed one to level up their skill. It was extremely valuable to them at the moment; a single level up in a skill would allow that person to go just that much farther in the Greenhill dungeon.
"I accept."
Kurt smiled as soon as he heard of the school-sponsored award.
"I accept as well."
"Then, Begin!"
Mr. Crumb officiated the duel.
'I literally can't lose this.' Cassian thought.
Both Kurt and he were wearing a bracelet that would protect the user as soon as they got to one health point. The bracelet activation was one of the losing conditions of the duel. However, his pseudo-skill instantly regenerated health points.
It was impossible for him to lose.
Kurt began to summon eight earth needles and sent them flying nearly immediately after.
He tried to catch them, but he was only able to get two; the other six flew into his flesh.
After each needle landed, red numbers appeared above Cassian's head; each had the same number, -4.2.
Cassian didn't even flinch as the needles dug themselves into his flesh. Instead, he began walking towards Kurt.
"How?"
Kurt looked amazed that he was still standing. Cassian was already completely healed, but it didn't look like it because of the blood.
Several seconds later, Kurt cast the same skill again, but it failed to kill him.
Now, Cassian was only ten feet from Kurt, and there wasn't a kind look in his eyes.
"You can't even touch me. Do you know what defense my equipment has?"
He walked closer, ignoring the stupid words.
"Combined, it has a total of ten; you should know what that means."
Defense reduced the damage of an attack directly by one for each point. However, if the defense exceeds the damage, the attack instead deals five percent of the damage.
It was a wall impossible to cross over, with a little pity to keep people trying.
Kurt cast the Earth Needle spell again, but it made no difference at that point.
Cassian grabbed the edge of Kurt's robe and pulled him straight to the ground.
He raised his fist and slammed it into Kurt's face.
-0.37
Laughter filled the arena; he didn't even deal a full point of damage.
"With my equipment boosts, I'll let you know that I have 47 health points."
-0.37
He slammed his hand again and again into Kurt's face.
"Stop you bast-"
-0.37
Another rain of earthen needles was ignored.
-0.37
-0.37
-0.37
His attacks would not stop.
Eventually, Kurt pulled out a dagger and shoved it into Cassian's gut.
The initial damage was 2, but then Kurt said, "Flame on."
The dagger erupted in flames, and he could feel his insides get set on fire. It was easy to ignore the pain when he had something to focus on. The person who broke his sword and threatened Alizée was right in front of him.
His shirt completely burned away, each second pinging him with damage multiple times again and again.
-0.21
-0.21
-0.21
-0.21
Cassian punched again and again.
-0.37
-0.37
Five minutes later, Kurt had given up; he lay there lifelessly.
"Stop, please."
Every couple of seconds, the sound of Cassian's fist hitting his face resounded through the arena.
"Please, I'm begging you, no more."
Everybody watching was silent.
They didn't know what to think.
Another three minutes later, it was finally over, the protective shield appeared, and Cassian was announced the victor.
"What a dirty cheat."
One person randomly broke the silence.
"He must have cheated, an F-rank can't take that much damage and stay standing."
"It's just because they are both level one; after Kurt levels up, the attribute points will be more equal."
Dozens of slanders, insults, and curses resounded through the arena. However, instead of paying attention to those, he started stripping Kurt.
"What is he doing?"
"Disgusting?"
"Pervert."
After checking out the equipment on Kurt, he finally picked his robe. It was what gave Kurt the massive defense bonus, had good bonus stats, and boosted magic damage.
It was the most valuable piece of equipment, even if it wasn't the most suited for him.