Leo’s sneer deepened as Kai stood silent. He mistook the quiet look in Kai’s violet eyes for frozen terror.
"What's the matter, Raven? Lost your tongue along with your future?" Leo taunted, stepping closer. The two sycophants behind him chuckled on cue, eager to please the headmaster's nephew. "Let teach you a lesson about the real world. F-Ranks don't stand in the sa space as A-Ranks."
A flicker of crimson sparks danced across Leo’s knuckles. He was intentionally flexing his new talent, eager to feel the intoxicating rush of magical power.
Kai didn't flinch. Instead, he calmly lowered his hand to his side, his focus locked entirely on Leo's shifting stance. "You talk a lot for soone who hasn't even stepped into a dungeon yet, Leo."
Leo’s face flushed with sudden anger. "You arrogant piece of trash!"
With a sharp inhale, Leo drew his right arm back. His mana began to churn rapidly, channeling down into his palm. A violent, crackling sphere of orange fire began to manifest, radiating a sudden burst of heat across the cool evening air of the training grounds.
But as the magic swelled, Kai saw the exact sequence unfold just as the System had predicted.
To power the spell, Leo heavily anchored his body. His hips pivoted, and his entire body weight shifted heavily and completely onto his left heel. His right foot pulled back slightly, completely unweighted, leaving his entire right flank completely exposed.
"Burn!" Leo roared, thrusting his arm forward to launch the fire.
But before the spell could fully leave Leo's palm, Kai moved. His 11 points of agility kicked in, making him just a fraction faster than Leo anticipated. Instead of backing away from the flas, Kai stepped sharply inside Leo’s guard, lunging diagonally to the left—straight into Leo’s blind spot.
The sphere of fire erupted, tearing through the empty air where Kai had been standing a millisecond prior and detonating harmlessly against the dirt field behind him.
Before Leo could even process that his target had vanished, Kai dropped low to the ground. Sweeping his right leg out with all the montum of his sprint, he drove his shin directly into the back of Leo's unweighted right leg while simultaneously slamming his palm into Leo's exposed right hip.
CRACK.
With his balance entirely trapped on his left heel, Leo had absolutely no leverage to absorb the impact. The low sweep connected flawlessly. Leo’s legs flew out from under him, his posture instantly collapsing.
He crashed violently onto the hard dirt, the breath exploding from his lungs in a ragged gasp.
[Na: Leo Vance]
HP: 122/150 (Impact Damage: -28)
State: Tripped / Disoriented (3 seconds)
The two cronies stopped laughing instantly, their jaws dropping in absolute horror. They didn't even see how it happened. One second Leo was casting a powerful A-rank spell, and the next, he was eating dirt at the feet of the class failure.
Kai stepped back, completely unbothered by the residual heat, and looked down at the gasping elite boy.
"Your form is sloppy," Kai said evenly, his voice entirely devoid of malice, which only made the critique sting worse. "You put everything into your left foot when you ignite your mana. A blind goblin could have countered that."
Leo pushed himself up on trembling elbows, coughing violently as dirt clung to his pristine clothes. His eyes burned with a mixture of shock, humiliation, and pure, unadulterated rage. "You... you dirty rat! You ambushed !"
[Combat concluded. Victory achieved.]
[Gained 50 EXP.]
Kai ignored Leo's screaming, his eyes caught by a new flashing pop-up floating right above his own status bar.
[System Notice: Sufficient Evolution Points accumulated.]
[Would you like to spend 5 EP to evolve your current equipnt?]
YES/NO
Looking down at the standard-issue F-rank shortsword still resting on the rack beside him, Kai smiled. He hadn't even begun to climb the real tower yet, and he was already leaving the prodigies in the dust.
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