While the crowd was caught between saying something and not saying anything, a 7th-Level Apprentice Mage stepped forward.
"You wanted a bet, didn't you? Let's do it."
The man gritted his teeth as he tensed his arm. It was clear that the recent conversation about idiots had annoyed him, and realizing he couldn't gain the upper hand by talking, he decided to choose a different approach.
The man placed a magic stone down and signed the contract. The movement of his arm transformed his teeth-gritting into a sly smile.
"We'll see who the idiot is when I both hurt you and take your money."
As Arlo prepared his arm, the man pulled back and punched with all his might.
"BAM!"
The sound echoed in the area, and Arlo calmly put the magic stone into his pocket and sat back down.
"Yes, we saw who the idiot was."
"…"
The man's face turned beet red, and he wanted to rush forward, but his friends immediately stopped him.
Fighting outside of a duel was forbidden at Koltare Magic School, and the consequences were severe.
"Alright, is there anyone else? Someone who is confident in their strength? Or not? What should I do, go home? We can even accept me frowning if you want? Would you like that?"
The crowd's eyes twitched again, and this time, another 7th-Level Apprentice Mage emerged from the crowd, but this man looked much more muscular than the previous one.
"Isn't that Aned Fera?"
"If he's here, it's over. I heard he can fight 8th-Level Apprentice Mages."
"Now is the time to see that arrogant face crumple in pain."
Aned approached and signed the paper, dropping a magic stone without saying anything. His sharp face held a neutral expression, as if nothing could affect him.
Arlo also looked calmly at the man, stood up, and stood in front of him. There was no exchange of words this time. Aned tensed up, lunged forward, and struck Arlo's shoulder with a much stronger punch than the previous ones.
"BAM!"
A much louder sound than before echoed in the area, and everyone looked at Arlo excitedly, but Arlo's face showed more astonishment than pain.
"Are your muscles made of balloons or something? How can you hit so softly? But I congratulate you. It's not noticeable that they are balloons at all."
Aned "…"
"Stop, don't do it. It's not worth the penalty."
Aned wanted to rush forward with an angry expression, but like the previous man, he was pulled back and escorted away. Seeing this, someone in the crowd couldn't help but comment.
"Why do I feel like they are bodyguards hired by him to show off?"
Crowd "…"
"Is anyone else coming? I'm getting sleepy. If I had known I could earn money this easily, I would have started this job sooner."
Then he suddenly froze and looked at the crowd in surprise.
"Or am I such a genius that everyone pees their pants when they see me?"
"…"
Finally, people in the crowd couldn't bear it anymore, and someone stepped forward, but this man was different from the previous ones.
He was an 8th-Level Apprentice Mage.
Although Aned could fight 8th-Level Apprentice Mages, he could only fight for a while. Winning was an entirely different matter.
The man stood in front of the crowd, crossed his arms, and looked at Arlo with a smile on his face.
"Can I join too? If you're not afraid, of course? If you are afraid…"
"Sure, but the bet goes up to 3 low-grade magic stones."
"…"
The man was momentarily stunned, looking at Arlo, who had answered before he could finish his sentence, but he quickly regained his composure, put his hand in his pocket with a wide smile.
"Good, good. You have courage."
The man took out three magic stones from his pocket, placed them on the table, and quickly signed the contract.
"We'll see if you can still be this arrogant when you lose 3 magic stones in one go."
Arlo stood up and took his position again, and the man pulled back, ran a step or two, and punched Arlo with all his might.
Arlo stumbled back a step or two from the impact of the punch, and the crowd finally became excited, but when they looked at Arlo's face, their excitement quickly disappeared.
"Are you sure you're 8th-Level? Your punches are as soft as a baby's butt."
"…"
"Look at the liar; you almost flew backward."
"Oh, that? Hearing you were 8th-Level, I took a step or two back after the punch to secure myself. How was I supposed to know you would be so weak? What I don't understand is, how can you be so weak at 8th-Level? Did you see a baby's butt before coming and choose to spiritually swap places with it? Is there even a technique like that?"
Man "…"
"Bro, stop, don't do it. It's not worth the penalty."
Crowd "…"
Another man was forcibly escorted away by the crowd, and Arlo took out a potion from his pocket and moved to drink it, but someone from the crowd immediately objected.
"Wait, isn't drinking potions forbidden? Where is your credibility?"
Arlo raised an eyebrow as he looked from the potion to the man who spoke.
"Dude, are you stupid? Or are you blind? This is a pain gamble, not stamina. What does it matter if I drink a healing potion in this situation? After all, we're gambling with whoever attacks' strike."
"…"
The man couldn't answer, and another man suddenly rushed forward, quickly signed the contract, and looked at Arlo with a sly smile.
"The contract is signed. You can't use potions now."
"…"
"You really do have problems, I guess? The contract says ability usage is forbidden. Not healing potion usage. I just explained the situation."
Man "…"
The man quickly scanned the contract at these words, and his eyes twitched when he saw that it indeed said that.
"If you don't drink that potion, I'll bet 5 magic stones!"
The man suddenly dropped the bomb, and the crowd was surprised, and at that moment, they realized the man was 8th-Level. They had thought the man who rushed forward to take advantage of the opportunity was a lower-level Apprentice Mage who wanted to defeat stronger opponents.
Arlo looked from the potion to the man and hesitated. He seemed unsure about it but finally spoke.
"It's a deal if it's 7."
"Deal!"
The man answered instantly, and a huge smirk appeared on his face.
"I am Kota Noka, and I am much stronger than that other man. You will finally pay the price for your arrogance and greed."
The crowd was surprised by this situation, and someone finally recognized the man.
"I remember this guy. He uses body abilities. Despite his appearance, he's a master of body abilities."
As one or two more people recognized the man, the crowd was finally happy to see someone who would teach Arlo a lesson. The man had even raised the bet. Wouldn't that show how much he would lose when he lost?
Arlo heard these comments and froze in fear for a moment, but then he slightly limped, stood up, and prepared his shoulder. To everyone, it was clear that the man regretted it.
Kota, on the other hand, smirked with joy. He would both earn 7 magic stones for free and increase his reputation by teaching this man a lesson. What could be better than that?
After a big show of warming up his arm, he lunged forward and delivered the punch to Arlo's arm.
"BOOM!"
The sound was louder than before, as it was every time, and the crowd eagerly looked at Arlo, but their excitement instantly vanished when they saw his smile.
"Idiots, were you expecting me to suddenly be on the verge of death when nothing happened in the previous one? Then you get angry when I call you idiots."
After speaking, he turned to Kota, but his smile was much bigger than before when he turned.
"Thanks for the magic stones, idiot."
Crowd and Kota "…"
"Come here!"
Kota rushed forward like the others, but a second later, he felt something strange.
"…"
'Why is no one stopping me?'
Then, he slowly turned his head to the crowd, and one person from the crowd spoke.
"We got your back, brother. Beat that arrogant guy up. We promise we'll bring you underwear and stuff during your jail time."
What was even more infuriating was that the crowd also agreed with him.
'...'
Kota felt like he was going crazy for a moment. He had already lost 7 magic stones. Did they want him to go to jail too?
He took a deep breath and slowly pulled back, but the sound from the crowd made everyone freeze in place.
"Wait a minute. Didn't you win 150 magic stones and an ascent pill from the competition? Why are you acting like you don't have any money now?"
Crowd "…"
The men who had bet earlier "…"
Arlo "…"
"That's right, damn it, I forgot about that money! I was wondering why I felt like I forgot something."
Crowd "…"
A man who was richer than all of them and forgot about his money? This hurt them more than all his previous insults.
"Brothers, if we all beat him up together, the school can't punish all of us, can it?"
"Well, they probably can't figure out who 'punched him into a coma,' after all."
Arlo's eyes twitched, and he tried to resist one last time.
"Brothers, we can talk about this."
Crowd "…"
...
Arlo finally sighed with relief as he burst through his house door and threw himself inside, breathless.
He had been chased for a full 10 minutes, just like in the competition.
Luckily, the school was very large and winding. Arlo had finally lost his pursuers and secretly entered his house.
He sat on his bed, panting, and felt wronged.
"I really did forget."
It was true. After the competition, he had immediately examined the Ancient Blacksmith King's Body ability and then went to sleep. When he woke up in the morning, he had completely forgotten the spatial bag and headed to the market. Since he always kept his belongings in his inventory, he hadn't realized he had forgotten anything.
---
Quest: Provoke the people around you for a challenge and mock each person you defeat in a different way.
Quest Reward: 10 EXP per person
Quest Reward: 50 EXP
---
Superior achievement detected.
Reason for achievement: You successfully provoked the entire crowd to the point of committing a crime.
Bonus Reward: High-Grade Ability Card (Apprentice Tier)
---
Arlo's eyes widened with the final notification, and he couldn't help but feel joy. Even though he had genuinely forgotten about his money and accidentally angered the crowd this much, it had ultimately led to a good outcome.
Arlo immediately moved and wanted to increase his mastery of the Ancient Blacksmith King's Body Ability, but he sighed when he saw he couldn't.
"I expected this. I thought I'd try since I can use it as an Apprentice Mage, but it's clearly a higher-level skill."
Arlo put the ability card back into his inventory without losing any morale. He planned to use it on a stronger ability, not his current ones, just like before.
Then, he picked up the spatial bag that had fallen under his bed and dusted it off.
The students just now would probably faint from anger before they even started chasing him if they saw him carelessly leave a spatial bag containing 150 magic stones and an ascent pill like this.
Arlo quickly put all the magic stones into his inventory first, then took the small box inside the bag and opened it.
A beautiful, shining pill lay inside.
Pills could be called different versions of potions. In this case, they were made by compacting the energy inside into one place and making it release as if it were exploding in the person's stomach. This allowed the person to level up suddenly or use it for other purposes by giving sudden and high-potency energy compared to potions, which flowed into the stomach relatively slower.
The disadvantage compared to potions was the energy loss that occurred during this compaction.
So, in short, both had their advantages and disadvantages over the other.
Arlo examined the pill for a bit, but then he frowned.
"Well, now what do I do with this?"