The Blue Bismuth School was the most respected magic school in the town of Valkenburg. Not because it was rich, or taught unique magic, or had a lot of students, but because it was the only one.
It couldn't afford to kick out even the most hopeless students like Reynard. Instead, these students became glorified serfs, forced to work in the school's premises and doing low-skill magic jobs. This way, they returned the school money for their stipends and living expenses.
Reynard thought about this as he nourished the Saturnian Ivy plants in the school's alchemical garden with his mana. Several other youths were working in the gardens, doing similar things to other plants.
The ivy's red flowers were extremely poisonous if touched, but also extremely valuable. Just a few of them could have let Reynard cultivate to the next grade… But the entire garden was protected by magic from thieves.
Instead, Reynard had to put on his protective gloves, get a pair of tweezers, and start gathering bugs from the ivy's leaves. Not only did they hurt the plant, but they also cost a bit of money, none of which Reynard was going to see.
'And I can't even simply run from this place,' Reynard thought sourly. 'The Magister will never permit me to leave, and if I go without his permission, I will be declared a renegade and caught within days. All so that their fucking mage-slaves could keep slaving for a minimal wage…'
The sun was close to sunset by the time Reynard finished his share of work and could leave. But as he walked from the gardens to his dormitory, a trio of people blocked his way.
All of them were youths of Reynard's age, but their clothing was different. Reynard's robe—smeared with dirt and plant juice—was black with one blue square on his chest. But these people's robes were black with two squares.
The robes meant that these magi were at the Final Cycle Nigredo stage, despite being of the same age, and not even especially talented compared to true geniuses.
In theory, Final Cycle Nigredo stood right after the First Cycle Nigredo, so these people were only one sub-stage above Reynard.
However, between the First and the Final Cycles could be any amount of lesser Cycles of Refinement Operations. Only very talented magi could actually skip them all and achieve large advancements in one go.
In short, any of these people spent years refining themselves and could have wiped the floor with Reynard using only their left pinky.
Reynard also knew them. And any other day, he'd do anything to avoid this meeting.
"You! Stop here, peasant! Were you about to leave the gardens? Don't you forget anything?" asked the group's leader.
His name was Markus, and "rich kid" was written all over his smooth face and the robes, which were made from expensive cloth and embroidered with silver.
"That's right, Reynard! Did you forget that you promised to take care of Markus's personal garden, too?" Markus's crony asked.
The other one snickered.
"Exactly. So come with us and take care of my Saturnian Ivys, too! Or do I have to teach you some respect first?" Markus asked.
His toadies cracked their knuckles.
Any other day, Reynard would curse his luck. Of course, he didn't promise his bullies anything, and a student's personal garden was their own homework, nor Reynard's! But it was either spending a few hours picking up bugs or being beaten up.
Markus has done this to Reynard for years and expected the orphan youth to slump his shoulders and obey.
Instead, to his shock, Reynard stood straight and smiled from ear to ear.
"You know, I was about to go searching for you myself, Markus. You aren't my only bully, but you sure are the richest. So thank you for saving me the trouble."
Reynard pulled a work glove out of his pocket and threw it at Markus's face.
"Markus, I challenge you to a duel!"
Markus caught the glove, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it.
"What? A duel?! Why would I want to duel some peasant? You aren't good enough for a duel, I should just stomp you like this glove! Was throwing gloves at me your plan to win? Ha!"
Around them, several students walking on their business paused and looked at the commotion.
"Forget about this dirt under your feet, Markus. Let us deal with him," a crony said, stepping toward Reynard.
The other crony did the same.
Reynard pulled out his other glove and also threw it at Markus.
"I am settling a grudge, Markus! You bullied me for years, and I demand moral compensation!"
Markus made a magical pass with his hand, and small lightning flew from his fingers, incinerating the glove mid-air. His face was red with anger.
Shocked gasps went through the crowd as people realized what was going on.
Official duels were a common way for students to settle grudges. But they always went between students of a similar power level.
"Did Reynard finally snap? Is he trying to kill himself? No way he's thinking he will win, right? Markus is a Final Cycle, while Reynard is only a First!" someone whispered.
"Maybe Reynard touched a wrong plant and went delusional…"
"I'm not lowering myself to duels with peasants, peasant!" Markus spat out. "Boys, break his—"
A glove smacked Markus on the face hard enough to turn his head, smearing his cheek with dark and smelly oil.
The crowd gasped.
Although thanks to the refinement of his body, Markus was much faster than Reynard, he was too distracted to see this one coming.
Reynard, who has already pulled out a fourth glove out of his deep pockets—Markus was lucky that this pair wasn't smeared with Saturnian Ivy's poisonous juices!—grinned victoriously.
"A coward! If you win, Markus—fine, you can do whatever you want with me! You can kill me or make me your slave. But if you lose, all that you have in your garden will be mine!"
Markus's toadies were about to lunge at Reynard, but he threw the oily glove away and stopped them with a gesture.
"You will regret this insult, peasant! A duel, tomorrow, after the evening's bell."
"Deal! Witnessed by all these students around," Reynard said, pocketing his last glove. "See you in the arena tomorrow! Remember, if you chicken out, you will automatically lose!"
He grinned at Markus and began walking away at a quick but unhurried pace.
Agitated whispers followed him as the rumors spread over the Blue Bismuth School.
"Markus's alchemical garden… It's the largest among all Nigredo-stage students! I heard his rich dad gifted him the seeds for his birthday…"
"No, it was a gift for achieving the Final Cycle Nigredo. Markus had to go through five Cycles before he succeeded!"
"Do you think Markus will incinerate Reynard with lightning or let him live to suffer?"
"Ha-ha-ha, I but have you seen Markus's face? It's probably the first time it was smeared with dirt in his life!"
Hearing this all only made Markus angrier.
He stomped away from the gardens, thinking about the spells he would use to torment Reynard during their fight.
'Pathetic peasant… I will make you regret that you didn't agree to a few broken bones!'