Kale tilted his body slightly to the right while kicking the ground and moving forward, strangely his movements were swift and almost made no sound.
'Snake King Killer Series: First Style - Silent Rush'
His left hand moved with utmost flexibility as he swirled it around Liker's left hand then pulled him while rotating his own body in anti-clockwise.
Likar lost his balance and due to the inertia he couldn't retreat, when his body turned because of Kale and he showed his back to him, Kale's right hand moved in an arc like a snake and struck at his left shoulder.
After the strike landed, Kale released him and stepped back.
Likar quickly regained his balance and looked at him in confusion but in the next second his expression distorted, he screamed in agony and fell to the ground while clutching his left shoulder.
His screams caught the attention of many students around and they looked at them in surprise, Kale was a no-name rookie so the battle should have lasted just a few minutes before he either revealed his hidden cards or lost but the result was quite unexpected.
Kale looked at the screaming Likar and squatted on his knees, he said "Don't worry, it's just bone dislocation, go meet a good physician and you will be fine,"
Likar looked at him in anger, he wanted to punch him in the face but couldn't do that because of the pain he was feeling. In the end, he clenched his teeth trying to resist the pain, and said "I.. ac. cept.. defeat,"
After he accepted defeat, two people from the medical staff came with a stretcher, skillfully put him on it then left.
There was a reason why the hospital was build so close to the arena, the academy might able to avoid accidental deaths in the arena to an extent but injuries were inevitable.
Using martial arts doesn't require Qi but bringing out its true strength requires Qi.
Kale felt his phone buzzing when he was walking down the stage and checked the notifications.
[Congratulation! You have won your first duel.]
[The duel records:-
Wins: 01
Draws: 00
Losses: 00]
[The reward is being calculated, you will receive it in the span of an hour.]
[Would you like to stop or continue dueling: Proceed/Decline.]
[Note1: Continuous winning streak will provide bonus reward.]
[Note2: The winning streak will get reset every 24 hours.]
Kale thought about it and clicked on Proceed. The matching began again and he had to wait until the next opponent is found.
"You surprised me man, you have quite some knowledge about the human body," Arlo said when Kale came down the stage.
"My dad is a doctor so he taught me some things about human bone structure and weaknesses," Kale said in a casual tone.
Arlo just grinned at his reply. If he really chose to go by this logic then Fire Fighters will become genius Fire Mage and Blacksmiths best Swordsman.
Kale didn't care if he believed him or not, he couldn't give up on the benefits of the academy just because of others doubt, if worst comes then he could just say that he learned this instantly because of his Auto-Photographic Memory and if even that doesn't work he would just escape to a faraway place from here.
This time, Kale noticed that a few pairs of eyes were now looking in his direction, trying to see through him. He didn't use any type of spell, Battle Qi, or mutant ability on the stage, everything about him was unknown except his nickname which only worked as the fuel to the fire of curiosity within them.
Soon after, Arlo also got matched. Kale had nothing to do so he followed along to see his duel.
***
[Name: Karel
Class: Martial Artist
Type: None
Level: 9]
VS
[Nickname: Razor
Profile: Encrypted]
[The battle stacks are 1:5]
[Duel starts in the 30s.]
Karel was a boy, he looked about the same age as Arlo, he was tall and had a triangular face, his muscles were toned well, he had shoulder-length hair that were braided behind his head.
Kale raised his eyebrow 'His body built is leaning towards strength and defense, the air around him shows his rich combat experience... For his age at least but his chances of winning are low,' Kale thought as he turned to look at Razor.
Razor was lightly hopping, he stretched his arms upwards while looking at Karel in front of him.
'He will likely lose because Arlo's current fighting style counters Karel's. If his body was a little bulkier or lighter his chances of winning would increase,' Kale shook his head then betted all his CP on Razor, after he had won the duel, the CP he used to bet became usable again.
The rewards were still not there so Kale believed that it was one of the tricks of the academy so that the students cannot continuously bet in succession without waiting, this way even if they have a long winning streak they would still won't be able to gain the maximum profit by using the rewards to bet.
[The duel begins.]
Both Karel and Arlo sprinted towards each other.
Karel took his stance when he was close enough, he clenched his right fist, and punched, the faint membrane of light covered his knuckles.
'Basic Iron Fist: First Style'
He was intending to use the inertia against Arlo but just when Arlo was close enough he jumped into the air and used a high kick against Karel.
'Lightning Arc Assault: Second Style - Falling Thunder'
Karel used his left hand to block the kick but this wasn't over, Arlo spun his body and kicked with his other foot, Karel failed to block it and got hit on the shoulder, even when he was hit hard he was able to maintain his posture.
Arlo landed on his left side, just when his feet touched the ground he grabbed his hand and did a knee attack, trying to deal a critical hit on his head.
This time, Karel used his Battle Qi to defend, the faint membrane of light covered his head.
Although he had Battle Qi unlike Arlo but there was a limit to what could Mortal-Rank Battle Qi could do.
When his knee was just half a meter away from hitting his head, Arlo sprung open his leg, increasing the force behind the attack, and struck his head.
Karel got on his right knee, his head felt a little dizzy. Arlo didn't let go of this opportunity and started his punching barrage without any delay.
Karel didn't get any chance for a comeback and chose to give up after half a minute to reduce damage.
Many practitioners that were not aiming for a winning streak and were just here to practice would give up early on when the odds are against them to reduce damage and save stamina for the next battle.
Arlo walked down the stage, and came to Kale, he said "Now, I can't say my father is a medic, can I?"
Kale's lips twitched but he didn't speak.
Soon after he was matched with another person, this time it was a martial artist of Level 10, he was able to last for quite a bit but in the end, he too didn't satisfy Kale's expectations.
Kale won without any problem. The same thing happened for his 3rd, 4th, and 5th opponent... All the way up to 8th when he finally felt somewhat tired, he decided to stop, he was tired inside but remained calm, his movements were same as before, not showing any weakness.
Hiding weakness in battle had already become instinct to him.
'My body's capability is limited, I tried to reduce my stamina consumption by doing fewer movements as possible but fighting one on one is tiring, it would be better if they came together. Hmm... There was a team battle mode but I can't join without a team sigh...' Kale thought.
This time when he walked down the stage, he noticed the number of spectators had increased by around four-fold.
"You are in the limelight bro," Arlo said with a smirk.
"You are not any less," Kale said. He had seen him winning 7 consecutive battles, only one less compared to his but unlike Kale, Arlo didn't look much tired.
'If my guess is right, this guy had used Mortal-Rank Body Tempering Liquid at the very least, dad also gave me money but I have my own alternatives, I will go slow but steady,' Kale thought.
Tempering Body Liquid is a drug that purifies and strengthens the user's body, their effect is similar to the Body Tempering Pills in the martial world Kale used to live so he knew quite a bit about them.
In his last life, after reaching the Martial Venerable stage, he had figured out that the more shortcuts one takes early on, the harder it becomes to advance in later stages. Kale 'Using Body Tempering Liquid and the likes might not affect them that much, having pros that surpassed the cons but this will slowly make their body dependent on such things, it's better to use the things that are very close to nature instead, as our body develops almost to none resistance against them nor do they have any fatal side effects.'
Arlo didn't act any different but right now he was viewing him in a different light, from the start he never showed any disdain or anger when Kale told him about not participating in the exam, it was because he never had any expectations for him, and only intend to treat him as good roommate but the current events proved his conjecture wrong, it won't be wrong to say his pride was hurt but his curiosity took over his dissatisfaction.
There was also a question that was bothering him 'He wants to become a mage?' but then he remembered Kale said Mutant Mage so he might have gained a mutant ability focused on fighting, that way it won't be unusual for Kale to take in some Body Strengthening Drugs, although he still had his doubt, he chose not to ponder over them.
"Hey, how about we sign up for a Duo Battle instead? This way we can earn more points," Arlo suggested, he actually wanted to test himself against Kale but right now his priority was to earn more points just like Kale.
Kale slightly frowned then shook his head "I want to go buy a good weapon first,"
Arlo thought for a second then nodded "Then wait for a few minutes I also want to buy one, I will accompany you after this match,"
Kale agreed.
He had bought Mortal-Rank Common-Grade throwing knives in online shopping, something like that was easy to buy as long as they weren't guns or explosives but for above Mortal-Rank equipment, one needs a license. The academy is an exception, it allowed the students to buy them with CP and use them, they were allowed to carry them around too as long as they do not use those weapons in the outer society until they get their license.
In fact, if they wanted they could use the academy's online ordering system to chose and order equipment for their room but Kale liked to check his weapon with his own hands and like him, most practitioners had the same vision.
***
Academy's Equipment Store...
Equipment is the closest comrades of a practitioner, whether it is an Origin type, Magic Type, or something made using pure science and even from the combination of multiple types.
Their ranking and grading system is similar to that of beasts, the ranking starts from Mortal-Rank and Grading from Common.
Good equipment can allow a weak practitioner to fight a stronger opponent on par, at times it can act as the life-saving straw for them but... Sometimes, the greed for their equipment gets them killed. That's why many practitioners don't carry too good equipment when they can't bring out their full potential.
Kale entered the store with Arlo.
When he checked his surrounding he realized that the equipment store was more like a jewellery store from inside, different types of weapons, shields, armours, robes were showcased inside glass cases, worn by mannequins, and even decorated below the glass counter to catch the eyes of the customers.