Erina walked to the edge of the stadium and saw Arankar calmly dodging all spear attacks of Farnis despite being unarmed.
"Are you mocking me, Arankar? Take out your weapon! I'm sure you've already got one," Farnis said with a grimace as he paused his attacks.
"I don't need a weapon to defeat someone of your caliber. You need more training with that weapon," Arankar said with a straight and honest expression. "Let's continue."
"Pff…" Erina almost laughed out loud but stopped herself.
"Hahaha!"
Fortunately, many started laughing, so her cover wasn't blown. But, of course, some people also felt that Arankar was being arrogant by not using any weapon or powers in this no-restriction dual.
'Bastard.'
Farnis fumed and went all out and snorted. "Humph, Don't regret it later."
Arankar shook his head and replied with a smile, "A non-popular quote that someone close to me created; the medicine to regrets is avoiding them from cursing you beforehand. I have it, but do you?"
Farnis just snorted in response and used his skills.
'Earth Overlay.'
'Spirit Tree's Blessing.'
The Spear in Farnis's hand hardened with a faint brown-golden layer on its body. Meanwhile, the second skill briefly produced eccentric soil and green nature patterns on his body that amplified his overall physical capabilities.
"Two skills like that already?! Fuck that bastard."
"His parents must have got them for him after knowing he got Earth and Nature affinity."
"I only got one suitable skill scroll to learn, tsk. Good starting skills are so damn hard to get."
On the other hand, Farnis didn't waste time after buffing himself and his weapon as he dashed forward, his speed faster than usual.
'How will he dodge this? Surely, he can't just rely on his physical body to do that,' Erina thought, her eyes glued on the battle.
She was a bit curious about Arankar because her parents expressed their surprise at his Seal affinity.
But soon, her eyes turned wide as she watched the battle.
Farnis was quick and more precise after using two buff skills. Everyone saw Arankar barely dodging his spear attack. Still, it horizontally came sweeping towards him after he dodged the first attack, seemingly putting Arankar in a hopeless situation as everyone envisioned him getting hit.
But as if Arankar saw it coming, his legs were already bending as he ducked down before doing a low sweep kick.
*Bam!*
Farnis fell on his face while Arankar unarmed Farnis in mid-air and grabbed his Spear before pointing its tip at Farnis's head. "Don't use full power on just a second move, thinking that you'll get your opponent. You didn't even pay attention to my footwork or anything. Very bad."
Arankar stated before throwing the Spear beside Farnis as he prepared to leave the platform.
Farnis stood up from behind, his eyes red and humiliated. 'I lost despite using two skills, and he didn't even use any weapons… This is not… not possible."
Farnis was losing his rationale, but he held himself back as Arankar's words rang in his head.
'Medicine for regrets….'
Sighing, he put his Spear in his level 1 storage box and bowed. "It's my complete defeat."
"I know," Arankar nodded at him with a smile. "You can spar with me when you feel you got better."
"No," Farnis shook his head with a snort. "I give up on Spear. I will focus on a mage-related combat build."
"Up to you."
Arankar nodded and left as he returned to their reserved big open pavilion with couches and tables filled with drinks and food.
His classmates and half of the other students also returned while the other half decided to spar or discuss things like who was joining which place.
The same discussion was also happening in the pavilion.
Daniel Macrov and Rakan Bors were two of the three that hosted this party, and they were exceedingly interested in Erina.
"Miss Erina, have you decided on the guild to join?" Daniel asked. A seventeen-year-old with dark silver hair and a dashing face with light brown eyes. His physique was like a nimble fighter, aiding him in looking handsome.
"I have," Erina nodded with her usual flat expression.
"Oh? Would you mind telling us about it?" Rakan curiously asked. His dark creamy hair and faint thin beard gave him a different kind of dashing appearance.
"Why do you want to know? Heh, do you want to follow us?" Stella said with a scoff. She was the third host.
"What? So you are also joining Miss Erina and Miss Luna?" Daniel exclaimed in surprise.
"I am going to SlayerBreak guild as my father is acquainted with their leader," Erina said with a nod.
"And I am going because Erina is going there," Luna said with a smile.
"Stop being humble," Stella said as she rolled her eyes. "You could meet their requirement even without it."
Luna chuckled as her dark orange hair waved slightly due to the wind. "I didn't say I can't."
"Well, I can join the Artisan section of SlayerBreak guild," Rakan said with a wry smile.
"You are better off in an artisan-focused guild since you have awakened a smithing talent," Daniel said with a grin. "You would progress better in such a guild."
'You assholes,' Erina cursed them in her head but kept her usual indifferent expression outside. 'Sometimes, I really want to scream out and just do whatever I want, like drinking that entire glass in one gulp, sigh.'
She knew that these two flies wanted to join her in whatever adventure she would go on in the hope of capturing her heart, but they were being delusional.
Her parents had forbidden her to get into a relationship with anyone so early and told her to focus on forging her path and getting stronger. And she was fine with it because she didn't feel she met anyone matching up to her level.
However, she was curious about someone at the moment. Just curious.
"Do any of you know about Seal affinity?" Erin asked as she turned to Arankar.
"Haha, let's just call him here and ask," Daniel said with a glint in his eyes as he stood up and shouted. "Hey, Arankar! Come here, and let's have some talk."
Erina glanced at Daniel. 'Fucking asshat. Should I just tell him I won't be impressed even if he orders someone like that or put him down in front of me?
'Seriously, these bastards have bad tastes.'
But she turned to Arankar to see if he was coming.
'Well, I hope he does.'
She wanted to know about that affinity, and his conduct also piqued her interest.
Alas, Arankar just got a call from Agatha a minute ago about Professor Leon coming to visit them for an important matter.
And just as he put his phone down after talking, Daniel called him.
"Cannot. I have to return home," Arankar replied with a smile. "Thanks for the invitation, though."
Many were surprised to hear him rejecting Daniel so casually and without a hitch.
But not as much as Daniel and Rakan.
Seeing that Arankar had started walking, Erina felt a bit of loss and stood up. "Umm, can you just stay for a minute? I want to tal-"
"Not possible right now; maybe some other time? Bye, everyone."
Arankar replied with a calm and serene smile before walking away and leaving the resort.
"Ahh... Alright." Erina nodded and sat back down, her lips twitched slightly, but she controlled herself from changing her expression. 'Damn, so embarrassing. Why did I have to wear this ice mask? It sucks, Mom!'
Well, she also liked it because it kept buzzing flies like Daniel and Rakan away from her and prevented them from causally calling her.
Others remained dumbfounded, and the atmosphere turned awkward, but Arankar was in a good mood as he left. He had a new experience today since he never went to a gathering event like this before.
'Agatha mentioned a lesson about conning your enemy, eh? Sounds entertaining,' Arank thought as he entered his normal mana-driven black car and drove back home.