Chapter 14: The Duel
Su Cheng entered the Magic Guild with mixed feelings twisting in her chest.
The inside of the tower had clearly been expanded by spatial arrays. From the outside, it looked imposing enough, but once inside, the hall unfolded into something several times larger, spacious enough to swallow thousands of people whole.
“Arcane mages, please proceed to the second floor. Spiritualists and occult casters, head to Basement Level One.”
Two mage statues stood at the center of the hall. One held a recording crystal that endlessly replayed the same announcements.
“Elemental mages, continue straight ahead. Those without a rank, turn left for testing.”
“Registered mages, turn right toward the eastern sector.”
Even amid the roar of voices and footsteps, the broadcast-like announcement remained unnervingly clear.
As Su Cheng stepped into the eastern wing, the path ahead abruptly shifted.
Dozens of stairways branched out in different directions, layered at varying heights. Hundreds of floating escalators crisscrossed overhead, stacked from floor to ceiling like an enormous three-dimensional labyrinth.
The admissions offices for different academies sat on platforms suspended between the stairways. Each doorway shimmered with a different magical seal, leading into independent pocket spaces.
Meanwhile, the ground floor was filled with public testing arrays. From afar, it looked like a sea of fractured rainbow light.
Compared to warriors, mages were still relatively rare. After several rounds of crowd division, the noise gradually faded around her.
Su Cheng walked forward until she found an unoccupied array. She took several silver coins from her pocket.
“I’d like to retest my resonance level.”
These testing arrays all belonged to the Magic Guild, and the attendants guarding them were guild members as well.
One mage accepted the coins and gestured for her to stand in the center of the array. He himself stepped onto the outer six-pointed star formation and performed several intricate hand seals.
The originally gray-white array suddenly ignited.
Brilliant streams of light raced across its surface, flaring inward from the outer rim until the entire formation blazed alive.
A violent gust of wind erupted out of nowhere.
Pale green wind spirits materialized in the air, their translucent forms drifting like smoke and mist. Amid crisp, silver laughter, they spiraled around her in widening circles.
Everyone within a hundred meters turned to look.
Guild staff. Students taking tests. Recruitment instructors from the academies.
All eyes landed on the girl standing at the center of the array.
Her hair whipped upward in the wind, the hem of her coat snapping sharply around her legs.
“No way… is that Special Grade?!”
“It really is?”
The arrays gathered massive numbers of elemental spirits. Different resonance levels naturally triggered different reactions.
“…Wind element. Special Grade.”
The examiner’s voice rang across the hall.
The guild workers instantly perked up.
They’d been sitting here for half the day. This was the first Special Grade they’d seen, and excitement immediately spread through the crowd as people began guessing which academy she would choose.
The surrounding mages burst into discussion.
Many stared openly with envy.
Elemental resonance attributes and grades had a tiny chance of increasing with age, but by sixteen or seventeen, they usually stabilized permanently.
Unless external methods were used.
And those methods cost enough money to crush ordinary people into dust.
Half a minute later, the wind spirits dispersed.
The pale green glow faded away, replaced by crimson flames and silver-blue lightning.
Heat rapidly flooded the air as crackling electricity hissed around the array.
A ring of scarlet fire burst into existence overhead like a writhing red serpent, spinning violently around the formation while sparks leapt and scattered.
Threads of silver-blue lightning flashed through the flames, colliding against the fire in bursts of dazzling light.
“Fire element, Special Grade. Lightning element, Special Grade.”
The surrounding noise exploded.
Apparently, the God of Contracts had fulfilled Their promise perfectly.
More and more mages gathered nearby. Recruiters from various academies hovered at the edges of the crowd, visibly eager to extend invitations.
Because she possessed a Special Grade talent, every academy approaching her carried considerable prestige. Lesser schools didn’t even bother trying.
Most of the recruiters were junior or intermediate mages. A few senior mages stood among them.
The insignias for those three ranks were similar: staffs embedded with gemstones, each bearing an elemental symbol at the base.
The gemstone shapes distinguished the ranks.
Triangle. Diamond. Pentagon.
Third-rank, fourth-rank, fifth-rank mages.
As Su Cheng scanned the crowd, her gaze suddenly paused.
There was also a Great Mage present.
The insignia on the woman’s chest depicted a staff crowned with a hexagonal gem. Unlike the lower ranks, the elemental symbol no longer rested beneath the staff, but coiled around it in flowing streams of water.
Two overlapping cross emblems adorned her robes, clearly marking her as a representative of a certain academy.
Su Cheng’s eyes lit up immediately.
“Hello?”
“Hello.” The Great Mage smiled warmly and nodded at her. “Interested in our academy?”
The surrounding recruiters immediately deflated, though most wore expressions of “Of course it’s them.”
Someone unwilling to give up shouted from the side, “That’s Crossstar Academy! Only Special Grades are even allowed to take the entrance exam, and if you fail, you still can’t get in!”
“Exactly! With your talent, our academy will accept you directly. We even offer scholarships!”
Crossstar Academy.
One of the oldest institutions in the Silvermoon Empire.
For thousands of years, it had produced countless legendary powerhouses, many of whom had left their names etched into history itself.
It was the dream academy of every mage.
The holy land countless warriors longed for.
Whether in faculty, resources, environment, or historical prestige, it stood at the pinnacle of the Empire. The other top academies could at most claim to stand alongside it.
And because its admission standards were absurdly high, Crossstar Academy had the smallest student body among the Empire’s elite institutions.
“They demand way too much. Throwing money at them doesn’t help!”
“Even imperial relatives get rejected if they don’t meet the standard!”
“Yes,” Su Cheng ignored the others and looked at the Great Mage. “Would I qualify to reserve an entrance exam slot?”
The woman nodded. “Come with me first.”
She led Su Cheng onto the nearest stairway.
After winding through several levels, a water-mirror entrance emerged in midair. Ripples spread across its shimmering surface.
They stepped through one after another.
The noisy recruitment hall vanished instantly.
In its place stood a spacious, luxurious lounge.
Curved crimson sofas surrounded circular tables adorned with carved crystal candleholders. Several mages sat nearby organizing scrolls, all bearing the same crossed insignia.
“Hm?” Someone looked up in surprise. “Another Special Grade?”
Before the sentence even finished, a group of mages emerged from an inner conference room.
At the center walked a blond teenage boy.
He was handsome, dressed in expensive embroidered clothes, with the unmistakable arrogance of nobility hanging from him like perfume. His chin remained tilted proudly upward.
But the moment he saw Su Cheng, caution entered his expression.
“She’s Special Grade too?” His face shifted slightly as he turned toward the recruiters. “Didn’t you say the Secret Institute’s elemental division only had one slot left?”
“Yes.” One mage nodded calmly. “According to academy regulations, if she also passes the entrance exam, the two of you will duel.”
Crossstar Academy had three divisions.
The Secret Institute belonged to the mages. The elemental division specifically trained elemental casters.
“Of course,” the mage continued, “the duel will stop at first blood. The winner enters the Secret Institute’s elemental division. The loser may instead enroll in the Blade Institute.”
“There are still openings there.”
Disgust instantly appeared on the blond boy’s face.
The hostility in his gaze toward Su Cheng sharpened.
The entrance exam itself wasn’t easy, but for Special Grade resonators, their innate advantages were overwhelming. Unless someone was exceptionally stupid or incapable of understanding magic, they would almost certainly pass.
And the girl in front of him clearly didn’t look stupid enough to fail.
Which meant they were absolutely going to fight.
Ridiculous.
As a dual-element Special Grade resonator, every academy in existence should have been scrambling to recruit him.
And now he had to compete with some lowborn commoner?
The Blade Institute?
That was the academy for magic warriors. Students there were forced to train both magic and battle aura.
The entire reason he wanted Crossstar Academy was to study ancient, mysterious magic. Why should he waste his youth cultivating brute-force combat techniques?
Besides, human energy was limited. People who tried mastering both usually ended up mediocre at everything.
There were already countless examples.
“You people!” The blond boy gritted his teeth. “These rules are idiotic!”
Everyone knew Crossstar Academy was packed with elites. Its students dominated every trial tournament and inter-academy competition.
But because the student body was so small, and because many competitions forbade participants from entering multiple categories, the academy’s overall rankings remained mediocre.
No wonder.
With standards this absurd, other schools would probably set off fireworks if they recruited someone like him.
Yet Crossstar still wanted them to duel.
Even if the quota was full, what harm would one extra student do?
“Wait.” Su Cheng suddenly raised a hand. “I didn’t expect this to be so complicated. It looks like the process will take some time, so I’d like to apply to return home and rest before taking the exam.”
This recruitment period lasted several days.
Since Crossstar Academy’s standards for mages were so strict, anyone below Special Grade wasn’t even considered. Very few people actually qualified for the exams.
Unlike the Warrior Guild side, where the Brave Institute recruiters were practically drowning in applicants.
The mages of the Secret Institute were comparatively relaxed. None of them seemed rushed at all, so they immediately agreed.
The blond boy’s expression darkened further.
The look he gave Su Cheng dripped with viciousness.
“Do you even know who I am, peasant? If you had any sense, you’d…”
Su Cheng tilted her head slightly.
“Who are you?”
He sneered.
“My mother is Count Gauler.”
Su Cheng barely suppressed the smile threatening to curl at her lips.
Just as she thought.
In the original novel, this blond boy was actually the spoiled and vicious daughter of a count, disguised as a man.
Lin Yun wasn’t even a mage. He’d only passed Crossstar’s entrance exam by cheating with the old man sealed inside his bracelet.
The count’s daughter refused to duel him because she considered it beneath her status.
So she secretly sent people to kill the protagonist instead.
Lin Yun survived purely through protagonist-grade garbage luck. Because of his injuries, he missed the duel and was forced into the Blade Institute.
Later, as revenge, he assaulted the count’s daughter.
Su Cheng: “…Right. Young Master Count, please don’t look at me like that.”
The blond boy blinked.
“What?”
Su Cheng deliberately showed a trace of fear.
“The expression on your face makes it seem like you want me dead already.”
Something flickered in his eyes before he let out another cold laugh.
“If you’re scared, then give up now.”
Su Cheng shook her head quickly.
“But I only want to study magic too. Let’s compete fairly instead. I just wanted to confirm something with you first.”
She paused slightly.
“Before our duel arrives, neither of us will do anything to undermine its fairness. Right?”
“Hah.” The boy sneered again. “I certainly wouldn’t stoop to that. If you’re trying to imply otherwise, then I’ll consider it an insult to the honor of House Gauler.”
“Good.” Su Cheng nodded solemnly. “Then it’s agreed. Let me think…”
She smiled faintly.
“May the harm intended by the oathbreaker return upon themselves. How about that?”
The blond boy stared at her like she was insane.
They weren’t children anymore.
Who still believed in vows?
He’d grown up among nobles. He’d seen countless betrayals. Written contracts could be violated, let alone verbal promises.
But all the mages nearby were watching.
If he refused, it would practically sound like an admission of guilt.
“Hmph.” The young count folded his arms. “That’s only natural.”
Then he stormed off in irritation.
Su Cheng let out a long breath.
“That’s wonderful, then.”
She spoke softly.
After bidding farewell to the other mages and thanking the Great Mage who had brought her here, she casually said she would see them tonight before leaving as well.
At the same time, the blond boy exited the Magic Guild with a dark expression.
The servants waiting outside immediately rushed forward.
“Young Master? Did everything go smoothly?”
“Smoothly?” He ground his teeth together. “It’ll be smooth once she’s dead.”
He had traveled here from the Empire’s central region. Among his entourage were two fourth-rank warriors. Killing a low-level mage would be effortless.
Judging from the girl’s manners and appearance, she was probably from some ordinary family without even a noble title. At most, they had a little money.
As for that agreement?
So what if he broke it?
The blond boy curled his lips coldly.
“Go kill someone. She’s the one who just got…”
The lead servant was listening carefully when the young count suddenly stopped speaking.
Then he violently coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Amid the servants’ horrified screams, his face turned deathly pale. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest as ragged gasps tore from his throat.
It felt as though invisible chains had pierced through his heart.
Or as though iron wires had wrapped tightly around the flesh itself.
Every heartbeat came with unbearable agony.
His vision blurred.
Only dim golden light remained.
Within that sea of gold emerged a colossal figure towering like a mountain.
Its body was formed from countless pages and scrolls. Papyrus, bamboo slips, crystal tablets, leather manuscripts, all bound together by millions of glowing golden threads.
Its head was a scale.
Its neck formed the balance beam.
And hanging from either side were two trays.
Each tray held a beating heart.
The heart on the left trembled violently as golden strands seeped through its blood vessels.
The boy froze.
It felt as though invisible hands had clamped around his throat. He wanted to speak, but no sound emerged.
The left side of his chest bulged grotesquely beneath his clothes.
Veins writhed beneath the skin like swarming worms.
Every blood vessel protruded violently outward.
Then came a brittle cracking sound.
Like shattered porcelain.
His ribs split apart one by one, piercing through flesh like sharpened spears. Ruptured heart tissue mixed with pus and blood sprayed outward in chunks of dark-red sludge.
Fragments of lung were dragged out through the torn cavity, hanging limply like wet rags in the air.
The stench of blood overwhelmed the faint scent of burning paper.
Blood and shattered bone exploded everywhere.
His corpse tumbled down the stairs.
Chaos erupted instantly.
Screams and curses collided together as the crowd scattered in panic like boiling water spilling from a broken pot.
The servants, drenched in blood, looked up blankly.
They couldn’t see the divine apparition.
Terrified, they rushed forward to save their master, only to gather half a corpse in their arms.
Su Cheng had just stepped out of the Magic Guild.
Standing beneath the shadows of the entrance corridor, she quietly watched the scene unfolding below the stairs.
Slowly, she removed her hat.
Then she bowed deeply toward the divine figure glowing within the golden light.
