They don't want me to try anymore.

All attributes are temporarily increased by 5%!

The host has been detected to be in dire straits. Trait: [Wise Ruler Who Lost His Country], triggered!

All attributes are temporarily increased by 5%!

Chapter Thirty-Six: Using the sword of the past to slay the opponent in the future!

Because he was in dire straits and had declared that Linda on the other side was royalty, Richard's two self-simulation traits were triggered, giving him a 10% attribute bonus!

At first glance, the number doesn't seem very high, but for the exhausted Richard, it was like a timely rain after a long drought.

He clearly felt that the magic power within his body instantly increased significantly.

Moreover, the increase in the maximum value of all attributes seems to come with a certain amount of recovery effect, just like the mechanism in the game in my previous life where leveling up automatically restores full health, only not as exaggerated.

In short, Richard suddenly regained his fighting strength.

Linda, on the other side, was startled.

How come someone who was just half-dead suddenly became energetic?

Could it be that you were just faking it all along?

...However, the outcome will not change!

You stray dog, just lie down here!

Her expression was ferocious as she thrust her staff down, crackling with lightning.

But how could Richard give his opponent another chance?

He casually summoned a treant under his feet, and using the same move he made during the entrance exam, he used the treant as a pole to prop himself into the air, thus dodging the attack.

...Of course, as a price, the treant turned into charred, lightning-struck wood with crackling sounds.

But as long as it gives us a chance to catch our breath, it's worth it!

After Richard escaped, he mustered the strength he had during his physical fitness test in his past life, and staggered back more than ten steps in a flash, and then...

Then he stood still again.

The people in the stands started talking again.

"Why did you stop running? Are you planning to launch a counterattack on the spot?"

"Stop joking, it's obvious you can't win. Connaught is already exhausted, right? That was probably just a last gasp before victory. Victory will definitely belong to Senior Linda!"

"I think he's probably thinking of surrendering!"

Linda missed her shot and looked up, somewhat puzzled.

"...Aren't you going to keep running away?"

Richard remained silent, but instead took two more steps forward.

"They're actually walking towards me... Instead of running away, they're coming to their deaths? Ha."

Linda laughed again: "Out of energy? That tree-man just drained you dry again..."

As she spoke, the smile on her face froze.

Because she noticed that Richard across from her showed no signs of fatigue or panic; on the contrary, he was smiling, and it was a confident and calm smile.

"What...what kind of expression is that?!"

The very back of the stands.

Albert noticed something, raised an eyebrow, and said in a deep voice, stroking his chin, "Ah, is that so... remarkable..."

The witch headmistress Hela, standing nearby, nodded approvingly.

At this moment, Richard finally spoke.

"What expression? Of course, it's the smile of a victor."

Linda scoffed, "That's nonsense! You've already reached a dead end!"

"Is that so? On the surface, it seems so. My magic power is on the verge of exhaustion, and my strongest summon has already been used, but..."

Richard smiled and said, "A summoner's battle is like playing chess. What matters is never how many pieces are left, but the overall momentum! A good chess player should know how to plan ahead and use the sword of the past to kill the opponent in the future!"

Linda was a little stunned: "What are you talking about?"

"I'm telling you...you've fallen for my trap!"

As soon as he uttered the last word, Richard swung his staff and planted it in the ground.

Instantly, more than ten beams of blue light radiated outwards, eventually covering most of the area and forming a conspicuous six-pointed star!

The stands erupted in chaos.

"Wait, this...this is a magic circle?"

"My God, when was this set up?!"

"This pattern... I remember now, it's the Heavenly Punishment Sword Formation, the people of the Northern Frontier love to use it, specifically to ambush and kill demons!"

"Truly astonishing... Impressive, Targaryens!"

"Senior, watch out!"

"Go Richard!!"

Linda, who was in the audience, was stunned for a moment.

Then she widened her eyes and said, "Impossible, absolutely impossible, I wouldn't miss such a big move..."

"Because that's not my action."

Richard cracked his neck and said, "Remember...?"

"Remember what!?"

"...I use magic crystals to feed the dragon."

Yes, from the very beginning, Richard and the purple-eyed black dragon had already agreed on where to fly, where to scratch with their claws, and when to give a signal. Richard would then throw the magic crystals according to the signal.

The ability to execute complex teamwork is also a major advantage of autonomous summoned creatures.

To outsiders, Richard's actions seemed like he was simply rewarding his summoned creature, but in reality... the dragon never completely devoured the magic crystals; what spilled from its mouth scattered in specific locations, forming the base of the magic circle!

The principle of "openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang pass" applies here.

Linda stared wide-eyed and shouted, "Don't be ridiculous! Drawing a magic circle requires extremely high precision. How could a wildly flying dragon possibly..."

"You're right, so I later used water elements to fix the details~"

Upon hearing this, Linda was stunned. She hadn't noticed what the water elementals she had easily dispersed had done—she had assumed that Richard was at a loss after seeing the trump card disappear.

But what she didn't know was that Richard had told another little lie; he had done more than just those things...

Setting up an intricate magic circle on a flat surface is indeed too difficult for a dragon that needs to fly around, and the same goes for water elements.

But what if you add a little bit of luck?

If a monkey endlessly typing on a keyboard can also type Hamlet, then by sheer coincidence, it makes perfect sense that the scattered magic crystal fragments happened to embed themselves in the soil at the designated spot... right?

That's right, Richard used the [Destiny Writer] skill once a day.

To be honest, he originally planned to rely solely on this skill to set up the formation.

After several training sessions with Alice, he realized that this was not feasible. Fate writers also have their limits and cannot control the extraterrestrial world with too much precision and perfection. In the end, he could only risk having the water element make some more repairs.

Fortunately, Linda's arrogance blinded her, making her, like a StarCraft player, completely oblivious to these subtle maneuvers.

But regardless of the process, for Linda...

The results are the same.

“Ignorance and stupidity are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is.”

Richard said slowly but firmly, "You looked down on me, you looked down on Tom, you looked down on everyone you considered inferior to you—all of that silently laid the foundation for today's ending..."

"Linda Dulles... the moment you strode into the arena and mocked me, my chances of winning were..."

1000%!

Finally, the purest and most refined magic surged from Richard's body, instantly triggering a deafening resonance in all the magic crystals in the arena!

At first it was just a sound, but then a torrent of energy erupted across the entire area, carrying with it the chaotic magic left over from previous spells, eventually forming a massive, visible azure vortex!

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Awakening Across the Flames

The oppressive force of this magical vortex was so strong that it made the students in the front rows of the stands feel short of breath and tears streamed down their faces.

At the very center of the vortex, a seven- or eight-meter-long crystal giant sword emerged, gleaming in mid-air, its sharp tip pointing directly at Linda below.

The latter tried to escape, but was surprised to find that he was also unable to move in this huge torrent, just like Richard had just encountered!

The people in the stands couldn't help but exclaim:

"Is this...is this really magic that a first-year student can unleash?"

"Magic circles can indeed amplify the power of a spell many times over, but for a hastily set-up array to possess such power shows that the Connaughts have put in a lot of effort..."