Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 29 Before the Duel (Please continue reading)

When Richard came out of Celes's laboratory, he ran into Melo at the corner of the stairs. Melo had lost a little weight in the few days since he last saw her, but her beauty had only increased. She looked surprised to see Richard.

"Senior, I was just looking for you, and I didn't expect to run into you here!" Richard said with a smile.

"Richard, long time no see! I haven't thanked you for what happened last time. How about we go have lunch together now? It's on me!" Meiluo smoothed her hair behind her ear.

"Senior Meiluo, you helped me a lot last time with the giant crocodile in the Dead Swamp. I don't know how to thank you enough. How can I let you treat me? Let me do it!" Richard said sincerely.

"Don't be so formal. But if you really want to thank me, then you can treat me this time. Let's go to the second floor of the cafeteria! Next time, I'll treat you, hehe~" Meiluo said with a smile.

"Of course, no problem. But I only have three magic stones on me right now. I don't know if that's enough for a nice meal on the second floor?" Richard scratched his head a little. It would be so embarrassing if he didn't have enough money to treat someone to a meal.

"Haha, don't worry, I'll make up for it if it's not enough, let's go!" Meiluo pulled Richard towards the cafeteria. Her young, hot body brushed past him, and Richard immediately felt a strange sensation.

The two sat down by the window on the second floor of the cafeteria. Last time Richard and Ram ate on the first floor, he had heard that the second floor was a high-end restaurant and the third floor was a private room, but he had never been up there before. This was his first time.

Sure enough, the entire second floor was magnificent, with a wide variety of strange and unusual ingredients, which made Richard feel a little dazzled.

Meiluo seemed to know her way around, ordering two portions of seared beef ribs, one portion of fish roe, and one portion of berry salad.

"Richard, are you free in a couple of days? Our team hasn't gone on any missions since Nicklo's accident. I'd like to invite you to become a full member. What do you think?"

Richard did not reply to Meiluo immediately, but instead thought about it carefully. The advantage of being on the same team as Meiluo was that they were both veterans with more than a year of experience and strong skills, but the problem was also obvious: he was just an ordinary team member.

His original plan was to select a few freshmen and form a team with himself at the core to complete the mission.

One of the most important factors in his acceptance of Davos's challenge was this: he wanted to establish his prestige among the new students! Otherwise, he could have completely ignored him, and Davos would never have dared to openly challenge the authority of the school.

Thinking this, Richard shook his head slightly and said, "Senior, thank you for your recognition, but I still want to form a team among the freshmen to complete the mission!"

"It's alright, I didn't tell Hans about this, I just mentioned it casually." Immediately, disappointment was evident in Meiluo's big eyes.

The girl's mood was like a thunderstorm; sadness came quickly and went quickly.

After the two continued chatting for a while, Meiluo's mood improved again.

After returning to his dormitory, Richard closed the door and began pacing around the room. He was about to head to the dueling arena.

"I wonder what trump card Davos has up his sleeve? But I'd better be cautious!" Richard immediately used his magic trick, [Manipulating Skeletons], to shape the skeleton of the quasi-knight. He first put a mask on it, then boots on it, and finally a gray robe on it.

Now, when he manipulates the skeleton to walk, it's hard to tell whether it's a person or just a skeleton.

Richard nodded in satisfaction, then picked up a half-sword and hung it on the skeleton's waist. He looked it over again but couldn't find any flaws. Perfect!

He planned to hide the skeleton on one side of the dueling arena so that Richard could quickly control the skeleton to enter the battle if anything went wrong, as was allowed by the rules.

After resting with his eyes closed for a while, Richard saw that it was almost time, so he put on his leather armor, picked up his gray wooden shortbow, a bag of black feathered arrows, and a knight's longsword, looking every bit the wandering knight, and slowly walked toward the dueling arena.

At the same time, a masked man in a gray robe followed closely behind him, a few meters away.

When he arrived at the dueling arena, he found it bustling with noise and crowds. Several arenas were packed with people, but those were places where second- and third-level wizard apprentices settled their disputes.

Richard looked around and realized that the dueling arena for first-level wizard apprentices was set up at the edge of the arena, and there were significantly fewer spectators.

He hadn't expected that there would be such a place within the school of thought.

As he approached, he saw Ram waiting for him. Upon seeing Richard, Ram immediately grabbed him and said anxiously, "Richard, why did you actually come?"

Just as Ram was about to say something, a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Richard, I didn't expect you to arrive before me. I thought you wouldn't dare to come!" It was Davos's voice.

Richard turned his head and saw Davos fully armed, dressed in fine knight's armor, with a knight's longsword at his waist and a huge tower shield in his left hand. Behind him were four or five students, who were probably there to cheer him on.

"You're overthinking it. Let's get started now!" Richard said, then strode onto the ring.

He planned to start and finish early, since he was quite busy.

At the same time, he secretly manipulated the masked man with his mental power, hiding him among the onlookers. Both were wearing gray robes, and it was impossible to tell the difference without careful observation.

"Haha, that's great! Girard, go and call the notary!"

Once both of them were on the stage, an apprentice with three crossed white bones on his chest announced loudly: "The rules of the duel are as follows: the duel will end immediately when one of them voluntarily concedes or loses the ability to resist!"

The duel between Richard and Davos, which they have requested, shall now officially begin!

Immediately, the seventy or eighty freshmen below the stage erupted in cheers, including quite a few girls!

Young people may always crave excitement, and this kind of formal competition and thrilling clash is exactly what they like!

"How long do you think Richard can hold out?" one of them asked.

"I reckon he can only last about three seconds. Look at Richard, he's carrying a short bow. Can that even shoot through the heavy armor of the Vorthians? He should at least have a military crossbow!" One person shook his head, scoffing at Richard's equipment.

"Perhaps he's taking the agile route, planning to attack Davos from a distance!" One of them said with a thoughtful expression.

"Are you kidding me? You didn't see Davos' last fight, did you? Last time, his opponent thought the same thing. He was wearing heavy armor and couldn't be agile. As a result, his supposedly skillful movement was intercepted by Davos in one fell swoop!" one of them retorted.

It seems that Davos has quite a few fans among the freshmen. In contrast, Richard had hardly been exposed before, and most people only knew that he was a new transfer student!

Human nature tends to favor familiar people and admire the strong, so most of the new students present did not think highly of this slightly thin transfer student, including Ram and Stephanie.

Stephena was watching the two facing off from a corner of the ring. If she had previously been trying to win Richard over, she was now starting to genuinely admire him.

She has always been opinionated; otherwise, she wouldn't have disagreed with the marriage arranged by her family and come to the Ignis School. From a young age, she vowed never to be subservient to a man.

What she hadn't expected was that a mere baron's son from a remote place would have the audacity to accept the duel invitation from Davos, the swordsmanship prodigy of the capital. Originally, she had simply assumed that since he had a senior student to invite, he must possess some special skill that she could recruit for her own use.

But now, what a pity!

(End of this chapter)