Chapitre 24: Chapter 24 - Cheating Dong Soo
"Why is everyone so excited to see a battle?"
Jong In laughed at Mi Young's innocence. "Everyone in the academy thinks that the most important thing in the world is their pride and rank."
"Everyone? Including you?"
Jong In shifted his gaze from Mi Young, not wanting to let her see his reddened face. "I u-used to think so too. But the most important thing for me now is different."
"Really? What is it?" Mi Young asks.
"T-That's a secret!" Jong In says as he stomps his foot before marching off towards the bleachers surrounding the battle arena. Mi Young scratches her head, confused with the boy's sudden reaction. She shrugs her shoulders before she proceeds to sit beside him.
Mi Young watches as almost half of the bleachers get occupied by students who went to see the duel that was about to happen.
She sees her classmate, Ji Chang Bin, standing in the middle of the huge battle arena, his opponent standing a few meters away from him as well.
"You think Chang Bin would win this time?"
"I doubt that. The only technique he knows is the Fire Ball technique."
"And to top all of that, his Fire Ball technique isn't even that strong."
Mi Young could hear a few students talking about their classmates. When she realized what they have said, she turned towards Jong In and asked, "Is it not the first time they're going to duel?"
"No. But this is the first time they're using the battle arena." Jong In says. He also explained that the boy earlier, Lee Dong Soo, has challenged Ji Chang Bin eight times already. "And Chang Bin always loses."
"Why does he still keep on accepting the challenge if he knows he's going to lose?"
Jong In points at a girl sitting in the front part of the bleachers. She has long and fiery red hair that was tied in a ponytail. And her face looks familiar as well. "That's Jeon Ho Shi's sister. Jeon Yu Na."
"That's why she looks familiar. What's up with her then?"
"Chang Bin and Dong Soo both liked Lady Yu Na. It's obvious that Yu Na likes Chang Bin but because the boy isn't from a great clan, her family is opposed to it. They sent Lee Dong Soo to marry Yu Na but the girl refused. She kept saying that she will only accept Dong Soo if he wins in a battle with Chang Bin."
"But you said it's already their eighth battle."
"That's Jeon Yu Na's way in order to postpone her marriage with Dong Soo. She always tells him if he wins the rematch for a couple of times, she will marry him." Jong In says. He looked at Yu Na and then he shifted his gaze to Chang Bin. "It's also her way to tell Chang Bin to just wait a little longer and to hold on."
"And why does Chang Bin accept the challenge every time?"
"It's also his way in order to let Yu Na know that he's still waiting and that he'll do whatever it takes to have her back. Love does that to a person." Jong In explains.
"Love really makes us stupid." Mi Young has an unreadable expression on her face when she says those words, so Jong In decided not to question her about it.
A few minutes later, both Pyro students started displaying their cultivation techniques. One with his Fire Ball technique and the other with his—
"Dong Soo is using the Star Phoenix technique!"
"I thought only Intermediate 2 Mages can use that technique?"
"Could it be that Dong Soo has already reached that rank?"
Lots of questions started spreading all across the battle arena, but all of them remained unheard by the two people who were busy firing and dodging against each other's attacks.
Chang Bin was clearly at a disadvantage but he never showed any signs of giving up which caught the attention of Mi Young.
She observes the battle going on between the two and notices that something is unusual with Lee Dong Soo's movements. Although his attack power is indeed strong and his agility and speed is something one should praise, his movements lack something.
Pyro students are taught to use the mana within them in order to produce fire out of nowhere. However, the strength of the fire depends on your mana points and how you handle the cultivation technique you are using.
But looking at Lee Dong Soo, Mi Young realizes that he is not just fast but the movement of the technique he's using is not complete.
"Could it be?..."
"He's using an artifact." A voice says behind Mi Young.
The girl jumps from her seat as she eyes the owner of the voice. When she and Jong In turned around, they saw Jeon Shi Yun looking at the battle below them with great concentration.
"What are you doing here?" Jong In asks.
"Am I not allowed to watch a free event?" Jeon Shi Yun says in a cold manner. His eyes shifted from the battle going on towards Jong In who gulped at the other party's heavy and strong gaze. "Or do you simply want to have your alone time with—"
"Whatever!" Jong In interrupts, not wanting Shi Yun to finish his sentence.
Mi Young looks lost while hearing their conversation and so she asks, "Where's your dog?"
"What dog?" It was Jeon Shi Yun's turn to question her.
"Your dog who usually barks at anything out of arrogance." Mi Young kids. This caused Jong In to laugh at her sentence, fully knowing who she was referring to.
"Oh him. I don't know. He went somewhere." Shi Yun replies.
"Anyway, you said something about an artifact. Do you know where it is?" Mi Young asks, changing the topic since she knows she wouldn't get any fun from the usually cold and expressionless Jeon Shi Yun.
Jeon Shi Yun nods before pointing at the ring in Lee Dong Soo's pinky finger on his right hand. Jong In asks, "What are you two talking about?"
"Any Mage knows that in order for one to produce elements, one must execute a battle technique first. Aside from that, the battle technique you are using should be complete so you can draw out the element you want to use using a battle." Jeon Shi Yun starts to say.
"Uhn." Mi Young nodded as she continued the raven haired boy's sentence, "Moreover, a huge and powerful fire element such as Dong Soo's should take at least six to eight breaths to be executed before it comes out from your hands. However, if you look closely at his movements, his battle technique only lasts for three to four seconds before the next attack comes."
"Which means?"
Jeon Shi Yun glanced at Jong In before telling Mi Young, "I didn't know you became friends with an idiot."
"Hey!" Jong In protests.
"Which means that Lee Dong Soo is not only cheating by using an artifact during a duel but he is also breaking the academy's law that states that no student should possess and use any kind of magical artifact if he or she has not reached Advance Rank 1 yet." Mi Young explains. She also points out that she was able to tell that Dong Soo was using something because she noticed that his battle techniques are incomplete and are not executed well. "—which can only mean that he's doing the battle technique just to fool everyone that he was using one. But in reality, he was drawing out his fire from the ring he's using."
"Oh! That's why I got confused when I saw Dong Soo using his right hand to produce fire when it is a well-known fact that he's a left handed person. It makes so much sense right now." Jong In says as if he was enlightened by something. "Why didn't I immediately notice it?"
"Because you're too focus on your cru—"
"Will you shut up? I'm not talking to you." Annoyed, Jong In glares at Jeon Shi Yun, completely forgetting who he was talking to. The other boy had a small smirk on his face before he shrugged and went back to observing the duel.
Mi Young focuses her gaze on the duel and tries to ignore Jong In and Shi Yun bickering beside her.
She watches as Dong Soo fires another huge fiery ball towards Chang Bin who was able to dodge it a few seconds later. Dong Soo repeated his action and Chang Bin went stumbling on the sandy arena as he almost got hit once more.
Mi Young can see Yu Na's worried expression as she watches the unfair battle. Clearly, everyone is shocked with how Lee Dong Soo was able to fire attacks within a few seconds interval.
"He's getting slower." Jong In worriedly says beside Mi Young.
The black haired girl silently agrees with her friend's words. They can see how Chang Bin is getting slower as the duel progresses. On the other hand, Dong Soo is still full of energy since he hasn't executed any movements at all.
Mi Young, Jong In, and Shi Yun hear some students finally noticing Dong Soo's weird behavior.
"Hey. Did you notice Dong Soo changing his position?"
"I didn't see him move from where he was standing."
"You're right. It feels like he hasn't moved from his initial position."
"Let's end this today, Chang Bin." Dong Soo announces. Chang Bin puts his left arm on his bent knees as he tries to breathe in some air. He was sweating profusely and his clothes were all soiled from rolling and dodging on the sand.
"I would love to."
Dong Soo smirks, "Good. We're thinking the same thing. But how would you do that seeing you're in that kind of state right now?"
Chang Bin didn't answer as he stood up, trying to execute the same battle technique.
"Pathetic." Dong Soo says. "Aren't you going to use a different technique? Aren't you tired of using the same attacks? I know you know what I am talking about, Chang Bin."
Chang Bin remained mute as he concentrated his mana on his fist. This caused Dong Soo to get mad upon being ignored.
"You are a coward! You do not deserve Lady Yu Na's love!" Dong Soo shouts as he produces a huge and blazing fireball on his hands. Looking at it, some of the students gasp with how huge it was.
Dong Soo raises both of his hands in the air as the fireball starts getting bigger, until it is as big as him.
"He's going to kill him!"
"Is Dong Soo mad?"
"Why is Chang Bin not running away?"
Suddenly, a woman's voice shouts from the crowd. It was full of worry and fear, "Chang Bin! Move! Get away from there! He's going to kill you! Chang Bin, please!"
Everyone started feeling scared upon witnessing the gigantic and smoldering fire in Dong Soo's hands. Obviously, the other party was getting out of control and it's not a mere friendly duel anymore. Every student can see the killing intent in Lee Dong Soo's eyes.
They can still hear Lady Yu Na shouting for Chang Bin to get away from the arena, but the latter looked like he's not going anywhere.
Some of the students started shouting at Chang Bin to move as well.
"Chang Bin, listen to Lady Yu Na!"
"Stop proving anything, man! Move or you're going to get killed!"
"Someone call a teacher!"
"It's not that he won't move…" Jeon Shi Yun starts saying as he was getting on his feet.
Mi Young looks at where Chang Bin was standing and notices something, "Sh*t. He's stuck! Something's holding him off!"
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone