Chapter 72: Combat Duel
With Aster acting as her proxy, Shani was finally able to shift her focus back to her academy coursework and classes.
That Thursday afternoon brought their practical Essence Combat class. All the first-year students gathered in the Training Hall, listening attentively to Damon’s instructions.
"You’ve learned several hand-to-hand combat techniques over the past weeks," Damon announced. "Now, it’s time to put them into practice through duels."
Audible gasps of excitement rippled through the crowd. A few lower-ranked students saw this as the perfect opportunity to show up their higher-ranked peers.
After all, as long as beastmen were still in their non-beast stage, it was entirely possible for a lower-ranked student to overpower a higher-ranked one in direct physical combat.
"You will choose your own opponents," Damon continued, sparking even more excitement among some students while others began to look uneasy.
Before the chatter could swell, Damon added, "You get to choose, but the selection order will start from... the lowest rank."
"Huh? The lowest rank? Those nepobaby kids?"
"No way. Remember, there’s an F-Rank in Class 5."
"It’s totally lame if we end up getting picked by someone lower-ranked."
Out of the hundred first-years, B-Ranks and C-Ranks made up the vast majority. Naturally, they only cared to interact within those two tiers, including for this duel.
Anyone outside those ranks barely crossed their minds. Either they were deemed untouchably strong, or so low-ranked that they were bound to be weeded out soon anyway.
Regardless of the students’ hushed complaints, Damon called up the ten lowest-ranked students, all hailing from Class 5.
Shani was called first, giving her the very first pick of opponents.
Shani didn’t really have a preference. Although she was just as eager as anyone else to test out what she had learned, she knew her physical conditioning still lagged behind peers who had undergone training since childhood.
Her gaze landed on the student standing right beside her. "Sir, I choose him... Evan Leander."
The boy frowned, clearly displeased to hear his name called. But he had no choice as the selection order skipped past him to the student next in line.
Unbothered by her opponent’s obvious reluctance, Shani focused on watching the remaining students pair up one by one.
Jeryon was the last in Class 5 to pick his opponent.
"Noella Rosenbaum," Jeryon stated with his usual calm composure. Yet, his choice immediately set off a flurry of whispers among the onlookers.
Shani wasn’t surprised at all. Among the first-years, no one else was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Jeryon besides Noella.
While the rest of the students continued choosing their opponents, Damon’s assistant escorted the first ten pairs to their designated mini-arenas.
"The rules are simple. You win by pushing your opponent out of the mark, forcing a yield, or incapacitating them," Damon’s assistant instructed the twenty students, pointing out the chalked circular boundary on the ground.
"Though that last one shouldn’t happen. This is just a sparring session, prioritize your safety."
Most of the paired-up students were friends, so they had no intention of taking things too far. However, one person clearly lacked any concern for his opponent’s well-being.
Evan brushed past Shani with a slow, deliberate stride, letting out an irritated tsk.
"Why would an F-Rank like you pick me? I wanted to test my limits, not coast to an easy win."
Shani paused in her tracks. She slowly turned her head toward Evan. ’Did he just spit that right in my face?!’
Shani came to a complete stop, and Evan turned to face her. Since this was an unarmored, hand-to-hand fight, they stood only a short distance apart.
The dismissive scowl on Evan’s face gradually warped into a look of disgust, before turning into outright malice.
Shani stared at him, utterly bewildered by whatever complex spiral was going on in the boy’s head.
She didn’t have to guess for long before Evan opened his mouth again.
"What’s with that look? You think just because you hang around those high-ranked students, your rank went up, too?"
Shani’s confusion deepened. Her expression had been completely neutral this whole time.
How on earth was Evan misinterpreting it so wildly? Was she supposed to tremble in fear just to satisfy his fragile ego?
"You were supposed to stay sitting next to me at the desk for the bottom-rankers," Evan continued, his tone turning increasingly venomous.
"Instead, you’re always up front with the Prince! And all because you got lucky enough to achieve resonance with him."
Shani’s neutral facade finally cracked. But before she could offer him a piece of her mind, Evan cut in again.
"Maybe I won’t get to flex my true strength in this duel, but at least I can blow off some steam. I haven’t been able to hatch my egg, so I’ll just settle for beating you to a pulp."
"After the upcoming exam, I might get kicked out of the academy anyway, but at least I can brag that I beat the Prince’s partner black and blue."
Evan grinned wide, thoroughly amused by his own twisted daydream.
Shani was left speechless. No matter how hard she tried to keep her composure, Evan’s overt malice was impossible to ignore. This wasn’t just harmless classroom gossip. It was pure hostility.
"Are you so sure you can beat me?" Shani asked, pinning him with a piercing gaze.
Evan went to nod smugly, but the moment his eyes locked with Shani’s sharp glare, his tongue froze and his knees buckled slightly for no discernible reason.
What neither Evan nor Shani realized was that, although both were currently D-Rank beastmen, Shani’s beast energy was significantly higher, flirting right on the edge of C-Rank.
On top of that, Shani possessed beast essence, which radiated a subtle yet overwhelming pressure whenever she concentrated her focus on a single target.
And that target was Evan, who was suddenly gripped by an irrational dread without understanding why.
Along the sidelines, the rest of the students finished selecting their opponents. Damon stepped toward the ten rings where the first wave of pairs stood ready.
"You all know the rules. Let’s get right into it. Begin!" Damon barked.
...