"It's Francis!"
"Great, Francis is here again, so there's no need to be afraid!"
"He's only second to Joelson. He'll definitely be able to defeat these arrogant knights."
The students of the Tulip Academy were excited.
They seemed to only remember now that this magic genius was overshadowed by Joelson.
"You are the second genius of this year's Tulip Academy?!"
Hawthorne's eyes revealed a trace of curiosity as he sized up Francis.
"What rank are you?"
Francis calmly replied, "A third rank mage."
He was definitely proud of his achievements. After all, he was only seventeen years old this year.
He was definitely a magic genius.
However, Hawthorne had a disappointed expression on his face.
"No, you're too weak."
"Too arrogant!"
"Bastard! Don't you know that it's far more difficult for a mage to advance than a Knight?"
"A mage of the same level can easily defeat a knight, alright?!"
The students of the Tulip Academy were furious.
The young knights, however, revealed strange smiles.
Hawthorne, in particular, had a smile that almost reached his ears.
"Please come to the duelling stage."
Francis said calmly.
"There's no need."
Hawthorne slowly raised the longsword in his hand, and a white light shot out from the blade.
"There's no need to go through so much trouble. We can settle it here."
Francis looked away and quickly took out his staff.
He turned his magic shield to the maximum and quickly cast the wind magic "haste" on himself.
The most important thing in a battle between a mage and a knight was to increase the distance between them so that he had enough time to cast his spell.
A thick white light lit up, almost enveloping the entire longsword.
Hawthorne gave Francis a ferocious smile.
The next moment, his figure suddenly disappeared.
Francis was surprised and immediately moved, quickly looking for Hawthorne's figure while silently chanting a spell to prepare for the next spell.
"Be careful!"
"Above your head! He's above your head!"
Exclamations came from outside the field!
Francis looked up abruptly.
He saw Hawthorne's back facing the sun, holding a beam of white light that was even more dazzling than the sun, charging straight at him from the sky.
"Wind barrier!"
Francis finally threw out this spell that he had been preparing for a long time.
A level-3 wind-type defensive spell.
The most powerful defensive spell that Francis could now master.
But...
A crisp sound rang out.
It was as if a crystal had shattered.
The light green barrier of wind was easily torn apart like a fragile piece of paper under the white light in Hawthorne's hand.
The white light fell, and the powerful momentum carried the hurricane.
The magic shield shattered like a bubble.
Francis's eyes widened, and a white light kept expanding in his pupils.
The light was blinding.
Despair, fear.
At this moment, Francis almost thought he was going to die.
The wind blew off the hair that had been cut off in front of Francis' forehead.
The long sword quietly hovered in front of Francis' nose, and the sharp aura cut Francis' cheek in great pain.
Francis' face was pale, with cold sweat kept coming out, soaking his clothes.
Hawthorne casually put away his long sword.
Francis seemed to have lost all his strength. He fell to the ground, trembling, and took a deep breath.
The whole arena was silent.
Everyone's mouths were wide open in shock, unable to believe what had happened in front of their eyes.
Francis was defeated in one move?!
Was the difference in strength really that big?
"Hahaha!"
Hawthorne let out a burst of arrogant laughter. He pointed his sword at Francis and said to everyone, "If there's such trash in the exchange match tomorrow, don't come up and embarrass yourself!"
Humiliation, anger, helplessness...
All kinds of emotions surged into their hearts.
Everyone clenched their fists tightly.
Too arrogant! Too arrogant!
But there was nothing they could do.
Where's Joelson?!
Where's Joelson?!
If Joelson was here, he would definitely teach these bastards a new life!
...
In the space of the Dragon God Ranch.
A human-shaped blood cocoon suddenly broke.
Joelson crawled out of the cocoon and shook the blood scabs on his body. He felt as if his entire body had undergone a new transformation.
Splash!
Joelson jumped into the lake and took a good bath.
Enny sat by the lake and looked at him angrily, as if saying, "I'm so annoyed, the water is dirty!"
She turned to look at Du Lu, wanting him to talk about Joelson.
Du Lu pretended to be stupid and turned his face away, as if saying, "I don't see anything, I don't see anything."
The clear lake water was dyed a light pink.
Countless fish gathered around Joelson, greedily nibbling at the blood scabs that remained in the lake.
It seemed that these blood scabs had an infinite attraction to them.
Joelson smiled, the fish shoals rubbed against his body and itched him.
He wanted to swim back to the shore, but he exerted a little strength under his feet.
Splash!
His whole body shot out like a cannonball and directly jumped onto the shore.
Joelson was stunned.
He looked at his hands in disbelief.
White, slender, and full of streamlined muscles, he clenched his fists slightly and felt a powerful force surging in his body.
Tier 3!
This force was at least at the level of a tier 3 knight.
Joelson was very sure of this.
He tried to swing his fist, jump, and run.
Joelson seemed to have turned into a gust of wind, running freely in the pasture.
If magic was to control the power of nature, then the way of a knight was to control their own power.
This feeling was very wonderful.
It was as if there was a power gushing out of nowhere in his body.
That was a combat aura.
With one more step, Joelson would be able to cultivate his own combat aura and become a powerful tier 4 knight.
Having had enough fun, Joelson took out a brand-new mage robe and put it on.
Suddenly, his expression froze, and his eyes shot out a look of disbelief.
Boom!
Flames erupted, almost comparable to the breath of a Du Lu Dragon.
Tier 5!
He had advanced?!
This was the first time that Joelson had advanced by relying entirely on his own strength.
His spiritual power had increased by a large margin, surpassing the standard of tier 5 by a large margin.
However, his experience points had not moved.
Joelson recalled for a moment and understood.
It was the power of pain.
The process of consuming the dragon blood potion was too painful.
It was as if he had been cut by countless blades.
He could hardly hold on, if not for his strong spiritual power.
The talent of spiritual power also represented a person's willpower to a certain extent.
Joelson's talent was too strong. He couldn't even faint from the pain.
But this was fair.
After enduring great pain, it brought incredible rewards.