Volume One: In the Prime of Youth Chapter Twelve: The Mystery of the Duel

After breakfast, Alice suggested taking Hoya out for a stroll. Hoya asked, “Is there anywhere on campus where I can buy a ready-made weapon? I’ve arranged a duel with Flame Demon Hall for today, but I lost my blade.”

“Huh?” Alice was momentarily stunned, her mind struggling to process what Hoya had just said. But three seconds later, she exploded, shouting, “You idiot! Are you out of your mind? How did you lose your blade? You’re going to fight Flame Demon Hall without a weapon? He’s the top fire Elementalist in the academy! Do you really think those low-grade weapons on sale can withstand your abilities? They’d shatter on the spot!”

Hoya, born with acutely sensitive senses, found Alice’s yelling left his head ringing. He covered his ears, saying, “Can you keep it down? Dad sent me out for fieldwork, remember? My last blade was smashed during a mission. It couldn’t be helped.”

“Couldn’t you have waited until you had a new weapon before challenging someone? Do you ever think before you act?”

“But I looked so cool when I declared the duel! If I delay it over a weapon, I’ll seem like a coward!”

“Cool, cool, cool! Can coolness fill your stomach?” Alice started kicking Hoya’s leg. He didn’t resist at all; fine, let this little tyrant do as she pleased.

Shangguan Yudie glanced back and forth between Hoya and Alice, tilting her head thoughtfully. Suddenly, as if a bright lightbulb had flickered on above her, she pulled her weapon from her storage box and handed it to Hoya.

Seeing this, Alice gasped, shocked. “Yudie, are you serious about lending your sword to my brother?”

Hoya also looked bewildered. “The divine weapon your grandfather forged for you—are you really willing?”

Yudie just smiled, pressing her short sword into Hoya’s hand, her eyes saying, “Why are you being so formal with me?”

As soon as Hoya took the short sword, a piercing cold shot into his palm, as if intent on freezing his entire arm. He used his ability to neutralize the chill and, astonished, turned to Yudie: “How did you do this? Even for a divine weapon, to nurture it to this level in under ten years—it’s almost on par with our father’s Lucifer’s Wing.”

Yudie only smiled, saying nothing. She was never talkative, but this time, it was clear she considered this a secret not to be shared.

Though Yudie lent her sword without hesitation, Hoya felt uneasy. Her weapon was simply too precious. The arms of Elementalists were nothing like ordinary alloys—nowadays, even with cold weapons, an Elementalist could take on a battalion of fully armed soldiers. As the saying goes, “If you wish to do your job well, first sharpen your tools”; a weapon is an Elementalist’s best companion. The finest ones are forged from stones saturated with elemental energy, sourced from the Calamity Wilds, then crafted by master smiths.

Yudie’s short sword—Ice-Edged Dawn—was truly a peerless weapon. It was forged by her grandfather, Shangguan Qingtai, the retired patriarch of the Shangguan family, once known as “Copper-Arm Ghost.” His legend was built on a single copper hammer that could shake the heavens, his arm said to be haunted by spirits—a universally acknowledged master craftsman.

The ore used for Ice-Edged Dawn was no ordinary find either. Hoya’s father had ventured deep into the Calamity Wilds on a mission to secure this ice-elemental stone, which was then guarded by two Cataclysm-class monsters. No one knew what use the ore had for the monsters—but it was undeniably precious. Had Eddie not gone himself, none would have dared attempt it alone.

The best materials, paired with the best craftsman—the only rival to this blade would be Eddie Hall’s own scythe, Lucifer’s Wing, another of the Copper-Arm Ghost’s masterpieces.

With such a treasure in hand, Hoya couldn’t help but hesitate, but he wasn’t one to be overly polite. “Thank you, Yudie.”

Yudie shook her head, indicating it was nothing.

———

Virtual Reality Fight, or VRF for short, is a system that uploads a user’s consciousness to a server. The user’s physical condition is fully scanned and recorded by the pod’s sensors, allowing them to battle in virtual reality. Meanwhile, their body in the pod performs micro-movements to build muscle memory—a form of combat training.

In VRF, no matter if a fighter is injured or killed, their real bodies suffer no harm. Elementalists can unleash their full power, pushing their limits.

Most wagers and duels between students or clubs are settled through VRF.

Given the convenience, many own a pod at home to log on directly.

Naturally, Hoya’s family had one too. But since Flame Demon Hall hadn’t messaged him about the time yet, Hoya wasn’t about to chase him down. He’d been the one to issue the challenge; if Flame Demon Hall failed to reply, Hoya could always mock him for chickening out—banter was his specialty.

Hoya sat on the living room couch, drawing Ice-Edged Dawn from its sheath. The blade, gleaming in the sunlight, radiated a faint blue aura that seemed to ebb and flow with a life of its own.

“Come to think of it, I was too busy making a dramatic exit yesterday to add Flame Demon Hall on Flychat. How’s he supposed to message me with the time and place?” Hoya muttered. Flychat was the most popular messaging app among young people. But yesterday’s scene—well, Hoya couldn’t bear to shatter the coolness of his exit. After all, facing off against a scoundrel who’d made a move on his sister, one had to keep up appearances. Besides, not exchanging contacts probably annoyed the other guy a little. Satisfying!

Sitting beside him, Shangguan Yudie overheard and felt a bit uneasy. Was it her imagination, or did Hoya have some strange new trait? It was clearly his own oversight, yet she couldn’t sense a hint of panic or regret from him—just calmness. No, not calmness—why did she sense a flash of delight? What was there to be happy about in this situation? Luckily Alice wasn’t here, or she’d have kicked him again.

The two sat on the sofa in silence. Half an hour later, as Hoya was familiarizing himself with Ice-Edged Dawn, he felt a vibration on his wrist. Lifting his hand, he muttered, “Looks like he got my Flychat from the student council. Why do I feel like I’m the one getting taken advantage of?”

Yudie, sipping water, nearly choked. Taken advantage of? Was it just her mind in the gutter? Surely it was!

Hoya placed his crystal-brain device in front of Yudie. “He says the room’s set up and he’s waiting for me to duel him. Why does this feel like something from a video game?”

Yudie sensed this would take a while to explain and began to search for words. Seeing her hesitate, Hoya assumed she simply didn’t want to talk. Unbothered, he got up and called, “Alice, could you explain this VRF thing to me?”

Yudie, who had just worked out her explanation, froze with her hand in the air, torn between grabbing Hoya or letting him go. She could only watch, dazed, as he went to find Alice. Wait—come back! I wasn’t refusing to explain, I was just thinking! Come back!

Inside, Yudie roared in frustration, but perhaps because she so rarely spoke, the more flustered she became, the less able she was to get the words out, and the chance slipped by. She gave up.

If Hoya had emotional-sensing abilities, he would have picked up on Yudie’s tangled swirl of anxiety, confusion, and disappointment—a full ten out of ten in complexity.

———

After Alice finished explaining the rules of VRF, Hoya climbed into her pod to face off against Flame Demon Hall.

As soon as he entered, Alice rushed to Yudie’s side, eager to watch the duel live on her crystal-brain. Yudie leaned in too, but to their surprise, when Alice entered the room number, she found it was password-protected—no outsiders allowed to spectate.

Alice gritted her teeth. Why didn’t anyone want an audience?

Ten minutes later, Hoya emerged from the pod. Alice, unable to sit still, grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Well? Did you win, bro?”

Hoya, still groggy from the transfer of consciousness, felt a wave of nausea as Alice jostled him. “I won, I won—stop shaking me or I’ll be sick!”

Alice immediately let go and gently patted his back to help him recover. “Sorry, bro.”

“It’s fine, really. But I have to admit, Flame Demon Hall is strong. If I hadn’t had Yudie’s Ice-Edged Dawn, I might have lost.”

On the other side, Flame Demon Hall emerged from his own pod drenched in sweat, rubbing his neck as if to make sure his head was still attached. After that clash with Hoya, only one thought remained: “Utterly terrifying!”

“That was a brutal fight. Good thing we set it to private—if the other big clubs had seen it, we’d have lost our edge in negotiations,” commented Xiao Linghuo, who’d been watching the pod from the sidelines.

“Monster,” Flame Demon Hall replied simply.

“We should have expected this. Eddie Hall’s son was always going to be a ferocious fighter. In just a few hours, the name ‘Little Reaper’ is already spreading through the academy. We’ll need to step up our recruitment efforts.”

“I agree. This guy is terrifying. He made my hair stand on end in battle—not even a Calamity can do that. Even if it means breaking tradition, I want him to join Burn Mountain Fire,” Flame Demon Hall sighed.

That day, only three people knew what happened in the duel that gambled on Flame Demon Hall’s right to pursue Alice and whether Hoya would join Burn Mountain Fire. What truly transpired between them remained a secret.

Hoya’s true strength remained an enigma within Bancroft Academy.