The two stood on the field.
Shurein held a sword in one hand, while an Earth Wyrm coiled beside him, watching like a tiger eyeing its prey.
In Tsukasa's hand, she only held a staff issued by the school, appearing as if she had no intention of using her full strength at all.
She neither summoned a magical beast nor used anything other than school training equipment.
Her contemptuous attitude actually made Shurein hesitate to strike for a moment.
Shurein actually didn't know the opponent's strength.
Previously, they had only obtained the attributes of that White Tiger through Appraisal. He believed that the White Tiger was not captured by the girl herself.
Perhaps, just like him and Fei, they had established a master-servant contract since childhood.
The reason that White Tiger was so strong was likely due to the monster's exclusive talents, which allowed it to reach this height.
After all, normal monsters are different from Fei. Even if Fei doesn't use her talent skills much, her current attributes are significantly higher than his own.
And that White Tiger, being a true monster, surely wouldn't be as fastidious as Fei.
Relying on the monster's Feast skill, combined with the full support of a noble family, it wasn't strange to raise such a monster.
He was confident that his guess was correct.
Rather, how much of a leap in logic would it take to imagine that this girl, about the same age as himself, possessed the strength to conquer that kind of monster?
That would be irrational. He was, after all, a person hailed as a genius.
It wasn't that he arrogantly believed no one could surpass him.
But the extent of this gap was too large, reaching a point he considered fundamentally impossible to achieve.
It wasn't surprising he thought this way, as he was already limited by the common sense he knew and could not make a breakthrough.
Shurein had originally prepared himself for a stubborn resistance, followed by an eventual crushing defeat.
Because that White Tiger was indeed not something he could deal with.
But seeing this classmate being so overconfident now, deciding not to use the White Tiger.
For a moment, a desire to defeat the opponent also arose within him.
"I ask for your guidance, Miss Berturing!"
Shurein couldn't discern the opponent's strength from the surface, nor did he dare to use Appraisal on someone in this setting.
Using Appraisal on others is illegal. Although in this situation it would be fine as long as one wasn't caught, he didn't have the confidence to go undetected.
He couldn't see through Tsukasa's background.
The opponent clearly wanted him to make the first move.
In that case.
He would just have to go for it!
Shurein thought to himself:
「Magic Warfare」
Mana surged.
All attributes rose.
His whole being seemed to glow, his body filled with a stern aura.
He charged forward rapidly, thrusting his sword at the opponent.
This was a warrior's skill, using mana to strengthen one's own body, significantly enhancing strength or speed.
Tsukasa also knew this skill, though it was only a mere level 3.
Because there was usually no occasion to use it.
Shurein, with Magic Warfare activated, was very fast, and his sword emitted an incredibly sharp light under the coating of mana.
Facing Shurein who had activated Magic Warfare, Tsukasa simply and crudely attached mana to her staff.
Then, with a gentle wave of her hand, she blocked Shurein's sword with that staff.
"Nani!?"
Shurein's eyes widened in shock.
When the sword struck the staff, it was he who felt the pain of the counter-impact.
His arm was momentarily numbed by the shock.
Shurein clenched his teeth, gripping his sword tightly to prevent it from falling.
However, the opponent's attack came right then.
Tsukasa used her staff to release mana in the most primitive way.
This move had no special name; it was just a simple Mana Blast.
It didn't even need system assistance; any mage could easily perform this move.
The principle was simply to release mana all at once.
Shurein was knocked back by the Mana Blast.
The Earth Dragon behind him rushed forward to catch Shurein with its body.
Despite being Shurein's familiar, this Earth Dragon had no idea how to coordinate in battle.
When Shurein had just launched his charge, it had stood foolishly in the back watching, and now it had made an incredibly wrong decision.
Tsukasa aimed her staff at Shurein and the Earth Dragon.
Massive mana erupted from her.
The surrounding audience felt the whole world tremble.
Tsukasa had merely released a portion of her mana, yet these people's senses were affected.
Water currents converged in the air, turning into a giant wave that crashed toward Shurein and the dragon.
This was just the lowest-level Water Arrow Art.
But the scale released now was comparable to a waterfall, and this strike actually caused a tremor.
A small lake formed where the two fought; the girl stood on the water's surface, while Shurein and the Earth Dragon were already submerged.
After glancing at the struggling Earth Dragon in the water, Tsukasa walked back to the shore from the water's surface.
"It seems they can only be used as pawns; they aren't qualified to talk cooperation with me."
Putting away her staff, Tsukasa left under the awe-filled gazes of those around her, exiting the class.
At this time, two teachers ran down.
"Your Highness, I'm coming to save you!"
Shurein felt terrible right now.
He wasn't actually injured much; that girl had held back.
But Fei kept pulling him and moving erratically; with the Earth Dragon's current strength, he was no match for Fei at all.
He couldn't break free and was about to drown.
Fortunately, the two teachers had some skill and rescued Shurein and the Earth Dragon from the water.
Otherwise, Shurein would have been killed by his own pet.
"Are you okay, Shu?"
Shurein's companion rushed over—it was that one noble lady.
Facing his companion's concern, Shurein smiled and said he was fine.
The Earth Dragon explained to him then: "Sorry, Shu, I can't swim."
"It's okay."
Shurein thought to himself that it was as he expected.
Though he really wanted to criticize her for holding onto him when she couldn't swim.
But thinking that Fei was also scared just now, his soft heart couldn't say such heartless words, so he had to forgive her.
"Hahaha, how pathetic."
Yugu arrived immediately to mock him.
"Two of you together, yet you couldn't even take one hit. How can you have the nerve to be as famous as this Prince?"
"Yugu!"
The noble lady was filled with Wrath.
Yugu looked at her with disdain.
"What? Oshima, do you want to challenge my authority like him? Oh, I forgot, I should call you Lady Canadia, right? Hahahaha!"
Shurein stood up with a cold face and said, "Yugu, if you have a problem, take it out on me."
Yugu looked at the two of them and suddenly smiled, waving his hand in front of his face.
"No way, you two are really disgusting."
Although Shurein and Canadia looked like a good match, like a handsome man and a beautiful woman.
But only those who knew each other's identities were aware that Canadia's inner self was actually a man, their former classmate.
Shurein and Canadia were even best buddies in their past lives.
Yugu looked at Canadia's current figure.
He couldn't help but think, they couldn't really be involved, could they?
"Tsk."
Feeling somewhat psychologically uncomfortable, Yugu...
...suddenly lost interest.
He had no interest in Canadia; he just found it funny.
Knowing that Shurein and Canadia might be involved made him feel even more disgusted.
After all, he was the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Unlike Shurein, who was the Prince of a Kingdom.
He was the future Emperor of the Empire, with no shortage of women, and certainly wouldn't be interested in a woman who used to be a man.
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