It didn't take long for other academy members to appear and Lucas ordered them to take Jason, who had fallen unconscious, to be treated.

  "Ahem…" Lucas cleared his throat. "After all this mess that THEY caused, I declare Alexander the winner."

  Ding!

  [Mission completed]

  "From what I remember, he was the only one who bet on your victory," he commented, turning to the creator of that bet, who was almost crying over the money he had lost, as if wanting to confirm what he was saying.

  Lucas's words "woke up" the students from their stupor, and as soon as they did, they began to look at and reevaluate Alexander, who had just gotten up from the arena.

  Some were visibly surprised, others irritated because of their losses in the bets, but above all, there were many dissatisfied that such an underdog appeared out of nowhere at the Twin Combats Academy in the same year as them.

  As a form of consolation, they could at least rejoice in the misfortune of the one who tried to deceive them, because in the end it was he who lost the most.

  "The prize for the winner that I mentioned earlier is a (Unique) grade weapon from the academy's arsenal," said Lucas as he turned to Alexander and handed him the betting prize. "When you choose the type of weapon you want, let me know and I'll have one fetched for you."

  "I don't need to think anymore, professor. I already know which weapon I want," replied Alexander. "But perhaps you don't have one like it in your arsenal."

  Lucas frowned at Alexander's answer, but didn't think much about it and encouraged him to speak: "Then tell me what type of weapon you want and I'll send someone to check our arsenal."

  With Lucas's approval, Alexander took a branch and began to draw on the dirt ground. "The weapon I want is a metal spear, with a piercing-slashing tip, that can conduct both my energy and mana, be used as a magical staff, resist poison abrasion, and be more or less the size of this drawing."

  "Here," he said, showing the sketch. "This is the design I want."

  Spear:

  Alexander didn't choose his weapon randomly; he had already thought a lot about which weapon he should use.

  After much thought about the pros and cons, he opted to use a spear, but a customized one.

  He chose the length of 1.95 m to create and increase his proficiency with a spear, but his ultimate goal was to use one of 2.5 m.

  His choice of a slashing and piercing tip was to increase the variety of strikes he could use against his enemies.

  The finishing touch were the parrying hooks – defensive hooks made to block or lock enemy weapons – positioned near the tip, as they would help defend against attacks.

  Since he drew them as wavy and sharp, they shouldn't hinder much in cases where the spear needs to pierce or go through the target.

  Alexander's problem until that moment was that, although he wanted such a spear, he had to refrain from trying to buy it for a simple reason: if his small dagger cost 4 small gold coins, how much would a spear made of conductive metals and customized to his specifications cost?

  "It seems you've already thought a lot about this," said Lucas with a bitter smile upon seeing the shape and size of that spear. "I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise it will have all the specifications you mentioned."

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "As for the extra prize for not being a noble, let me see..." pondered Lucas, not worrying about showing that he had nothing specific planned for this case. "You can use one of the academy's courtyard houses while studying here."

  "Thank you, professor," said Alexander sincerely.

  "You are dismissed from today's 'class'," Lucas said to the other students before turning to Alexander. "Follow me. I'll show you where the house is."

  While walking, Alexander carefully observed the surroundings to memorize the path and discover what else this academy had to offer.

  Attentive to the changes, he soon noticed that the closer they got to the center of the academy, the denser the energies in the environment became. But he didn't have much time to speculate about such a phenomenon, because Lucas stopped in front of him and pointed to a house. "Here we are... It's not very big, but it has 1 living room, 2 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 1 private walled courtyard, and it's very cozy inside."

  "It seems great to me. Thank you very much, professor," said Alexander — softening his tone — before continuing: "But it happens that I have a familiar... Is there any problem if she stays here with me?"

  "I see no problem if you keep her under control," replied Lucas disinterestedly.

  "Here," he said as he tossed the house keys and a badge adorned with lightning to Alexander. "Present this badge at the entrance and they will let you pass with your familiar."

  Lucas left as soon as he handed the keys and the badge to Alexander. He seemed even happier than any student, even those from Earth, with the end of his "academic obligations."

  "The house is simple, but it seems very cozy," analyzed Alexander upon entering the house. "The best part is that it's free and secure. I seriously doubt anyone would be crazy enough to break into this academy."

  After checking the entire house, he returned to his room at the Guild, where Ocean was waiting for him, and read the glossary until it began to get dark.

  With the arrival of nightfall, Alexander had his last pre-paid meal at the Guild, since he was paying by the day, and went to say goodbye to Mary while returning the room key.

  "Don't be upset," he said to Mary, who was pretending a little upset. "I'm not changing cities. I'm just going to the academy."

  "I understand..." replied Mary, trying to appear dissatisfied.

  When Alexander returned to the academy and tried to enter with Ocean, the guard stopped him. But as soon as he showed the badge Lucas gave him and explained the situation, the guard let him pass with an exasperated sigh.

  Noticing that he still had some time left after putting his few things in place, Alexander began to practice his proficiency skills that involved control.

  He ended up so focused on his skills that he didn't notice his energy was draining until he was already near exhaustion. "Damn, I pushed myself too hard."

  While resting to recover, Alexander remembered that he had a perfect skill to test in that situation: "|Energy Conversion|."

  As soon as he used |Energy Conversion|, he felt his cores resonate to transform his mana into energy. But the process was so strange that he had no idea how it happened inside his body.

  After regaining some energy, Alexander started to shake off the discomfort from the previous exhaustion. It felt good, though he made a mental note that Ki recovery didn’t prevent mental fatigue.

  Lucas's POV

  "It wasn't my fault, professor," protested Lucas. "Who would have imagined that those two would do something like that?"

  "Don't try to lie to me, Lucas. I know you very well," replied his professor. "You probably set them up to face each other, but ended up losing control of the situation."

  "Damn. I've been found out," Lucas sighed internally, quite exasperated. But even so he didn't dare say a word.

  "Hmph. You at least had the decency not to keep lying to my face," said the professor, reprimanding Lucas. But after reflecting a bit, he continued: "Tell me, how was this fight?"

  Seeing the opportunity to change the subject, Lucas gave a full and very detailed account of the fight in all its aspects.

  "At least the mess you created, THIS TIME, generated something good, since we found another promising seedling — someone young who is worth offering and nurturing, like a seedling," the professor sighed. "He even managed to stand toe-to-toe with the Azurre boy, who is estimated to not be far from having combat power close to, or equal to, that of a 2nd-year student."

  "To be exact, Jason can still be considered a bit more powerful than him," explained Lucas. "But it is precisely because he managed to defeat someone more powerful that I found him interesting."

  "He is calculating and has sharp instincts," he added. "I'm almost certain that he anticipated the explosion would blow them out of the arena and stuck his dagger into the ground to hold on while casting a spell to protect himself."

  "He really seems to be a promising newbie," commented the professor, who was getting more and more excited.

  "It's just a shame that his magical affinity isn't Lightning," lamented the professor as he imagined how great Alexander could become in the future if he could be fully guided by him.

  "But it's not as if all is lost," said the professor with a competitive gleam in his eyes. "If the two keep improving as expected, in a few years there is a chance that one of them will bring down the new apprentices of those old fools and win the Imperial Tournament, like you."

  As soon as he mentioned Lucas, the professor remembered something and said: "I almost forgot. You will be in charge of the combat style integration event this year."

  After thinking a little more, he added: "You will also pay for the arena repairs and for forging the best (Unique) grade spear possible that follows his specifications. Don't even think about the academy's resources."

  "@#$%" thought Lucas while lamenting, but not daring to reply.

  Just dropping by to remind you that my "mini-event" runs until this Friday.