Chapter 323: The Power of Wealth
"My girlfriend is nearby? There's no one trying to steal her from me?"
Stingham gradually emerged from within his daze.
"It's you losers? You wish to be beaten up again?" As Stingham finally comprehended Minlur's words, he turned and looked towards the group from Abel Academy. He cackled as he shouted, "You masochists! You all have only just recovered from your injuries, yet you still dare to present yourselves before us once more? Are you not afraid of death?"
The faces of Lotner and the other students turned rather unsightly. But standing before Ayrin, Stingham, and Rinloran, they couldn't help but remember their monstrous abilities. This, coupled with their feelings of guilt, kept them from replying.
"Idiot!" A single word softly escaped from Rinloran's mouth.
"You don't accept your defeat? So you wish to challenge us again?"
As Ayrin nonchalantly stretched out his waist at this moment, he let out a loud yelp.
He felt as if all his body's muscles and bones had collapsed. The pain was rather unbearable.
But after this brief moment of pain, he felt his body completely relax. A warm current began circulating throughout his body.
Ayrin's eyes brightened up as a sensation of immense power surged into his mind.
"This feeling, I have only ever felt this way before when using Holy Body Ignition."
He felt as if a single moment would cause an unbelievable amount of power to explode out of his muscles.
This sensation of power and the thought of improvement completely suppressed the remaining sensation of exhaustion within his body.
Within the Abyss of Evil, he had only met existences more powerful than himself.
Even though he had increased his strength, he had not been able to use it. He had not been able to taste the rewards of his efforts.
But the students of Abel Academy used to be on a similar level of strength as him.
If they decided to compete, it would provide him with the perfect opportunity to see just how much he had improved.
Furthermore, defeating them in broad daylight before others was much more satisfying than winning through trickery and wit.
A fiery and intense fighting intent began to burn within Ayrin's eyes.
"Kelly, you have no idea what kind of experiences and trainings and battles they have gone through. Your loss today will be miserable," Minlur felt a tinge of sympathy for Kelly as his expression turned barbaric and he waved his fist and roared, "Now that they have woken up, let us discuss what how we are competing."
"Each side shall name a person…" Lotner timidly replied, his voice becoming weaker and weaker until it couldn't be heard anymore.
"Speak up!" Kelly abruptly turned around and looked at Lotner as he asked, "Could it be that you still have no confidence, even at this moment?"
"To fight!"
Lotner took a deep breath to steel himself and then, as if he had decided to put everything on the line, loudly shouted, "Each side shall name a person, the winner will be determined by the winner of the single fight!"
"A single person? You all have lost for sure." Stingham rubbed his ringing ears as he laughed and said, "Think about it, if the three of us completely mopped the floor with the six of you, won't your loss be even worse if it's one on one?"
"Alright! One on one! Then let's fight!" Ayrin immediately shouted, his blood boiling.
"We haven't said what we are wagering yet," Lotner said. He had finally calmed down as he calmly watched Ayrin.
"What are we wagering?" Rinloran asked as he glared coldly at Lotner.
"The loser of the match must give all of the artifacts on their body to the winner." Seeing how everything was going as according to plan, Lotner gained some confidence as he continued, "Naturally, whoever represents your side must carry the Moon Echo Sabre and Spirit Obstruction Gem."
In the end, he was still the captain of a monster-ranked team.
"Then what about your side?" Stingham mocked, "What's the point of fighting if you guys don't have anything on you? Then we are just beating you up for nothing."
"We will bring up at least an Essence Burning Stone and Blood Sucking Amulet," Lotner replied with a smile.
"Two gems?"
A strange look emerged on Stingham and Rinloran's faces.
"Don't steal anything. We will cleanly win everything through battle. Otherwise, we might not be able to keep it," Ayrin muttered to himself.
"What does he mean?" The Abel Academy students thought as they exchanged looks.
"Both of these are well known artifacts and incredibly useful. For the Essence Burning Stone, after inputting enough arcane particles into it, it will form a sphere of flames outside of the wielder's body. It is a powerful tool whether it is used for attacking or defending. As for the Blood Sucking Amulet, it allows the wielder to constantly steal other's vitality to replenish their own." Minlur waved his fist towards Ayrin, Stingham, and Rinloran as he said, "Good luck, brave warriors. Bring these artifacts back."
"I will be the one to represent my side," Lotner said. After a deep breath, he looked towards Ayrin's group and asked, "What about you guys?"
"It doesn't matter," Stingham giggled. "None of us will lose to the likes of you."
"Is that so? Then why don't you send out Ayrin?" Lotner immediately replied.
"Ayrin?"
Stingham froze and then looked at Lotner like an idiot as he said, "Is there something wrong with your brain? Even I wouldn't pick a battle-crazed pervert like Ayrin."
"A plan? It's a shame that you have miscalculated once more." Rinloran chuckled and then gave Ayrin the Moon Echo Sabre hanging from his back.
They had likely thought that Ayrin would be the easiest to deal with as they wouldn't have to deal with his own speed and long range attacks with the Moon Echo Sabre or Stingham's extreme tankiness from having the Spirit Obstruction Gem and Lover's Corpse. After all, Ayrin didn't know any sword skills, so the Moon Echo Sabre was useless in his hands.
Unfortunately for them, Ayrin was undoubtedly the most unbelievable person amongst the three of them, the one who was most likely to defeating them.
And more importantly, the elf dragon hiding within Ayrin's pocket had filled it pouch to the brim with numerous unknown artifacts.
Rinloran was certain that Ayrin would be able to win, even without using the Treasured Book of Sealing.
"You picked me?! Then let us fight, brave warrior! I am already wearing the Spirit Obstruction Gem. As you said, if I lose, I will give both artifacts back to you."
Ayrin received the Moon Echo Sabre from Rinloran and directly stuck it into the ground before him as he waved his fist towards Lotner and let out a fighting intent filled scream.
Everyone spread out around Ayrin and Lotner, forming a ring about one hundred meters in diameter.
"This guy, he is truly a battle crazed maniac…" The other students of the Abel Academy team exchanged glances and then immediately began cheering for Lotner.
"Wait!"
At this moment, Stingham suddenly cried out, "Before we begin, Lotner, please take out the Essence Burning Stone and Blood Sucking Amulet for us to see. Just so we know that you do indeed have them on you and are not trying to trick us."
"Since the fight is about to begin, then I will let you see."
Lotner sneered as he extended his left hand.
Two red gemstones could be seen in his palm. One was perfectly round and seemed to have flames burning atop it. The other was not so perfect and a bit darker in color. It looked rather oily as the layer of crimson light around it shimmered under the sun.
"Can we start?!" Ayrin shouted.
The sensation of power and his burning fighting intent was causing him to be impatient.
There was also his longing for Charlotte, which had only been amplified by his dreams during his Poisonflame Emperor Egg tempering session. He didn't wish to waste any more time than absolutely necessary so he could reunite with Charlotte as quickly as possible.
"Being!"
"Give us back what is rightfully ours!"
With a loud shout, bright arcane particles began to surround Lotner.
But they didn't flow towards the two gems in his left hand, but towards his right hand.
At this moment, it became clear that he was holding a gemstone studded book about half the size of his palm within his right hand.
This gemstone studded book began releasing a radiant light. It was a color which no one could describe because it seemed to be different from any color which they had seen before.
"It's actually Scriptures of Time," Minlur gasped in shock.
Upon seeing Minlur's reaction, a look of treachery and joy emerged on Kelly's face.
"What? You never expected that I managed to lay my hands on Scriptures of Time, did you?"
"Just this Scriptures of Time is enough to end this battle."
From the moment Kelly's expression changed, a domain energy had spread throughout the ring.
From the point of view of Kelly and the other team members of Abel Academy, as long as Ayrin was unable to strike and prevent Lotner from finishing his usage of Scriptures of Time, he was done for.
"What is that?"
But at this moment, everyone's eyes widened as they saw a book emerge within Ayrin's hand.
Whoosh!
Space inexplicably began trembling as the newly formed domain was sucked into the book in Ayrin's hand.
"Treasured Book of Sealing?!"
Kelly's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"What a strange domain."
A curious expression emerged on Ayrin's face as he nonchalantly asked, "Just what kind of domain is this?"
"Domain of Time!"
Minlur was filled with excitement as he said, "Although you and he are in the same domain, the flow of time is different. Thus, even if the two of you used skills at the same time, in reality, there will be a gap. This means that no matter how you attack, you cannot hit him, and no matter how he attacks, you cannot defend."
"What a powerful domain! If I didn't have this Treasured Book of Sealing, I would only be able to run or try to use another domain to overpower it," Ayrin exclaimed.
"He has the Treasured Book of Sealing… and he sealed away the Domain of Time with it?!"
Ayrin's exclamations of admiration for the Domain of Time were like piercing needles towards the youths of Abel Academy, whose bodies were trembling uncontrollably at this moment.
But what they didn't see was that, at this moment, the faerie dragon within Ayrin's robes was currently rummaging through its pouch. Finally, it took out a pigeon egg sized skull.
"What is that?!"
The faces of the students of Abel Academy all paled as they saw the Treasured Book of Sealing within Ayrin's hand suddenly become replaced with a pigeon egg sized skull.
The skull glowed brightly and flickered under the sun as if it had been made of countless fine diamonds.