A big commotion occurred in the academy.
It was the period after the final examinations of the courses, normally most of the students would return to their families or engage in long missions at that time.
However, all the students chose to delay their plans due to an unexpected event.
Vance, the recluse student that showed his face only during the lessons but that also broke Daniel's record, challenged Manuel Gousho, the current holder of the title of the strongest student in the academy.
The Gousho family was a large-size noble family affiliated with the Udye one.
Daniel and Manuel had a friendly relationship but, due to their age gap, their level had always been quite far away, never allowing a proper confrontation between them.
After Daniel left, Manuel had taken his position as the leader of the new generation, obtaining respect and reverence from his peers.
Manuel was a man nearing twenty years of age.
Since he had seized the best accommodation in the academy, his power had steadily increased, nearing the breakthrough for the second rank of the dantian.
He was just a few weeks away from reaching the peak of the solid stage, after that he would use his reagent and undergo the breakthrough.
Never could he had imagined that his academy token would send him a notification in that period.
'A challenge right before my advancement? Does this junior want to become famous by stepping over me?'
Manuel thought, sitting cross-legged on an extremely comfortable mat laid on the floor of his accommodation.
'Should I ignore it? I don't think that I will lose face if I don't agree to such a request.'
He pondered, scratching his head lightly.
'It's from that student, Vance! The one that surpassed Daniel!'
Even though his relationship with Daniel was friendly, he still had a competitive nature, he just suppressed those feelings because the age gap rendered almost impossible for him to catch up.
However, a random youth appeared which was even younger than him and surpassed his seemingly unbeatable friend.
'If I refuse his challenge, the other nobles will forever think of me as a second-rate cultivator, fearful of the real geniuses.'
Challenges could be ignored but there was a monetary fee to pay to do so.
Nevertheless, Manuel was the heir of a powerful family, that sum was nothing in his eyes.
What he was worried about was the impact that such a refusal would have on his image.
He wanted to be considered akin to a Daniel by his generation, that's why he was working so hard to reach the second rank of the dantian before the age of twenty, he wanted to match Daniel's achievement.
'I suppose that a nice victory can improve my mood and increase my focus on cultivation. I also have to teach him that not all the nobles are as weak as he thinks.'
Noah's behavior with Daniel's followers was widely known, that was another factor that ultimately led him to be ignored by most of the students.
'Large-size noble families are untouchable in the eyes of common cultivators, it seems that the new generations have forgotten about that. It's on me to restore the natural order.'
As he thought of that, he accepted the challenge through his token and stood up from the mat.
On the day of the battle, scheduled four days after Manuel's positive answer, a big crowd stood excited on the stages of the largest arena in the academy.
It was a circular building on the left side of the river, with an empty space fifty meters wide encircled by hundreds of overhead seats.
'It resembles the Colosseum of my previous world, just way smaller.'
Noah thought, lazily standing at the center of the arena surrounded by the crowd of students.
'There are some inscriptions on the ground and even on the walls below the stages, it seems that I won't have to worry about breaking it.'
He was waiting for his opponent to appear, turning a deaf ear to the screams of the crowd above him.
'I knew that there would have been a commotion but this is far greater than I thought. Basically all the students are here and there are even a few Professors!'
The students were shouting cheers and making their bets, there were even a few of them who were loudly mocking him.
"He's mad! Senior Manuel was one of Daniel's strongest followers, it's said that they were actually close friends!"
"He probably reached the solid stage and thought that he could beat the strongest student! Hmph, he really underestimates the power of us nobles."
"Senior Manuel should teach him a memorable lesson! Break his limbs and make his teeth fall! I will gladly buy one of them for a thousand Credits!"
The most heated group that insulted him was composed by the students that Noah punished back when they tried to ambush him.
'Why don't they ever learn? Well, this Manuel shouldn't be as useless as them, there are nobles that don't waste the privileges of their status after all.'
Like he used everything he had to improve his strength, there had to be other cultivators that did the same.
When one of them was born in a large-size noble family, it would be labeled as a genius due to his fast growth.
That hadn't much to do with talent though, they simply had more resources and they used them wisely to increase their power.
For someone like Noah that had to use every chance that he could find to accumulate more resources, their lives appeared way too easy.
'If you don't fight for what you need, you will obtain a power that you can't use. I wonder how many of my spells he will make me use.'
It's not that he was underestimating him, the quantity of his "Breath" was definitely inferior to his opponent, implying that in a long battle he would lose.
However, he was a rank 2 mage!
His mind was on a completely different level and that advantage didn't stop to the increase of the pressure that he naturally emitted.
"Junior, if you thought that using me to become famous was a smart plan, you really underestimated the difference between our status."
Manuel appeared from one of the passages on the walls.
He was wearing a luxurious green battle robe that coordinated perfectly with his long brown hair.
He wielded a long sword with a golden inscribed handle of the same color of the embroidery of his dress.
'Did he bought that robe only for this match? It doesn't seem like he has ever used it.'
Noah inwardly shook his head, he couldn't really understand the mental processes of nobles.
He was only wearing tight black pants, showing his defined and pale upper body to the crowd.
"Actually, I just want your accommodation."