The moment the thin longsword manifested out of thin air, everyone realized that Michael was actually a Lord.
Niklas, who had been mocking Michael before, couldn’t help but stare blankly at Michael and Tigerfang.
“How can that be possible?” He murmured in disbelief while Michael removed his gloves.
It would be rather inconvenient to continue wearing the gloves now that he would be entering the archery competition. He didn’t want to lose the bet over a silly mistake and be forced to part with Tigerfang because his fingers slipped from the bowstring.
Michael showed Niklas his War Rune intentionally, but Niklas was too baffled to react. However, it was not just Niklas who was left speechless. Their former head teacher, Kelen Dame, looked stupefied too. He stared blankly at Michael’s War Rune and his jaw hit the ground the next moment.
“Refinement degree close to the Late stage…”
Everyone stared blankly at Michael, while Kaleb was the first to recover from the shock. He merely smiled and thought,
“Looks like he is not the loser everyone assumed him to be.”
Michael’s head turned to Kaleb with a sinister smile.
“If someone dares to challenge me, you’ll have to bet something of equal worth!” He announced, his eyes glimmering brightly.
‘Since I’m already here, I shouldn’t waste my time and return home empty-handed,’ Michael thought, feeling quite satisfied with his performance.
‘Give me all your money, you bastards! That’s the reimbursement for all the suffering you caused me in the past few years!!’
For the first time since Michael got to know the high and mighty descendants of powerful families and clans, they hesitated.
Only a third of all students had already manifested their War Rune, but most of them were utterly clueless about how expensive an Artifact was. They didn’t have to work hard to earn it and would get any Artifact they desired by asking their parents and clan elders.
Yet even their parents and clan elders couldn’t promise to gift them a Tierless Epic Artifact!
“I have 800,000$ in my account, right now,” One of the students said just as everyone wondered how much they should bet to join, or if they should back off. They might be better than Michael, but they weren’t confident in defeating Niklas, or Kaleb, whose skill level was still a mystery to them.
“That’s fine with me. I don’t really care how much you bet,” Michael said with a shrug before he added provokingly, “But if the others think about betting small amounts of money, they only show that they have a small dick and no confidence.”
His eyes were on Niklas and his cronies as he said the last few words and a vibrant smile blossomed on his face.
‘Yes, I’m talking about you, brickhead!’ His eyes seemed to scream.
Niklas grit his teeth and stepped forward. He was ready to throw a punch at Michael, but Kelen held him back.
“If you want to defeat him, accept the bet and get his Artifact. I don’t know how he obtained an Epic Tierless Artifact, but it’s an invaluable treasure if it’s genuine!” Kelen explained hurriedly to calm down Niklas.
Niklas clenched his fists and reluctantly held himself back.
“Can you prove that your Artifact is a genuine 5-Star Tierless Artifact and not some cheap replica?” Niklas bellowed angrily.
Michael shook his head in response, but he remained calm.
“I cannot prove it right now, but I am willing to become your subordinate through the oath of subordination if Tigerfang is not a Tierless Epic Artifact. The winner can take Tigerfang to an appraiser and see for himself, whether I’m spouting nonsense or not,” He retorted with a steely gaze.
His words were overflowing with confidence. Even Niklas couldn’t say anything for a second or two. However, at the thought of turning Michael into his subordinate, everything else turned insignificant and a devilish smile appeared on his face.
“I’ll bet 2,000,000$!” He announced grandly.
Niklas looked back at his people and gestured to them to place their bets.
Slowly but steadily, most people joined the bet. Niklas bet the most money, but the total sum was much higher than Michael had expected.
“In that case, let’s set up a contract. I already sent the form in the group chat,” Michael added after a minute.
“You guys merely have to add the amount of money you bet and give it a nice swish with your finger where you have to sign.”
While Niklas and the others had been shouting out their bets grandly, Michael had been busy setting up the contract. He wanted to make sure that nobody could escape their fate after losing bitterly and humiliating them further.
He turned to Kaleb, who looked at him with renewed curiosity.
Kaleb’s expression changed drastically, and he was about to say something but held himself back when he saw the expression on Michael’s face. He realized only then that Michael wanted to provoke him.
“Send me the form, babe!” He told Jasmine who nodded her head faintly.
She had not expected Michael to already have manifested a War Rune, forget about obtaining an Epic Artifact. She knew very well how rare and expensive Epic Artifacts were. Not even her family could promise her one when she manifested her War Rune.
Jasmine was not sure if Kaleb would obtain a Tierless Epic Artifact once he turned 18, but the chance was quite high. The Zenovia family was on a whole different level than the families that could be found in the Golden Sun province.
Meanwhile, Michael waited patiently. His attention was on the contract that was being updated in real-time. He noticed that Kaleb didn’t fill out the column stating what he would give if he were to lose the bet, but he simply signed it.
That meant Kaleb would give the winner of the bet something he desired as long as it was at par with the value of Tigerfang.
‘You don’t even consider the possibility of losing the bet? Your arrogance will kill you in the future…I shall teach you a lesson in your sister’s name!’ Michael thought before he turned his attention to the contract.
Everyone had signed the form and the competition could begin at last. But now that high bets had been made, everyone was a little tense.
Only Niklas, Kaleb, and Michael were calm.
“I already shot the apple of the spit-roasted pig twice. Let’s use it as the first target,” Kaleb said nonchalantly and both Michael and Niklas agreed.
Niklas manifested a Bow Artifact out of thin air, and he retrieved an arrow out of his War Rune’s storage space. He nocked the arrow on the bowstring and pulled the bowstring back slowly. He perfected his aim for a few seconds and shot.
The arrow cut through the air before it pierced straight into the apple.
Niklas’ subordinates exclaimed and clapped like sea lions when they saw that their boss hit the target. Afterward, they took turns to shoot the target as well.
In the next ten minutes, the remaining participants retrieved their own bows or borrowed the bows of the other participants to shoot their target. Most of them succeeded, leaving only Michael in the end.
However, Michael didn’t really pay much attention to the first round. It was too simple. He was more focused on the confused caterers who were running around with apples in their hands, trying to replace the apple cores that fell out of the pig’s mouth after being hit several times.
It was quite an amusing sight.
Now that it was his turn, Michael manifested the Hardwood Bow and an arrow. He put the arrow smoothly on the bowstring, pulled back, and shot within a single smooth motion.
The arrow shot through the air with horrifying velocity and penetrated through the apple, splitting it apart at once.
Niklas froze when he saw how Michael used the bow with precision. Michael required merely two seconds to manifest the bow and hit the target. Most weren’t even able to take a proper look at his bow when the arrow had already pierced the target.
Niklas was not the only one who was shocked. Everyone was baffled and a stunned silence enveloped them all.
What the hell happened to Michael?
Was he still the same loser as before?
Michael merely smiled.
“How about I choose the second target? Let’s reduce the number of participants a bit!”