Rowena didn't know Ghost was the Dark Lord and Michael didn't know Ruby was actually the Holy Maiden, Rowena Winston. Without knowing each other's secret identity, they conversed like old friends. Since both of them were siblings, they became friends more quickly than one would expect. The usually silent Rowena felt comfortable and friendly with Ghost as though she was walking to Noah. Michael explained some of the fundamentals of alchemy to Ruby, in exchange for some battle tips. To Michael's surprise, Ruby seemed very competent in battle arts. She talked about war formations, battle tactics, and controlling flames to great extent.

Their conversation went on for almost fifteen minutes until Gaya finally entered the classroom. Her glance swept across the hall. She slowly walked behind the ceramic table located before the green board. After staring at the students for a while, she flicked her wrist as a silver parchment appeared in her hand.

She opened it up for the students to see but except for the front-row students, the others couldn't read the words.

"I have in my hand the second-year, battle of the houses circular," said Gaya, She amplified her voice with arch energy for every student to hear her.

"Many of you may know about this but if you don't let me give the gist. Each student in each house has to pick a challenger from within their house or from the other to engage in a friendly tournament. It's not a battle tournament. Instead, you will be given a flag when your challenger accepts the challenge. Defend the flag from your challenger. That's it. If you are a daredevil alchemist who wants to challenge someone from the Warrior house, you have to defend yourself using potions, spells, begging, anything. If you're a runemaster, you will use runes to defend your flag. If you're a blacksmith, you build stuff to fortify your area," the students looked excited to show what they could do. Many had already fixed their challengers in their minds.

Hearing their excited murmur, Gaya rolled her eyes.

"Don't be too quick to get excited. Since the headmaster will be watching the duel, I decided to spice things up. I allowed the seniors to participate in the duel. So you better pray you don't get a challenge from a senior. Of course, you have the right to decline the challenge but it won't look good on you,*cough* chicken," Gaya ridiculed those who wanted to back off if a senior issued a challenge to them.

However, Michael felt excited. There was no one in his current batch who could defeat him. Not that the seniors could defeat Michael but battling seniors would make him get more badass points when he mops the floor with them. The last time he faced a senior named Diego, he almost killed the guy. Michael wondered whether he still holds a grudge against him.

"Professor Steinmeyer," an Elven girl raised her hand,

"What is it?" asked Gaya.

"How many challenges one could get and issue?" asked the elf.

"As many as you like. If you feel daring, be my guest, challenge anyone you want, how many times you want. The duel will last for three days, so everyone should better be ready," said Gaya.

"You seem happy," Rowena turned her head to see a smile on Michael's face.

"Just wondering who should I challenge and who might challenge me,"

"What if I challenge you?" Ruby tilted her head.

"I will decline,"

Rowena was surprised by his answer. He didn't even consider it. However, he didn't seem like he underestimated her. Rather, he looked like he already had someone in mind who might challenge him.

"Now the seniors will enter this hall and if they feel like it, they might pick you up on a challenge," Gaya turned her gaze to the door as the students from the senior class entered the hall in a neat line.

"Aren't you gonna wake him up?" Rowena asked, looking at Elidyr. The dark elf was exhausted enough to sleep without bothering about anything. He just leaned against the wall and slept peacefully. Gaya stepped aside, letting the seniors take a good look at their juniors. Among the seniors, Michael's eyes fell on the four strongest and most famous students, Deacon Saunders, Bethany White, Diego Carter, Erika Dawson, and Elliot Watson.

As Michael expected, Diego's eyes turned predatory when he saw Michael on the last bench. To rile Diego up, Michael didn't even look at him.

"Feel free to talk shit about each other," Gaya jumped on the table and prepared to watch the students pick up their challengers.

"I pick you," Diego's voice cut through all the noises. Rowena looked at Diego's eyes and saw deep hatred in them. Everyone turned their heads to see Michael.

"Nope," To their shock, Michael rejected the challenge outright without a second thought.

"I am bored of kicking the crap out of you. Just pick someone weak like you,"

Some of the dwarves in the hall burst into laughter. Even the orcs who saw how the battle between Michael and Diego went furrowed their creases. They really didn't think Diego had a single chance against Michael. Seeing Diego getting ridiculed by the juniors, his four friends as well as the seniors clenched their fists.

"He wasn't wrong," Like pouring fuel into a burning fire, Gaya chuckled.

"Last time you challenged him, Gilrine had to carry you to the infirmary," Some of the senior students who hated Diego joined the laughter, making Diego into a joke. Diego's eyes turned blood red with intense anger and hatred. He wanted to rip Michael to shreds. For a few moments, nothing but laughter echoed through the hall.

"I challenge you,"

The laughter was cut short by Deacon's thick voice. He stepped forward, flaunting his chiseled chest and long black hair.

"Why is he shirtless?' Rowena whispered to Michael. Michael wondered the same. Granted Deacon had a magazine-worthy physique probably due to forging stuff and working in a forge too much. Although many, especially girls drooled at his bare upper body, Michael felt like he was being a cringe. Deacon would look like a scrawny kid if Michael removed his robes. At the moment, Michael was too disappointed in Elliot to bitch about Deacon's wardrobe.

"I don't need you to save my face," Diego growled.

"I am not saving your face, I am saving our class's," Deacon shut Diego up.

The students looked between Michael and Deacon.

"I accept," said Michael.

"If you have any weird manly bets, go crazy," said Gaya. She knew how much Michael enjoyed beating famous people up. So she just made the competition a little bit more interesting.

"If I win, you have to apologize to Diego in front of all Mazeroth,"

"If I win?" asked Michael with a snicker.

"What do you want?" Deacon didn't sound like he was being arrogant. Michael sensed no arrogance in his voice, Instead, he felt trust and confidence in his abilities.

"I want you to put on a shirt," Michael's answer surprised everyone, including Deacon.

Rowena chuckled inside. The dwarves were the ones to first laugh and clap for Michael. The dwarves really started to like Michale despite their racial differences.

For a moment Deacon didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But eventually, he nodded.

Following their dramatic challenge, the students went on picking whoever they wanted to battle. Many alchemists played it safe by picking a fellow alchemist instead of someone from the other houses. It made sense and was a perfectly logical decision. Not everyone was Michael. To Michael's surprise, Ruby got picked by an elf in the warrior house. She accepted the challenge without even giving it a second thought.

Elidyr on the other hand-picked by an orc who got irritated by Elidyr's lack of focus on the class. Because Elidyr was asleep when the orc issued a challenge, Gaya accepted the challenge as a punishment for sleeping in the class. After everything was said and done, Gaya finally announced when the duel will start.

"You have three days to prepare. Each house will have its store room open for you. So knock yourselves out. The duel will begin sharply at eight o'clock in the morning at the arena. Bring your A games with you. Class dismissed," Gaya left the hall before the seniors and the other students. Since the professor went outside, the seniors remained in the class for a while.

Diego shoved Deacon aside to make his way to Michael.

"Hey wake up," Michael didn't notice Diego as he was trying to wake Elidyr up.

"Look," Rowena nudged Michael in the hand with her elbow.

Michael turned and saw Diego approaching him with gritted teeth. His four friends followed him behind as Bethany tried to stop Diego from reaching Michael. She didn't want to cause a ruckus again. Among the students, Victoria and Edith stared at the scene with pure curiosity, especially Victoria. She wanted to witness how Ghost was going to handle Diego. If it wasn't for Deacon, Victoria would have challenged Ghost, just to see who was the most powerful among them.

When Diego reached the last bench, he slammed his fist on the table, waking up Elidyr.

"What the heck is happening?" The dark elf yawned, stretching his muscles. Then, he noticed Diego staring at Michael with eyes full of killing intent and hatred.

Michael didn't react much. He just leaned back,

"You made a huge mistake, pal," growled Diego. Most of the students stopped their chit-chatting to focus on Diego.

"That is...?" Michael dragged his words as though he had no idea what Diego was talking about.

"Diego," Bethany called for Diego. She placed her hand on his shoulder but he pushed aside her hand.

"Listen to you buddies and save yourselves further embarrassment," said Michael. He slowly stood up, followed by Elidyr and Rowena. He came face to face with Diego. Since Michael was taller than Diego, he looked down at Diego with a ridiculing smirk.

"You may have bested me earlier. But it won't happen again. When-"

"Just get out of my face,"

Diego's words were cut short as Michael nudged him aside with his broad shoulder and walked away from him.

"Arrogance is weakness disguised as strength. It will only lead you one way, down," When Michael was passing Elliot, he heard these words from him. Instead of responding to Elliot, Michael walked away. He preferred to talk in action rather than words. In three days, he would show the difference between him and all the others.