Chapter 503 A Challenger

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"Iron… Slimes?"

This was the first time I saw such a Spirit.

Incredible, I guess there's everything out there.

It appears her Spirit seems to live inside her body and if it's made of Iron, it perhaps utilizes the very Iron of her blood.

I think if she masters such power, she could manipulate her blood and transform it into weapons.

Or maybe she can already do that…

"That surprised me a bit…" I admitted. "I can tell by your Talent and build that you're a powerful front liner heavy hitter, and perhaps a very good tank as well. But we've got that already."

"I see. The only one left after me is this one guy… He's insufferable though. Good luck." Said Patricia, walking away.

The only one left was a slightly less taller young man, his hair was bright blue, and his eyes sharp, crystal colored. His ears were very long, an elf.

He exuded a prideful aura and looked down on me from the very beginning. His very presence was cold, as if it was freezing his surroundings.

"Name?" I asked.

He remained silent until he walked in front of me.

Then, he suddenly summoned a sharp and long needle made of a beautiful ice crystal, finely decorated with wings-like ornaments.

"My name is Elfriedden Crystal. My Talent is… 2 Star Needle Master. And my Spirit is this, the Permafrost Crystal Needle." The elf said.

"Wait, a Needle master?" I asked in surprise. "And that Spirit complements it so well…"

And his element was Ice as well, an element we lacked coverage with.

Alongside that, isn't Needle Master an advanced Talent of 1 Star Tailor?

If we combine his Talent with Alberta, we could get an amazing synergy for the creation of equipment.

He also seems proficient in ice magic, and his needle spirit seems like a powerful Weapon/Tool Spirit that could bring great help in battle.

He seems sharp as well, he knows how to fight.

"You're… Just what we were looking for." I said with a nod. "But what's with your stare? Don't want to join us?" I asked him, the elf smiled pridefully and arrogantly.

"Blake Hunter Goathorn, I challenge you to a duel."

He pointed his needle towards me, as an icy aura emerged from within his entire body, his long blue hair fluttering wildly.

"Come again…?" I asked in surprise.

"I challenge you to a duel. I will join your party, but I cannot allow a commoner such as you to become its leader. I will show you your place." He said arrogantly. "You may think my Talent and Spirits are ill-suited for combat, but if I am an Elite Student, you must have already guessed why that's the case."

"Huh…" I looked back at Evelyn.

"Duels are allowed as long as both students agree to them, I guess we can set up one right now… If that's what you two want." She sighed.

"Fine by me, let's do this then." I smiled with fascination. "You're bold, I like that."

"Heh… I will shut down that arrogant mouth of yours." Elfriedden said.

"W-Wait a second! What's going on?!" Eric freaked out. "Blake are you serious?"

"Hey this is a bit…" Chris said.

"Well Blake wants him in, if he has to fight him then I guess that's fine." Erdrich seemed to have taken things relaxedly.

"This is not fine at all! How can you just accept Blake fighting someone in the first day of our classes?!" Asked Elizabeth. "Stop this now!"

Elizabeth stood up and put herself between me and the bold elf.

"The Saintess…" Elfriedden muttered. "I am sorry but I'll need to ask you to move aside, Saintess. I simply want to put that young man in his place."

"What are you even talking about?" Sighed Elizabeth. "Blake's our friend, we trust him enough to be our leader."

"But maybe I can be a better one." Elfriedden said greedily.

"Elizabeth." I touched Elizabeth's shoulders. "Let me do this."

"B-But!"

Elizabeth tried to stop me, but I quickly told her it was fine.

"Don't worry, I want to test his strength as well. He doesn't seem to be merely a production class." I said with a smile. "Let's go then, Elfriedden."

"Hmph, I'll destroy that confidence of yours." Elfriedden said.

Like that, we were allowed to have a duel. All the tests were done by now and all students were in the process of getting used to the academy in the first day. There were still an hour before the first classes were to begin, so it was a perfect time to do some duel.

When we went to the small open battle ground, most students gathered around to spectate, including teachers and even Hero Dylan and the Director. I guess everybody wanted to see this "show" we were going to make.

Elfriedden stood right in front of me, only a few meters away. He had no armor other than the uniform, so I decided to also just use my uniform and nothing else. Holding my spear, summoning Eleanora would be too much, so I kept her within my shadows, she'll assist me with Hendrick and Saphira.

Though that would be too overkill, I kind of want to enjoy this fight, so I won't absolutely use all of my strength… Though he seems doubtful of the power of a Summoner, so I'll Familiars the most.

"BEGIN!"

Evelyn in the background roared, as the fight was finally allowed to start.

My shadows spread further around my body, as enormous wolves coated in darkness emerged, Fenrirs, a pack of ten of them rushed forward towards Elfriedden.

"Attack!"

I gave them a command, as my Commanding Skill plus the Spirit Stat buffed their stats greatly.

"WOOF!"

"GROOAR!"

"RAAARR!"

The Fenrirs closed in towards Elfriedden in an instant. Ten Fenrir are able to shred into pieces most D Rank Monsters with all buffs, let's see how strong this guy is.

FLAAASH!

A blur of blue color was all I saw.

In a split of a second, Elfriedden emerged behind all the Fenrirs.

And the wolves suddenly found themselves… frozen solid.

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