The duel escalated further. After all, it was only the second week of school. Gareth was infuriated by Bergen and had lost his ability to think calmly. With Rosé's nod, the duel proceeded as a result, thus concluding the combat skills class.

The indoor duel arena was modeled after a gladiatorial arena, with the stands elevated several meters above the duel field, providing a clear view of everything below.

Aside from duels, this place is usually used for annual student assessment tests. The reason for building it this way is to allow other students watching to observe more attentively and learn something useful from others.

As a former military officer, Rosé was inclined towards battle. He had no intention of stopping this duel and even enjoyed shouting for students to fight each other in practical training classes. After all, it is in battle where one's fighting experience is best honed.

Gareth and Bergen were about ten meters apart, with Rosé acting as the referee. Not only were junior students from Bexia attracted to watch, but also students from other classes. At least eighty percent of the junior students in the academy were standing here.

Among the junior students, about sixty percent were commoners. Among them, four to five out of ten were cheering for Gareth, while the noble students sat on the other side in groups of two or three, occasionally showing different smiles. The two groups were clearly distinguished.

"What kind of duel would you like?" Rosé asked with his arms crossed.

There are two methods of dueling in the academy. One is to win with a single strike, and the other is to knock the opponent down. However, these rules are not the only things to consider in a real duel, as wooden weapons are used in the academy.

"It doesn't matter, the result will be the same anyways," Bergen said indifferently. In his eyes, this was just a boring game.

"I choose to win with a single strike!" Gareth said firmly, gripping the wooden sword at his waist. Now he had calmed down and realized the difference between him and Bergen. It was almost impossible for him to defeat him in a real fight. The only chance he had was to win with a single strike, using all of his strength.

"In that case, the duel will be won with a single strike. You can now begin preparing. When I count down to '0', the duel officially begins!"

"Three..."

Winning with a single strike requires an instantaneous attack. When Rosé counted to three, Gareth had already slightly drawn his wooden sword from its scabbard and leaned his body forward.

"Two..."

"One..."

When the second count was spoken, Bergen still had not moved. It wasn't until the third count that he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Zero...!"

As Rosé's voice fell, the entire duel arena fell silent. Gareth's figure suddenly rushed forward from his original position, and the straight sword at his waist was quickly drawn from the scabbard.

"Sword Drawing Technique!"

"Hmph! Trash combat skill!" Bergen seemed to have seen through Gareth's combat skill long ago. At the moment Gareth drew his sword, Bergen abruptly drew the wooden sword from his waist.

"Cross Slash!"

"Crack!"

The one-strike horizontal strike collided with Gareth's wooden sword. Under Gareth's astonished gaze, it withstood his Sword Drawing Technique. Afterward, the second half of the Cross Slash followed.

"Crack!"

"Clang!"

The wooden sword that was sent flying bounced on the ground a few times before coming to a stop. It all happened in an instant. Throughout the entire process, Bergen didn't even move a step and effortlessly neutralized Gareth's full-force strike. He seemed to have exerted no strength at all.

"Bergen is the winner of this duel!" Rosé loudly declared the outcome of the duel.

A disdainful smile appeared on Bergen's lips as he said, "Commoners will always be commoners. Even their techniques are nothing more than trash in a garbage dump."

"Hahaha, Bergen, don't laugh at others. Maybe this is his most powerful combat skill!" A voice from the stands was particularly piercing.

"You're right. Lower class commoners like you probably can only learn techniques like these. They are only worthy of using such things!"

"You...!" Gareth clenched his teeth, suppressing the urge to confront Bergen and give him a punch to the face. However, even if he were to do so, it would probably be impossible to achieve."This Berg is so annoying, I feel like going up there and beating him up!" Carter glared at Berg in the dueling arena, his eyes filled with anger.

"Do you think you can beat him?" Bexia shook her head. Berg indeed had impressive abilities, thanks to his aristocratic upbringing, he possessed remarkable combat awareness and strength that surpassed ordinary people.

"Well..." Carter hesitated for a moment. Although he was much stronger than Gareth, he probably wouldn't be able to match up against Berg. Among the twelve junior students in the class, most of them were from noble backgrounds, and Berg was one of the strongest among them.

"I might not be able to, but Bexia, you can give it a try!" Carter held Bexia's shoulders with both hands, saying seriously, "I'm sure you can beat him!"

"It's not necessary! I-"

"What do you mean not necessary! This Berg keeps calling us commoner students 'plebs' all the time. I've wanted to beat him up for a long time now. If I can beat him, I'll challenge him right away!"

"What is Professor Rose saying? Let's hear what he has to say first."

Just then, Rose suddenly walked to the middle of the dueling arena and with a loud voice, said, "I'm excited to see you all in battle. That's how it should be for men. However, losing is losing, winning is winning, and it's not a big deal."

"As you all know, this year's junior class is quite exceptional. So, I want to announce a new junior student mechanism right now!"

"In the past, the junior students only competed in a new ranking competition when they were promoted. But things are different now. Each month, you will have a new ranking competition, and the top twelve will emerge as winners."

"Some of you may find this troublesome and not very interesting, but the top twelve ranked students will receive special rewards. The top twelve will receive my personal guidance on intermediate combat techniques, the top two will receive magic elixirs to enhance their magical power, and the first-place winner will also receive a physique-enhancing elixir on top of that!"

"What!?"

As Rose's words fell, it immediately caused an uproar among all the junior students, even the nobles on the other side were shocked. Although intermediate combat techniques were relatively rare, they weren't particularly valued by them due to their noble status. But elixirs were a different story, especially those that directly enhanced one's strength. Even though they were nobles, such things were also considered rare and not easily obtained.

As for the commoner students, they were even more excited. Not to mention elixirs, just being taught an intermediate combat technique was enough to make them envious. To obtain an intermediate combat technique, it would cost at least several thousand gold coins, or even tens of thousands of gold coins. And this was a personally taught intermediate combat technique!