Chapter 130 Fall of a genius[1]
Each voice and shout of support from the students in the hall only made him feel more nervous, rather than doing the opposite.
'Completely destroy him?! You all should just shut up!' He wanted to scream out so bad and smack the faces of all those shouting for him to destroy Dan.
Heck, he didn't even know how he was supposed to go about this fight, talk less of winning.
The chances of him winning were close to none… especially with Dan already getting close to breaking through to the second stage.
The frown on his face deepened and he lightly bit the corners of his lips when he remembered how Dan practically forced him to accept this duel.
Of course, there was no way he would willing accept to duel, especially when the ranking competition was so close.
While he knew that he couldn't hide the news about his mana core regressing back to the first stage forever, he thought he could at least keep it a secret until the ranking ceremony.
This was why he stayed in his dorm all day, focusing solely on training without even coming out. He also didn't attend any of the recent classes, all in a bid to keep his mana core regressing secret.
However, Dan just wouldn't let him do that. After confirming that Han had regressed back to the first mana core stage, he kept on pestering him for a duel.
At first, he only approached him and tried forcing him into accepting his challenge, however, Han didn't accept it.
Han tried his best to avoid Dan, but it seemed impossible with Dan always on his neck.
While Han hardly left the elite dormitory, he would still come across Dan a few times since they stayed in the same dormitory. Those few times he crossed paths with the grey-haired elementalist were nothing short of hell for Han as all Dan would do was try to bully and force him into accepting his challenge.
It got so bad that even the other elite students started noticing it and also realized that Han's mana core had indeed regressed.
However, they more or less ignored him, focusing mainly on their training for the upcoming event. Of course, Dan still didn't stop trying to get Han to duel with him.
At the end of the day, he was forced to accept the challenge.
"Are you both ready?" The instructor standing at their side asked as he turned his head to the two students.
The introduction and every other thing had already been done, and all that was left was for the participants to start the duel.
While the man's voice seemed indifferent, if one observed his eyes properly they would notice that slight glint of pity and disappointment that flashed through it.
He was an instructor of the fire hall, and since Han was also a fire elementalist, he had taught him a few times in the past. He also knew about Han's dilemma, and all he could feel was pity and disappointment.
"Yes." They both replied, but Han's voice was a lot more quieter.
"Then let the duel begin!" The man suddenly shouted as he took a step back, his words causing the crowd of students watching the duel to roar in excitement.
Immediately, Dan channeled his mana, fully realeasing the aura of his peak stage one mana core.
"Wind Blade!" He shouted as he stretched out his hand towards Han. Almost immediately, a thin blade made purely of wind formed in front of his outstretched palms before shooting towards Han with great speed.
Han gritted his teeth and subconsciously channeled his own mana, preparing for a defense spell.
"Rock Fists!" he shouted, as a dense, dark brown substance erupted from his wrists, enveloping his hands and fingers completely.
Han utilized his newly hardened fists, swiftly swinging them towards the incoming wind blade, effectively blocking its path and cleaving it into two.
The moment Han blocked the attack, the whole hall suddenly went silent.
However, it wasn't because they were surprised that Han blocked the attacks, but because they were shocked at the amount of mana aura and pressure oozing out of Han.
It was a lot lesser and weaker than it usually was.
Apart from that, the way he was fighting was completely different from the his usual style.
It seemed like he taking on a more defensive approach, rather than his usual violent and explosive style.
However, most of the students still hadn't sensed that Han's mana core had regressed back to the first stage.
The majority of them were only stage one elementalists and normal humans, and their mana sense wasn't strong enough to sense something like that immediately.
A few with sharper mana senses could already sense something was different about Han, but they just couldn't put a ring on it.
The frown on Han's face deepened again as he gritted his teeth slightly, feeling a slight stabbing sensation rising from his chest.
This was because his mana core wasn't yet stable. Despite him already making progress on his mana core, and getting closer to the late stages of the first mana core stage, his mana core still wasn't completely stable since the regression.
Due to that, he always felt a painful stabbing sensation from deep within his mana core whenever he casted spells.
If he tried casting one of the former tier two spells he knew, the pain would be so bad that he would even cough out blood, and the spell wouldn't activate.
This was because his mana core still 'remembered' those spells, but lacked the capacity to execute them due to lack of mana and strength.
However, when it came to tier one spells, he only felt a slight pain, but the spell would he cast successfully.
He turned to Dan, with an irritated expression on his face, while Dan simply smiled smugly in return.
Dan immediately raised his hands again, preparing to cast another spell and end this fight, when a loud shout suddenly reverberated in his ears, breaking him out of concentration.
"Flame Dash!"
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