Chapter 163: Chapter 163: I Choose The Third Option
All while Ulric inspected the two of them, Kael and the figure beside him appraised the dark-robed youth as well.
With every second that passed, the glint of surprise in their eyes only deepened.
For such a small city, and for someone so young, to wield a flying skill, and a relatively high-ranked one at that, was indeed surprising.
So much so that even Kael couldn’t help but feel a little envy. And with good reason. Flight skills were exceedingly rare. The few that existed were either too weak, extremely high-level and out of reach, or required absurd conditions before one could even wield them.
It would be a lie to say the thought of rushing forward and extorting the flight skill from the youth hadn’t crossed his mind. It was simply too valuable.
The only thing that had initially stopped him was the boldness the youth exuded. Anyone with a measure of intelligence would know this wouldn’t end well.
Great treasures were nice to have. But in the hands of weaklings, they were no different from a death sentence. So why was he so unfazed about everything?
The more he thought about it, the more he attributed it to the youth’s naivety. But even then, his instincts stopped him from surging forward.
Perhaps others would have disregarded them entirely. But Kael was not one of them. To a certain extent, he attributed one of the major reasons he was still alive after facing countless life-and-death encounters to his gut feeling and instincts.
They had never failed him before, and he wasn’t about to ignore them now.
Exhaling slowly, he tried to look at it from an entirely different angle. Did the little brat have a powerful mentor? Was that where he gained the confidence to approach them so easily?
But that was impossible.
Kael dismissed the thought entirely. When he arrived, his senses had scoured the entirety of Tempest and found no being stronger than him.
Otherwise, even in his anger, he wouldn’t have dared unleash his aura so freely.
The deeper he sank into his thoughts, the more confused he became.
Why didn’t the youth seem affected by the crushing aura he was radiating despite standing so close?
He could sense there were no special treasures on the dark-robed youth, which only made it more confusing.
The grey-robed academy elder seemed somewhat surprised as well.
Faced with the standoff, Kael could feel the tension eating at him as the silence lingered between them.
Until he couldn’t take it anymore.
Just as he was about to burst out, he suddenly paused as the dark-robed youth finally spoke.
His words were even more confusing than his presence.
"Be careful not to choke on your aspirations."
What was that supposed to mean?
Had he heard part of their conversation? And if so, how?
As the questions circled through his mind, Kael only grew more frustrated as his fists clenched tighter.
All this thinking was making him angry.
Was this some kind of mind game?
Whatever it was, he wasn’t liking it.
He had carved his path to power by crushing every obstacle that stood before him, not by sitting around and contemplating them.
He would have done the same now, if not for the burning question circling in the back of his mind.
"How do you know my name?" he demanded.
And more importantly... why had he been waiting for him?
"Did you not come for revenge?" Ulric asked, countering the question with one of his own.
"Huh?" Kael breathed, struggling to process the youth before the implication of his words struck him like a warhammer.
His pupils constricted violently as his aura intensified around the dark-robed youth.
"Y-you killed..." he growled.
Before he could even finish the question, he already knew the answer as he saw the devious smile forming across the youth’s face.
"Have you come to offer your head as well?" Ulric taunted.
Despite Kael’s threat level only being Medium, he wanted to see how the man compared to the opponents he had faced before. Perhaps it would even help him gain a better grasp of his current strength.
Every being he had faced after his advancement had been disappointingly weak.
If he wanted, he could have killed them in a single exchange.
Maybe this time would be different.
Maybe the green-robed figure could stand his ground against him.
Even if only for a little while.
He couldn’t wait to find out.
But just as Kael was about to rush forward and tear him apart, or at least try, the grey-robed figure suddenly spoke for the first time since arriving.
"It’s you..." he muttered, a look of realization flashing across his eyes.
"You are the supreme genius we seek."
At those words, Kael suddenly paused in his tracks.
A dumbfounded expression settled on his face.
Swallowing his rage for a moment, he appraised the dark-robed youth once more, only this time through a different lens.
At first glance, he was merely an exceedingly handsome but arrogant brat who didn’t know what was good for him.
On second glance, that impression shifted rapidly.
Initially, he hadn’t been able to see through the youth because he had assumed some skill was concealing his strength, something he hadn’t paid much attention to.
But as he looked closer with several refined skills, he couldn’t help but realize how wrong he had been.
The youth hadn’t been concealing his strength all this while.
He was simply too strong for him to properly gauge.
He couldn’t sense any energy leaking from him. Yet his physique was refined to absurd lengths.
If he had to compare, he had a feeling even his own physique wasn’t as sturdy as the youth before him.
An absurd thought.
Yet it made more sense the longer he considered it.
He wouldn’t be a supreme genius if he didn’t stand apart from regular geniuses by a massive margin.
And this certainly did that.
With this in mind, he couldn’t help but revisit their little altercation as his lips twitched slightly.
Had the youth been luring him into battle all this while?
If he had charged in while looking down on him this much, there was a genuine chance he might have lost.
Perhaps even died.
The thought caused him to gulp audibly.
Yet his face remained impassive throughout.
He couldn’t show weakness at a time like this.
Nodding slightly, his gaze fell on the youth once more as he attempted to regain control of the situation.
"The way I see it, you only have two choices. Come with us, and all will be forgiven. Or refuse, and things will not end well for you."
He proposed.
Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t kill the dark-robed youth.
Not after this new discovery.
The grey-robed academy instructor nodded as though in agreement as both of them shifted their attention toward Ulric, curious to hear his answer.
Not that it truly mattered.
Whatever decision he made, he would be coming with them.
The only question was whether he came willingly, or they dragged him there by force.
If the academy dean found out he had let a supreme genius slip through his fingers so easily, death wouldn’t be out of the question.
A brief moment of silence descended.
Then Ulric finally spoke. His words nearly making them spit a mouthful of blood.
"I choose the third option." He muttered as a feral grin slowly spread across his face.
"A battle to the death."
