Chapter 39: Supreme arrogance

Moss walked inside Iron Forest Academy.

Everywhere his eyes traveled, iron forest signs hung on every building.

Holy Dawn Academy in the east, Agate Lake Academy in the south, Divine Shield Academy in the west, and Iron Forest Academy in the north, those were the four great undisputed first-rate academies in St. Lauren.

These four academies all had a long history, all produced many formidable arcane masters. They were very famous even in the whole of Eiche.

This year's team Southern Monsoon was very strong, but just like the other academies in St. Lauren, it could only be considered second-rate. Whether overall strength or everyone's cognizance, it could simply not be put on par with these four.

Holy Dawn Academy, Agate Lake Academy, Divine Shield Academy, Iron Forest Academy, these four academies each had their own distinctiveness when it came to education and style.

Holy Dawn Academy had the longest history among them. Its campus was the most ancient and classical, and it was the most versatile academy. In particular, its arcane medical department was the best in St. Lauren.

Agate Lake Academy was named such because it occupied the most beautiful lake in St. Lauren, the Agate Lake. The academy heavily leaned toward female students, and the teachers were also female arcane masters for the most part. It emphasized arcane skills suitable for girls, making up as much as possible for the disparity in physical strength.

Divine Shield Academy began with clan Lannister's backing and financial aid. Clan Lannister was the greatest clan in the kingdom's west, possessing the most territories and biggest army in the west, the most powerful arcane master teams. Even today, the outstanding figures graduating from the academy still mostly chose to serve clan Lannister, protecting the entire west, fighting for the sake of Eiche.

As to Iron Forest Academy, it was almost entirely a boy's school. There were extremely few girls in any grade. Iron Forest Academy's greatest feature was that it had no other department other than its powerful battlemaster department. This academy's style was masculine, iron-blooded. The intention of the earliest founders was to bring up students with deficiencies in the integration of arcane power, and allow them to make something of themselves. Hence, all way until now, Iron Forest Academy became the academy with the most body training complexes in St. Lauren. The majority of students born with good physical strength but weak arcane power would choose to join Iron Forest Academy. Its teachers were most expert at bringing out all the strength from their bodies, while the arcane skills they specialized in were also secret skills bringing out the body's strength as much as possible, combining arcane particles with physical power.

This was why Iron Forest Academy also earned the nicknames of “Muscle Man Academy” or “Gathering of Savage Males.”

Now the Iron Forest students walking here and there in Moss' vision were mostly muscle men with fierce faces.

The entire academy indeed exuded a wild and explosive aura.

However, Moss's gaze at this precise moment was staring fixedly on a golden-haired back!

This golden-haired boy was precisely the golden-haired boy he met the day before the match between Holy Dawn Academy and Southern Monsoon Academy, the one among the team of five who made him so terrified he had trouble breathing, Stingham!

Who dared skip the Notebook Teacher's classes?

Even if he conceded a few losses to Ayrin, the treacherous, petty, grudge-holding Huston who truly had a little notebook still was, for freshmen, the most terrifying existence in the whole of Holy Dawn Academy!

However, he once again accidentally saw Stingham in a little road outside the Academy this morning. Whether Stingham himself or the thought of skipping Huston's class, both made him tremble in fright, but, in an inexplicable mood, he still chose to secretly follow the golden-haired boy.

“Iron Forest Academy!”

Moss' heart banged uncontrollably in his chest when this golden-haired boy casually walked inside Iron Forest Academy's great black gates. The blood flowing inside his body seemed to heat up a little, cold sweat oozed from his palms and his back, but the fear inside his heart seemed to slowly abate.

Even top arcane masters the entire kingdom relied on, like Donna and Liszt, would still be very concerned about the school tournament, remembering even years later the flavor of participating in the great tournament. The Hegemonical Cup of Starry Skies Braves exerted, on anyone possessing courage, any youngster wishing to become a genuine brave, a temptation that was difficult to put into words.

Moss' dream was to become just like Liszt, Ciaran, and the others, a powerful arcane master famous throughout the entire continent who would carry out various kinds of missions at the kingdom's behest, protecting the people of the kingdom of Eiche. That was why he naturally hoped his own academy's team could shine with extraordinary talent, and he naturally hoped he himself could join this competition that could boil someone's blood just thinking about it.

Perhaps it was precisely because he had such a heart of a brave that this mysterious golden-haired boy exerted on him a such a pressure hard to imagine, because Moss was already, subconsciously, looking at this golden-haired boy as an opponent he would encounter in the future.

Only, the gap in strength was too gigantic currently. Moss had the feeling that even Chris wouldn't be this boy's match, that was why he subconsciously wanted to find out more secrets about this mysterious golden-haired boy. If Chris and the other members of team Holy Dawn could have an understanding of this person, could be aware of the battling style he favored, what kind of arcane skills he used, then the chance of defeating him would be a little higher.

Moss very clearly remembered the schedule of the entire tournament. Now that Holy Dawn Academy beat Southern Monsoon Academy and obtained the right to participate in the main qualifiers, Holy Dawn Academy's next opponent was Divine Shield Academy. If they could defeat Divine Shield Academy, then the opponent after that would be the victor between Iron Forest Academy and Golden Lion Academy.

Golden Lion Academy was merely a second-rate academy, just like Southern Monsoon Academy. On top of that, team Iron Forest was a team that qualified in St. Lauren year after year, able to step into the national tournament!

As this golden-haired boy came nearer and nearer the body training complex at the rear of the campus, Moss felt more and more certain this golden-haired boy was a member of team Iron Forest.

They might encounter Holy Dawn Academy's team during the tournament, so it made sense for this golden-haired boy and his other four teammates to appear in Holy Dawn Academy and watch their match.

…

Stingham didn't notice at all there was a Holy Dawn student like Moss following behind him, from the south of the City all the way to the north.

With a “Clang,” he pushed open the gates to the biggest body training complex inside Iron Forest Academy.

Then he immediately shouted inside, “Hey, who's Ferguillo, is he here?”

“What!”

Moss wasn't far behind him at this moment, and clearly heard his yell. The corner of his mouth twitched on its own.

He hadn't had a good look at the faces of the four other people besides this golden-hair back then that day, but Ferguillo was the captain of team Iron Forest, a star in the entire city of St. Lauren. In the previous tournament last year, it was said Ferguillo had been the one who ended up defeating Agate Lake's Sofia, qualifying Iron Forest Academy.

If this golden-haired boy were someone from Iron Forest Academy, would he possibly not know Ferguillo, to the point he had to ask who he was?

If he wasn't a member of team Iron Forest at all, what was he doing here right now!

Many question marks and shock symbols appeared in Moss' mind at this moment, so many his entire person froze on the spot.

This body training building was very big, with extremely smooth bricks laid on the floor. Six or seven blindfolded boys stood inside, bare-chested, wearing only their pants.

These people inside turned their heads around in concert when they heard Stingham's loud yell. One of them said with a frown, “Who is it?” However, none of them removed the blindfolds covering their eyes.

“I am the wisest, most formidable fighter, most handsome Stingham from team Golden Lion. I came today to challenge Ferguillo, challenge your academy's team!” Stingham laughed out loud, and, without a care whether the people inside could see him or not, flung his hair, posed in what he believed to be his most handsome and most enchanting pose. He even took out a comb, combed his hair twice.

“What, Golden Lion Academy!” The formerly petrified Moss almost shouted on the spot.

“Hm?”

The band of people inside the body training complex pulled their blindfolds down. They all had a cold indifferent face when they saw Stingham's pose, as if they were looking at a clown.

“Golden Lion Academy?” The weakest and slimmest one among them had a very handsome face, but one of his eyes was a strange pink. He said, “There's still a long while to go before the match. Even if you're a member of Golden Lion Academy's team, what are you doing here?”

“Amazing!”

The moment this boy lifted his head and looked outside, an inexplicable shiver ran through Moss' entire body, as if a terrifying cold assaulted his face head-on. He was almost certain this was the most famous person in Iron Forest Academy, Ferguillo, because even if this boy seemed the skinniest one, the other fierce boys couldn't compare to his momentum despite their bodies of steel.

“It's because three months' too long, I can't wait this long.” Stingham seemed not to sense the mood at all, letting out a great laughter. “Also, there's not even a single beautiful girl in your academy, it's really meaningless to fight a match against your school. I might as well sort you out in advance, then I can fight with other schools after that.”

“Running by himself inside an academy like Iron Forest Academy... Trying to beat the opposite team and end the match before it even begins, is there a problem with that guy's brain?” Moss' mouth was open wide, stretched to the limit. He even started to doubt his own eyes and ears.

“What did you say!”

Alarming cold light flashed in the eyes of the people inside the complex when they heard Stingham's words.

“You want to sort us out before the match, all by yourself?” Ferguillo's voice was still light, however. “Let's see you walk inside first.”

Along with his indifferent voice, Moss' vision couldn't help but fall on its own on the building's signboard.