When Eldrin heard about Eros’ conditions, he laughed with eyes filled with anticipation. “Fifty thousand magic stones is indeed a lot, but I won’t even need to pay you anything. Instead, you are actually giving me your limb since I would surely win!”

While Eldrin was prematurely celebrating his win, a man suddenly walked into the hall where he was sitting. The man emanated an aura as strong as Ruven’s and Meira. His eyes were cold and his face was stern. He doesn’t look older than forty, yet the air of wisdom in him seemed extraordinary. Nothing seemed noteworthy about his physical features, except his slightly thick brows. Every step he makes seemed normal, yet at a closer inspection, he is not even touching the ground.

When Eldrin saw the man, he hurriedly stood up and bowed. “Master Azar! What brings you here?”

Azar stopped his step in front of Eldrin and looked at him deeply before asking, “How confident are you to win this duel?”

Eldrin spoke as he was still stiffly bowing to the man, “Master, I am one hundred percent positive that I would win. With your teaching I am now able to summon a high level elemental wind spirit which even a wizard could not easily summon. Eros who is my enemy, stayed for eight months in the False Tree of Life where he learned some tricks to tame those elemental soul beasts, but I am sure that it would not work against me.”

Azar did not speak for a while, and Eldrin never moved while waiting for his master’s response. “I guess your fight with that boy could not be avoided, however, remember that I do not accept losers. You already know the consequence of losing, so I hope you keep it in mind.” Azar said, and quickly turned to leave.

When Azar completely left, Eldrin breathed a sigh of relief and stretched his back, which have already gone stiff. “I already told my master about my plan on challenging Eros months ago, yet he told me to challenge him when I’m one hundred percent sure of winning. And now that I am ready, he still doubts me.” Eldrin said with a harrumph, “Watch me mop Eros’ face on the ground as I cut one of his arms.”

Eldrin quickly accepted Eros’ demands, and the duel was schedule a week after acceptance. The news spread like wildfire, since both of them were a somewhat popular, even those older students were curious to see how Eros would fare against Eldrin on a one on one duel.

A secret betting was also opened, where many participated. No one knew who started it, but no one cares as long as they would profit in the end. The odds were against Eros, since many saw him struggle when he fought beasts and eventually lost.

Eros on the other hand was equally confident, and also betted all his remaining magic stones on himself. It was all or nothing, since if he loses he would lose everything: His limb and his qualification to still study in Ronsorth.

Eris looked worried about Eros, yet she also pulled out all her magic stones and gambled it in favor of Eros. If Eros loses, she would also stop her studies and Ronsorth without even a second thought.

While waiting for the fight, Eros remained in his room for 3 days and 3 nights. After which, he proceeded up to the False Tree of Life with determination in his eyes. In the last 3 days, he tried to understand his new found idea which he got on the elemental soul beasts. And after pondering about it nonstop, he got a clue on how to proceed, but he still lack the medicines he needs.

However, for now, he simply needed to confirm his understanding and complete it later. If he wins in his fight against Eldrin, he could buy more medicine to continue his journey up in the tree and open up more possibilities.

Four days passed in a flash; Eros calmly stood up from his position on the tree. His eyes glowed with understanding and a smile on his face could be seen. “So I was right. The second curse is indeed a curse of element. Also, it is not a simple curse of element, its origin feels the same as the origin of the element of the elemental soul beasts in this tree, but it is more pure and profound. Even if I reach the top of this tree, I am not sure if I could truly completely utilize my second curse.”

Then he glanced below and leapt out of the tree, where the safety magic activated and caught him safely. He landed on the ground on his feet, and proceeded to the place of the duel as agreed.

When everyone below saw him, their faces grew with excitement and vim. They all followed Eros as he walk towards the designated location.

In the designated area, hundreds of spectators already gathered and many still poured in as if it was a grand event. When Eros appeared, the spectators gave way. A path clear of spectator opened in front of him, where Eldrin was standing at the very end, looking as high and mighty as if he didn’t lose on Eros on their previous bet.

“So you did come. I thought you realized the slim chance you have and hid like a coward.” Eldrin said mockingly as Eros walked towards him calmly.

The path Eros walked through closed from the rush of spectators. And both he and Eldrin were inside of a wide circle formed from those very people.

Eros did not speak until he was right in front of Eldrin, “Do not worry, I have gained more courage these past eight months, so it’s impossible to be still scared of someone I already defeated before.”

“Hahaha! That was just a mere test.” Eldrin said as he circled around Eros filled with confidence. “This is a real duel, something that could tell who is really better!”

Eros did not reply, making Eldrin frown. Eldrin whose hatred to Eros run deep could not hold it any longer, so in quick succession, he muttered different spell, and a strong wind sprung up causing everyone’s heart to thump.

Behind Eldrin, an illusory image of a woman appeared. She remained unmoving, yet everyone felt intense pressure from the energy it was emitting.

“That’s an aura of a high level elemental spirit!” Many shouted in the exact moment.

However, even though everyone were obviously stirred, Eros remained tranquil, unfazed of the unbelievable power Eldrin displayed.

“Too scared to speak?” Eldrin said filled with arrogance.

Everyone who made their bet to Eros now felt as if they made the wrong choice. Looking at the high level elemental spirit Eldrin just summoned, they all came to conclusion that Eros would not even last a second.

“if you really do not wish to say anything before I turn you into a mince meat, then so be it!” Eldrin lifted his arm and violently slashed it downward. That single action forced the spectators to move a step backward, as a wild gale of wind erupted from his hand.

The gale of wind turned into barely visible illusory wind blades which violently flew towards Eros causing strong wheezing sound.

It was at that very moment that Eros also lifted his hand, and slashed it horizontally without making a single sound. Along with that action, a blade of wind also materialized, yet it was obviously weaker than what Eldrin just unleashed.

“Hahaha! Are you stupid!? That attack won’t even hinder my magic!” Eldrin said when he saw Eros’ poorly made counter.

However, when the elemental wind spirit behind Eldrin saw Eros’ attack, its emotionless face showed great confusion and shock.

It was also at that point that the two attacks collided and caused a Boom to rang out. However, as contrary to what everyone was expecting, Eldrin’s attack didn’t over power Eros’ magic. Instead, it vanished along with it.

Everyone’s eyes went wide; even Eldrin who was filled with pride for his attack could not help but feel intense shock. “How..?” Eldrin muttered as if he could not believe what just happened.

But he knew that it wasn’t a moment to hesitate, so he increased his energy and unleashed a magic far stronger than the previous attack. Multiple blades of wind thicker than before shot towards Eros, shredding the ground as it flew at a speed twice as fast as before.

This time, Eros did the same thing, casually lifted his arms and slashed it horizontally, creating an identical attack as before, with the same amount of energy.

Another boom resounded as the two magical attack dissipated. Obviously, Eldrin’s attack was far stronger, yet it could not overpower Eros’ simple counter. Also, when Eros unleashed the attack, the elemental wind spirit behind Eldrin had a more confused expression as if it could not believe what it was seeing.

Eldrin did the attack again, for the third time. Unfortunately, he got the same result as the first and second try. But this did not make him give up, and unleashed several more magical attacks.

Everyone watching could not help but gape in shock and confusion. Even they could not tell why Eldrin was losing in such an advantageous situation.

After some time, Eldrin was now panting after releasing magical attack ten times in a row. He staggered backward and could not help be filled with disbelief. “How?...” He muttered, “How could you block my attacks like that!”

Then filled with rage, he tried another surprise attack, yet it was easily blocked. “You cheater! I know you’re using some lame tricks again!” Eldrin shouted.

As response, Eros simply smiled and said. “Your understanding of elements is too shallow. You couldn’t even properly control that elemental wind spirit behind you.”

Then he took his first step forward as he continued, “Even though you have a high level elemental wind spirit by your side, and a stronger offensive power than me. You still do not understand why you’re attacks can’t reach me.”

As he walked towards Eldrin who was now visibly shaking, he continued. “I will explain it to you in simple words so that you can understand. The elemental wind spirit behind you withdraws its power whenever I use my elemental magic, causing my own magic to overpower yours. Of course you will mutter stupidly again that it is impossible. So to avoid wasting time, look behind you.” Eros then waved his hand and said, “Sever!”

With a single word, the elemental spirit trembled and flew away from Eldrin while staring at Eros with shock. Then it circled around Eros filled with curiosity on its eyes. On the other hand, Eldrin could not believe what happened and looked at the elemental spirit flying around Eros as he stammered. “I.. Can’t believe this.. My trump card…” Then he gritted his teeth and roared, “Come back here!”

However, even though how much he roared, the elemental wind spirit did not glance at him, and continued circling around Eros, obviously not bothered by him.

With his hatred, he attacked Eros once more; however, this attack was obviously weaker than before. So Eros easily blocked it, as he appeared in front of Eldrin. Eros then grabbed Eldrin’s neck and said, “Penuma Keno.”. That magic caused the air surrounding Eldrin to disappear, and cause him to stifle and be filled with fear.

“Give up.” Eros said while holding Eldrin’s neck firmly. He was now no stranger to fighting and killing. Because of his experience along with Hagu, Fryr and Elas, he was no more a child that would be scared on killing someone. As his words rang out, it was obvious that he would kill Eldrin if he does not give up and continued to fight.

Silence filled the air, as no one dared to utter a word. They could only stare at what was happening, and wait for Eldrin to give in.

However, Eldrin on the other hand was trembling, yet his eyes still showed unwillingness to stop fighting. It was obvious that he would rather die than lose his pride.

“Such a moron.”Eros thought to himself. Then he clenched his hand tighter causing Eldrin to squeal like a pig in the brink of dying.

Suddenly a voice echoed out from above. “Eros you won. Cease the fight immediately.”

Eros glanced above, there he saw a man hovering towards the location of him and Eldrin. “Sir Ruven.” Eros released Eldrin and gave a polite bow, then continued, “I apologize for overdoing things. However, Eldrin has yet to give up. So I cannot claim victory unless he says those words.”

“It is fine.” Ruven said while looking at Eldrin who was coughing nonstop, face pale and eyes bloodshot, “I hereby declare that you won this duel.” Then he glanced at Eros and explained. “As much as possible, we do not wish to see anyone die in this school so a wizard would always watch the duel of our students just to make sure.”

Eros nodded and said, “Thank you sir Ruven. I would now like to collect the bet from the losing side.”

Eldrin who was barely conscious on the ground stared at him hatefully, yet he could not do anything but give Eros the amount he promised, fully. So with bitterness, Eldrin threw a pocket towards Eros filled with magical stones.

Eros then checked it and smiled, then again, he bowed to Ruven and left without a word.

Everyone who was there watching started discussing the fight. Most of those who lost kept grumbling and looking at Eldrin with glare filled with anger, and some could simply sigh, but those who won the bet could not help but express a celebratory smile.

The spectators began to disperse carrying different emotions. As for Eldrin, he remained there standing with a blank expression. He lost miserably and could not even wound Eros with his strongest ability. Worst of all was that the elemental wind spirit he took months to summon was rendered useless with Eros’ single word.

…

When Eros entered his room along with Eris, they saw a person with a satisfied smile on his face. When Eris saw him, she quickly asked. “You are Firo right? What are you doing here?”

“Lady Eris, I was invited here by Eros to complete some business that Eros proposed last week. We planned it for hours and hours, for it to be perfect and no one notice it. With its results I believe our preparations were sufficient…..” Firo continued speaking, so Eris decided to interrupt.

“Business?” Eris asked, confused, while glancing at Eros who was also smiling like a child.

Eros ignored Eris, cleared his throat, and asked, “So how much did we earn?”

“We earned around 90 thousand magic stones.” Firo said as his smile grew wider.

When Firo was about to continue with his nonstop chatter Eros said while nodding his head. “Oh! Good. Good.”

“So here’s your share.” Firo placed a pocket in the table, and said. “That was a good fight. Since you are extremely confident of winning that you asked me to setup a wide scale betting event, I am sure that the fight would end up that way….”

Whenever Firo speaks, Eros would make so to always interrupt him at some point, since his chatter becomes pointless the longer he talks.

“Haha. I just got lucky.” Eros said while checking the pocket shyly. “I also can’t believe that you weren’t discovered by anyone while leading that large scale gambling event in our fight. Even though we can’t control everyone, we still earned more than what was expected.”

Firo then laughed, and stood up. He patted Eros shoulder and said with expressions as if they were already brothers. “Call me again if you have a same scheme as this. As long as it got something to do with magic stones count me in. With my magic, I can disguise myself easily.”

Then again, he laughed and left the room.

Eros looked at Eris and smiled bashfully then said, “It’s good that you won too.”

Eris was shocked of what she saw. She has been with Eros for a year now, yet it was her first time seeing Eros act that way.

What Eris did not know is that back at the plane of Chorias, Eros was a mischievous child who caused trouble for many for the townspeople of Orion. Even though most of the time, he acted serious at the plane of Eunos, because of the death of his parents and his desire for revenge. It was still impossible to remove the personality he had for years.

Tricking people was kind of a hobby, and this time, he used it to gain money. In total he gained a hundred thousand magic stones including the bet he made on himself.

“So you were the one who started the gambling?” Eris asked shocked.

Eros nodded, and said. “It is a good source of income, so yeah.”

“Why did you not ask for my help?”

“The less people who knew the better.” Eros said seriously, as if he was an expert on this field.

Eris then pouted and quickly left without saying another word. Eros was shocked to see such action, and could do nothing but stare at the door. “What did I do wrong?” Then he sighed and did not think about it anymore and instead started counting his earnings, filled with joy.

….

On another location Ruven was sitting calmly in front of Almon. “Hahaha. So you say that even elemental spirits could be tamed by the boy?”

“Yes Sir Ruven, I saw it with my own eyes. He enticed the elemental wind spirit which Eldrin was controlling to fly around him. I thought he could only do it on the False Tree of Life with those elemental soul beasts, but as he displayed today, he proved me wrong.”

Almon laughed again and said. “So it is real, he actually gained some understanding of the origin of elements like our founder Lord Ronsorth.”

“Maybe, but I am not sure if is really the same, it might be just some lucky concidence.” Ruven said as he calmly sips tea from his cup.

…

Since many watched Eros easily trounce Eldrin on a battle of elements, many gave different stories and statements, exaggerating Eros’ strength to the greatest extent. Some say’s he’s as strong as those older students of Ronsorth who have stayed in the school for more than ten years and achieved extreme mastery of elements.

Some even say that he’s actually half human and half elf and a few rumors were spreading that he has the bloodline of Ronsorth himself.

When Eros heard those rumors, he kept silent and did not deny them. He was sure that these rumors would end up helping him. Instead, he focused on climbing the False Tree of Life for months as the rumors died down as days passed.

There were no news of Eldrin after the duel; it was as if he left Ronsorth. Even his master did not say a word or an explanation of any sort.

Days went by and Eros focused on climbing the tree, he had enough resources that could last for more than a year as long as he stays thrifty. However, after three months he got stuck again on a point of the three where is ranking is at the top fifty.

Those who could reach such level on the False Tree of Life are those whose fighting ability reached a terrifying degree. However, Eros wasn’t like them, he climbed the tree not through fighting, but through understanding the elemental soul beasts. Most of the time, he would get severely wounded, since as one goes higher, the elemental soul beasts becomes wilder.

Beyond expectation, Eros rapidly consumed his magic stones. He never thought that at such level, he would need so much high level medicine because of the danger within. In only those three months, he has already spent around eighty thousand magic stones, which was a shocking amount even to those wealthy families in the Kingdom of Sheles.

Another two months passed, and he showed more progress. Now his name was not at the top fifty instead, it was deeply engraved at the top thirty. However, it stopped there, and he was forced to stop, since he consumed most of the magic stones he got.

“This won’t work.” Eros said as he sat on the tree, eyes bloodshot, surrounded by several elemental soul beasts that gives him roar of aggression from time to time. “I need to get more magic stones, at this rate I will not be able to proceed further.”

With that Eros went down directly going in his room and there he pondered again for his next course of action. As Eros was thinking, Eris knocked in his door and asked, “Eros do you want to go to the Hall of Knowledge with me?”

Eros’ eyes glittered; it was as if he gained something he never expected. “That’s right! The Hall of Knowledge! There I could gain more understanding about magic an elements, and at the same time earn magic stones.”

He quickly stood up and opened the door. There, Eros stood a bit surprised, as Eros grabbed her hand and dragged her to the Hall of Knowledge. “You’re such a genius Eris. I have a problem with magic stones lately, and now you gave me an idea where to get some.”

In no time, they reached the said location. At first, it seemed like an ordinary gigantic library, with shelves lined up neatly, however, at a closer look, Eros eyes went wide as he saw some flying books. They were like birds flapping their covers, heading to a certain elf who was obviously giving it orders.

In the second floor, there were weirder things, like a book which turned into a burst of flame which tried to devour its reader.

At higher floors, he knew that there were crazier type of books, yet he could not see them clearly since only those given access could go there to study.

At the very center of the first floor where they stood, a man sat behind a work table, obviously in a bad mood. He kept on tapping a pen on his table surface as if completely annoyed by the noise in the entire place. He would often look around, and whoever he glanced at would quickly stop what he’s doing and ensure to keep his mouth shut.

Eros quickly approached the man on the table and asked, “Sir, may I know how I could proceed to solving some problems in the Hall of Knowledge?”

The man knitted his brows and looked at Eros from head to toe, “Lower your voice kid, and take this card, you can use it to enter the room over there.” The man pointed at a room not far away. “Also if you can solve five thousand problems, you can proceed in the next floor. Most of the questions in that room are posted by the students and citizen of the Kindom of Sheles themselves, and the reward for answering it also comes from the one who asked the question. However, there are also some questions from Ronsorth itself, so those things have higher rewards than the rest.” After that short explanation, the man again frowned as if his mood got worse after answering Eros’ question. Then without a word, he continued tapping his pen ignoring Eros and Eris who still stood in front of him.

When they came into the room, a large board caught Eros attention. There, list of names were written, obviously some sort of ranking. He quickly noticed the names of Lensa and Eris on the list, Lensa is at the one hundredth, while Eris was at the two hundredth place.

“Amazing Eris, even though you are always with me on that False Tree of life, you are still at the two hundredth place. You really are extremely smart.” Eros said while nodding his head in praise.

Eris could only slightly blush and say. “It’s not that hard to get that spot. If you try, I think you can even surpass me easily.”

“Stop speaking nonsense. You know how dumb I am; I just passed the Ronsorth exam because of some odd occurrence.”

After saying those words, he proceeded to a wall filled with questions, then picked one and quickly answered it without hesitation. When he finished writing the answer, the paper which held the question started to crumple into a sphere which then slowly turned into a magic stone that disappeared.

“Eh?” Eros said, dissatisfied. “Only one magic stone? And it also disappeared.”

Eris slightly chuckled from Eros’ reaction as she began explaining. “You only got one magic stone since that question is relatively easy. For harder questions, you can gain five or as much as ten magic stones, and for questions harder than those, it can shot up to a hundred magic stones. There are millions of questions available for answering, so if you’re diligent enough, you can earn a decent amount. Also, the magic stone disappears since it will go directly at the man who we met earlier, he will be the one to give you the rewards when you are prepared to leave.”

Eros’ eyes shone with interest as he listens to Eris, especially when he heard millions of questions. If he could answer millions, then doesn’t that mean he could have a million magic stones?

So with all his might, he started answering questions nonstop. Whenever he encounters a question that he was sure that he doesn’t know, a sudden surge of information will come to him that contains the answer to that question. He doesn’t know where this knowledge comes from, but since he can’t feel any ill effect from it, he decided to use it to create an amazing feat.

“Since Lord Orcus will take over my body anyway, why not use his power while he’s still sealed in me.” He said with decisiveness.

Everyone who passed by saw Eros answering questions in quick succession, he was extremely focused as if he was in a really important mission. Many recognized him, so the news quickly spread that he was now focused on answering questions on the Hall of Knowledge.

At first, the news was simply like a breeze that they didn’t mind much, however, after several days, Eros never stopped and quickly reached the five thousand mark. But he did not stop, it seemed like he was planning to answer every question on the first floor without stop.

Soon many more mages came to see if Eros’ actually doing something equally crazy in the Hall of Knowledge as he did in the False Tree of Life. Most who took a peek were shocked to the point that they could not speak.

Eros was there, and answered almost half of the question at the first floor of the Hall of Knowledge. Truthfully, it was an impossible task, since there are questions that frequently come in, so clearing the first floor was never done by a single person.

Several discussions suddenly burst into the crowd.

“I heard that he answered incredibly fast in the entrance exam last year, but I thought the rumors were just exaggerated… But he’s actually doing it!”

“This is impossible! He’s not even thinking.”

Even though he’s ranking in the Hall of Knowledge is still extremely low since he’s just at the first floor. The way he’s trying to clear the floor from questions is truly shocking than simply ascending the second floor!

Even Lensa got wind of the news. She, who was one of the top ranking individuals on the Hall of Knowledge, sensed great amazement from Eros’ feat.

“Amazing…” Lensa said, “But this time I won’t lose!”

The commotion continued for some time, but not everyone was watching Eros happily. A female student who seemed like someone from a wealthy family stared at Eros hatefully. Her hair was blonde and her face was beautiful as if it was perfectly sculpted. In fact, her presence alone would stand out on the crowd, but because of Eros display of knowledge, the people failed to notice that she was around.

“Eros… You will pay for humiliating someone from the Para Family!”