[SAINTESS Chapter 70: Strong vs Strong Duel]

Oh, right.

This reminded Winnie.

It seems that starting from the second semester of first grade, the arena ranking battles will begin. First-year students, just like older students, could challenge anyone they disliked, anyone they found annoying, or anyone they felt was undeserving of their rank.

This was undoubtedly another big problem for Winnie. With his reputation and the amount of animosity he had accumulated, he could already foresee how many people would try to snatch his rank.

It would be quite annoying then, just like this class.

Fortunately, even though his Soul armament were temporarily sealed, Soul armament couldn't be used in combat class anyway, so it didn't matter.

Winnie walked out of the crowd, carrying a training spear made of special material.

Shikondell, beside him, cast a worried glance at him, clearly thinking that it wasn't appropriate for him to fight now, having just recovered from a serious illness.

As for Isatia and Aesphyra, they were also looking at Winnie, but there was no worry in their eyes at all. Instead, they found the student who dared to challenge Winnie somewhat amusing.

“Student Winnie, are you willing to accept the challenge?” Knowing that Winnie had an accident in the Mars Dungeon before and might not be able to fight, the teacher specifically asked for Winnie's opinion.

“I'm fine, teacher,” Winnie replied nonchalantly. However, after he walked to the center of the training ground and became the focus of everyone's attention, he started looking around, not at his opponent, and no one knew who he was looking at.

“Student Winnie, what are you looking for?” Seeing Winnie looking around after getting on the training ground, not talking to him, and looking very distracted, the male student frowned and asked.

“Nothing.” Winnie shook his head. In the end, he still felt it was necessary to say this, after all, dealing with these things one by one was too exhausting.

Honestly, he didn't know why he wanted to do this, but he just felt that he could do it now, that he was capable of it.

To be clear, he had no intention of showing off. It was purely because dealing with these matters one by one was too tiring.

“Teacher, is the time for this class limited?” Winnie asked the female teacher watching from the side.

“Of course, how many matches can be simulated depends on everyone's speed,” the female teacher replied, still unaware of what Winnie wanted to express.

“Then, if that's the case, in order not to delay everyone's time and allow more people to get exercise, can we add a rule?” Winnie suggested.

“Add a rule??” At this, not only the teacher but also the students didn't understand what Winnie wanted to do. Everyone looked puzzled.

“Student Winnie, tell us, what's the rule?” The teacher didn't immediately reject it but asked.

She thought Winnie had just come out of the medical room a while ago and was still feeling a bit unwell, needing some special care and attention. But she didn't expect Winnie to say such a thing next.

"Teacher, I think we should just stop wasting everyone's time. Many students in the class seem to want to fight with me. If I win, I'll have to stay on the stage, and they'll keep challenging me. Let's just forget about it, don't make it so complicated. Let them all come up together," Winnie said somewhat lazily, standing in place with his spear.

This was like saying, “Anyone who dislikes me, come at me all at once.”

“???” As soon as these words came out, not only did the teacher feel she had misheard, but so did the classmates, especially the male student on stage and the eager youths watching. Their expressions first showed shock, then instantly a strong feeling of being humiliated welled up.

This lucky bastard, after going to the Mars Dungeon, has become arrogant, can't recognize anyone, and doesn't know his own weight, does he??

The students were furious. They saw this as Winnie's provocation and each wished they could go up right now to teach this arrogant blue-haired boy a lesson, to embarrass him in public and make him realize the gap in strength.

“What does Student Winnie mean by that?? Are you suggesting that we take advantage of you??” Veins throbbed on the face of the faction student on stage, clearly angered by Winnie's words.

“I just want to experience your abilities. By saying that, are you perhaps implying that we would bully the fewer with the many??”

That's why young people can't hide their thoughts or emotions; they are too hot-headed.

“Of course not, student, I didn't mean that. If you misunderstand it that way, then pretend I didn't say anything, let's begin.” Winnie also felt that his words had a bit of a condescending tone, but he had to do it. If he didn't show his strength, more ignorant people would trouble him in the future.

At least, that was the case in class.

The previous fight with Fanny wasn't enough to make more people remember.

After the teacher announced the start of the match, the student took out his most skilled weapon, a heavy scimitar.

His family had a set of saber techniques specifically designed for this heavy scimitar. If practiced proficiently, it was said that no one could rival him in close combat, and any approaching enemy would be instantly cut into pieces.

Although he was still unskilled, it was certainly enough to deal with Winnie, a fellow student.

He had this confidence; his family's saber techniques were world-renowned in the Tyrell Empire, and Winnie? Has Winnie learned any famous close combat or spear techniques?

As far as he knew, no. The Varelis family had left Winnie nothing, and many inheritances had been lost.

In his eyes, Winnie knew no weapons and would only wander around, hitting things with a broken iron rod; that was his so-called close combat.

He felt he could easily break such an unorganized spear technique with just one or two moves.

His judgment was correct. Winnie indeed had never scientifically learned any close combat or spear techniques; he was a complete novice in this area.

“Clang! Clang!” Their weapons collided. The male student pressed his shoulder against the back of the blade, inching forward, attempting to shorten the combat distance between himself and the mid-range weapon, the long spear.

He was skilled at dealing with enemies who used long spears; he didn't know how many he had defeated using this grappling method.

Then, in Winnie's eyes, his opponent, holding a scimitar, spun rapidly at a dazzling speed, like a large windmill. The strong wind stirred up by the large scimitar seemed to blow against his neck.

Winnie remained calm and unhurried, retreating a distance, and flicked his spear upward.

Just this simple, unadorned flick broke the male student's windmill saber technique. The male student felt a numbness in the web of his hand, as if he had hit an iron plate. The saber was flung away, and in the next instant, the tip of the spear was pressed against his neck.

“?!” The male student seemed not to have spun enough and for a moment didn't react that he had already lost.

In a battlefield, who would give him so much time??

“How, how could this be??” The male student was dumbfounded. “You, how did you break my Whirlwind Saber?”

“Whirlwind Saber? Hmm, it's indeed a clever move, but it's also very simple to break. Just keep your distance so you can't hit me, then flick your hand, isn't it?” Winnie retorted.

“You, this??” The male student felt speechless.

It was true, but how could it be done??

That wasn't what he was asking.

Once an enemy was entangled by his Whirlwind Saber, they would be constantly pulled towards him by a huge suction force, making it impossible to pull away.

“You, how did you pull away from me??” The male student couldn't help but ask.

“I'm faster than you,” Winnie stated in simple terms.

“I, I'm not asking about that, I mean how did you react so quickly??”

“My reaction speed is faster than yours.” Winnie's single sentence completely blocked the male student's words.

At this, everything the male student wanted to ask was swallowed back into his stomach. He felt a strong urge to question, yet the truth was already clear, and asking would only make him look like an idiot.

Yes, if one person surpassed him in all aspects, with too great a gap, what technique could possibly compensate?

As the saying goes, one force can overcome ten skills. When the stats are far exceeded, in the face of pure power, any operation or technique is meaningless.

But even though he seemed to understand how he lost, the male student found it even harder to accept.

He couldn't accept that the gap between him and Winnie was so vast.

He had previously thought that after some time, he would challenge Winnie and seize Winnie's top twenty-three ranking in the academy. He believed that with his strength, doing so would be very easy.

As a result, he was now dealt a heavy blow, shattering all his aspirations.

But he was still unwilling. He couldn't understand when, or for what reason, he had lost to Winnie today, that profligate son in everyone's eyes who was said to be unlearned and unskilled??

But a loss was a loss, and he could only admit defeat, acknowledge his failure, and leave the stage.

As for the remaining students, seeing their friend defeated in two or three moves, they instantly shed their previous disdainful attitude.

But even so, their fate didn't change much. They went up one by one and were all defeated by Winnie within three moves.

Yes, Winnie indeed hadn't learned any decent spear techniques or close combat skills. The spear techniques he mastered were a kind of instinctive art acquired through various life-and-death battles. They looked simple and unadorned, without much technique, only the most basic application of moves.

But thanks to long-term training, his reaction speed had already crushed that of many students in the same grade.

The students in the class watched Winnie, feeling as if they hadn't seen him for three days and he was now a different person.

Has this evil young master changed so much in just one semester?

Among them, many already knew that Winnie's strength was not weak, but they thought Winnie wouldn't be too strong without his Soul armament. They never expected him to be so impeccable.

Now, Winnie proved again and again that his strength was definitely not acquired by luck.

From Isatia's perspective, if Winnie wanted to, with his strength fully restored, he would be perfectly capable of securing a top ten ranking.

Winnie stepped off the stage, and now it was others' turn to compete.

“Winnie, you're amazing!” Shikondell praised him beside him, as always, like a little fangirl.

“Just average, the opponents weren't very good,” Winnie shook his head and tossed the training spear aside.

After he came down, he noticed that the way people looked at him had changed.

Indeed, when you're out there, you earn your respect.

There was nothing left for him to do, just watch the show.

Hmm, perhaps it was because Winnie's skill had improved. He had originally thought he could learn something from watching, but seeing the students fighting back and forth, Winnie felt their movements and reactions were too slow. If it were them, they would have died countless times when fighting Mars King.

As he watched, Winnie grew a little sleepy, feeling that these fights had no real substance.

Just as he was thinking this, the current match ended, and a heavyweight contender stepped up.

The silver-haired girl, holding a greatsword, twirled it elegantly, then took off her brown loafers. Her delicate, jade-like feet, encased in alluring sheer black stockings, stepped onto the training ground.

Upon seeing Aesphyra, many students felt intimidated. Of course, not all of them did. Many old-timers with peculiar fetishes were eager to try, not because they thought they could beat Aesphyra, but because they wanted to be beaten by Aesphyra, feeling that it would be incredibly blissful.

Well, one could only say that Winnie truly didn't understand their world.

However, these old-timers clearly had no chance.

Aesphyra's gaze fell upon a certain figure standing in the crowd, and she smiled faintly.

Subsequently, everyone else looked meaningfully at the figure Aesphyra was watching, and that figure also responded to Aesphyra, walking towards the center of the training ground under everyone's gaze.

Upon seeing who that person walking towards the center of the training ground was, the old-timers who wanted to go on stage were enveloped by that powerful aura, not daring to move, as if this vast training ground was just a stage for these two girls.

Holy crap.

Winnie, who had been dozing off earlier, instantly perked up. He knew the main event was coming.

No, are they serious??

Looking at Isatia, who was walking towards the central training ground, Winnie was very surprised.

These two seemed to possess a certain unspoken understanding; just a glance in the crowd was enough to know what the other wanted to express.

It was as if no one could obstruct those two pairs of similar violet eyes.

Ah, what kind of relationship was this that absolutely no one could interfere with??

“Eh? Miss Isatia and Miss Aesphyra?” Shikondell also seemed surprised. “Did they really have a dispute before?”

“Whether they had a dispute or not, I don't know, but they certainly have a lot of chemistry,” Winnie complained.