"I request that a second year by the name of Jason Enosk be expelled from the academy."

Silence reigned for a moment.

"You dare?" Flint shot up and shouted in rage.

The headmaster reacted more calmly, simply saying, "Explain."

"This morning I went to the first year dorms to see how everyone was settling in. A group of students were standing around a fountain near the dorm. At some point while I was inside, Enosk, with a group of second years approached the group and started a conflict. One of the first was tripped by Enosk, and when he stood up he attempted to punch Enosk, not using magic power of any sort. In response, Enosk used Fire Titan's Hand to crush the students arms in a clear attempt to cripple him. Even after using Jade Lake Restoration I couldn't completely heal his arm the number of fractures was so great."

"Oh... he also said he was there on Flint's orders,"

Flint cut in before the headmaster could intervene, trembling in rage.

"Humph. You have no proof I was involved in this. And you cannot speak as to the intentions of Jason. He was simply responding to a surprise assault by a student. He may have overreacted slightly, but he cannot be blamed for responding when he was put at risk."

"Put at risk?" Art snorted.

"Vince didn't even use mana to reinforce his body when he punched. There was no danger to Jason at all."

Flint clenched his fists, arrogance and rage blazing in his eyes.

"Irrelevant. You cannot speak to the situation, you yourself said you were inside when it happened. So I suggest you stop accusing me and Jason of attempting to cripple a student. The consequences of crossing my family are not something a puny peasant like you can withstand."

"Oh? I wonder about that... In any case, it as you said. I was not there to witness this. However, if you think I cannot gather evidence for this you are stupider than I thought. Of course, there is a simpler way to deal with all this, if you dare. Let's have a duel. One on one. I win, you apologize publicly and Jason leaves the academy. You win, I'll apologize and leave the academy."

Flint gaped for second, before bursting into laughter.

"You? A first year? You want to fight me? Rank one of the second years? Heh... truly a case of a newborn lamb not fearing a tiger... Are you even worthy of fighting me?"

Art just raised an eyebrow provocatively, again angering Flint.

Pointing his finger at Art, Flint loudly proclaimed, "Ha! Fine! If you want to seek your won death then I won't stop you! Let's set the duel for an hour from now. I want to gather the whole school to see you crushed beneath my feet. Maybe I'll even treat you to something else if you're lucky. Of course, I also don't want to give you time to get cold feet."

Luckily for Flint, Soran wasn't there to hear that bit about treating Art to something special if he was lucky. Who knows if even ashes would remain of him by now if Soran had heard...

Of course, Art was similarly angered by Flint's words. And so even though not a trace of emotion could be seen on his face, he had long since decided to 'accidentally' cripple Flint.

The headmaster, who had remained silent throughout this whole ordeal, chose this moment to chime in.

"Very well. I'll announce the duel on the school's intercom. But know that I will personally oversee this fight - there will be no killing or crippling today."

Flint didn't notice the headmaster's meaningful glare towards Art as he spoke, and sneered arrogantly.

"Don't think the headmaster, or anyone else, can save you from your fate pretty boy. We'll see how long you can keep up your calm pretense." He thought to himself.

Art smiled, not revealing any hint of his thoughts.

Nodding to the headmaster and the other representatives, Art calmly walked out of the room, not even bothering to respond to Flint's glare.

An odd light flashed through Trin's eyes as he pushed his glasses up, observing Art's figure as he left. "This Art... He clearly isn'y stupid to be president of his year, hailed as one of the strongest batches of freshman in the school's history, and he seemed quite confident about this duel... Perhaps I should be sending up a prayer for Flint?" Actually, his thoughts were turning more towards the betting ring...

To clarify why nearly everyone who heard about the duel believed Art had no chance of victory, it must be understood that the gap in strength between freshman and second years was the biggest gap between any two consecutive years. Even the gap between second years and fifth years was smaller than that of first and second years.

This was, in fact, a testament to the prowess of Silver Dragon Academy. The advances students would make under the tutelage and guidance of Silver Dragon Academy's teachers was not something that could be bridged by talent. By the end of the first year at the academy, one's power, understanding of spells, and understanding of combat would undergo a complete revolution. An entirely different world of magic would open up to students. Just the amount of new spells they would be able to learn at Silver Dragon Academy within a year posed an insurmountable gap.

So even for the new batch of genius freshman, it was widely believed that at this stage of their development, they simply wouldn't be a match for the second years who had received the guidance of combat experts for a years time and undergone a burst period of incredible growth. They would most definitely be able to catch up to many of the second years, and even third years, after their first year at the school, before then, no amount of talent could make up for their lack of spells and experience. And normally this was true.

Even Lyria, known as one of the most monstrous geniuses of the century, was only crowned queen of Silver Dragon Academy towards the end of her second year.

The only way first year students would be able to contend against upperclassmen was if they had an incredible family background supporting them, where they had experts providing them with training and combat experience and access to powerful spells from their family.

Flint's Daymore family was one example of such a case.

Of course, none of this could match up the experience Art gained fighting for his life in the extreme north. In the first place, his god-like talent would likely allow him overcome this gap fairly easily... He was someone with three peak bloodlines who could create his own spells for goodness sake. Any talent who heard this would have a feeling of wanting to hide under a rock and never appear in society anymore...