It felt like a big joke that Michael and Frederik were put against each other in their third fight of the Real Combat assessment.

However, it was also quite interesting.

Michael hadn't expected to meet Frederik Kolbenheim and Jacqueline Orlando in the aptitude assessment for the Saphirelake Military Academy, but he saw their idiotic faces when Julian Spinne pointed at them.

'Even if they want to attend the Saphirelake Military Academy, are their families not wealthy enough to purchase two spots to make their kids skip the aptitude assessment?' He wondered as he recalled that both the Kolbenheim and Orlando families were the wealthiest families in the Golden Sun province.

'But that is actually better. I wonder how much this idiot has improved since our last encounter!' Michael murmured inwardly.

A confident smile appeared on his face as he looked straight into Frederik's eyes. His strength had increased drastically, and he was probably ten times stronger than he had been in their last encounter. Maybe he was even stronger than he assumed.

Meanwhile, Frederik had yet to break through the barrier separating him from the 1st Tier. Frederik was not far off, but there was still a gap between them.

Thus, Michael had a great advantage, or so he thought at first.

Michael only realized that he had underestimated Frederik and his background when the battle between them started.

Jacqueline cheered for Frederik loudly, while Frederik remained calm until the referee started the battle.

The moment the referee shouted 'Fight!', the energy within him erupted at once.

Frederik conjured currents of greenish gleaming wind around him in an instant. He condensed the wind currents and formed wind spears. Simultaneously, he summoned two shortswords and an emerald-colored leather armor.

Frederik's strength seemed to increase further after his Artifacts appeared, and he charged forward. His wind spears cut through the air and shot straight to Michael.

Four were aimed at Michael while the remaining wind spears cut off his path of retreat, blocking him.

Michael frowned deeply. He could clearly tell that Frederik's wind spears were several times stronger than they had been in the past.

This was not just a matter of possessing more energy or having better control of his Soultrait. No, Frederik's Soultrait had grown much stronger since they last met!

'How?' Michael wondered as he manifested the Siltang Bow and his Onyx Dragon Armor Set. He used Lesser Enhancement on every Artifact, enhancing their overall stats by 20% respectively. Afterward, Michael unleashed the strongest form of Eagle Eyes.

He condensed an arrow on the bowstring, pulled the bowstring back, and fired the arrow at the most threatening wind spear. Michael released two more arrows after the first before he stepped forward.

The Siltang Bow disappeared in his War rune. It was replaced by Tigerfang, which was instantaneously mantled in a white aura. Michael's strength increased a tad and he dashed forward like a bolt of lightning.

The three arrows he had released earlier were enough to pierce through Frederik's wind spears. Meanwhile, the fourth wind spear aimed at him was completely ignored, but that was not a worrisome fact as Michael had already moved away from his earlier position.

He appeared in front of Frederik and clashed head-on. Michael was physically stronger, much faster than Frederik and he could predict Frederik's trajectory using the subtle details his Eagle Eyes detected.

Currents of wind swirled around Frederik's arms and legs, pushing the young man closer to Michael. Some wind currents blasted in Michael's face while others pushed against his whole body, slowing down his movements. Despite being slowed down, and Frederik's movements gaining speed, Michael's attacks impacted hard on his opponent.

Frederik's expression changed when he felt the tremendous force colliding with his shortswords and he instinctively retreated. Simultaneously, he conjured multiple crescent-shaped wind blades around himself and Michael. He controlled them precisely and made sure that Michael would be attacked from all sides.

His head, neck, throat, arms, and legs were targeted precisely, wanting to lock down Michael's movements from all sides and eliminate him.

Michael wanted to evade all attacks, but that was not possible. There were too many wind blades, and they were too fast to hit and deflect them simultaneously.

He activated the protection enchantments of his Onyx Dragon Armor Set, blocked a few wind blades with Tigerfang, and twisted his body to evade the vital attacks.

Afterward, he had to retreat because another batch of ten wind spears had already been conjured by Frederik.

'How did his Soultrait grow that much in such a short time?!?'

Frederik was not even at the 1st Tier, which meant that the increase of origin energy inside his body was not that high. Michael couldn't understand the cause behind the sudden boost in Frederik's strength which was not a mere quantitative increase. Frederik's attacks were not only much more in terms of quantity, but their quality was also much higher. The attacks were stronger than last time.

'Is that a Soutrait technique from his family? No, that shouldn't be it..'

Michael's expression turned sour as he moved through the arena nimbly. He cut through the wind blades that pursued him and evaded most wind spears easily.

However, there were too many attacks restricting his movements. He was not able to handle all of them at the same time. One attack after another impacted upon him.

Luckily, they were blocked by the protection enchantments of the Onyx Dragon Armor Set, but they reached him nonetheless.

This was beyond his expectations. He was already a Tier-1 Lord, while Frederik was still at the Peak of Tier-0. Why was he at a disadvantage right now?

Frederik saw the change in Michael's expression, and he couldn't help but smile arrogantly.

"It required only a few thousand subjects to defeat you, a Lord of a higher Tier than me? That's boring. I thought you were stronger!" Frederik said arrogantly. His voice rang through the arena before he continued to speak in a ridiculing tone, "You disappoint me..but why did I even expect anything else from a peasant like you? It was my fault to have high hopes from a dirt poor fool!"

While Frederik continued to make fun of Michael, Jacqueline exclaimed in joy.

"Honey, you're so smart and powerful! The gift was well utilized. You are a genius!!"historical

That was when realization struck Michael. His eyes widened slightly and his combat stance changed immediately.

His first thought was completely wrong. Frederik didn't learn a new technique. Instead, his Soultrait grew stronger because Frederik had summoned thousands of subjects. Their Links of Loyalty nourished Frederik's Soultrait exponentially, strengthening it. That was how Frederik was suddenly so strong.

Summoning thousands of subjects just like that was a direct showoff of his wealth. The Kolbenheim family must have spent millions to strengthen Frederik, and there was nothing wrong with that.

'Frederik's father must have helped his son by giving him money, or thousands of Summoning Scrolls!' Michael understood immediately.

Instead of spending billions to buy Frederik a seat in the Saphirelake Military Academy, he invested in his son directly. That was much cheaper, and it would continue to strengthen Frederik in the future.

After all, thousands of additional subjects were an exceptional workforce for young Lords, who lacked workers the most in the early phase of their territory expansion.

But did it really matter whether Frederik had been sponsored by thousands of subjects from his father? Michael didn't think so.

If his confidence wavered in the face of Frederik after that idiot's Soultrait grew a little stronger, he might as well give up becoming a Lord capable of protecting his people.

He was bound to come across many such fools in the future who would try to downplay him using their resources or connections.

Recalling that, Michael strengthened his resolve. He was not ready to give up..

The fight was not yet over!