In the academy, there was a simple rule for the combat students.

In order to move to the next year, you had to show that you had progressed at least one rank.

So most of the students that moved to the next year were at the very least, they were Adept or Elite ranked.

So everyone already knew how this would go, a freshman, especially one that didn't come from a noble background.

He was bound to be Adept rank at best.

How did he survive a tier 4 rift for a whole month? They believed it was probably luck.

Nox looked at the opponent before him, the second year student's solar tech was an armor type.

It seemed like something straight out of a hero comic, which he wouldn't admit, but it undeniably looked cool.

Unlike the armors worn by some knights, this one seemed to be a more advanced and high tech one.

It was white, with lines of golden SE running through it. It was built like some type of combat suit and the second year seemed proud of it...and for good reason.

The armor seemed to cover his entire body save for his head, but Nox was sure that he had some kind of protection on it.

"I call this Aegis Halo," the second year announced proudly, spreading his arms slightly, "elite-grade solar tech. Boosts defense, reaction speed, and—"

"—and makes you talk too much," Devon said loudly enough for the second year to hear. "Yo Cass, that man givin' a whole product demo."

Cass narrowed his blue eyes as he looked at the second year's armor, "statistically speaking, overconfidence correlates strongly with—"

"—getting folded?" Devon finished. "Yeah, that."

The second year shot them an annoyed glance before refocusing on Nox. "You still sure about that 'one move' thing?"

Nox just calmly nodded without saying anything. He was busy assessing the student before him, and he felt.... nothing.

Unlike Astra or the Eclipsed, he didn't feel any sense of danger from this student. It almost feels like a tier 0 Eclipsed was before him.

A tier of Eclipsed that wasn't even worth mentioning, ones that only did as much damage as a mosquito singing in your ear.

But he couldn't be too confident, since Solar tech can make even the weakest capable of keeping up...though, that wasn't always the case.

The overseeing student raised his hand. "Combatants ready."

The room instantly fell quiet.

"Begin!"

The second year student didn't waste a moment, as he launched himself forward at speeds that was impossible to track for even students at the adept rank.

"Huh?" Nox let out in surprise as he watched his opponent move.

"Don't blink freshman," The second year student said with a grin, seeing the surprise on Nox's face, "you might just miss your loss."

Nox's surprise wasn't at the second year's speed....well, he was surprised at his speed but not for the reason the second year thought.

The student was so incredibly...slow?

Nox could see every bit of reaction while the second year moved towards him. It was so slow that it was almost boring.

Tired of waiting, Nox closed the distance, placed a palm on the chest of his armor, sent a bit of his SE within, before pulling it all out, drawing the student's own SE with his, before slamming a palm into him.

It all took a second.

To the spectators, it looked like Nox's form just blurred a bit before the second year suddenly froze mid charge.

"Huh?" He let out as the armor completely shut down, before the feeling of something slamming into him caught up.

The pressure collapsed inward, reversing his momentum and using it against him before launching him backward like a ragdoll.

He slammed into the barrier with a thunderous crash before sliding down, completely unconscious before he hit the floor.

Silence.

Absolute, suffocating silence.

The overseeing student stared at the downed student, then at Nox, before swallowing. "…Match over. Winner....Nox."

The room exploded in complaints.

"What the hell was that?!"

"He didn't even use a weapon!"

"Weapon? Did you even fucking see him MOVE?!"

Devon threw his hands up. "AYYY! Told y'all! EASY MONEY!"

He turned to the stunned betting student. "Yo, go ahead and send them creds, don't be shy."

The kid nodded numbly, already transferring the winnings.

He had just turned five hundred credits to five thousand, which was enough for a normal family to live on for at least a year.

Even a solar Knight might be able to use it for a couple of months, and that's only because they would buy expensive solar tech which would drain those credits faster.

But it was still a fact that he had just made a small fortune, which wasn't surprising since the students that bet against Nox numbered over a hundred.

"How much did you win?" Linda, who had been quietly standing behind them, asked.

"Five thousand," Devon answered, "you?"

"Three thousand," Linda said with a smile. She had been one of the few to bet in favor of Nox, and with the x10 payout, they had each made a fortune.

Cassian, on the other hand, didn't bet, not because he didn't believe that Nox would win.

But mostly based on the fact that there was nothing he would win that would be as impressive as his allowance.

He might be a disgraced Burns, but that didn't mean he was completely cut off from the family.

The patriarch would rather be beheaded than be known as someone who abandons family, even if that family is a stain to his name.

And his weekly allowance?

Ten thousand credits.

If Devon heard this, his jaw would drop to the floor.

But right now, all eyes were on the center of the training room.

Nox stood where he was, arm still extended from the strike, his expression calm, almost a bit bored.

Beside the lack of danger when that he sensed before the start of the fight, he expected the student to do the armor some justice.

With a solar tech like that, you'd expect a bit of a challenge, but this idiot had just ruined the memory of the only comic he had managed to salvage from the scrap yard in the slums.

He slowly lowered his hand and let out a sigh of disappointment.

The second year student remained slumped against the barrier, his armor was flickering weakly before fully powering down.

Aegis Halo then disabled....completely.

The damn thing even had a cool name. Nox placed a hand on his chin wondering whether or not to hoard it, after all, it didn't seem like the student was in any state to apologize to Cass.

He turned to the crowd before shaking his head, he was already known as crazy from just the fact that he collected unwanted Solar tech from the test.

So if he did this now, he'd be considered a bully and thief at the same...right?

So instead, he gave up on the idea of taking the armor, maybe for now.

Medical staff rushed in a few seconds later, checking the unconscious student and confirming he was alive, bruised, shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

"See, I told you he was strong."

No one knew who started it, but the crowd's chatter suddenly switched.

"That's not what you told me when we were placing the bets."

"So that's why he survived a tier 4 rift for so long."

"He has to be at least Elite or Radiant ranked right?"

"He really is strong, maybe we can find a second or third year that can beat him? Just so we'll make our money back."

Nox sighed, this was exactly what he wanted to avoid. Now the challenges would just keep coming and while he could still avoid the fights, they would still keep coming.

And he'd have to keep facing one challenge after the other, until he was eventually beaten.

'Wait, that's it,' he thought, 'if I want to end the challenges I'll just have someone defeat me and then focus will shift to them.'

Nox chuckled internally, if someone did manage to defeat him, then everyone would just try and challenge that person and attention would shift away from him.

And he had the perfect candidate for that, his eyes suddenly settled on a certain red haired kid before smiling.

But before he could do anything, his watch let out a ding and his eyes widened.

"The headmistress," he let out before running out of the training hall, since he had completely forgotten what he was supposed to do today.

Him suddenly running out left the crowd confused for a whole three seconds.

Then the room exploded again.

"HE JUST LEFT?!" "Did you see that look on his face?" "Did he seriously get bored and walk out??"

"Was the fight so disappointing that he had to walk away like that?"

Yeah, he might've just started a rumor without even realizing it.

Meanwhile, in the crowd of students, a third year stood with an interest look on his face.

He had come to this fight because he was bored with nothing to do and he was curious about what his juniors were up to.

"Nox was it?" He muttered, "you really are interesting, I wonder if you'll be the one to finally prove a challenge to me."

Without anyone noticing his presence he turned and left, with a small smile on his face.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.