he rules for the Imperial Exchange Tournament Qualifiers were projected onto the massive mana-boards floating above the Academy courtyard.
[ Format: 3-Man Squad Battles ]
[ Restriction: Summons cannot exceed the User's Level by more than 5. ]
[ Objective: Last Team Standing. ]
I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
"Bureaucracy," I muttered.
My character level was 20. My newly evolved General, Nero, was Level 30. That meant my greatest weapon was banned from the qualifiers. The System clearly didn't want a "Baron" sweeping the floor with a raid boss in a student competition.
I needed teammates. Real ones.
I scanned the courtyard. It was chaos. Students were shouting, forming alliances, and breaking friendships over team compositions.
I spotted Seraphina Frost standing near the fountain. She looked isolated, her icy demeanor acting as a natural barrier against the rabble.
I walked toward her.
"Seraphina."
She turned, her hand instinctively going to the Sunfire Amulet resting against her collarbone. "Lucas. I assume you saw the rules?"
"I did. I have a spot open on Team Vayne. The benefits include victory, glory, and a dental plan."
Before she could answer, a shadow fell over us.
"Don't do it, Seraphina."
Kaelen stepped out from behind a statue. He looked... different. The exhaustion from yesterday was gone, replaced by a jittery, manic energy. His eyes were shadowed, and on his right hand, a black iron ring seemed to absorb the sunlight around it.
He ignored me entirely, focusing his intense gaze on her.
"Join Team Justice, Seraphina," Kaelen pleaded, his voice rasping slightly. "We've known each other for years. We trained together. We promised to be the strongest duo in the Academy. Don't throw that away for... for him."
He pointed a shaking finger at me.
"He doesn't care about you. He only cares about your stats. He'll use you and discard you like he did the villagers."
I checked my nails. "Actually, I paid the villagers triple. I have excellent retention rates."
"Shut up!" Kaelen snapped, veins bulging in his neck. He turned back to Seraphina. "Please. Join me. Let's show everyone that heart is stronger than money."
Seraphina looked at Kaelen. She saw the desperation. She saw the instability. She saw a boy clinging to a narrative that had already collapsed.
Then she looked at me. Calm. Rich. And holding the keys to absolute power.
As she stood there, a strange warmth spread from the Sunfire Amulet into her chest, melting the cold doubt that had plagued her for years.
This feels... right, she thought, surprised by her own clarity. I don't want to struggle anymore. I want to dominate.
"I'm sorry, Kaelen," Seraphina said quietly.
She walked past him and stood by my side.
"I'm not doing this for the money," she said, her voice cold and sharp as an icicle. "And I'm not doing it for 'heart.' I'm entering this tournament to win."
Kaelen stood frozen. The rejection hit him harder than a physical blow. The ring on his finger pulsed with a dull, sickly green light.
As Seraphina walked away to stand by the Baron, the ring burned hotter against Kaelen's skin. She'll regret this, the thought whispered in his mind, alien but seductive. They all will.
"Fine," Kaelen whispered, his head bowing low so his hair covered his eyes. "Choose power. See where it leads you."
He turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.
"Dramatic," I noted. "Now, we need a third."
I looked around. Most of the good students were already taken. My eyes landed on a scrawny boy sitting on a bench, looking terrified. He held a crooked wooden staff.
[Target: Toby]
[Level: 12]
[Class: Wind Mage (Support)]
[Potential: Low]
"You," I said, pointing at him.
Toby jumped, dropping his sandwich. "M-me? Lord Vayne? I... I'm just a C-Rank! I suck! Please don't hurt me!"
"You're hired," I said.
"H-hired? For what?"
"To fill a slot," I said, grabbing him by the collar of his robe and dragging him along. "You don't need to be good, Toby. You just need to hold my coat."
An hour later, Team Vayne stood in the center of Arena 4.
The stands were packed. Everyone wanted to see the "Baron" fight.
Opposite us stood Team Ironblood—three hulking seniors from the Warrior Department, wearing heavy plate armor and carrying massive axes. They looked like they ate freshmen for breakfast.
"Look at this," the Ironblood leader sneered, slamming his axe into the sand. "The Baron, the Coward, and the Ice Doll. Hey, Frost! Did you join him because you like his money, or did you just need a sugar daddy to carry you?"
The crowd gasped.
I glanced at Seraphina. Her expression hadn't changed, but the temperature in the arena dropped ten degrees instantly. Frost began to creep up the stone walls.
"Lucas," she said, her voice dangerously calm. "Can I kill them?"
"Not kill," I corrected, conjuring a velvet armchair from my inventory and sitting down comfortably in the middle of the battlefield. I tossed my coat to a trembling Toby. "Just... maim. I want to see if that Amulet was worth the investment."
The referee blew the whistle. "BEGIN!"
The three warriors charged. "Crush the pretty boy!"
I didn't move. I crossed my legs.
Seraphina stepped forward.
Usually, Ice Mages played defensively. They built walls. They slowed enemies.
Seraphina did neither.
She gripped the Sunfire Amulet with one hand and raised her staff with the other.
"Thermal Shock."
A wave of absolute zero flash-froze the ground. The three warriors, mid-charge, found their boots encased in diamond-hard ice. They stumbled, trapped in place.
"Is this it?" the leader laughed, straining against the ice. "A little frost won't stop—"
Seraphina's eyes glowed a violent crimson as she channeled the Amulet's power.
"I'm not finished."
She snapped her fingers.
A blast of searing, concentrated heat—amplified 200% by the artifact—slammed into the super-cooled ice.
Physics took over.
The sudden, violent expansion of temperature caused the ice—and the armor of the warriors trapped inside it—to shatter explosively.
BOOM!
The warriors didn't even have time to scream. Their armor disintegrated into shrapnel. They were blasted backward, unconscious before they hit the wall, their bodies smoking and shivering simultaneously.
The entire fight had taken ten seconds.
Silence reigned in the arena.
Seraphina lowered her staff, letting out a breath of steam.
[ System Notification: Ally Potential Unlocked (Seraphina). ]
[ Synergy: Frostfire Witch. ]
[ Reward: +500 Destiny Points. ]
[ Harem Loyalty: +10% ]
She glanced back at Lucas, still sitting comfortably in his armchair. A flicker of warmth kindled in her icy blue eyes, matching the glow of the amulet at her throat.
"Acceptable," I said, standing up and taking my coat back from a paralyzed Toby.
I walked past the unconscious bodies of Team Ironblood.
"Next time, aim for the knees. It's more humiliating."