Lord of Charm

Gale was browsing the 'hall of fame' on his watch and searched for records to break.

"Alessa, I see a record for the youngest to enter the top 10, and the current holder of the record was 26 when he had done it. Why doesn't it count that I broke the record?"

"Checking… Since you got your rank without fighting, your achievement will only be counted once you defeat an actual student in the top 10."

It sounded reasonable so Gale didn't argue, and kept searching for other records he could break. He mainly concentrated on records that included the word "young" in them.

"Youngest to hunt a higher elite beast, 32. I can break that, right? I'm a ruler beast after all."

He thought to himself. He decided to ensure he could defeat someone in the top 5 before attempting, but it seemed simple.

"Hmm, youngest to become an advanced mage, 37. Since I aim to become an advanced mage in 8 months, this one should be an obvious choice. I need 3 records to have access to free fifth-rank dishes, so those three will be my targets."

"You have a new challenge."

"Eh, who is it now?"

He received plenty of challenges, but all of them would be gone after his duel with rank 18, so he didn't worry about them. He checked the screen and found out it was Joanna.

"Huh, she really challenged me."

He accepted for the day after the fight with rank 18 and went to train. Friday to Sunday were days off, so other than his fights he had nothing to do but practice or hang out with Tim and the twin sisters.

"All right, it's time to go."

He went to the arena which was a separate building on campus. It was in the shape of a pentagon and had 10 floors. Each floor consisted of 5 arenas that could combine into a larger one.

The lowest floor, which was the sturdiest, was meant for battles between expert mages. The next 3 floors were meant for advanced mages and the top 6 for true mages. Since his duel was considered at the top of the fourth stage given their ranks, they were booked to the fifth floor, the sturdiest floor for true mages.

He stepped into the arena and faced Dean. Dean was a short dark-skinned man with a shaved head. His muscular body was lean, and a scar on his left cheek made him look in constant anger with the world.

"Fight!"

Alessa's genderless voice was heard, and the fight began. Dean was from a low nobility family and the Dream's Peak Academy charged twice the price for human judges during fights as part of their beliefs. Thus, the fight took place without a human judge.

Dean generated blades made of stone that launched against Gale, who cast a few wisps that immediately burned the stones, making them decay to dust.

The rest of the wisps flew quickly to Dean, leaving behind only debris when they passed through his earth spells, and his fire spells didn't fare any better.

A wisp broke through his defenses and attached to his leg, burning it at rapid speed.

"AHHH! I SURRENDER!"

He couldn't run away since he was surrounded by the sheer number of wisps, and couldn't defeat the wisps, either. He surrendered, and the fight ended.

The small crowd watching the fight watched with amazement. They didn't expect the fight to be so one-sided, yet it happened in front of their eyes. Gale's fire spells' prowess was off the charts, and it'd be nearly impossible for most mages to defend against them. Even Gale himself didn't expect such results from the strengthening.

"Wow, your fire spells are amazing! How old were you when you advanced to the mage rank?"

Valentina asked enthusiastically as soon as the four of them sat to eat in the dining room.

"19, it was less than a year and a half ago."

"WHAT?"

The three looked at him with incredulous eyes.

"What's your fire affinity?"

"It's SS-30."

"That's amazing! You might become a magus in the future! I heard the lowest affinity a magus can have is S-67."

Amanda said excitedly.

"Don't give up, Amanda. If we can get seventh-ranked potions to boost your affinity, you can get there too."

Gale didn't know how rare SS affinities were, so he decided to ask them about theirs.

"What's the affinity of your main elements?"

"I'm S-44."

"I'm S-56, and Valentina has the same affinity since we are identical twins."

Valentina nodded to confirm her sister's words.

"Is it rare to have SS affinity?"

"It is. The academy only accepts people with affinity above A-70. According to the information the academy releases, there are only 10,000 students with an affinity of S and above. Which means they couldn't find 15,000 others with S affinity. Since the population of the empire is over a billion, it shows you how rare it is."

"What about SS?"

"The academies keep it a secret, so we don't know. But since there are only 10,000 with S affinity, I'd say there are under a hundred with SS."

"And SSS?"

"If there is any, then it'd be a top secret. Otherwise, the other empires would do their best to kill them before they turn too strong. I'd think you had it if you didn't tell me otherwise; being a mage at 19 years old is crazy!"

"Ahaha, I don't know how I managed to do it myself."

He laughed awkwardly, and the meal continued. After they finished eating and parted, Gale checked his watch and found out he had two notifications.

"What is it?"

"You gained 10 IMG from Dean for winning the fight. You gained 50 IMG from Oliver Davies for surrendering before the fight."

The academy added a penalty for students who got cold feet and wanted to cancel an approved duel.

"Hm, so Oliver is the one ranked 18. I guess Joanna wasn't scared though."

He went to train over his mana control, and two days quickly passed.