"Ian! There's no need for this."
Before Carl could respond, Lyra tried to dissuade Ian, fearing he was acting out of anger.
Her blue eyes, frad by long lashes, looked at him tenderly, worried he might revert to his obsessive tendencies.
Now, she began to dislike Carl for standing next to her. After finally seeing a normal Ian, she didn't want to lose him again.
"Haha, relax. I'm not angry or anything. This fellow seems quite strong, and I just want to stretch my muscles. It's just practice between fellow students."
Ian placed his hand on Lyra's blond hair and reassured her, speaking softly.
'Well, all that kissing and confessing didn't go to waste,' he thought.
Lyra obviously had him in her eyes and she was afraid he was impatient and angered.
Carl, watching their intimate exchange, was consud with jealousy. After he saw Lyra for the first ti at the training ground, he had already thought of her as his woman. Now, watching them feeding dog food openly made him sick.
"So, what do you think?"
Ian asked Carl, ignoring his dark expression.
Ian's real goal was to replicate the sa scenario from the novel where his fate had originally been sealed. He planned to redeem himself on the very sa stage.
Carl was surprised at how things had turned out.
Initially, he had planned to provoke Ian into challenging him in the arena to display his superiority. While his plan had failed, the result was the sa. So, of course, he was pleased.
"Okay. Let's compete with swords," Carl agreed quickly, worried Lyra might interfere otherwise.
Just as he agreed, Ian heard a system prompt almost at the sa ti, causing him to smile.
[Ding!]
[Portagonist Carl has accepted your request for a duel.]
[You are at an important fork in your fate.]
[A new destiny quest has been activated.]
[Unique Destiny Quest: Fight with all you have.]
[Quest content: Defeat the protagonist Carl and change your destiny from the fixed trajectory. Be careful, your performance may decide your future.]
[Reward: ??]
[Note: Quest will be completed after you defeat or draw with protagonist Carl.]
Ian was delighted by the activation of a new quest. The more quests, the better, as he was dirt poor.
"An important fork in fate," he mused.
Even the system regarded this as a critical mont and gave him a unique destiny quest. So, he had to take it more seriously.
Just as Ian was engrossed in reading the text in his mind, a loud shout interrupted him.
"What's going on here? Young Master Ian, is this boy causing trouble for you?"
A group of three youths, clad in aristocratic attire but lacking noble behavior, approached Carl with hostile glares. If Young Master Ian said yes, they were ready to teach Carl a lesson.
They perfectly portray a typical bully who tramples on the weak and fears the strong.
'Well, I was wondering why they hadn't shown up yet,' Ian thought, glancing at the trio and the growing crowd their shouts had attracted.
In the original story, the protagonist didn't imdiately fight Ian but instead first defeated these troublemakers who tried to intervene on Ian's behalf.
'Let's get rid of them,' Ian decided, barely acknowledging their presence.
He replied indifferently,
"Nothing's happening here. I'm just competing in the arena. And don't shout so loudly—it's unbecoming of your status."
Hearing Ian's scolding, the trio looked embarrassed. The shouting was ant to gather the attention of the crowd and show everyone how they helped Ian and who their backer was.
But now, it seed to irk him instead. So, they could only apologize quickly to avoid further angering him.
"Well, sorry, Young Master Ian. I was impulsive. I thought soone was confronting you."
"And I need your help?" Ian asked sharply.
"No, no. How dare I think that? I was just trying to help..." He was still trying to explain when he saw Ian's cold eyes, causing him to sweat visibly.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Young Master. I overstepped my bounds." The youngster, along with his two lackeys, bowed hurriedly.
"Okay. Don't just shout and fight all day long. You are an aristocrat, not so bandit. Your actions will only destroy our reputation."
"Yes, yes! We will definitely heed your words."
The trio imdiately agreed, feeling fortunate that Ian didn't get angry. They had only been trying to help and, by the way, curry favor with him, but the situation had almost backfired—all because of this kid.
The leader looked at Carl with hatred while bowing toward Ian.
Ian didn't care about their little sches as long as they didn't affect him. He looked at Carl and ordered in a superior tone,
"Let's go to the arena."
"Okay."
Carl was happy to show off and didn't take Ian's tone seriously at all.
Although he was only at the Tertiary Knight Realm, he was also a First-Class Wizard Apprentice.
He had ten different thods to defeat this guy.
Of course, Ian knew what Carl was thinking. In fact, in the novel, Carl didn't even need to use the full strength of his Knight Realm since Ian was a Secondary Knight and had no fighting experience.
Actually, Ian most wanted to check the status of the protagonist to uncover any secrets he might have, but the warning from the system stopped him from doing so.
Although Carl might not notice his ntal power scanning, Ruther, in his ring, would definitely detect even the slightest ntal fluctuation.
That's why Ian had already used the Ethereal Disguise technique to hide his Wizard Realm.
As long as he guarded against ntal attacks from the protagonist, he could beat this kid with one hand.
After all, they were competing in swordsmanship and the Knight Realm, not as Wizards.
He didn't believe Carl would risk using Wizard techniques in front of the crowd. That would only bring him unnecessary trouble and make it difficult to secure a quota for Ignisia Tower.
As for help from Ruther, he would definitely step in if Carl's life were in danger. Otherwise, he wouldn't lower himself to intervene in a duel between peers.
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