Chapter 65: I eat dust explosion

“Hmph~ so Senior Xi Ya’s move is just throwing mud at me?”

Feili casually swung her sword, shattering every clump of earth that came at her, the broken dust settling at her feet.

“Oh? Are you trying to dirty my clothes?”

Feili tilted her head and let out a soft chuckle.

“Senior Xi Ya is so childish~”

“You wouldn’t get it.”

Xi Ya said nothing.

He tossed his last clump of dirt and stopped.

*Heh, go ahead and call him childish now.

Soon you’ll get a taste of an explosion.*

He glanced at the layer of dust on the ground near Feili, then at the particles still drifting in the air.

Almost.

Should be enough.

Xi Ya planned to use knowledge from his past life on Blue Star—when dust reaches a certain concentration in the air and meets an open flame, it explodes instantly.

He had Feili shatter those clumps first to create a pile of dust, then he’d use wind to blow it all up before igniting it with fire.

“Is Senior Xi Ya done with his moves?”

Feili asked, completely unaware of Xi Ya’s plan.

“Not yet, not yet. I’m about to use my finishing move.”

Xi Ya’s lips curled slightly.

Sure, the Sorn Empire had dust explosion incidents before, and the books mentioned it briefly, but someone like Feili—a struggling student—could never understand the principle behind it.

Taste my dust explosion!

“Watch closely. Up!”

Xi Ya abruptly poured mana into his sword and unleashed [Wind Blade] at the area around Feili.

Feili watched his attack that barely seemed aimed at her, about to mock him, when she noticed the dust on the ground being swept into the air by the wind blades.

In seconds, she was engulfed in a gray cloud of dust.

“Cough, cough!”

Feili coughed from the irritation, raising a hand to cover her mouth and nose.

Her surroundings were completely obscured by the dust, and she couldn’t see a thing.

“Senior Xi Ya, what are you—”

She stopped mid-sentence as she sensed a powerful wind blade hurtling toward her.

She raised her sword and instinctively reinforced it with Fire Magic to counter the wind element.

The moment the flames on her blade touched the dust—

Boom!!!

A thunderous roar erupted from the battle stage.

Fire blossomed within the dust cloud, spreading rapidly and swallowing the half of the stage where Feili stood.

The explosion sent a wave of heat surging outward, forcing even the spectators outside to squint.

“What the hell?! What was that?”

“Why did it suddenly explode?”

Gasps and shouts rippled through the spectator seats.

No one knew what had happened—it just exploded out of nowhere.

Xi Ya was pushed back several steps by the shockwave.

He drove his sword into the ground to keep from falling.

He stared at the still-burning flames, a little surprised.

He’d originally planned to toss a fireball to ignite the dust, but he figured Feili would block it with Water Magic, wetting the surrounding dust in the process.

Once the dust got wet, it would be nearly impossible to ignite.

So he’d sent a wind blade to distract her instead.

And then Feili… ignited it herself?

*Nice. You blew yourself up?*

The flames died down, and Xi Ya watched the smoke cloud from the explosion with a serious expression.

He didn’t think the blast could actually hurt Feili.

As the smoke gradually cleared, where Feili had been standing, a pale blue water veil now shimmered, its surface flowing and rippling with a gentle glow.

[Tidal Barrier]

Xi Ya recognized that spell.

It was a Five-Tier water defense magic.

It automatically adjusted its defensive power based on the strength of the attack—the stronger the hit, the faster the water flowed, the better it dispersed the force.

Like the tide, it used the current to peel away impact layer by layer.

*Of course. She even mastered that move.*

The water veil fell, revealing Feili completely unharmed.

“Senior Xi Ya, you’re really impressive~ You actually forced me to use this. I was hoping to keep it hidden.”

Feili still wore that smile, but Xi Ya found it more unsettling the longer he looked at it, a chill creeping down his spine.

*Hmph. She still wants to counterattack?*

“Since Senior Xi Ya is done with his moves, it’s my turn now~”

Xi Ya sensed danger immediately.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he raised both hands and shouted at the referee stand:

“Referee! I surrender!”

*I’ll just surrender outright. Not taking a single hit.*

But the referee was just like the spectators outside—still reeling from the shock.

The unexpected explosion had stunned them, and on top of that, a newly enrolled student using Five-Tier magic?

The overload of information had completely fried their CPUs.

Feili ignored his surrender and sprinted toward him.

Seeing the referee unresponsive and Feili closing in fast, Xi Ya shouted in panic:

“Hey! Referee! I said I surrender, did you hear me?!”

“Hey hey hey hey, crap! Feili, wait! Don’t—ahhh!!!”

Feili kicked Xi Ya square in the stomach, sending him flying off the battle stage and crashing to the ground outside.

It wasn’t until Xi Ya landed that the referee finally registered his earlier shouts, clearly snapping back to reality.

“Alright, Xi Ya surrenders, I declare… wait, no. Xi Ya is out of bounds. Feili wins!”

Silence hung over the arena for a few seconds before scattered applause broke out.

The audience had only just caught up.

Xi Ya clutched his stomach and got to his feet, glaring at Feili, who was beaming at him from the edge of the stage, cursing her out in his head.

Dammit, this girl is completely unreasonable! I already surrendered and she still hit me!

That kick definitely had some personal grudges attached.

*All because I forced out her hidden [Tidal Barrier]? What’s there to hide?*

If this were a battlefield, sure, you’d want to keep a trump card against an enemy.

But this wasn’t a battlefield.

This was the Academy.

Here, you should show off your abilities.

The more you hold back, the more those clueless idiots think you’re an easy target, showing up every other day to pick fights like flies you can never swat away.

You didn’t have to reveal everything, but at least show a portion of your strength.

Let those guys know you’re not a soft target.

Then they wouldn’t dare mess with you, and you’d save yourself a ton of trouble.

Plus, you’d earn the instructors’ favor.

They’d be willing to give you extra pointers, and that shortcut would beat months of grinding alone.

“I already said I surrendered. Why did you still kick me?”

Xi Ya rubbed his stomach and muttered.

“But the referee lady never announced it~ What Senior Xi Ya says doesn’t count~”

Feili’s tone sounded delighted, like she’d enjoyed that kick a little too much.

“…You hit hard, you know that?”

Xi Ya said with a sour face.

“Did I? I was being gentle~”

Feili smiled.

That kick nearly shattered the protective magic on my uniform, and you call that gentle?

He shot her a glance and saw Feili hop down from the stage, walking toward him with a smile.

“What do you want? The match is over. Don’t do anything crazy!”

“Senior Xi Ya~”

She stepped right up to him.

Xi Ya instinctively backed away half a step, unsure what she was planning.

“What?”

“Teach me this move.”

Feili’s smile faded slightly as she spoke in a low voice.

Huh?

Xi Ya froze, not expecting her to say that.

“You want to learn?”

Xi Ya looked at her oddly.

Since when did this girl get so eager to study?

“Mm-hm~”

Feili nodded lightly.

“Can’t teach it. The move’s not practical.”

He shook his head.

Sure, the dust explosion had massive destructive power, but the conditions to use it were way too strict.

You had to spend forever creating the dust cloud, and you couldn’t let the opponent catch on.

If the opponent just blew the dust away with wind or simply walked out, the whole move was useless.

All that buildup for one final blast—it was like setting up dominos.

The reveal lasted a second, but the setup took forever.

“Is Senior Xi Ya unwilling to teach?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. This move is genuinely useless. You saw it—I had to keep throwing dirt clumps, gather a whole pile of dust before…”

Xi Ya tried to explain, but Feili wasn’t listening to a word he was saying, wearing a face that screamed, “I’m not hearing any of it.”

“How stingy~ Is Senior Xi Ya afraid I’ll learn it and use it against you next time?”

Xi Ya was speechless.

Why is this girl so stubborn?

What’s the point of learning this?

Complete waste of time.

Then an excuse to refuse popped into his head.

“Does Senior Feili want to hear the truth?”

“Hm?”

“Honestly? I really want to teach you. But this move can only be learned by smart people. Someone like Senior Feili—a big genius who can’t even make sense of a book—well, it might be a bit tough for you. My advice is, don’t…”

As Xi Ya rambled, he felt like a “danger” sign had appeared above his head.

He looked up and saw Feili staring at him with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, one hand already reaching to her waist, resting on her sword hilt.

“Oh! I just remembered I left the fire on in my dorm. Gotta run! Let’s talk tomorrow!”

Xi Ya turned to bolt, only to find his collar snagged on something, yanking him back by the neck.

“Senior Xi Ya~”

Feili’s soft, gentle laugh came from behind him.

Xi Ya shouted in panic:

“Whoa crap! The big genius is killing me!”

The moment those words left his mouth, his collar pulled even tighter.

“Who are you calling the big genius?”

Feili asked with another laugh.

“Cough! Me! I’m the big genius!”

Xi Ya coughed from the chokehold and answered without hesitation:

“I’m the biggest big genius in the entire Academy!”

“Oh~ really?”

Feili released her grip on his collar and stepped around to face him.

“But I thought I just heard…”

“You definitely misheard! What I said was, ‘Someone like me, a big genius who can’t even make sense of a book, would never teach you!'”

Xi Ya cut her off immediately, survival instincts at maximum.

“Pfft.”

Feili covered her mouth with one hand and let out a soft laugh.

“Got it~ Then I won’t give Senior Xi Ya, the big genius, a hard time.”

“Thank you, Senior Feili, for sparing my life!”

Xi Ya gasped for air, feeling like he’d just narrowly escaped death.

“Don’t forget to watch my match tomorrow~”

Feili turned gracefully and waved at him.

“See you~”

Watch Feili’s match?

No way.

Tomorrow was the important Poisoning Event in the game.

He didn’t have time for that.

Xi Ya caught his breath and caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye—Griffin Professor was coming down from the spectator seats, storming toward him with urgency, with Kaelan Instructor following close behind, eyes locked on him too.

*Crap. What do they want?*