Next One, Next One!

The crowd around the arena erupted in laughter — though no one could quite say whether they were mocking Zheng Jiahui, who had been so psychologically rattled he couldn't even complete a basic-level spell, or laughing at Mo Fan's staggering presumption that he could single-handedly take on two hundred challengers.

Wei Rong's face had gone pitch dark. This insufferable student had just called him a chimpanzee in front of everyone.

The white-browed teacher standing beside him had been fighting to keep a straight face. Among the faculty, that nickname got thrown around often enough, and the occasional student whispered it behind Wei Rong's back — but no one had ever said it openly, in public, to his face. This new transfer student truly had no sense of limits.

That said, the white-browed teacher had to admit he was impressed by what Mo Fan had done. The boy's mouth was a disaster, yes — but the sheer nerve required to plant his feet and refuse to back down against two hundred challengers? That was worth respecting. He found himself genuinely curious how long this student could hold out.

"Next challenger! Ranked 679th — Lin Gui!" Wei Rong roared, his fury barely leashed.

His eyes stayed locked on Mo Fan. Today, one way or another, he was going to see this arrogant little brat taken down a peg. If he couldn't manage that, what dignity did he have left as the head of Fire Hall?

A male student with rough, rugged features and dark skin strode unhurriedly onto the platform.

He fixed Mo Fan with a flat, expressionless stare. "I'll give you this much: for a transfer student, you've probably got the strength of someone in the top three hundred. But rankings don't tell the whole story. Friendly sparring and real combat are nothing alike."

"Oh, spare me." Mo Fan cut him off, patience already exhausted. "Who asked you to lecture me on fighting?"

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, a roaring Fire Burst ignited in his right hand. The flames blazed furiously, and Mo Fan hurled it without a moment's hesitation. The blast carved a vivid red arc through the air and landed squarely on Lin Gui.

Lin Gui's face remained a mask — but contempt had crept into his eyes. *A basic-level spell. I don't even need to bother raising a defense.*

Then he saw the color of the incoming flames. He felt the heat — and that heat was wrong.

By the time the alarm reached his brain, it was already too late. The Rose Flame Fire Burst detonated. Waves of scorching fire lashed across his body, and the explosive force of the blast sent him hurtling across the arena.

The same Lin Gui who had been lecturing Mo Fan moments ago was now half-engulfed in flames, crashing hard into the edge of the arena floor.

He tried to push himself up, but burns covered him head to toe. He stared at himself — battered, scorched, barely able to move — in stunned disbelief.

"What just happened?!"

Someone in the stands lurched to their feet.

All across the viewing area, eyes went wide, every gaze fixed on the badly injured Lin Gui.

"He took him down in one move — with a basic-level spell?" Huang Xingli said, astonishment breaking through her voice.

Beside her, Ding Yumian's expression shifted as well. Seeing Huang Xingli looking to her for an explanation, she said: "He must have used Spirit Grade flames. The power output far exceeds ordinary Fire Burst: Detonation. Lin Gui underestimated him — he never even raised a defense."

"So even little Yumian gets it wrong sometimes." A new voice cut in, smooth and unhurried. "Even with Spirit Grade flames, Fire Burst shouldn't come anywhere close to hitting that hard."

Huang Xingli turned — and the tomboyish air she usually carried evaporated on the spot. A flustered, almost girlish flush spread across her face, caught entirely off guard and unexpectedly delighted.

Catching herself, she quickly turned back and nudged Ding Yumian with her elbow, whispering with barely contained excitement: "It's Liu Qian! This is the closest I've ever been to him in my life — he's gorgeous!"

Ding Yumian remained composed. She glanced back at Liu Qian. "What you just said —"

"Lin Gui did raise his defenses," Liu Qian said with a slight smile. "The problem is that his Enchanted Gear was too cheap to withstand a technique running at more than four times the force of ordinary Fire Burst. Mo Fan's Fire Burst has been trained to the fourth level — that alone doubles the detonation force. Then add a Spirit Seed on top of that…" He let the implication hang.

Understanding clicked into place for Ding Yumian at once. When her gaze returned to Mo Fan, it carried a new edge of surprise.

Within Fire Hall, those who possessed Spirit Grade flames consistently ranked near the top. Against opponents wielding only Ordinary Fire, a superior flame grade was nearly an insurmountable advantage in combat.

But obtaining Spirit Grade flames through the school meant nearly a full year of sustained effort — and even then, only students with sufficiently high rankings were eligible to receive the school's flame seed fragments.

For the vast majority of Fire Hall students, Spirit Grade flames were already an unattainable luxury. And training a basic-level spell to the fourth level reportedly required reinforcing all seven Star Motes — with each reinforcement costing roughly five million in Spirit Essence.

"Pushing Fire Burst to the fourth level runs at least thirty-five million," Liu Qian said. "That's enough to buy nearly two Fire Element Spirit Seeds. I genuinely didn't think anyone would actually be that extravagant."

Ding Yumian gave a small nod. Even among the most privileged young heirs — regardless of how powerful their family background — no one had ever sunk that kind of money into a basic-level spell.

"Stop standing there gawking — call the next one!" Mo Fan shouted across the arena at Wei Rong.

Wei Rong shook himself out of his stupor and called out the next name, his expression as dark as ever.

*Just who is this kid?* As an advanced-level Fire Element Mage, he had never been willing to spend that kind of money reinforcing a basic-level spell to the fourth level. And here was some intermediate-level Mage throwing it around like it meant nothing.

"Next challenger…"

The next opponent stepped onto the platform — ranked somewhere past nine hundred, clearly someone who had joined the queue on impulse. His own strength was limited, and against Mo Fan's overwhelming Fire Burst, he had no answer at all.

"Next…"

Then a student ranked 427th stepped forward: a female student with Fire Element as her primary and Earth Element as her secondary.

Earth Element's defensive and movement capabilities let her successfully dodge Mo Fan's opening strikes. Determined to conserve his limited Magical Energy, Mo Fan avoided intermediate-level spells wherever possible. But when he saw that this Earth-secondary student was harder to deal with than expected, he hesitated for only a moment before calling the Lightning Seal into his left hand while her attention was elsewhere.

The Lightning Seal struck without warning just as she used Earth Wave to dodge a Fire Burst, instantly locking up her body.

Stripped of her mobility, she had no answer for a point-blank Fire Burst. She did have defensive Enchanted Gear — but the sheer concussive force of the blast sent her flying off the platform regardless.

She landed in a heap, hair in disarray, glaring up at Mo Fan with undisguised frustration.

Mo Fan's use of the Lightning Seal had been both sudden and cunning: the blinding flash of the detonating Fire Burst had left her with no time to react at all.

"Next!" Mo Fan called out, his intensity undiminished.