IDLE Database - Chapter 61

“That’s fast!”

“Is that the Concept he picked? It didn’t look as unstable as the others.”

“Huh? What else are you expecting? He has the spherical Energy Quintessence.”

“… I know it’s rare and it can only benefit him early on but I’m extremely envious of it! Who would not want to easily activate your enlightened Concept?!”

Despite that kind of commentary from the instructors that was slowly heating up, the duel between Aldrin and Frederic continued.

Barely saving himself from losing in one kick, Frederic stabilized his footing and reformed his broken stance.

Even though he suffered a setback, the grin on his face remained as if he’s enjoying it to fight someone that seemed to be exceedingly stronger than him.

On the other hand, Aldrin wondered if his kick wasn’t strong enough. Frederic easily stood up despite hitting him squarely.

Although he mainly used Striker’s pre-equipped saber and his own sword that could overlap with the other saber, he had a fair share of experience using his feet to kick those insects.

‘That’s right. I have a multiplier in the Lower Dimension that can allow me to hunt down even those with Totally Impossible difficulty. This is the true extent of my strength despite my advantage of being a middle Stage 1 Energy Refiner. It’s only slightly ahead of Frederic or… this guy is just a total freak when it comes to combat. In any case, I can still be considered holding back if I won’t use my other concepts like Shadow Clone or Shadow Blade.’ Aldrin pondered as he once again readied himself to face Frederic in the middle of their makeshift arena.

“Show it again, Aldrin! This time, I’ll block you!”

After dusting himself off Frederic hollered while his refined energy surged around his fist, giving it a slightly metallic color.

Watching and observing his opponent, Aldrin made a guess about his opponent’s concept.

It’s most likely along the lines of Iron Skin.

“It’s not easy to use it. It almost drained my refined energy.” Aldrin blatantly lied. That’s how it is normally, if he’s the same as them.

Unlike the incomplete manifestation of their Concept, his Shadow Steps were complete which used up more refined energy.

“Who are you trying to fool? Then I’m going to make you use it again! Take this!”

Frederic disappeared again, but the same as earlier, he just charged forward with his fist aimed at Aldrin.

Upon seeing that, Aldrin couldn’t help but shake his head and wryly smiled.

Truly a battle-maniac.

In the end, he had to answer to his enthusiasm to fight him squarely.

Under the eyes of every spectator, the duel between the two raged on.

After a few minutes wherein Aldrin fought against Frederic without using his Concept, the current trend still hadn’t changed. With their exchanges of punches, kicks and throws, Aldrin remained the one to always come out on top.

And due to this, Aldrin realized that trying to be low-key might be harder than he expected.

Frederic was one of the few who could withstand the pressure from the officials that were probably stronger than their instructors. And by that information, he’s one of the most talented new Energy Refiner in this camp, if not the strongest except for Aldrin himself.

And being one of those few with strong knees that withstood the pressure, he’s the same as the guy in front of him.

And the more this fight dragged on, the less confident he felt with his acting skills. If he continued to purposely hold back in this training camp, Janet or the other instructors had the possibility to catch him on his act.

‘Then aside from showing my other Concepts, I just have to go at this normally and make use of this camp to train myself. It’s not like their attention on me will be more heightened than it is at the moment. My spherical Energy Quintessence actually covered up for some of my abnormalities.’

He heard the conversation between those instructors. And he’s not wrong when he thought that this Duel was just a way for him to display what it meant to have a spherical Energy Quintessence.

As long as he didn’t show anything too absurd, he would be safe.

Having decided that, Aldrin increased the intensity of his attacks.

“Let’s see if you can stand up with this again.” As his Energy Quintessence churned, his arms and legs became covered with more refined energy.

“That’s right! That’s how you do it, Aldrin!” Still with his somewhat crazed laughter, Frederic bravely fought head-on even though Aldrin’s connected hits always made his innards tremble from how strong it was.

In any case, with Frederic using his unstable Concept to its maximum possible efficiency, Aldrin also had to make sure not to be hit directly by it.

Dodging, blocking and keeping his distance. With every punch and kick Frederic would send him, he would first try to dodge and counterattack. If that didn’t work, only then would he use his Concept, saving his refined energy.

In the end, their duel slowly switched to becoming a one-sided beating, with Aldrin only receiving countable scratches.

Furthermore, whenever he would use his Concept, it became a certainty for him to hit Frederic and send him rolling away.

Even if his opponent could be likened to a berserker, the battle-maniac was a lot different than actual berserkers in most games he played. He didn’t possess the ability to become stronger the more his health points decreased. On the contrary, with his nonstop use of his refined energy, he’s about to be depleted.

And that’s the chance Aldrin took to finally end this dragged-out duel that only got prolonged because of Frederic’s resilience.

As soon as Frederic showed signs of exhaustion, his already slightly offensive strategy switched to an aggressive one.

In less than a minute after that, Aldrin’s refined energy-covered finishing kick successfully sent Frederic out of the ring in an extremely flashy fashion.

“A-aldrin wins!” The referee shouted, slightly stuttering.

From the start of the duel, it was clear not just to him but to every spectator that Aldrin owned his opponent.

After that announcement, everyone somehow cheered, be it trainees or their instructors.

And although some were worried about Frederic, the battle-maniac had already sat up from where he landed, cheering the same way as the others.

In the middle of the ring, Aldrin, who was basking with the cheers, looked around, accepted the situation and returned to his seat.

He thought he would be questioned by the instructors to explain his unnatural strength but in the end, they kept their mouths shut as the referee called out two more names who would duke it out next, making the cheers being thrown at him recede.

“That’s amazing, Aldrin! What was that you said earlier? That you would be careful against my Concept? Ha! I don’t think I can last as long as Frederic if I got matched against you.”

After her cheerful praise, Irina showed a bitter smile as she imagined herself fighting Aldrin. Naturally, there’s no way she could blame Aldrin. It’s clear for all to see that it’s Frederic who’s stubbornly refusing to admit defeat. On top of that, it’s a friendly duel. The two were smiling all the time.

“I still stood with what I said. But thanks, Irina..” Aldrin awkwardly accepted her praise and ignored Clark’s jealous glare.