Lord of Charm

'Two more to go.'

Gale thought to himself while walking out of the Arena. He checked the sixth-rank dishes again on his watch.

"You have 4 record stones; you can open the fifth-rank dishes. Open?"

"No."

Right now, he held 5 records in the academy – youngest in the top 10, youngest in the top 3, youngest to advance to the fifth stage, the best result in the speed challenge, and the best result in the power challenge.

'I still have some time before my fight against the top student, so let's use it to break some other records.'

He left the academy and headed to the forest he had some fond memories of. As he entered, he looked at the map and started jogging toward an old friend.

He didn't bother being quiet as he ran forward; whenever a beast came close to him he'd push it away with a strong wind that it couldn't resist. As part of the academy's culture, students tried not to kill beasts they didn't need to kill, as to retain resources.

Even by killing only those they needed, they already killed a lot of beasts, but it was still not enough to harm the forest's ecology.

Soon, he reached the place he had to run away from last time and greeted a certain tiger with a smile.

"Hi buddy, I'm here for a rematch. I hope you don't mind, do you?"

The tiger just responded with a roar and pounced on Gale while launching huge boulders coated with fire. Gale just sent a strong wind mixed with his decaying fire that ate the burning boulders and continued toward the tiger.

The tiger quickly dodged the attack and pounced at Gale. Gale's connection to mana was superior to the tiger's as a ruler human, but his body was still slightly weaker due to their starting points and their body structure.

Gale stepped to the side and the tiger missed him by a few centimeters. Gale then boosted himself with power and speed using fire mana and wind mana and quickly sent a punch just above the tiger's back leg.

*ROARRR*

The tiger roared in pain as it limped on the wounded leg. Although it wasn't enough to break the bone of an intermediate elite beast with earth affinity, it was enough to make it hurt a lot.

Gale then summoned a barrage of wind blades with decaying fire around it, and the tiger was too slow to dodge. It was an offense-oriented beast, and it chose to fight offense with an attack.

The tiger summoned its favorite fire boulders again to meet with the air blades, yet the blades had the upper hand; each blade cut a boulder and mutually destroyed another boulder.

Soon, the wind blades were stopped only a few meters away from the tiger, and this distance only got shorter with every second. Eventually, the tiger could only try to jump away and dodge, but the pain in its leg slowed it down, and the wind blades were homing on it.

*ROARRR*

It roared in desperation this time as a large cut was formed on its side. Once this blade hit it, it could no longer resist, and it was soon lying dead on the ground.

"Alessa, check this out, I killed an intermediate elite beast."

Gale wanted Alessa to write down this record. He already knew that the record holders were 29 for a lower elite beast and 48 for an intermediate elite beast.

He figured the first was a lower elite human who could defeat a lower elite beast while still in the True Mage Stage, but the other must have waited to reach the Expert Mage Stage to win against an intermediate beast.

"2 records written. Gale Stormborn is the youngest to defeat a lower elite beast and the youngest to defeat an intermediate elite beast."

It was meaningless to make him fight against a lower elite beast when he already killed an intermediate one, so Gale just broke both records at once.

"Haha, awesome. Open the sixth-rank dishes menu."

"Confirmed. 0 record stones left."

'Now I just need to keep breaking a few records to also open the sixth-grade potions menu.'

Gale took the beast's carcass with him to give it to the academy and receive some money from it. Intermediate elite beasts' carcasses were expensive, and it'd be a waste to just leave one there to rot.

After selling it in the exchange office, Gale went to his room and practiced his mental strength until it was time to go to the duel.

The first ranked was a male student named Jerry Gladwell, and he could recognize him from the mission they took together a few months earlier.

Gale walked past the students who kept screaming his name and asking to date him, sleep with him, or just shake his hand until he finally managed to get to the arena.

He found the seats completely full, and there were still people outside the arena who couldn't enter. There were students standing on the stairs, and even the hallways were full.

'My fight takes place on the second floor, which is the sturdiest floor for Advanced Mages. They're probably worried about attacks of mixed elements, especially since one element has SS affinity and the other is SSS.'

Gale found his way to the arena and waited for his opponent who entered a few seconds later. Jerry was used to the noise since he was always popular as the first ranked and even before that, but this time almost none of the cheers were for him, leaving him exasperated.

However, he wasn't delusional. Although he wanted some attention, he knew why Gale was much more popular given his superior looks and the age he advanced. After all, Jerry didn't hold even a single record, while Gale held 7.

"Lord Gale, I know that I'm not strong enough to issue the second floor, so it must mean you are. Although it means I can't win, I hope you won't mind if I do my best and try to learn from you."

Jerry knew his limits well; he was already challenged in the past and knew he would only be sent to the fourth floor if not for Gale. The second and third floors were meant only for Advanced Mages who could combine spells from different elements, which he didn't master yet.

Since he understood it meant that Gale was much stronger than him, and he already knew that Gale killed Joanna in a previous duel, he wanted to show respect so Gale wouldn't kill him.

"Don't worry about it, do your best so we can improve together."

Gale calmed him down and took his stance before the duel started.

"3…2…1… start."

Alessa counted down and declared the beginning of the duel.

Gale ran forward, strengthened by both wind and fire and slid under Jerry's water snakes that tried to bind him. They started the duel 100 meters away from each other, and Gale crossed it in under 2 seconds when sprinting at 225 kph. He could run at 150 kph without boosting himself with a wind spell, so he was far faster when he used it.

He dodged the snakes that kept pouncing on him and soon arrived in front of Jerry and sent a kick. Jerry was a trained fighter, and although he was slower, he could at least take a step back.

However, Gale already released his wind boost for speed, and a fire wisp came out of his kick and connected with Jerry's stomach, leaving a large burn. He had a much faster casting speed compared to normal humans.

"AHHH!"

The worst part was that there were 10 more wisps around him, and he would've died if Gale chose to let them burn him.

"I surrender!"

Jerry quickly surrendered; he knew that he had to surrender when Gale showed mercy or next time he'd just suffer more.

"Winner – Gale Stormborn. Gale Stormborn is now ranked first in the list for students under 35."

Alessa declared Gale's victory and the crowd cheered loudly. Jerry was ashamed; he believed he could at least force Gale to use a combined element spell to justify the usage of the second floor, yet he was defeated too quickly.

"Gale Stormborn broke the record for youngest to be ranked first. One record stone granted."

Gale smiled when he heard the notification and quickly jumped from the arena and sprinted out of the arena. He was tired of the screams of his fans and the dating offers he was getting from dozens of women even a few men.

'Now I just need to wait some days to be moved to the other age group and break a few more records for the free potions.'

Gale thought to himself while enjoying an expensive piece of sixth-grade meat at his apartment. He smacked his lips when he finished the dish and quickly decided to order another. Those dishes were too tasty.

A few days later, his Alessa Watch finally received the notification he was waiting for.

"You've been transferred to the age group for students between 36-45. You're currently unranked, please issue a challenge to improve your rank."

Gale smiled with anticipation when he heard the notification, but soon a few others followed.

"You've been granted special permission to remain in this apartment for another year before having to move out."

Gale was satisfied with this decision too; he had been around 6 months in the academy yet changed his room once before. He didn't feel like changing apartments every few months.

"You've broken the record for the highest speed in your age group."

"You've broken the record for the highest strength in your age group."

"You've broken the record to hold the most records at once."

"You've received 3 record stones."