Earth's Greatest Magus

Zach Talon.

One with the mythical bloodline of a top-tier dragon race, the best and brightest half-blood amongst all of the privileged acolytes in the current generation.

He was an object of admiration for many, but for Emery after his last duel with him, the man was akin to his goal.

"I challenge you, fight me."

For him, the challenge being thrown at him was proof that he had finally obtained the dragon's recognition, something he had been after ever since that day.

Emery's rational thinking was telling him to refuse the challenge. It would be best for him to take his time and not act recklessly as he still had half an academy year to improve. However, the fey blood within that came from his form was burning for another fight. 

Even if his chance of defeat was currently greater than his chance of victory, Emery did not feel an ounce of care. At this moment, the only thing he could feel was his passion for more fights.

"I accept!" Emery replied full of determination and enthusiasm.

The brown-haired young man, Zach Talon, showed a glint of a smile upon hearing Emery's answer.

"Good…" Zach gave a nod of approval. "However, not now… not while you're like this."

He examined Emery's condition before looking into his eyes with pity.

"at noon in 3 days."

Just a moment later, Emery received a notification.

[You have been challenged to a duel.]

[Your duel with Zach Talon will be held in 3 days.]

Without waiting for Emery to respond to the postponement, Zach continued, "This arena is too small and too crowded for a proper battle."

After deciding on a place, the man then immediately flew away from the arena, leaving the crowd silently in awe and anticipation.

As soon as they could no longer see the brown-haired man, clamors of excitement once again took over the audience.

"The battle of two half-bloods! Haha, this will be great, I must watch!!"

"A wolf dares to fight a dragon? How amusing."

"You have to admit though, he's pretty good."

"True… let's see how many seconds he will be able to stay standing."

"Haha, wanna bet?"

Most of the onlookers were anticipating his struggle against the dragon half-blood, but some of them were looking forward to what surprises he would bring them next. The chance was small, but that made it all the more exciting.

From the loud, fired-up talks to the silent whispers of the crowd, Emery ignored them all as he returned to his human form.

As Emery thought about his next battle, a few staff members came and picked up the unconscious Arcana. Since there were no more fights scheduled anytime soon, the audience dispersed and the arena battles were finally over.

Meanwhile, Roran, Annara, and Atlas came to congratulate him.

"You really did it!" Roran quickly walked up to him and held Emery's shoulder.

"Roran, you should be more respectful to your new commander," Annara reminded with a teasing smile.

"Of course." Roran let go of his hand and took a step back. "Congratulations, Commander."

Roran was very happy, and understandably so as it was quite a joyful moment. After all, they were finally able to get their commander position.

However, Annara's smile instantly disappeared when she remembered what transpired after Emery's victory. 

"What were you thinking, accepting that monster's challenge!? Your health is of my concern as long as we're on the same team! You can die if you want after, but… not on my watch!"

Looking back, Emery was also a little surprised by his decision. Now that he was no longer in his fey form, he realized that it was truly too hot-headed of him to accept Zach's challenge. Even so, like the onlookers around, a part of him was also curious about how he would fare against the dragon half-blood.

"I'm sorry, but this is something I have to do," Emery firmly said.

"Urgh, men and their egotistical brains."

Emery only tried to give a reassuring smile in response.

This time, it was Roran's turn to ask, "Are you confident of winning?"

Emery fell into thought. In truth, having experienced how difficult it was to beat the rank 10 Zetto, he was not confident that he would be able to win against the dragon half-blood at all. With Roran's question in mind, he checked Zach's state according to the privilege bracelets.

[Rank 4 - Zach Talon (4)]

[Mental Score: Undefined Rank 5]

[Physical Score: Undefined Rank 4]

Emery carefully thought about his chance before responding shortly after.

"Probably not, but I will try my best."

The man's score brought him mixed feelings. It stated that Zetto, the man with the Titan bloodline, was actually physically stronger than Zach. If he took that as a reference, Emery could probably match the dragon half-blood's strength. Still, he knew that a rank 5 mental score was terrifying, something he should not underestimate under any circumstances.

The answer brought a moment of silence when all of a sudden, the quiet Atlas began to speak.

"According to the latest data of the dragon half-blood Zach's battle against the previous rank 4 and the data from the battle I just saw today, you have a pretty good chance of winning."

"Really!?" Roran was the first to react.

They could not believe their ears. Before they knew it, Emery and the others had turned to look at the half-machine for further explanation.

"Wait…" Annara was not convinced. "How big of a chance does he have?" 

"A 21% chance."

Hearing this, Emery frowned. "How would that be a good chance?"

"You only had a 28% chance to win against Arcana and you won easily, hence I can say that 21% is a pretty big number."

"..."

It seemed that the robot could make jokes.

"If you can beat Zach, that means the title of number 1 half-blood of the generation will be yours," Annara spoke out with a chuckle.

Curious, Emery checked all the known half-bloods on the list of privileged acolytes.

[Rank 4 - Zach Talon]

[Rank 9 - Emery Ambrose]

[Rank 21 - Vida Temari]

[Rank 42 - Annara Vermont]

[Rank 63 - Rofos Trigeson]

Seeing all these names and numbers that made up the unrealized ranking system effectively made everyone more competitive, including himself.

Emery had three days to prepare for the fight against one of the top 5; he definitely should not waste it. Fortunately, his [Undecaying Flesh] would help him back to his prime condition in no time.

What he needed was to significantly increase his power in these three days. There was one way that would help him improve in such a short time, but he had to start doing it immediately.