Merlin summoned seven Ignis Spears. He compressed them into thin lines, then weaved them inwards.

Seven flame bullets were formed. They were far hotter than Ignis Spear.

The back of the bullets exploded and they were instantly in front of Isaac’s face.

Isaac swung at the nearest bullet. Just like he had expected, he couldn’t cut it. Merlin had put too much mana into it. Isaac grunted, increasing his own mana output.

He twisted his wrist, diverting the bullet to the side, then his figure flashed. In a split second, the rest of the six bullets had been diverted.

His shirt had been burned. One bullet managed to graze him, causing his arm to start trembling.

’That was the second boost. I have only one left,’ Isaac thought calmly.

Merlin created the seven Ignis Spears again. He compressed them into thin lines, then weaved them together to form a single Firebolt. It was his strongest attack.

Isaac knew he couldn’t dodge this even with his boost.

He took a stance, and distributed the boost unevenly, strengthening the muscles needed for the next sword strike.

Ignoring the rest of the muscles was likely going to cause him a lot of damage. But Isaac didn’t mind. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

In his last life, Merlin never fought him seriously. This was the first time he was trying to kill Isaac.

Even though Isaac was on the back foot, he was calm and a little excited.

He was fighting a reincarnated God. The battle experience was valuable.

The only reason Merlin lost to Knight of Death in the last life was because he had suffered countless injuries over the long course of the war. If he was in perfect health, the result would’ve been different.

Right now, Merlin was in perfect health.

Merlin shot the Firebolt.

Isaac swung his sword.

A huge explosion shook the arena. The bright flash of light forced everyone to cover their eyes.

When they could see again, Isaac’s sword had shattered, and he had been nearly pushed out of the arena.

Merlin, on the other hand, had a cut on his neck.

The protagonist raised his hand and touched the blood seeping from the small cut.

His gaze changed.

After a while, he spoke, "I give up."

"...What?" Isaac frowned.

"I surrender," Merlin said again.

"Why?" Isaac asked. He hadn’t fought enough. He still needed to clear his mind.

Merlin didn’t answer him and looked at the referee.

The referee was confused, but he still announced, "Isaac von Wright has won the Sacred Duel!"

Isaac grunted. The protagonist had likely understood something was different with Isaac.

So, instead of killing him in the duel like he had planned, he was stepping back to observe him.

’This guy is really too paranoid.’

’He must be thinking that someone overtook this body or I reincarnated and just regained my memories.’

’That means I might have hidden trump cards, and I might go berserk if my life is at risk in the duel, and it would endanger the students around, so he decided to surrender,’ Isaac thought.

Isaac stepped down from the stage.

This time, the protagonist followed him without him asking. The protagonist’s gaze remained suspicious and probing.

Isaac was displeased by how the duel turned out. He decided to ignore the protagonist for some time.

He entered his room, collected the money, and told the maid to buy a Griffin’s heart.

Then, he left his dorm room and approached another one.

"Where are we going?" Merlin asked after fifteen minutes of silence.

"Princess Vera’s room," Isaac answered after another minute of silence.

Isaac had two goals in this life: getting stronger.

He wanted to reach Awakened (Advanced) in Magic Core, and First Layer (Advanced) in Weapon Element. If possible, he also wanted to break through to the next major rank in either Magic Core or Weapon Element.

Second, he wanted to stop the war.

Princess Vera was needed for both.

’The money I get from my Ducal House isn’t enough to support the growth of my Magic Core.’

’I can earn a lot of money using communication technology, but rebuilding the technology and selling it would take at least a year.’

’That means for one year, I can’t get strong at a fast pace.’

It was unacceptable.

’I need to start earning a lot of money within this week.’

That was where Princess Vera came in.

In his last life, she was the last member of the royal family. She fought until the end to protect the citizens.

In this life, she was still a throwaway princess, someone who was called ’one of the two scums of noble society.’

’She is a good person, and there is no one who supports her right now.’

She was the perfect person for Isaac to use to get close to the royal family, prepare for the coming war, and make money at the same time.