Chapter 34: Faltering support

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

Tom spent his time training, making some offensive spells since his family did not have many of those, all the while he finally got an idea of how to 'trick' the devils.

It wasn't foolproof and could target only a certain group of devils, but the chances his plot would be discovered were very low if he did it in just the right way.

Who would have known that stopping his constant research and unwinding a bit from it via devising offensive spells would bring him so much inspiration? Destruction was indeed a great source of creativity.

Unfortunately, Tom didn't have the time to test his ideas yet.

He stalled the duel for as long as possible but he only managed to get a month-long preparatory time period. Even getting this much was already a miracle. But now, it was already time to stand up for himself.

Tom and Natasha were led to the room where Tom's duel with Nicholas Stern, heir of the Stern Family, was supposed to happen.

They were currently in the Belgrade Mansion because as the one who received a duel challenge, Tom had several 'rights'. He could get a preparatory time period, which he milked to its limits, and he could ask another family to facilitate the duel if his family could not do so.

Usually, a high-ranking family would refuse this kind of request but Tom's relationship with the Belgrade family was not yet all that horrible so here he was. This way it was much safer for him as no mid-rank family would be daring enough to cause him an 'accident' in the duel if it would have inevitably sullied the reputation of the Belgrade family since that was a one-way ticket to become their enemy.

Entering the basement of the Belgrade Mansion, a wide area, no doubt increased in size by spatial manipulation, appeared in front of them. The room was all white and massive, big enough to facilitate a duel between even high-rank magicians that could destroy houses in one go with their spells.

Since magicians usually made dealings with the devils from the very start of the conception of their magical system, the Magician Community adopted the Devils' way of ranking strength and the ranks were Low-rank, Mid-rank, High-rank, Ultimate-rank, Satan-rank, and the newest was Super-Devil-rank, but the last one was completely irrelevant even to the best of magicians because they would be thrilled to reach at best Ultimate-rank after a lifetime of effort.

There was no magician that ever reached Satan-rank prowess and for a good reason too. After all, their system was made by Merlin and it was practically just a knock-off from the Devils' magical system.

That was another reason why human magicians adopted the devils' power ranking system. It just fits. It had established clear borders for each rank based on the amount of energy one had at his disposal, and while it wasn't absolute, in fact, it was pretty scuffed in most scenarios, it more or less worked due to the high differences between the ranks.

The higher one went, the more energy he had to have at his disposal, and that by default meant the more potent, dense, and stronger his energy had to be. That created a clear distinction between that kind of individual and those under him in rank.

Funnily enough, due to this, the power ranking was quite accurate.

Fortunately, unlike Devils, there was no confusing mumbo jumbo between class and rank when it came to magicians. An example would be that every newborn of devil nobility was instantly High-class, which was just a designation of their rank in their society. It didn't mean a baby had high-rank prowess right off the bat.

That system worked for them only because every pure-blood noble devil had the potential to reach high-rank prowess just thanks to his genes and parentage, and usually will achieve it before he reaches adulthood if he puts in a bit of effort, which was why their society was so easily divided into its social classes with the nobility on the undeniable top.

Humans, however, didn't have an inborn advantage like that. They all more or less started on the same starting line. Weak.

Then again, that might or might not be a blessing in disguise. Many young devils were lazy since they would eventually grow into their power by just breathing and lazing around and they already belonged to a high social class too so why bother training and improving themselves, right?

And yet, despite the effort of human magicians, they could never match monsters like the current Satans who were already born with an unrivaled potential for strength and assurance that they will eventually grow into said potential, and who also trained themselves to the ground, increasing their natural prowess to incredible heights at a very quick pace in their youth.

With the lack of innate potential and lesser lifespan, human magicians simply could not compete. Not with their current methods. It was a waste of effort for those who wanted to reach the top and Tom recognized that. Which is why he didn't follow in these footsteps and instead was trying to devise his own way of getting strong.

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When Tom and Natasha entered the preparation room, the first person that approached them was unsurprisingly Lord Belgrade who amiably smiled as Tom slightly bowed in a show of respect and gratitude.

"You are in a quite precarious situation, brat." The man said with amusement. "Your opponent, Nicholas Stern, is Mid-rank like you but he is on the verge of advancing to High-rank."

Now that was information that made Tom falter a bit. The energy level differences between ranks were no joke!

Considering that the only way to avoid a shitton of future problems was to win the duel and the fact Tom was not even average Mid-rank as far as mana amounts went...

Tom could only wryly smile, "Then I guess I am lucky that high mana levels don't mean instant victory."

Of course, he was aware that as an heir to a middle-class family, Nicholas will definitely have at his disposal some powerful spells, unlike Tom who came from an upstart family.

That's why his statement rang hollow to Lord Belgrade who reassuringly smiled at Tom's 'confidence', but his eyes held a bit of pity. It showed what he thought the outcome would be like and Tom couldn't really rebuke him. Not when he didn't feel as confident as he was portraying.

"All you can do is try your best. At least you both will come out of it alive." He came closer to Tom and patted his shoulder, "Something Lord Jasin was definitely not happy about."

Lord Belgrade then subtly motioned with his head towards the right and when Tom's eyes briefly wandered there, he came eye to eye with the furious Jason Jasin, murderously glaring at him from the side of the preparation room belonging to the Stern Family.

Tom raised his eyebrow at the man and asked, "Does he know I didn't kill his sons? For all I know, it could be the pricks trying to bring me down, just so they would get a reason to challenge me."

Of course, Jason could read Tom's lips and Tom was aware of that... which not only stumped Jason but also made him angrier. But more importantly, his eyes showed that Tom's attempt planted a seed of doubt in his allies in the man.

Lord Belgrade shook his head at Tom's antics, "You can always join my family, you know? It will help you out of this conflict."

As much as Lord Belgrade wanted to believe Tom could weather the upcoming storm, he had to be realistic. Even some high-class magician families will try to take their pound of flesh from the young magician if he loses the duel.

"I... will respectfully decline." Tom politely refused, showing his stubbornness.

Releasing a deep resigned breath, Lord Belgrade just shrugged, "In that case, I am sorry but as much as I like your guts, if you don't win this duel, I can't use my Family name to help you any further."

Throwing his lots with someone whose prestige was about to get critically hit was not good for his family name. Personal likes and dislikes had to go aside when it came to the family benefits. In fact, if Tom loses here, Lord Belgrade would also most likely be among the people trying to further challenge Tom to gain benefits.

Putting the business contract between them as stakes in a challenge would definitely boost the Belgrade Family's income when they won.

"I understand." Tom wryly said.

At least the man was straightforward with him. Not that Tom intended to let others walk all over him even if he indeed lost. But they didn't need to know that just yet.

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