Kai walked down the wooden pathways toward the village training grounds, wearing a borrowed green shirt that was honestly a little too tight around his shoulders.
The entire elven village was already gathered around the circular arena, because watching a high-level guard captain execute a stray human was probably the best free entertainment they had seen in decades.
Captain Elian was standing right in the middle of the fighting ring, looking like a completely polished action figure, holding his silver sword and glaring at Kai with hatred.
Lyra was standing near the edge of the crowd with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, trying her best to look totally unbothered, but her pointed ears were still a very bright shade of pink from their crazy morning together.
Kai stepped over the low wooden fence and into the ring without a single weapon in his hands, completely ignoring the angry murmurs coming from the traditional elf crowd.
"So about this duel, Elian," Kai started casually, rolling his shoulders to loosen up his muscles.
"You are wearing a full set of metal armour for a friendly morning duel, and I am literally just wearing pants and a borrowed shirt. Are you sure you want to do this in front of Lyra? Because if you actually lose to an unarmed guy wearing casual clothes, your reputation is basically going to be ruined forever."
"You will not speak her name with your filthy mouth!" Elian yelled, his face turning a darker shade of purple as he pointed his glowing blade right at Kai's chest.
"You are nothing but a trickster who somehow bypassed the elder's magic, but you cannot fake actual combat skills. I am going to show everyone exactly how weak you really are."
Elian did not even wait for a formal signal to begin the match, choosing instead to lunge forward with incredible speed.
He swung his silver sword in a wide arc that was clearly meant to take Kai's head clean off his shoulders.
But unfortunately, to Kai's newly boosted agility stats, the angry elf captain actually looked like he was moving in slow motion.
Kai simply took a very relaxed step backwards, letting the blade slice through the empty air less than an inch from his nose.
He didn't even blink as the weapon whistled past his face, completely trusting the stat boost he had farmed from Lyra last night.
'Wow, she really gave me a massive stat buff,' Kai thought with a smile, easily side-stepping a second aggressive thrust from the captain.
'I feel so light on my feet right now, and this guy is just fighting like an angry toddler swinging a stick.'
Elian gritted his teeth and launched into a very long and overly complicated sword routine.
He was spinning and jumping around the arena, letting his magic flare brightly because he obviously wanted to look super cool and heroic in front of the female elves watching from the sidelines.
But doing all those fancy spins just wastes a ton of stamina, and it leaves your back completely exposed to anyone who actually knows how to fight.
"You are trying way too hard, man," Kai laughed, effortlessly ducking under a high sweeping attack and casually tapping Elian right on the back of his shiny helmet as he passed by.
"Lyra actually likes guys who are a bit more relaxed and confident. You are just sweating and yelling, and it is honestly not a very attractive look for a guard captain."
That specific comment totally broke Elian's remaining self-control.
He let out a roar of anger and abandoned his fancy sword forms entirely, raising his blade high above his head for an overhead strike that left his entire torso completely unprotected.
He was so blinded by his own jealousy that he didn't even see Kai shifting his weight forward.
Kai stepped directly inside the guard captain's personal space before the sword could even start coming down.
He clenched his right fist and activated his level two Hard Strike skill, feeling a rush of warm energy pool directly into his knuckles and drove it straight into the centre of Elian's shiny chest plate with everything he had.
The sound of the impact echoed loudly across the quiet training grounds like a cracking whip.
The armour actually dented inward from the heavy blow, and all the air was instantly knocked right out of Elian's lungs, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he dropped his sword in the dirt before completely folding over and collapsing onto the ground like a broken puppet.
The entire elf village went absolutely silent.
Hundreds of elves were staring at the arena with their mouths wide open, totally unable to process how a stray human just knocked out their best warrior with a single punch.
"Well, that was disappointing," Kai sighed, shaking out his hand and looking down at the unconscious captain.
"I really thought a level twenty guy would put up a slightly better fight."
[Target Defeated: Captain Elian - Level 20]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[You have reached Level 7.]
[Skill Upgraded: Hard Strike is now Level 3. Cooldown reduced.]
[New Passive Unlocked: Provocation.]
[Enemies are more likely to make sloppy mistakes when you insult them.]
[Mana +20]
But the drama was definitely not over yet.
Three other elf guards wearing the same silver armour suddenly jumped over the wooden fence and rushed into the arena.
They looked angry that their boss had just been humiliated in front of the whole town, and they clearly did not care about the traditional rules of a one-on-one duel anymore.
"You used some kind of dark human trickery!" the first guard shouted, pulling out a pair of long hunting daggers and running straight at Kai.
"There is no way you defeated the captain fairly!"
'I guess we are doing a group project now,' Kai thought, rolling his eyes as he easily dodged the first dagger swipe.
These guys were probably only level ten or twelve, so they were even slower and more predictable than their boss.
The first guard tried to stab him in the ribs, but Kai simply grabbed his wrist, twisted it hard, and used his boosted strength to throw the guy directly into the second guard, who was charging up behind him.
They completely tangled their legs together and crashed heavily into the dirt in a mess of silver armour and confused yelling.
'Time to finish it up.'