Beatdown

Suddenly, Cedric's face, which was almost playful before, changed to a serious one as he turned to face Lyrian.

Lyrian looked at the fat boy's body.

'Good. This level of strength should do.' He thought to himself as he clenched his fist, seeing that there hadn't been any serious damage done to the boy.

Cedric furrowed his brows in confusion before tapping the lanky kid lightly so that he would step up and fight.

The boy looked back at Cedric with a confused expression, expecting the two of them to fight Lyrian just like before.

To be frank, the tall kid was actually slightly scared of Lyrian right now. Before, he had 2v1ed him, but right now Cedric was clearly wanting to use him to test Theageld's strength.

After taking a look at Cedric's serious expression, the lanky boy knew that if he didn't fight right now he would get beaten up right later on, so reluctantly, he steeled himself and took a determined step towards his opponent.

Convincing himself that the boy was just a fake noble weakling, the boy released a kick toward Lyrian's side--just then Lyrian took a back-step, avoiding it easily.

A flicker of worry crossed the lanky boy's face, but there was no turning back now.

He mustered up the courage and attempted a swift punch, but once again, his fist missed Lyrian's mark.

'Huh... I wanted to gauge how strong I was compared to normal kids my age, but I think these idiots will be way too weak for that.'

Lyrian muttered to himself, stepping to the side. With force, he slammed his fist down on the lanky boy's neck, sending him crashing to the ground with a solid thump.

'Scan.' He said in his head whilst looking at the lanky kid's body.

┏━━━Scan━━━┓

Name: Bokus Laus

Species: Human

Age: 9

Overall Power (OP): 1

Health: 14/14

Stamina: 15/15

Strength: 17

Agility: 16

Defense: 15

Rank: Normal (23/100)

┗━━━━━━━━━┛

'I guess I was right. They won't be good test subjects...' He said, seeing how weak the boy was.

But just in case, he decided to scan Cedric as well, who was quickly storming over to him with an angry expression.

┏━━━Scan━━━┓

Name: Cedric

Species: Human

Age: 9

Overall Power (OP): 2

Health: 27/27

Stamina: 26/26

Strength: 28

Agility: 31

Defense: 25

Rank: Normal (76/100)

┗━━━━━━━━━┛

Lyrian's eyes widened slightly in surprise at these stats. Cedric was far stronger than the other boys.

Most notably, his agility was above 30, indicating that dodging his attacks might actually pose a challenge.

Without warning, Cedric threw a punch at maximum power toward Lyrian.

Lyrian swiftly leaned to the side, narrowly avoiding Cedric's powerful punch as it whizzed past him.

The force behind the strike created a tiny gust of wind that ruffled Lyrian's hair, a testament to Cedric's strength.

Realizing that dodging alone wouldn't be enough, Lyrian decided to put his agility to the test. He swiftly ducked under Cedric's follow-up punch, feeling the rush of air as it sailed over his head.

As he rose back up, Lyrian countered with a quick series of punches and kicks, aiming for Cedric's exposed sides. Of course, none of his attacks were at full power.

Cedric, however, proved to be a formidable opponent. He deftly parried Lyrian's strikes, his movements fluid and precise.

The two engaged in a fast-paced exchange of blows, their fists and feet moving with astonishing speed.

Lyrian couldn't help but be impressed by Cedric's skills. Despite his arrogant demeanor, Cedric possessed a solid understanding of martial arts and exhibited a level of proficiency that surpassed his age.

"Where did you learn how to fight like this?" Lyrian suddenly asked amid their fight.

"What?" Cedric said with confusion before pausing for a moment.

"Obviously I learned it from my martial arts teacher! As a noble, I'm different from you peasants. I have a duty to become strong so that I can enter a prominent academy and honor my family by making a name for myself!" He yelled.

'An academy?' Lyrian thought to himself, remembering that kids in this world began schooling at the age of ten, which he was only one year away from.

"An academy will help you make a name for yourself huh?" Lyrian asked rhetorically.

In reality, he was actually just asking himself that question in consideration.

"Wha- stop saying such stupid things. Why do you care anyways!? It's not like you are going to get into a prominent academy! For you, I guess you can't make a name for yourself!"

…

"Is that right? And what If I do get into one?"

With a confident smirk, Lyrian decided it was time to put an end to the exhilarating showdown.

He shifted into a higher gear, unleashing a rapid onslaught of strikes that left Cedric struggling to keep up.

Bam! Lyrian's fist found its mark, connecting solidly with Cedric's jaw. The impact reverberated through the air like a crack of thunder.

Cedric's eyes widened in a mix of surprise and frustration, his mouth agape as if he were trying to catch his breath.

Seizing the opportunity, Lyrian pressed on, his movements flowing seamlessly from one devastating strike to the next.

He weaved around Cedric's feeble attempts to defend himself, delivering a perfectly timed roundhouse kick that landed with a resounding thud against Cedric's chest.

The force of the blow sent Cedric hurtling backward, his body spiraling through the air.

Cedric crashed to the ground with a heavy impact, a cloud of dust billowing around him.

Despite the sudden increase in power, Lyrian still hadn't gone all out.

'An academy! That might be what I'm needing the most right now.' Lyrian began to think to himself, remained of the existence of schooling.

He never attended school back on Earth, and for years he didn't attend it on Zaryn either, so he nearly forgot about its existence.

But seeing as how his progress was plateauing recently, a school that gave him resources to further gain strength, especially when it came to information on magic, was pretty much just what he was looking for.

Making up his mind to look into academies, Lyrian freed the dog that was tied up, giving it a pat on the head before it ran off.

Before leaving, however, he made sure to loot both the fat and skinny kids and finally Cedric as well.

Unlike the other two, however, he wasn't unconscious. Still, he could barely move his body due to the trauma it induced from the fight.

"Don't touch me! You bastard! You're filth!" Cedric screamed in an arrogant rage as Lyrian walked over to him.

To his dismay, however, Lyrian showed no mercy, looting him of every last coin he had.

As Lyrian made his way back home, he solely thought of the thing that was going to be his new obsession: Academy.