If looks could kill, then Asher would've already died several times over. A burning, searing rage bubbled up inside Zara and spread all throughout her body. If there's one thing, she absolutely couldn't stand, it was getting rudely interrupted.

The thoughts she had about crushing Asher in the duel turned all the more savage.

A chilling wide smile spread on Zara's face as she kept her gaze locked on Asher while saying,  "You know what? I'll go that extra mile and do two hundred Spirit Coins. Unlike you, I certainly know I can just casually throw out money like this."

Asher simply didn't care about how much Zara's rage was growing. He calmly took out his dingy blue ring and began walking towards the middle-aged staff.

"Tch." Zara clicked her teeth as no matter how many times she tried to provoke him, Asher seemed firm in his hot air confidence.

She then took out a more detailed and luxurious blue ring, obviously superior looking to Asher's ring. They had both then handed their rings to the middle-aged staff.

The middle-aged staff quickly inspected both rings before nodding at them.

At the same time, Asher and Zara backed off to fifteen feet apart from each other. Zara stood still with her arms arrogantly folded.

While Asher remained calm with his arms hanging down to his sides.

For one second, everything went utterly silent.

People didn't feel such a massive rise of anticipation on who would win the duel. But there were ones who were curious about what kind of tricks Asher has since he was so seemingly confident.

More than anything, though, the students wanted to see how cruel a pissed-off Zara will be in this duel.

After the second of silence passed, the middle-aged staff took one look between Zara and Asher.

With his gaze being completely indifferent, he finally announced,

"Begin!"

After calling the duel, the middle-aged staff immediately vanished from sight.

Zara stood imposingly arrogant, her body posture wholly relaxed.

She didn't take this duel seriously for even a second. Right then, Zara was about to jeeringly taunt Asher in taking one free move to then on utterly destroy his confidence the next move.

But Asher didn't even wait for a half of a second. The instant the middle-aged staff called the duel, Asher's right hand burst into surging Ghost Lightning!

For a very brief split second, Asher noted how much smoother it was to gather his Ghost Lightning energy after cultivating Spirit Mana.

Asher had then raised his Ghost Lightning palm and fired off a surging stream of Ghost Lightning all in the same motion.

'Zzzt!'

Zara's eyes briefly widened at how swift Asher's attack was. The Ghost Lightning soared at a flying speed, nearly reaching Zara in just a couple of seconds.

Zara only had a second to react as she ignited her hand into brilliant orange flames! Raising her flaming palm, she instantly erected a sturdy orange fire shield.

In the very instance Zara created it, Asher's Ghost Lightning violently crushed on her orange fire shield!

'Bang!'

And against all students' expectations, Zara's shield didn't easily block the Ghost Lightning. Asher's Ghost Lightning had actually slightly overpowered the fire shield and burst it into tiny wisps of flames!

Zara slightly grunted, her eyes dangerously narrowed as she was sent skidding back by the force of Asher's Ghost Lightning.

On the first strike, not only was she taken by surprise, but her power also couldn't take Asher's attack?!

Zara found this as simply inconceivable!

Her rage increasingly surged to a boiling point as she decided she wasn't going to hold back at all!

Zara had then forcefully stomped her feet on the metallic stage, stopping herself from skidding back any more distance. She strutted her right arm forward as she gathered a massive sum of Fire energy into her palm.

Right then, Zara was going to unleash a frightening attack upon Asher. But as she lifted her head, Zara's eyes widened once again as shock filled her veins.

Asher was already three feet from her face! He was ruthless and relentlessly pressured Zara without giving her any breathing room.

Without stopping, Asher threw a Ghost Lightning coated punch straight towards Zara's mildly shocked face.

Zara, once again, only had a second to react. The orange flame on her palm burned more intensely as she poured a colossal sum of power into this attack.

A split-second cruel smirk lifted up on her lips as Zara's sure she's going to destroy Asher's arm to a mangled flesh!

Their Magical Power fists moved at speeds that were difficult to track with ordinary eyes, and they violently clashed.

'Bang!'

Ghost Lightning and Orange flames burst into the wind as Asher and Zara's Magical Power fists clashed against each other. Their powers caused the wind to increasingly pick up to a slight chaotic pace.

"Ahh!! Dammit!!"

Zara's pain-filled voice blared out in the whole dueling arena.

For what seemed like the standard for this duel, everyone's expectation was subverted once again. Instead of Asher getting utterly decimated, Zara was the one sent soaring back like a ragdoll while she shrieked in pain.

After a couple of seconds of flying back, Zara quickly lost momentum and began to pathetically roll on the metallic stage.

In that instance, everyone was utterly shocked. Silence had permeated the whole dueling arena again.

Now, everyone's anticipation was suddenly explosively surging!

It looked so surreal, but everyone clearly saw Asher directly clashing with Zara's vast sum of power. Any one of them can claim the first attack was a surprise attack, and Zara was holding back.

But for the second attack, Zara's Magical aura was blaring throughout the dueling arena, indicating she was using her real power. Furthermore, their Magical Power directly clashing with each other was nothing but a testament to Asher's prowess.

And really, Asher, some no-named quiet kid actually came out on top! Looking at Asher's stance, he wasn't affected at all by Zara's power.

After a silent second, a dam of murmurs burst through the dueling arena.

"This-this-this….but how?! Zara literally destroys students who didn't even need the Ceremony to awaken!"

"She was even beating ass in her own Gang on this stage! And anyone of them could beat our asses!!"

"Can this Asher kid really make history on the first day of the year?!"

Within the wide noises of students, Reese and Kylee were utterly awe-struck. Never in their life did they see Asher erupt with this kind of power!

But right then, a cold air swept through the entire dueling arena, making everyone go silent.

"Vipond!!" Zara's mighty shriek rumbled into the air.

She was right back on her feet as an incredible aura of power was quickly burst bursting out from her. A faint orange glow began appearing around Zara's body as her aura continued to increase in power.

Asher knitted his eyebrows a bit as a slight pressure weighed on his body.

He knows this type of power surging from Zara.

This was the manifestation of her full Spirit Aura!

During Asher's previous training, he had always applied Aura Energy to only various parts of his body, never all at once.

But doing it all at once allows anyone to release the full power of their Spirit Aura and manifest a visible aura of their Magical Power.

Zara had gained light orange flaming aura around her body as she intensely stared at Asher. Her orange flaming aura made her look a thousand times more frightening than she already is.

The students all had their eyes burst open and their gazes intently locked on the duel. It was legitimately anyone's duel now! Zara was going all out!

Immediately when she surged her Spirit Aura, Zara jumped a surprisingly twenty feet high in the air. Her hand pointed directly at Asher while shouting,

"Know hell, Vipond!"

'Chi!'

A vast orange flaming palm burst from Zara's hand and glid straight at Asher. Against this vast flaming palm, Asher seemingly didn't move for a couple of seconds.

When seeing his lack of movement, the students all thought Asher was locked by Zara's immense Spirit Aura prowess.

Reese was clenching his fist while his gaze hardened.

"Ah!!" Kylee intensely reacted as she felt her whole breathing hitched.

And all the way over with the Genius ranking students area, nobody was paying attention to Elsa. If they were, they all would've been immensely shocked.

Elsa's eyebrows had tightly furrowed together, causing creases to form on her face. Her deeply locked emotions were quickly leaking out, throwing her mind in an increasing state of chaos.

However, despite what everyone else thought, Asher wasn't the one to be so easily outclassed.

'Zzzt!!'

Asher's power suddenly blared out in the dueling arena as his Spirit Aura fully surged! A Ghost Lightning aura covered his entire body, giving Asher a majestic Lightning presence.

In just a manner of seconds, the students felt topsy turvy.

They all know Asher was someone who awakened from the Ceremony. So reasonably, he shouldn't be able to grasp the Spirit Aura form in just a day.

But no matter what they thought, the reality was undeniable!

For a while now, Asher knew how to use this form. He never needed to be taught it, picking up this form like a natural.

However, Asher would rarely use all of his Spirit Aura. It was tremendously risky to use it in the Decrypted Wood as it caused him a considerable strain on his body.

And if any of his movement is slowed down while fighting those savage Mana Monsters, it could spell his death.

Asher was sure that being able to use the full power of Spirit Aura before his System's soul-awakening wasn't normal at all. But he, of course, kept this as a secret.

Now that it's public news he is a Spirit Tier cultivator, and he's in a relatively safe environment, Asher had no reason to hold back. He wants to utterly destroy Zara.

In the most direct way possible, Asher raised his palm and fired off another surging stream of Ghost Lightning toward the vast flaming palm.

'Chi!'

Shock and awe filled the air as Asher's stream of Ghost Lightning decimated Zara's flaming palm, dispersing wisps of flames into the wind!

Asher's Ghost Lightning didn't just stop at destroying Zara's attack. The stream of Ghost Lightning continued sailing straight at Zara, and she couldn't counter-attack or move out the way.

Zara could only hopelessly stare at the stream of Ghost Lighting, and in a split second, the Ghost Lightning brutally struck her in the chest, shooting her out of the skies.

Immense pain assaulted all throughout Zara's body. A bit of blood dripped from her mouth, and she nearly felt like passing out.

But an overflow of rage kept Zara conscious. She flipped her body before crashing on the metallic stage and landed right on her feet.

Incredible flares of pain shook Zara's entire body, but she maintained a level glare at Asher. No matter what, Zara refused to lose a newly awakened Spirit Tier cultivator!