Kieran watched Elseria walk away before turning back to his brother, who smiled at him.

"What’s wrong?" asked Kieran.

"You seem to like her," Ryan replied.

"Why do you say that?"

"You didn't stop smiling at her every time you glanced at her."

'Did I smile?' Kieran thought as he moved his hand to his face, feeling the edges of his mouth lift upwards.

"I just want to be friends with her," he said.

"The only person I heard you call like this was Thomas," said Ryan with a weak smile.

The smile on Kieran's face faded, his gaze falling to the ground as his hands clenched into a fist.

'What am I doing? I should focus on improving myself rather than trying to make a friend...' he thought while memories of Ozryn resurfaced in his mind, making him feel ashamed of smiling a moment ago.

Ryan suddenly became aware of his words as he saw Kieran's face change drastically.

"I'm sorry."

"It's nothing. Let's go."

Ryan nodded, and the two left toward the Heavenly Reaching Tower.

"Tell me more about the tower trials," Kieran asked.

"The trials are relatively simple. As I already told you, the tower has many floors. On each floor, we must face a different number of cultivators, crystal beasts, or other races of a rank and a precise level of crystal essence created by the formations array of the tower.
The first floor consists of facing a Bronze rank opponent with a crystal essence level of 500. For the second floor, the number of opponents increases, reaching three. On the third floor, the number reaches five. This is how the floors of the Heaven Reaching Tower are divided, once the third floor is passed, you start again with a single opponent but with a crystal essence level of 600."

"Does every three floors of the tower only increase the level of crystal essence by 100?”

"No, this is only valid for the Bronze rank. Every three floors, the level of crystal essence of the trial's opponent increases either by 10% or by one rank once you have managed to face five opponents at the peak of a rank."

Kieran calculated quickly in his head before opening his mouth again.

"So the 87th floor trial that Elseria reached involves facing five rank diamonds with a crystal essence level of 300,000?"

"Yes. I don't know her strength, but to call her a genius would be an understatement. The second in our age group has only reached the 62st floor."

As the two moved towards the Heavenly Reaching Tower, two elves who appeared to be the same age as them stood in their way, preventing them from moving forward.

One of them looked at Kieran before turning to the elf next to him.

"Lirael, is he the human who dares to talk with the abomination?" he asked.

"Yes, Neldorin, that’s him," replied Lirael.

Kieran, who was watching the two, suddenly frowned at the mention of an abomination as his gaze turned dark.

"Hmm? Why are you looking at me like that humble human? Do you think because she talks to you, you're special? Don't you know she's an abomination, or does her beautiful face fool you?" said Neldorin.

The two elves started laughing.

"I thought elves were an exalted race, but apparently, they also have some trash among their race," said Kieran with a smile.

He doesn't know why he reacted like that. The thought of it didn't even cross his mind. He just couldn't control himself when he heard their words.

The two elves stopped laughing at the same time, their gazes becoming fierce as they stared at Kieran and Ryan.

"How dare you insult us," said Lirael.

"I was just thinking of warning you to stay away from the abomination, but it seems you need a lesson," said Neldorin.

As Neldorin was about to release his crystal essence, Lirael placed his hand on his shoulder.

"We can't do that here. The rules forbid us," he said.

"Tsk, you're lucky. If I bump into you in one of the rifts, I'll make sure you pay for today's insult," said Neldorin, turning around to walk away.

"Why wait to meet me in a rift? There are combat arenas not far away," said Kieran.

"You..." Neldorin began to speak when another voice interrupted him.

"Since there are two of you, we'll have a duel in pairs since my brother's time is precious. And, as we don't want to waste a second for nothing in your company, why not bet some academic merit points? Unless you're afraid of us humble humans, that is," Ryan suddenly said.
Kieran looked at him sideways as the smile on his face grew.

A vein appeared on Neldorin's forehead as he was about to burst into rage. Lirael stepped in front of him, looking at Kieran and Ryan.

"Okay, we will bet 1000 academic merit points each," he said, smiling.

Ryan glanced at his brother, who nodded.

"All right"

"Since your time is precious, we will make sure that this fight only lasts a few seconds," replied Neldorin, smiling at them, but his eyes shone with a cold light.

The four set off in the direction of a combat arena, attracting the attention of many students on the way.

"It’s not Neldorin and Lirael?" asked a student.

"Those ranked in the top two hundred of the second years?" replied another.

"Yes, but who are the humans behind them?"

"I’ve never seen them."

"They're heading to the combat arenas, aren't they?"

"Let's go see."

As a dozen students followed behind them. The four arrived at the academy's combat arenas.

Each arena was large enough to accommodate twenty fighters on it. All of them had functions to create protection for the public, to change the environment within the arena, and even a function to bet on the matches taking place inside.

The four entered the arena. Lirael activated the betting functions, and quickly, a holographic window appeared in front of Kieran and Ryan.

After sending 400 points to Ryan, the two accepted the bet, and a layer of protection formed around the arena.

A timer materialized in the center of the arena, and a countdown began, announcing the imminent start of the fight.

Neldorin and Lirael released their crystal essence. At the same time, an illusion of their crystal trees appeared behind them, each with two gems intertwined in their roots.

As the countdown neared its end, Kieran and Ryan talked calmly.

"Their crystal essence level is around 2000," said Ryan.

"Why do they let their crystal trees appear like that?" asked Kieran.

"Some races do not hide their crystal trees to intimidate their opponent."

"Is this supposed to have an effect?" asked Kieran, confused.

"At our rank, not so much, but I have heard that in the Transcendent realm, with the help of the spirit, the possibility of frightening an opponent with the illusion of one's crystal tree is possible."

"I see."

Neldorin and Lirael frowned when they saw the two being so relaxed. The timer finally reached zero, and the two took a step forward.

"Living Forest Summoning"

"Entwined Vinedragon"

A dozen trees quickly sprouted around Neldorin and Lirael. Once their growth was complete, the trunk of each one split open, revealing a humanoid creature made of wood that charged forward.

Several vines grew from the ground around Lirael, intertwining to form a dragon made of vines that rushed toward Kieran and Ryan.

Kieran, who was about to create blades of fire, stopped when he saw Ryan stepping forward with his hands in his pockets.

As the wood beasts and vine dragon got closer and closer to them, Ryan raised his hand to eye level, lifting his index and middle fingers. His crystal essence seemed to intertwine between them.

"Impalement Barriers"

Multiple spike-shaped barriers appeared in an instant, impaling the wooden beasts and the Vinedragon. Another ten of them materialized a few millimeters from piercing Neldorin and Lirael heads.

The two elves stood frozen in place as an incredulous look appeared in their eyes. A cold sweat ran down their spine as they felt the number of barriers ready to impale them at any moment.

The next moment, another scene shocked them as they saw the wood element in their creations slowly being absorbed by the barriers that had impaled them, weakening their abilities.

"Hahaha."

A laugh was suddenly heard behind Ryan, who turned his head to see Kieran holding his stomach as he laughed.

Kieran wiped the tears from his eyes before looking at Neldorin across the arena.

"Thank you for saving our time. You were right. This fight really lasted a few seconds," he said, holding back another laugh.
The faces of the two elves turned dark, but they said nothing and canceled their abilities.

Ryan did the same, and the two elves left the arena, leaving the two brothers alone. A message appeared in front of them, telling them that their opponent had abandoned the match and transferred 1000 merit points to their account.

As the two left the arena, Kieran glanced over at his brother.

"You've really gotten stronger these past few months," he said with a proud smile.

"Obviously. I won't be a burden to you anymore," replied Ryan as he continued to walk towards the Heaven Reaching Tower.

Kieran followed quickly after him.

The students who had come to watch the match watched them leave while chatting among themselves.

"Aren't elves supposed to be strong? Everyone says they are capable of taking on enemies of a higher crystal essence level than theirs. How could they lose so quickly when only one of them made a movement?"

"Did anyone record the match?"

"Yes, I recorded everything."

"Post it to the academy forum."

Very quickly, without the two brothers knowing it, a video of their match was uploaded to the academy forum, attracting thousands of views.

Sleds

I don't remember why I did that, but I tried to look at how Ryan's attack would sound translated in Japanese, and I got this "Tsukisashi Kekkai". I don't know if it's the right translation, but it still sounds good in my head.
On another note, how many of you thought it was a match for Kieran to show off?

If you are interested, the scribble hub forum community has just started to write a story. The story will be written without a schedule by each author who wants to participate. The story takes place in a classroom where the members of the forum community who participate serve as characters there (I'm in it, too). For those interested, here a link: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/974998/scribble-hub-high-school-adventures/