The corners of Brook’s lip were trembling. "What do you think Brother Fane is doing? Does he really think that he's stronger than Oliver?"
Noel shook his head, not knowing how to answer him. He stared at Fane's back and took a deep breath. "Who knows what he's thinking. He’s always confident in everything, but somehow I feel like he's bluffing this time. Oliver is ranked eighth amongst all the formal disciples who were in the running to be the chosen disciple after all. He's not someone we can take on. I do not doubt Fane's talent, but he hasn't been training for long and he's only..."
He suddenly paused. Then, a lightbulb went on in his head. "He has broken through!" he shouted hoarsely. He was going to end his previous sentence with the words ‘initial stage of innate level' but discovered that Fane had broken through to the intermediate stage of innate level after reading his cultivation level.
Brook quickly looked at Fane, and then said, "Brother Fane has really broken through! But how is this possible? He was still at an initial stage of innate level ten days ago!"
Noel shook his head in amazement. "Don't ask me. I don’t know anything. But even so, he had only just broken through. Therefore, being at an intermediate stage of innate level won't help him that much. He’s
still no match for Oliver."
Fane was unaffected by whatever the disciples were throwing at him. He only smiled at Oliver, and after a while, said, "That's exactly what I'm saying. I am, in fact, better than you, in all aspects."
His words had the effect of an island being blown to bits by a nuclear bomb. Everyone’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, while thinking that mental asylum was one patient short.
Even the informal disciples were stunned into silence. Only Wesley laughed. He pointed at the back of Fane's head, and shouted, "That has to be the funniest thing I've heard all day! You should be a comedian instead! Or even better, a clown!"
The others started to laugh with him. The image of Fane being a clown was cemented in their minds.
Oliver scoffed, looked disdainfully at Fane, and said," For a moment there, I really thought you held some kind of trump card of your sleeves, but I see that now you're just an ignorant fool who doesn't know the way of the world!"
Gresham and Calvert were also looking at Fane like he was a clown. Only those who did not know their own limits would be this cocky.
Fane was unaffected by the derisive laughter aimed at him. He laughed coldly, and said, "Well, why don't we settle this once and for all on the battle platform?"
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