“Judging by the time, he should have done it already.”

But… will he survive?

That was the question that came to his mind right now.

Ivo could only sigh softly while looking at the night sky, which had not changed at all. The full moon that always radiated bright light was now covered by dark black clouds.

The same sky that he had always seen when he started from Ernest City. The same sky before the disaster happened. But somehow, it felt like the clouds were darker today.

“Tomorrow… the last day of academy registration.”

Tomorrow, is the day where everything would be determined. The survival test in this cursed place would soon begin.

Everything he needed was already in his hands. More precisely, on the bracelet he was now wearing.

“I hope Ary doesn’t see anything troublesome when I get this thing. As far as I know about that person…”

He wouldn’t be another problem, right?

Well, only time will tell. Besides, I couldn’t possibly know what was on that person’s mind. The only thing I knew was that his identity was an Observer and that he was in the third stage of awakening.

That was something beyond his current capabilities.

By the way…

Ivo raised his hand and shot a fireball at one of the trees nearby. The tree burned to ashes in an instant and disappeared under the pressure of the dense death energy.

“Is it just me?”

Ivo stared at the place where he had shot the fireball so sharply. But there was no one there. Behind the tree was only dead land filled with similar scenery.

The feeling of being watched that he felt became so strong and different from before. He could already faintly feel that someone had been following him since he came to this place.

Whoever it was, the person who followed me did not take into account the environmental factors of this place. They were clearly still there and did not move an inch.

Ivo turned around and looked at Zariel one last time and jumped off the cliff. His body disappeared and merged with nature and appeared completely invisible.

Six manifestations of one harmony.

First manifestation, Assimilation.

With consciousness slowly drawn into the darkness, Ivo gave a strong suggestion into his mind.

‘White Snow Academy.’

His body immediately moved towards the 5 large towers that towered into the sky. No one saw and no one knew where Ivo went. His body had now assimilated with nature through the martial arts he possessed.

As long as it was not someone who was in the second awakening stage, Ivo could not be found.

***

“...”

In the distance, someone was watching where Ivo was standing. Not once did this person move from this place. Only staring at Ivo who jumped into the cliff and disappeared without a trace.

“I was discovered. But how? How could he detect me in the midst of such dense death energy?”

Besides, how could he disappear suddenly? What technique did he just use? And it didn’t seem like magic. Was it martial arts?

No. He wasn’t a martial artist. He was clearly a magician from the way he controlled the magic threads he formed. The battle in that place also showed that the person must be a Magician.

While thinking about this, the sound of someone digging the ground was heard from quite a distance away. In the midst of the fog, Zariel no longer cried. His hands tremblingly dug into this soft, fragile soil.

His body was not eroded in the slightest by the death energy in this place or harmed him in the slightest. When Zariel stopped crying, the fog seemed to spread out, giving Zariel space and no longer protecting him. He silently continued to dig and dig.

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When the grave he dug was deep enough, Zariel sat down and took out a white wood that emitted a faint light. In the midst of such strong death energy, the wood seemed unaffected in the slightest by all the death energy in this place.

Zariel stuck one on top of the grave he dug for the Zombie. Words from the language of this world were written there.

'for him whose name is unknown. Someone whose descendants no longer remember him. Only his swordsmanship remains in this world.’

‘28-3-994’

‘The Rumanoff family. The founders of Supreme Swordsmanship.’

Zariel stood up weakly. Even so, his posture was straight without showing the slightest weakness. He took out a piece of wood that was the same as the interdimensional artifact he had. In his hand, the wood shone with a dim light in the shape of a double-edged sword.

It was only half the length of his body. When the sword was raised up, a subtle vibration emerged from the sword as if it was happy for the person holding it. The light that radiated grew stronger.

It was not a faint dim light, but a light that seemed to illuminate the entire mansion.

Unaffected by the light that radiated, Zariel stared with sharp eyes while tightly gripping the sword in his hand. He swung horizontally and made a clean slash cutting through thin air.

His hand moved agilely and cut vertically.

His body took a lower posture and took a stance like a mountain that did not move an inch.

“Supreme swordsmanship, the extreme swordsmanship that became the foundation of the enlightenment he obtained to pursue the peak of swordsmanship,” Zariel muttered while looking at the golden energy in the air.

The mana seemed hostile to the energy of death and continued to give the image of a sword slash that slowly erased the energy of death in this place.

Zariel swung his sword vertically. The gray mana filled with the energy of death flowed so gently that even the wind could not match it.

First Slash.

In an instant, all the golden mana was blown away and disappeared from this place. Zariel raised his sword and swung the sword a second time.

Second Slash.

Half of the death energy disappeared. The gray fog became thinner but all the trees and the ground were destroyed and died because of the slash he just did.

Zariel bowed and fell on his knees. His hand let go of the sword he was holding and laughed mockingly.

"It seems that I really am not suited to swordsmanship. The only person who can continue your legacy is the brat who became a puppet of time." Zariel chuckled and fell silent after a while.

He fell silent while looking in the direction Ivo shot the fireball. His eyes looked at him softly. Completely different from the sharp gaze He showed when he swung his sword.

“Are you satisfied with seeing it? If you don’t have anything to say, you should leave this place.” Zariel said softly.

Not hearing any answer, Zariel ignored the woman and looked back into the empty grave before him. He sat cross-legged while putting away the wooden sword and looked back at the grave he had just dug.

There was no further conversation. Zariel no longer said anything after he swung those two slashes. But from those slashes, She showed a complicated expression that almost destroyed her expressionless face.

“Rumanoff…”

While muttering, she left this place. Leaving Zariel in the middle of the dark night.

***

In the middle of the night, Ivo ran non-stop ignoring his body that was almost collapsing when he was in the assimilation state. His consciousness floated in the same place as before when he did the assimilation.

With the little consciousness left, Ivo looked at this empty space that seemed endless. Actually, this was not a special space or something special. This was a condition that occurred when his Mana sense could not see further when his entire body fell into assimilation.

In order to see the outside world when he assimilated with nature, his Mana sense had to be at a high level.

“At least assimilating with nature will be very helpful for my training. The more I do this, the faster my mana sense and the mana capacity in my body will develop.” Ivo’s consciousness spoke out.

When his consciousness was pulled back, his body was covered in sweat. The mana in the first Nucleus had run out while the mana in the second Nucleus had also decreased by more than half.

Ivo looked at the sky which was still dark and the magic he used also showed that time had not changed much. Only a few hours had passed.

His body almost fell to the ground but Ivo managed to lean against the wall. While catching his breath, Ivo slowly looked towards the white gate that was connected to the white wall and appeared to be made of white marble. Flags with the snow crystal logo printed on each flag fluttered on the side of the gate.

He cast healing magic and restored his body to its original condition.

"I'm here."

Slowly, Ivo cast Never Sleep magic again and dispelled the drowsiness that attacked him when his body was exhausted. He saw the activity that never disappeared even in the dark of the night.

The lanterns gave color to the world filled with darkness without moonlight. They did not care about the black clouds that covered the sky and focused on what they were doing.

In some places, students of the White Snow Academy could be seen wearing typical blue clothes with white robes that had gold stitching. Some joked around while laughing and discussing several things cheerfully.

Ordinary humans also mingled with each other and listened to the stories of the White Snow Academy students who came from various places. As people who lived in Ernest City, they had never left this place and could only listen to the Academy students who came from outside the city.

Ivo turned his attention to the market filled with various people who looked like Magicians and Martial Artists. Some were selling potions, precious herbs, or weapons that were sought after by applicants.

Ignoring all that, Ivo walked to the place where it all would begin.

White Snow Academy.

A white gate with 5 towering towers. Even under the darkness of the night, the 5 towers emitted a light that never went out. Tall and large buildings filled the academy and several hills could be seen from the gap in the gate itself.

A student carrying a white wooden sword approached Ivo who was looking at White Snow Academy in silence. He showed a friendly smile to Ivo while giving the greetings that nobles from the Eternal Kingdom always did.

“Do you want to enroll into the academy?”