With Alexander's fall, most of the battles in the hall were over. Kai had defeated Alexandra's squire by a landslide, while most of the Eternal Ones' warriors had successfully subdued their opponents.

Romeo stopped the matches in a few minutes and got everyone back in line.

"Most of you are talented."

He tied his hands behind his back and stood in front of the students.

"But that's just it. You are talented, not strong. Most of you are just following the techniques at hand. Stuck in some patterns. Some of you ignore the power of the techniques because they are too confident in their raw power."

"But that's not a problem. That's what the Weapon Mastery class is here to teach you. From today onwards, we will learn Eight Steps to Weapons Mastery in all our lessons. It is a weapons guide created long ago with the knowledge of all weapons masters."

"It's different from the fancy techniques you use. It doesn't just teach you the basics, it lays the groundwork for you to create your own weapon style."

"In the first semester, all of you must have reached at least step four. Otherwise you will fail the course."

Although most of the students had received training when they were young, it was very different from the training they should have had. Until now, they had only tried to improve on their parents' techniques, and like a diamond, all the problems had been preserved.

In short, they lacked foundations.

Eight Steps to Weapons Mastery was a weapon art created by the masters of the craft as a guide for future generations. It was included in the academy's curriculum due to its free structure that could be adapted to any weapon.

After Romeo said a few more things, he picked up a sword and demonstrated a few moves.

The lesson continued like this.

...

Day after day, the freshmen were introduced to the real face of the academy. The good food they had been able to eat freely before was replaced by third-class food. Subjects became heavy and students began to panic.

Three weeks after the start of the semester, Alexander was training in the woods behind the dormitory. He was slowly moving the Asura Katana in his hand. Alexander's light but powerful breaths reacted with the cold air.

Buzz!

Alexander cut the air with the katana, the leaves of the shaking trees moving in time with the sword.

Boom!

Then, he planted his right foot firmly on the ground and spun around. The power from his turn flowed first to his shoulders, then to his arms and the tip of his sword.

Cut!

Although her movements were slow, they had an indescribable power. It was both beautiful and terrifying. Even the leaves that fell after the move was shattered into dozens of pieces by his Sword Qi before falling to the ground.

All in one move.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Immediately after Alexander finished his move, he went into another one. He stood up on his toes, twisted his waist, and took a deep breath.Having lost its former slowness, the sword was reborn with unmatched sharpness!

Sixteen slashes in the blink of an eye and the wind around him exploded like a tsunami wave.

Boom!

Alexander stopped his movements when everything around him collapsed. He would have continued normally, but Dark Soul had suddenly burst out of his body.

"Hey Alexander, do you feel what I feel?"

"What happened?"

Alexander frowned, focusing on his senses, but he couldn't feel anything.

"A suspicious person is looking at us from the northeast."

Alexander turned his head and channeled Qi into the Blood Red Eyes. The darkness disappeared and the hills three kilometers away grew closer.

"What's this?"

A tall man in gray robes was standing motionless on the top of the hill, staring at him. But when Alexander saw him, without hesitation he jumped down the hill and disappeared.

Alexander rushed out of his seat and within seconds he was on the hill where the man had disappeared. He looked around carefully but saw no one. When he looked back from where he was standing, he realized that his every move had been seen.

"Who was that?"

Dark Soul squinted his red eyes and began to look around. Alexander was about to do the same when he heard Dark Soul's voice.

"Hey, come quick."

Alexander went to Dark Soul and saw some things on the ground.

They were tiny shards of crystal that, although quite small, emitted terrifying waves of energy. They were a dark shade of purple, making them a little difficult to see. But it was clear that they had been shattered.

Upon closer inspection, Alexander realized what this crystal was.

"The Cursed Crystal..."

The Cursed Crystal was a very evil type of crystal that could drive those who were not mature enough insane. Although it was completely wiped off the market after the Ancient Phoenix War, it was still used by some organizations to erase the scars.

One of them was the Shadow Cathedral.

"The Cursed Crystal, as I thought. One of the few crystals with the toxic power to destroy any trace left behind by the Scouts. Seeing something like this on the academy grounds is a big problem. It would be unpleasant if the authorities found out." Dark Soul chuckled as he examined the crystal. "Kih, kih! Alexander, your opportunity has come. Whoever was watching you wasn't that skilled. He was a fool and instead of breaking the crystal with his pure power, he broke it with his Qi."

"Got it."

The reason why the crystals erased the trace left behind was that the curse energy was endowed with chaotic laws that could completely change the energy traces. But this was only because of the energy inside the crystal.

Using Qi to break the crystal meant that traces of Qi on the crystal fragments were still detectable.

Alexander tore off a piece of his suit and carefully collected the crystal shards. He thought he might find something when he compared the traces on the crystal shard with the data in the school's database. If it was as he thought, the cathedral members of the academy were suspicious of him.

'Was there a flaw in the identity I created?'

Others may not have known how the cathedral worked, but Alexander did. The cathedral was not limited to Elysium. It had men and spies everywhere. They gathered information about the area they were in, passed it on to the cathedral, and dealt secretly with those who needed to be destroyed.

Alexander knew this and had prepared the perfect identity.

"If my identity is revealed sooner than it should be, it would be troubling for me."

If he revealed his identity now, the attention he attracted would be much less than he intended. He had to reveal his identity at such a time that people could think of nothing else but him. Then there would be no room for maneuvering for those acting in secret.

"Isn't there something more important, Alexander?"

Dark Soul looked Alexander in the eye after gliding a lap around him.

"There are very few people with access to the lab and the database. Do you think these people will help you?"

The laboratories that students had access to were very limited. There were no smart tablets, let alone Energyprint Technology. Not to mention the academy's database. The number of people who held this authority could easily be counted.

"To help?"

Alexander had never needed the pity or help of others. That aside, there was no one who would accept a student's plea for help. No matter how much he begged, they would find a way around it.

Appealing to people's interests rather than being at their mercy was an idea that was ingrained in Alexander's life.

"They may not help, but they can certainly be bought."

"How do you plan to do it?"

Dark Soul's question brought a smile to Alexander's face.

"Let's get rich."