While the onlookers watched the situation with scared and confused eyes, Conall already started leaving the academy grounds. Since he was already fired up, he might as well have used the opportunity to train his sword.

Soon, he entered the infamous forest near the capital. Having little trouble, the creature he wanted fell upon his eyes. Like hunting prey, Conall sneaked behind the small goblin. The life evaporated from the goblin as he stabbed his sword through its heart.

The monster flopped to the ground, its mouth open, revealing gruesome, crooked teeth. From his inventory ring, he took out the item from the heavenly order.

A bead as black as the night itself, with an ominous purple aura surrounding it. A bead of knowledge, to lead one to the truth. With it you, may you realize your potential, unshackled from the world. Or at least, that was the description inside the game.

He dropped the bead right into its mouth.

Instantaneously, black foam exited the jaws of the green monsters. As the heart inside of it started to regenerate, the sooty blood flowing through it started to change the creature.

The previously lime skin quickly took on gray hues of violet. A storm of mana quickly gathered, embedding itself into the demonic body that shaped anew.

Two black horns protruded from the top of the head, as well as one coming from the chin, curving downwards.

Suddenly, its usually pale green eyes, along with the sclera, turned fully black.

“GHRAAAAAAA!”

The scream it released made the leaves on the trees wave away from the monster. Standing even taller than the knight before him, the ‘true’ goblin lunged forward.

Long, black claws descended upon the human, who blocked them with his half-rusty sword. Struggling to hold up, Conall exclaimed in his heart.

‘You fucking stinky demon.’

Even though the demonic monster was still level 5 like its previous self, the strength it exerted was twenty levels above, one that edged the first gate.

This was the power of the truth bead.

Conall leaned in forward while dodging the incoming strike. Slashing at the body filled with muscles from the transformation, he could only scratch it, yet that was quickly recovered.

Even though it wasn’t the first time he was fighting a ‘beaded’ monster this week, it was always troublesome.

“GRR! GRR!”

Growling and ignoring the itching sensation on the chest, the monster pounded with its fists. Creating a small dip in the ground, it battered, not knowing that the human had gotten away.

Conall stood behind the demon, readying his strike. With a swift motion, his body carried the attack, leaving his whole weight on the tip of the blade.

Black blood splattered onto the cold metal, but the strike didn’t go deep enough. The muscles of the body were too tough for him to easily penetrate.

He quickly took back the sword before the regenerated muscles could make it stuck. With a step back and to the side, he outmaneuvered the fearsomely quick true goblin.

There was a much easier way to end all of this. Conall could simply let the monster tire its mana out by ramming into the trees and the ground. However, that wouldn’t do him any good and it would take more time. He needed tenacity to raise his sword further.

Gripping onto the handle tighter, he swung at the incoming arm. The attack was stopped midway, however, the monster kept on going with its almost limitless stamina.

Constantly blocking and receiving attacks, there were bound to be some that he couldn’t defend. His left arm steadily gained deep wounds the longer the fight went on, but the knight stood straight, unstaggered.

Breaking free from the barrage of attacks, he could finally move around, but another strike followed. After ducking, he quickly moved to the side, because a tree started to fall at him.

Using the moment of distraction, he preemptively aimed at where the head was, aiming at one of the black eyes.

The fight was egregiously boring. It consisted of Conall simply moving at the right time before he could attack the almost indestructible body.

Eventually, from the accumulation of his attacks, the regeneration of the demon faded, as no more mana was left in its beast crystal.

Severing the head from the body, after almost half an hour, Conall finally sat down. With heavy breaths and pain in both arms, he rested for a few minutes.

Rubbing the fang clean, he inspected the blade. When he first got it, it was covered in orange rust with chips along the edges. Now, however, the long, straight blade was rusted only in the middle of the sword, whereas the rest looked as good as a new, sharpened sword.

Sheathing the sword, he went to the corpse of the demonic goblin before opening up its chest with the dagger he used to kill the assassin. Right away, after plunging his hand into the cold body, he felt the hard crystal at the tips of his fingers.

Pulling it out, he brought it closer. Almost fully black in design, with some red streaks going through it, it was starkly different from the normal, blue beast crystal. Just like the bead, an ominous air was surrounding it, propelling away those that came near it.

Storing it in his ring, Conall finally ventured out into the forest yet again. It was time for the second round.

…

Three days passed by. Although it was still early in the morning, the sun was already staring at him. He didn’t battle for three days straight. His body would have died from blood loss by then. However, he consistently went out to kill these demons day by day.

And on this particular Monday, he dealt the last slash to the last beaded goblin. He had no more of them to create these monsters, however, that didn’t matter.

As the blade pierced through the brain, he let it stay above his head, basking in the sunlight of a new day. The bloodied metal shone brightly as all of the rust had disappeared by now.

Clenching the hand with which he held the fang, he cleaned it before sheathing it back. The uniform had already repaired itself from the ruins it was after the fight, so all he had to do now was heal himself and visit the antique shopkeeper before his early lectures.

Doing exactly that, he was on his way towards the shop. Without waiting, he went inside the shop, which simply stood there with no sign, as though always open.

The old shopkeeper, seeing who visited him, smiled before calling out.

“Conall! Welcome back. What brings you here?”

“Holding up the promise.”

“Hooh? I’m guessing the sword is to your liking?”

“It is. I have become quite reliant on it recently.”

He said that, though neither of them believed that. After all, they were aware of the sword’s nature.

“Really? How about you show it to me, then?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“I was going to ask about that. It seems like it gained back some of its shine.”

The old man put on a surprised face. He was expecting it, but couldn’t trust his old and senile senses.

Watching as the blade was being unsheathed, his wrinkly, old eyes widened as he almost staggered back behind the counter. Leaving his station, he said to the young man.

“Can I have a closer look at it?”

“Here you go.”

Not putting up any resistance, Conall handed the sword over, and the previous owner glared at them with his pince-nez glasses.

“Unbelievable. With you, it might be possible…”

Muttering so quietly it was almost intangible, Heph was brought back to reality by Conall.

“Heph? What was that?”

Handing back the sword, the old shopkeeper said something, to which he acted surprised.

“You’re a chosen one, young man.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean what I say, and the sword is my tongue’s sign. With your mind and body, you can do what I could never. Tell me, would you be willing to help this old soul?”

Conall stared at the old Heph. He didn’t know what to say. All of this was so sudden he seemingly froze in place. His confused eyes gleamed to the shopkeeper.

“Of course, there is nothing free in this world, but I already know that. Finish the mission, and I will reward you with something special, something regarding the sword in your hands.”

“I don’t know if it’s the right decision, but I feel like I would regret declining it. I will gladly take it.”

“Thank the goddess. I knew you were true to your soul.”

With a sigh of relief, the shopkeeper went behind the curtains of the shop. The man he left in the shop could hear him rummaging through something in there.

In less than a minute, he was already back. In his hands, he carried what seemed to be an old, large key.

Conall glanced at the key, which was pure black. Distinct curves made the key look mysterious while a red gem was embedded in the middle of its bow.

“Please take it. With it, I hope you can help my old friend.”

Staying silent for a few seconds, Conall looked at the key in his hands with slight confusion, but he heard him clearly. Not asking for too many details, he simply wanted to know what it was used for.

“Where should I use it?”

“Behind the main academy grounds, there lies the academy’s graveyard where countless heroic students rest in their revere. Once you reach it during the night, you will understand what to do. The key will tell you instinctually.”

With the secretive explanation, Heph wished him the best of luck as Conall left the shop. He didn’t buy anything, since the only thing he needed was the key. Storing it, he left for his morning classes with Morgana. There was no reason to attend the lecture, but he needed to wait until the night.

Time passed by quickly, and he was sitting in his seat in the classroom. Casually waiting for the professor to show up, he heard an increasing number of murmurs coming his way. Though he usually ignored them since they spoke about his status as the worst knight, today was somewhat different.

“Hey, did you hear what he apparently did?”

“Of course, everyone did. Though, I still can’t believe he was able to do it.”

“Right?”

He heard as some girls whispered to each other. There were many students just like them, and he knew the exact reason for the commotion.

‘I wonder what he came up with?’

Suddenly, the doors swung open, with an angry-faced Morgana coming through them.

With an ire-filled voice, she exclaimed to the class. He watched as she gnashed her teeth.

“Conall Agael is requested at the dean’s office immediately. Come with me, right now!”

Trying to hold back a smirk, he left his desk and went to his teacher.

“You’re in real trouble, boy.”

She said with a dark face, but he just shrugged his shoulders before leaving the room. Following her, they soon after arrived at the dean’s tower.

Knocking on the door, Morgana heard the headmaster’s voice.

“You can come in.”

Entering the room, Conall saw an office decorated with antique furniture, donned in luxurious fabrics. Ahead of him, there was the desk where he sat. In front of the dean, a white-haired elf with a furious expression was seated.

His eyes wanted to decimate the small human that entered the office. He, on the other hand, completely disregarded his existence.

Together with his professor, he bowed to greet the dean. With a nod of approval, the dean instructed her to leave them alone.

“Conall, do you know the reason you’re here today?”

“No, headmaster, I’m afraid I don’t. I was busy training over the weekend.”

“I see.”

“You tried to kill me!”

Eyneir chimed in, to which Lurius reminded him.

“Mr Ponveria, please wait for a moment. I’m trying to present the situation to the young man beside you.”

Conall watched the sketch with an impassive face. He wondered whether the dean would lick the goldens’ asses, or if would he approach the situation with a rational mind. He didn’t appear much in the game since he died in the middle of the first act after the Heavenly Order’s first major attack, but he didn’t seem bad, more like neutral.

“Three days ago, you were reported with the attempted assassination on the crown prince of Alarte. After being knocked unconscious with a special item, he was later found on the floor with one of his jugulars slit. That's the story Eyneir provided. Do you have anything to add, being the sole suspect?”

“What are you doing? Just execute him already! He tried to assassinate a royal!”

The elf exclaimed with an extremely loud voice. He wanted nothing but to see Conall die under the guillotine.

“Like I said, Eyneir, please wait a second. We still don’t know whether Conall is the true assailant, that’s why we have gathered you two here.”

Expelling a little pressure on the elf, he stared at him with eyes that slowly lost their patience.

“I believe I haven’t done anything wrong. I would like to know whether the elf has any proof to accuse me of such atrocities.”

While Eyneir gnashed his teeth and clenched his jaw, he couldn’t do anything as the dean’s mana was holding him down from interrupting.

“There have been two witnesses. One confirmed you to be the last person to be in professor Silvana's class, while the other affirmed finding Eyneir with a slit side of the throat.”

“I see, however, the story is false. What sort of a special item could the worst knight afford to make a Grade B faint while they were Grade C? I don’t have either the money or strength to do that.”

“That doesn’t exclude the possibility of you actually owning such an item. There are countless incredible artifacts in this world.”

“Then, I would like to explain that I didn’t assault Eyneir, nor even defend myself. He was the first one to attack me.”

Eyneir eyes slightly staggered before composing himself. He didn’t believe the guy would have the guts to actually say that.

“Do you have any proof of that?”

Lurius asked, to which Conall smirked.

“Of course. We can get it from the image recorders near Miss Silavana’s class.”

Suddenly, cold sweat dripped down Eyneir’s face as he heard him say those words. However, he didn’t believe them. It must have been a hoax to scare him.

With a nod of his head, the dean agreed.

“Fine, we shall do that.”

Hearing him, the eyes on the elf’s face widened while his face froze. His green pupils shook as he tried to find a way out of this. He wouldn’t get expelled or anything, but his image would still be hurt if word got out.

After five minutes, the footage was delivered to the tower by Silvana, who then flew back to her lab. Reviewing the countless images, Lurius quickly concluded.

“That is the case, as you said, Conall. However, there is one last thing I would like to know. Were you the one who tried to kill Eyneir in the end? We can’t see the rest since you were beyond the recorder’s vision.”

Hearing that, Conall simply applied aura to his hand. The dean watched with curious eyes as the transparent, colorless energy around his hand shook, unstable. Then, Conall’s hand started to shake. The longer he revealed his aura, the more it shook while his face contorted in unbearable pain.

“That’s enough, Conall. The case is dismissed.”

“What?! I nearly died, and you do nothing to him?”

Ignoring the annoying elf, the dean looked at the red-haired man.

“Would you like to report Eyneir attacking you?”

Standing up from the chair, he replied with an indifferent face.

“No, I don’t care. I will take my leave now, headmaster.”

As the dumbfounded elf started arguing with the dean yet again, Conall already left, heading back to his class as though nothing ever happened.