Conall leaned on the wooden fence near the battling grounds. Echoes of blades clashing against each other overwhelmed the almost silent spells coming and going.

He saw as fire, water, wind, and earth blended together, uncontrollably flying in every direction. Today was the day of the first sparring class.

The section of the academy they were in was made up of a large, circular area of striped grass. There was only dirt and sand below since so many people at once kept on practicing here practically every day.

Even on the weekends, countless students came here to train with others from the same grade. Though, usually, higher grades occupied the grounds.

Right now, five pairs of students went at it. There was both one pair of just knights and mages, while the rest were mages versus knights, as announced by their professor.

His gaze targeted a specific duel. In the very middle, the top two of the class gathered. It was said that these two were the closest to the next grade and they would easily reach it before the end of the second year.

And, since you started as a level 1 in the game, you had a chance to have them in your class. It was usually a 1 in 5 chance, but if you advanced a grade, they were always in the same class as you.

Why? Because they were potential party members. After helping them in their respective quests, you could potentially gain a paladin, or an enhancer that could uniquely buff herself the same way as she could others.

However, because of their strict rivalry, once you acquired either of them, it was annoyingly hard to gain the other.

Nonetheless, this was all in the game. Conall had no wish to get either of them as his members. Instead, he watched the entertaining fight to pass the time.

Henri, the paladin, stood still. His heavy breath indicated the lengthy battle. Even though it was supposed to be a friendly spar, from the very beginning, the duo treated it like a brawl beyond anything. His long and wide, white sword glistened with a holy light.

In front of his chest and shoulders, there hovered three spectral, yet solid shields.

Fire exploded behind Rayna, propelling her forward faster than she ran a second earlier. The short sword in her right arm cut through the air, supported by the wind she had cast.

Although she struggled lightly, the shield in front of her had gotten bashed in, splintering into countless fragments of light.

Henri, however, was already prepared with his long greatsword. The blade struck the incoming target, scorn mixed in with his almost emotionless face as he looked down on the opponent.

Yet, in that little space she was left with, she somehow managed to dodge the strike, only to be kicked away by his armored foot he sneaked in.

“You’re ruthless as ever, aren’t you?”

She said after rolling on the ground while Henri didn’t utter a single sentence.

Summoning light in his sword, a beam descended from the sky, illuminating his long, blonde hair. As the energy settled, the white metal shined bright, as if ready to burst at any given moment.

With a horizontal swift slash, the energy of light traveled rapidly, all the way where Rayna was standing, her light armor dirtied by the fine dust from the ground.

Although it seemed as though she was about to be severed in half at the waist, the support girl used it as literally a stepping stone, even though it bore no mass.

Using the next few slashes Henri released as platforms, she appeared before him in the next moment.

Finally breaking the paladin, his nose scrunched in anger. On the final slash, he played a feint, suddenly changing the trajectory. What started to be a horizontal slash turned vertical midway, creating a curved line of lethal energy.

Hovering in front of the attack, unable to move mid-air, she was about to be sentenced with a painful death.

At least, that’s what many of the lower levels thought. Many also thought that Morgana was insane for not stopping their fight yet. She, on the other hand, didn’t even watch their fight. Instead, she was telling a new pair of students to start their spars because others ended.

As the energy was about to cleave her body in half, the air around Rayna’s body deepened all while her skin took a blue hue.

The other students watching the battle squirmed, closing their eyes in fright, while many persisted in watching what seemed to be an execution. It was too late to spot the two of them.

However, what they didn’t expect was that the attack wouldn’t even leave a scratch on her body.

Back on the ground, her heightened physical capabilities kicked in. In less than a second, she appeared behind Henri, trying to stab him through the gaps of his armor.

The paladin clicked his tongue before his armor started to be enveloped in the same light that his sword absorbed.

Then, all of the gathered light exploded, sending Rayna flying into the students watching the fight.

“It seems that I have won, no?”

Henri said, his voice directed at the professor.

“Is that your new skill or something?”

Rayna asked in an annoyed tone, clearly frustrated that she had lost. Standing up and helping the people she crushed into, she heard the professor talk back. Henri purposefully ignored the supporter.

“Henri has won. Now, let’s see. Conall and Richard. It’s your turn.”

Morgana called out to the two of them, to which they complied without any problems. Although, his opponent had some remarks he had to add.

“So this is the one who scored last in the knight exam, huh. What’s a runt like you trying to achieve?”

Some laughed, some didn’t react, while a few of the last places felt ashamed.

“Show him, Rick!”

It seemed his friends cheered him on. Well, Conall had no intention of trying to win this duel, so he didn’t care.

He wanted to train his sword a bit.

Unsheathing the rusted metal, the crowd went silent.

The first one to break the silence was Richard, who ridiculed the small boy in front of him.

“Hahaha, did you get scammed or something?”

Following him, even the ones that kept silent earlier snickered a bit. Even Conall’s colleagues in the leaderboards didn’t know how someone could wield a destroyed sword like that.

“Well, it was the only decent sword I could afford. You don’t like it?”

Conall asked with a smile, gently touching the rusted blade of the sword while glancing at his sparring partner.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough. It’s a friendly match. No lethal strikes and skills. No disrespectful blows either. Fight to win, not to kill. You can start.”

Even though she said that, there was no one here that really thought that way, except for Conall that is.

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Immediately as she said they could begin, the staff of Richard lit up, especially the red gem mounted on top of the long, wooden frame.

His long cape fluttered as a blazing fire erupted from the magical staff. The large ball of fire cut through the air like an arrow, despite its size.

Conall had to admit, this was a bit unfair. Morgana had paired him up with someone that seemed to have his stats in the middle of the class. Mana activation this quick, as well as the decent control. Richard must have had 20 points in mind, he assumed.

Nonetheless, nothing would happen to him. Besides, this was for the better. If time wasn’t able to break the metal, why should some fire?

Not moving even an inch from his place, Conall prepared to slash his rusty longsword. He took up his stance to strike, to the bewilderment of the crowd. Even the professor, who would usually not care about these little matches, was confused.

The battle had just started, but it seemed it would already end.

They knew he would do it the moment he didn’t dodge, but the fact that he actually did it was both concerning and confusing.

Slashing at the fireball, Conall felt the direct hit of the fire mana. Although the strike somewhat alleviated the spell, he was still sent flying back, taking the full brunt of the spell’s force.

‘Is he a fucking idiot?’

She was about to announce the winner, however, as the dust from the hit dissipated, she saw the small red-haired knight standing, completely fine. Only the fine dust remained on his uniform, since he didn’t even wear any extra armor.

‘Maybe his endurance is abnormally high? Is that how he managed to get accepted?’

As Morgana thought, Conall stood there with a smirk on his face, admiring the sword. Now that he felt its power, he could kick it up a notch.

Seeing that the opponent was unscathed, Richard frowned, his pride hurt somewhat. He quickly sent another fireball. Because he added more mana into it, it took a bit longer to cast.

The knight watched the fireball cover the area of a few tens of meters in a matter of a bit more than two seconds. However, this time, he wasn’t stationary.

Running up directly into the flame, he slashed it apart. Or at least, he tried to. He was still sent back. After all, there was no way he would dismantle the spell without one of his own. And he couldn’t do that without mana.

‘You’re doing good, fang.’

Conall praised the sword in his mind.

The sword’s name was ‘Fang of Tenacity’, although in the game, it appeared as a ‘Mysterious Blade’ for the majority of the questline regarding the antique shopkeeper.

As the name suggested, the more one persevered and prevailed, the better the sword would get. It simply wasn’t suited for those with a craven swordplay.

Once again, Conall stood up from the ground, ready for another bunch of spells. The academy’s uniform protected him from catching on fire, so he could take many of those fires. Since the spell was relatively low level, it wasn’t able to explode. If it did, though, he would have noticed already and started dodging.

As Richard manifested another spell with the wand, in anger, he created a spell of his own mana, not the staff, which was water.

Though much smaller than the fireball, Conall lost the easy look on his face. Water, unlike fire, had mass. With the speed at which it would be going, it was comparable to a cannonball hitting him.

Despite the realization, Conall stood his ground, ready to take on anything with his rusty blade.

Truthfully, the spectators were amazed. Both at the sheer insanity of the red-haired knight, as well as the fact that the blade hadn’t yet fallen apart in the state that it was.

To Conall, the blade might have had rust on its surface, but to them, it was completely corroded.

They watched as the waterball sped up, right after the fireball. Surely, he would dodge this time, they thought to themselves.

Instead of cutting through the spells, Conall stood in place, the handle of his sword above his head with the blade protecting the right side of his body.

First, the fireball. It passed by quickly. Feeling it as no more than a breeze, Conall braced himself for the real attack.

Finally, the water spell hit him. Immediately, his whole body felt its might as he clutched onto the handle harder. It felt like a ball of concrete hitting against his bare skin and muscles. His bones shook violently as they absorbed the impact.

He stood still, but the attack was so powerful he started to be moved back in place. Leaving traces of his feet in the dirt, the sparring ground soon got dusty before slowly settling.

As he survived the strike, he felt as though the sword silently, almost imperceptibly vibrated. Was it to demand more, he didn’t know, but he prepared for the next attacks.

Even if his body became broken in the process, he would quickly demand a healing service in the academy’s sanctuary.

The spectators started to look at him with slight fear in their eyes, the majority, at least. The decently experienced ones looked at him as though he was a fool, ready to throw his life away.

Richard’s face contorted in anger. He was sending such strong spells at him yet the kid treated him with such disrespect. It was a humiliation of the highest kind. Conall was literally the punching bag here, but the mage experienced the complete opposite.

Without the fire anymore, he sent out a slightly bigger waterball at his sparring partner. Incessantly, Conall received the attack yet again. Richard couldn’t believe his eyes. The markings of the knight’s feet somehow lessened, despite the spell being stronger.

‘You’re using me!!’

Seeing the satisfied look on the red-haired boy’s face, Richard roared in his head, realizing that Conall treated him like no more than a training dummy.

He clenched his jaw. He had ten more of these water spells left before his mana would be depleted.

One after another, he started coalescing the mana in his palms. In succession, he began to release them.

After the next one was shot, a new one already started appearing in his hand.

Conall watched the man in glee. If he was this generous, he would gladly take the gift.

On the third impact, Conall moved only slightly.

By the fifth one, his body stood like a stone forgotten by time. Then, he started to move slightly. The moment the seventh waterball hit him, he pried his sword.

Conall watched as the ninth one went towards him. Instead of standing still, he rushed towards it, with which he shocked the crowd once again.

The sword took the impact, but Conall supported it with the weight of his whole body. The water splashed and went separate ways as the sword stood still.

With a smile on his face, he rushed towards the tenth spell. As soon as it touched the tip of his blade, Conall’s body replied smoothly. With precise twists of his arms, the spell flew beyond him.

Richard’s spellcasting fluttered, seeing as the spell of his was literally deflected. However, his mentality didn’t allow him to lose here. Not against some random, weakest knight.

After deflecting another one, Conall once again stood there. This time, however, he took up a stance.

Lowering his body, he stared at the incoming spell, his sword ready to attack quickly.

A vertical line so even the knights in the crowd had a hard time trusting what they had just seen. This was supposed to be the worst-performing knight? They couldn’t believe it. His form just now was beyond what they could ever do.

Unbelievably, Morgana stared at the boy. His sword cut through the canon ball of water going at him. With no splash whatsoever, the spell had been cleaved in two, crashing into the ground.

A last resort. Richard ran toward the knight. If he couldn’t win as a mage, he would just batter him to death with his wooden staff.

Yet, as he swung the staff, Conall swiftly went beneath it before delivering a strike to the side of Richard’s neck with his pommel.

Silence prevailed on the battlegrounds.

Even the duels between the four other pairs stopped in order to watch the bizarre match between wits and brawn.

Morgana stepped forward while announcing to everyone.

“Conall wins the match. Others may go and start their battles over. Kyle and Justin, come here and start. And you, come with me.”

She pointed at the red-haired boy. The students complied with her orders, including the knight.

Soon, the commotion calmed down and Morgana together with Conall watched the ongoing fights.

“Do you wish to die in a real battle?”

“Who knows? From my experience, you can only get stronger if you overcome your foes.”

“Then, did you get stronger? What about all the broken bones the spells caused?”

Morgana asked as she glanced at his purple, swollen wrist.

He glanced back at it before answering with a bright smile.

“Of course. If I didn’t, then it means I did a bad job.”

“Haa, what will I do with you? Just try to tone it down in the next sparring session. For now, just go to the sanctum and heal yourself. You don’t have to finish your remaining two battles.”

“I see. Thank you, professor.”

Conall bowed down lightly, to which she shooed him away.

An hour later, long after the procedure from the nun went smoothly, he made his way towards a specific area. Alongside the sparring lecture, he would be having his first class with Juliette today.

He was the first ever person to choose her class, which was titled in the registration book as ‘Sword training with the purpose of defeating monsters taught by a Daughter of Calamity’.

The reason for that very title was pretty clear. Juliette wanted to deter any students from attending her lessons. If the already long title didn’t stop them, the last part had served its purpose for five long years.

But there just had to be some idiot, Juliette thought annoyingly.

She lay there, under the shade of the same old oak as yesterday. The calamity inside her was already waiting to water the already tall grass here, so she simply waited.

As soon as the heavy rain would start pouring, she would have the best excuse to stop the lectures. Though it would surely happen, there was still a chance the department head would ask her to bring her lessons indoors.

However, by that point, the student would have already resigned from the lecture. With a haughty smirk on her face, she closed her eyes before waiting leisurely.

Minute after minute, she waited while a cool breeze swept past her. After five minutes passed, she was becoming increasingly annoyed.

All of a sudden, an idea popped up in her mind. The student was late, and she felt it was done on purpose.

“Hmph!”

She humphed while quickly standing up. There was no reason to wait here if the student was so blatantly trying to waste her time by playing pranks on her.

Juliette headed towards the department, ready to report the knight student, hesitantly. If she did actually go, it was predestined that the other professors would meet her there.

Suddenly, however, in the midst of her steps, she heard a voice.

“Uh, professor, where are you going? Aren’t we in a lecture right now?”

Juliette froze in place, her hair puffing up before calming down. The shock she experienced at that moment was considerable to no less than a heart attack.

Unsheathing her sword quickly, she shouted.

“Who are you!?”

Conall put up his hands to show his peace, confused by the current situation.

“Your new student, I guess?”