Week 1, Day 1 (First day of class)
The next day, the two hundred plus freshmen were gathered at one of the large halls in the Garden. Everyone was finally in uniform, and honestly, Ethan found most people to look really good, and the girls even more so. There was just something about those checker patterned pleated skirts that’s so good.
“Alright, I’m Instructor Sorus, and today’s the first proper day where you learn how this school works.” A tall and fit instructor said. “The first thing you need is the annual passing criteria. Anyone already know what they are?”
A noble student raised his hand and the instructor nodded, prompting the student to regurgitate something that was memorised. “We need to earn a minimum number of Garden Points through the rifts, participate and complete at least two Excursions, pass all our secondary knowledge exams and complete the final combat fitness evaluation. There may also be additional criteria, if the Grandmaster desires to introduce them.”
The instructor clapped his hand. “Very good, did everyone get that?” Ethan got it loud and clear.
There were whispers among the students seated a bit further away, who probably didn’t hear it. The instructor, Sorus, continued. “Alright, this timetable will go up on the board, and will show what supplementary classes will be available. You are free to join any class you want, or, if you want, you can attempt the Rift gates immediately. Classes are optional, but encouraged, as we, your instructors, may give out rewards to those who we feel deserve them. As for those who intend to start hitting the rifts and hunt the monsters, you will now have access to the Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 rift gates.”
“Now, I’m having the Swords and Blades, which we refer to as the Sword-core class here in another 10 to 15 minutes. Those who want to join other classes like the Spear-core, Staff-core or the Brawler-Cores or any of the other cores can leave now.”
The assistants quickly put up the weekly timetable, and Ethan immediately noticed how much free time they had. They only had two days of classes a week, which was one day of combat classes, a few hours of knowledge classes, and another few hours of auxiliary classes. The rest was free time. Once every four months, there were a few days of combat evaluations, which were marked as mandatory. There were certain festival days, and competition days marked.
He immediately whispered to Andrew. “What are we doing with all that free time?”
“Practice, or hunt monsters in rifts, stupid!” Andrew rolled his eyes. “We pass by earning GP from clearing rifts.”
“Oh.” Ethan felt his face heat up, and felt embarrassed that he didn’t connect the two. He noticed the class started to thin out as well, as about half left the class. The hero, David Vivan, however, was still staring at the board, deep in thought.
Ethan decided to make a move, and pretended to look at the board with him.
“Huh, I wonder whether I can go to all the classes?” He said slightly loudly, as if he asked David while looking at the board. David turned and looked at him, and answered.
“You can.”
Ethan looked back at him, smiled and immediately introduced himself. “Oh, hey. Thanks. I’m Ethan Blacktree.”
David didn’t take his hand. “David Vivan.” After a while, he added and then walked away. “It’s best if you stay away from me. Nothing good comes from associating yourself with me.”
Ethan could already hear the whispers. There were a few girls who noticed. “Who’s that idiot trying to talk to the failure of the Vivan House?”
Ethan felt something wasn’t quite right. David, as per the records, had a spear-Core. But what was he doing in a sword class?
Was this his goddess power?
“Alright, class. This is your first sword-core class, so, first things first, an informal evaluation. Get changed into your practice gear, and come back to the floor. I’ll need to know where you guys stand. Lady Sara, you’re exempted from the evaluation.”
Ethan’s eyes darted to Sara Argos. She had her own practice sword at her side, and she was already in a practice attire. Some of the boys attempted to stare because she looked beautiful in it, but all that attracted was the protective hisses from her group of ‘friends’.
“Everyone, get a wooden sword from the rack, and when you are ready, come, attack me.” Instructor Sorus had a lean wooden blade, and flared his energy. It felt to Ethan, like a fourth realm core.
The wooden sword glowed green.
The students cursed, and one of them panicked enough to ask. “Instructor Sorus, are you trying to kill us?”
“Oh don’t worry, I won’t kill you. However, I do need you to come at me with all your strength. Feel free to use your core and all your skills, I won’t be a very good instructor if I can’t even cope with students fresh from the oven. I’m in the fourth realm, and frankly, none of you should be able to hurt me.”
One noble student smirked and charged. “If you say so!” He charged, and in a flash of green light, the vanguard of the students were flung to the side. The rest of the students attempted to attack, of course, but most only had a short time to grow their core’s abilities, and so were fairly weak.
Sorus dodged and slashed easily, and it really felt like he was playing with babies.
David, the brooding hero of the goddess, then approached the instructor. His sword burst into flames and burned brightly and he charged at the instructor with a speed faster than the other students. He slashed, flames on his sword turned into a ball. His burning sword was blocked instantly, and the fireball suddenly snuffed out. “Oh, I was told you have a lightning core.” The instructor spoke softly.
“That’s... out of date.” David said with a straight face, and then the fire sword came again. His feet were wrapped in a small bubble of fire, and kicked-
The instructor blocked the two attacks easily, his own kick dispelled David’s flames, while his sword met the flaming weapon. “Interesting.”
Yet, in a sudden flicker of a moment, the once-flaming sword transformed into lightning and zapped everything around David.
The instructor was coated in a huge armor of green, and smiled. Everyone else was staring.
“Impressive. Two elements are quite rare in the 1st realm.” The instructor smiled, and then, there was a flash of green. David was instantly flung backwards and crashed into some dummies.
Instructor Sorus’s eyes gazed at the frozen students, those that were too terrified to attack. “Well, I hope you guys are just studying what to do next, because I’ll be coming for you if you don’t start.”
Ethan looked at the recovering David, it was likely his goddess’ gift had something to do with that multi-element. He also didn’t seem as ‘weak’ and ‘useless’ as his reputation said. David seemed pleased as the other students suddenly had to reassess their opinion.
“Well? Ready?”
Ethan immediately looked around, and saw Bazil tense up. Ethan immediately asked. “Basil! Let’s flank him.”
Basil looked back at Ethan, and nodded. “I guess, let’s go.” The summoner felt Basil’s energy flare up, and he charged at the instructor.
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Ethan activated his own core, and then felt the [body enhancement]’s effects wash over his body, and activated all his abilities.
[Shadow Steps], [Shadow Copy], [Sword Unity].
No use holding back against someone 3 full realms above him. Ethan briefly turned into two copies of himself, and he charged, turning the flank into a simultaneous strike from three sides.
The instructor swung his sword, and all Ethan saw next was a wall of green, immediately followed by what felt like a super heavy smash against his sword. The smash was too strong, and Ethan was thrown back into the walls just like David.
“Ouch!” Ethan crashed on the floor, and felt his body hurt in so many places. He was in such pain he couldn’t really respond to the instructor. His head was still on the floor, and he hazily saw Basil who was also thrown back. Basil, at least, was half-awake and already had one of his legs up.
“Not half bad. Next.” The 4th realm-instructor turned to the other students, most of them cowering in fear. They did their best to keep their distance, but they failed.
Ethan nursed his head, and gradually, pushed himself to sit up. It took a while to recover his strength and clarity. The impact of that attack was just enough to cause him tremendous pain but no permanent damage.
While he recovered, the instructor took his turn to deliver the pain to almost all the other students, laughing with every strike.
“Every combat instructor, right now, will be taking their time to assess each of their students. If you’re not getting it from us now, you’ll be getting it from the monsters in the rifts.”
Everyone tensed up.
“As I said, you’ll need to earn points, and that’s a lot of time to spend in the rifts, either alone or with a team. You’ll need to get ready, and from what I can see-”
Instructor Sorus started sorting them into groups, essentially into Groups 1, 2 and 3.
“Group One. You guys are not ready for the rifts. Poor awareness, and froze when I charged at you. My assistants will practice with you until you are at least ready for the Level 1 rifts. You might think you are ready, but the monsters are not so kind.”
Ethan found himself in the 2nd group, together with Basil and many others. “You guys are group 2, you guys can take the Level 1, 2 or 3 rifts if you want, but I would encourage more practice and sufficient preparation. Clear 10 level 3 rifts and I’ll unlock your level 4 to 6 access.”
Subgroup 3 had David Vivan, Sara Argos, and about eighteen others.
“You guys can take the level 2 to 3 rifts. I’ll unlock your level 4 to 6 rift access once you clear the level 3 rifts 10 times.”
Ethan looked around and couldn’t find the other two heroines, Camelia Everfrost and Violet Whitetower. They had joined the other weapon-types for their practice.
“Also, there’s no rules against teaming with other weapon-types, but do realize that for each member in your rift attempt, you get less.” Each team determined that GP allocation at the start of their own rift exploration within an acceptable band, and the Garden actually had some measures based on the core level, to prevent ‘carrying’ or ‘GP-farming’.
“Ethan, you wanna team up with me? That clone move was quite good. I didn’t know a common-grade core could do that.” Basil looked at Ethan, and Ethan shrugged. The clone did no damage, and was just a distraction.
“Sure.”
One other girl seemed to have picked up on the conversation between the two boys, and came over. “Hi, I’m Alia Redwoods, I overheard you guys forming a team, can I join?”
Basil looked at Ethan, and he looked back at Basil. Ethan shrugged, and Basil nodded. “I heard the optimum ratio is about 4 to 6 a team. So, yeah. Sure. Ethan here has a common-grade core, though, will that be an issue?”
Alia seemed rather taken aback, as if surprised. “Oh, fellow common-grade core! I’ve got a common-grade too, but I hope to upgrade by this year, though.”
Basil sighed. “I have a rare-grade here then, but yes, I suppose, do we want to try-”
“For those forming groups, there are weekly group practices arranged on every alternate Thursdays, it’s optional, but I recommend it later when you reach the 5-10th levels.” Instructor Sorus remarked. “Alright, now, let’s get down to simple practices, Subgroup 1, gather around my assistants, they will drill you on the basics.”
“Subgroups 2 and 3, on me.” The second group was quite large, about half of them were here, and Instructor Sorus had two assistants with him. Deputy Instructors, and they looked to be at least a decade younger than the Instructor. “For you guys, you will do simple practice combat with my deputies. They are all in the 3rd realm, and will go one-on-one with each of you. Please observe and try to make the most of your skills.”
Ethan nodded, and then noticed Instructor Sorus then approached Sara Argos.
“Milady, you will practice with me.”
She nodded, and Ethan immediately jostled for position to watch Sara’s performance. He wanted to know what a dragon-grade core could do-
The first thing was clear, when a flaming sword made of magic appeared in her hand, and she was much faster than the rest of them. Her legs seemed to glow, and then, the flaming sword smashed into a barrier of green.
She attacked relentlessly, with a second sword of fire on her other hand.
“Wow.” Ethan had to admit he was impressed, as he watched Sara Argos display multiple skills. “How does she do that? Why does she have so many skills?”
At that moment, Basil stared at him like he’s an idiot. “What do you mean? Of course someone in her 2nd realm would have more skills. They have a larger skill frame to support and power more skills!”
“Oh!” Ethan forgot that the skill-frame grows with each realm ascension. It was said that someone in the 6th realm could have up to 80 active skills.
Gaining skills was done through [skill books], direct learning from someone who achieved a high level in a particular skill, swapping cores to a core that contained the desired skill, or improving their own cores and unlocking the skills stored within the core. Changing cores was often frowned on though, because of the huge ‘cultivation loss’ between changing cores.
Sara’s body turned into fire momentarily, and then exploded. But the instructor’s green aura slammed outwards, and caught Sara in the blast.
“Ugh.” She staggered from the direct hit.
Instructor Sorus paused, with a look of visible concern. “Are you alright, milady?”
“I’m fine. Let’s go on.” Sara threw her fire-swords and they transformed into flaming spears midair.
The instructor clearly worked her hard, nimbly dodging her spears and closing in. His fists turned green, and then, a huge smash and flung Sara all the way to the wall.
She was aflame, the attack didn't hurt.
Ethan looked at Basil. "She's way out of our league, eh?"
"Oh yes."
David watched, his eyes studying her moves, and the instructor's counters. Ethan understood, at least, at a basic level, but he still struggled to make sense of everything that happened. He looked at Basil, equally mesmerized by their battle.
Everyone stopped to watch the spar of the ‘star’. Sara took many hits, but she landed a few of her own.
“A dragon-ranked core is so overpowered. To think a 2nd realm could even do this much against a 4th realm instructor.” Basil admitted.
The instructor’s sword glowed in a flash of green, and then, Sara collapsed. The instructor immediately checked on her, relieved that she was just slightly bruised.
She seemed a little dizzy, and Ethan noticed the instructor speak to her quietly. “Are you alright, Lady Sara?”
“I’m... I’m fine, Instructor. I didn’t see that one coming.”
“It’s expected. That was the 4th realm’s power, after all.”
“I’m aware, but it just means I’m still not good enough.” Sara coughed as she got up.
“I see. It’s good that you are driven, but pace yourself.”
Sara shook her head. “But I must. My father would not respect me otherwise.”
“I see. I’ll have one of the assistants escort you if you need rest. Things are... not so safe these days.”
“Thank you.”
Ethan immediately noted that there was some family conflict brewing, something he could investigate. What did the instructor mean when he said it’s ‘not-so-safe’?
The two didn’t talk after that, and Instructor Sorus didn’t reveal any particularly juicy details. It was just all combat practice. At that point, two assistants came by and talked to Ethan and Basil. “Alright, time to stop watching and get some practice. Ethan, with me.”
He initially discounted the ability to eavesdrop on everyone’s conversation, but now, he realised it really was quite overpowered. As one of the little benefits, he could take note of all the tips everyone gave to their own respective students.
Practice took up the rest of his day, but at the end, he did get two of his skills to gain a level. Skills could level up from practice, from cultivating the core itself and absorbing elemental energy, or many other things.
[Ethan Blacktree]
[Core: Common-Grade Core of Shadow Swords]
[Core Cultivation : Fifth Stage- First realm]
[Skill Frame : Skills slots available 0/4]
[Common-grade Shadow Steps - Level 4]
[Common-grade Body Enhancement - Level 3] (+1)
[Rare-grade Sword Unity - Level 1]
[Common-grade Shadow Copy - Level 2] (+1)
[Skills given by the Goddesses]
[Summon Master - Summoned Warriors - Level 1]
[Goddesses’ Outfitters - Level 1]
[Eavesdrop - I hear everything in the room - Level 1]
[Administrative Control (School-office) & Academic Pass - Level 1]