Julie was mesmerized at the handsome young man's performance.

She thought his earlier duel against the Berserker wasn't able to bring out all of his cards so she eagerly watched the fight against the eighth rank. Sure enough, her conjecture turned out to be true.

Just as the countdown finished the duel began in an intense speed with the eight ranker's lead in offense. It was a slim figure young man who had a battleaxe on his hand and many hatchets on his waist.

He was of Axe Warrior class, a close-mid range combat class just like the Paladin, so she wanted to see how the looker would fare against him when both classes had mid range capability included on it.

The eighth ranker attacked by throwing hatchets at him from the distance while slowly closing the distance. The Paladin used a peculiar skill of his that made his eyes glow in dark hue. She concluded that it was the movement skill for level 1 on his unique class as she saw him slightly shifting here and there to dodge the hatchets effortlessly.

He also closed the distance as he pointed his palm towards the Axe Warrior and a vaguely transparent dome was formed around the guy. The previous momentum of the Axe Warrior halted as he grimaced while holding his ears.

"Is that a mid range skill? The offensive one?"

She pondered aloud as the teachers next to her hurriedly gave her the file containing the Paladin's information. She speed read the whole thing while keeping a side eye on the screen.

"Eh? It turned out to be the defensive skill. Wailing Sanctum that had mid range reach which could create a special zone that hurt the enemy through sound attack within it. It was also used by him previously on himself to guard against projectiles that could be repelled by the sound waves produced from it. A very good skill, as expected of an unique grade!"

She praised it after getting the general idea of it.

She had also learned that his offensive skill was actually Drain Touch that reduced stamina upon being hit by his weapon or by physical contact. While his movement skill was Blight Sense, the one where his eyes glowed to help him avoid attacks.

She was very satisfied after seeing the potential this class had so her interest in him went up a notch.

The duel also neared the ending. When the eighth ranker lost his momentum in the Wailing Sanctum he was then forced into a melee with the Paladin who had sprinted inside the zone, totally unaffected by the sound attacks.

His main weapon mastery was displayed in all its glory as the fight became intense. Though the guy was bleeding from his ears and seemed disoriented he also showed enough mastery to be worthy of his eighth rank.

Unfortunately for him, the intense fight of an axe against a bident that continued for a few minutes ended in Paladin's victory who was huffing and puffing from exhaustion while blood from few flesh wounds marred his visage.

She again gulped a bit as his current appearance gave off a familiar feeling of a valiant hero's triumph against a powerful enemy. This image especially seemed to tug at her heartstrings.

She hurriedly shook her head to dispel such fuzzy feelings while completely ignoring strange glaces it attracted on her.

"What's wrong with me? I need to get it together!"

She reprimanded herself inwardly but in reality she actually ordered one of the teachers by the side to set up a meeting with the Paladin after the monthly evaluation ended.

She wanted to know more about this man.

°°°°

Blue exited the dome and joined Walter who was nodding his head in appreciation.

Young adults of his class praised him and some started to gratify him so he would choose them as a party member on the next part. He naturally acted his "perfect" self and socialized tirelessly.

His injuries were healed and torn clothes from earlier had already been changed before exiting the dome thus he appeared to them the very same before he went to duel just a bit ago.

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Speaking of it, he nailed it.

Showing off when necessary was a required trait of an expert schemer. He was over 90% confident that Julie had a deep impression of him after this. Coupled with his looks granted from Sculpted Form physique ability and his award worthy unceasing acting of "the dream man" that catered to most women's fantasy his plans success rating always remained on positive tracks.

The defensive skill Wailing Sanctum was successfully shown to others along with his prodigious weapon mastery. That skill naturally couldn't be truthfully revealed to others as it had the power to stun the soul itself through intense sound attack similar to a million creature wailing that targeted the soul and the longer an opponent was stuck in it the higher the chances of an instant soul annihilation increased.

If he went all out against the poor guy then he wouldn't be able to keep his life but obviously there was no need for such an extreme approach in that situation. This skill also had good defense as projectiles thrown at him from outside the zone would be repelled by the sound waves while any attack that came from inside could be intercepted with sounds that would turn tangible in the form of wailing faces of million creatures.

"Julie, oh Julie, how will you not bite the bait when I am only just getting started? Hehe..."

He chuckled sinisterly while listening to Walter's instruction that told them to choose their party members and return back here within fifteen minutes if the party leader was a Paladin.

Blue got to work as he casually went to Karla, who was also on her way, while two male Paladins followed him on his recruitment. They were also chosen by him after many conditions and requirements they unknowingly fulfilled.

Now with three people around him he went to Nicole's side.

"Teacher Nicole, what do you think? I didn't disappoint, right?"

"I could only say that you performed excellently. Even the vice principal took keen interest. I was just informed to take you to meet her after this exam."

"Wow, really! I am very grateful for your endorsement. Without your goodwill this wouldn't be possible."

"Don't misunderstand now. It was the vice principal's side who approached me first. I didn't do anything."

"I see. Regardless, thanks to your guidance through this whole month I managed to reach here. I will always be grateful to you."

"... It's good that my efforts weren't in vain. Ahem! So, you came here for?"

"I wanted to recruit a party member among the Gunslinger class. There was a student who I thought would go well with our party's flow."

"Oh? Let's hear the name."

"Marcus, I wonder if he is still available?"

"Yeah, he is here. Hey Marcus! Come over here, you got a party invite."

With her shout, a blond-haired youth with severe case of freckles and a body thin like a stick that may blow away from a gust of wind appeared with a shocked expression.

"Ah! It is very nice to meet you. I always wanted to greet our Radiant Sunshine but to think you will find me instead. Today is really my lucky day!"

Marcus chattered while holding back tears of joy which shocked the surrounding people.

"Radiant Sunshine? Are you talking about Blue?"

Nicole asked in a dumbfounded expression which finally made Marcus to snap out of his excitement as he hurriedly responded,

"O-oh? Please don't mind my words. I was a bit too excited. Anyways, I am willing to join your party Sunshi—, no I mean, Paladin Blue."

"Haha, please feel free to call me Blue. It will be my pleasure to work with you today. By the way, was that a nickn—"

"No, no! That was just me babbling nonsense. Please don't pay any heed to it."

"... Ah, okay. Let's go then. We still need to recruit more."

Blue thus said farewell to Nicole who was looking at Marcus strangely. It seemed that she wasn't aware of the secret fan groups yet.

Naturally, he knew that this guy was a fan of his and the "Radiant Sunshine" or whatever was a nickname that was commonly used on him. This Marcus was also someone he kept an eye on as a potential party member and his earlier performance finally sealed his decision.

His rank was close to the top hundred and his class was a mid-long range combat class of very rare grade that wielded aether firearms, or aura guns as they called, which dealt lethal damage along with providing various supports to their party.

A player party consisted of eight members who could cover close, mid and long range perfectly. While within the party four roles were allocated to ensure class skills proper usage. Roles were allocated as a leader and a controller who oversaw the strikers and defenders.

At present, the leader role was naturally taken by him while the two other Paladins and Marcus held the strikers role which covered close to long range. Karla's class made her suitable for the controller role who could control the flow in the battlefield by restricting certain opponents while closing off certain areas with the mist where she snipped from.

"Now two more defenders and another striker on pure close range would be perfect and it just so happens that among the candidates three more had met the bare minimum requirements earlier."

He planned ahead while conversing with Marcus to make him better coordinate with others later.