Chapter 5: Entrance Ceremony (4)
Chapter 5: Entrance Ceremony (4)
TL/Editor: looloo
Illustrations: Here
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The Black Heavenly Demon Sword was announcing its presence, emitting a wave of energy.
"...What is that? It seems like an extraordinary sword at first glance."
"Could it be the so-called first-ranked? It seems to be at least S-rank."
The students were chattering.
Lee Seoha silently agreed with the final remark.
At first glance, it was an unusual sword.
It was emanating a presence even greater than the Giant's Sword and the Illusionary Scripture he had seen before.
However, he had never heard of such a sword.
He had browsed through numerous related books before entering the armory.
'I thought I had all the weapons up to B rank identified.'
Lee Seoha carefully studied the expression on his own face. He remembered how calmly he had made his student council oath.
Yet, his eyes openly revealed surprise and joy.
Then, did he have information about that sword?
He thought he should report this to his superiors.
'This is...'
He looked over the sword.
The blade was black.
A red line was drawn in the middle of the blade.
Black Heavenly Demon Sword.
He didn't expect this sword to be here.
'...No, it was stuck here, so I couldn't find it in the game.'
Its rank is S, but according to the information from the documents obtained while playing the game, its performance exceeds most S-ranked weapons.
It has various functions, and each function is focused on 'growth,' a sword that players wanted to obtain somehow.
The Body Against Heaven is a physique that no one has chosen so far.
And only the first years have the privilege of choosing a weapon, so it was natural to know only from documents.
A weapon that can be obtained only by a custom character, not a playable character.
He felt an odd awkwardness, but he quickly brushed it off.
Above all, he liked the fact that it was a sword. Before coming here, he had at least practiced with a sword.
'won't I avoid the trouble this way?'
He looked at the Black Heavenly Demon Sword with a glint in his eyes.
Among the weapons he can currently obtain, it is one of the top tiers, a weapon that does not lose its luster even in the latter part of the game.
However, that's not its real ability.
He could learn the strongest martial vein only allowed for the Body Against Heaven through this sword.
'With the original path, I could only obtain the first half of the martial vein.'
But with this sword, he could also obtain the latter half of the martial vein.
What's more surprising is that even with the contents in the first half, that martial vein is considered one of the strongest candidates.
Lee Seoha smiled satisfactorily.
And he picked up the Black Heavenly Demon Sword. He felt the attention around him strangely concentrated.
'Shall I engrave the master's mark?'
High-ranking weapons are incredibly splendid in themselves. However, to properly use those weapons, one must go through a process called 'master engraving.'
He held the blade forward and put his finger on it.
Suddenly.
"Ew."
A student next to him made a strange sound. He momentarily furrowed his brows, then smeared the blood flowing from his finger on the blade.
Then.
[The Black Heavenly Demon Sword recognizes you as its master!]
[Innate skill, Soul Breakis unlocked.]
[You have become the master of the forgotten sword! 10,000p will be given!]
The atmosphere around him changed. His ordinary aura, in an instant, began to devour the surroundings.
"......Huff."
For a fleeting moment, that strength exerted such a crushing pressure that even Seo Woojoo, a hero of considerable reputation, could barely breathe.
'Could it be that he's been disguising his mediocrity and hiding his true self?'
There was a sensation of the air momentarily compressing. Seo Woojoo's eyes sparkled as he stared at Lee Seoha.
During the process of subduing his weapon, it seemed as if his power was gradually leaking out. A chilling sensation enveloped him.
An overwhelming aura.
Rumours had spread among the students that he had awakened some absolute power, or the talent of a ruler of magic.
Seo Woojoo found himself pondering if, perhaps, those rumours might indeed hold some truth.
After the weapon selection was completed, Instructor Seo Woojoo led us to relocate.
We took a brief pause for rest.
While some were gifted enough to effortlessly select their weapons, most of us had strained our limits to be chosen by the weapon.
"I'm exhausted. Did you score something good?"
"Heh I barely managed a B-grade."
"Wow, I got a C-grade. But I'm grateful, it's my primary weapon."
The children huddled together, engaging in excited chatter. I slowly scanned the students.
"You're Lee Seoha, right?"
A gender-neutral voice reached my ears. An individual whose sky-blue hair was more fitting of the description 'beautiful' or 'pretty' than 'cool' - Kim Seohyun.
The chosen boy of this world.
The one who receives all of the world's love.
And the boy referred to as the 'protagonist'.
"Um, why do you ask?"
"Well, I just wanted to be friends."
Kim Seohyun voiced this, accompanying it with a gentle smile.
"I was actually curious. Who was it that surpassed me?"
Our eyes met - his, a striking sky-blue, gazed at me with an intensity as if ablaze.
It seemed I had piqued his competitive spirit.
"But I guess you're the same. Seeing that ambitious aura of yours."
"?"
Ambition?
What was he talking about? I was, from the start....
His words left me puzzled, then a realization dawned on me.
Earlier, when I drew blood to appoint the Black Heavenly Demon Sword as my weapon.
In that process, a skill had been activated.
'Soul Devourer.'
The Soul Devourer.
It seemed like a skill that gnawed away at an opponent's spirit. But if it was continuously activated, it could become quite a nuisance.
'Can I turn this off?'
With that thought, I glared at the Black Heavenly Demon Sword.
[The effect of Soul Devourer is subsiding.]
I felt the atmosphere around the students relax immediately.
"Interesting. You can control that energy at will"
Kim Seohyun looked at me with interested eyes.
He seemed to be under some false impressions since earlier.
But as his misperception did no harm to me, I decided to let it be.
'Next on the task is'
The Korea Hero Academy is famously rigorous, starting from the entrance ceremony. If the first event was to prove one's worth through weapon selection.
"The break is over. Everyone, stand up. We're moving on to the next task."
Seo Woojoo said with a mischievous grin.
"The next task is 'Dungeon Exploration'. Ah, don't be too nervous about dungeon exploration. It's just a labyrinth without a single monster."
Dungeon Exploration.
In reality, it's merely a maze devoid of monsters.
The goal is to collect information in the maze and the first ones to finish are 'rewarded'.
...Or so we thought.
'Truly cunning.'
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Now that I see it in person, they really are ruthlessly cunning.
The reality is, it's a trap.
A trap, slightly modified from the Tower of Trials, designed to simulate a sudden monster invasion at the Korea Hero Academy.
You coincidentally encounter a 'monster' generated by the Tower of Trials and have to defeat it.
So, the second task is a faux second task, instead, it's how one responds to the sudden monster invasion.
This, too, is a selection process.
The purpose of this academy is to sieve out potential 'Mines' or latent 'Villains' using the Tower of Trials, and in that process, groom heroes who can face the Mines and Villains.
"At least with this, no one gets injured."
For whatever reason, you can feel the pain when attacked by the monsters. But it doesn't result in injury or death.
If you experience severe pain, you could go into shock. However, the mysteries of the Tower of Trials thoroughly protect even against that.
Alas, nothing can be done about things like PTSD.
"Now then, moving on to the next task... wait, a call came in. Everyone, take a short break."
Seo Woojoo answered the call, wearing an awkward expression, then headed somewhere.
Seeing him like this, it was clear that Seo Woojoo wasn't good at acting.
As Seo Woojoo left his seat, some kids, as if they were expecting something, wore grave expressions.
Then,
Kwaaaang!
A loud noise and a part of the wall was shattered.
-Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
A 5m tall monster was howling there.
"What, what's happening! Why are monsters appearing in the school!"
"Everyone, be careful! Those confident in close combat, step forward! Send the mages to the back... no, to the center!"
Upon someone's shout, students quickly brandished their weapons and charged forward.
"Is that a Mad Shadow Wolf?"
"What a nuisance. It has strong magic resistance, so magic doesn't work well on it."
Hong Yuhwa pulled out her weapon, the Crimson Magic spellbook, which she had acquired moments before.
The book was emitting crimson mana in response to Hong Yuhwa's magic.
"Hey, Hong Yuhwa! Step back!"
"You, go over there."
Hong Yuhwa shoved aside the mage clinging to her.
The Mad Shadow Wolf has strong magic resistance.
So what? She is a Crimson Flame Mage. She can't afford to step back because of a mere beast like this.
Whoooosh!
Flames emerged out of thin air. The crimson flames began to concentrate into a single point and soon began to take the shape of a spear.
A massive flame spear of 5 meters.
More fitting for a siege weapon in size.
"Wow, that's insane. With that, she can just pierce right through it?"
"If it has strong magic resistance, we should worry about insufficient magic power...."
The students were overwhelmed by her magic. Hong Yuhwa naturally sought one person's gaze.
Lee Seoha.
He was looking at her with a languid expression.
Is this all you've got? It seemed like he wasn't impressed with the magic she created.
Ugh.
She didn't like his expression. Hong Yuhwa launched her flame spear as is.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
The flame spear pierced right through the belly of the Mad Shadow Wolf. Somewhere, a blue magic thread appeared and restricted the Mad Shadow Wolf's movement.
Kim Seohyun charged forward, an old sword in hand.
The old sword hummed, and waves poured out non-stop. Kim Seohyun split the wolf in half with his sword.
Lee Seoha was looking at them with a subtle smile.
He seemed bored at first.
But now, the feeling wasn't bad at all.
[Major characters feel admiration for you. Major characters remember you! You have gained 3,000 points!]
A scene that naturally brought a smile to my face.
enjoy! :)
i'm very interested to see where this goes
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