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Before his name was called, Davian checked his point history.
'Point History.'
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[Mana Points: 52,284]
—Mana: 407,246
—Inner Power: 68,042
—Outer Power: 24,390
=====
Indeed, the effect of the double experience gain ticket was enormous.
The mana points earned from defeating the Legion Commander Jedikus were a whopping 32,000.
...Of course, Glacie took him down. Anyway.
The points earned from rescuing the people captured in the Demon Realm were another 16,000.
The remaining points earned from minor events were 4,284.
'If I transfer all the mana points to inner power, it will fall just a bit short of the standard for a 5-star swordsman. Almost at the level of an entry-level 5-star swordsman.'
His opponent was Bonita Fortis.
Without hesitation, Davian allocated all of his mana points to inner power.
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[Mana Points: 0]
—Mana: 407,246
—Inner Power: 120,326
—Outer Power: 24,390
=====
If the table Davian had organized during his 3rd playthrough was correct, the inner power needed to become a 5-star swordsman was 128,000 points.
A little short, but now he was close to the figure.
'I guess I need at least this much to face Bonita.'
Bonita and Davian went up onto the sparring arena.
Bonita slowly untied the headband she had tied around her wrist.
Then she raised both arms and roughly tied her red hair back.
Davian stared at her.
Bonita Fortis.
Of course, if they met as enemies in a one-on-one battle, he wouldn't necessarily lose.
No matter how excellent her swordsmanship, she was just a first-year student at the academy.
He didn't know how much progress she had made during the first semester, but at the time of admission, she only had inner power at the level of a 2-star swordsman.
On the other hand, Davian was already a 6-star mage and above the level of a 4-star swordsman.
But now it was a swordsmanship duel.
He had to face Bonita with swordsmanship alone.
Bonita's swordsmanship was by no means at the level of a 2-star swordsman.
Innate talent.
A crazy passion to wield the best swordsmanship.
Based on these two things, Bonita succeeded in pushing her swordsmanship to the extreme at the young age of seventeen.
When you go to take the swordsman rank test, you first measure the size of your inner power.
After dividing the first rank by the size of the inner power, you check whether you can show swordsmanship or movements suitable for that rank.
The size of the inner power takes precedence over the completeness of the swordsmanship when determining the swordsman's rank.
The same would have been true when Bonita Fortis passed the 2-star rank test before entering the school.
But Bonita's swordsmanship is by no means that of a 2- or 3-star brat swordsman.
Bonita opened her mouth.
"Davian."
"Why? Do you have a will or something?"
"You can even crack jokes like that? In this situation."
"Your expression was too serious. It's just a final exam."
Bonita stared at Davian for a moment.
"Davian Naone, I'm going to give it my all."
Well, Davian didn't intend to do it half-heartedly.
"Me too."
"I'm not just saying that. Because I thought I might get caught up with you. Whenever that moment comes, I will never lose to you until then."
"I just hope that's not today either. It'll be too boring then."
"Tch, arrogant Davian Naone. And you haven't even held a sword for half a year."
"Aren't you the one being arrogant? In front of the top student in the midterm exam."
Bonita chuckled.
"Okay, let's do it. Davian Naone."
"Come on in. Bonita Fortis."
Tting.
A notification rang in Davian's ear.
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[Quest: Win a swordsmanship duel against Bonita Fortis]
—Condition: Reward given upon success within 3 chances
—Reward: 12,000 Mana Points (x2)
—Failure: No penalty
=====
It was just a swordsmanship duel with a fellow student, but the reward was as much as 12,000 mana points.
The reward for the quest to defeat the demon commander Jedikus was 16,000 points.
Even that was actually cleared by Glacie's appearance, and it was a quest that Davian couldn't have done alone.
Other than that, there were no quests with rewards exceeding ten thousand points yet.
'3 chances... Does that mean it's a difficult quest? It's a quest to defeat Bonita with swordsmanship alone, so it's understandable.'
Then.
Paat.
Bonita's figure disappeared.
'How much inner power did she grow in the meantime? Her movements are faster.'
But it wasn't just Bonita who had grown her inner power.
Davian already had an inner power close to a 4-star swordsman, no, a 5-star swordsman.
'My inner power is already higher than Bonita's.'
Davian raised his sword to the left.
Chaeng!
Seureuk.
Bonita's sword, touching Davian's sword, twisted slightly to the side.
Bonita's sword smoothly slid up Davian's sword.
Bonita's sword, which had risen to the end before he knew it, crossed Davian's sword and poured down towards Davian's neck with lightning speed.
'This crazy!'
Davian hurriedly twisted his hand and barely blocked Bonita's sword with the pommel (a kind of weight added to the end of the sword handle to balance the sword and prevent the hand from slipping off the grip) attached to the end of the sword handle.
Davian pushed Bonita away with all his might.
"Are you serious?"
"I told you, I'm serious."
Davian was superior in inner power and outer power.
Besides, he even had the 'Eye to See Sword Paths' skill reaching level 30.
'It's worth a try if I push through with speed and power!'
Davian readjusted his grip on his sword.
Bonita Fortis looked at Davian like that.
'Swordsmanship is honest. No matter how monstrous Davian is, the time I've held the sword will never betray me!'
Bonita started attacking again.
This time, she planned to make it impossible to block.
A large horizontal slash.
Davian's sword blocked Bonita's path.
'No way!'
Bonita forcibly twisted her wrist by using her inner power.
The sword, which was striking towards Davian in a large arc, stopped in its place.
Pulled back a little, then another thrust attack.
Davian jumped back and got out of range.
'I expected it!'
Bonita moved forward, stretching her left foot forward.
Bonita's sword began to pressure Davian again.
Lower cut. Thrust. Vertical downward strike. Diagonal cut. Again, mid-level cut.
The mouths of the students watching the match widened.
"Was that Bonita's real skill? It doesn't seem that fast, but I can't predict where she's going to attack. How can you block that sword? Can you block it?"
"Me? I would have had my neck cut off on the first attack."
"What about Davian, who's blocking and dodging it? Isn't he the real monster? He couldn't even hold a sword properly until recently..."
"Well, I guess so?"
"Oh! Davian is counterattacking!"
Chaeng!
As soon as Davian's attack touched Bonita's sword.
Seueuk.
Bonita's sword dragged Davian's sword in.
Davian, being dragged in helplessly.
It was not a movement that could be done with inner power or strength or anything like that.
Davian's eyes began to shake.
'It's more than I thought. Bonita Fortis...'
Peoeok!
Bonita's kick was planted in Davian's abdomen.
It was a kick filled with inner power.
Davian, who had been pushed back for a while, gave strength to both legs and stopped.
When he lowered his head, Bonita's footprint was clear on his school uniform.
"Are you kicking your friend? With inner power?"
"Don't you know we're sparring?"
"Just wait."
Davian threw himself.
"Huff, huff."
"Huff."
Davian's whole body was full of footprints.
His face was also bruised here and there, as if he had been hit a few times.
And.
Bonita was the same, with footprints all over her body.
The face was the same too.
It wasn't that they were being soft on each other because they were friends, so they used their hands and feet instead of swords to strike.
Both of them were sincerely engaged in the sparring, but it was not easy to injure the opponent with a sword.
It was such a fierce attack and defense.
All they could do was launch short attacks using their hands and feet in the middle of the sword clashes.
Stella's voice echoed.
"Sparring over. Bonita Fortis wins."
Cheers and chatter burst out simultaneously from everywhere.
"Wow! Bonita won!"
"As expected, Bonita Fortis!"
"Davian was really great too!"
"But why did Bonita win? They were hitting and receiving almost the same, weren't they?"
"I know, right? I don't know either? The professor must have thought Bonita's movements were better."
"She wouldn't declare victory so definitely for that reason, would she?"
"I thought Davian's sword looked faster."
"Me too."
Stella looked at Davian.
"Davian Naone, do you have any objections to the victory or defeat?"
Davian lowered his sword and looked at Stella.
"No."
"Then do you know exactly why you lost?"
Davian's gaze shifted to Bonita.
He raised his hand and showed three fingers.
"Three times. Bonita's attack came in properly three times. If Bonita hadn't deliberately turned it off or retracted it in the middle, she would have cut my body whole."
Stella nodded.
"You know well. You have good eyes. Then Bonita Fortis, did you see all of Davian's attacks?"
Bonita held out two fingers.
"Twice. Davian succeeded in attacking twice. If he hadn't stopped and came in as it was both times, I would have died instantly."
"As expected, she's the ace of the swordsmanship department. Likewise, you have good eyes."
For thirty minutes, they swung their swords hundreds of times, but they were only able to almost succeed in attacking a total of five times.
The reason why they took out or turned off their swords at the last moment, even though they promised to give it their all, was simple.
Because the attack and defense were so fierce, they couldn't even touch a single hair of the opponent with a moderate attack.
Each and every attack that they barely succeeded in had the speed and power to cut the opponent's body in half.
No matter how much they vowed to give it their all, they couldn't cut their friend's body in two in the final exam practical evaluation.
"What kind of conversation is that? Who succeeded in what attack and when?"
"I don't know either. If the professor says so, it must be."
"Are we at a level where we can't even follow with our eyes? Those two."
The classmates who watched the match could not understand what the three people on the sparring arena were talking about.
They just watched the sparring at an unreachable level, but they didn't know the details.
Davian and Bonita slowly walked down from the sparring arena.
Tting.
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[Quest 'Win a swordsmanship duel against Bonita Fortis' 1st failure]
—Remaining chances: 2 / 3
=====
Defeat.
It was the second defeat for Davian since he started the 4th playthrough.
The first was the demon commander Jedikus.
The second is Bonita Fortis.
Of course, the result would have been different in actual combat, but anyway, losing in the framework of a swordsmanship duel was a loss.
Bonita, who had landed on the floor, looked at Davian.
"Davian."
"Why?"
"I lost this one."
"What? The professor declared your victory."
"If this was real combat, it wouldn't matter how many times someone succeeded in attacking. You were the first to turn off your sword, Davian. If it was real combat, I would have died at that time. My body would have been completely split diagonally."
That's true.
Davian was the one who almost succeeded in a fatal attack first.
At the last moment, he turned his sword and deliberately faced Bonita's sword.
After that, Bonita's sharper sword succeeded in attacking 3 times in a row, but if it was real combat, he would have already died before that.
"But this is sparring. As Stella professor said, you're the one who won, Bonita."
Bonita patted Davian on the shoulder.
"Pfft, how humble. Anyway, you're amazing Davian. I never thought you'd catch up to this point."
"Three times."
"Huh?"
"I'll catch up completely within three times. Now there are two left."
"Oh, really? Good. Go ahead and try. I won't stop here either."
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