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"Why? Bonita, did you figure it out? Why is he doing that?" Bellum, who was next to her, asked.
"He's copying my sword dance."
What a load of nonsense.
"What are you talking about? He's copying your sword dance? He's doing vertical slashes right now? How many times has he done that already? Why is he doing that?"
Bonita didn't answer, but instead focused on Davian's movements.
'There he goes, Davian.'
What a monster.
She thought Davian would understand her sword dance.
She had put her best effort into showing it to him last time as a reward for saving her life.
But she didn't expect this kind of response.
'He's telling me he watched well, right now. With the tip of his sword.'
Chest horizontal slash.
Gaspar Merlon stared at the tip of Davian's sword with astonished eyes.
The same horizontal slash for the sixth time.
However.
It wasn't the same at all.
Sometimes deep. Sometimes shallow.
Sometimes dark. Sometimes light.
Sometimes soft. Sometimes fierce.
Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow.
'Amazing.'
Already an amazing swordsmanship demonstration.
But what surprised Gaspar even more was that he was copying the sword dance of the student named Bonita Portis that he had seen earlier.
The order, the subtle depth, thickness, and speed.
But on the other hand.
His own interpretation was melted into it.
'Have the two been practicing swordsmanship together since they were young?'
No.
There was no such content in the reports related to Davian.
It said that he had never done swordsmanship and had picked up a sword for the first time after entering the academy.
Gaspar turned his gaze.
The other judges were also frozen, focusing on the tip of Davian's sword.
Professor Stella Cloud, standing on one side of the training ground, was the same.
Rather, Professor Stella looked the most surprised.
'That means...'
The fact that even Professor Stella was making such an expression meant that Davian was showing this swordsmanship for the first time.
'He's watching Bonita Portis's sword dance and immediately copying it as it is. Davian Naone.'
Bonita's sword dance was definitely impressive.
Movements that would come out after refining and refining swordsmanship to reach a finished form.
If Gaspar, who had been a swordsmanship instructor for the Royal Guard for over 10 years, were asked to go out now and imitate that sword dance as it is.
Well.
It's impossible after seeing it once.
That's how fluid and complex Bonita's sword dance was.
'That child...'
After becoming the chairman of the Swordsmanship Association.
The only task that Gaspar was interested in and actively pursuing.
Compiling a complete comprehensive book by combining all the swordsmanship textbooks of the past and present.
But it wasn't easy to tie together so many different swordsmanships.
Following each one, comparing them, creating the optimal movement, and expressing it in words.
It was Gaspar's last wish in life.
In fact, he wasn't sure if he could finish it before he died.
But.
The seventeen-year-old academy freshman in front of him.
Half a year since he first held a sword.
He had gathered 5-star inner strength.
And he was copying a sword dance that could be said to be perfect, exactly as he had seen it once.
Even mixing in his own interpretation while eliminating all unnecessary movements.
'It's possible with that child. Creating a comprehensive textbook of complete swordsmanship.'
Davian's swordsmanship demonstration ended.
The students who had initially said it was boring.
Had become mesmerized by Davian's swordsmanship and were staring blankly.
Even if they couldn't figure out what was contained within.
They could tell that each swing of the sword was too perfect.
Next, the evaluation of aura manifestation ability.
After Hugo Molton's private tutoring.
Davian had already completely understood the principle of imbuing inner strength into the sword.
Sending 5-star inner strength into the sword to create a thick, blue aura was easier than the swordsmanship demonstration.
As there was an achievement reward at stake.
Davian didn't stop there.
He also showed the four elemental attributes being sequentially imparted to the sword as a bonus.
In the end.
He manifested both fire and wind attribute auras at the same time, creating a huge sword of fire that blazed fiercely.
The judge sitting on the far right finally came to his senses and opened his mouth.
"Then we will announce the results of the evaluation after a meeting."
He turned his head to the left to gather the opinions of the five people.
The five's gazes intertwined in the air.
No one said anything about the results of the evaluation out loud.
They had only confirmed it with each other's eyes.
All the same eyes.
'Is this even possible right now?'
The judge who nodded looked forward again.
"Davian Naone. We inform you that you have passed the 5-star swordsman promotion evaluation."
Whoa.
Cheers erupted among the students.
A whopping 5-star swordsman had emerged among his peers.
Throughout Elton Academy.
There probably hadn't been a class like this.
The moment they gave up on competition anyway.
Davian had become something closer to an idol rather than an object of jealousy.
Everyone was happy to celebrate Davian's promotion.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Like Rex Flumen.
And some groups who wanted to be noticed.
But they also thought that they couldn't do anything to Davian anymore.
Ting.
=====
[Quest 'Pass Promotion Evaluation' Success]
―Reward: 16K points (x2)
=====
'Did the achievement quest fail?'
Davian turned his head to look at the chairman of the Swordsmanship Association.
The judges were talking about something with each other.
It didn't seem like they were going to make a scout offer after looking at him.
'Too bad. Dignity +15.'
When he went down from the training ground, his friends ran over and gave him enthusiastic congratulations.
Not only Nubes, Bellum, and Bonita, but also other classmates who weren't close all came to congratulate him.
The judges got up and left the training ground.
Professor Stella stood in front of the students.
"Everyone has worked hard. I'll end today's class here."
After speaking, Stella looked at Davian.
When her eyes met Davian's, she gave him a small smile.
Keeping her smile, Stella nodded her head once and turned around to leave the training ground.
On the way to the student cafeteria.
"So. Davian copied Bonita's sword dance as it was?"
Bonita nodded.
Nubes, who had been listening to Bellum and Bonita's conversation, raised his thick hand and messed up his short hair.
"I don't understand what you guys are saying at all. What's the same about Bonita's sword dance and Davian's basic swordsmanship demonstration, and who copied whom?"
"Right? I'm not the only one who doesn't know what Bonita's talking about, am I? You too, Nubes, right?"
This time, Bellum grabbed the arm of Davian, who was walking ahead.
"Davian! Tell me. What does it mean that you copied Bonita's sword dance? You didn't even dance a sword dance."
"I did copy it. Bonita showed me something so amazing that I had to answer that I watched well."
Bellum held out his palm upwards and shrugged.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Me neither."
Bonita's voice was heard from behind.
"Did it help at all?"
Davian nodded.
"Of course."
Nubes, who gave up trying to understand Bonita and Davian's conversation and turned his head forward, raised his finger.
"Huh?"
One of the judges was standing a little away.
The oldest.
The person who was emitting a terrifying glare.
The chairman of the Swordsmanship Association.
"Davian Naone."
"Yes."
"You see. Wouldn't you like to do something meaningful with me? Something very meaningful that can advance the swordsmanship of the Alcancia Kingdom."
Ting.
=====
[Achievement Quest 'Receive Scout Offer from Swordsmanship Association Chairman' Success]
―Reward: Dignity +15
=====
Davian looked at the status window with a satisfied expression.
But.
It was good that his Dignity stat had increased by 15.
"I'm sorry, but I'm still a freshman, so I haven't decided on my career path yet."
He wasn't interested in something like the Swordsmanship Association.
Davian's goal was just to graduate.
"Ah, of course. There's still a long way to go until graduation. In fact, you'll soon be getting scout offers from all over the place. I'll send you a proposal through someone from the association soon. Read it carefully. And think about what's really meaningful."
"Yes, I understand."
"Then I'll see you again. Davian Naone. I'm sure we'll meet again soon."
A few days later.
The Great Hall.
Professor Mateo stood on the platform.
Professor Wendy from the Department of Summoning was seated next to him.
"Okay, let's start now. Everyone, get on the magic circle."
A huge magic circle was drawn on the floor of the Great Hall.
Large enough for the entire freshman class to get on at once.
When all the students had gathered inside the magic circle, Professor Mateo and Professor Wendy came down from the platform.
Ten teaching assistants followed the two professors and stood on the magic circle together.
It was the day of the postponed capital tour from the first semester.
Professor Mateo and Wendy were in charge of the tour, which was scheduled for one night and two days.
After everyone had gotten on the magic circle.
Professor Mateo lightly operated his magic power.
Whoosh.
The huge magic circle vibrated and emitted a bright light.
188 freshmen, 2 supervising professors, 10 teaching assistants, and 20 managers.
The capital tour of a total of 220 people had begun.
As the bright light disappeared, they arrived at a vacant lot in front of a peaceful village.
It was a village that sponsored the operation of the magic circle whenever there was a capital tour.
Finding a space to operate a huge magic circle that could fill the Academy's Great Hall was not as easy as one might think.
Since they had to use it again when they returned, someone was needed to manage this huge magic circle in its entirety.
"Okay, everyone will eat in this village and then move to the capital. It will take about two hours to get to the capital's gate."
The village had prepared food for 200 people.
It wasn't far from the capital, but even so, it wasn't a large village.
The prepared food was pathetic compared to the Academy's student cafeteria.
But this was also a fun experience for the freshmen who were excited about the capital tour.
No matter how luxurious and fancy the dishes were, the student cafeteria food was just the school lunch that they ate every day.
On the other hand, this village had dozens of wooden tables set up outdoors and served simple but unique regional dishes.
Of course, the Academy paid for this food.
And it was quite a bit of money.
The magic circle usage fee was also included in this food cost.
Nubes, who put a handful of boiled pork in his mouth, smiled broadly.
"It's soft!"
"Really?"
Latia, who had hesitated to stick her fork into the simple food presentation, took a small piece of boiled pork and moved it to her plate.
One bite.
"It's not bad?"
"Yeah! I told you it's delicious!"
Libel took a deep breath with exaggerated gestures.
"Ah, it's good. Eating like this outdoors is nice too."
"Yeah. It's not as bad as I thought."
"But I wish we could eat quickly and leave. I've been wanting to go to the capital so badly."
"Me too. They said we'll be divided into groups when we enter the capital, right?"
"Yeah. They said we'll be divided into two groups and tour."
"I want to see the Royal Guards patrolling the streets quickly."
"I want to go to the library!"
"I want to go to the magic tower."
Davian was looking at such friends.
'Okay, then let's check the effect of the buff trait 'Leader's Dignity' today.'
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