Note from Author:

I am so sorry for not posting any new chapters recently. I was extremely busy lately, so I didn't get the chance to write any new chapters.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter!

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After class, Deon and Dell quietly retired to their rooms. Expectedly, they were both roommates with each other. Entering the room, Deon found it quite similar to the one he was used to at the Grayson Family Estate. Even though it was smaller and the beds were crammed into a corner, Deon found the room suitable for that of a school. By this time, it was already evening. Washing up, Deon and Dell both went to bed. However, as soon as Deon heard Dell's breathing slowly diminish into that of a sleeping person's, he sat up and began cultivating as he did every night; by cultivating while Dell was asleep, Deon avoided Dell's inquiries on his strange appearance while cultivating. As soon as he began cultivating, however, Deon was surprised.

The density of Energy in the air was many times higher in the Royal Academy than that of the air in the Grayson Estate, raising Deon's cultivation speed by at least two times. It was probably due to some object within the Academy. Deon made a note in his mind to ask his teacher about it tomorrow. Although Deon had already broken through to the yellow level of Battle Energy, the effort it would take to get to the orange level would by many times higher. And even more so for his cultivation of Furious Energy. At around midnight, Deon ended his cultivation period and extracted the Illusion Sword Art Manual from his bag. In the library, he did not get a chance to finish reading the method for Heaven's Ring. Compared to the Foundation Technique Deon had trained in for the last few months, Heaven's Ring required a much larger amount of Battle Energy for it to be useful in battle; the strength of the skill is proportional to the number of energy swords the user is able to create. Thinking about this, Deon put the technique to the side for now; to make Heaven's Ring useful, he should probably focus on increasing the number of swords he can create. With these thoughts on his mind, he slowly drifted off into the realm of sleep.

The next morning, Deon had woken up late. Dell was already gone, heading to class.

Fuming, Deon quickly pulled on his clothes and rushed out the door of his room, all the while cursing Dell for not waking him up as well. Deon pulled open the door to his classroom, and ran inside. As if it was preplanned, the entire class turned their heads toward Deon, including Sofia.

"Deon, just because I proclaimed you a genius yesterday doesn't mean you can skip class leisurely. Now get to your seat before I send you outside to run a few laps."

Not a single trace of yesterday's awe remained on Sofia's face. She had reverted to her original ice cold countenance.

"I'm sorry Teacher Sofia. It won't happen again."

With his face burning, Deon headed up to his seat next to Dell. As Deon sat down, Dell leaned over and whispered with a smirk, "You were sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to wake you up. By the way, you drool when you sleep."

Deon replied sarcastically, "Well, thanks. I really appreciate your concern."

At this moment, Sofia, who seemingly didn't hear Dell, turned her head towards Deon and said, "Deon. First you come in late. Then, you disturb my class with your talking. Are you going to run around naked next?"

Deon lowered his head and muttered an almost inaudible apology.

"Now, since Deon is probably finished disrupting the class, let me continue with what I was about to say. In about three months, there will be a ranking tournament for the first years. This tournament will determine your status for the next three years here at the Royal Academy. Students here are ranked S rank through D rank, with S being the highest and D being the lowest. This rank determines the cultivation resources you will have access to. As many of you may have noticed, the rooms that you are currently residing in possess an extremely large density of Energy. As your rank increases, you get access to rooms with higher and higher densities of Energy, with S rank being the most and D rank being the least. By the way, there is only one S rank room in the entire school. If you manage to place first in this tournament, you will have the right to challenge the current S rank student. However, I doubt you will be able to beat him, as he is currently at the bronze level of Battle Energy. A rank titles get granted to first through fourth place. B rank titles are granted to fifth through eighth place. C rank titles are granted to ninth through twelfth place. D rank titles are granted to the rest of the students. However, these ranks are not permanent. Starting from second year, you are free to challenge anyone of one rank higher than you. If you manage to defeat him/her, you will take his/her rank, and he/she will take your rank. Keep this in mind if you do not want to lose your rank through laziness. Oh and by the way, in this first year, there are over five hundred students, so obtaining a rank above D is extremely difficult."

Deon listened closely. With the huge density of energy in his current room, which is a D rank room, he is already absorbing Energy at almost twice his original rate. With an S rank or A rank room, he might be able to increase his absorption rate by eight or even nine times! At this rate, assuming that he will be able to endure the breakthrough from silver to gold, Deon would reach gold rank before the age of twenty, an earth-shattering accomplishment. The current record is gold rank at the age of thirty, set by the Head of the Five Generals. For normal people, it would be lucky to reach bronze rank before the age of sixty.

Sofia continued speaking.

"Not only will you have access to abundant cultivation resources for S rank. By the time you turn sixteen, you will be guaranteed a position of Battalion Commander in the army. If you are A rank, you are given the position of Squad Captain at sixteen. The rest have to start as regular soldiers in the army."

This announcement blew Deon's mind away. The rank of Battalion Commander was extremely prestigious. It was only two levels below the rank of General.

After class finished, Deon accompanied Dell to the sparring field. Deon wanted to test his abilities against Dell's. The two of them started as opposite sides of the field. They lifted their practice swords and observed each other. Preparing to charge at Dell, Deon then noticed something familiar. Like the time when Dell slashed at the orichalcum dummy, there are almost no fluctuations of energy around Dell. Without warning, Dell pushed off his back foot, heading straight for Deon.

With an inhuman reaction speed, Deon raised his sword. Steel clashed against steel as the two swords met each other. Deon jumped backwards and activated the skill he had trained over and over again.

"Illusion Sword Arts: Foundation Technique, Sword Cloning."

Almost immediately, three yellow swords materialized around Deon. Lifting his sword, Deon commanded them to head for Dell. A split second later, Deon jumped after the swords and thrust his steel sword at Dell.

With nimble steps, Dell leaped backwards as each sword missed him by a hairbreadth. With a casual whip of his sword Dell knocked away Deon's real sword. Amazingly, Dell hadn't used a single sword skill yet.

With another step off his back foot, Dell jumped at Deon again. However, this time Deon detected something strange about Dell's sword. He just couldn't put his finger on it. The swords clashed once again, but this time Deon heard Dell's voice mutter.

"Infinite Blade Arts: Hundred Needles."

In an instant, tens of scratches appeared on Deon's body, each one the size of a hair. Even though each scratch was extremely tiny, the blood loss added together was enormous. Deon slowly lost consciousness as he collapsed onto the dirt floor of the training arena. His last thought was depressing.

"Damn it. I couldn't even land a single hit against him. And he defeated me with a single sword skill. I have a long way to go."