The craggy ceiling of a brightly lit room hazily swam into Deon’s vision as his eye’s fluttered open. Groaning, he found that his movement was highly restricted. It turns out he was wrapped in a coat of bandages. The memory of being brutally beaten by Dell was still fresh in his mind, and he cringed just thinking about it. Sofia was sitting on a chair next to him in a white coat, reading a book. Hearing Deon slowly shift around, Sofia’s eyes fixed on Deon with a cold glare.

“Why did you attempt to duel Dell? You should’ve been able to realize that you won’t be able to beat him. Well, for now, at least you only got away with minor injuries. Circulate your Battle Energy around your body. It should seal up those wounds, and I can remove your bandages. Don’t look so surprised. I’m the school nurse as well as your homeroom teacher. Now hurry up and circulate your Battle Energy, so I can get out of here. I’ve been watching your unconscious body for the last three days.”

Contrary to the condition of his body, Deon’s store of Battle Energy was relatively robust. Just by looking at his Battle Energy, no one would be able to guess Deon’s current sorry state. Closing his eyes, Deon focused on circulating his current Energy through his body. A soothing feeling passed through his body, and he could feel the remnants of Dell’s attack disappearing from his body.

About an hour later, Sofia stood up and unwrapped the bandages from Deon’s body. Giving him a new set of clothes, she wordlessly stepped out of the room, and her footsteps faded off into the distance. Deon’s bones creaked and his muscles cracked from his three days of inactivity. He stretched until his body was back to normal again. Looking around his bare body, he was surprised to see not even a single scar on his skin. Pulling on his clothes, Deon stepped out of the room he was resting in. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around his neck.

“Deon!! I was soooo worried. I think I was a little too harsh on you, considering I’ve been training for many times as long as you have. Whoa! Not a single mark is left on your body! The medicine here is really useful! Teacher Sofia was really worried when she heard that you were injured. She immediately brought you to the nurse’s office.

The arm belonged to Dell, whose face revealed a happy expression at Deon’s awakening. Even though he was a genius, Dell’s inner child revealed itself to people he had befriended.

Deon’s face started to turn blue as he gasped for air.

“Let go of me! You’re suffocating me!”

With a huge effort, Deon ripped Dell’s arm from his neck. Gasping for breath, he gave a tired look at Dell.

“Could I ask you a question! Exactly what level of Battle Energy are you in?”

“Well, currently I’m in the red level of Battle Energy. But if I use my Sword Skill, I’m able to defeat purple level opponents.”

Hearing this, Deon almost fainted. He was lucky he got away with such small injuries, facing a red level opponent. Deon’s Spiritual Sense did not have any effect on Dell, as Dell’s pool of Energy was so small, Deon couldn’t detect anything from it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later, Deon and Dell were wandering around the marketplace inside the Royal Academy. In this area, there were many students selling various products, from food to weapons. Looking around, Deon and Dell saw many interesting products. However, all of the products that they were interested in were extremely expensive, and the two boys did not bring too much money from the Grayson Estate.

Deon was particularly interested in the weapons. Ever since he had failed the blood binding with the Yin Sword, he had been preparing to attempt the binding again. However, before that happened, Deon would need a temporary weapon.

Suddenly, Deon felt a pull on him. It seemed that the Furious Energy within his body was reacting to something. The feeling felt very similar to that of the Yin Sword on Deon’s body. Following this intrinsic pull, Deon sauntered over to a stall in the corner of the Royal Academy, selling a few items. The owner of the stall was a tall student with a hood covering all of his features. The pull that Deon felt led him over to a sword. It was covered in rust, and it seemed extremely ancient. However, the pull the sword had on Deon was unmistakable. Eyeing the sword, Deon asked the stall owner how much it cost.

A flat voice drifted out from underneath the hood.

“One hundred gold.”

The extravagantly low price startled Deon. Not even normal weapons would be that cheap. Deon reached his hand out to pick up the rusted weapon.

Suddenly another hand shot out and picked up the sword.

“Mister. I’ll be buying this sword.”

Taking out a bag of gold coins, the owner of the hand tossed it to the stall vendor. The vendor bowed and went back to his business while the owner of the hand picked up the rusted sword.

“Wait! I’m the one who saw that sword first. I was about to buy itl.”

The person who stole the weapon from Deon turned around at the sound of Deon’s voice.

“Well I paid for the sword first. Get lost squirt. “

An angry look surfaced on Dell’s face.

“You there! Apologize to my friend and hand the sword over.”

The person carrying the rusted sword turned around, and Deon could easily see his features. He was built like a bull, strong and robust. Over his shoulder was a large polearm. The person’s face was sculpted like a marble statue, which would probably cause almost any girl to go crazy over him. The size difference between this person and the two boys was quite apparent.

“You’re making me apologize? You should be the one apologizing for disturbing me. If you bother me again, don’t blame me for attacking you. Wait. How about this? If any one of you manages to defeat me in a duel right here, I’ll give you this sword. Free of charge.”

Dell got into a fighting position.

“You’ve got yourself a deal. Get ready. I’m coming.”

The person put down the rusted sword and smiled.

“Great! I’ve been longing to have a battle. Don’t disappoint me!”

“Dell! Wait! Let me duel him. It’s my problem here!”

Dell smiled and shook his head.

“I can sense that this person is beyond you in terms of strength. Let me do it. Count it as compensation for your injuries.”

Dell yelled.

“One thousand needles!”

Immediately afterwards, he jumped directly at his opponent while drawing his sword. Deon noticed that Dell’s speed was almost two times as fast as when Dell had faced Deon. It seemed that Dell really was going easy on Deon.

Contrary to their expectations, heavily built person simply stood there and yawned as Dell’s sword swung towards him. Suddenly the person’s hand shot up with a layer of energy surrounding it and caught Dell’s sword in mid swing. Dell’s eyes betrayed his shock. Even though there was no energy inside his sword, Dell’s raw sword attack should be able to pierce through any defense below his level. There was only one possibility this person's level was higher than Dell's. But there was more than simply this one sword attack.

The one thousand needles that Dell had conjured earlier rushed towards the person at a great speed. However, to Dell’s horror, these needles traveling at close to the speed of sound simply ricocheted off of the person’s skin, like they had struck an orichalcum block.

“Haha. That tickled. You’re not even worth looking at. Now, it seems to be my turn.”

A cruel smile emerged on the person’s face. With a blur, the person’s other hand rushed towards Dell at an extreme speed, to the point where it produced a shockwave from breaking the sound barrier. Since Dell’s sword was being held, he did not even have the chance to block as the fist collided with Dell’s chest, producing a cracking sound and throwing him back into an adjacent wall.