Chapter 154

Everyone except me moved to the fortress city of Feldra and proceeded to conquer the A-class dungeon during the summer vacation. Although I wasn’t present, since the number of people in our party had increased, we conquered in less than two months. The Level of the newcomers was rising at an incredible rate.

I also conquered the 5th A-class dungeon a few days later than others.

Though the Dungeon Management System didn’t appear after we defeated the bottom floor boss.

It was probably because we had three new members in our party.

In order to get our 5th Certificate of Conquest, I think we need to remove the three new members from our party through the procedure at the Adventurer’s Guild. Then, beat the bottom floor boss again, and we would gain the 5th engraving on our card. But we have already talked about it and have decided to enter the S-class dungeon with the five of us.

We returned to the Academy City at the end of September and have been trying to conquer the newcomers’ 3rd A-class dungeon. At our current pace, all eight of us will finish conquering 5 A-class dungeons by December.

I collected as many magic stones as I could in two months. I collected nearly a million E and D-rank stones, but was limited to 100,000 C-rank magic stones due to their high price.

The market price of magic stones has risen by about 10% in the Kingdom due to my requests, but it will settle down soon. The price of magic stones returned to normal in October.

I was able to raise my <Summon> to Level 7. <Strengthening> was already Level 7 before my meeting with Hero Helmios, but now my <Awakening> is also Level 7. My <Summon> is now Level 7 which means I can now summon B-rank summons, and I have already analyzed the new summons.

In October, I turned 14 years old.

A man a size larger than me is currently standing in front of him, clutching a large sword. And in between us is a man. This man is the referee of the match that is about to begin.

The Preliminary Round is already finished, which consisted of 100 people, and today we are in the middle of the Final Round, which started with 16 people.

The referee is explaining the precautions to us. Apparently, if your opponent surrenders, you have to stop the attack. He also taught us the pose for surrender. I’ve heard this many times since yesterday, and it seems to be a mandatory pre-fight instruction. I was also warned that there was a possibility of death in this match. Apparently, many people have died in the past due to the heat of the match.

The muscular man glared at me.

The match was about to start.

“Then get ready.”

I held my Adamantite sword against my opponent, who was wielding a Mithril sword.

There is no reason to match your weapon Level to your opponent’s.

“Start!”

With that signal, my opponent came at me at once.

I dodged all of my opponents’ attacks without being hit by them. He swung his big sword to match my movements. Each time he did so, I felt tremendous wind pressure.

(I think all 100 people who participated in the Preliminary Round had 2 Star Talents.)

I think about it as I duck against the upcoming big sword.

Thinking about something during a fight doesn’t mean I am making fun of him.

Even if I was about to be eaten by a Madegarsh, because of my [Intelligence], which has reached four digits, I would not stop thinking.

Out of a little over 5,000 students, 100 are selected on the recommendation of their homeroom teachers.

In terms of the percentage of people with Talent, 1 in 10 is a 2 Star Talent.

No wonder all 100 of them were 2 Stars.

The Academy doesn’t let students with 1 Star Talents participate in the tournament. This is also unavoidable considering the difference in ability values and the increase in status due to Talental skills.

As I continued dodging with ease, my opponent made a mistake, probably pissed off because he thought he was being mocked by a younger student.

(You’re still a student. It’s dangerous on the battlefield if you lose your temper.)

I didn’t miss the moment. I quickly closed the distance between us and closed in on my opponent. I changed the hold of my sword from a two-handed hold to one-handed hold.

Dogo!

I then punched into my opponent’s Mithril armor. The sound of impact echoed throughout the arena.

My opponent cowered convulsively, unable to say anything. It seemed to be enough of a blow to finish him off.

The referee comes running up to us. He nods something and raises his right hand vertically, signaling the end of the match to the judges’ table.

“Whoa! This is a victory for Allen, who was recommended by the Principal. He fought very well in this match. Is he going to win this tournament? Next up is the Final, Kurena Vs. Allen.”

An announcement spreads my victory throughout the arena.

For some reason, the term “Principal’s Recommendation” seems to be a set phrase for me. Normally, my homeroom teacher would recommend me, but I was recommended by the Principal.

The fight that had just ended was the Semi-Final of the Final Round. I had already fought two battles like this one and won. Only the Final Match and the exhibition matches of the Academy Martial Arts Tournament were remaining.

The audience was not pleased with my victory as I proceeded with the match as unhurriedly as in the previous two matches.

(The Crown Prince is here too.)

I’m watching the entire arena from above with my Eagle. I found the Crown Prince who has arrived again this year, and he has brought his own faction’s ministers and Nobles with him, seemingly to show off his power.

Naturally, this year too, there are many guests from various countries present. Martial Arts Tournament is held each year by the Academy to show everyone that they are training the students well. If they show a boring match, the Academy will be berated at the meeting of the Five Continents Alliance.

The Academy Martial Arts Tournament is a matter of honor for each country.

This year there were two sophomores in the Final, one of whom was a Master Swordsman named Kurena who won last year.

But who’s the other person who’s been fighting like he’s got a lot of time on his hands so far? The handout from the Academy says Talent “Summoner” but who is he?

The guests of honor from various countries were undecided about their assessment of my victory.

Then, a few minutes later, the Final Match would start. If a participant was injured badly enough, the match would be postponed or in the worst case scenario cancelled. But since both Kurena and I overwhelmed all of our opponents and were mostly unharmed, the match began at scheduled time.

“It’s been a long time!”

Kurena is talking to me excitedly. She’s breathing hard, her cheeks are flushed, and she looks very happy.

It’s been about six years since I’ve had a serious match like this against Kurena. 

A lot of time has passed. And I even feel guilty that I’ve made her wait so long.

“Kurena, I’m going to ask you one more time, if I get serious I will use <Summon>, is that okay?”

I want to reconfirm what we confirmed last night.

“Of course! You can’t go easy on me!”

“Ok.”

In addition to the Academy rules, Kurena and I have set these two rules in our Final Match:

I checked with Kurena about how we would fight. The sword is too much in her favor after all. Kurena wanted to fight me seriously. Apparently, she had been thinking in her own way how we would fight for the past two months.

I held up my sword. As if to match me, Kurena also held up her sword.

It’s strange that when I do this, I still feel like I’m about to say, “My name is Allen the Knight.”

“Start!”

With the signal from the referee, Kurena, clutching her Adamantite Greatsword, rushed in.

I caught Kurena’s attack and a heavy thud hit me. Kurena continued attacking me.

(After all, even one level difference in <Swordsmanship> skill makes quite a difference relative to the other. And since Kurena’s a Master Swordsman, three is a difference too.)

I think about the difference in our <Swordsmanship> level. As the <Swordsmanship>’s skill level goes up, the power and sword handling increases. Mine is still at 3, aiming for 4, but Kurena’s is already 6.

If the difference is this large, there will be a clear difference in sword handling.

(But I have better [Agility] and [Attack] than you.)

I lose in skill level against Kurena, but I have my summons’ blessing in various stats.

The crowd begins to buzz with excitement about this year’s finals.

I was not overwhelmed by Kurena at all, whose major status values are up to 4000+.

“Ooohhh!”

With a shout, Kurena swung a big blow. As I dodged the blow, her sword began to burn bright crimson.

(Oh! It’s the <Crimson Lotus Break>.)

Thud

There was no room for me to avoid it because of his stance. I was unable to avoid the attack and was hit by a Master Swordsman’s skill.

Screams could be heard from the audience. Some gasped for breath, wondering if I died after such a blow.

For a moment, Kurena smiled, confident in her victory.

It was such a blow. However, even with such a blow, I was not blown away at all.

“No, no. The match isn’t over yet.”

“What?”

I chided Kurena for momentarily loosening her tension and slammed the Adamantite sword into her side.

“See?”

“…! How?”

(Fufu, were you surprised? I’m glad I raised my skill levels to 7.)

I didn’t receive any major damage because of Kurena’s blow at all while Kurena was heavily damaged. She was breathing haphazardly due to the damage to her side.

Then, after a few more attacks, Kurena surrendered.

While Kurena was disappointed that she lost, the referee declared me the winner.

“To everyone’s surprise, Allen, who was recommended by the Academy Principal, defeated the Master Swordsman Kurena. What a surprise! So, the match will be between Master Swordsman Doberg and Master Swordsman Kurena! It will begin after a few moments.”

As the crowd buzzed with excitement, the Academy Martial Arts tournament ended with Allen’s victory.