"Come on, it'll start soon."
With these words they walked in the same direction. A strange, almost awkward silence enveloped the three of them, interrupted only by the clear sound of footsteps.
Liana had always been rather quiet, Rain saw no point in saying anything, and Eliana had remained strangely silent even in spite of her temper.
It might not be what people expected from siblings who had lived under the same roof their entire childhood, but that was the reality. And Rain knew better than anyone that their relationship could only be described as complicated.
Accompanied by the silence, he thought about the upcoming test, which as Eliana had said, was due soon.
The structure of the test was simple, 1 on 1 elimination fights, with the loser immediately eliminated and the winner advancing through the tournament grid and going off to prepare for the next match.
All fights up to the semi-finals were held in different rooms with only the referee usually present in addition to the two competitors, which greatly reduced the waiting time during other people's fights.
It was a rather convenient type of tournament and it was used everywhere in this world. As for those who had a terribly strong opponent in the first battle and were immediately eliminated...
«Luck is also part of strength.»
Was the academy's response to any such precedents. And strangely enough, it worked well, because no one had any such questions afterwards.
Finally, the silent trio of Winderlines reached the main hall.
The first thing that caught the eye was the people.
There were a lot of them. Too many, in fact.
The great hall was almost completely filled with bustling students, denying Rain and the sisters the ability to see anything ahead.
Since the fights were held in different locations for each student before the semifinals, it was necessary to know where to go before the start, which is what all the students who came did.
Among them were those Rain had already socialized with, his beautiful partner Ael and Olivia, the head of their class, as well as a few more of his classmates whose names found no place in his heart.
Of course, they were too far away to be approached, so the trio remained standing still. At least until Eliana spotted one of her many acquaintances in the crowd and, with a quick nod to her sister, went over there.
When they were alone again, save for the large number of people standing with their backs to them, Rain pulled out something and his storage ring and placed it in his sister's hand.
"What's that?"
Asked Liana, attracted by the unusual look of the thing.
In her hand was an object that resembled a graceful, irregularly shaped dagger with a long, thin blade. The most striking part of the dagger was that it seemed forged from clear, pure glass, but it was much stronger and much sharper, as if it could cut through space itself.
Every time the light from the magic lamps in the hall fell on it, the irregular dagger shimmered with a mysterious sapphire hue.
It was a shard of Ophelia's weapon, which she had used to wound Sives, Master of the Rift, a very long time ago, and which Rain had recently retrieved from her.
"A return gift."
"Return?"
It seemed like she was really confused by that part.
And since the last time he'd watched them, there must have been a lot of them accumulating.
Playing games with Sives, a brief but fruitful meeting with a couple of mothers, helping Amelia with an important scientific research, and deepening his relationship with his sister, these were just the main things he had managed to do in that time.
With noticeable anticipation, he opened the system window.
[Steal Points: 117,890]
As expected, after all his hard work, the amount of points was not small. Actually, it was the largest amount he had ever seen.
But while he had already accomplished a lot recently, there was still so much more to do.
'First a duel with Grey, then a 'duel' with his mother...'
Both of his swords had been tempered in thousands of battles and were ready for the challenges to come.
Since it was impossible to increase his power base significantly in the remaining time, and since he did not urgently need anything else, he decided to leave the points until the fight with Grey, and to navigate there according to the situation.
'In this case, the more points I have, the more trumps I have.'
Having made that decision, Rain smiled because there was one last thing left for him to do. With a red glint in his eyes, he called up the system window.
[Extra Quest]
[Fuck your sister until she passes out while another woman peeks at you.]
[Reward: A-rank weapon of your choice]
[Penalty for Failure: ---]
[Time Limit: ---]
[1/1]
[Congratulations on completing the quest!]
[As a reward, you will be given one weapon of your choice. Choose wisely.]
[Shattering Shield]
[Mace of Domination]
[Unknown Sword]
[Great Bow]
[Sazex's Dagger]
[Dark Stiletto]
[Staff of the Last War]
[Wooden stick]