Chapter 177: Spar [1]



Tring, Tring—

"Ugh~"

As the alarm ring disrupted my peaceful sleep, I attempted to cover my head with the pillow to dampen the noise in my ears.

However, the persistent ringing of the alarm refused to subside. In the end, I reluctantly sat up and rubbed my bleary eyes.

Upon checking the clock with my blurry vision, I found out it was only 4:50 AM right now.

"Arghh..."

It was early morning, and I groaned at the thought of facing the day ahead.

Dragging myself out of bed, I shuffled to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, trying to wash away the remnants of sleep.

As I brushed my teeth, I tried to motivate myself for the day ahead and reminded myself of the tasks I needed to accomplish before the second arc of the story started.

Eventually, I managed to shake off the last vestiges of drowsiness and began to get dressed for the academy after taking a refreshing yet short shower.

After taking a shower I put on my first-year uniform and let out a deep sigh.

Yesterday when I was at Silva City Yato had asked me to come training ground before 5:30, so that's why I'm waking up this early in the morning.

I don't get what he wants from me. I have a few guesses but let's them be guesses for now.

Anyway, I was dressed up, After a few minutes, I stopped and got up to leave my apartment. Upon making sure that I had locked the door, I let out a deep breath and walked off.

***

[Rank 1001, Lucas Darkheart, confirmed.]

-Ding!

-Swoosh!

As I approached the circular building, I held my Ai bracket against the entrance, and a robotic voice confirmed my identity as Lucas Darkheart, Rank 1001. The door to the training ground opened.

As I walked in I saw a rather handsome man with silver-white hair sitting cross-legged on the matted floor.

But why did he turn himself into a teenage boy, I know that if wants to go somewhere he can go, and No one can stop him.

A few moments later Yato takes off the mask and the effect of the the mask ends.

"But why?" I could not help but ask.

"Don't worry about small details, I just do this kind of thing for fun," Yato said as he placed that mask back into his ring.

"Tha answer your first question and as for the second question of yours, it's simple you are worthy of my interest," Yato said with a small smirk on his face.

'Worthy' of your interest? What are you, a God?!

Suppressing such thoughts, I retorted.

"That is not true." I said, "There are many other cadets who are much more talented than me. Take Adrian, Aric, Emma, or Evelyn for example."

Yato shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "Emma's skill with the bow is impressive, but sadly I haven't ever done bow training myself because there was never a need for it. The same goes for Evelyn as well. Aric has his guild and many instructors waiting to train him and I don't think there is even my need to do anything. Adrian on the other hand, is a true beast.

His basic swordsmanship is so honed to the point where even I couldn't teach him anything in that regard and also someone else is interested in him.."

...Oh?

So not only me but he had a record of all the main characters. That's pretty impressive, I say.

"If you know all that, then–"

I started to interject, but Yato held up a hand to stop me.

"But here's the thing, the names of the cadets you mentioned don't possess the same raw talent that you do. Sure, they can fight well, but the spark in their eyes is that of a protector, fighting to defend what they hold dear. You, on the other hand, look like you want to win at any cost.

".....?"

Seeing the look of confusion and ridicule plastered on my face, Yato let out another sigh.

"If you don't understand what I said, then just think of it as my instincts. My gut feeling a telling me that you will surprise me. So I want to spar with you."

Suii—

"Now," after saying what he had to say, Yato summoned a katana from the pocket space of his dimensional ring. "Ready your sword, Lucas...."