Chapter 14:

Chapter 14:

The first week of the Academy was uneventful. That’s exactly how the curriculum was structured. Even the elites who complained about it, are basically boys and girls who had left home and joined the academy for the first time. It was only natural to give them time to adjust. But it wasn’t as if nothing happened. The special class which was usually organized by the principal caused quite a stir. Abel’s name, in particular, was often on people’s lips, and it still is.

“He’s that good?”

“Yeah. Darin says he mercilessly beat up Chloé, and he did it on a millet.”

“What? How is that possible?”

The boys’ attention was drawn to Abel and Daniel, who were dueling. The confrontation between the two was so fierce that it was hard to believe they were in the same grade. Sword after sword clashed, then they moved away, relentlessly looking for an opening.

“Oh, but Chloé can still.........”

A boy watching the duel was just about to say something skeptical.

Bam-!

Abel’s body blurred for a moment, he went at a tremendous speed and snapped Daniel’s jaw with his elbow. The cadets’ who were watching opened their mouths in shock. They soon came to their senses and nodded in awe.

“—— That’s a good one. Yeah.”

“Are they really in the same grade?”

Abel’s brow narrowed slightly.

‘I can hear you.’

They may have spoken quietly to themselves, but to Abel’s sensitive ears, they were loud and clear. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard them talking about him. The topics were always the same: how he’d knocked over Chloé’s body in the special class. As the rumors spread, he gained fame little by little, and now there is even a rumor he’d beaten up a senior.

Abel let out a short sigh and looked at Daniel.

“Should we call it a day?”

Abel asked Daniel who was sprawled out on the floor of the training center, breathing heavily. Daniel answered Abel’s question with a ragged breath.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No. Let’s do it one more time.”

Then he scrambled back to his feet, which was impressive. He didn’t look like he could pass out anytime soon.

‘That’s a talent.’

A normal person would have given up after the ninth time.

‘It’s nice for me to be able to warm up properly.’

They had been meeting at dawn for a while to have a fight, and it was at Daniel’s request.

Daniel’s physical strength was remarkable, but his swordsmanship was lacking. Abel and Daniel now have a combined record of 88 wins and 11 losses against each other. Daniel once said he lacked either talent or hard work, but he hadn’t been learning swordsmanship for very long in the first place.

After catching his breath, Daniel drew his sword again and charged.

“Here we go!”

Quickly closing the distance, Daniel aimed for Abel’s head with his crude blade.

“Bam!”

Abel tilted his sword at an angle to deflect the blow, then dived back into his arms, aiming for his jaw with his elbow.

“Ugh!”

Daniel jerked back. But he couldn’t keep his balance, and he stumbled hard. Abel took advantage of the opportunity to catch up to him and pull him up by his staggering legs.

Daniel seemed to hold on for a moment, but then he lost his balance and stumbled. As he fell, Abel held his training sword to his throat. A look of despair crossed Daniel’s face as he collapsed after only a few moves. Abel withdrew the sword and said.

“That’s it. That’s it for today.”

“No, one more.....!”

“There is no time for that. Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?”

With that, Daniel glanced at the clock on the side of the training center. It was definitely time to shower and eat.

“That’s true.”

“Let’s get cleaned up and go eat.”

Abel stared into space as he waited for Daniel to catch his breath and get up. This was because not a day went by that he didn’t see his reward for dueling Daniel in front of him.

[Challenge accomplished: ‘Do 100 one-on-one sparring’]

[Reward – Blessing of Mana] N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

Blessing of Mana. A buff that increases the rate of mana growth over a period of time.

‘This will last me a week if not more.’ Abel grinned because the more mana, the better.

‘If I do well, I could raise my mana rating within a week.’

During a short test, the teacher said that those who performed well would be allowed to go home early. May ranked second in the class, right behind Abel. That’s how she got into the special class.

‘I don’t have to worry about these eight people’s growth.’

In fact, all eight of them were key members of the game. While Abel was lost in thoughts, they arrived in front of a building. it was located in a corner of the academy. It was his first time coming here.

The other cadets didn’t recognize the building, but Abel did. Considering the content of today’s class, it was pretty much given.

“Should I take this to the door?”

“Yeah.”

Lian, who stood at the front, asked while waving his cadet card, and Charlotte, who stood behind, nodded. As he held up his student ID to the door, a soft light appeared and then disappeared, and the door opened with a cracking noise.

“Wow.”

They admired the place shortly before stepping inside. The inside of the building was new. It was clean without any decorations. The road was undivided and connected in a straight line, so they couldn’t get lost. Just when they thought they had gone far enough, they saw a familiar face up ahead.

“You’re all here.”

It was Jacqueline, the teacher in charge of the special class. Her main position is tank in game terms. Her vision, the jin of protection, was a remarkable ability. However, the special class itself had little to do with her ability. This is because they do things that are slightly different from ordinary classes in the first place.

“Today will be a little special, as I had said in the previous class. Follow me, everyone.”

Jacqueline turned her back and walked ahead after confirming that all the students were present.

Soon after, they arrived at a door made of material that looked sturdy at a glance. Jacqueline brought her name tag around her neck and tapped it on the door and the door opened with a soft glow, as it did when the cadets first entered the entrance.

“Wow.”

Abel and the other cadets walked through the door and went in. A few of them opened their mouths in admiration

‘Everything is so big.’

The Inside was spacious. Although not as large as the building where the entrance ceremony was held, it was large. There was a door-like material on all sides, and Abel, who once worked in a workshop, immediately recognized what it was.

‘They’ve got tartarium everywhere.’

Tartarium. Like telecium, it was a metal often used in crafting gigants. This was also a metal that was directly managed by the Empire, and its effect was simple. It’s super strong

It is much harder than ordinary metal. It had no antimagic properties, so it had to be mixed with some other things, but that was the case for other metals as well. Even in the mansions of powerful families, there probably wasn’t a room made with so much tartarium. This is only possible because the Academy is fully supported by the Imperial Family.

His gaze drifted to the center of the room, where Jacqueline stood. There stood something massive, covered in black fabric, and several men in uniforms and robes stood on each side.

“You came to this Academy to become Gigant Riders, have you not?”

“Yes!”

“Alright then,” She said, turning toward the cadets, “Being a Gigant Rider means many things. But the most important of them all...... is that you have to go up against a Colossus.”

Colossus.

Several cadets’ faces stiffened at that word. The more perceptive cadets probably had a vague idea of what lay beneath that cloth. Jacqueline stopped talking and gestured to the men standing on each side of the cloth. They understood the signal and grabbed the cloth.

Clink-.

The cloth was tugged with a strange sound as it was not made of ordinary materials. What was hidden under the cloth slowly revealed its identity.

Red eyes were shining. Silver-colored metal wrapped around its entire body. It resembled a machine more than a creature. A giant machine molded in the shape of a wolf.

However, the body rises and falls with each breath. And its intense gaze was ready to prove that it was no ordinary machine. It slowly raised itself as the cloth restricting its view disappeared.

Clank-

The cold metallic sound was deafening. But what was more intense was the intense sense of hostility and intimidation that radiated from it.

“The name of this thing is Blade Tail.”

Three strands of a really sharp blade fluttered over the fuselage which was just four meters long. With a flick of its tail, it could shred dozens of ordinary humans. It had that much power.

“This is what you’ll be facing, a fragment of a colossus.”

The moment Abel heard those words,

[Challenge ‘Facing the Shards of a Colossus’ ]

[Reward: Random Skill Pack]

A message flashed before Abel’s eyes. But instead of reading the content of the message, he stared at the bladed tail. To a normal person, it would be a terrifying creature that would send shivers down the spine at the mere sight of it, but Abel was far from normal

“Cool.......!”

Abel’s eyes sparkled. A metallic sheath that felt icy cold. A body with graceful curves that belied the image of stiffness. Each was enough to set Abel’s heart on fire.

“You have two weeks to work together to take this thing down.”

When Jacqueline said those words, the first emotion that came to Abel’s mind was excitement, not fear.

[To be continued.]