"Ahh...so that was a teleportation trap and not a dungeon entrance?" Daru muttered to himself as he walked towards the academy canteen, realization sinking in: "I guess I was sent to the Veshara Continent, then..."
Instructor Talon’s announcement perfectly explained his weird situation of encountering a lot of Vesharis while wandering without direction in what he assumed to be a hidden dungeon.
As it turned out, he was simply in the novice zones of Veshara.
’Well, this is also fine...’
At least he would get to fight bladeborns from the other races this early.
A few more seconds later, he arrived at the academy canteen and had a hearty lunch before returning to his dormitory, resting for a bit, and heading over to the sixth training field for his afternoon classes.
He arrived an hour earlier as usual.
The moment he entered, a few heads turned his way, but his gaze was locked in a single direction.
Daru’s brows rose, noticing that his usually early training partner wasn’t here yet.
He didn’t linger on the thought and simply proceeded to drop his worn-out training bag off on one of the empty benches.
He then headed over to the weapon racks, grabbing a training tachi before proceeding to strike the usual dummy—form first, then speed, then power.
Around five seconds later, however, ten of his classmates approached him together.
"H-Hey, Finnley," greeted the one named Oliver rather awkwardly.
Daru temporarily ignored them, finishing his motions before turning to look. This wasn’t new to his classmates anymore, as he even dared to do this to Snowflower.
Oliver wasn’t offended one bit. The Fallen Sword Prince was simply a bit of a weirdo, and they could accept it.
"What is it?" Daru asked with raised brows, not expecting this group of low-rankers, whom he usually had no interactions with, to approach him.
"S-Say, you heard Matt’s suggestion earlier in the classroom, right?" Oliver stuttered. "I-I’ve decided to help you guys, you see. After all, it would be better if a D-ranker was leading the party, right?"
Daru’s brows furrowed, finding it difficult to understand what his classmate wanted from him.
"Stop talking in circles, tell me what it is that you need from me."
"Wha–" the D-ranker found Daru’s words a bit too direct, heart slightly leaning into further dislike. "What can’t you understand? I’m giving you the honor of joining my party so we can hunt enemy novices together and split the rewards. While I do think that the rank of your sword is far from worthy, you have some skills with the sword, so you can join."
Only then did Daru understand why Oliver approached him.
"Ahh, I see. Unfortunately, I would have to refuse."
The D-ranker was already a bit on edge, being judged by the other average-rankers of his class for trying to become the head of a chicken rather than be a mere tailfeather of a phoenix
This was why Oliver almost exploded, had it not been for the sudden arrival of a blueberry-haired beauty.
Her mere presence made the D-ranker tremble.
Oliver didn’t dare lash out in front of Snowflower, thinking he would be hated by her if he lost his cool.
So, with a snort and a furious heart, he could only leave with a few pathetic words: "Hmph, fine then. We don’t need someone like you, anyway."
Daru and Iris merely followed the small party with their eyes for a few moments before shifting their attention to each other.
"You’re surprisingly late today." Daru greeted with a faint smile.
"Ah, yes. I had something to do." Snowflower responded in her usual gentle yet somewhat cold and distant tone.
"I see, I thought you were slacking off."
"I’m not slacking off."
"I was joking."
"Ah...I see...so you know how to joke..."
After a rather awkward back and forth that didn’t seem to affect the two, they suddenly bowed at each other, turning towards the dummies in the next moment.
Without so much as another word, they began training like usual.
Striking dummies, comparing knowledge, just improving beside each other in general...
A majority of the young men still turned to look from time to time, clenching their fists in jealousy.
The instructors eventually arrived, and the afternoon classes proceeded as usual.
Once it was over, the unlikely duo trained together again for two more hours before going their separate ways.
Daru immediately entered the Myriad Sword Realm the moment he arrived at his small dormitory room.
The world warped white, and the next thing he knew, he was back to the gloomy swamp-forest, the gentle yet eerie sounds of the water making their way to his ears.
Daru exited the somewhat uncomfortable hollow and looked around.
Mangroves with cone-like leaves, half-dead spruces and oaks, the gray algae, the weird flora that was somehow surviving the environment...
All those added to the chilling yet manageable darkness.
"Only one month in this fun place, huh?" Daru sighed, a bit disappointed at the short span of the event.
"Oh well...I only have one hour left tonight..."
He had to make the most of his time instead of standing around pointlessly.
And so, since he didn’t know where he was going anyway, he simply proceeded to spend the night hunting, leaving the forest and proceeding deeper into the Somber Swamp.
Daru mostly encountered level 38 frog-like swordspawns with four legs and two arms holding a strange, curving sword that had a blade similar to shark teeth.
The creatures called Jagger Jagarras had a dangerously explosive lunge, a strange footwork that Daru enjoyed dealing with, and the ability to enchant their weapons with the poison attribute—a small wound might be his end.
This was why his entire hour simply flew by him.
He could only struggle to sleep that night, thinking about what kinds of swordspawns unique to Veshara he would encounter tomorrow.
The next morning, he attended Talon’s two-hour lecture class and entered the sword realm with a few reminders from his instructor that didn’t even register in his mind.
The world warped into white once more, then to the somber swamp.
The moment he arrived, however, he heard footsteps trudging through the waters.
A lot of them...