‘Of all places to et.’
Co to think of it, Namgung Bihwa was an interdiate student. I forced my stiffening lips into a smile and said.
“We et again. I’ve been admitted as a junior student this ti. Please take care of .”
“What? You?! A junior student… Then you’re a high-ranking entrant?”
Namgung Bihwa said, glaring at as if she couldn’t believe it.
The top student could access the interdiate library without any conditions, and high-ranking entrants could access it conditionally, so it seed she had mistaken for a high-ranking entrant.
‘She has no idea that I’m the top student.’
By now, so information about should have been released among the interdiate students.
It seed she wasn’t very up-to-date with rumors.
“Anyway, it was nice eting you. I’ll be on my way then.”
I tried to slip past her, thinking it would be troubleso if I got involved. Just then, Namgung Bihwa grabbed .
“Wait a mont.”
“…What is it?”
I cautiously turned my head, afraid of experiencing sothing like ‘You don’t deserve to be in the Martial Academy!’.
“That sword?”
Fortunately, her gaze was on the sword I had received from Jeongmuk before.
“What about it?”
“Isn’t that the Martial Study Sword?”
It seed the na of this sword was the Martial Study Sword. I thought I had heard it sowhere, but it was so long ago that I couldn’t rember well.
“Well, I guess so.”
At my indifferent response, Namgung Bihwa’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t tell you stole it?”
“Would that be possible?”
When I asked back, Namgung Bihwa frowned as if she couldn’t understand.
“Then why do you have it?”
A sharp tone. It seed her impression of was not good because of the previous incident.
It was unfair, but since I had committed the deed, it couldn’t be helped. Having no choice, I obediently told the truth.
“I received it. Directly.”
At those words, her eyes widened in surprise for a mont.
“You received the Martial Study Sword from an instructor?!”
I nodded silently. Because sothing had co to mind from Namgung Bihwa’s reaction.
‘Co to think of it, there was a test to obtain the Martial Study Sword in the interdiate student exam.’
There were a few tests to beco an advanced student even for interdiate students, and one of them was to be acknowledged in a duel with an instructor within a year and obtain the Martial Study Sword.
As I was silently recalling the related content, the opponent’s voice rose.
“Tell in detail…!”
As Namgung Bihwa approached and was about to say more, a heavy killing intent flew from all directions.
‘Oh, dear.’
I looked around and sighed. The piercing gazes of the students in the library were pouring in.
‘Getting scolded for being loud in the library is the sa everywhere.’
I whispered to Namgung Bihwa, who was looking around with her mouth shut, as if flustered.
“It’s not good to be too loud in the library. I’ll be going first then.”
And so, I left the silent Namgung Bihwa and went to one side of the interdiate library. Then, a thought suddenly occurred to , and my eyes shone.
‘Wait, then what happens to ?’
Was it an automatic pass? It ant I had already cleared one of the exams I would have to take in the future.
But to simply pass it off as good luck, sothing bothered . There was no way Jeongmuk didn’t know the aning of this sword.
‘This could get troubleso.’
I headed to a corner of the library, leaving behind the gazes that were faintly felt towards . And there, I began to read the [Interdiate Formation Theory].
It certainly had a different aspect from the basic formation book that could be seen in the secret manual library on the first floor.
‘The mathematical approach is prominent.’
There was also a part like Minesweeper. It was an approach of ‘if there is an energy of 5 here and an energy of 1 there, then there is a trap here’.
As numbers and laws were involved in the yin-yang and five elents, the content beca much more complex, but thanks to that, it beca possible to create a more systematic and solid formation.
‘I see why the Heaven-Shattering Demon scattered the martial arts but didn’t just distribute the formation books.’
A skill that requires highly specialized manpower and an endless amount of huge funds.
A formation is a type of knowledge that consolidates the power of a group, not sothing that can be achieved by an individual’s effort alone.
It was a different kind of power from the Heaven-Shattering Demon’s idea of returning martial arts to everyone.
Of course, because of this, the Zhuge family had benefited from it in the past era of the Heaven-Shattering Demon.
‘Because their prestige and power had shrunk the least.’
If the foundation of the Zhuge family, which only had formation knowledge and brains, had been all revealed at that ti, there would be no Zhuge Cheonwu, the scoundrel from the Five Great Families, by now.
‘I’m indebted in many ways.’
I thanked the Heaven-Shattering Demon inwardly and began to read the formation book again with an interested gaze.
* * *
“Hey, junior student.”
In the evening, after finishing my reading, I was about to leave the secret manual library and head to the dining hall when I suddenly heard soone calling from behind.
What was there was a man looking down at with his chin raised.
Seeing the clothes with a blue pattern, he seed to be an interdiate student, so I used honorifics.
“What is it?”
“If a senior calls you, you should just answer politely, why are you asking for the reason first?”
He, with an irritated impression, crumpled his expression and then slowly approached .
I made a dumbfounded expression at the sight of him approaching while raising his qi all over his body to create a sense of pressure.
“It seems you don’t know yet, but that sword is not sothing a junior student like you should be wearing.”
He said, pointing at the Martial Study Sword at my waist.
‘As expected, he was after this.’
Only then did I understand Jeongmuk’s intention. Giving the Martial Study Sword was his own way of acknowledgnt and a prank.
Because if I wore the Martial Study Sword, the interdiate students would have their eyes lit up and rush to take it away.
Of course, the top-ranking students didn’t need to aim for mine in an unseemly way and could receive acknowledgnt from the instructors.
‘But not everyone has that much skill.’
The only ones who couldn’t get the Martial Study Sword were the students with ambiguous grades. Right now, I had beco a good target for the lower-ranking interdiate students.
“Then what should I do?”
When I asked him back with a rather innocent tone, the opponent twisted the corner of his mouth. And then, as if he had been waiting, he beckoned with his palm.
“Leave it to . I will take responsibility and deliver it to the instructor later.”
It was a trick with an obvious intention. I opened my eyes wide and answered.
“I see. But what should I do about this? There’s already soone I’ve promised to give it to.”
“What? Who in the world is it?”
Then, the guy’s expression crumpled for a mont. Seeing that, I sold out a student’s na.
“It’s Namgung Bihwa-nim.”
“What?”
The opponent, with a surprised face for a mont, froze and pointed a finger at .
“Don’t be ridiculous! Why would she do that?”
“Well. Isn’t it for the sa reason as you, senior? In fact, that’s what we were talking about in the secret manual library earlier.”
I finished my words, sneering at him inwardly.
‘For a martial artist to tremble just by hearing the opponent’s na, not their own sword.’
How would this guy have known that I had the Martial Study Sword? Of course, he must have found out when Namgung Bihwa was surprised and ntioned the Martial Study Sword in the secret manual library.
Since we had been talking quietly before that, he probably hadn’t heard the conversation we had before.
‘So if I mix in a plausible lie, he has no choice but to believe it.’
“Why of all people…! She already passed the exam.”
As I thought, the opponent showed a flustered reaction.
Namgung Bihwa was one of the top-ranking strong people among the interdiate students. He would never want to make an enemy of her.
“Then I’ll be going. Namgung Bihwa-nim is waiting for up ahead.”
“What? This… damn it!”
At my words, the guy couldn’t bring himself to grab and gave up. It was a truly pathetic sight.
Well, that’s probably why he had the idea of taking a weak junior’s sword to pass the exam.
‘It’s better to get through this without fighting as much as possible.’
Isn’t there a saying that the best military strategy is to make it so that there is no fight in the first place?
Of course, the fact that it was a lie bothered , but since it was also slightly Namgung Bihwa’s fault, it seed okay to pass the bla this much. And since that guy probably wouldn’t even be able to confront Namgung Bihwa.
As I was about to leave quickly like that, I heard a muttering voice from behind.
“No, if I take it now… right! I’ll deliver it myself. I was asked to.”
‘So he’s not just going to let it go.’
I had tried to deceive him moderately, but it didn’t go as planned. This was strictly the martial world. A world where the sword cos out first for the profit in front of you.
“From her yourself?”
“Right!”
To lie without even blinking an eye. And he had been asuring the distance between us for a while now. So that I couldn’t run away.
‘So he didn’t get promoted for nothing.’
No matter how low-ranking, he was a first-rate martial artist who had made it to the interdiate student level. It seed he wasn’t completely brainless.
And on top of that, a despicable trick of even laying down insurance by saying he would deliver it to Namgung Bihwa himself later.
That effort, it wasn’t sothing I couldn’t acknowledge. If only it weren’t for this gangster-like behavior.
“So hand it over now!”
At the sa ti, the guy rushed towards as if shot. I sighed inwardly at that.
‘I knew it.’
Soon, the guy who had entered his range grabbed the scabbard and then gripped the hilt of the sword.
A confident face. Soon, the opponent was about to forcefully extend the hand holding the sword.
Screech-
But in an instant, the opponent froze in an awkward posture. Soon, a look of bewildernt spread across the guy’s face.
“Wh-what?”
The sword wouldn’t co out. As if the sword had been welded to the scabbard.
At the sa ti, I kicked off the ground as if I had been waiting.
‘Of course it won’t co out. Why do you think I played along with you?’
While talking, I had put water into his scabbard with water creation magic.
It was difficult to inject because it was well-oiled, but I was able to do it thanks to dragging out the ti in a defenseless state.
And on top of that, I used freezing magic to freeze the entire scabbard. From the entrance of the scabbard to the tip of the sword.
Ice stuck in a gap can stop even a tank. Considering the coefficient of friction, he wouldn’t even be able to draw that sword with ordinary muscle strength.
Soon, I, who had rushed at the guy, drew the Martial Study Sword.
“You drew first, senior.”
“I didn’t draw…?!”
Wham!
I hit his head with the back of the sword. As he was hit with a lump of iron, the guy flew into the air in a single blow.
‘I swung it with mana enhancent and even internal energy, so he won’t be able to get up for a while.’
I sheathed the Martial Study Sword, looking at the guy who had fallen after crashing. It was a relief that it had worked better than I thought.
No matter how low-ranking among the interdiate students, the opponent was at least a first-rate martial artist.
Originally, he would have been able to beat even if he fought with his bare hands, but this ti, it was a big factor that I had taken advantage of a mont of surprise.
He probably never thought his sword wouldn’t co out.
Moreover, he didn’t seem to have noticed, but I had made the ground under his feet slippery with Grease magic, so it would have been difficult for him to block even if he had tried to respond with fist arts in a hurry.
It was a strategy that even the chief instructor, Jeongmuk, had been caught off guard by at first, so there was no way a re interdiate student could respond.
Flinch!
Just then, perhaps because I had seen the fallen opponent, [Arrogant Young Master] activated, and my mouth tingled.
I looked down at the guy with cold eyes and said in a low voice.
“You can’t even draw your own sword. Then you are far from worthy of having my sword.”
It was a line that made my face flush even as I said it. What in the world was this? I was renewing my lifelong dark history these days.
I tried my best to hide my dizzying feeling and turned my feet. It would be fine to leave that guy as he was.
‘He probably won’t even ntion it, knowing how embarrassing it is to be beaten by a junior student.’
Just as I thought everything was over, I suddenly stopped my feet. I felt a certain presence from sowhere.
‘Don’t tell …?’
With an ominous premonition, my head slowly turned to the side.
And at the terrible sight that unfolded, I couldn’t help but freeze my entire body.
Under the shady wall, Namgung Bihwa was standing there.
(End of Chapter)
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