NOVEL NEXT Chapter 117: The Representative
The lecture finally ended after a boring two hours.
What was not boring, however, was Talon's strict warning: no one was allowed to access the deep east of the Crystal Hollows, as a bladeborn sent by the Neo-Earth World Government would be attempting to vanquish the Aetherborn today.
Class 70's students tried to confirm whether the bladeborn was Skylar, and Talon decisively answered no.
Everyone erupted into enthusiastic hubbub because of this.
They didn't enter the realm immediately, talking to each other and speculating who this novice bladeborn could be.
It would be an utter waste of time for a novice to cross maps just to challenge the bladeborn of another race, especially when victory isn't guaranteed.
Should the government-sent bladeborn lose, they would've traveled for nothing.
While they found it strange that someone who wasn't a student of the Southern Bladeborn Academy could arrive before Skylar, who was, it still wasn't impossible.
It was just that they believed the agent was probably one of the two SS-rankers of their cluster's Western Bladeborn Academy, whose novice cities were the closest to theirs, at least when compared to the other bladeborn academies.
Nonetheless, a wild but popular theory formed that it could be Durandal, who hailed from the north, traveling all this way to deal with their academy's problem.
Perhaps he wanted to test the might of an SS-ranker Aetherborn?
Only once the students were satisfied did they enter the realm, continuing to talk about the topic with their friends and comrades in the same party.
Meanwhile, Daru also entered in a better mood.
Iris told him yesterday that she had already informed someone called Hailey that he would be challenging the Aetherborn, and he appreciated that they were respecting his wishes of privacy, even going so far as to set such a thing up for him.
He could now go all out without the slightest hint of worry.
Since Daru spent almost his entire hour yesterday traveling across the maps on his Cross-eyed Albino Zebra, he had spawned near the Fangforge Cavern's exit to the Sunblade Savannah.
However, before proceeding on his journey to the Crystal Hollows, he tapped his belt bag first.
The inventory window appeared the next moment, and he tapped the floating Demon Essence, withdrawing one.
He now knew that the darned things would try to escape if he didn't absorb them immediately, so he swiftly slashed at the one he was holding the moment he let go.
It wasn't too fast compared to his arms.
The familiar red streaks of energy were then absorbed by his tachi in the next moment, and it grew heavier.
He repeated the same process fourteen more times before he was forced to stop.
Daru realized that if he absorbed another Demon Essence, his weapon would be a bit too heavy for him to wield.
The good thing was that he still had fifteen untapped attribute points.
But of course, he didn't allocate them all to strength:
===
Bladeborn: Daru Finnley
Level 38 (25, 460 to level up)
Titles: Bob's Sworn Brother [Active(Display)], Strongest Novice [Active (Effect)]
Secondary Titles: [Soul Eater]
Blessings: [???????'s Minor Blessing (???? ????'s ???)]
Curses: [Yama's Discontent (Soulbound Sword)] [Goddess Fortuna's Frown] [Tainted Soul (Pride)]
Strength: 72 (+20)
Dexterity: 71 (+20)
Agility: 70 (+20)
Stamina: 51(+20)
Vitality: 50 (+30)
Perception: 85 (+20)
Luck: 0 (+65)
===
Sword Status:
Name: Onimaru Kunitsuna
Type: Tachi
Tier: S
Status: Dormant - 16 / 500 Oni or Demon Essence (First Awakening)
Sword Skills: Somersault Slash (F), Tornado Slash (D), Crescent Dicer (C), Havoc Rush (B), Azure Swordfall (SS)
Passives: [Divine Comprehension (Soulbound Sword)], [Tainted Enforcer (Soulbound Sword)]
===
Daru nodded in satisfaction after checking his status window.
Since he felt like he could feed his tachi more Demon Essences after increasing his strength attribute by five, Daru withdrew three more and absorbed them before stopping.
He slashed his sword once, the corners of his mouth slipping into a faint smile.
Onimaru Kunitsuna's weight felt perfect.
Daru was pleased with the changes, proceeding to advance across the massive Sunblade Savannah.
An hour and a half later, he finally arrived at the entrance of the Crystal Hollows.
He noticed that there were still a lot of novices trying to level up near the entrance, so he decided to dismiss his mount before continuing on foot.
Daru wanted to be as unnoticeable as possible.
His strategy somewhat worked, as people only glanced at his tall woman disguise, admiring his status as an A-ranker before shifting their attention back to the nearby swordspawns to continue hunting.
It was normal for someone of her rank to be here.
The deeper he went, the fewer bladeborns there were, and eventually, he was all by his lonesome again.
As per Iris, the SS-ranker Aetherborn was deep in the eastern part of the hollows, so that's where he went, pulling out the Valmaris Continent map for guidance.
He arrived at the area around half an hour later.
Walking forward a bit more, he noticed that there was an entire party of bladeborns lined up, as though guarding the area.
His brows furrowed.
Thinking for a moment, he decided to walk closer.
One of the novices in the party noticed him. While the older low-rankers thought that she was probably one of this batch's fairies due to how gorgeous she was, there shall be no special treatment.
The threat of the consequences of failure reinforced their will, allowing them to resist Otsuna's beauty.
However, not a single one of them wanted to drive her away through force or threats.
They were quite lucky that she only came here to ask.
The slightly older novices explained to her in detail that she should turn back, because only the representative brought by Edelweiss was allowed to enter.
The one who dropped Iris's trial name got a flurry of vicious smacks to the back of his head from the other party members, who paled slightly but tried to hide it.
But Daru had no business leaking such information.
After all, the one being protected was his identity.
He couldn't help but see the government in a new light after such thoroughness and sincerity.
Ignoring the worried and hesitant gazes, he turned back, deciding to hunt swordspawns for now while waiting for Iris.
The area he was in was filled with only level 41 swordspawns, but they were his only option.
At least he still earned 80 experience points with every easy kill…
Around another hour and a half later, he heard a distant neigh, followed by what seemed to be cantering hooves.
He turned around to see who it was.
Iris, riding on her beautiful, blueberry-furred mare, also noticed him and turned to look.
The slightly harried look on her face turned into a charming half-smile as she controlled her mount to go Daru's way.
"Hey." Daru greeted with a smile.
Iris greeted back with a polite and slightly shy nod.
After a back-and-forth of half-awkward pleasantries and an explanation from Daru that he still had an hour left and so decided to go on ahead, the two headed over to the barricade of novices, whose brows furrowed in puzzlement and then paled at the realization that Otsuna was the representative.
They talked briefly with Edelweiss, confirming whether their theory was correct before hurriedly apologizing to Daru.
He didn't mind. He understood that they were merely doing their jobs.
Their blunder pardoned, relief washed over the novice party, and they granted the fairy duo entry.
They watched in wonder and extreme doubt as the two disappeared into a turn.
From what they knew, Edelweiss would be escorting the representative who would fight the SS-ranker Aetherborn, but Otsuna was merely an A-ranker.
Would she even last thirty seconds against the arrogant bladeborn from another race?
Perhaps the two beauties planned to mesmerize the Aetherborn with physical aesthetics, ruining his focus before defeating him together?