I Was the Strongest Sword God in My Past Life

part 7

Startled only for a moment, Jien threw his sword, piercing the head of the Gold Spirit Snake.

“Keek, hssk…”

A brief convulsion.

The body of the Gold Spirit Snake, pinned to the wall, vanished smoothly.

“Even with the ring on, it’s still not enough.”

Jien sighed as he looked at the ring on his index finger.

Class 3 monsters were a challenge even for the top 30, yet Jien couldn’t let go of his greed, having finished off two Gold Spirit Snakes in just a minute.

An hour passed.

[The difficulty limit has been raised to 5-1.]

“Terminate the image room.”

[Would you like to save the record?]

“Yes. But not under my real name, use this instead….”

Gien entered a different name instead of his real one.

[Saved.]

Despite the short training time, sweat poured from Gien’s body like rain.

‘As expected, sensory maximization still consumes a lot of concentration.’

Sensory maximization, a technique Gien learned in his past life, elevates the senses to accelerate thought.

The current effect is an increase in reaction speed, but in his past life, when his mastery of the technique was at its peak, it felt as if time had stopped.

[162nd rank in the school year, Gien Russel. Training room usage concluded. With a total training time exceeding 100 hours, 3 SP points are awarded.]

‘SP points? Oh right, those exist. Kind of like commendation stickers given out by Arcana.’

Gien was indifferent to SP points. His most immediate and important goal in training was clear.

‘The exam comes first. The rest can wait.’

The reason Gien avoided expulsion. Arcana was no ordinary academy.

Though graduation was difficult due to the challenging parties, extracurricular activities, clubs, and virtual gates, the rewards were commensurate.

As a prestigious academy where students from across the nation gathered, being the top of Arcana, the crème de la crème, was a gateway to earning the title of Super Rookie.

Ten minutes after Gien left,

A girl with fiery red hair stood in front of the image room. She was most confident in the image room during training.

“…Huh?”

[Image Room – 1st Year Scores]

1st – Evan Crowe 7,200 points

2nd – Isabel Blitz 6,300 points

3rd – Ash Lindamire 5,400 points

She blinked once.

Unable to believe what she saw, she blinked again.

“Evan Crowe… 7,200 points?”

Weak in note-taking, she seemed to recall the name Evan from a textbook. Meaning, someone anonymous had stolen her first place.

“I can’t accept this…”

Isabelle narrowed her eyes.

Among the One Numbers, she was the only student who used the Image Room. And even among the One Numbers, she was confident she could beat anyone when it came to the Image Room. But who on earth…

“Who is this kid?”

* * *

In front of the bulletin board in the central corridor.

Hundreds of students were sighing and cheering.

And for good reason, as the Virtual Gate exam, the most important test of the semester, was heavily influenced by luck.

“I’m doomed. My team is ranked 120th.”

“I have… a One Number on the enemy team.”

3-on-3 team battle.

It was an obvious fact that the stronger your teammates and the weaker the enemies, the more advantageous it was.

But there was a team that received the most unfavorable matchup.

＜ The Starving Crows ＞

Chris [Rank 144th / 162]

Gian [Rank 162nd / 162]

Eria [Rank 44th / 162]

The opposing team was.

＜ The Seagulls of the River ＞

Isabelle [Rank 5th / 162]

Lake [Rank 31st / 162]

Rita [Rank 22nd / 162]

“This is… this isn’t right, sob, damn it… I’m screwed!”

Eria, transformed into a tragic heroine, wailed in front of the bulletin board.

“What the… what is this! These ragtag fools… sticking together, 144th? 162nd? Ugh… they’re so close.”

Eria was shaking off her sorrow with a handful of curses.

“If they had any conscience, they’d at least give us double digits? Combined, we’re ranked 300th? We’re done for! Damn, it’s all over!”

Muttering to herself, Eria exuded a gloomy aura.

“This exam… it’s so important… If I can’t stay within the top 50, I won’t make any money from extracurricular activities… My brand-new tablet.”

The team assignment system always had many complaints from students. But this was a directive set by the government, not the school.

[All team battle tests are randomly assigned for fairness.]

It was a remedy that came out when some schools took bribes to favorably arrange teams. In other words, as long as you’re a Saber, luck is also a part of skill.

“Sob, sniff… That’s, that’s too much. How can I, with these incompetent fools, sob… compete against the number one… Waaah!”

“Hey, isn’t that a bit harsh?”

Eria turned her head. Standing there was Chris, with his diminutive stature.

Chris’s frame was so slender that Eria thought she could overpower him with strength, even though she wasn’t a martial artist.

“The harsh thing is your skill. Sob, sniff! To be in a team with such a dwarf…!”

“If you’re so great, why don’t you win all by yourself?”

“It’s not that I’m great. It’s that you guys are no good! Huh? Do you have a conscience or not?”

“Yeah~ sorry for being so pathetic. But how does whining change anything?”

At Chris’s remark, Eria turned away with a ‘Hmph.’

“Sigh… The team selection is doomed… To win with this rabble, we’d need a gate event that’s in our favor…”

“What do you mean, ‘rabble’?”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

Eria pressed her forehead, suddenly stricken with a severe headache. As long as the opposing team had the number one… Battle was the worst event.

‘The Witch of Scarlet Flame…’

Surely she could easily take down three on her own.

‘We can’t lose! Absolutely not! Even if it kills me, we can’t win!’

The next disadvantageous event was monster hunting. With Lake, famous for his martial arts, and Rita, who used a bow, victory in this event was also out of reach.

“Monster hunting is a no-go… We absolutely can’t win… It has to be… acting! Puzzles! History! Please, please! Please please please.”

Eria cried out as if having a fit.

Chris felt a sense of madness emanating from her.

“…Hey, calm down. It’s scary.”

Eria knew all too well that no matter how desperately she begged, it was an impossible wish.

‘Such things are at least third-grade, there’s no way they’d appear in a student virtual gate.’

As Eria agonized, clutching her head, Chris lightly tapped her shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much. Didn’t you read the school newspaper? I heard that guy ZN is strong for being at the bottom.”

“What? Strong for being at the bottom?”

Eria took a deep breath to calm her excitement.

“Just, I want to be alone. Please, just go away, squirt.”

“Wow, what a nasty temper. Really.”

Eria and Chris.

Watching the two bickering, Gian let out a long sigh.

‘Is it division already?’

Still, Gian wasn’t worried. He was as confident in handling people as he was in swordsmanship.

Especially with kids.

* * *

Virtual Gate Test D-1.

10 PM.

Chris received a message.

[Come out to the back of the dormitory.]

‘The sender… Dayven?’

They had no connection, but it was a name Chris knew. Dayven’s gang’s notoriety was well-known among the lower-ranked students.

“Hey, wasn’t he suspended?”

He comes to school during his suspension to call me?

Driven by curiosity, Chris threw on a hoodie.

The playground was quiet at night, unlike during the day.

A streetlight in the distance illuminated someone. Chris could tell who it was just by the silhouette.

‘He’s really tall.’

Unlike the diminutive Chris, Dayven, one of the tallest, stood out even from afar.

“Were we ever close enough to meet this late at night?”

Chris’s tone was laced with provocation.

A flash of anger crossed Dayven’s eyes but quickly disappeared.

“I have a proposal.”

“A proposal?”

Chris’s eyes narrowed.

Dayven responded with a sardonic smile.

“Yes, a proposal.”

Dayven pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out to Chris. It was hard to make out what was written, so Chris held it up to the light of the streetlamp.

A look of bewilderment spread across Chris’s face.

“This, this is.”

“It’s money. My money. But if you grant me one small favor, this will become your money.”

“A favor? What are you scheming?”

Chris’s voice trembled.

It was understandable. The amount written on the check was over ten million. It was pocket change for Dayven, but for Chris, a commoner, it was no small sum.

“All I want is one thing. Betray Gian in the exam.”

“…Betrayal?”

“Yes, betrayal. You’ve seen the match-up list, haven’t you? Your team will lose anyway. You don’t think you can win against the top seed, do you?”

Dayven’s demeanor wasn’t that of someone asking a favor. He was arrogant and haughty, exuding an air of granting an opportunity.

“What’s the point of betrayal then?”

“I’m not just looking for a defeat. I mean, completely strip the score and make sure of the elimination.”

Chris recalled the school newspaper. The principal had recommended expulsion for Gian. In the strictly merit-based Arcana, it was a common story.

‘If Gian, ranked 162nd, gets eliminated, he’ll be expelled right away. That’s the outcome Dayven wants.’

Chris took a step back from Dayven.

“What if I refuse? Why make such an offer? Buying a student’s loyalty with money…”

Dayven cut off Chris’s words with a sneer.

“Refuse? As if. You’re desperate for money. I’ve looked into it already.”

Chris looked up at Dayven.

‘To investigate someone’s family circumstances to this extent. He’s like a bear with his bulky frame…’

“Your actions are just like a snake.”

Chris’s gaze lingered on the check for a while.