Leaving the shocked people behind, the twins brought out the original reason for coming to Noah.
“I came to tell you that the announcement for the preliminary round came out.”
“Ah, yes. However, I will check the notice on my own.”
“But juniors look like they will live without these things!”
Noah wanted to ask what he meant by ‘I don’t have to take care of these things’, but he couldn’t get his words out because Miho had stabbed his side.
“Here are these two… … That, right?”
“what?”
“Hey! The Ribery Twins! You said you fought with them, so why the hell are these people being nice to you?”
It was something everyone wanted to ask.
Thanks to this, everyone waited for Noah’s answer with one heart and one mind.
But Noah had no intention of meeting their expectations.
“Because I am handsome?”
“… … really?”
When Miho took what he said as a joke seriously, Noah had nothing to say this time.
Fortunately, Roselia broke the silence first and rescued Noah.
“My juniors seemed promising, so I asked them to be friends first!”
At that, everyone was stunned once again.
“You have to go through the selection process and come up, right? If you fail in the preliminary round with that skill, won’t you let go?”
“Aren’t you two going to tryouts?”
“Unfortunately, we were the winners of the previous year. Because I have the right to seed, I do not participate in intramural selections.”
“Huh.”
It was no surprise that they were the previous year’s winners.
The twins looked strong even to the looks of them.
“Um, it’s just two of us, so winning is a joint win?”
“It was just the two of us left in the final.”
“Because if the two of us fight, we won’t win even if we fight for three days!”
That meant that the twins had exactly the same swordsmanship skills.
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‘It’s amazing.’
“Then junior? See you next time.”
“See you later!”
The twins greeted each other leisurely as if they didn’t care about the reactions around them and then left.
The moment Roselia waved her hand to the end like a puppy and finally disappeared from sight, the students let out a frozen breath as if time had returned.
“I ate all the rice today. Eh, Mihoya, let’s buy a sandwich on the way.”
“uh? uh, yes.”
“As long as it’s you or me, no matter who participates, it’s gum.”
This incident quickly spread throughout the school,
Applications for participation in the contest were flooded.
* * *
As can be seen from its own rules of banning external competitions in the first year, it was a competition where only those who competed in the top sword in Night Ray.
In fact, only those who were able to win the top prize were applied, so the school selection was never properly conducted.
“The average number of applicants for the past five years is around 20. The number of applicants this year is 384. Why are you guys doing this when I’m in training!”
After finishing her training as a scorer, Kuina fell into despair as she was entrusted with leading the Top Sword Tournament.
“How do you narrow this number down to 10 people… … .”
The Top Sword Competition was not allowed for more than 10 people from the same institution to participate.
This was when Top Sword was a contest of active knights, not a student contest.
It was a rule that came about due to the fact that a large number of elite knights were brought in from overseas to spoil the empire.
Actually, that strategy was ruined when dozens of elite knights fell at the hands of a single swordsman.
Thanks to this, Top Sword has become a contest for students who have not yet been knighted, but there are always shortcuts.
In order to enhance national prestige, there were also active knights who participated without being knighted on purpose.
“There are a lot of guys from the 8th family, but if I drop it by mistake, I’ll end up poisoning myself, right? As long as it’s like this… … .”
When Noah broke the existing rules and submitted an application, other guys also participated as if competing.
The number is the highest ever.
It was obvious that if the selection criteria were sloppily set, there would be a barrage of protests.
“Once, if you do this and cut out about 100 people, and the rest like this… … .”
Thus, in the hands of an unfair trainee, the most difficult selection test ever was created.
* * *
on the day of the contest.
Noah, who came out to the test site, had to face the eyes glaring at him from the beginning.
“What is this again?”
Unbeknownst to Noah, in fact, about half of the contestants were out to catch him.
In the opinion of Jeong Do students, not participating in external competitions in the first year was a tradition with reasonable reasons.
To them, Noah was nothing more than an idiot running rampant with Veronica’s attention on his back.
Plus the incident at the restaurant.
The number of people who wanted to see Noah’s skills increased exponentially, both in a good way and in a bad way.
‘That child… … .’
‘On the subject of the apostle… … .’
Now, the results of the ranking match against Frank have not yet been announced.
Rumors about Noah were running rampant.
‘I tried to punish him with a ranking match early on, so I never thought he’d come to the selection match on his own feet.’
‘You’ve been hiding for so long, and you shamelessly appeared.’
They were the ones who had already tried to break Noah’s nose, but in recent days, no one has been able to find Noah.
It was because Noah, who had no classes because of the retest, was confined to the Black Moon Dormitory and focused only on liberal arts studies.
However, in the eyes of the students who were jealous of Noah, it was just to hide from them.
“Noah.”
“Is it Tiu? Apparently, it’s been a while since we live in the same dormitory.”
“Since I decided to participate, I have studied other participants’ ranking matches. Now, I have the confidence to destroy whoever I deal with.”
“Hoo? Then me too?”
“How about it? Check it out in the test.”
In the meantime, when the time came, Kuina appeared at the test site.
Noah pretended to know her.
“Mr. Kuina?”
“Long time no see, my enemy.”
“yes? An enemy?”
“There is such a thing.”
match!
Kuina clapped loudly once to gather attention and then began to speak.
“Well then, since it’s time, let’s assume that those who haven’t come yet have withdrawn. I’ll explain the selection process right away. The preliminary round will be largely divided into a preliminary round and a final round.”
The preliminary round was a test that everyone looked at collectively.
“Since the number of participants is large, the preliminaries will be conducted in the same way, starting with those who do not meet the standard.”
And the final is a competitive exam.
“Today is the qualifying round. The finals will be notified separately to the successful applicants later.”
Kuina immediately moved on to an explanation of how the qualifiers were conducted.
“The preliminary round will consist of two tests. The first test is here, and the second test is to pass through the labyrinth made underground.”
“Is this a first-come, first-served test?”
“Well, topswords often come up with tests that cannot be solved by force alone.”
Most seemed to agree with the test method.
Noah didn’t know what it was like before, so it didn’t matter how he took the test.
“Now then, shall we begin with the first test?”
Saying so, Kuina unfolded her intangible sword.
Swords formed into spheres rose to the center of the test site.
“The first test is to cut this lump of sword energy I created.”
“huh? Do you think it’s worth doing?”
“Are you saying you want to see only the minimum skills? Is it easier than you think?”
The moment everyone thought so, Kuina added an afterword.
“Instead, you should cut without using sword skills.”
“Yes?”
Cuts a lump of sword energy without it.
Of course, it wasn’t easy.
It was even more difficult if it was a lump of sword energy created by a knight stronger than himself.
“How do you cut that without swordsmanship?”
“Are you stupid? Of course, you must have put it together weakly so that you can cut it. I go first!”
The first student to come forward hit the sword sphere with all his might.
Ting!
However, far from cutting the sphere, only the sword he was holding broke in half.
“Unbelievable… … .”
“Oops. It must have been poorly maintained.”
Looking at the student like that, Kuina said as if it was a pity.
“If you get cut, I’ll make it again for you, so keep trying.”
“Ugh, how do you cut that thing without swordsmanship?”
“How did you get it? It cuts well. I think I’m mistaken, but just because you can recognize the level of swordsmanship with a sword skill doesn’t necessarily mean that the higher sword skills are strong.”
For example, the first level sword skill was a skill that strengthened the sword.
A famous sword without sword skill could have been better than a cheap sword with a 1st level sword skill applied.
Also, no matter how good the sword was, how to fight with it was a completely different matter.
“In the end, swordsmanship is just a tool. How to use it is another matter.”
“but… … .”
“stop! If you don’t believe me, why don’t you see for yourself? Unlike you, there seem to be some guys who really only think about Bell.”
The student looked back at Kuina’s words.
There, Noah, who recently became a hot topic because of Veronica, was walking out.
“Can’t we just do it right away without having to wait for our turn?”
“Are you confident?”
“Swordsmanship is a great skill, but you shouldn’t neglect swordsmanship by relying only on it.”
Noah stood, aiming his sword at the orb.
The aura that composes the sword skill was actually in a ‘flowing’ state, not fixed.
A person’s will moves the aura, so the aura continues to circulate.
If there was a certain flow, of course there were weaknesses.
‘Usually I tend to hide or keep changing the flow… … .’
Glancing at Kuina, she nodded as if Noah was right.
For this test, Kuina deliberately kept a simple flow so that the students could cut the sphere.
What is needed is not strong power, but eyes to see the flow of aura.
‘It’s here!’
Noah struck the sword in an instant, and the sphere was cut in two.
“That’s it… … ?”
“The knife is written like this. Did you know now?”
“If you pass, you can start the second test right away. If you start first, it’s that much of an advantage.”
Noah was happy and disappeared into the inner room to take the second test.
Kuina immediately created a new sword sphere, but no students immediately challenged it.
Noah neatly cut off the intangible sword with a single blow.
It is clear that the next challenger will be compared to him.
Few people could be confident that I could do the same.
“Then I am next.”
When the contestants were just keeping an eye on each other, Tiu appeared next.
She moved to the center and struck the sphere without preparation.
grasp!
“Didn’t you cut it?”
Thiu’s sword strike hurt the sphere, but it did not completely cut it.
But that wasn’t the end.
Papababak!
The successive strikes hit the exact same spot.
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Perfect accuracy with no margin of error even though he was swinging the sword with all his weight.
Tiu cut the intangible sword with 10 consecutive strokes.
“You never asked me to cut you in one go, did you?”
“okay. Pass.”
The moment Tiu passed the first test and disappeared into the next room. All who remained ran out.
“I am next! I’m first!”
“hey! Take your turn! You came late!”
It was hard to be sure that he would be able to cut cleanly in one blow like Noah.
Instead, it looked like it could be done if it was cut multiple times like Tiu.
Dduduk!
“Ahh! my sword… … !”
However, it wasn’t that easy to cut a lump of black energy without it.
384 participants in the Top Sword Tournament.
10 people allowed to participate.
The 38 to 1 competition has begun.