"Alright, but the Kendo Club's instructor seems to be away on a business trip for the next couple of days," Aoki Yuki said, gesturing vaguely toward the far side of the dojo. "You should probably just speak with the Kendo Club President directly."
She pointed toward a solitary figure practicing in the center of the floor: Raiden i. This ti, Aoki Yuki made no move to lead Rovel over, a clear sign that she genuinely wanted to keep her distance from the school's idol.
While countless students were clamoring to get close to Raiden i, there were just as many, like Aoki Yuki, who preferred to admire her from a respectful, and safe, distance.
Rovel gave a nod of thanks and made his way across the polished wooden floor.
The dojo was filled with the clean, sharp scent of tung oil, mingling with the faint, honest aroma of sweat from rigorous training. It gave the entire space a grounding sense of reality, a detail that Rovel found himself appreciating for the hundredth ti.
Whether it was the people or the environnt, this world felt indistinguishable from his own. If not for the system panels and data streams visible only to him, he could easily believe this was simply a second life, a parallel reality.
'It's almost too real,' he thought, shaking off the montary distraction.
He stopped about three ters from Raiden i, giving her ample space. "Hello, are you the Kendo Club President? I'm a new student, and I'd like to join the club. My na is Fang Ruobai."
Hearing his voice, Raiden i's fluid sword-swinging motion ca to a halt. As she turned, a flicker of surprise crossed her beautiful face. Her violet eyes, usually calm and composed, widened slightly, and her gaze lingered on him for a beat longer than polite etiquette would normally allow.
A mont later, she seed to catch herself, snapping out of her brief trance. A light, almost imperceptible cough escaped her lips as she sought to cover her montary loss of composure.
"Ahem, yes, I am the Kendo Club President. My na is Raiden i," she replied, her voice as smooth as ever. "May I ask if you have any prior experience with kendo?"
"No, I don't," Rovel answered honestly, shaking his head.
"I see... In that case, I'll have one of the mbers test you first, just to get a sense of your physical aptitude. Sato, could you co here for a mont?"
Raiden i didn't elaborate, simply calling over a nearby student at random.
[Triggered E-rank Mission: Kendo Test.]
[Mission Objective: Last for 3 minutes against your opponent.]
[Mission Reward: Acceptance into the Kendo Club.]
Rovel raised an eyebrow. 'A mission just to join a school club? Or is it...'
His gaze drifted back to Raiden i. He suspected this "test" was less about aptitude and more of a filter, a necessary threshold to weed out the endless stream of admirers who only wanted to join the club to get closer to her.
Raiden i gestured for Rovel to select a practice sword from the rack. He picked one up, its weight and balance feeling unfamiliar in his hand.
[Wooden Sword: A common wooden tachi used for training. Strength 1 when equipped.]
His opponent, Sato, was a Level 4 Kendo Club mber. Rovel gave the wooden sword a few experintal swings. It felt lighter than he'd anticipated. Deciding to rely on speed, he held it in a one-handed grip and faced his opponent.
Sato, in stark contrast, settled into a formal Iai stance, his posture perfect and his wooden sword gleaming softly in the light filtering through the dojo's high windows. He was taking this seriously.
"Begin," Raiden i commanded, her voice cutting through the quiet hall.
The mont the word left her lips, Sato exploded into motion. His blade sliced downward in a seemingly simple vertical slash, yet it carried a startling amount of force. The air itself seed to pop and hiss as it was cleaved apart.
To the other students, it was a swift, powerful strike.
To Rovel, however, it was like watching a snail crawl across the floor. His mind seed to automatically process the attack in slow motion, every nuance of the movent laid bare.
In less than a heartbeat, before Sato's blade had even completed half its arc, Rovel's own tachi had already moved. With a sharp tok, it connected precisely with his opponent's wrist.
Sato cried out in pain, his fingers spasming open. The wooden sword flew from his grasp, tracing a lazy semicircle through the air before Rovel's follow-through montum sent it spinning away, where it struck a distant wall with a loud clatter and fell to the floor.
The entire exchange was over so quickly that the spectating students had only registered a blur of motion.
[Defeated Kendo Club mber — Sato (Level 4). Gained 20 Experience Points.]
Rovel subconsciously glanced at his status panel.
[Level: 1]
[Level Cap: 10 (Requires completion of a breakthrough mission to unlock)]
[Experience: 20/100]
[Race: Human]
[HP: 600/600]
[Honkai Energy Infection Progress: 0%]
[Constitution: 60]
[Strength: 60 1]
[Agility: 60]
[Intelligence: 60]
[Honkai Energy Resistance: 1300 HW]
[Equipnt: Elysia's Crystal Flower (Special Accessory), Wooden Sword]
[Inventory: Ultimate Healing Potion x10, Chiba Academy Student ID, Mobius's Scalpel (Epic), Special Communicator]
Each level-up granted 1 point to all four basic attributes and 2 free points to allocate. With his current stats, he was effectively on par with a Level 30 player who had invested nothing in equipnt or skills. Dealing with a Level 4 club mber had been, as expected, effortless.
"He's... so strong!"
A ripple of surprise went through the watching students. While Sato wasn't a top-tier mber, he was far from a novice. The speed of Rovel's counterattack had been too fast for any of them to follow clearly.
[E-rank Mission: Kendo Test, Completed.]
[Triggered Advanced Mission: Kendo Test - Advanced.]
[Mission Objective: Exchange blows with Raiden i.]
[Mission Reward: Determined by mission completion rate.]
Rovel blinked. As he looked up from the system prompt, he saw Raiden i walking toward him, a thoughtful and intense expression on her face.
"Classmate Fang Ruobai, you are very strong," she said, her voice laced with a tremor of genuine excitent. She gave her own wooden sword a practice swing, and the motion stirred a small gust of wind in the still dojo air. "It seems an ordinary mber isn't enough to gauge your level. In that case... how about I test you myself?"
With a deliberate motion, she brought her sword down, a hint of force behind the swing. The tip of the wooden blade scraped against the floor, leaving a shallow but distinct white mark on the polished wood.
The atmosphere in the dojo instantly grew tense. No one had expected the president herself to step forward.
"Alright," Rovel replied, the relaxed ease vanishing from his face. "Then I'll be in your care, President."
Though their base attributes might not be drastically different, he knew he was at a severe disadvantage. Raiden i had been trained in the Hokushin Ittō-ryū by her father, the renowned "Homu Sword Saint," Raiden Ryoma. While the style might struggle against colossal Honkai Beasts, it was devastatingly effective in humanoid combat.
Against a master of a dedicated sword art, Rovel, who had no systematic training whatsoever, knew his chances of winning were slim to none.
"Please guide ," Raiden i said, her expression becoming exceptionally serious. The aura around her sharpened, transforming from that of a graceful schoolgirl into that of a drawn blade. The very temperature in the dojo seed to drop by a few degrees.
In the next instant, her figure vanished.
She moved like a ghost, reappearing at his side, her wooden sword already stabbing toward his neck from an unorthodox angle. The sound of the blade cutting through the air was as sharp as tearing silk.
Rovel instinctively threw himself backward, the tip of her sword grazing just past his throat. But before he could recover, he saw i's wrist flip with impossible grace. The thrust instantly beca a devastating downward slash.
Clack!
He barely managed to bring his own sword up to parry. The impact of wood on wood sent a dull thud echoing through the hall and a jarring vibration up his arm. He was stunned to find that her blade seed to flow around his defense, its montum adjusting to his movents as if she had already predicted every possible counter he could make.
Pressing her advantage, Raiden i spun on her heel, her body a whirlwind of controlled motion. The sword light unfolded like a fan, a powerful, montum-driven strike that was shockingly heavy. Rovel felt his entire palm go numb from the force.
His footing broke. The blow sent him stumbling back several steps, his balance completely shattered.
As he fought to regain his posture, he saw that i hadn't pursued him. Instead, she stood her ground, waiting patiently for him to steady himself, a gesture of martial courtesy.
The mont he was set, she launched her second wave of attacks.
This ti, however, Rovel didn't retreat. He surged forward, closing the distance in an attempt to crowd her and restrict the angles of her sweeping strikes. During their brief exchange, he'd sensed that while her speed and technique were terrifying, her raw strength was relatively normal. Even that powerful montum-based strike hadn't been enough to knock the sword from his hand.
His only chance was to get in close, to prevent her from building that montum and slashing so comfortably.
Raiden i watched his advance, a flicker of surprise in her eyes, but not a hint of panic. Her gaze was sharp, instantly spotting the opening in his aggressive, unrefined lunge.
With a slight shift of her body, she masterfully angled her wooden sword, not to block, but to deflect. The force of Rovel's downward slash was completely redirected, sliding harmlessly past her.
Rovel transitioned instantly from the vertical slash to a horizontal cut, aiming for her torso.
i ducked under the blow with nimble grace. As she ca up, her wooden sword beca a blur, stabbing out in a lightning-fast, three-hit combo that landed squarely on Rovel's chest and shoulder.
His guard was wide open, his own attack overextended. He had no way to dodge. Three glaring red numbers popped into existence above his head.
[-57 HP]
[-39 HP]
[-22 HP]
"Heavens... is that the President's true strength?"
A collective gasp swept through the students watching from the sidelines.
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