Number 3's sword strike had reached Jaiden in such an instant. But although her strike was extremely fast, Jaiden was still able to block it with a simple swing of his sword.

Jaiden’s parry was just a simple downward swing but a huge shockwave burst out from the impact when their swords collided. 

The 2nd Stage of a swordsman was a level that transcended the realm of ordinary humans. However, no matter how strong they were, no shockwave would be generated from the collision of swords between two 2nd Stage beings.

“Crazy…”

“They’re already at that stage?”

Although faint, there was a dim blue haze that rose and surrounded the swords of Jaiden and number 3. The haze was incomplete and imperfect but it was an indication of their strength. This haze meant that they were now able to extend their mana out of their bodies.

The mana that they extended out of their bodies was dim and pitifully weak compared to someone who had stepped on the 3rd Stage and had fully expressed their mana but the mana was still there. This was no different from saying that their mana had already accumulated in their entire bodies. 

“As expected… You have already formed it too.”

This phenomenon was something that could only be achieved by those who had reached the pinnacle of the 2nd Stage. 

“We only have a few months left… I have to break through to the 3rd year.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Number 3 nodded her head to agree with Jaiden’s words. Then she took a stance and continued to attack him. 

There were dozens of sword lights flying all over the place. But the onlookers could only glimpse at the trajectory of the sword. Their strikes were so fast that the children in the area could only see their attacks briefly.

They were still not capable of producing afterimages of their swords with their simple strikes since they haven't reached the 3rd Stage yet. However, they were still able to mimic this phenomenon to some extent thanks to their monstrous speed and hazy mana.

‘Galactic Meteor Swordsmanship?’

Jaiden’s expression turned stiff as he continued to parry his opponent’s sword. But even if he was distracted and thinking about the Godly Swordsmanship family’s Galactic Meteor Swordsmanship he still continued to swing his sword.

He had been practicing the basic swordsmanship for quite a long time so his simple and basic swings had already achieved its most perfect form.

Each and every strike that he let out could parry and block number 3's wild and strong attacks.

‘If it wasn’t for Baepsae then doing something like this today will be hard.’ 

His mana circuit had expanded greatly thanks to Baepsae. The bird had always helped him recover his stamina and mana during his long and arduous training. And as a result, the amount of mana that he could build and store in his body had also increased greatly. Thanks to this, he was able to withstand the strikes that he was currently receiving from number 3.

However, he could feel that the bundle of mana that he had stored in his body was slowly being broken apart and depleted with every strike, swing and stab that he unleashed to parry the attacks coming his way. It seemed like receiving those attacks continuously had already depleted his mana by a considerable amount. Continuing to be passive would definitely exhaust him of his mana sooner or later. 

“But you won’t be able to win if you just block my strikes, right?”

“I’m already thinking of attacking you.”

Jaiden had already thought of attacking. He was only waiting for the right moment to strike at number 3.

Jaiden parried number 3's frontal attack. However, this time, he twisted his sword out and immediately sent an attack of his own. 

“Keuk!”

Number 3 did not expect that Jaiden would preempt an attack on her so quickly. She was in a bit of a fluster but she was still able to increase the distance between them by unleashing a powerful burst of mana down her feet.

But Jaiden did not miss this gap. He did not let up with his attacks as he continued to stab and slash at her. 

“He’s really experienced.”

“I know, right? He’s stabbing through the cracks and gaps of number 3’s monstrous swordsmanship.”

The children that were watching the battle between the two analyzed their swordsmanship techniques based on their own understanding.

They could see that number 3’s swordsmanship was a great swordsmanship technique while number 13’s swordsmanship was just the basic swordsmanship.

However, number 13 was able to overcome the limitations of his swordsmanship and fill in the gaps of the technique with his excellent skills and experience.

Furthermore, the Imperial Basic Swordsmanship, something that they had learned from the knights training, slowly appeared as number 13 continued to attack. It was only natural. After all, the basics of all swordsmanship techniques began with the basic swordsmanship.

So when Jaiden’s well-developed and perfected basic swordsmanship pressed against her, number 3 had no choice but to fight back and struggle with all her might. 

Bang, bang, bang!

“Monster.”

“Crazy.”

The children in the area were clear about their own strength. They knew that they would have definitely surrendered under Jaiden’s pressure if they were the ones fighting against him. But number 3 was still able to shake off the pressure by stabbing her sword and attacking him dozens of times. Number 3’s eyes couldn’t help but shine brightly when she successfully pushed back Jaiden with her strikes and escaped from  his tremendous pressure.

However, Jaiden did not roll around desperately on the battlefield to gain jjambap for nothing. He was still able to parry and defend against number 3’s fast-paced attacks. Although his mana was continuously being depleted, the pressure that he had been putting on number 3 had finally borne fruit. Number 3’s spirit finally dampened as she staggered and faltered in her movements. After all, number 3 was still just forcefully using her sword technique in this fight.

According to records, high-leveled sword techniques were miraculously strong and were considered to be part of the mysterious and strange techniques in this world. And being a high-leveled technique meant that it would give the user tremendous power. However, it also had its own setbacks. Although it could give a great amount of strength, it was a power that was completely overwhelming and taxing for users at the lower stages.

As if on cue, number 3’s arms began to tremble. No matter how monstrously talented she was, she was still someone who had not reached the 3rd Stage yet. The power of her swordsmanship was not something that her body could withstand. So she began to lose her momentum.

And after unleashing an onslaught of attack, Jaiden finally disarmed number 3 of her sword. 

“I lost.”

Jaiden nodded his head when number 3 conceded and admitted her defeat.

She looked extremely angry and frustrated as she bit her lips tightly. However, she just asked for another bout the next time they got one before hurriedly leaving the area.

‘Who the hell… was there such a talent here?’

Jaiden had played around wildly in the battlefield in his previous life. Climbing high and surviving until the end was something that he couldn’t achieve if he just sat by and did nothing. He had his fair share of battles. And he also made sure to participate and fulfill his duties and responsibilities in the battlefield. And because of that, he was able to see dozens of sword techniques that belonged to masters and geniuses. Having scoured the battlefield until the very end of his life, he was sure that there was no one who closely resembled number 3 in his memories.

‘Perhaps it’s related to the Godly Swordsmanship technique…’

The Godly Swordsmanship technique was a sword technique that he had seen countless times in his previous life. He was confident that he would be able to tell the basics of the Galactic Meteor Swordsmanship even if he had gone blind. After all, it was a swordsmanship of the highest level that was comparable to the Lion Sword Technique. 

He was sure that the basics of the Galactic Meteor Swordsmanship could be learned by the general public in the military. However, after seeing number 3’s movements, he was sure that it was something that she could not have learned in this place.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter to me.’

Anyway, it did not mean anything to him. There were much more pressing things on his list that he needed to do. Like graduating early from the academy. However, even after doing that, he was sure that it would still not be that helpful in achieving his goal. Jaiden’s top priority right now was to gain enough strength to survive the hell that would befall this continent. So Jaiden quickly cleared his mind of stray thoughts as he started to swing his sword again.

Meanwhile, the children were all looking at Jaiden strangely.

The unofficial match to determine who was the strongest in their year, the fight between number 3 and number 13, had finally drawn to a close. But contrary to everyone’s expectations it was number 13 who won the fight. 

‘Number 3 is a monster but…’

They had already felt it when they were fighting against the monsters but this match had driven the point deeper in their heads. It was now extremely clear to them that number 13 had the skills and experience that a child their age shouldn’t have. 

In addition, the impression of the Imperial Basic Swordsmanship in their minds, something that they had ignored and did not practice, had changed completely. After witnessing Jaiden only using this basic and simple swordsmanship to pressure and crush number 3’s spectacular and marvelous swordsmanship the children finally admitted that the swordsmanship was also something that could display a fearsome strength that could defeat their foes.

They had ignored it before since they thought that the impressive and fearsome pressure that they received from the knights when they used the sword technique was due to the difference in their level. But seeing Jaiden wield his perfected basic swordsmanship to press and defeat someone with a flashy and strong swordsmanship had made their minds change. 

After the fight on that eventful day, the children would often challenge and fight against each other. They used this opportunity to rank themselves since the academy did not allow them to have an official ranking battle amongst themselves. They made use of their individual training sessions to fight. They then used the results of the fights to secretly decide their ranking.

With the exception of the monsters, number 13 and number 3, the rest of the children started to sort out their ranks through spars. The professors were also aware of what they were doing but they just closed one eye and tried to ignore them. 

After a few months of fighting, the freshmen were finally able to sort out some sort of hierarchy among them. There would always be some changes and reversals but overall, there was not that much difference from their previous rankings. Of course, that was with the exception of numbers 13, 3, 1 and 2.

There would be slight changes in the rankings up to number 30 but it was almost negligible. The changes would only be within the 30s, none of the students in that range fell down beyond that point. The same was also true for those until 100. However, it was different starting from 100~300. All of the students in this range were bursting with vigor as they fought against each other. So the rankings below 100 tend to change and fluctuate frequently.

“Number 180, you fought 102 last time. Right? Are you going to fight against 100 today?” 

“I dropped. It’s 137.” 

“Ah… Is that so? I’m getting confused now since the rankings change every time.” 

Jaiden looked apologetically at number 180. In fact, 300 was a huge number so it was not that easy to memorize their rankings and the frequent change of rankings made it even harder for him to remember correctly.

The only reason why he remembered a few of the students’ numbers was because some of them had approached him and asked him to teach them some of the know-hows. Thanks to this he was able to become close with some of the students including number 180 and number 1.

The students had actually created factions among themselves. In fact, number 2 acted as some sort of leader and has created a faction of his own. And the children that had asked him for pieces of advice had also gone and grouped together.

But what Jaiden found surprising was the fact that number 3 was quite close with the other girls in their year. She looked like she was going to continue roaming around alone but it seemed like her social abilities were not that bad. 

“It’s almost time for the lower years’ ranking battle, right?”

“Yeah. I heard it’s going to start with the 2nd year students.”

One of the nearby students told Jaiden what he had learned from others after he heard his question.

The ranking system would work like this: the 2nd year students and the 3rd year students would first fight against each other and determine their rankings. Once they had determined their ranks, the remaining 2nd years and the 3rd years who fell and were held back would fight against the 1st years.

Their first opponent would be the person with the same number as them. Losing meant that their number would go down and winning meant that their number would go up. This would gradually determine their rankings.

Whether they won or lost, there would definitely be great fluctuations. The professors had estimated that the fluctuation would be at least 50 steps. But once the matches exceeded ten, the steps would definitely decrease by 10. This would take a long time but it was a system that aimed to reduce the range of fluctuation as the matches continued on. However, regardless of the length of the ranking battle being extended, this was a process that they had deemed to be important. This was so they could prevent any unfairness while helping them accurately identify the strengths of the students.

A tense atmosphere loomed over the first year students’ training area. They were all feeling nervous since the ranking battles were just right around the corner. They all felt nervous since they knew that there were people that were bound to lose. And once they lost, they knew that they would fall down and remain where they were. That meant that they would have to break up with their friends and colleagues.

Their average level was comparable to the sophomores but they knew that there were some students among them who were on the weaker side. Being weaker meant that they had the highest chance of being defeated and breaking away from their classmates’ line. This line was a line that only the brightest and strongest elites could take so they knew that they would become stronger if they were able to stick to this line.

The students wanted to grasp this one chance for them to become stronger so they started to train more diligently. While everyone was running and rolling hard to achieve their best form, the ranking battles between the 2nd and 3rd year students finally began.

Thanks to the freshmen’s mad pursuit of strength, the 2nd year students felt a sense of crisis. So they trained like crazy as they prepared to fight against them. Since everyone had trained well, they felt confident about their strength. However, this confidence was not long-lived.

The sophomores’ confidence began to break and crash as soon as the ranking battles began.

After all, they weren’t the only ones who had prepared like crazy. The 3rd year students had also trained as hard as the 2nd year students.

If the sophomores worked hard because of the freshmen, then the 3rd year students worked hard because of the sophomores. And because of this, the gap between the two years did not diminish at all.

Narrowing the gap between them was not an easy feat for children at their age. In addition, the 3rd year students had the advantage in terms of experience. This gap was something that they couldn’t easily narrow down just because they were extremely talented.

And just like that, the sophomores began to kneel down under the 3rd year students’ strengths. Even the sophomores’ top rankers failed to climb over their 3rd year counterparts. They were also forced to kneel down.

“You’re just this much.”

The number 1 student in the 3rd year stared at the sophomores’ top ranker dully. He looked like he was unimpressed with his junior’s performance. 3rd year’s number 1 was someone who had devoured and climbed over the sophomores when he was a freshman. So the sophomores’ top ranker had suffered a defeat once from him. Facing another defeat from his hands, the sophomores’ top ranker couldn’t help but bow his head in shame.

‘He’s quite amazing.’

Although he had been defeated, he had no choice but to admit that the person before him was monstrously talented. It just went to show that surpassing a genius was quite a hard feat. In fact, the other 3rd year top rankers had failed to advance by 2 steps even after training hard and rolling around like crazy.

“Hey.”

“…Huh?”

“Are the freshmen that you saw really strong?”

Although they were the same age, 2nd year’s number 1 had no choice but to answer him. After all he was someone from a year above him. 2nd year’s number 1 just nodded bitterly in answer to his question. 

“Interesting. I can’t wait to have a spar with them. I hope they climb up quickly.”

He smiled wickedly as if he found everything fun. He had been one of the freshmen elites in the past but he was now the 3rd year’s number 1 so he was confident in his strength. Even the others weren’t able to defeat him so he thought that sparring with those freshmen was just something that he would do to pass the time. 

“I don’t want the fight to be as boring as the fight with you so… are they better than you?”

Sophomore’s number 1 smiled bitterly when he heard the words of the 3rd year’s number 1. 

“Well… It will be enough to call them a genius if they can get rid of trash like you.”

However, 2nd year’s number 1 thought about something when he heard 3rd year’s number 1’s mocking words.

‘You’ll be kicked down too.’

After that thought passed through his head, he immediately stood up to prepare for his next battle. He knew that those guys had become much stronger compared to the last time that he had seen them so he was sure that they would be able to make the punk that mocked him kneel down.