Chapter 313: End of first practical

"Father, I have defeated Guard Alison in a sword duel," Little Noah exclaimed excitedly as he rushed into his father’s study, a wooden sword tied at his waist. The strands of his damp white hair were stuck to his forehead. The baby fat on his cheeks showed that he was around ten years old. "May I go with you to hunt monsters in the Dark Continent?"

Before the wall at the further end of the room, a towering figure with white hair similar to Noah’s stood looking out of the window, his broad back facing Noah.

"Are you sure Guard Alison wasn’t going easy on you?" his father asked with a chuckle and a teasing tone.

"He did not!" Noah insisted. "We agreed to a duel without mana, and I really did defeat him."

His father did not want to show it, but Noah clearly noticed, from behind, the muscles of his father’s face shifting as if he were smiling.

"It’s too early for you to go to the Dark Continent," his father stated. He looked back over his shoulder, his sharp oceanic eye fixed on Noah. "Keep training like this, Noah. I have high expectations of you."

Noah’s eyes gleamed with happiness, a gasp escaping his lips. It was rare for his father to praise him like this.

"Yes, father!" Noah answered in a loud, confident tone.

---

"Wh-what have I done?" Noah gasped, his eyes widening and his lips trembling. Before him, a pool of blood had gathered on the floor. At the centre of it, a boy screamed in agony, clutching his shoulder where his arm should have been.

Blood dripped from the tip of Noah’s blade, which had just severed the boy’s arm. Other students began gathering at the scene, staring at him in terror as one would look at a monster.

The sword fell from Noah’s hand and he collapsed backward, trembling. From that incident, he realised a bitter truth. In the future, if something like this happened again, there would be no one to stop him. None of his peers could match him.

---

"How could I forget what I did back then..." Noah muttered, his fists clenched at his sides in frustration. Darkness surrounded him in every direction. "It’s all my fault. I didn’t deserve to pick up the sword again, yet I dared to train again. Once again, I put everyone in dang—"

Slice!

A crimson blade cut through the darkness before him like paper. Beyond it, a tall man wearing a broken joker mask was revealed, the corners of his lips curled into a smile.

"Thank you...Vlad," Noah whispered. The violent aura from the broken sword he was holding vanished. His eyes returned to normal and he fell backward, unconscious.

"Hah...hah..." Vlad panted, the colour of his longsword returning to its greyish silver. He gazed at the sky high above and whispered, "This was fucking awesome."

The once-beautiful flower field had been completely ruined. Dirt had been uprooted, some of the land was covered in ice while other parts were scorched black. Even the bushes at its boundary weren’t spared. Nearly a hundred metres of it had been flattened in every direction, with unconscious students scattered everywhere.

With only Max, Lisa, Chloe and Vlad still standing, the first Midterm Practical came to an end.

By the evening of that very same day, the academy forums were blasted by posts discussing Noah and the mysterious hunter who had defeated him.

Some posts were even offering as much as five hundred credits to anyone who could provide information about the masked maniac’s identity.

"Damn, now even I’m tempted to reveal the identity and get those five hundred credits," Vlad chuckled, scrolling through the forums. His eyes narrowed at the title ’Masked Maniac’ as he muttered, "But what’s with this rude nickname? How could they just call someone a maniac?"

Chloe snatched the phone from his hand and lightly bonked his head, which felt more like a tap. "No phone while eating," she ordered, slipping his phone into her pocket before lifting the spoon to his mouth.

"Okay," Vlad nodded obediently, parting his lips to let the spoon in.

The duo sat on the bench outside the convenience store. The golden rays of the evening sunlight cast a warm glow on their faces. Both of Vlad’s hands and forearms were covered in bandages. Two more bandages were stuck to either side of his neck.

The healer could have treated the wounds he had sustained during his clash with Noah if he had simply gone to the infirmary, but he had deliberately avoided it. With nearly every bed occupied by the very students he had beaten, showing up there would have immediately given him away.

Just as Vlad had predicted, Victor and Dorin had been observing the entire forest mountain during the practical. As soon as Vlad defeated Noah, the two arrived at the location.

Both of them seemed to be in absolute shock, having a hard time believing what they had seen. Still, neither of them asked Vlad anything. They collected the tokens from the only four conscious students and announced the end of the practical, letting Vlad go without any investigation into his current level.

They were probably following the orders of someone in higher authority, most likely the Vice Principal or perhaps...the Principal.

"Open your mouth," Chloe’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts, the spoon hanging before his lips.

The moment Vlad parted his lips, she moved the spoon into his mouth again. His eyes shifted to her serene face, which looked even more enchanting under the evening sunlight.

Behind that stoic face, Vlad could clearly tell that her mood was sour.

As soon as they received the dismissal order from Victor, Chloe took Vlad to the convenience store and dressed his wounds. By the time she was done, the food delivery she had ordered from her phone had arrived.

She hadn’t even taken a single bite yet, feeding only Vlad.

"Please don’t be angry, Chloe," Vlad requested, swallowing the food.

"I didn’t stop you from fighting that dangerous battle," Chloe said, lowering her eyes. "I didn’t step in when you got injured. I know risk-taking is part of growing. So at least give me the right to be angry when you wound yourself."

Vlad took the spoon from her hand, filled it with food from the tiffin in her lap and moved it to her mouth with his bandaged hand, "You have every right to be angry, Chloe. But I also have the right to appease you, right?"

The spoon touched her lips as he continued, "I’m sorry, baby. You haven’t had a proper meal since morning. Don’t take your anger out on food."

Chloe looked at his smiling face for a few seconds. She slowly parted her lips, letting the spoon in.