“Did you say you weren’t coming, yet here you are?”
“……”
The day after the rank battle.
Aisha, who had confidently claimed she wouldn’t come, ended up knocking on the Academy’s door just a day later.
No matter how impressive the Cutting the Sky technique is, I thought it would take her at least a week, given our relationship.
Aisha answered bluntly.
“Don’t get me wrong. I thought learning that swordsmanship might help me find Sword Saint Oppa. I might even tell him later.”
“You can’t tell him.”
“…Why not?”
“Why do you ask? What are you thinking giving a sword to someone with a history?”
The Sword Saint had a history of wielding Strong Power and messing everything up.
If you give him the enormous technique of Cutting the Sky, it’s as predictable as water flowing.
“If the Sword Saint were just an Ordinary Person, I could understand… but he’s got talent, right? It won’t be easy, but who knows?”
“…Hmm. That’s true about Sword Saint Oppa… Wait. Are you saying I have to learn it alone?”
“Of course.”
I had only planned to teach Aisha.
“I’ll teach you on the condition that you learn it alone and don’t tell anyone later. In exchange, I want something.”
“What do you want?”
“The Altar.”
The altar reached by Aisha and the Sword Saint, ‘Altar of the Impossible.’
Each altar is similar to one or two episodes of a multi-dimensional adventure, so you can gain quite a bit of experience.
Of course, it’s already been cleared by someone, so there won’t be any first-time rewards, but I still want to grab whatever I can.
“Just let me know the location and information of the altar, and I’ll tell you the technique.”
“Uh… I already cleared that.”
“You got the first-time reward, but that doesn’t mean the altar disappeared, right?”
“Um. Is that so? But getting to choose a job is the final reward. Even if Sword Saint Oppa and I share a Second Job, doesn’t Lady Lily have a Hidden Job?”
“That’s right.”
“So are you saying you want to give up your job?”
Aisha briefly explained about the Altar of the Impossible.
When you enter the altar, weird-looking Demon Beasts pop out, and if you catch them all and keep going down the path, you come to a fork in the road.
‘Path of Light’ and ‘Path of Darkness.’
At that moment, Aisha chose the Path of Light, while the Sword Saint chose the Path of Darkness.
Once you choose a path, you enter a massive tower that’s a hundred floors high and begin descending…
“Are we going down the tower?”
“Oh. At first, I thought it really looked like that, but it turned out it wasn’t. Later, I found out that the Lord Sword Saint went from the 0th floor to the 100th floor, while I went from the 100th floor down to the 0th. The two towers were in this weird state like that.”
Aisha raised a tower-shaped form of mana, connecting it vertically and horizontally.
“An upside-down Tower of Light sitting on top of a Tower of Darkness.”
“Anyway. The 100th floor tower was filled with incredibly strong monsters, but at that time, the Master of the Altar said, ‘The Path of Light is much easier!'”
“……”
“Of course, I thought I was really going to die. I got there earlier than the Sword Saint bro, so it might have been relatively easier, though…”
“If I go, I should take the Path of Light.”
“Right? But are you really going to do it?”
If you want to change your job, it’s worth the challenge, but for someone like me with a hidden job, there’s really no reason to bother with that altar.
Aisha got a second job as her first reward, so she could have two hidden jobs without risk, but that initial reward was gone.
In other words, to get the altar’s reward, I would have to give up my job.
I nodded as if it were the most obvious thing.
“Of course, I will. But I’m not going to change my job.”
“?”
“My job is good enough, and I’m satisfied with it. I should go for the purpose of gaining experience points.”
My job as a ‘Holy Mage’ lets me handle holiness freely, making it the most efficient for me.
There’s really no need to seek the power of those ‘statues’ Aisha mentioned.
Of course, climbing the altar isn’t exactly easy.
Just look at the Growth’s Altar, which also required quite a number of dungeons, effort, and a long time.
Even without the mess of Yena, Leo, and Raccoon, the altar’s difficulty was sufficiently high.
But that was just because they had to meet the ‘requirements.’
“I don’t need to get a job, so I don’t have to meet any requirements, right? Plus, they said it’s over once you get down the tower, didn’t they?”
“Um… that’s true.”
“Then it’s settled.”
After hearing additional information about the altar, I headed to the training ground to briefly explain Cutting the Sky.
The brief explanation was partly because she still couldn’t grasp the ‘understanding’ of this technique and also because I wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship myself.
I learned decent basics in various basic techniques, but anything beyond that was a stretch.
I shared my limited knowledge of Cutting the Sky with Aisha, and her expression became quite serious as she corrected her posture and committed to training.
I handed it to Aisha, and she straightened her posture with a rather serious expression, diving into her training.
Her knowledge of the technique had quite a few gaps, but she was still a competent swordsman with a talent for the sword.
Vroom! Vroom!
It felt like she understood the gist of the technique.
About six hours must have passed by.
Vroooom!!
Aisha’s Meteor Sword sliced through the sky.
“I didn’t slice it.”
“…That’s just how you say it, right?”
Aisha, who had delivered a strong slash into thin air, retrieved her Meteor Sword with an awkward expression.
As the only user with two hidden jobs, her attack power was indeed strong, but that was about it.
‘Just a slash at best. Or maybe a spatial cut.’
There were slight cracks in space where her slash had passed.
Her sword had indeed cut through space, but dividing space is easier than it sounds.
After all, the “Teleportation” that mages perform has a similar structure.
It’s about delivering a strong impact or using special incantations to open up space.
However, most mages prefer the latter approach, so it’s rare to find a mage who uses the former technique to open up space.
If she develops that further, it could be pretty useful.
“Not bad at all.”
“…It’s a complete mess.”
“Who’s good from the start? It’s all about developing little by little.”
“…Hmph. By the way, where have you been? You told me you would be back and then disappeared for like four hours, I thought you left me behind.”
“Why would I leave when this is my house?”
“Is that so? Then go.”
Aisha scratched her head.
Smirking, I tossed a small something to Aisha.
She caught it with one hand, tilting her head in confusion.
“What is this?”
“It’s your Academy Student ID. With that, you can make full use of the facilities here. I was running around looking for this, and got caught up in some matchmaking which took a bit of time.”
“…Me?”
“Then who else would receive this?”
“No, um… But why are you being so nice to me? I’m just… Lady Lily’s…”
“Lady Lily’s?”
“Enemy? Something like that?”
The Sword Saint and I had never seen eye to eye, and Aisha was a die-hard fan of the Sword Saint.
The Sword Saint had collapsed on his own, but I’m sure Aisha thought I had at least some influence over it.
In the first place, the empire to which the Sword Saint belonged had been waging war against me for a long time.
“Isn’t it funny that we’re enemies just because we’re users?”
“Ah.”
Users, players.
For the residents of this place, it may be awkward and uncomfortable to be caught between sworn enemies, but in the end, Aisha and I, as well as the Sword Saint, are all users.
Players playing this “game” for “fun.”
Of course, it’s not just for fun, and I know this isn’t a game, but from the perspective of the users, this place is indeed a game.
“Sure, it’s not like I don’t have bad feelings, but there’s no need to take it out on Aisha, who isn’t even the Sword Saint.”
“……”
“More than anything, it’s quite interesting to see someone with talent grow and develop.”
Leo, Candy Star, Yena, Aisha…
It’s a joy to watch talented users polish their skills and grow.
The Academy, which brings almost no benefit and often results in loss, was established for that very reason.
In that sense, apart from the Sword Saint’s antics, it’s rather unfortunate that his talent is wasted.
‘If only he used that talent correctly.’
If he had swung his sword even once more instead of wasting time on demons and power.
He could have risen to a level far beyond what other users could reach.
It was quite disappointing.
“I don’t know much about swords. But I do know that Aisha has remarkable talent with one.”
“……”
“The Sword Saint is already a lost cause, but Aisha still has plenty of room for improvement.”
“……”
“Of course, it might be tough right now, but gradually… Aisha?”
Aisha sat down and looked at me.
The sky was painted with the colors of dusk.
The sunset light faintly illuminated my figure beyond the training ground’s spear, as Aisha stared at me blankly.
“You look like…”
“Excuse me?”
“The statue I saw back then.”
The statues of the Growth’s Altar.
“One of them looked like Lady Lily.”
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