Webnovel

Chapter 1: A Childhood friend

A sudden scream pierced through the bustling ambience of the town. Bystanders turned their heads at the sight of a speeding black carriage.

"Crash!"

The sound of shattered glass could be heard, as a masked figure jumped out of the carriage. Moments afterwards, the door slammed open revealing a hooded figure who rolled off onto the ground, yelling after him.

"Halt assassin!"

As he gave chase the carriage rolled to a sudden stop.

Inside the carriage, a silver-haired boy laid bloodied on the ground as the others inside tried to stop his bleeding.

"Was this the great despair that Myrril felt? When he finally returned to his village years later, only to find it abandoned?"

He wondered as he felt the hot flow of his blood draining away.

Seconds afterwards from the view of nearby townspeople. A violent force tore through the roof of the carriage from within. It emerged as a fiery whirlwind that shot up into the sky, creating a rumble that could be felt all over the town.

The hooded figure looked back in surprise as the shockwave jolted him to the ground.

"What in Nirvana is this," were his last words before a tidal wave of dust swept over him.

....

"Hey watch where you're going dumbass. You might get hurt from falling over Dream," A tall muscular boy said chuckling to himself.

His groups of friends watched the whole scene unfold akin to a murder of crows. They laughed as he tumbled over onto the ground.

With his silver-haired head hanging low, Dream got up and dusted himself off. He slowly walked down the hall and turned a corner.

"I wish I could sew their mouths shut with a hot needle," he grumble to himself

A plaque hanging off a door, quickly came into his view with the words "swordsmanship classroom" and a rough sword sign carved underneath it.

"For the illiterates," he thought.

Opening the door he quietly walked in before closing the door behind him. Inside was a large and spacious room with wide chalk circles drawn on the ground. Crates filled with padded sticks, wooden swords, and shields were placed by the entrance. Alongside it, sets of gambeson, arm bracers, and shoulder pads were displayed on armor stands, with some of them empty.

Most of the chalk circles were already taken with groups of two or four students going at it with wooden swords, padded sticks, and occasionally wooden shields.

With a sigh, he thought: "Here we go again."

Grabbing a wooden sword he slowly made his way to the corner of the room. Avoiding the chalk circles he started swinging his wooden sword. Occasionally he peeked out towards the chalk circles.

Since he didn't have a sparring partner, he could only try to learn by watching other students spar. This time around he was watching a student with a red slash around his waist who wielded a sword and shield. His sparring partner was a female student wielding a padded stick who had her hair in a ponytail tied with a green slash.

I wish I went out to become a chief instead. Thought Dream as he continued to swing his sword. Old Gui, I don't fit in here at all.

"Hey did you hear that the sword goddess just cleared an S-tier dungeon?"

"Really? That's insane! We haven't even cleared a C-rank dungeon yet and there she goes and cleared an S-ranked dungeon! Not even many full-time adventurers could say that they've ever cleared an A-ranked dungeon!"

"I know right! She really is the star of the class --no the whole school!"

The red slash student that Dream was imitating took a break and started chatting with his sparring partner.

Dream, who had started to look to the other circles for inspiration turned his eyes back on them when he heard the word sword goddess.

"How long has it been since all three of us have met-up together," wondered Dream.

"Oh, I've also heard that she is coming back to class to train with a childhood friend or something. I wonder who that could be."

Dream opened his mouth in surprise, but closed it before anyone noticed that he was acting strange.

"Oh, maybe it could be Adir."

"Huh, what makes you say that Aoife? I would think it would be Shadow or Blaze." Questioned the red slashed boy.

"Well think about it Chad. Adir is the most accomplished swordsman in this class by far. I mean look at his letter dungeon clear rates! He had the best clear rate out of all the students before the sword goddess cleared the S ranked dungeon!"

"Hmm but Shadow is the most technical swordsman in the class while Blaze is the strongest. I would think that maybe one of them could have trained together with the sword goddess during their childhood?"

"Hey, it's not me I've never trained with her in my life."

"Ah, sh*t! Where are you," yelped Chad.

"Oh hey there Shadow," said Aoife.

Spinning around. The red slash student looked around for Shadow who skillfully maneuvered around in his blind angles for a few seconds until he was caught.

Aoife whistled.

"I swear you're getting better at that every-time we meet."

"Heh, heh. Well, you are not wrong Aoife, but what is this about the sword goddess childhood friend?"

"Ah, how long were you listening behind me for?"

"About 20 seconds I think?"

"That long?!" Chad exclaimed.

Shadow blinked a few times before responding.

"Yes, Chad I was behind you for that long."

"Hey Aoife, why didn't you say anything about that, you traitor?!"

By now Dream knew that they were going to take a while to get back to sparring. As most friends do.

His eyes started wandering towards the other duels and practice matches when a man dressed in a long black tunic with deep blue imprints strolled in. He closed the door behind him and turned and faced the class

His tied-up flowing black hair and handsome face made several girls' faces go slightly red (including Aoife) making Chad grumble quietly in annoyance.

"Damn that handsome face."

Meanwhile, Shadow shrinks away into the background with only Dream at the back of the room noticing his actions.

Taking out a scroll of paper from behind a crate, the teacher turned around and faced them before taking attendance. He announced their names with a loud and clear voice. Each time someone would either reply with a "here" or "they're not here."

After only saying several names the teacher suddenly started walking toward the doors and opened it.

"Miss Ling Qiu you're late again. Or should I say Dawn the blade genius?"

"I am sorry Liu Laoshi!"

"As like I said before, all of you can call me An Laoshi instead."

"Yes, Liu Laoshi."

Shaking his head An Liu stepped aside to let her pass through the door. Revealing her figure.

From the bottom, a long black boot befitting of an adventurer protruding out from under her beautiful and elegantly designed purple and white robe. Meanwhile, her top white robe was cut off at a little over the elbow as she wore an armed guard. At the top her petite figure and tied up flowing black hair gives off a sense of refinement matching her elegant face.

Chad gave her twice a look over making Aoife grumble.

"How could she look so elegant dressed in adventurer gear? That's just not fair!"

As Dawn walked over towards the other students. An Liu suddenly stepped forward and spun around. Flicking Shadow hard on the forehead with two fingers.

"And Akuji is here."

"Ow. Stop calling me that. My name is Shadow now."

An Liu simply smiled and shook his head.

After the slight commotion, Ling turned away and looked around the room. Before staring straight at Dream who stood by the left corner. Both Chad and Aoife, noticing this, looked at each other. Their minds in sync.

That guy's the childhood friend?!