*******
Four days had slipped by since the main weapon selection, and before I realized it, the fifth day had come, my turn for the rank assessment.
The very morning I picked my weapon, I had received a mail on my phone. A plain, direct message: Rank assessments will be conducted over the next five days. Your assessment is scheduled for Day 5.
Which meant today was the day.
The result wouldn't be immediate either. They planned to announce ranks tomorrow, during class, leaving us to stew in suspense until then.
I hadn't been idle during the wait. Far from it.
On the first day, I had taken care of something essential, clothes.
I didn't own much besides what I came here with, and staying half-baked throughout the academy year wasn't an option.
But, just one pair of socks would eat half my funds. So Instead, I ordered online, cheap, practical, and enough to hold me over.
But that wasn't the most important thing that happened.
When I returned to my room after the weapon selection, my weapons had been delivered. Two of them. The real one and a training version.
My katana. Sleek, sheathed in a black scabbard, light in my grip, and sharp enough that I didn't dare test it recklessly.
The training one was wooden, but even that carried weight when I held it.
From then on, my days were consumed by two things, the system's quests and sword training.
The system wasn't being merciful anymore.
On the second day, I noticed something new. Instead of one daily quest, there were two. The usual exercise one… and then, sword training.
It sounded simple at first. Day one, unsheathe, swing, and slash one hundred times. Easy enough.
But then came the second day. Three hundred. The third day. Five hundred. The fourth. Seven hundred. And now today, the fifth day. Nine hundred.
Every repetition burned through my muscles, sweat soaking my back, my arms screaming at me to stop. But I pushed through. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to.
The system had even warned me, this wasn't temporary. After these five days, the requirement would lock at one thousand swings, every single day.
Until when? Who knew. The system never explained.
What unsettled me the most, though, wasn't the training itself. It was what wasn't happening.
The so-called Villain System hadn't ordered me to do anything villainous since I got my sword. No sinister schemes, no acts of malice, nothing.
All it had given me were quests that pushed me to develop myself. Build stamina. Swing swords. Exercise.
At first, it felt like a blessing. Who wouldn't want free guidance to get stronger? But the longer it went on, the more it nagged at me.
Why was it forcing me to grow? Why this deliberate pacing, this preparation? It was as if it were sharpening me for something. Something bigger. Something I wasn't ready for.
That thought left me uneasy every time I trained. Still, I couldn't deny the results.
==========
Status
[Name: Ryan Nether]
[Level: 4]
[Race: Human]
[Profession: Villain]
→ [Villain Rank: — (Too Low To Be Displayed)]
[Titles: Villain]
Stats
[Strength: 7]
[Vitality: 7]
[Dexterity: 7]
[Perception: 2]
[Magic Power: 1.5]
[Stamina: 6.5]
[Luck: 2]
[Intelligence: 2]
[Charm: 1.1]
Abilities
[None]
Technique
[None]
Inventory
[Wooden Katana], [Katana]
============
My stats had risen faster than I thought possible. Just a few days of effort and my body already felt sharper, faster, sturdier.
I couldn't remember hearing of anyone else growing this quickly.
But… strong? No. Not yet. I wasn't delusional. Compared to what lurked out there, compared to the monsters I'd heard about, I was still fragile. A single mistake would cost me everything.
And now, with the rank assessment looming, I couldn't help but wonder, was all this training enough?
My heart was pounding harder than it should've, but I forced my hand steady as I reached for my katana through the system.
I closed my system interface, the glowing screen fading into nothingness, and let out a long breath.
I left my training sword in my inventory. This was no practice session, our instructors made it clear we were allowed to use our real weapons for today's assessment.
My katana rested snugly in its sheath at my side, cool and reassuring against my palm.
I stepped into one of the Dusk Academy's massive training halls.