A few minutes ago.
Squeak!
In the hideout or orc general the orc general screams as he stumbles backwards. He who sees weak humans as nothing but prey is trembling before a single human girl.
She has killed every single orc there was in the hideout except him. The girl turns around and looks at the orc general emotionlessly.
Those emotionless white eyes are a source of terror for him.
Step… step!
With a katana in her hand, she takes a step forward. Then she starts slowly walking towards him.
Squeak!
The orc general can smell his death coming closer to him. He screams again to get rid of fear and he turns his back to her and begins running away.
"Ivara go and follow him and find out their actual hideout."
She says softly.
"Yes, princess."
In a flash, Ivara chases after the three-meter-tall orc general.
Some time later.
Srrr.
The white-haired girl felt a tremor and with it a familiar energy.
"This Epik…"
Without wasting a second she follows the direction of energy. As she gets close in back of her right hand a glowing golden brand with a three-pronged crest that resembles a crown appears.
It has sharp, jagged edges and is emitting small, floating ember-grey particles. And she began to feel a sudden longing in her blood.
"What?"
She looks at the brand with confusion. This brand symbolizes her status as the princess.
"King's brand is reacting to something in the direction where I felt Ivara's Epik."
So she picks up the pace to find the reason for the brand's reaction.
In just five seconds her eyes fell on the back of a boy with golden hair. Just then the reaction of her brand became more intense.
Then she sees him holding Ivara's fist. She narrows her eyes and draws her swords.
A white slash charges in the direction of Ivara and the unknown boy cuts through the tree and reaches them in seconds.
Then the boy draws his sword instantly cutting the white slash in two. Then her eyes fell on the boy's face.
He has an extremely attractive face with his bright, messy, and spiked golden hair that falls over his forehead. His eyes are gold, the same colour as his hair. And he has a lean, athletic, and muscular build suited for combat.
For a second she is stunned by his handsomeness. She hails from one of the six noble houses of the human empire. She has seen a fair share of attractive guys but none of them caught her eyes just as that boy.
He is the most handsome boy she has seen in this tree even more than the Lord of House Emerald, the renowned most handsome man. But her focus is on something else.
"He cut it without using epik."
After the boy split her slash apart a sense of competitiveness arose in her heart. She is the most talented princess renowned by all.
Even her mother, whose swordsmanship is comparable to the king's, has told her that she has never seen someone as talented as her and even rankers have to get serious to face her sword in earnest.
The girl walks forward standing six metres away from the boy with her katana in her hand.
I check my right hand. I feel a slight tingling after cutting the slash. I look at the girl with the sword. She is extremely beautiful and her sword is not something light either.
'That was a little dangerous. If I hadn't drawn my sword out I would have to shed some of my blood.'
I can feel that she wants to fight me and the same goes for me.
Ever since I became one with this body the only fight I have is with the simulation of the former king. No, that can't be called a fight.
My opponent is strong, it is my chance to test out my strength.
"Princess."
As I began to think about fighting. The girl behind me calls out to the white-haired girl.
'Princess?'
I take a close look at the girl in front of me. I don't think there is any resemblance between her and me.
'Why is she calling her princess?'
Then suddenly I also felt something. Ever since some time ago I felt something in my blood.
I turn my head and look at the brand in the hand of the one called the princess.
'The source of that feeling is that thing etched in her hand.'
"Ivara step back."
The white-haired princess says and without waiting for a reply she charges forward and in the blink of an eye she appears in front of Elite and swings her sword.
I look at the sword coming to split me in two and swing my sword in response.
Ting!
The two swords meet but there is nothing earth-shattering, just a simple sword clash. But Ivara who has stepped a few metres away from those two can see the level of their swordsmanship.
I put strength in my sword and take a step back. My opponent does the same.
Then I look at my hand and recall what I felt from the last clash. I look at the girl and she is looking at me.
Smiles bloom on our faces as we charge at each other.
Ting.. ting.. ting.. ting… ting… ting…!
In the next moment our swords clash again and again. With every clash, I began to understand what kind of person that girl is.
They say people can lie but swords can't. Swords are simple, they don't know how to lie. They only convey what their wielder has taught them.
Each swing of her sword is honest and perfect. It is filled with the intent to overwhelm her opponent.
In terms of swordsmanship, her sword rivals mine. But when it comes to understanding the sword she stands far beyond me.
'Well, understandably, I have only held the sword for a month and she has spent her whole life with it.'
That's why this is a great chance for me to understand my sword.
I let go of everything in my mind and began to follow the lead of my sword.
Ting… ting… ting…!
Now her sword began to overpower mine.
She swings her sword downwards and I swing mine horizontally to block it.
Ting… Shrr!
Her sword softly glides over my sword. My sword loses its target and slashes air creating a gap. She dives down, changes her trajectory and swings her sword diagonally upwards.
Slice!
My upper garment is sliced and the sword leaves a light scratch on my skin. I follow by swinging my sword at her head and she quickly dodges it and creates a space between us.
"Not bad." I touch the scratch on my upper body and say.
Then my torn cloth began to mend. My clothes are special, they don't have special defensive power but they have a self-healing ability.
The princess looks at Elite with her white eyes and says "Your sword has no substance, it is empty."
I smile helplessly at her words.
'My lady, I started swinging the sword about a month ago.' I want to say this out loud but I held it in.
I don't say anything after all it is common knowledge that swordsmen communicate with their swords.
So I hold my sword tightly and prepare to charge and she also does the same but then.
{Hello my dear pioneers, how is your test going?}
We are interrupted by a sudden announcement.
In the sky of the forest, multiple drones appear spreading the announcement to every corner. And every pioneer stops what they are doing and focuses on the announcement.
{Dear pioneers, you all must be wondering why you hear my voice again… The reason is simple. If you look at the sky you can see the sun is situated right in the middle.}
"…"
{Which means 36 hours or half of the test time has passed but do you know there are still more than 600 pioneers left in the forest.}
No one said anything but all the pioneers felt the same thing. Something bad is going to happen.
{So to quicken the flow of the test, an impossible challenge will begin.}
Somewhere in the forest in a giant cave, a giant blue monster appears with a flash of light.
Sensing the change in environment the monster opens his eyes. Two big yellow eyes like a big lump of fire survey the surroundings.
Roar!
The monster opens his mouth and roars with anger. The roar is so loud that it spreads all over the forest.
Every single pioneer in the forest felt it and the bad feeling in their heart has come true.
{Wow, look how energetic he is! Anyway, the impossible challenge you will face is survival from a blue ogre.}
"What? Has the examiner lost his mind? How can he release such an abomination in the testing ground of the first layer?"
Ivara screams and the white-haired princess also narrows her eyes.
"Is that thing called Blue Ogre really that dangerous?" I ask.
Ivara looks at me in frustration and says with fury.
"You idiot don't you even know something like this. Blue Ogre is a monster from the middle stem layers comparable to an A-rank pioneer. Even if everyone in the forest band together we can't hope to defeat it."
From her outburst, I can feel the gravity of the situation.
{Oh and one more thing, the blue ogre is not fully mature, just an infant. Also if anyone manages to kill it the test will end immediately and every survivor will qualify for the second layer. So, I wish all of you good luck to survive that monster.}