"Where do people even begin in this?"
Daru scratched his head lightly.
He had unknowingly spent half an hour already simply trying to find the official novice forums and registering for an account using his Trial Name, "Omaru".
Now, there were so many buttons and threads on the screen in front of him that he was starting to get dizzy.
"Uhh...Cluster 4, let's begin with news about Cluster 4..."
Daru clicked on the Cluster 4 button, prompting the screen to load as the NeoNet rerouted him to Cluster 4's forum.
He didn't even know what he was trying to look for.
As far as Daru was concerned, he was just doing this because it would help him become a better Bladeborn.
He couldn't remain ignorant of what was going on around him.
Otherwise, he might miss something important.
The loading only took around seven seconds this time.
Five buttons—one for each region and one for the entirety of Cluster 4—then appeared.
Daru naturally clicked on the Southern Region, since that's where he was.
Ten seconds later, a flood of threads appeared on his screen once more, but he wasn't as overwhelmed this time.
Every post was either about the happenings in the Southern Bladeborn Academy or news about talents who had just graduated.
Of course, Daru was more interested in matters relating to the current batch.
He scrolled down a bit and clicked on a thread that piqued his interest.
Its title was: "Year 3,209, Southern Bladeborn Academy's Finest."
The owner of the thread seemed to be the official forum manager of the academy itself.
Beneath the thread, there was a value of more than a hundred thousand beside the heart icon.
Daru tapped his fingers on his tiny desk while waiting for the page to load.
Soon, a tier-list that made his eyes sparkle and his breathing grow a bit ragged was displayed.
There was unfortunately no one placed in the SSS-tier.
However, there was someone in the SS-tier: a black-haired young man with ruthless red eyes.
Below him were three individuals, one of whom he recognized: the young woman being called Snowflower, who was training in the same outdoor dojo as him.
Beside her were two young men he didn't recognize—one of them bald and didn't seem to fit the description of "young".
Daru etched their faces into his memory with enthusiasm.
With reluctance, he shifted his attention to the A-rankers.
Third on the list was Sylphina.
It seemed she wasn't just a snob and a pretty face, considering she was ranked this highly even among the more than thirty A-rankers.
Daru then noticed another familiar face in the middle of the pack: his schoolmate Cody.
While all he knew about the guy was that his name was Cody and that he was always his enemy in the finals of every Ashton High School Competition, Daru liked the guy, as Cody had always been earnest with the sword.
Skimming through the rest, his gaze lowered once more—to the B-rankers, though Daru wasn't too interested in them.
Still, he at least spotted the faces of his classmates among the more than one hundred faces.
False Witness looked as confident as ever, regarded quite highly by the academy.
He was seventh among all B-rankers.
Silver Serpent and Lionbreaker's faces, on the other hand, were placed around the lower-middle.
The C-rankers and below weren't considered to be among "the finest", so naturally, Daru, who was an F-ranker, wouldn't be either.
But he didn't even notice that.
To him, this thread was like a target list.
Daru vowed to fight the S- and SS-rankers before he graduated.
He didn't even notice the comments section, closing the thread to scroll for another.
Soon enough, Daru's attention was captured again, this time by a thread that contained bracket predictions for the inter-class competition.
He noticed it wasn't posted by the official forum manager of the academy, which meant it could only be another novice bladeborn, also highly likely from his academy.
'Hoh... people actually allocate effort to make something like this?'
Daru wasn't judging them; he was just fascinated by the fact that other students would spend hours on this.
Perhaps they were very passionate about such things.
He couldn't say he wasn't interested, though, so he scanned the brackets.
It was a very boring prediction.
However, it was a curious thing that the owner of the thread chose Snowflower among the three S-rankers as the one who would face the SS-ranker in the finals.
Daru was confident that he would be one of the finalists.
It didn't matter whether the matches would take place in Neo-Earth or the Myriad Sword Realm.
He'll keep winning his official matches in the academy so he can fight the so-called finest.
Daru closed the thread, excited about the future, though his brows rose just a few moments later after spotting his name in another thread titled: "Daru Finnley, Fraudster or Legit?"
Daru clicked on it.
A few seconds later, an article about him was displayed, providing an unusually detailed story about his so-called false dominion at Ashton High.
He then finally noticed the comment section, and his brows furrowed:
'Why do these guys care so much about me?' He mused, struggling to wrap his head around the thought of people wasting so much time investigating him. 'Oh, maybe they want to challenge me?'
Daru grew a bit excited.
Perhaps there were A-rankers and above who wanted to spar with him?
To his disappointment, the comment section was filled with nothing but insults and mockery.
Most of them were claiming he merely paid his way to being a Sword Prince of one of the renowned high schools in the southern region of cluster 4.
'Dumb.' Daru shook his head dismissively.
Where would he even get the money to pay off the school, or whoever he needed to?
He was barely able to afford purchasing protein and nutrient-rich foods, thanks to the fair amount he was receiving from the government.
But Daru had no intentions to waste time and clear his name in the forums.
He shall let his sword do the talking in the official academy matches.
He continued scrolling, but just when he yawned and was beginning to lose interest, he found a heated part in the comment section where an argument seemed to be ongoing.
It was a guy with the trial name Vulkhan against the world.
The guy seemed to be defending both himself and Daru, but the enemies were simply too many, commenting stuff like:
"Don't worry, brother. No need to be so overly dramatic. We would've done the same in your position."
Daru naturally recognized the name Vulkhan.
After all, it was the sword that had awakened before his, though he only found out yesterday on his way back to his dormitory, when he happened to overhear two students talking—most likely his schoolmates in Ashton High.
The one standing his ground in the comment section and engaging in an all-out war was none other than Cody Han, his rival in high school.
Of course, Daru appreciated that the guy was speaking up for him, but there was no need to, and quite frankly, he's slightly disappointed.
It seemed that Cody had been spending way too much time in the forums, based on his first comment dated yesterday, which garnered a lot of attention and reactions.
Daru shook his head and proceeded to comment:
"Brother, what are you doing here? We both know the truth, and that should be enough, no? Focus on your sword. The truth will surface in time."
***
In another, more luxurious dormitory room…
A brown-haired young man froze.
Cody's body trembled after reading a comment from someone he never expected.
He didn't even have to ask, as Daru's Trial Name spread like wildfire in the academy just after the first day of classes, and he had naturally heard of "Omaru".
One wouldn't be able to register in the novice forums with a different name, since verification was required, so the person who just commented should be none other than his rival, if he was even considered such by the other party.
"D-D-Daru! W-Wait, he knows me?! And he called me brother! Hah! Hahahaha!"
All of Cody's anger vanished like a fart in strong winds at that moment.
Whenever he fought Daru in the past, the guy seemed apathetic and bored.
He wasn't even sure if Daru knew his name, let alone whether the dude considered him a rival, but despite this, he respected Daru deeply.
Being called "brother"...
Cody chuckled, then laughed uproariously.
He then hurriedly sat back and began typing:
"@Omaru, you're right. Thanks for the reminder, BROTHER, I'll focus on my sword more."
Cody then closed the forums, shut down his device, and entered the bathroom to take a quick bath before calling it a day.
He continued to chuckle and laugh for fifteen minutes straight, reminiscing about the glorious moment he was acknowledged by Daru.
Thankfully, only the shampoo bottles witnessed the embarrassing moment of the A-ranker.
'Don't worry, brother Daru. So what if your sword is F-tier? The gods and your swordsmanship will help you find a way. Until then, I, your brother from Ashton High, will watch your back, hahahahaha!'