"Hmm…"
Daru scratched his head, slightly frustrated.
All his life, he never failed to learn a move, especially after already trying for almost a week.
This was his first time dealing with such a problem.
Now, he was level 23, having leveled up five times in six days.
Daru also now had the necessary pieces of equipment: a chest armor, pauldrons, gloves, a belt, leg armor, pants, a pair of boots, and a helmet that automatically toggles off in terms of appearance.
He obtained his mismatched and rather shabby-looking E- to D-ranked set from random Swordspawn kills.
Nonetheless, they provided him with quite a bit of attribute boost, especially in vitality.
Daru wore them, even though they looked like garbage compared to the ones worn by the couriers he had seen the previous week.
'Let's try one more time…'
He had long been accustomed to the movements of Havoc's sword skill, but regardless of his enlightenment, he had never been able to summon a clone that would attack from the other side.
His version was nothing like the Field Boss's.
Still, Daru didn't give up.
He entered the aggro range of another Swordspawn, a level 27 Warrior Warthog, and attempted the move, performing the mandatory, small zigzagging motions before charging all out, arching from the left.
But no clone appeared on the right.
And so, what happened was a regular opening attack, and the battle went on as per usual.
The Warrior Warthog was fierce, swinging its steel claymore at Daru with ferocity and horrifying strength.
However, the creature had clumsy footwork and its arms weren't too deft.
It wasn't too difficult for Daru to defeat it.
The Warrior Warthog was among the most predictable swordspawns one could fight.
Its only saving grace was its tough body, fearless nature, and horrifying strength.
One mistake could mean losing a life.
Unfortunately for the swordspawn, Daru wasn't one to make such mistakes, especially against such types of enemies.
'Failed again, huh…' he sighed, falling into deep contemplation once more.
Daru somewhat felt that the sword skill was learnable, it was just that he was missing something important…
'Is it mana or another type of external energy?' he pondered.
However, it didn't take long for him to reject the idea, since Havoc the Honey Badger didn't seem to have any.
'Then what does that field boss have that I don't?'
Unfortunately, before he could figure out what he lacked, the world warped, and after he blinked once, Daru realized he was already back to Neo-Earth.
He stood up from his slumber capsule and was about to leave the classroom when he noticed that his classmates were fixated on something pasted on the lecture board.
It seemed that the brackets of the tournament that would decide Class 70's representatives are out.
Daru only spared the brackets a glance.
He didn't care much, proceeding to leave as he usually does, but this time, someone was standing at the door: False Witness.
"Yo, your highness Daru Finnley." Zach "greeted" with a smile. "Why not check the brackets first, huh? From what I heard, you're peerless in swordsmanship. Are you that confident in winning, or are you not enthusiastic about your chances? Which one is it, hmm?"
Daru frowned, but he thought about the answer to False Witness's question earnestly.
He then responded in all honesty:
"I'm confident in winning, that's why I have no interest in looking at the brackets. Now, please move. I need to eat for the afternoon swordsmanship classes."
The smile on False Witness's face froze momentarily, caught off guard.
Daru was able to slip away and leave due to this momentary lapse of focus.
A few minutes later, laughter erupted from the classroom, which he simply ignored.
The results wouldn't change just because they didn't believe him.
Why should he care?
What occupied his mind was what he would order for a balanced diet.
Daru had a whole chicken leg, veggies, a cup of rice, an apple for dessert, and lemon water before heading to the sixth training field for his afternoon swordsmanship classes.
To his surprise, there were a lot of early birds today.
He couldn't help but wonder why.
In any case, he thought this was good and hoped that this would be an everyday occurrence.
Perhaps they've been enlightened and have decided to work harder?
Around half an hour later, he learned of the reason and was slightly disappointed: the instructors had something important to discuss and so decided to push the schedule ahead by a few days.
This meant that these people were only warming up in preparation.
After all, no one wanted to lose so early in the tournament.