A door on the fifth floor of the Warrior Academy's main building opened.
Two people stood in front of the door. One was a tall man with blue hair and a gigantic sword strapped to his back.
The other person was a teenager with black hair, carrying a black spear on his back.
"Enter," the teacher said.
The student hesitated a bit. "Am I in trouble, Teacher Astor?" he asked with a voice that betrayed his nervousness.
"No," Teacher Astor said with a calm voice. "Someone important wants to meet you, and I'm only here to escort you."
"Why?" the student asked.
"I don't know," Teacher Astor answered.
That didn't help in alleviating the student's worries.
Eventually, he just entered the room, and Teacher Astor closed the door before leaving.
The student looked around with anxiety, and he eventually sat down in a chair beside a big desk in the middle of the room.
The student slowly caressed the handle of his spear to give himself comfort. As long as his weapon was beside him, he didn't need to feel so scared.
'Have I done anything wrong?' the student thought in worry. 'Did someone find out that I sneaked into the Wild Forest to fight some beasts? But I didn't kill any of them! I didn't damage the ecosystem!'
The student waited inside the room for several minutes, his anxiety only becoming stronger.
'Calm down, Oliver! Teacher Astor said that you are not in trouble! It's only that someone important wants to meet you... someone so important that even Teacher Astor seemed uncertain...'
Oliver, the student, just couldn't calm himself down. He knew Teacher Astor very well, and he was always friendly, helpful, and forthcoming. He was also a very good teacher!
But, just now, Teacher Astor seemed conflicted, nervous, and uncertain.
That meant that someone of even greater status than a teacher or Vice-Dean of the Academy would want to meet him.
'What would such a person even want from me? I'm barely average in my class. I can't imagine that some powerful warrior suddenly saw my talent and decided to take me in as their disciple.'
'But then, what would such a person want from me?'
As Oliver continued stewing in his thoughts, his eyes darted toward the door of the room.
For some reason, he felt like something or someone was approaching.
The atmosphere in the room seemed to become more oppressive and darker the more Oliver looked at the door.
Clank.
Then, Oliver heard the sound of a heavily armored boot stepping on the ground outside.
Oliver's heartbeat sped up, and he felt like the pressure in the room only increased.
Clank. Clank. Clank!
The footsteps grew louder, and Oliver already started to sweat.
He had only felt this afraid while fighting powerful beasts.
But he was only hearing footsteps right now!
When did he suddenly turn into such a scaredy cat?!
When Oliver heard the footsteps stop in front of the door, his body froze as his fight-or-flight instincts got triggered.
He felt like he was about to die!
Then, the door opened.
The door opening felt like an eternity to Oliver, but it actually opened at normal speeds.
Oliver didn't dare to move and only sat stiffly on his chair as he looked at the black figure that had stepped through the door.
It looked like a black titan or black demon!
The figure was entirely clothed in extremely dense, pitch-black plate armor. Not even a single bit of its actual body showed through the armor.
Additionally, several black spikes came out from the armor, making it appear like a demon king was wearing it.
Oliver immediately connected the armor he was seeing with how many main antagonists in fantasy games looked.
It looked imposing, evil, and powerful!
After a bit, Oliver dared to look up, and his eyes fixated on a single, cold, black eye.
Only then did Oliver realize that this was a person.
The person in front of Oliver only had one eye, and the other eye was hidden behind a big, armored, metal eyepatch with the symbol of a flying sword on it. The metallic eyepatch connected to a metallic ring going around the person's head, and Oliver could see short and spiky black hair above the metallic eyepatch.
As soon as the black titan entered the room, time had seemingly frozen for Oliver.
He didn't dare to move.
His instincts didn't allow him to move.
He could only look in fear at the one eye looking back into his.
Several seconds passed.
Then, Oliver finally took a deep breath.
'Who is that?!' he thought in panic.
He had seen True Path Stage warriors before, but none of them had such a sinister presence and overwhelming pressure.
"Stand up."
A commanding voice came from the figure, and Oliver slowly complied with the order.
The figure in front of Oliver glanced at the chair beside him.
"The chairs in here can't bear my weight, and I don't want to talk down to you. It's better when we talk face to face," the figure explained.
As the figure spoke more, Oliver's tense nerves began to calm down.
The pressure in the room also seemed to lessen for him.
Several seconds of silence passed.
"Don't you have any questions?" the figure asked emotionlessly.
Oliver's nervousness returned, and he took a deep breath.
"Who are you?" Oliver asked, trying to sound unintimidated but failing.
"I am Count Sword," the figure answered.
At that moment, Oliver's eyes widened in shock.
He had heard about Count Sword in history class!
He was the first warrior that had ever gotten a noble title, and it was even said that he managed to take down an entire outpost of the Grandmountain Kingdom on his own while still being at the Commander Stage!
Oliver could scarcely believe that he stood in front of such a legend!
"But you may call me Shang," the figure said.
At that moment, Oliver became nervous again.
Why?
How?
Why would Count Sword tell him, a normal student in the Warrior Academy, to call him by his first name?!
A couple of seconds of silence returned.
"Don't you want to let your spear go?" the figure asked.
Oliver grew more nervous.
The truth about his weapon was one of his biggest secrets, and he knew that he couldn't let anyone realize what kind of weapon he was using. Otherwise, every powerful warrior would covet him!
But at that moment, something shocking happened.
The Great Sword on the figure's back began to levitate on its own, and it approached Oliver.
Oliver felt his spear shake.
But he knew that there was nothing he could do.
He was simply too weak.
As the sword approached Oliver, his spear began to levitate on its own and joined the sword.
The two weapons touched each other in the air and simply floated there.
In the beginning, Oliver was scared for his weapon. What if Count Sword's weapon could absorb his weapon?!
But as he saw nothing happen, he felt his nerves calm down.
"What is going on?" Oliver asked.
The figure looked at the two weapons with a complex expression.
It was almost like he was getting reminded of old memories.
"Inheritance," the figure said.
"Now, tell me, did something new happen on Earth?"
