The Thousand-Blade Corridor

Over the past few months, he had heard the name Black quite a lot.

Just the fact that he had become Alice’s personal guard was enough to surprise him.

He knew Alice’s aloof nature all too well.

Within the Imperial Family, Alice was the least sociable one.

Even towards him, her own brother, she was quite distant.

At most, she was a little closer to her maids.

For such a person to actually recruit a guard, and even force Seth to apologize for his sake.

That was one thing.

But incidents related to the name Black kept coming, one after another.

Winning the Azure Wave, knowing information about Jörmungandr, being specially recruited into the Dragon-Slaying Guard by First Chair Noa.

And then, turning the tide during the recent entrance exam.

This series of events made Oscar extremely interested in this suddenly emerged young man.

He had already wanted to find an opportunity to get to know him, and he hadn’t expected to run into him here.

“Sir Black, it’s an honor.”

Oscar smiled and extended his hand very naturally.

His attitude was friendly, without the slightest air of a prince.

Black also shook his hand amicably.

This prince was indeed as the game described: approachable and gentlemanly.

No wonder the talented individuals under his command were willing to follow him.

Aphra cut straight to the chase, blinking her eyes as she asked.

“Black, do you want to go to Hermes Province with me? It’ll be a lot of fun!”

‘Just as I thought.’

Black said to himself.

Of course, he didn’t want to go.

Hermes Province was the center of the storm for the second chapter’s plot.

Going there with the princess, who was a core character, was no different from voluntarily jumping into the whirlpool.

He immediately started looking for excuses to refuse.

“I am honored by Your Highness’s favor, but I am a Dragon-Slaying Guard with duties to attend to. I must protect the imperial capital…”

“The Empress has also said that I am not to leave Servia without her permission.”

“That’s simple!”

Aphra waved her hand grandly.

“I can help you ask for leave from Director Noa! I can handle things on Mom’s side too!”

“This…”

“But I have just recovered from a serious injury. I’m afraid I won’t be able to endure the hardship of a long journey for some time…”

“It’s not like you have to leave right now!”

“By the time we’re ready to set off, your injuries will have long since healed!”

“Uh, uh…”

“Your Highness, my strength is meager. I won’t be of much help if I go, and I’ll only become a burden…”

The moment he said this, both Aphra and Oscar fell silent.

They both stared at him with a very strange expression, which made Black feel extremely uncomfortable.

Black’s heart skipped a beat. He realized he had messed up.

After the incident at the entrance exam, trying to play weak in front of these two was simply not going to work.

Aphra put her hands on her hips and exposed him without mercy.

“Hey! Everyone in Servia knows about what happened at the entrance exam!”

“You killed a Phantom Dragon by yourself and even sent that kid Ivo to the medical bay, where he’s still lying now. You call that meager strength?”

‘What do you mean, killed a Phantom Dragon by myself?’

‘Is Kristine not a person? Her support spells were a huge help!’

‘Don’t start writing news articles with only half the information, hey!’

‘These damn newsmongers!’

Black gritted his teeth in hatred.

It seemed this princess was not going to give up until she got her way today.

Just as he was wracking his brain for a way to escape.

A commotion suddenly broke out not far away.

Immediately after, a brilliant golden beam of light shot into the sky, blasting towards the clouds!

The spectacle was incredibly astonishing!

It caught the attention of all three of them.

“Huh? What’s going on over there? So lively!”

Aphra’s attention was successfully diverted, and she curiously stood on her tiptoes to get a better look.

Oscar’s expression, however, became a bit more serious.

He thought for a moment and said.

“Judging by the commotion and the direction, it should be the second years’ Thousand-Blade Corridor that has begun.”

“And, this golden beam of light is a resonance phenomenon caused by the appearance of a six-star weapon.”

Hearing this, Black understood.

Counting the time, it was indeed about this time.

The so-called “Thousand-Blade Corridor” was a regular event that all second-year students of Dragonheart Academy had to go through.

It was also a major event for the academy.

The “Thousand-Blade Corridor” itself was a huge magical space.

It was shaped like an extended corridor.

It housed a collection of various weapons accumulated by the academy over hundreds of years.

From one-star to six-star, the variety was vast.

Some of these weapons were acquired or crafted by the academy itself, while others were gifted by the academy’s powerhouses before their passing.

Among them were even the six-star level weapons used by previous headmasters.

Every second-year student had one opportunity to enter the corridor and obtain a weapon suitable for themselves.

Of course, whether one could gain the recognition of a high-star weapon depended entirely on their own talent, strength, and luck.

Therefore, this event also served as a test of the students’ potential.

Oscar looked at the golden light that had not yet completely dissipated and said to Aphra.

“The last person to trigger such a phenomenon in the Thousand-Blade Corridor and obtain a six-star weapon was you, wasn’t it, Aphra?”

Aphra nodded and took out an elegant, entirely pink longsword from her storage ring.

“That’s right, this is the Cherry Blossom Killing Sword.”

She then sighed and said with a hint of regret.

“I originally wanted to get that more powerful Demon-Cleaver, but unfortunately, I failed.”

“I could only settle for the next best thing and chose this Cherry Blossom Killing Sword, which is also a six-star weapon.”

Black looked at the sword in her hand and understood.

He knew very well that Aphra could never have obtained that Demon-Cleaver.

Because that Demon-Cleaver was destined to be Jianye’s weapon.

Oscar tapped his sister on the head again and smiled.

“Stop being so modest. Kristine and I only managed to get five-star weapons back then.”

He then looked in the direction of the commotion and suggested to Black.

“This is a rare opportunity. Let’s go and have a look.”

Black couldn’t refuse and nodded.

And so, the group walked towards the direction of the Thousand-Blade Corridor.

After walking for a short while.

From a distance, they could see a huge spatial corridor emitting a faint blue light.

In the void on both sides of the corridor, tens of thousands of weapons of various shapes were suspended.

Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, pitchforks, staves, scepters…

A dazzling array, all emitting energy fluctuations of varying strengths.

Many second-year students were walking in the corridor.

Many had looks of excitement on their faces, already holding their desired weapons.

Of course, many were still trying to obtain higher-level weapons.

But they were forcefully repelled by the halo of power emanating from the weapons themselves, clearly not qualified enough.

Black stopped in front of the spatial barrier at the entrance of the corridor.

He was not a second-year student and, logically, was not qualified to enter.

He had thought that Aphra and Oscar, as third-year students, would also be unable to enter.

But he saw Aphra happily bouncing over to a supervising teacher at the entrance.

She began her soft-and-hard persuasion tactics.

“Teacher~ Teacher~ Just let us go in and have a look!”

“We promise not to cause any trouble or disturb the juniors!”