My gaze was still shifting back and forth on Evelyn, and I said, “Alright, I accept your challenge!”

“Good, then get ready to start!”

It seemed this little girl was quite confident in her swordsmanship, which made things easier for me. I wanted to show her that there’s always someone better out there—so what if she’s the chief’s daughter, so what if she’s pretty? When it’s time to fight, you still have to fight!

“Alright…”

I nodded. “After this challenge, no matter the outcome, you can’t keep causing me trouble.”

“I promise you.”

Anna Sutton withdrew her spiritual power from the Evelyn longsword, letting the blade hang low, and walked straight toward me.

“Everyone, step back!”

The teacher hurriedly shouted.

……

“Whoosh!”

Anna Sutton suddenly accelerated, holding her sword level as she charged at me, her momentum far stronger than mine.

But in a fight, momentum alone isn’t nearly enough.

I suddenly reversed my grip on the iron sword, and just as Evelyn swept past, I performed a bridge move, lifting the iron sword upward. With a clang, it collided with Evelyn, sparks flying everywhere. A notch was already burned into the blade by Evelyn, and it was almost split in two. If Anna Sutton had infused her spiritual power into her spirit weapon, I would have already lost.

As we brushed past each other, I spun sharply on my toes, reached out, and grabbed Anna Sutton’s shoulder, raising my knee straight toward her abdomen as she turned.

If this knee strike landed, I’d win!

But it wasn’t that easy. Clearly, Anna Sutton had been taught by a master since childhood. She suddenly dropped her sword hilt, smashing it into my knee. A sharp pain shot through me, but in that split second, I desperately swung my iron sword horizontally, hooking the hilt of Evelyn with my own, and using the difference in male and female physique, I crashed my whole body into Anna Sutton.

“Smack!”

Two soft mounds… collided with my chest. The impact she made on me didn’t hurt at all! But for her, it was a different story…

Without spiritual power, Anna Sutton naturally wasn’t as strong as I was. With one hit, she was knocked back repeatedly, but I had locked the hilt of Evelyn, so she couldn’t retreat. Her little face instantly turned fierce, and she swung her left fist at me.

“Anna Sutton, go for it!”

“Anna Sutton, beat him!”

A group of boys shamelessly cheered for their goddess.

I didn’t back down either, meeting her fist with my own!

“Bang…”

The force of our punches rippled out. My Thunder Fist, though lacking spiritual power, was still powerful. Instead, Anna Sutton cried out in pain, hurriedly pulling her fist back, completely losing her grip and having to let go of Evelyn!

“Buzz!”

I snatched Evelyn over, holding it in my hand, but a spirit weapon without its master couldn’t last. It slowly dissipated into scorching flames, burning me so much that I had to shake my hand repeatedly.

……

The boys who had been cheering for Anna Sutton just seconds ago all fell silent, staring in shock. No one expected the top freshman to actually lose to a substitute student!

There was only one reason: the hilt of Evelyn was too long, and Anna Sutton hadn’t learned to use this feature well. Instead, it became her fatal weakness.

Anna Sutton stood there in a daze, her beautiful eyes fixed on me, as if she couldn’t figure out this substitute student. Several seconds passed before she stopped making a fuss, bowed to me, and said, “I lost… Let’s call off everything that happened before!”

That apology was probably only understood by the two of us.

A group of students stared in stunned silence, not a sound to be heard, leaving only the noise of me pushing my little cart away.

I let out a heavy breath. If Anna Sutton had used spiritual power, even a hundred lives wouldn’t have been enough for me. This battle was truly dangerous—if Anna Sutton had cheated even a little, I’d be dead, but she didn’t.

Turning the corner of the teaching building, I saw a huge plaque covered with nameplates—every freshman’s name, ranked by their grades. Anna Sutton was right at the top. As for my name… substitute students from the Sword Polishing Office weren’t eligible for the rankings, and after searching for a long time, I couldn’t find Ryan Scott’s name either.

After returning to the Sword Polishing Office, I continued my work, carefully sharpening each damaged training sword I’d collected.

A little after three in the afternoon, with some time to spare, I took a training sword and practiced in the open space in front of the Sword Polishing Office. But without spiritual power, both my speed and strength were greatly reduced, which was quite frustrating.

Since ancient times, without a spiritual vein, one cannot cultivate spiritual power. Now, I couldn’t even summon my own spirit weapon, Moonblade.

“I can’t give up!”

Giving up because of a little setback is just not my style.

Again and again, I swung my sword, moving and positioning myself, then attacking. The training sword in my hand seemed to become lighter. As it turned out, even without spiritual power, at least I could regain my former speed through training. As for strength, that would come slowly.

It wasn’t until after five, when classes ended, that Ryan Scott finally arrived.

“Ethan, let’s go, let’s eat together!”

He still didn’t seem to know about my increased appetite.