Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Entrance Ceremony (4)
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The Black Heaven Demon Sword pulsed with heavy, rhythmic waves of energy, as if it were breathing and announcing its long-awaited presence to the world.
“...What the hell is that thing? That sword looks extraordinary just at a glance.”
“I mean, it's what you'd expect from the top student, right? That has to be at least an S-grade.”
The surrounding students were buzzing with frantic chatter, their eyes wide with envy and curiosity.
Instructor Seo Woo-ju inwardly agreed with the last comment.
It was a sword that looked far from ordinary—a masterpiece that radiated a cold, oppressive authority.
It was even more imposing than the giant's blade or the book of illusions that had chosen their owners just moments ago.
Yet, despite his vast experience, Seo Woo-ju had never once heard of a sword like this in the academy’s records.
He had pored over the armory’s related texts multiple times before today, memorizing every high-tier artifact.
‘I was certain I had cataloged every single weapon from B-grade all the way up to S-grade.’
Seo Woo-ju carefully scanned Lee Seo-ha's expression. He remembered how unnervingly calm the boy had been while giving his student pledge on stage.
But now, that mask had slipped; surprise and genuine joy were blatantly written across his handsome face.
Did that mean the boy actually knew something about this mysterious sword?
Seo Woo-ju tightened his grip on his clipboard, deciding he needed to report this anomaly to his superiors immediately.
‘This is really it...’
Lee Seo-ha ran his gaze over the length of the blade, admiring its lethal beauty.
A jet-black sword body that seemed to swallow the light.
A singular, thin red line was etched perfectly down the center of the blade, resembling a vein of flowing blood.
The Black Heaven Demon Sword.
He hadn't truly expected to find this specific weapon hidden here.
‘...No, it makes sense. It was tucked away in this armory all along, so of course veteran players could never find its location in the game.’
It was officially ranked as an S-grade, but according to the hidden lore from the game, its actual performance surpassed most S-grade weapons by a significant margin.
It possessed various unique functions, each meticulously focused on the concept of 'growth,' which had made veteran players desperate to obtain it during his past life.
The Reverse Heaven Body was a constitution no one had ever selected due to its difficulty.
And since weapon selection was a privilege exclusive to first-years, it made sense that the blade was only mentioned in vague, ancient texts within the game’s library.
It was a weapon obtainable only by custom characters, forever out of reach for the standard playable cast.
For a fleeting second, he felt a strange sense of unease about the implications, but Lee Seo-ha quickly shook it off.
Above all, he genuinely liked that it was a sword. It was the only type of weapon he had practiced swinging around before he was transported to this world.
‘I guess there’s no need to struggle for a weapon after all, huh?’
Lee Seo-ha's eyes gleamed with a predatory light as he looked at the Black Heaven Demon Sword.
It was the absolute top-tier among the weapons he could acquire at this stage, a partner that wouldn't lose its shine even in the final, late-game stages.
But even that wasn't its true, hidden value.
This sword was the singular key that allowed those with the Reverse Heaven Body to learn the supreme martial art forbidden to all other living beings.
‘Normally, a player would only be able to find the first half of that martial art through the standard exploration paths.’
But with this sword in his hand, he now had the potential to access the hidden second half as well.
Even more astonishingly, mastering the first half alone would be enough to rank him among the world's strongest candidates.
Lee Seo-ha's lips curled into a satisfied smile.
Then, he firmly grasped the hilt of the Black Heaven Demon Sword, feeling the weight of thousands of eyes drawn to him.
‘It’s time to imprint it as my own.’
High-grade weapons were impressive on their own, but they were temperamental. To wield them properly and unlock their full potential, one had to undergo a formal owner imprinting process.
Lee Seo-ha held the blade out straight and pressed his finger firmly against the razor-sharp edge.
Drip.
“Urk.”
A student standing nearby made a weird, squeamish noise. Lee Seo-ha winced briefly at the sting, then smeared the dark blood flowing from his finger across the surface of the black blade.
Then—
The Black Heaven Demon Sword acknowledges you as its rightful owner!
Embedded Skill: Tyrant Aura has been successfully unlocked.
You have become the owner of the forgotten sovereign sword! 10,000P has been granted!
The very air surrounding Lee Seo-ha suddenly shifted. The ordinary, calm atmosphere about him began to twist, dominating the physical space around him with a predatory weight.
“...Hngh.”
That power, brief and contained as it was, pressed down on Seo Woo-ju—a seasoned mid-tier hero—with an overwhelming pressure that momentarily stole the breath from his lungs.
‘Impressive. So he's been hiding his true, monstrous nature behind an ordinary facade all this time.’
The air felt physically crushed for a moment. Seo Woo-ju's eyes sharpened into slits as he stared at Lee Seo-ha.
It looked like the boy's latent power was gradually leaking out during the intense weapon-subjugation process. A chilling, primal sensation gripped the instructor’s spine.
A domineering, tyrannical aura.
Rumors were already spreading like wildfire among the students that he had awakened a god-tier talent like Absolute Domination or Mana Sovereign.
Seo Woo-ju found himself wondering if those wild rumors might actually be an understatement of the truth.
Once the weapon selection ritual finally ended, Instructor Seo Woo-ju led us to a different sector of the academy.
We were given a short break to recover our strength.
While some had easily claimed their weapons, the majority had pushed themselves to their absolute physical and mental limits just to be chosen by a decent artifact.
“I'm seriously gonna die. Hey, did you manage to get something good?”
“Hahaha... I barely snagged a B-grade spear. It nearly drained me dry.”
“Whoa, I only got a C-grade. But it's my preferred main weapon type, so I'm honestly just relieved to have passed.”
The students clustered together in tired groups, chatting away. I stayed on the periphery, slowly scanning the sea of faces.
“Hey, you're Lee Seo-ha, right?”
A calm, neutral voice called out from the side. I turned to see a boy with sky-blue hair. He wasn't handsome in a rugged sense so much as he was beautiful—ethereal, even. A true beauty by any standard.
Kim Seo-hyun.
The boy chosen by the very destiny of this world.
The one loved by fate itself.
The boy the world called the 'protagonist.'
“Yeah, that's me. What's up?”
“Eh, nothing special. I just wanted to introduce myself and get friendly.”
Kim Seo-hyun flashed a gentle, disarming smile as he said it.
“I've been curious, actually. I wanted to see the person who beat me in the entrance trials.”
His sky-blue eyes met mine, and beneath that gentle smile, they were burning with a clear, fiery intensity.
It seemed I had successfully stirred his dormant competitive spirit.
“But it looks like you're feeling the same way. I can see you're already radiating that fierce fighting spirit.”
“...?”
Fighting spirit?
What on earth was he talking about? From the start, I had just been—
I puzzled over Kim Seo-hyun's words for a few seconds until a sudden realization hit me like a freight train.
Earlier, when I had imprinted on the Black Heaven Demon Sword and fed it my blood.
A specific passive skill had been permanently unlocked in the process.
‘Tyrant Aura... right.’
Tyrant Aura.
It seemed like a passive skill that constantly gnawed at the opponent's mental fortitude. If it was always active, that was going to become incredibly annoying for my daily life.
‘Can I actually turn this thing off?’
I glared down at the Black Heaven Demon Sword with that specific thought in mind.
The Tyrant Aura begins to fade into your shadow.
The moment the skill deactivated, I could almost feel the other students' stiff expressions relax around me.
“Interesting. Controlling that level of aura at will like it's nothing...”
Kim Seo-hyun watched me with intrigued, analytical eyes.
This guy had clearly been under some grand, heroic delusion since the moment we met.
But if he was mistaken in my favor and it made him respect me, I decided to just let it slide for now.
‘Next up is the real test...’
Korea Hero Academy was infamous for its absolutely packed schedule right from the day of the entrance ceremony. If the first event was proving your worth through weapon selection, then the second was—
“Break time is over. Everyone, get up. We’re moving to the next event immediately.”
Seo Woo-ju barked the order with a slightly mischievous, knowing grin.
“Next on the list is 'dungeon exploration.' Oh, don't freak out. There are no monsters in this specific training area—it's just a simple labyrinth.”
Dungeon exploration.
In truth, the public records described it as just a monster-free maze intended to test orientation.
The school supposedly collected info on how students handled the maze and rewarded them based on who reached the exit first.
...Or at least, that was what the public and the freshmen were allowed to know.
‘These guys are ruthlessly vicious for real.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly as I stood up.
Now that I was seeing it in person, I realized just how cold-blooded the academy’s teaching methods were.
It was a trap, plain and simple.
It was a slight modification of the Tower of Trials' simulation power, designed to perfectly mimic a sudden, high-casualty monster attack on the academy grounds.
Students would 'happen' upon monsters spawned by the Tower of Trials and be forced to defeat them to survive.
So, while the second event pretended to be a routine exercise, it was actually testing their raw reactions to a surprise lethal assault.
It was another brutal selection process.
The academy filtered out 'demons' in human skin or potential future 'villains' through these stress tests, while forging true heroes ready to face the apocalypse. That was their only goal.
‘At least no one gets seriously hurt in the end.’
For some reason, the Tower made you feel every bit of the pain if the monsters hit you. It was agonizing, but it wouldn't leave physical wounds or actually kill you.
Extreme pain might cause a person to go into shock, but the Tower's ancient mysteries protected the students even against that.
Severe PTSD, however? That was considered an unavoidable part of the curriculum.
“Alright, moving on to the— Hold up, I’ve got a call. Rest just a bit longer, everyone.”
Seo Woo-ju answered his phone, his face suddenly turning awkward and forced. Then, he quickly headed off somewhere out of sight.
Seeing this, it was clear that Seo Woo-ju couldn't act to save his life; he was a terrible liar.
As soon as he left, some of the more intuitive students put on serious, guarded faces, as if they'd been expecting something to go wrong.
And then—
Boom!
A massive, deafening explosion shattered one of the reinforced walls of the hall.
—Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrr───────!!
A terrifying, 5-meter-tall monster roared from the gap in the debris.
“W-What the hell is that?! Why is a monster showing up inside the school campus?!”
“Everyone, stay sharp! Melee fighters, get to the front! Mages to the back... No, move to the center!”
Someone shouted commands, and the elite students instinctively gripped their new weapons, rushing forward to meet the threat.
“Is that a Mad Shadow Wolf?”
“This is annoying. Its magic resistance is incredibly high, so standard spells will barely scratch it.”
Hong Yu-hwa pulled out her newly acquired weapon, the Crimson Flame Grimoire, her face set in a grim line.
The ancient book reacted instantly to her mana, emanating a terrifying crimson lotus energy that heated the room.
“Hey, Hong Yu-hwa! You’re a mage, fall back!”
“You’re the one who needs to fall back.”
Hong Yu-hwa coldly shoved away the male mage who was trying to pull her to safety.
Yes, the Mad Shadow Wolf had high magic resistance.
But so what? She was a Crimson Lotus mage. She couldn't disgrace her family name by retreating from a common beast like this.
Whoosh!
Violent flames bloomed in midair around her. The crimson fire condensed into a single, blinding point of heat, soon taking the tangible form of a massive spear.
A massive 5-meter-long flame spear.
It looked less like a spear and more like a piece of heavy siege weaponry designed to bring down fortress walls.
“Whoa, that’s insane. That thing will just punch right through anything.”
“Magic resistance? I guess you just overpower it with sheer, raw mana...”
The other students were awestruck by the sheer scale of the spell. Amidst the chaos, Hong Yu-hwa naturally sought out one specific person's gaze.
Lee Seo-ha.
To her fury, he was just watching her with a bored, almost sleepy expression.
It was as if this display was exactly what he expected, leaving him utterly unimpressed by her ultimate magic.
Grit.
That look irked her more than the monster did. Hong Yu-hwa launched the flame spear with a scream of effort.
—Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrr───────!!
The spear pierced directly through the Mad Shadow Wolf's gut, incinerating its internals. Simultaneously, blue mana threads appeared from somewhere else, binding its dying movements.
With the precision of a Flame Dragon Pinpoint, Kim Seo-hyun charged into the fray, wielding his seemingly shabby, worn sword.
The old blade hummed with a low frequency, unleashing sharp waves of blue sword energy. With a single, fluid motion, Kim Seo-hyun cleaved the massive wolf in half.
Lee Seo-ha watched the two of them with a faint, knowing smile.
Even though he'd looked bored at first.
But now, for some reason, seeing the plot move forward like this didn't feel half bad.
The world's major characters are beginning to feel a deep sense of competitiveness toward you.
The major characters will now remember you! 3,000P has been acquired!
It was a scene that naturally brought a wide, satisfied smile to my face.