Chapter 21: Warrior Imprint
'What an easy win.'
Kyriaki smiled towards Endymion, whose lips were twitching in real time. Whether that was because he wanted to smile or cry was a wonder to everyone present there.
The students glanced at Endymion and Kyrios as if waiting for something after grasping the situation.
After all, the crown princess had brought a sword with a bloody history behind it.
"Ohh? It looks ominous, but since Ria is wielding it, I don't care." Kyrios declared innocently.
"What are you all doing? Hurry up and register your weapons, you punks." Endymion hissed.
They probably checked the description of the sword. Dragons have the authority to do that through the system they get, after all. But since they weren't making any effort to stop her, let alone showing any signs of discomfort or surprise, the others had to shut their mouths and obey their professor.
Only one person stood there, silently staring at Kyriaki with his big ocean blue eyes.
The thread connecting him and Kyriaki glowed in a pleasant golden hue under the artificial sunrays.
Kyriaki, who had no idea of Euclid's gaze, glanced at her overly big sword. It looked like a great sword instead of a long sword in her hands due to her size.
'I'll use you well until you break on your own. That'll be the mercy I show you, who stabbed my brother in the heart.'
Her grip unconsciously tightened as she recalled the memories of how she first saw Kyrios, laying dead on the ground.
Then, the memories of Original Kyrios flashed before her. His final moments, his last words, it pained her. And before that pain went away, the memories of the person that killed her brother while wielding this sword also flashed inside her mind.
The way that person felt pleasure while stabbing Kyrios right on the heart, influenced by this wicked sword, she felt sick to her stomach.
Kyriaki thought beating Ebrah up wasn't enough. Now that he was free from the seal and could see the world again, she's going to show him a world where dragons reign over demons.
That's the best way to shatter his arrogant mentality.
"From a week from now on, You all have to be ready to rank up one sub-rank, which means you need one warrior ring at the least. And that'll grant you the access to wield a weapon art. Keep in mind that if you can't level up by a week, I'll have no choice but to personally beat you up. Oh, and more importantly, get ready, the moment you'll be crying before monsters are not far away." Endymion's haughty voice and the wicked smile brought Kyriaki out from her deep thoughts.
Level up in one week? And obtain the first warrior ring?
If he said that in front of a person of a lesser race, like a human, they'd undoubtedly think he was a crazy baxxxx.
It takes months to reach one sub-level for most of them. And the more you level up, the harder and more time consuming it'll become.
But not for higher races.
That includes Dark Elves and Dragons. However, even for them, the closest record that had been set was 3 days for a dragon, 5 days for a high elf and 10 days for an ordinary Elf. If ordinary students wanted to achieve that, they'd have to work harder than a dog.
And to level up, they had to imprint the symbol of a warrior on their core and crave a ring around that symbol, representing a tire. When a warrior imprints a symbol and craves a ring around their symbol, they are called an apprentice of the first tire.
If they use a bow, they naturally become a bow-apprentice, if they use a sword, they become a sword-apprentice.
And the more you level up and crave rings, the bigger the size of the core becomes, not to mention, at some point it gains a personal color unique to each person.
That's how the system works.
Meanwhile, Endymion divided the students by groups where they use the same main weapon. In this process, for the first time since their birth, the twins were separated.
"Ah noooo! I'll change my main weapon! I wanna change it! Give me a sword!!!" Kyrios made a fuss like a true hatchling the moment he was separated from Kyriaki.
"You've already registered your weapon. Don't whine and go stand over there." Endymion strongly refused the idea of weapon change and sternly warned Kyrios.
Perhaps being used to his kind and gentle grandfather who was full of secrets and wisdom, when he heard Endymion's stern voice, Kyrios immediately lost his vigor and walked to the place Endymion pointed like a zombie.
On the other hand, Kyriaki sighed, shaking her head.
Since her weapon was a type of sword, she was standing in the middle of the sword group with a nonchalant expression.
"It seems we are in the same group." Euclid cautiously approached her. His eyes on her hands. Whether he was looking at the sword or the golden thread was unknown as his eyes held something Kyriaki couldn't understand.
"It seems so." She nodded, ignoring his gaze.
Unsurprisingly, half of the students had chosen the sword as their main weapon. So there were about 100 sword users in her group. Kyriaki scanned her surroundings with open interest.
She could see some students had already finished their warrior imprinting. They now only had to carve the first ring.
Since dark elves had no set time in awakening their attributes and core ranks, those who were early awakeners seemed to have trained on their own before entering EESOP.
"Alright, listen to me, you lazy freeloaders. Becoming a warrior is not easy. Before you dream of a warrior ring, you have to acquire the imprint. To make a warrior imprint on your core, you need will, experience and luck. " Endymion clapped a few times, drawing their attention.
"Will comes from your mindset, it is affected by how desperate you are. And experience was gained by understanding the basics, for example, breathing techniques, fighting posture and training. And luck is…well that's not something we can artificially make so don't dwell on something we can't be certain." Endymion made a sharp turn, looking at the group who chose bow as the main weapon. From a bit far away, Kyrios stood alone with his shotgun on his shoulder.
"Half of you have already completed your imprint. And the other half has to try harder. However, some of you may not be able to ever obtain it. In that case, you'll be forced to drop my class. But that doesn't mean you have no value, you might be better suited for a mage. So don't be disappointed."
To young students, who had been receiving endless verbal abuse for two days straight, what Endymion said seemed like holy water presented in time of struggle. They all looked at him with twinkling eyes, their loathing seemed to fade at a fast speed.
If only Endymion didn't open his mouth again, they would have even started worshipping him.
"Now, start with 10,000 vertical swings for the Sword, Axe, Scythe, Dagger and Hammer team. 10,000 thrusting for Spear, Trident, Rod, Lance and Glaive team. 10,000 string draw backs for bow & arrow team, 10,000 horizontal swings for Whip, Sai, War fan, Charkram and Sickle team. 1000 blocking for…."
He kept talking, addressing every single main weapon students used and demanding an outrageous training process from the start.
"... first warrior ring is a must. I won't tolerate anything more than a week!!!"
Instead of letting out foolish sounds, questioning their hearing abilities, all students fell into a deep silence. They were far too speechless to even move a finger.
The twinkle in their eyes disappeared, replaced by emptiness. They seemed to mock themselves for even thinking a little bit positively about Endymion.
As always, Kyriaki moved first, sighing softly.
Following her, Euclid moved and from a corner of her eyes, she saw Kyrios getting ready to complete Endymion's demands.
The painful training of EESOP students started just like that.
Endymion floated above them, instructing every team with more exercises and basic movements. His hawk-like eyes always found fault in their way of training. Insults poured from above as students worked hard to please their professor.
Blood,sweat and tears filled the training ground.
Kyriaki wanted to sing "Name pi ttam nunmul, name majimak chumeul, Da gajyeoga, ga~" in a loud voice, like all K-pop fans might do, but since she had to invest all her will, experience and luck to activate her core imprinting, she held back with dismay and forced her hidden Kpop fan into a deep slumber.
Two hours passed by with the groaning of the students mixed with the sound of wind being slashed, metal scraping together and the loud bang of bullets from time to time.
It wasn't until someone from the sword team lifted their head to wipe their sweat and gasped in surprise that the flow of training broke.
"Oh my…"
"This fast?"
"...wow, the world is unfair."
"That's why they are called the most powerful, you idiot."
"It's only been two hours?! It took me a week and half to do that!! A week and half I tell you!"
"I feel so unlucky…"
The reason for this commotion was none other than Kyriaki.
She was still swinging her sword with a perfect posture and flawless force. But her eyes had lost focus, as if she was possessed by something. A thin layer of golden particles the size of sands surrounded her like dancing to a pleasant rhythm.
"Woah, what's happening to her?" Kyrios appeared behind Euclid like a ghost and asked with a concerned voice.
"She is in a state of trance. It's a sign of warrior imprinting." Euclid, far from being startled, explained in a thoughtful tone.
"Oh! Cool!! Then I should train harder. I can't lag behind my twin." Kyrios nodded, accepting his words with ease and turning around to leave.
"...he said something useful for the first time." Euclid mumbled to himself, gripping his twin swords and focusing on his own training once again.
Meanwhile Kyriaki, oblivious to all, continued to swing her sword like usual until she detected a strange sensation.
She felt as if her blood surging through her veins like a frenzy ant colony. Her core began to vibrate inside her like it was caught by a violent earthquake.
'It's hot'
Kyriaki felt her fingers tightening the grip of her sword. But she couldn't see anything, it was as if something was blocking her vision and hearing by a white wall, urging her to only focus on what was happening within her.
Normally in novels she read, this kind of situation brought pain to the protagonist. And the protagonist endured that pain, showing the readers that they have a great endurance and will power unlike other characters, proving that they are the protagonist for a reason.
But that wasn't the case for Kyriaki. She felt no pain, only excitement. The sound of her heart beating wildly was the evidence.
It was ironic, truly.
Then a vision of a small white sphere, like a pearl, appeared in front of her.
'What's this? Wha-Ooohhh…' Kyriaki's eyebrows arched significantly. She could instinctively feel what it was.
'My core.' She pulled up her poker face immediately and studied her core with great interest.
It wasn't anything special. As she read before, G to E rankers all have a small pearl like white core.
That was all.
Kyriaki was about to click her tongue in dissatisfaction when she noticed something.
Her core was leaking a thin multicolored thread-like smoke.
Kyriaki frowned her brows, silently observing the situation.
The thread slowly began to move, painting a picture of a sword, surrounded by a simple yet luxurious pattern. It happened in less than ten seconds. And the moment it ended the imprint, the color of the symbol changed to countless colors.
Dark red, crimson, hot pink, coral pink, mint green, forest green, teal, light blue, violet, lavender, golden, silver, black, pale yellow… there were so many colors Kyriaki felt dizzy naming them.
Before she could understand what had happened, sand size golden particles surrounded her in an instant, blocking her view.
"Ah…" When she opened her eyes again, she could clearly see the training ground.
A notification popped up the moment she took a sharp breath to calm her frenzy blood cells.
[Ding!]
[Warrior imprint achieved]
[Congratulations, host, you have achieved the warrior imprint]
[Time consumed; 02:00:33]
"Oh? It's easier than I imagined?"
All she did was to focus on training with the desire to achieve the first step towards power. And before she knew it, it was within her grasp.
"I don't think a lot of time has passed." Kyriaki looked around curiously. The last she checked, it had only been ten minutes since she started training.
"It's been two hours. We are supposed to finish our training now." Euclid wiped a drop of sweat from his chin, saying in a low voice.
His voice, usually bright and cheerful, now had a hint of determination and curiosity. He looked like a different person for a brief moment, but soon, as if he realized it, Euclid smiled brightly like a fool.
"You are awesome, Ria. I almost fell for you."
'As if. My fellow Aroace, who is just like his cousin, you shouldn't say things you don't mean.'
Although her inner monologue was accusing him of deceiving a member of the royal family, Kyriaki smiled gently.
"Ah, is that so?" Her dry reply, paired with the smile that was completely different from her uninterest, made Euclid's ears go red.
"Ahem…ahem.." he cleared his throat, looking away as if telling himself he shouldn't hit a princess.
"Well done, Student Kyriaki. Ten points for your outstanding skills." Endymion glanced at her and nodded once. Kyriaki responded with another nod.
[Ding!]
[You've been received 10 achievement points from Professor Endymion]
Her smart watch loudly announced her victory.
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"Aroace; short for Aromatic Asexual. Individuals who experience little to no romantic and sexual attraction."
—LGBTQ+ community—