[You've selected Agaron as your starting location.]
A holographic notification appeared in front of Daru as he floated in an endless white void.
[You have received [Deft Practitioner Gloves] as your Trial Gift from [The Overseer].]
He wasn't really surprised about the gift, as the elderly altar officer had already informed him that everyone would receive one.
But then, another notification suddenly appeared:
[You have received the [Oni Mask] as your Trial Gift from [???????].]
[Please set your [Default] Trial Name.]
Daru's brows rose, a bit dumbfounded and confused at the prompts.
He received two gifts?
Also, weren't their sword names supposed to be automatically set as their Trial Names?
This was, after all, the very reason why the Soulbound Sword Registration is finalized inside the Myriad Sword Realm instead of Neo-Earth.
'Is this because of that glitchy name?' he mused.
It didn't seem like he would be able to proceed if he didn't set a [Default] Trial Name, so Daru could only comply.
He pondered for a while before going with "Omaru", as those were the visible letters in the messed-up name of his sealed sword.
He had a feeling it would change later, once he had unsealed his soulbound weapon.
[Welcome to the Sword Trials, Bladeborn [Omaru], may victory favor your race.]
Soon, the white void warped, turning into a bustling city.
He could suddenly hear the animated chatter of other youngsters around him, some of whom were his classmates.
"Brother, we're here! We're finally here!"
"I'm in a dream, aren't I? Please don't wake me up…"
"Your daddy's time to shine has come! I'm going to blow everyone away here with my gaming mastery. Swordsmanship? Pfft! While they grind cluelessly like idiots, I'll be levels ahead!"
Daru temporarily ignored them, scanning his eyes across his surroundings instead.
'Oh? This world is truly as game-like as they said…' he mused.
Even if only rarely, Daru does do other things sometimes, and playing sword-intensive MMORPGs has once been his pastime every rest day, though his interest in them didn't last for too long.
The limited number of moves one could do in the game took much of the fun for him, but what he truly despised were how rigged the chances were for non-payers.
Apparently, it didn't matter much how skilled one was, as the one with the higher physical attributes would always win, and sadly, every player had the option of buying their way to the top.
The players at the apex of the rankings weren't even that good in his opinion…
Still, those distant memories were enough to allow him to conclude that the Sword Trials were indeed a game of survival designed by the gods.
As for whether it was cruel or necessary, a mere mortal like him had no business knowing, and Daru also had no interest in the matters of the divine.
Floating above the Bladeborns' heads were their Trial Names, differing in color depending on what rank their Soulbound Swords were.
Daru's [Omaru], for example, was written in plain white, indicating that his sword is of the F-Tier.
This worked to the government's advantage, as it would be difficult, if not outright impossible, to lie in the registration.
Everyone's appearance was also the exact copy of their real bodies.
"No!! Why is there no option to customize my character?! Can't I at least catfish my way to a relationship here?!" lamented a guy with a rather elongated face.
"Hahaha! I already told you this, haven't I, ass-face? If you look like a donkey in the real world, you'll also look like a donkey here!"
Aside from this, Daru also noticed that there were eerily still people, seemingly gazing into nothingness with their empty eyes.
Above their heads were names written in boring gray text, such as [Blacksmith].
'The Waykeepers, huh…'
Agaron's architecture is reminiscent of a medieval city, similar to the ones discussed in their history classes.
There weren't any modern houses in sight, but there were a few unusually large buildings.
Daru concluded that this might be because Agaron is a starter city.
Who knows? Perhaps there are more developed cities, ones that resemble those on Neo-Earth more.
Now wasn't the time to be lost in the wonders of the Myriad Sword Realm, though, as he still had to rendezvous with his classmates.
'Let's see…city plaza…'
In front of him was the statue of a War Goddess holding a sword, but the location seemed to be more of a spawn point than a plaza, so Daru scanned the surroundings once more.
A huge batch of students was heading in one direction, which should be the way to the city plaza.
Daru followed the pack.
Sure enough, a spacious plaza soon came into view, where multiple groups were scattered everywhere.
He then spotted Zach, the tall, juniper-haired bully, and walked closer to the group the guy was in.
It seemed that Instructor Talon had already been waiting for them for quite some time now…
A few more minutes later, their class was complete, and their instructor led them outside the city, into a vast and refreshing plain filled with grasses and flowers.
There were also strange, dressed animals in the distance holding weapons.
Everyone couldn't help but marvel at the sight with wildly beating hearts for a few moments as the words [Novice Sword Plains] appeared above them.
They've long dreamt of this moment, sacrificing a bit of their gaming and leisure time to practice swordsmanship so they could make a name for themselves in this realistic game labeled as a "trial".
"Alright, I shall take everyone's attendance and finalize your sword registration first. Zachary Jambah."
"Present."
"Extend your arms and open your palms."
The juniper-haired bully did as he was told, shocked as a massive Zweihander with an indigo blade and a gray handle appeared, floating a few centimeters away from his open hands.
The ethereal aura then vanished, and the sword fully materialized as Zach grabbed it with both hands, inspecting the two-handed weapon with an excited expression and heavy breathing.
This was his Soulbound Sword, [False Witness].
Instructor Talon immediately jotted down the sword's name in the ancient journal he was holding, right beside its owner's real name.
He also checked the color in which the Trial Name was written.
'Purple…'
Which meant that Zach had a B-Tier Soulbound Sword.
Talon wasn't too surprised, though, as he already had a list of all his students and information about their awakening.
Zach wasn't even the most special one in his class…
After finalizing the juniper-haired bully's registration, the instructor proceeded to do the same to all his students.
In Class 70, the top student turned out to be a young woman with orange, curly twintail hair and a snobby disposition.
The name floating above her head was written in orange, indicating that her sword, Sylphina, was of the A-Tier.
Standing proudly behind her were two other male Bladeborns with purple-colored names, Silver Serpent and Lionbreaker.
They continuously spouted words of admiration towards the snobbish lady.
Like Zach—now known as False Witness in the Myriad Sword Realm—their swords were of the B-Tier.
As for the rest of the students, a majority had swords of the E- to C-Tier.
There were only a total of four F-tier failures in this class, and naturally, this included Daru, who was the last to be called:
"Daru Finnley."
"Present," he responded, extending his arms like the others and opening his palms.
In the next moment, a rusty Iron Tachi appeared, eliciting disdainful sneers and mocking chuckles from his classmates.
"Puha!…there has to be a limit in how severely a fraudster can be exposed…" commented one of False Witness's lackeys with suppressed laughter.
Even the swords of the other F-rankers didn't look as bad as the rusty tachi…
"Omaru, huh…" muttered Instructor Talon, his gaze lingering with a hint of pity on Daru.
The Fallen Sword Prince of Ashton High…
His swordsmanship was said to be top-tier, possibly rivaling even the greatest throughout the entire history of humanity in the Sword Trials.
Unfortunately, it seemed that he wasn't favored by the gods and was stuck with a trash sword.
...Or he could indeed be another exposed fake like a few of his students had been saying since earlier.
In any case, Daru would be lucky if he could even make it to the Central Continent of Vigrheim.
Talon doubted that the disgraced student would, though, and could only sigh inwardly.
"That's that for the registration and attendance. We shall proceed with the initial assessment."