With a faint, exhausted effort, Finn’s eyelids parted open, offering only a weak glimpse of his surroundings.

The pain that had permeated his whole being after taking the hit from the Mech had strangely disappeared.

Not totally, as he still felt a slight pang in his head once he fully forced his eyes open. But nothing more than that.

Finn groaned, sitting himself up at last and scanning his environment. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The first face he saw before him was none other than Terrence, his noble friend sitting by his side with his usual unwavering smile to warm Finn’s heart.

’How comforting,’ Finn thought, taking his eyes off Terrence and onto the others.

The instructor still stood with folded hands, his gaze fixed on the current battle that was going on.

Which was the battle of the shy boy against the Mech, which seemed far more roughened up than the time he had fought it.

Not only did it possess injuries around its torso—the caved-in chest, the upraised hand—but every side of its armour was now scarred deeply as though a hurricane of sharp blades had torn right through it.

From the injuries it would be hard to believe it was still operational, or worse, if it could even be repaired.

However, it still moved with surprising agility against the shy boy, who had his skin shimmering like diamond.

Possibly an armament type of ability.

Finn thought, and that also meant.

His gaze turned to the woman with the corrupted sword standing with folded hands as she continued to watch the battle unfold.

"Are you feeling alright now?" Terrence cut into his thought process.

At this Finn only nodded. "Yeah it was just a pat to the head, nothing more. I basically let him win."

Terrence blinked a few times, his eyes widening in bewilderment. "Really?"

"No, I am just being sarcastic! You don’t know what sarcasm is?"

Terrence pulled back a little, his fingers rubbing his chin. "Oh in that case, you did really well though."

Finn grunted, not in his own calculations. He had only managed to land a single hit on the Mech and in the end got taken out by it in also a single hit.

Unlike the others who had not just prevailed against the Mech, but ended their duels with ease.

’The gap is too large.’

Finn raised his forearm up to view and...

He froze.

"What?!"

He managed to say, his heart skipping a beat as he saw the number displayed above his forearm.

He was rated Level 3.

Just a level below Antigonous Frey and Terrence. How... How was this even possible.

Finn was lost for words, raising his head slightly and staring at the Grey knight examining them for a long while before turning back to see if the number was actually real or if he was hallucinating.

Terrence, noticing his friend’s awe, decided to intervene. "Sir Antonio said he had mistakenly told the Mech pilot to increase the difficulty to level 2. So you actually did great, especially since you managed to take out the hand of the Mech which was super awesome."

Finn’s face lit up, his lips curling into a wide grin as he yelled into the air, "Yes!!!"

Terrence laughed at his celebration. "Why are you so excited?"

"Hahaha, you are pretty excited," Estes’ voice came next, ringing in Finn’s ears.

And for the first time, it wasn’t as annoying as it was alluring.

Up until Estes spoke some certain words once again.

"You did a lot of manly things today my gracious disciple. How about we celebrate with something special tonight. Oh my, your handsome friend can even join, the more the merrier," she laughed again, even more naughtily than she usually would.

At this Finn only ground his teeth in irritation.

"I noticed your Magic has to do with something of weapons, swords in particular since I have only seen you use them," Terrence said, taking a few pauses to study Finn’s reaction.

Finn hesitated for a second and then nodded. "What about it?"

Terrence shook his head, eyes drifting to the girl who had her hands folded with the Corrupted sword strapped to her waist.

"I think her ability is the same, but far stronger."

Finn scowled. "Thank you for stating the obvious genius."

"Oh sorry, my friend... I didn’t mean it like that," Terrence hurried to say.

Finn kept his frown. "Just get to the point."

"Well, that’s the thing Finn." Terrence’s voice seemed to grow darker at this moment. "She insisted on the same level of the Mech you faced and absolutely dominated it, almost threatening to destroy it into a scrap of metal."

Finn swallowed hard, his eyes falling once again to the Corrupted sword, his mind linking up pieces of a puzzle he did not even know existed.

Still he held his suspicions, at least for now.

"What Level did she get?" Finn asked the most pressing question on his mind at the moment.

Terrence’s smile finally faded. "That’s the thing, she got the highest level amongst us. She got a Level 5."

Finn sighed, his voice full of frustration as he facepalmed himself. "Shit, I really should have borrowed the sword."