Chapter 25: He is so... Normal!

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*Kachiiin!!*

*Clang!!*

'How can a boy so young be so skilled with the sword?!' One of the instructors of the exam thought as he clashed swords against a silver haired boy.

Even with his advanced technique in swordsmanship, fighting against such boy was incredibly hard, as first he had no prior experience against such an extravagant style of swordsmanship, and second, every movement and step the boy took seemed to be reaching perfection, as he couldn't manage to notice even one gap in the boy's attacks.

Even though was supposed to be the instructor, he felt that they were instructing him instead!

*Kachiiin!!*

'Wha-?!'

Suddenly before he managed to notice, the boy moved at an incredible speed in his direction and sent his sword flying while he was still in a daze.

Soon, the instructor fell on his buttocks amazed at the incredible skill the boy had.

'So this is the Luminous Sword Style, huh...?'

"Winner, Nael!" Another instructor that was watching the combat from outside yelled right when he noticed the duel to have ended.

"You are now given the rank of [Seaman First class]. Be sure to live properly under the name of Justice, Swords D Nael!"

"Yes sir!" Nael made a salute with his hand towards his superior, before he turned around in order to leave... only to find his childhood friends coming straight to him with a smile plastered on their faces.

"I knew you could do it Nael!" Arya, appeared right next to him and hugged his arm before putting it right between her two marshmallows. Making our little protagonist young man to blush slightly while averting his eyes from Arya's teasing gaze.

"You're amazing!" Aisel, a teenager with short brown hair and a type of body that made him look slightly like a body builder despite his age, approached Nael gave his thumps up at his performance in the exam, to which Nael just responded with a gentle smile.

"As expected of my rival..." Leon, a silent and normally serious young man with black hair and deep blue eyes who developed a rivalry with Nael since their childhood once they started training to become marines, appeared right behind him and placed his own hair in an exaggerated manner. Nael just turned his head calmly around and smiled at him, which indicated that he already knew that Leon was there since the beginning.

"Oryaaa!! I'm all fired up now!!" Another teenager yelled in an energetic manner while strange illusory flames appeared behind him as if denoting his overly excited personality. This was Rory, a young man who acquired this kind of personality once they all started training for becoming marines, which led him to be named as [The Mad gun] Due to his recklessness once he enters into a fight while using his precious guns.

"....You're so skilled..." Ignoring the loud idiot next to her, A timid and silent girl spoke in a low voice while looking at Nael in worship. All this while also looking at Arya with a hidden hostility from time to time, which our little Nael seemed to be completely oblivious to. This girl was Rania, another girl who developed a crush on Nael after being saved many times by him from dangerous pirates.

Finally, another young man appeared from behind the group, with long blond hair tied into a ponytail and dark brown eyes, he carried two big guns tied on his waist and a long rifle hanging at his back. This was Eliot, who despite having gained an incredible amount of courage and confidence in his abilities from their training to become marines, was still a silent guy like he was once in his childhood. So in the end he just nodded his head at Nael before he took a seat behind everyone and started reading an old book in his hand.

"So, everyone, did you pass the exam?" Nael smiled confidently and asked everyone, to which all of them nodded in affirmation.

"We all got [Seaman First class] rank" Arya whispered to him next to his ear while his arm was still imprisoned between her marshmallows.

"Ku-hum... I see... Then what about Sid?"

Suddenly, everyone's faces turned grim for a second, and at this moment Rania approached Nael slightly and hugged his arm as well before telling him that Sid was about to enter the exam just now.

"I see... then we have to go and watch his performance. Let's go guys!"

They all nodded while some of them still had slightly saddened expressions on their faces.

'It seems like here is where we part ways with Sid' Everyone stayed silent while they seemed to have the same kind of thought. After all, the probabilities of Sid managing to enter [Seaman First class] rank was pretty low, and at most, he could only become a Seaman apprentice with his current strength. However, this didn't change the fact that here was where Sid parted ways from them. As they could rapidly rise in ranks and probably move to other marine bases in order to train themselves. While Sid could probably stay here for a long timea fter this exam.

None of them had bad intentions towards Sid, however, they all understood that there could be a day when Sid could not be able to keep up with them, and today, that difference could become clear.

All of them wished luck to Sid, and prepared themselves for what the future inside the marines had prepared for them.

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Sid POV:

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"Oryaaa~!"

"You're too predictable on your swings!"

*Whack!*

"Ouch!! Hey old man, couldn't you contain yourself a bit in that swing?!"

"Shut it!"

Currently, I was being beaten down by the instructor while we were having our duel.

And although I could have loved to use some of my secret Mob techniques to shine as the best mob in this exam, they were too dangerous for me to use on a mere spar with a weak guy like the instructor.

As one of those techniques involved using false blood to make all the people in the surroundings think I was being beaten to a pulp to the point of vomiting blood, there was the possibility of the instructor being fired later for overusing his strength against a weak mob like me.

Besides... there could be time  for me to shine later... hehehe...

*Wack!* As I fell to the ground after being hit in my legs by the instructor, one of the examiners that was watching our duel from outside while writing a few things in a paper stood up and yelled the results.

"Loser, Sid Ansel. However, you pass the exam as you were deemed to have the required abilities to enter our organization. You're now given the [Seaman Recruit] rank, so be sure to live properly under the name of Justice, Sid Ansel"

"Sure..."

And like that, the clock began ticking in order to announce the birth of a new legend. The moment where a seemingly average man could turn the world upside down was approaching. And no one was aware of it.

The man who could lurk through the darkness, and hunt the shadows was about to appear.

A Power in the shadows was about to be born.

Or better said... A power in the Depths.

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You know, because of the ocean...

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Instead of shadows, Depths...

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Because both of them represent darkness in one way or another...

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Forget it.

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