The days passed by like a breeze; before I knew it, many months had already passed since meeting Aria on that fateful field. It was now near the end of the school year, and the students were now preparing for the year's final exams. I was feeling very confident about passing the exams. After all, I was a top student when it came to academics, and I'm not acting arrogant when I say that I am the strongest student in my grade.

The final exams are split into three parts. The first part is the academic part. This part is comprised of multiple choice tests and free response questions. The second part is a one vs. one duel between the students of the same grade. The last part is a team battle between all the students in high school in a battle royale fashion.

Even though I was very confident in being one of the best, if not one of the best, in my grade, I knew I had to stand out in the battle royale as the first step to getting into a prestigious school. In the third portion of the test, the battle royale, there existed an option for students to be solo without a team. The benefit of doing this would be that it increased the number of points one would gain from surviving and beating others. Naturally, the downside is that you would be by yourself going up against teams of three.

The place where I would be able to garner the most attention was the battle royale game. I knew it was nearly impossible for me to come in first because I would be up against Seniors who have had many more years of training and experience than me. But I still wanted to do my absolute best, so I subjected myself to a grueling training regime.

I would have loved to train by sparring with Aria. However, Aria told me she wouldn't be able to spar with me for these last few weeks. She also had to train for the final exams in her school. These last few weeks, besides attending classes, I would perform rigorous physical activities and go to the skeleton dungeon to spar against the skeleton.

These days I felt incredibly bored in the battle class. After sparring against Aria for so long, sparing against my classmates felt like going up against toddlers. It was not fun, and I felt terrible because I felt like I was bullying them. It's not even a matter of going easy on them or not. Their attacks were, frankly, unable to hurt me.

Just when class was about to end, Mr. Ding called me to his side. The entire class turned towards me as if looking at a dead man walking. Those who got called by Mr. Ding usually come out all bruised and somewhat retarded. Seeing everyone whispering to each other about what was going to happen, Mr. Ding gave the students a good stare and yelled at them to continue fighting.

When the attention on me finally diffused, Mr. Ding spoke to me in a serious tone, "What do you think of this class?"

I wasn't sure why Mr. Ding asked me this and believed that it might be a trick question. I replied as respectfully as I can, "Your class is great, sir. I enjoy this class very much, and I gain a lot from listening to your directions, sir. I believe thi—"

"Stop lying, boy." Mr. Ding interrupted me.

I paused. It seems like Mr. Ding wasn't expecting flattery from me. Since it was a stupid idea to lie in front of Mr. Ding twice, I decided to voice my true thoughts, "This class is useless to me. I'm unable to improve by sparring with my classmates. I would honestly be better off just training by myself on the side."

Mr. Ding gave me a good look before saying, "Come here after school today. Go to your next class now."

I nodded to Mr. Ding's instructions before heading off to the magic class. During the magic class, I kept thinking about why Mr. Ding told me to come after school. I wasn't paying attention to the magic teacher since she was probably lecturing about how terrible her ex-boyfriends were.

After a typical, very disappointing magic class, I made my way to the gym where Mr. Ding was. Upon noticing my arrival, Mr. Ding walked towards me with a vicious glare and threw a punch at my face.

I instinctively dodged Mr. Ding's attack and proceeded to leap backward while asking Mr. Ding in an agitated tone, "For what reason did you attack me?"

Mr. Ding stood still at where he was and said to me with a grin plastered to his face, "We're sparing, kid. Drop your bag."

Even though I now understood why Mr. Ding attacked me out of the blue, I still felt annoyed due to the lack of warning. I was determined to beat Mr. Ding black and blue to get back at him. I dropped my bag next to the gym's entrance and proceeded to get into a battle stance. Although I would be holding a sword in my current stance, I had to make do without a sword. Even without a sword, this stance was still strong without a sword.

Seeing me getting into a battle stance, Mr. Ding once again approached me and swung his fist at me. Prepared this time, I dodged his attack and counterattacked by striking my fist against his chin. I had thought such an attack would at least faze Mr. Ding, but he didn't even flinch.

After experiencing my counterattack, Mr. Ding suddenly laughed and said, "I underestimated you. No wonder none of the other students could match you. Don't die, kid."

After saying so, the aura around Mr. Ding suddenly turned vicious. Mr. Ding stared at me like how a predator would stare at prey. He wasn't joking around; I had thought he was a typical battle instructor but based on the dangerous aura he was blasting around the room; he was anything but ordinary. He wasn't joking around when he told me to stay alive. I might die from this.

Mr. Ding suddenly charged at me. I dodged the charge by tossing my body sideways. I thought Mr. Ding's back would be open to me since I had just escaped his charge, but when I went to counterattack, what greeted me was not Mr. Ding's open back but his face with a cruel smile attached to it.

Without blinking, I skipped backward, barely dodging Mr. Ding's hook. Before I could even stabilize, another attack was coming my way. Mr. Ding gave me no space to use. I was being choked to death, figuratively. What followed was a game of cat and mouse, except the mouse, was constantly brushing up against death. Fortunately, I had the title Death's Acquaintance, which allowed me to think clearly even in front of death.

Mr. Ding's attack was not slowing down whatsoever. It was ramping up in speed. Although, I should be thinking of ways to preserve my life right now. This life threatening "spar" made me feel excited for some reason. My face couldn't help but morph into a smile of exhilaration and anticipation.

Seeing my unexpected enjoyment of this life-threatening spar, Mr. Ding stopped and asked me, "The technique you're using seems like it needs a weapon to show its true potential. What weapon do you use?"

"I use a sword around the length of my arm," I replied calmly.

After saying so, Mr. Ding left the gymnasium and came back with a sword just as long as my sword. Mr. Ding threw the sword in front of me and told me to try it out. I swung the sword a few times, testing its balance and weight. This sword had an even balance, but it was slightly heavier than what I was used to.

After seeing me getting more comfortable with the sword, Mr. Ding told me to continue the spar. Now that I had a sword, I didn't have to be so defensive anymore. This time, the moment the spar continued, I took the incentive and thrust my sword toward Mr. Ding. Mr. Ding effortlessly dodged my attack and kicked towards at me sideways.

Mr. Ding's counterattack was too fast for me to be able to dodge. Therefore, I held my sword parallel to my body, using the flat side of the blade to block Mr. Ding's kick. Mr. Ding's kick was stronger than I had anticipated as his kicked launched me off the ground. I fell on my back but quickly got back onto my feet by using the force from Mr. Ding's kick to roll backward.

After getting up, I immediately swung upward with my sword, which repelled Mr. Ding, who was coming in for the kill. Successfully buying myself some more time, I executed a skill that I had learned from my battle technique. The skill was called Invisible Blade, which I had practiced recently but never implemented in actual practice yet. The skill didn't make my sword invisible; however, by using the natural blind spot people have, I can make it seem like my sword turned invisible. Overall, this skill was okay, but this was a superb skill in a one-on-one situation. It's simply too hard to hide my blade in multiple people's blind spots simultaneously. That's why this skill is only viable in one on one battles. 

Doubling down on using the skill, I waited for an excellent opportunity to use it. Speaking of a good opportunity, Mr. Ding charged at me like he did when we first started sparring. I got into position to use Invisible Blade, and when Mr. Ding entered my reach, I swung my "invisible" sword.

The sudden disappearance of my sword startled Mr. Ding. But he didn't stop charging at me. Since I had just attacked, I didn't have enough time to dodge, so Mr. Ding's charge attack threw me against the wall.

After crashing against the wall, I expected Mr. Ding to attack me. However, I saw him standing where I had just been touching a cut on his face that was bleeding. "What is that attack's name?" asked Mr. Ding solemnly.

I waited a bit before replying, "Invisible Sword."

"That's a very fitting name." Said Mr. Ding.

"Come here again tomorrow." Mr. Ding followed before leaving the gym.

I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't think I would have been able to hold on if the fight had lasted any longer. As I sat against the wall, still recovering, I thought about the "spar" I just had with Mr. Ding. Compared to Aria, fighting against Mr. Ding felt suffocating. He was ruthless with his attacks. His attacks seemed endless, each attack connecting to the next, and his strength, speed, and toughness were unimaginable. I lost so much space while fighting against Mr. Ding because Mr. Ding didn't feel threatened by my attacks. If Mr. Ding had deemed my attacks dangerous, he would not have constantly charged toward me. This was most evident with my last attack. Even when Mr. Ding noticed that my blade disappeared, he continued with his charge because he knew no matter how advanced my attack was, it could not kill him.

The spar against Mr. Ding showed me where I was lacking and needed to improve before the finals. Even though raising my stats would be very adventurous to me in the duels and battle royale, raising stats required a lot of time, and frankly, I don't have that much time on my hands right now. The exams were only a few weeks away.

What I needed to focus on right now was to make my attacks deadlier. Knowing what I needed to work on from now till the exams, I left the gym with clarity about what I needed to do.