To a knight, the repeated practice of inspecting and maintaining their protective gear was essential. Every chivalric group had no lack of paranoid folks who believed that a soul existed in their blade and would be angered if anyone else touched them.
While Ji Bai had a somewhat serious and obstinate personality, he didn’t believe that he had reached this level of paranoia about his equipment. However, if one looked at it from a different perspective, such paranoia was understandable; To perform a flawless maintenance of their protective gear and weapons was a fundamental task for every veteran knight.
It was indispensable for maintenance and cleaning to be performed every day, so that one would be able to put them to use after a brief scrub and inspection during an emergency.
Ji Bai didn’t dare underestimate the New Student’s Martial Tournament; He had scrubbed and inspected his protective gears and weapon ahead of time.
His crossed molybdenum helmet and brigandine armor were no longer the one from before. If he began counting from the day he entered the sewers, this was already his third set of protective equipment. As for his weapon, it was still the profound metal fang-shaped longsword of vampire craftsmanship. Despite going through battles of various multitudes at his side, its sharpness continued to vastly exceed that of a normal molybdenum or catalpa metal longsword. That said, its appearance had been degraded beyond recognition. Being ‘baptized’ with all sorts of high-leveled [magic spells] had caused its abilities to deteriorate considerably.
Ji Bai didn’t rid himself of it— Instead, he carefully polished, wiped and spruced it up, trying his best to make it look a bit more presentable.
With a molybdenum helmet that was more than enough to deal with human–made weapons, a brigandine armor reinforced by chainmail whose toughness was not to be underestimated and a pair of hard-leather boots which would guarantee unimpeded travel even in rough, mountainous terrain, Ji Bai was now ready.
After exchanging greetings with Ke’er who was still showing a red hue on her small face, Ji Bai grabbed his sword and left the apartment.
…………
“Student, your identity card, please. Thank you.” The person in charge at the tournament counter maintained a professional smile as he received Ji Bai’s identity card and placed it on a small-scale formation.
“Student Ji Bai, am I right?”
“Mhm.” The metal helmet slightly nodded.
“Alright. Remember, Friendship First, Competition Second1.” The person in charge returned the ID card, together with a small white card to him.
Ji Bai received the card. Glanced upon it, he could see a large ‘2’ painted on it.
Just as he walked through the large door, Ji Bai caught a glimpse of an acquaintance… Yes, someone who truly lived up to that word in every meaning.
The two taciturn people should have originally brushed past each other’s shoulders without any topic to converse about, however that didn’t happen due to the fang-shaped long sword in Ji Bai’s hand.
“Can you tell me what happened to the sword?” Her eyes half-open and expressionless, Lin stared at the fang-shaped longsword that was damaged beyond recognition. If it wasn’t for a certain remaining characteristic, it would have been impossible for even its former owner to be able to recognize it.
“Mhm… I’ve used all sorts of methods to try and restore it.” A muffled voice reverberated through the seams of his helmet.
“…” Seeing that Ji Bai had sidestepped the question, Lin heaved a sigh and didn’t continue her questioning.
“Do you have a way to restore it?”
“No and I can’t guarantee that I will restore it to its normal state too.”
“By the way, why are you here?”
“…I am one of the judges.” Even Lin herself didn’t know why she hadn’t refuted Ji Bai by telling him that she was under no obligation to disclose anything.
“Mhm, see you later.” Ji Bai slightly nodded. With his sword in hand, he walked towards the martial tournament stage set up before him where a number of people had already gathered.
To claim the arena was overly crowded would be an overstatement. Most were merely onlookers or freshman participants who were apprehensively waiting while holding onto their weapons. Extremely seasoned veterans had no interest in watching a bunch of newbies squabble against each other.
“Yo, youngster, you’re here pretty early.” Lin Tuo had recognized Ji Bai, who was armed like a tin can from a distance and waved at him.
Ji Bai’s gaze brushed past Lin Tuo and stopped on a pink-haired individual, who was bathing in the warm winter sun. The sight reminded him of a blooming cherry flower in Spring.
“Why have you come here?”
“Sigh, aren’t you asking the obvious here! When a student participates in a tournament, his teacher would definitely be there to clap his hands and cheer them on, won’t he??”
Ji Bai didn’t pay any attention to his words. He was currently directing his gaze at that girl through the seams of his lowered helmet.
“I-I wanted to surprise Mr. Ji Bai~” The cherry-colored strands that descended down her head like flowing water, the cheerleader miniskirt that gave off a cute and energetic vibe, as well as her white stocking brought out the advantages of Ke’er’s adorably exquisite and ‘rich’ figure in great detail. Her tender and white jade-like skin was exposed in large swaths to the air, with the area between her over knee socks and miniskirt attracting the gazes of everyone present. One shouldn’t exclude the wooly pom pom in her hands too.
For some reason, the unwavering gaze that Ji Bai gave her made her feel somewhat embarrassed.
“Ke’er only meant well. She just wants to cheer you up, hahaha…” Lin Tuo tried to play dumb on the side.
“Since today is a rest day, Huo Lei had told me that he was going to come and cheer you up.”
“First match, new student no. 2 versus new student no.213. May the respective students finish their preparations 10 minutes before starting time. The match will begin in 20 minutes.”
A magical voice transmission resounded in the ears of everyone on the scene and interrupted Lin Tuo’s words.
“So it’s actually the first match…”
“I’ll go and make my preparations.” With a slight nod, he no longer wandered about and walked towards the preparation area on the stage.
…………
30 minutes later, on the Martial Tournament Stage.
With his hands placed on both sides of his longsword’s crossguard and his helmet slightly lowered, Ji Bai resembled a solemnly standing statue.
“Oh, so you’re my opponent, huh.”
Like a gust of wind, a voice floated over.
Ji Bai vigorously raised his helmet upon hearing those words, but couldn’t catch sight of the speaker.
“Fee, fee, fee~…” The wind carried a series of clear and sonorous harmonica sounds as it gently blew at Ji Bai.
Wearing a set of silver pauldrons over a worn out topcoat draped on his body, a young man of dark-yellowish skin was sitting cross-legged on one of the pillars surrounding the stage in an elegant manner as he closed his eyes and played the harmonica.
“…” Ji Bai tilted his metallic helmet to the side.
“Nice to meet you. I’m the [Wind Whisperer], Capeau.” The young man slowly opened his deep and turbid eyes.
Suddenly, he jumped down in a fluid motion and unsheathed a curved scimitar from his scabbard, causing a chilly glimmer to radiate outwards in the process.
The whole arena instantly turned silent to the extent that one could even hear a nail falling to the ground.
“May I know your name, your Excellency? My sword won’t reap the lives of those without names.” Like a sharp sword piercing through Ji Bai’s armor, the deep gaze of the man turned incisive.
“Ji Bai.”
“Mhm?? Ji Bai…” The man suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, no. Pardon this humble self for these words, but your name is too ordinary… As my sword does not reap nameless lives, I ask your excellency to give me your designation or title! Only when you have achieved a purple-grade2 achievement could you be allowed to fight a bout with me.”
Ji Bai’s metallic helmet tilted to the side, somewhat clueless as to why the person before him had adopted such a serious mentality when it was all just a spar. If one couldn’t beat their opponent, all they needed to do was lie on the ground. Was it really necessary to complicate things this far?
“I have none.”
“What?? Your excellency actually has none?! How do you qualify to be my opponent then??”
“…” The metallic helmet shook in an expression of doubt.
“…Ah. It will also work if you think of one now!” Upon seeing the actions of the emotionless man in armor before him, Capeau became somewhat unhinged.
“Three minutes have already passed since the match started. Could the two of you begin your performance please.” A cold voice arrived from the top of the stage.
Lin leaned back on the bench with a straight posture. Next to her were referees whose faces were filled with impatience.
“Think of one now…?” Ji Bai slightly lowered his metallic helmet.
“Alright! I will call you The Thinker3!” The man shouted as he pointed at Ji Bai.
“Mhm?…”
“Heh… Even though facing me in your first round is very unfair to you… This world has never been about fairness! If you want to blame someone, blame your luck, Thinker!” Capeau coldly harrumphed as his scimitar glimmered.
“Thinker?” Ji Bai still hadn’t realized that he had been inadvertently given a nickname by his opponent.
“Cut the crap, check out my wind-whispering blade technique [Reincarnation]4!” Capeau’s swift and fast scimitar cut through the air.
“Swoosh…!”
In an instant, a sinister opening was carved onto the surface of a stone pillar.
“Crack, crack, crack!” Fractures began to appear on the stone pillar.
Carpeau took a deep breath as he returned his scimitar into its scabbard and narrowed his eyes at Ji Bai.
His metallic helmet was slightly raised upwards in a somewhat astonished manner.
“Uhm… If you want to surrender now, you can still…”
“Boom..!” The upper half of the damaged stone pillar fell onto Carpeau with a loud bang, causing the martial tournament stage to instantly fall silent.
Ji Bai: “…”