Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

"...what? Do I have something on my face?" Cedric asked cautiously.

"No, it's just...Master's laugh..." Thirdy looked a bit constipated as he said this, "Did you make Master laugh just now?"

"...I didn't intend to?" Cedric replied a bit defensively, "He asked me a question and I just answered the best I could, then he laughed at it."

"Huh..." Thirdy looked a bit surprised by that. Cedric had the impression that Thirdy would've liked to ask more but ultimately decided against it. "Alright then, I see that you've got your badge. That's good, at least you remembered."

"Right, did Master give you instructions?" Thirdy asked.

"Yeah...he told me to train at the Sword Tempering Cave until I condense my Sword Heart. He also told me that you'd know where it is."

"Of course!" Thirdy grinned, looking a bit smug. "I know every single nook and cranny of this place. Let's go, I'll take you there."

Cedric nodded and followed Thirdy. While they walked, Thirdy explained some matters about their class that make it unique.

"...since Master doesn't follow the usual teaching methods, things work a little differently here." He started, "Usually, students could earn APs by performing well in class lessons; like participating in the discussion, completing tasks or projects, etc. The same is possible here but we do it differently."

"Simply put, we 'Self-Study' here." Thirdy stated, "All the studying materials are available for us to use, coincidentally, it is also up to us how far we'd reach on our own."

"Since you've got your badge, which is a sign that you're officially a student of this class, you'd received 1000 APs as your monthly allowance. You might think that this is too little but that's mostly because you're freshman still. The Academy doesn't think that you'd need a lot of APs for your first year, that's why they limited it."

"However, once you are promoted to a Sophomore, your monthly allowance will increase to 5000 APs. Once you become a Junior, it increases to 10,000 APs monthly, and once you become a Senior Student, you'd receive 25,000 APs."

Thirdy looked at him and said: "...and this is just for this Class alone. It's possible for you to earn other sources of income like this in your other classes. So work hard, okay?"

Cedric nodded, feeling a little overwhelmed by that amount. However, the promotional increase on his monthly allowance is still a distant thing to him so he didn't concern himself too much about it.

"Also, the numbers I told you about are just the minimum. Depending on your achievements and Master's appreciation towards you, that may increase accordingly."

"Does this rule apply to everyone else, too?" Cedric asked.

"Not for the unofficial students." Thirdy replied, "Those people don't get anything. For you and your classmates, yes. Actually, the top 3 students right now are earning at least 50k APs monthly without even doing anything. Don't concern yourself too much about that though, just focus on your progress for now."

"I see." Cedric hummed.

"It's always been like this in this class since the Sword Path is finicky. Someone can't just recklessly impart their knowledge to others. When you start perusing records or Sword Techniques, you would most likely see warnings from their authors before learning them. That's normal so don't be surprised."

"As for earning more APs? We use some kind of 'Achievement System' here." Thirdy supplied, "Those are divided into Minor and Major Achievements, mostly."

"An example of Minor Achievements are: 'staying for 'x' amount of time in a specific training grounds.' Or 'Achieving perfect mastery of the 'x' technique', and so on."

"Major Achievements are something like: attaining the 'Sword Heart' realm, or gaining enlightenment of your 'Sword Law', etc. Having a matured Sword Intent also counts as a Major Achievement but in your case, that rewards are waived since you were already allowed to enroll in this subject. This isn't us being stingy, though.

We're just being fair since normally, freshmen like you shouldn't even dream of enrolling in this class."

"There's also other ways of earning APs unofficially, like: sparring with a bet, or completing tasks to keep the integrity of this place, and so on. Some of them are even repeatable so you don't have to be afraid of poverty because as long as you're willing, you'd be able to earn hefty amounts of APs here, especially since you're an official student of this class."

"I see," Cedric replied. He didn't fuss over the lost APs so much since there were other ways to earn them anyway.

"You'll see a detailed list for both Minor and Major Achievements later, so don't worry. Your main focus here is your Sword Training."

"As you already know, this class gathers all kinds of Sword Nutjobs." Thirdy snorted. "Fighting is a normal occurrence here, so don't be surprised. However, I would still remind you that maiming or killing is prohibited here. This also applies to the unofficial students. If you and somebody want to kill each other, do it in the Arcane Arena instead."

"If you are caught severely injuring/killing a comrade with conscious intent, Master will personally slay you. Now, don't you start thinking that you'd have it easy once he makes a move. I've been at his side the longest, if I tell you that you'd have more luck with demons being merciful than Master, you better believe it because that's the truth."

"Master hates those who raises their hands towards their comrades with a burning passion. And since the Headmaster of the Academy gave him free rein to run this class, he wouldn't be punished for acting on the rules he personally laid down."

Cedric nervously smiled at the barely concealed threat. Well, he wasn't crazy so he never thought about doing that in the first place, and so long that he remains this way, he should be safe from Uruk's wrath.

"We're here," Thirdy said. He then gestured at the cave opening right in front of them. "That's the entrance to the Sword Tempering Cave. I hope you were paying attention to the path we took earlier."

"I was, don't worry," Cedric replied.

"Good. Well, I wouldn't suggest going in there now. You can go tomorrow instead."

"Why is that?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying that you're weak or anything. I just think that since it's your first day here, you should just take it easy. You're not pressured in time anyways." Thirdy explained, "Besides, I personally wouldn't go there with that uniform, but I could almost guarantee that the winds inside the cave will ruin that in no time flat."

"How does that cave work, anyway?" Cedric curiously asked.

"The cave system is about 10,000 meters long." Thirdy stated which surprised Cedric, "I know, somewhat unbelievable right? But that's the thanks to spatial enchantments on it, so don't be too surprised."

"It is wide enough to accommodate hundreds of people at the same time, there's also an isolation enchantment inside that prevents you from seeing others who are taking on the challenge at the same time as you."

"Beyond the entrance, you'd begin feeling a breeze which will pick up the deeper you go in. It starts off as a regular breeze but the further you go, the currents will become sharper. You must depend on your senses to detect and confront them."

"Yes, you must confront those sharp wind currents. Because it's those currents that will temper your Sword Intent."

"How far you can go depends on your Innate Aptitude as well as your current strength. My advice is you set a proper pace for yourself. Like I said, you're not in a time crunch in this class. Condensing a Sword Heart may or may not take you a long time to do."

"While it's good to push the extent of your limits, just make sure you won't go overboard when doing so because that may lead to your death inside that cave, and you can't expect Master to be held responsible for that since he didn't tell you to bite more than you can chew. So, consider yourself warned, okay?"

"I appreciate the warning." Cedric replied.

"Right next to that cave is the Training Hall." Thirdy pointed at the place he was referring to. "That place is filled with all sorts of equipment that could help you analyze the current level of your Sword Techniques, etc. Visit that place from time to time if you can since seeing your progress can serve as a great boost of motivation for you."

Cedric nodded as kept that information in mind.

"On the other side of the cave are the 'Sword Communion Hall' and the 'Sword Collesium'. You can't go there for now since you don't have a Sword Heart just yet so I'll save the introductions to you when you do."

"Understood," Cedric replied.

"Alright, we're done here. Come, there are still other areas that you should know. After visiting them, I'll take you to your personal room here. It's a privilege that only official students like you can have."

Cedric nodded and followed Thirdy to the other areas around the dojo.