Ch.108108. The Exchange Meeting is a Goldmine of Experience

“Anyone who wants to challenge the next successor of the Winter Sword, please line up here!”

Hans was engaging in his characteristic solicitation with his typical overly enthusiastic manner.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly solicitation since he wasn’t selling anything, but there was some similarity in the way he was gathering people.

“I think you’ve found your true calling, Hans.”

Angelina was watching Hans, who was more passionate and energetic than usual, with a somewhat disdainful expression.

Regardless of his skill in controlling giant armor, Hans looked so lively that she wondered if this kind of work might actually suit him better.

“What a disappointing thing to say! I’m simply drawing on memories from my hometown and using my abilities to the fullest. I’ve decided to follow Lord Gilbert, so please refrain from such strange comments!”

Despite his indignant shouting, his face maintained a constant smile, and his body naturally guided students from other academies who were lining up.

How could anyone say this isn’t his true calling?

Angelina shook her head and looked at the culprit who had created this situation.

What are you thinking this time?

Angelina couldn’t understand Gilbert, who was slowly warming up in a corner of the dueling ground.

Most of Gilbert’s actions could typically be described as eccentric.

When first encountered, they were mostly incomprehensible—why would he do such things?

But these actions only seemed that way to uninformed third parties.

When one knew the reality and examined closely, his actions were always driven by some purpose and rational judgment.

Prime examples were the comprehensive evaluation and the Lion King’s Birthday celebration.

Even during the sudden attack by the Resistance, he had issued concise and clear orders to Angelina and Hans with quick situational judgment.

Points that seemed to offer nothing would turn out to have support supplies or people in need of help when checked.

Yet he didn’t hesitate to recklessly face the incoming terrorists alone.

Normally, such behavior would be suicidal, but with Gilbert, things were different.

The legitimacy of recklessness.

Or faith and confidence in one’s abilities.

What seemed reckless to others was simply something he knew he could accomplish.

In conclusion, Gilbert’s eccentric behaviors always had underlying reasons.

That’s why analyzing his decisions and actions had become one of Angelina’s hidden pleasures.

However…

Angelina began analyzing Gilbert from multiple angles as he finished warming up and prepared to face the next challenger.

What could he possibly gain from this eccentric behavior?

Angelina twirled the ends of her hair as she sank into thought.

First, she considered the obvious benefits. The fact that Gilbert, who unlike Hans preferred quietness, would deliberately cause such a commotion meant he was aiming for something through this action itself.

Why would he initiate something without prior agreement during the academy’s major event, the exchange meeting?

Creating a disturbance with students from other academies present was clearly meant to draw attention. The fact that he silently watched as Hans engaged in excessive solicitation suggested that this behavior was appropriate for attracting people’s attention.

So, if the primary goal was to attract attention, what could be gained from that?

As Angelina’s thoughts reached this point, another duel began.

Watching the duel with wooden swords, her thoughts continued to develop.

Gilbert was drawing attention and dueling with students from other academies. While dueling wasn’t unusual for him, his skill had already been recognized as knight-level within the Empire.

Considering that his usual sparring partners were his personal instructor Briana, Princess Seraphina, or Brynhild, the great warrior of the Sigurd clan, duels with students wouldn’t contribute much to his growth.

Gaining experience through numerous duels didn’t align with his exceptional abilities.

So she needed to think differently.

Rather than focusing on the typical benefits of dueling, she needed to concentrate on why he would draw attention and engage in duels.

This exchange meeting was unusual in that all four successors of the seasonal combat arts were participating. Recalling that duels between students from different academies were always part of exchange meetings, it followed that duels between the four successors were likely planned.

According to her information network, even the student council considered duels between the four successors an important event on the schedule.

Gilbert, as one of the four successors, would certainly know information that Angelina knew, and would understand the importance of duels between successors better than anyone.

So… Angelina now had a vague understanding of Gilbert’s strategy.

The reason Gilbert was drawing attention and dueling:

It was a show of confidence as a successor and a declaration of war to the other successors.

By showing that he was always open to challenges, he was demonstrating Demeia Academy’s strength to other academies while establishing psychological dominance.

Realizing Gilbert’s strategy, Angelina couldn’t help but admire his depth of thought once again.

Ordinary people aim for one benefit from one action. True geniuses aim for multiple benefits from a single action.

Gilbert was truly the genius she acknowledged him to be.

Angelina watched Gilbert claim another victory with renewed amazement.

Meanwhile, after winning the duel and sheathing his wooden sword, Gilbert smirked at the system message that appeared before him.

[You have won the duel.]

[100-Person Defeat achievement in progress. (20/100)]

Gilbert Lion Hart.

Before possession, Kang Do-jun.

As a veteran who was the first in the world to achieve 100% completion of Tactical Combat achievements, he was working on achievements here as well.

***

Tactical Combat had numerous achievements, and if asked to name the most difficult one, the 100-Person Defeat achievement would undoubtedly top the list.

The 100-Person Defeat achievement required winning duels against one hundred opponents consecutively without rest, with the cruel condition that opponents must be subdued rather than killed.

There were three conditions for achieving the 100-Person Defeat:

First, one must duel against 100 people, with no more than 1 minute between each duel.

Second, the duels must be conducted entirely alone, without any direct or indirect intervention affecting the outcome.

Third, opponents must not be killed, only subdued, for the achievement count to apply.

Facing one hundred opponents without rest, receiving no help, and subduing rather than killing opponents might seem like manageable conditions at first glance.

Since it was a game rather than reality, one might think that with good stamina management, it would be achievable. But the reality was different.

Even in a game, gathering one hundred duel opponents was already a challenge, and no matter how well one managed stamina, that number was never easy.

Especially since opponents had to be subdued rather than killed for the achievement count, it was an incredibly cruel achievement.

Moreover, as duels progressed, opponents often gave up due to being intimidated by overwhelming skill, causing many attempts to fail. Gilbert had to try multiple times to earn this achievement.

Still, through those failures, he found the optimal scenario for achieving this achievement: the exchange meeting part.

In this part, where students from other academies visited, academy pride was at stake, so they wouldn’t stop challenging him in attempts to defeat him.

Given the fast-spreading rumors in noble society, if word got out that no one could defeat a single person, it would negatively impact an academy’s reputation.

Therefore, no matter how cowardly it seemed, they had to continue challenging Gilbert as long as he didn’t end the duels. They couldn’t bear the dishonor of many failing to defeat one.

Of course, even in this part, if the character hadn’t developed well, one couldn’t win duels and achieve the achievement.

But Gilbert’s current physical abilities were approaching superhuman levels. What might seem reckless and impossible to others, the current Gilbert had the ability to make possible.

In other words, the exchange meeting provided optimal conditions for Gilbert to achieve this achievement.

To put it differently, the exchange meeting was essentially an experience point goldmine.

“Next.”

Gilbert took his eyes off the defeated student from another academy and indifferently called for the next challenger.

The duels, which had started early in the morning, were still ongoing.

His record so far was undefeated.

He was on a winning streak without a single defeat.

Perhaps because of this, the eyes of the students in line seemed wounded with pride.

They seemed to understand that ending the duels like this would tarnish their academy’s reputation.

This too was Gilbert’s intention.

He subtly showed that despite facing numerous opponents, he wasn’t tired, scratching at their pride.

Now the duel had become inevitable.

It couldn’t stop unless Gilbert declared forfeit.

Seeing the smooth progress of his achievement count, he welcomed the next duel opponent.

Fortunately, the one-minute interval between duels didn’t start counting until the challenger appeared, so there was enough time to prepare briefly for the duel.

If there hadn’t been this much flexibility, achieving the achievement would have been impossible, which was fortunate for Gilbert.

The reward and title performance for achieving the 100-Person Defeat achievement were among the best in Tactical Combat, so at this point, he absolutely had to obtain it.

Moreover, considering future achievement rewards, the title reward for the 100-Person Defeat achievement was essential.

This opponent was a student from Pim Academy, which was relatively less prestigious compared to Demeia Academy.

Seeing that his main weapon was a spear, he picked up a wooden spear instead of a wooden sword.

Not bad.

Gilbert briefly evaluated the student’s ready stance.

While it was true that Pim Academy fell slightly short compared to Demeia Academy, that wasn’t a significant flaw.

It wasn’t that Pim Academy’s level was low; it was just that Demeia Academy was considered the best on the continent.

The very fact that an academy participated in the academy exchange meeting was proof of its high reputation on the continent.

The student before Gilbert seemed to be quite talented, as his ready stance had almost no openings.

This level of skill would certainly place him in the upper ranks even at Demeia Academy, so Gilbert erased even the slightest complacency.

Finally, Brynhild, who was acting as referee, gave the starting signal.

Of the two facing each other, the Pim Academy student moved first.

The Pim Academy student approached Gilbert only to the exact distance where his spear could reach, then thrust it sharply.

It was a strike that showed skillful distance control.

He also made excellent use of the spear’s characteristic longer reach compared to a sword.

– Clang

Gilbert deflected the spear aimed at his heart. The thrust coming along his sword was stronger than he had expected.

This meant the student hadn’t neglected physical training.

Physical training, the foundation of all combat arts, deserved a passing grade.

– Swish!

Instead of withdrawing the deflected spear, the Pim Academy student used the rebound to swing the shaft of the spear upward, aiming for Gilbert’s head.

But Gilbert, who had already anticipated this, slightly tilted his head and easily avoided the attack.

Seeing how the student used the entire spear as a weapon rather than just the spearhead showed that whoever his master was, he had received excellent training.

Not bad at all.

Gilbert was starting to get excited. The Pim Academy student before him was the most skilled among all the students he had faced today.

Not only physical training but also power distribution, balance, and weapon utilization were all perfect.

If he continued to hone his skills like this, he had the potential to become one of the continent’s top spear knights within a few years.

Of course, defeating the current Gilbert would be impossible.

Gilbert moved forward to steal the attack tempo from the Pim Academy student who was trying to continue his attacks by spinning his spear.

The moment he retreated to avoid the swinging spear, the attack initiative would clearly pass back to the Pim Academy student.

When facing a spear with its long reach, the key was to get inside.

A skilled spear user would make even that difficult, but Gilbert was also a skilled swordsman.

Moreover, the Winter Sword he had been trained in was a sword technique designed for sword wrestling.

After skillfully blocking the spear shaft aiming for his head again with a cross guard, he slightly twisted his sword diagonally.

As the spear shaft and cross guard interlocked, there was a creaking sound of wood being scraped.

The Pim Academy student seemed surprised to see Gilbert engaging in sword wrestling against a spear, but calmly changed his grip on the spear.

– Thud!

“Ugh?!”

The student, who had much experience dueling with swordsmen and tried to counter the sword wrestling, lost his grip on the spear and was thrown back.

He looked like an infantryman hit by a cavalry charge.

“Winner: Gilbert Lion Hart.”

At Brynhild’s victory declaration, Gilbert relaxed his stance and caught his breath.

Even with extensive experience dueling swordsmen, facing Gilbert was a different story.

His physical abilities were already approaching superhuman levels.

Without drawing on aura, there were almost no people who could stop him with pure physical strength.

The Pim Academy student, who had been unable to get up due to the significant impact, staggered to his feet.

Though he bit his lip in frustration, he acknowledged defeat by tapping his heart area twice with his right hand before leaving the dueling ground.

A student whose mental discipline matched his skill.

“Next.”

But admiration was just admiration.

Gilbert, obsessed with achievements, was only looking for his next opponent.

***

[100-Person Defeat achievement in progress. (99/100)]

“So you’re the successor of the Winter Sword? I, Maium Yar, the next successor of the Spring Shield, challenge you to a duel.”

The successor of one of the four seasonal combat arts, whom Gilbert had hoped to avoid, requested a duel at the last moment.