Ch.28028. Professor Brianna’s Exclusive Disciple

Professor Briana, known as the Empire’s First Sword, always begins her mornings with training. The morning practice, which she has never missed since first picking up a sword, was like a daily ritual ceremony for her.

Today too, Briana arrived at the training ground before sunrise and began her morning routine. She repeatedly performed simple thrusting and cutting motions to refine the basic forms of swordsmanship.

One thousand horizontal cuts.

One thousand vertical cuts.

One thousand diagonal cuts.

One thousand thrusts.

Her clothes became soaked with sweat, and her hands and legs began to tremble slightly. The sword felt heavy as she wielded it using only her physical strength without circulating mana. But her training didn’t end there. She calmed her heated body, settled her mind, and fell into deep meditation.

For a swordswoman of Professor Briana’s caliber, mental training was just as important as physical training.

Since hitting a wall in her progress, she had put even more effort into training her mind. Like sharpening a keen blade, she honed her mind to pioneer new territories beyond that wall.

How much time had passed?

Her firmly closed eyes opened naturally.

The morning sunlight had already filtered into the training ground, illuminating her. Gathering her consciousness that had been immersed in meditation, Briana rose from her seat.

Returning to her room, she threw off her sweat-soaked clothes and washed away the remaining heat of training with cold water.

Though it was her daily routine, she particularly enjoyed this moment. It felt like her accumulated worries and concerns were being washed away along with the sweat.

Gilbert Lyon Hartra.

After finishing her shower, Professor Briana recalled the student who had visited her a few days ago.

That impudent youngster, who had won a bet against the most influential Grand Sage of the continent, had made quite an interesting request.

He had the audacity to ask to become the direct disciple of her, the one known as the Empire’s sharpest sword.

Officially, Professor Briana was the swordsmanship instructor of Princess Seraphina. This arrangement was possible partly due to a request from Marquis Malkirab, who was loyal to the imperial family, but also because of her own interest after recognizing Seraphina’s talent.

Of course, even with an imperial command, she had no intention of teaching swordsmanship to someone without talent. Holding onto someone without talent would only result in wounded pride.

Briana, who had shown exceptional skill with the sword since childhood and had few equals as an adult, had met too many such people. Along with their sticky jealousy.

But Gilbert was indeed a student who piqued her interest.

Unlike Seraphina, who had been perfect from the start, this boy who had been unqualified until recently was now completely different.

To be precise, his physical talent was innate. At his age, Gilbert was the only one who had trained his body to such a degree. Even the talented Princess Seraphina couldn’t compare to Gilbert’s physical perfection.

However, she had found it unfortunate that his mana sensitivity and magical power didn’t match his physical capabilities. But when Gilbert visited her a few days ago, he had become a different person.

Since mana cultivation was typically started from a young age, such explosive growth was extremely rare for someone like Gilbert.

Of course, even if it was rare, she couldn’t deny the results right before her eyes.

Professor Briana had initially put off Gilbert’s request, saying she would consider it, as he met her criteria for talent. There were a few more conditions he needed to meet, and she was also concerned about whether teaching him was the right thing to do.

The main reason for her hesitation was his terrible reputation. She worried that if he had talent, he might misuse the sword skills he learned from her.

From what she had observed while teaching the first-grade class, Gilbert’s behavior differed from the rumors, but she couldn’t dismiss the possibility that it might be an act.

“Sigh…”

Feeling a headache coming on, Briana decided to tell him about the gateway he needed to pass to become her exclusive disciple. She judged that she could worry about the rest after he passed through the gateway.

Having cleared her complicated thoughts, Briana checked her attire and headed to the academy’s main building for her morning lecture.

***

“Student Gilbert.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Gilbert was in a one-on-one meeting with Professor Briana after the morning swordsmanship lecture. This was because Gilbert, who had achieved a magical power level of 50 a few days ago, had requested to become her exclusive disciple.

Unlike in the game where the request would be accepted immediately upon meeting the minimum stat requirements, she had responded that she would think about it.

At first, he was taken aback by the unexpected response, but he didn’t show it and returned to his dormitory to ponder the reason. The answer wasn’t hard to find.

‘My reputation is holding me back…’

Even from a systemic perspective, his reputation was beyond rock bottom.

Considering Professor Briana’s character, which valued honor, it was clear she would be reluctant to take in someone with Gilbert’s terrible reputation as her exclusive disciple.

It was uncertain what might happen if she gave a sharp sword to a talented troublemaker.

Moreover, she already had Princess Seraphina as her exclusive disciple, so it was understandably cautious for her to even consider offering the same to Gilbert, known as a troublemaker.

“I called you here to give you an answer regarding the proposal you made to me.”

“I thought as much.”

“Then this will be quick. For now, your proposal is on hold. There are several gateways you need to pass through, Student Gilbert.”

Along with the words “on hold” rather than “rejected,” a notification appeared indicating that a sub-quest had been created. Gilbert couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

“I didn’t expect it to be easy. So, what are these gateways I need to pass through?”

“First, get permission from Princess Seraphina.”

“The Princess?”

“Yes. As you know, my current exclusive disciple is the Princess. While I’m free to take on exclusive disciples, this case is different. I believe you, as a nobleman, understand the reason.”

Gilbert nodded in agreement. It was not only a quest clearing condition but also made perfect sense upon reflection.

The political advantage of being a fellow student with the Empire’s princess was beyond imagination.

Considering the nature of power-holders who use every advantage available, having the same sword instructor as the princess was extraordinary. And if that instructor was Briana, the Empire’s First Sword, the implications were even greater.

“If Student Gilbert receives permission from the Princess, I will determine if you have the qualities to become my exclusive disciple.”

“By qualities, do you mean you’ll test my talent?”

“Correct. I don’t teach those without talent.”

“I understand.”

He nodded and accepted, as he was already familiar with this. Considering her background story, there were sufficient reasons why she only wanted to teach talented individuals.

“You look confident. Did my test seem easy to you?”

“Not at all. I just thought you might refuse outright.”

“… I tend to trust what I see with my own eyes when judging people. You may go.”

Gilbert’s eyes widened slightly at Professor Briana’s words, but he didn’t show much reaction. He simply bowed his head slightly before leaving.

Perhaps the assessment wasn’t bad.

Gilbert recalled Professor Briana’s words before leaving.

Having navigated treacherous battlefields since childhood, Professor Briana had naturally developed an eye for people and clearly trusted her own judgment more than reputation.

She knew all too well that reputations could be manipulated with malicious intent.

In Gilbert’s case, while his consistently poor reputation made it difficult to argue it was maliciously fabricated, she didn’t seem to be judging him harshly.

Thinking that was enough, he headed toward where the academy’s third-year students mainly received their lectures to seek Princess Seraphina’s permission.

Demeia Academy was divided into three years, with separate lecture areas for each year. Since Princess Seraphina was in the final year, he had to go deeper into the academy.

“Isn’t that the troublemaker Gilbert?”

“Looks like it. Why is he here?”

Voices criticizing Gilbert could be heard from all around. With his enhanced physical abilities came heightened senses, so he heard everything, but he ignored it. Having heard enough from the first-year students, he had become numb to it.

More importantly, Gilbert needed to find Seraphina. He stopped a passing academy servant to inquire about her whereabouts and learned that she was in her private training room as she had no lectures at the moment.

Grumbling about having gone in the wrong direction, Gilbert headed to the training room.

However, he found a man blocking the entrance to the training room—it was Yanik, whom he had encountered before.

“Stop. You cannot enter here.”

“I’ve come to see the Princess.”

“Her Highness is currently training. Please leave.”

“I said I’ve come to see the Princess. Please inform her of my presence.”

Gilbert stood his ground, engaging in a staring contest with Yanik. This loyal knight of the Princess seemed reluctant to disturb her training and also wanted to prevent someone with a bad reputation from approaching her.

But Gilbert, not wanting to go back and forth, refused to back down.

“I told you to leave.”

“And I asked you to inform her of my presence.”

Fire sparked in Yanik’s eyes.

He was irritated by the disrespectful and arrogant troublemaker’s attitude. Just as he was about to say something, the Princess’s voice came from inside the training room.

“That’s enough, Yanik. Let him in.”

“As you wish, Seraphina.”

Since the Princess’s orders were absolute, Yanik, inwardly sighing deeply, opened the door to the training room and went inside.

Gilbert didn’t appreciate Yanik’s glaring eyes until the moment he entered, but meeting Seraphina was more important, so he followed him into the training room.