"Come on, it''ll start soon."


    With these words they walked in the same direction. A strange, almost awkward silence enveloped the three of them, interrupted only by the clear sound of footsteps.


    Liana had always been rather quiet, Rain saw no point in saying anything, and Eliana had remained strangely silent even in spite of her temper.


    It might not be what people expected from siblings who had lived under the same roof their entire childhood, but that was the reality. And Rain knew better than anyone that their rtionship could only be described asplicated.


    Apanied by the silence, he thought about the uing test, which as Eliana had said, was due soon.


    The structure of the test was simple, 1 on 1 elimination fights, with the loser immediately eliminated and the winner advancing through the tournament grid and going off to prepare for the next match.


    All fights up to the semi-finals were held in different rooms with only the referee usually present in addition to the twopetitors, which greatly reduced the waiting time during other people''s fights.


    It was a rather convenient type of tournament and it was used everywhere in this world. As for those who had a terribly strong opponent in the first battle and were immediately eliminated...


    ?Luck is also part of strength.?


    Was the academy''s response to any such precedents. And strangely enough, it worked well, because no one had any such questions afterwards.


    Finally, the silent trio of Winderlines reached the main hall.


    The first thing that caught the eye was the people.


    There were a lot of them. Too many, in fact.


    The great hall was almostpletely filled with bustling students, denying Rain and the sisters the ability to see anything ahead.


    Since the fights were held in different locations for each student before the semifinals, it was necessary to know where to go before the start, which is what all the students who came did.


    Among them were those Rain had already socialized with, his beautiful partner Ael and Olivia, the head of their ss, as well as a few more of his ssmates whose names found no ce in his heart.


    Of course, they were too far away to be approached, so the trio remained standing still. At least until Eliana spotted one of her many acquaintances in the crowd and, with a quick nod to her sister, went over there.


    When they were alone again, save for therge number of people standing with their backs to them, Rain pulled out something and his storage ring and ced it in his sister''s hand.


    "What''s that?"


    Asked Liana, attracted by the unusual look of the thing.


    In her hand was an object that resembled a graceful, irregrly shaped dagger with a long, thin de. The most striking part of the dagger was that it seemed forged from clear, pure ss, but it was much stronger and much sharper, as if it could cut through space itself.


    Every time the light from the magicmps in the hall fell on it, the irregr dagger shimmered with a mysterious sapphire hue.


    It was a shard of Ophelia''s weapon, which she had used to wound Sives, Master of the Rift, a very long time ago, and which Rain had recently retrieved from her.


    "A return gift."


    "Return?"


    It seemed like she was really confused by that part.


    "Do you remember? The Sazex''s Ruby you gave me in the rift."


    Rain still remembered that day and the fact that if it wasn''t for her gift, he might not havee out victorious in the battle, and maybe even died there.


    "Ah, really, there was such a thing. But are you sure? This item looks valuable..."


    At those words, her gaze never took her eyes off the dagger in her hand.


    "You don''t want to take it? Maybe I should give it to someone else..."


    Rain feignedly reached out as if trying to take his hand, to which she quickly responded by tucking it behind her back.


    "No! I didn''t say that."


    Watching her rapidly changing expression, Rain barely suppressed a chuckle.


    He felt no loss when he gave it away.


    It could indeed be considered a strong artifact with a top space attribute and it wasn''t something that could be bought simply with money, but since he had Sives herself, the Rift Master and supreme lord of space, in his hands, such things weren''t of much value to him.


    And his sister, with her talent and skills, should easily figure out how to use it and find a good use for it.


    While Eliana turned away and chatted with her friend and all the people were too engrossed in the uing events to pay attention, Liana hooked her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips.


    "Thank you."


    When her sister returned, they were already standing some distance apart and the dagger was already tucked away in her storage ring.


    "You and I will have our first fights in adjoining rooms on the 4th floor."


    Eliana addressed her sister. Liana barely took her eyes off the storage ring and answered.


    "That''s awesome."


    Eliana then turned to Rain and said with a stoic, expressionless face.


    "6th floor, room 9."


    "How nice of you."


    Rain said and, without waiting for another sarcasticment from her, walked towards the nearest staircase leading to the higher floors.


    By the time he reached it, the murmur of voices behind him had died down.


    As he climbed up, Rain noticed that the ce was surprisingly quiet, and people were absent, apparently choosing other ways up. So he sat down on the high stairs and opened the disy of hismunicator ring, which immediately illuminated the semi-darkness of the stairwells.


    [11:43]


    There were about 17 minutes left before the start of the selection, which was scheduled for exactly 12 p.m.


    Rain didn''t have to think about what to do in the meantime.


    If there was one thing as satisfying as sex, it was definitely watching the points earned afterward.


    And since thest time he''d watched them, there must have been a lot of them umting.


    ying games with Sives, a brief but fruitful meeting with a couple of mothers, helping Amelia with an important scientific research, and deepening his rtionship with his sister, these were just the main things he had managed to do in that time.


    With noticeable anticipation, he opened the system window.


    [Steal Points: 117,890]


    As expected, after all his hard work, the amount of points was not small. Actually, it was thergest amount he had ever seen.


    But while he had already aplished a lot recently, there was still so much more to do.


    ''First a duel with Grey, then a ''duel'' with his mother...''


    Both of his swords had been tempered in thousands of battles and were ready for the challenges toe.


    Since it was impossible to increase his power base significantly in the remaining time, and since he did not urgently need anything else, he decided to leave the points until the fight with Grey, and to navigate there ording to the situation.


    ''In this case, the more points I have, the more trumps I have.''


    Having made that decision, Rain smiled because there was onest thing left for him to do. With a red glint in his eyes, he called up the system window.


    [Extra Quest]


    [Fuck your sister until she passes out while another woman peeks at you.]


    [Reward: A-rank weapon of your choice]


    [Penalty for Failure: ---]


    [Time Limit: ---]


    [1/1]


    [Congrattions onpleting the quest!]


    [As a reward, you will be given one weapon of your choice. Choose wisely.]


    [Shattering Shield]


    [Mace of Domination]


    [Unknown Sword]


    [Great Bow]


    [Sazex''s Dagger]


    [Dark Stiletto]


    [Staff of the Last War]


    [Wooden stick]