The Opening Arrives as Scheduled

It had been nearly three months since he obtained ultimate authority over armaments.

During that time, Azer steadily improved his strength while also confirming certain characteristics of his authority through repeated experiments.

Take the swordsmanship Toudou Kirin spoke of. Since Azer's swordsmanship came from the effects of his authority, how refined it was actually depended on how powerful the weapon he used was.

That was because Azer's authority allowed him to fully master an armament's power and use it naturally. It did not grant him the skill or level needed to bring out that armament's power.

For example, if Azer were given a Wooden Sword, he would absolutely be unable to use it to cut through steel.

The material of the Wooden Sword itself set that limit. Even if its power were brought out one hundred percent, a piece of wood could never overpower a piece of steel.

If it were one of the swordsmen from legend, however, they might be able to use a Wooden Sword and, through astonishing technique, cut through that steel.

Conversely, if a legendary holy sword were handed to a swordsman, then barring anything unexpected, that swordsman would not be able to bring out the holy sword's full power right away.

Since the holy sword's power far surpassed the swordsman's own level, he would most likely only be able to wield a tiny fraction of its might through his own ability.

But if that sword were given to Azer, things would be different.

So long as his body could withstand it, Azer could fully unleash the holy sword's power and step into a realm far beyond that swordsman's.

That was what made Azer different from others.

If he wanted to display Divine Realm-level swordsmanship, then the weapon in his hand had to be a Divine Realm-level weapon.

Therefore, Toudou Kirin had been somewhat mistaken.

The reason Azer had been able to defeat her with swordsmanship was still because he possessed the Pure Star Radiant Armament, the Black Furnace Magic Sword.

The Black Furnace Magic Sword could withstand the greater power brought by Azer's authority, allowing him to display stronger swordsmanship.

If Azer had been holding an ordinary Huang-style Armament, he would not have been able to use swordsmanship at his current level. Naturally, he could not have defeated Toudou Kirin through swordsmanship alone.

Of course, that was only in terms of swordsmanship.

Over the past month, Azer had also asked Claudia to provide him with a new batch of Omni-Response Ore.

By absorbing that Omni-Response Ore, Azer's strength had improved considerably. His physical abilities and Star Power now far surpassed Toudou Kirin's, so it was not impossible for him to defeat her with an ordinary Huang-style Armament.

Unfortunately...

"By this point, ordinary Omni-Response Ore has become completely useless to me. It can no longer offer me even the slightest help."

As Azer spoke with Toudou Kirin and exchanged insights from their training, he thought to himself.

"If I want to continue increasing my strength this way, I'll probably need Omni-Response Crystals."

Ordinary Omni-Response Ore had too little purity and contained too little Omni-Response Element. No matter how much he had, it was already useless to Azer.

Omni-Response Crystals were different.

"Omni-Response Crystals are extremely pure, and the quality of the Omni-Response Element they contain far exceeds ordinary Omni-Response Ore. If I can absorb Omni-Response Crystals, my strength should be able to keep improving."

It would not be easy, though.

Unlike ordinary Omni-Response Ore, Omni-Response Crystals were extraordinarily valuable. Almost all Omni-Response Crystals in the world were under the management of the Integrated Enterprise Foundation, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to obtain even one through other channels.

Even if one wanted to obtain Omni-Response Crystals from the Integrated Enterprise Foundation, one needed a legitimate reason.

For example, the Arle Kant Research Institute among the Six Academies. As its name suggested, it gathered many exceptionally talented students. These students possessed formidable research capabilities, and if they could produce concrete results, they could apply to the academy or the Integrated Enterprise Foundation for Omni-Response Crystals as research materials.

Azer did not know whether Seidoukan Academy had a similar system, but even if it did, he had no way of acquiring Omni-Response Crystals through that method.

"Claudia probably can't help me either. Even if she can, she'll have to pay a considerable price."

Azer silently thought to himself.

"Fortunately, the Phoenix Star Martial Festival is about to begin."

As long as he could win, Azer could make a request of the Integrated Enterprise Foundation and have them provide him with enough Omni-Response Crystals.

"It seems I have one more reason to participate in the Phoenix Star Martial Festival and win it."

As Azer was thinking about this, Toudou Kirin beside him suddenly spoke.

"Come to think of it, the academy is about to go on break."

Hearing that, Azer came back to himself and nodded.

"Summer Vacation is indeed about to begin. Our homeroom teacher even deliberately mentioned the break in class yesterday."

That was right. Azer was still attending classes.

However, he was starting to grow tired of them.

He had already heard what needed to be heard, and his curiosity about this world's history and events had also been satisfied. Continuing to attend classes would only mean studying, so Azer had recently been considering whether to simply focus on training and stop worrying about coursework.

But...

"Now that the break is here, our training will be ending soon too, right, Senior?"

Toudou Kirin unconsciously lowered her voice.

"Yes." Azer understood what the girl meant. He nodded and said, "It's finally coming. This moment."

The Phoenix Star Martial Festival began during Summer Vacation.

More precisely, the first day of next week would be the day the Phoenix Star Martial Festival officially opened.

"Claudia sent me a message yesterday and asked us to go to the Student Council Office today. She's probably going to talk to us about the Phoenix Star Martial Festival, right?"

Azer opened a Spatial Window, brought up the message, and let it float before Toudou Kirin.

"Then now...?"

Toudou Kirin looked at Azer.

"Yeah." Azer smiled. "Let's head over now."

On the top floor of the High School Building, in the Student Council Office.

When Azer and Toudou Kirin walked in together, chatting and laughing, they discovered that they were not the only ones summoned there.

"Senior Amagiri? And Lisfeelt Senior?"

Toudou Kirin cried out in surprise.

"Hmm?"

The man and woman standing before the desk and speaking with Claudia immediately turned around, spotting Azer and Toudou Kirin.

They were none other than Amagiri Ayato and Yulis.

"You're here, Azer, Toudou."

Amagiri Ayato greeted them with his usual easygoing smile.

"Judging by the two of you, you just finished training, right?" Yulis examined them as though trying to see through something, then provocatively said, "Well? Did your training produce decent results?"

From the look of it, she seemed to be saying that if it had not, they would be taking this championship.

"And you?" Azer naturally did not fall for it and casually replied, "You look pretty confident, so I suppose things went well for you too?"

Yulis and Amagiri Ayato immediately exchanged glances and smiled.

Clearly, they had trained thoroughly during this time as well, and had at least developed strong coordination.

"If we meet on the stage, we won't go easy on you."

"Yeah, let's all give it everything we have."

Yulis and Amagiri Ayato spoke in turn.

"We will."

Azer and Toudou Kirin responded in unison. The coordination they displayed was no less than Amagiri Ayato and Yulis's.

"Hehe." Claudia had been sitting there watching the entire time. Seeing this, she laughed and said, "Seeing how the four of you are doing now has given me even more confidence that Seidoukan Academy can win this time."

The four before her were not all of Seidoukan Academy's participants in this Phoenix Star Martial Festival.

But among the teams participating in the Phoenix Star Martial Festival, these two pairs were undoubtedly the most likely to win. In Claudia's mind, they were unquestionable championship contenders.

That was why Claudia had called the four of them here.

"The opening is next week, and the organizers have already released the groupings. I received them in advance, so let me show you all now."

As she spoke, Claudia raised her hand and unfolded a Spatial Window.