Darius Stormrend flicked the sword forward casually while it was still sheathed.

    The very air screamed as the sword shot from his hand like a bolt of lightning. In the far distance, a mountain peak shattered in half after getting cleaved cleanly as if split by divine judgment.

    Gasps rippled through the audience. Even instructors and third-year students visibly reacted.

    Among them, Elyra Vorn stood silent but her stoic face betrayed a rare flicker of emotion.

    Her icy blue eyes fluttered with something deeper than admiration and reverence... perhaps even a vow.

    ''Father... I''ll make sure I retrieve it. I owe it to you and mother...''

    Her gaze sharpened with conviction as the video faded out.

    In the spectating area, Danny leaned forward and muttered, "I wonder how a dude that powerful even ended up dying."

    Aria folded her arms and replied, "His death was never confirmed. But when an awakened vanishes during active duty... it usually means they''re not coming back."

    Rylan raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn''t want to be on the bad side of the one who took him down."

    The atmosphere tightened as instructors from each class stepped forward to explain the next phase of the legacy weapon competition.

    Each class''s second phase had its own unique requirement. For Mages, it was a puzzle of arcane arrays—contestants had to channel mana precisely through complex glyphs under time pressure.

    Summoners had to subdue a wild lesser spirit beast with no outside help. Healers were challenged to keep a simulated injured soldier alive through strategic spell use while random interruptions occurred. Each task reflected the nature and principles of their respective class.

    But on the Warrior side, things were simpler... and far more brutal.

    The instructor stepped forward and raised a hand.

    A loud click echoed through the arena as the field in front of them began to shift and reform—terraformed by mana-powered mechanisms underneath the stadium.

    Pillars rose, trenches carved out, stone bridges extended, and strange constructs clicked into place. It now looked like a war-torn canyon.

    "The next phase," the instructor began with a voice amplified by system projection, "is based on the final words left by General Stormrend before he vanished. ''In the hands of a good warrior, anything can be a sword.'' With that in mind, every one of you will receive the same item: a wooden cane."

    Attendants distributed identical, light-brown wooden canes to the remaining contestants. Victor stared at his curiously.

    "This cane is your sword. You must traverse from the entrance point of the canyon to the golden flag at the far end. Along the way, you''ll face obstacles. Some are physical. Some are hostile. You are not allowed to use any other weapon, any bare-hand techniques, or any outside assistance. If you lose your cane or allow it to break, you will be immediately disqualified. Only the most disciplined and creative warriors will make it to the end."

    A dramatic silence followed before a massive holographic countdown appeared in the sky above.

    3...

    Victor glanced around, spotting Reed among the competitors a few paces to his left. Reed looked calm while tapping the cane lightly against his shoulder like it was already a blade.

    2...

    Elyra Vorn stood poised at the front with her feet set evenly and one hand wrapped gently around the base of the cane.

    1...

    BEGIN.

    With a thunderous roar of cheers, the competitors launched forward into the canyon.

    Victor leapt down the first slope easily, using his cane to vault off a rocky ledge.

    Immediately, large spinning constructs activated, swinging mana-blades horizontally across narrow bridges.

    Victor bent low, sliding under one while jabbing his cane into a groove on the bridge wall to anchor himself before the wind from the second blade could knock him off.

    Up ahead, one of the competitors attempted to disarm a humanoid golem sentry. The moment he raised his palm to use a bare-hand technique, the screen above flashed red: DISQUALIFIED.

    Victor grunted. "No margin for error. Got it."

    He continued with controlled aggression.

    The first few obstacles weren''t too complicated, though he noticed they were designed to wear participants down. Long climbs, balance beams over pits, and quick-response reaction tests against falling boulders.

    Which meant that, control will be more difficult. One could end up pouring too much mana into their cane and shattering it by mistake.

    In one section, several cane-wielding contestants were forced into a narrow corridor, where a barrage of wind-blades cut through at intervals. Victor watched one competitor try to run through and have their cane shattered instantly.

    He paused, calculated the rhythm of the blasts, and then used his cane like a baton—twirling it mid-air to generate rotational energy before thrusting it into a socket just beneath the emitter.

    The disruption redirected the blast just long enough for him to pass.

    Reed, elsewhere in the canyon, flipped through a set of narrow poles with dancer-like precision, occasionally parrying mana-formed creatures with rapid, staff-like swings.

    He was clearly experienced with staff-based techniques.

    Back on Victor''s end, he encountered a zone filled with clay beasts that attacked in coordinated movements.

    He focused his qi through the cane and with a flick, he struck one beast''s temple, knocking it backward into the others.

    The crowd watching from the arena seats couldn''t take their eyes off the match.

    As the second phase continued, the list of disqualified names grew. One after the other, students were either knocked out by the obstacles, lost their canes, or triggered red-flag conditions.

    The terrain remained harsh and ever-shifting.

    Victor gripped his cane tightly as he continued forward, feeling its lightweight wooden form vibrate slightly in his hand.

    He wrapped a thin, almost imperceptible layer of qi around it... not too dense, not too light.

    Reinforcement. But not overkill. He knew well enough that if he activated any of his powerful techniques, the cane would splinter like brittle bark.

    This phase wasn''t about raw strength. It was about control, balance, and restraint.

    "If I sneeze too hard, this stick might shatter," Victor muttered dryly as a magical beast with a wolf''s snarl and a serpent''s tail lunged at him.