The warm rays of the majestic sun pierced through a certain glass window, caressing the eyelids of a blonde young man and gently waking him up.
Daru's golden eyes gazed absentmindedly at the old ceiling of his room.
"What a weird dream…" he muttered, yawning as he stood up.
The first thing he did was grab the worn-down, wooden training sword resting against the unpainted cement walls.
But then, he remembered something and sighed, returning the practice weapon to its original position.
He shifted his attention to the red sword mark on the back of his left forearm.
Daru wanted to practice his sword techniques again, but he had something much more important to do.
He had to leave today to go to Edgehaven.
Five days from now would be the day that would decide whether he would be participating in the Sword Trials as a Bladeborn or if he would have to live the rest of his life as a mundane human, earning money off boring, mundane tasks.
Daru wasn't too worried, though, and for multiple reasons.
First, his late parents were both Bladeborns who died in the line of duty, which was why he had this old yet huge home all to himself.
He also wasn't struggling with money due to the monthly pensions he received from the government.
Second, he loved swordsmanship to the point of even neglecting friendships and other relationships, since they were unnecessary in his opinion and only hindered his growth.
Third, less than thirty percent of Neo-Earth's population would fail to awaken their marks.
And fourth, he was the Sword Prince of the fairly prestigious Ashton High School, consistently and invincibly at the top of his classes in swordsmanship.
The government and all the top guilds in the Sword Trials had their eyes on him long ago, and expectations were sky high.
Forget not awakening his Soulbound Sword, everyone believed that the lowest possible tier he would awaken from the ceremony was of the A-tier.
After all, it had long been proven with decades of research that the higher one's talent was in swordsmanship, the higher the tier of his Soulbound Sword.
The number of people who topped their classes consistently yet still only managed to awaken a lower-tiered sword was less than the number of fingers in one's hand, and those people were exposed as frauds paying off their opponents before academic assessments later down the line.
It was almost guaranteed that a Sword Prince of Daru's caliber would obtain an A-ranked sword at the very least.
While every high school had its Sword Princes and Princesses, few can be mentioned in the same breath as Daru Finnley of Ashton High.
At least in all the schools in the southern region of Cluster 4.
"That should be everything…" Daru murmured as he zipped his luggage bags.
If he successfully awakened his Soulbound Sword as expected, he would be transferring to the dormitories of Cluster 4's Southern Bladeborn Academy.
Taking one deep breath, Daru strapped his training sword on his back, carrying two luggage bags out the old house.
This was his last day here, as the government would stop giving him pensions after next month, and this house would be returned to them.
But Daru didn't even feel anything.
He simply proceeded to enter the Ashton High School Parade Car, waiting for him for half an hour already, without a single glance behind.
He got his training sword with him.
As far as Daru was concerned, he left nothing behind.
Soon, the car sped off, heading to the Sword Awakening Altar at the capital of Cluster 4's southern region, Edgehaven, where the cluster's Southern Bladeborn Academy was also located.
It wasn't a short trip, spanning a couple of days.
But hey, at least Ashton High's Sword Prince was comfortable, unlike the other students, who had to go there via cramped school buses.
A few stopovers and hotel stays later, a bustling city came into view, its borders lined with neat flowerbeds and trimmed trees.
There were people jogging on the streets, performing aerobic dances in groups, and a few navigating their way around atop hoverboards, shopping bags in hand.
It was a lively city that piqued Daru's interest, usually only invested in matters related to swords.
He couldn't help but admire the modern skyscrapers and the wide yet clean and well-made streets.
Even the pedestrian sidewalks were more spacious than the main streets of the city he previously lived in.
A few more minutes later, the parade car arrived at a mind-bogglingly spacious square, seemingly the size of an entire small city.
In the middle of a huge number of students from varying high schools was a huge stone sword stabbed deep into the ground.
It didn't seem manmade, and it wasn't.
It suddenly emerged in fixed locations a century ago, the moment the Sword Trials began.
This was also around the same time Sword Marks appeared on the back of the forearms of every person aged seventeen years old and below.
From then on, every child that was born had the same mark, to be awakened at a fixed time of the year researched for decades to be the day a human has the highest chances of awakening their marks, though only for those approaching the age of eighteen.
If one couldn't awaken one's mark on this day, then one was destined to be mundane.
"H-Hey, look, Ashton High!" a random student from another high school exclaimed as they spotted the fancy black car approaching closer.
"Sword Prince Daru Finnley, huh? I wonder how our school's prince matches up against him?"
"Aihh, don't even dream about it. I've watched this guy spar once by coincidence, and I can tell you right now that even Lance wouldn't last a hundred seconds against this guy."
"That good?!"
"That good."
Daru heard the conversation but merely ignored it, as he had heard similar ones hundreds, if not thousands of times already.
Fame simply goes hand in hand with skills.
Soon, they arrived at the area designated for Ashton High School, and Daru disembarked, leaving his luggage to the butler accompanying the chauffeur.
They would be the ones responsible for sending his stuff to the Southern Bladeborn Academy.
As for him, his task was to awaken an amazing sword.
Not for anything or anyone else but himself.
Which sword enthusiast wouldn't want a high-tier, cool-looking sword for himself?