Chapter 154: Irregular License Exam (34)
My first opponent was a frail looking young man with glasses.
It didn't seem like he would be much of an opponent. It even seemed like he could be blown over with a single strong breeze.
But I knew better than to underestimate my opponents.
I knew that everyone who was able to make it here wouldn't be simple, even if the display that they had shown earlier was a bit lackluster.
This frail young man with glasses was one of the ones that had received a bye, so I didn't know what kind of powers he had in the first place.
When we stood in front of each other on stage, he looked at me with eyes wide open and a strange look in those eyes.
It seemed like it was…worship or awe?
But why would he look at me like this?
That was answered when he suddenly walked up and reached his hand out while saying, "It's an honour to fight you. I'm a big fan."
I couldn't help being taken aback when I heard this.
I narrowed my eyes to look at him as if trying to figure out if he was playing some kind of trick, but I wasn't able to see anything in the end.
It seemed like he wasn't playing any tricks, but that just confused me even more.
After all, I had never met this person before and hadn't even seen him in the dungeon. There was no reason why this person should be a fan of mine.
Seeing the confused look on my face, this frail young man with the glasses said, "I was watching your rise on the leaderboards and it was amazing how you were able to rise up to the top and keep your position there the entire time. I really can't admire you more than I already do."
I was even more caught off guard when he praised me like this.
I never expected this kind of praise from my opponent which made me feel even more awkward.
But I still couldn't help feeling that something was off about this.
I didn't know exactly what he was planning, but there was nothing else that I could do at this moment.
After all, he was just standing there with his hand outstretched like this.
If I didn't take that hand, it would hurt my reputation.
So in the end, I reached out and shook his hand.
As he shook it, the frail young man with glasses revealed an excited look like he was truly happy about being able to shake the hand of his idol.
But I didn't feel that I was worth all of this.
With a smile on his face, he said, "It really is an honour for me to shake your hand like this. I might never wash it from now on."
My lips twitched when I heard this and I couldn't help saying, "Please keep washing your hands."
The smile on his face became a bit awkward when he heard this, but he gave a nod and said with the same smile, "Of course I will."
Then he revealed a serious look and said, "But of course, I won't be holding back in this fight. I hope that you won't be offended."
I gave a calm nod as I said, "Of course, we're all here to do our best. I would be offended if you held back because you are a fan."
A wide smile appeared on the face of the frail young man with glasses when he heard this. With that wide smile on his face, he said, "As expected of my idol, you really are something else!"
The judge had been waiting for us to finish our talk, but once it was done, he said, "Alright, get ready. Fight!"
As soon as he said this, both of us moved away from each other and watched for movement from the other side.
It seemed that both of us had the same kind of approach to fighting.
We were both cautious fighters who waited to see what the other side did before reacting.
But since neither of us did a thing, there was a standoff that happened where neither side made a move.
There was just a silence that hung in the air as both of us stared at each other.
In the end, it was the frail looking young man with the glasses that made the first move.
His power was very strange as he suddenly called out several black things that floated there in the air around him.
When I looked at it closely, I found that these things seemed to be a bunch of knives that were just floating there in space.
"Is he controlling them with his mind or is it something else?" I couldn't help muttering to myself under my breath.
I didn't have too much time to think this through as the knives were already coming at me.
The way that they cut through the air, it was clear that there was quite a bit of power behind these knives.
I raised my sword and swept out at these knives, knocking them out of the air with a single slash.
Then using the momentum of this slash, I charged right at the frail looking young man with glasses.
While dashing forward, I muttered, "A bit faster."
With those words, I started moving faster than before as I charged at the frail looking young man with glasses.
Though he saw me charging at him, it didn't seem like he was panicking at all.
It even seemed like he was revealing a faint smile when he saw me charging at him.
It almost seemed like he was looking at something that was behind me.
I was about to reach him when I suddenly heard something.
It sounded like something cutting through the air and it was coming from behind me.
When I turned around, I saw that the knives that I had knocked down earlier were flying right at my back.