Today is the Awakening Ceremony, where all the village kids finally discover their job classes—and expectations are sky-high for Arel. After all, his mom is a high-class Sword Princess, and his dad is an Archmage, so everyone’s basically waiting for him to unlock something legendary.
But when Arel’s turn comes and the priest places his hand on his head… nothing. Instead of a glorious title, Arel just sees a blinding color—white. The priest freezes like his brain just hit a Windows error screen. In rare cases like this, it only means one thing: our boy Arel is classless—a.k.a. fantasy world’s version of being chronically unemployed.
In this world, “Classes” are divine blessings that help you specialize and gain skills to level up. So yeah, not having one is a big yikes. His parents and sisters had spent the whole morning hyping him up, practically polishing him like a trophy, convinced he’d become a legend. So when they hear “Classless,” their hearts collectively do a facepalm.
Still, they love him dearly. They start joking about cancelling their retirement plans and tell Arel he can just chill in their basement for life if he wants. But Arel ain’t having that. He’s not about to become some basement-dwelling NPC. Everyone assumes he’s doomed to be a useless bum, but honestly, Arel doesn’t see the problem. Sure, it would’ve been nice to get a cheat-class that made him overpowered from day one, but he’s been training with his mom’s sword for years. And the fact that he hasn’t been sliced in half yet? That’s already proof of progress.
So instead of sulking, Arel decides he’ll just grind harder. He’s determined to become as strong as his parents—even if it means doing it the old-fashioned way. His family is proud of his spirit and starts hyping him up again, saying he’ll definitely become famous one day. Arel appreciates the pep talk, but training won’t do itself.
He heads out to the fields, where he hears swords clashing nearby. Curious, he goes to check and finds two kids from the village dueling—testing out their shiny new Sword Classes. One of them spots Arel lurking nearby and immediately gets snarky: “What’s a classless loser doing here?”
Arel calmly replies, “Relax, I just came to train. There’s no rule against it.”
But these two clearly majored in Bullying 101 and insist on showing him what a “real” swordsman looks like. So, the duel resumes—with Arel standing there, trying not to roll his eyes too hard.
Arel watches the two kids fight, arms crossed like a bored teacher during gym class. Sure, their technique is painfully bad, but he has to admit—it’s kind of fascinating how useful those Sword Skills are. The first ability anyone with a Sword Class gets is called Basic Swordsmanship, which basically lets you swing a sword without accidentally cutting your own leg off. Clearly, these two are prime examples of that.
Still, Arel figures it could be a good warm-up, so he steps forward and politely asks for a duel. The kids look at him like he just challenged them to a 1v1 in a game he doesn’t even own. Offended that a classless nobody thinks he stands a chance, they immediately agree.
Before starting, one of them asks, “Hey, you do have Divine Protection, right?”
In this world, everyone’s born with that—it’s like a built-in safety bubble that prevents you from dying instantly. Arel nods, saying he does. The boys sigh in relief, because at least now they can smack him around without committing accidental homicide.
The first boy charges in with full confidence, expecting an easy win. But to his surprise, Arel doesn’t budge. No matter how many times the kid swings, he can’t find a single flaw in Arel’s defense. He signals for his buddy to join in and double-team Arel, but the “sneak attack” fails spectacularly—mostly because the second kid yelled, “I’m coming!” right before swinging.
Turns out, Sword Skills can’t fix pure stupidity.
Seeing an opportunity to test himself, Arel decides to take them both on at once. Within seconds, both boys are face-down in the dirt. Arel looks at his sword, half-expecting it to start glowing in pride, but nope—it was just that easy.
Any sane person would’ve admitted defeat at this point. But these two insist it “doesn’t count,” because of course they do.
Then, out of nowhere, a red-haired boy appears. He tells the two to stop whining because, as he puts it, “On a real battlefield, you don’t get second chances.” The kids immediately shut up—apparently, this guy’s kind of a big deal.
The redhead walks up to Arel, eyes him up and down, and says, “Not bad. Your swordsmanship’s impressive… for a classless bum.” Then he adds, “But don’t get cocky. You only won because those two couldn’t fight their way out of a cabbage patch.
So now, Red-Hair—because apparently, that’s his entire personality—decides he wants to fight Arel to prove he’s superior. The two bruised boys from earlier quickly warn Arel that this guy isn’t just any random hothead—he’s the son of Captain Evans, the head guard of the village.
Arel actually knows Evans, since the guy often stops by their house to ask Arel’s mom for help hunting demons. But honestly, Red-Hair looks nothing like him. For a split second, Arel considers asking if he’s adopted, but then decides he’d rather not get stabbed today.
Apparently, Red-Hair’s doing all this because he’s tired of hearing villagers say that Arel’s mom is stronger than his dad—which, let’s be real, is absolutely true. But he refuses to accept that. He proudly declares that he’s nothing like those two lazy kids rolling in the dirt; he awakened his Sword Skills a whole year ago and hasn’t skipped training once. He even brags about reaching Intermediate-Level Swordsmanship, acting like he just unlocked Ultra Instinct.
According to him, “the strength of the parents passes to their children,” and he’s here to prove that his dad is the best—by beating up Arel, whose mom can apparently body Captain Evans.
Arel just stares at him and says, “You realize none of what you just said makes sense, right?” Clearly, Red-Hair is just mad that his dad keeps losing to Arel’s mom, and now he’s trying to take it out on her son. But hey, Arel never says no to a good challenge.
The duel starts, and their swords clash with surprising speed and force. The two kids watching from the sidelines look like they’ve just seen a magic trick—they can’t believe Arel is actually keeping up with an intermediate swordsman.
After a few minutes, Arel realizes that Red-Hair is way stronger than the last two wannabes, but his anger is messing up his focus. Eventually, Red-Hair swings too wide, leaving himself open. Arel sees the chance and moves in for a clean hit to the neck—but at the last second, Red-Hair activates a skill and counters.
Arel manages to block the first strike but doesn’t see the second one coming. The follow-up slash catches him in the gut and launches him into a brick wall like a ragdoll.
Red-Hair blinks in shock—he didn’t expect Arel to block the first hit at all—but still smirks. “Guess that’s my win,” he says.
Arel groans and asks what the heck that move was. Red-Hair, grinning proudly, explains, “That was Twin Blade—a sword skill that lets me strike twice in one swing.”
Then, with the arrogance of a kid who just got an A on a test he cheated on, he says, “You’re better than I thought, Classless. But someone like you could never defend against a real sword skill.”
Arel takes Red-Hair’s words as a personal challenge. No way he’s letting that smug grin be the last thing he sees before bed. He swears he’ll master that move and overcome it, even if it kills him (hopefully not literally).
A few days later, his sister Lilia barges into his room to wake him up—but Arel isn’t exactly a morning person. His “five more minutes” turns into “five more hours” pretty easily. When sweet persuasion doesn’t work, Lilia threatens, “If you don’t wake up, I’ll kiss you!”
That wakes him up faster than any alarm clock.
They head to the kitchen for breakfast, where Lilia is still playfully teasing him. Their mom, Fara, watches with a smile, blissfully unaware that this kind of flirting is not normal sibling behavior. (Yes, they’re definitely blood-related. Yes, it’s definitely weird.)
After breakfast, Fara asks if Arel’s going to his special training session again today. He nods. She tells him to take it easy sometimes, but Arel’s on his anime-protagonist grind—no breaks until he becomes the best.
Outside, Astaire voices concern that Arel’s been coming home late every night since his loss at the training grounds. But Fara reassures her that he’ll be fine. To prove it, she opens a chest full of broken swords—Arel’s daily training casualties. The sheer number of them could arm a small army, and every shattered blade screams, “This kid’s been working way too hard.”
Meanwhile, out in the forest, Arel’s practicing like a man possessed. He’s been perfecting a move he reverse-engineered from getting his butt kicked: Twin Blade Slash. After letting Red-Hair hit him with it repeatedly (not the smartest training method), he finally figured it out—and can now use the skill at will.
While he’s testing it out on trees (RIP to that poor forest), a goblin hiding in the bushes decides to attack him. Apparently, it saw the whole display and still thought, “Yeah, I can take him.” Truly a Bronze-rank level decision.
Arel casually slashes it across the chest before the creature even hits the ground. Easy win. But then, he hears a deep growl echo through the woods—a monster, and a big one. He’s about to retreat and call for backup when suddenly, a child’s scream pierces the air.
No time to think. Arel charges toward the sound. When he arrives, he finds Red-Hair pinned against a tree by a hulking Hobgoblin. The kid’s badly wounded, and one wrong move could finish him. Arel grips his sword tightly—he has to save him, but one reckless strike could get them both killed.
Arel patiently waits while the monster closes in on Redhead. Just as it’s about to finish him off, Arel spots an opening and unleashes a Twin-Bladed Slash, instantly neutralizing the threat—because why not?
Redhead is still badly injured, so Arel shares some of his standard-issue holy water, letting him recover. Feeling much better, Redhead thanks Arel, but then demands to know, “How the heck did you do that?!”
Twin Slash is supposed to be a complex skill that only trained swordsmen can pull off. Arel admits it’s tricky, but he figured out the pattern and timing—and suddenly, voila! He can replicate it. In fact, he cheekily says he should be thanking Redhead, because spamming the move repeatedly gave him the perfect blueprint.
Redhead can’t believe it. Even if Arel copied the technique without a skill, he’s certain his original, skill-based attack should still be stronger. Naturally, he challenges Arel to a rematch.
The duel begins, and Arel matches Redhead’s Twin Slash perfectly. But then he goes one step further and adds a third slash, catching Redhead completely off guard and knocking him flat. (Yes, it’s technically called Twin Slash, but hey, rules are made to be broken.)
Since Arel isn’t using a skill to perform the move, there’s no real limit on how many slashes he can execute. Redhead is floored—clearly, Arel has leveled up past him. Arel walks away with all the confidence of someone who just stole your homework and aced the test.
A few days later, Arel is having dinner with his family, and Fara mentions that Evans’ kid has decided to go train in Breia, the City of Swords. Arel realizes that his earlier sparring is probably the reason Redhead suddenly left town. The city sounds interesting, though, so Arel starts thinking about heading there too.
Years later, Arel finally hops onto a carriage bound for Breia. On the same carriage, he meets a barbarian man and a dual-sword-wielding woman. The woman asks the man to team up with her, but he immediately refuses, grumbling about hating flashy, cooperative fighters.
Offended, she snaps back, “My class focuses on speed and evasion! Heavy armor is useless here. Plus, this outfit is practical—most opponents can’t stop staring at my opai to fight properly.”
Before their argument escalates into a full-blown duel of words, the carriage driver interrupts nervously: “Um… you two have amazing advanced classes, right? Maybe you could… use them? Because we have a little situation.”
They glance forward and see the road blocked by a massive horde of orcs. There’s no way around them, and suddenly teamwork is no longer optional.
The barbarian immediately starts panicking. A horde this massive would take an entire party to handle, and he knows full well he can’t solo them. Sophie, the dual-sword wielder, pushes past the panicked mother and child in the carriage and bolts. Clearly, she has zero interest in risking her life for strangers. Looks like everyone else is doomed… or at least, that’s how it seems until Arel—because, of course, it’s Arel—runs out to confront the orc horde.
He begins cutting them down one by one like it’s a chore. The driver stares, impressed. Arel just used Blink Step, a versatile skill that’s almost useless if surrounded—but somehow, he’s making it look effortless. As the orcs close in, he spins, slashing efficiently, and the driver can’t believe his eyes: Arel is using the Sword Dance skill.
Except there’s a catch: Sword Dance is exclusive to the Sword Princess class, which can only be obtained by women. And yet here’s Arel, clearly breaking all the rules—and looking fabulous while doing it.
Shortly after, he stabs the Orc King in the head, ending the battle. Everyone is incredibly grateful for his heroic work. When they return to the carriage, a kid in the back asks Arel what class he has, because his skills are ridiculous. Everyone is stunned when he admits: he doesn’t have one.
Flashback: five years ago, after Arel first learned Twin Blade, his mother Fara could hardly believe what she saw. She’d been ready to accept that her classless son was doomed to a life of basement-living loserhood—but Arel explains that he can naturally learn skills through practice and hard work. Boldly, he asks her to teach him some of her Sword Princess skills so he can try to learn them, and mentions that he wants to head to Breia to train.
Fara isn’t paying attention to much of what he says. She’s just too happy that her son isn’t going to be a loser after all. She runs inside to share the news with everyone else.
Back to the present: the carriage arrives at the gates of Breia. The driver wakes Arel up and tells him they’ve reached his destination. There are plenty of swordsmen here, as well as many advanced classes, so this is the perfect place to learn and improve.
Before leaving, Arel asks the driver if he has an advanced class. The driver tries to dodge the question, saying he’s “just a driver,” but there’s no way a regular driver could recognize Arel’s sword skills so easily. Eventually, he admits that he possesses the Holy Knight class but sometimes works as a driver to take a break from the fighting. He advises Arel to join a guild quickly. Most swordsmen here live off winnings from the battle tournament, which requires guild membership. But he warns Arel to choose carefully—some guilds aren’t exactly… friendly.
After the driver leaves, Arel heads into the city to find a guild. Plenty seem to be recruiting, but he wants to pick the best one. Suddenly, a blonde girl sneaks up behind Arel and bumps into him, giving her a perfect excuse to start a conversation.
The blonde girl tries to corner Arel, but he’s too quick for her. She ends up face-planting into the concrete. She can’t believe he managed to dodge her without even looking. Clearly, the guy must be ridiculously talented.
She picks herself up and says, “I’ve got an offer for you.” She pulls out a guild enrollment contract, practically begging him to join. Arel just shrugs and tells her he’s not interested. Sure, he wants to join a guild, but if she’s resorting to desperate tricks like this, her guild must be absolute trash.
He’s right, of course, but she’s not giving up. She ups the stakes and offers to go on a date with him if he joins. Arel rolls his eyes and says, “No thanks. You’re about as flat as my sister, so I’m good.”
He turns to leave, but pauses. “Fine,” he says, “can you at least tell me where a decent guild is?” The girl is flabbergasted—after all, he just called her guild garbage! Still, she’s a nice person, so she points him to the Black Blade Guild, claiming it’s the best around.
Arel follows her directions and eventually finds the Black Blade Guild office. There’s a long line of people waiting to join, so he braces himself. When it’s finally his turn, the clerk explains that he must register for an aptitude test—and he needs an advanced class to even try.
When Arel admits he’s classless, the clerk bursts out laughing. “You? Take the test? As a classless loser? Get out of line!” he scoffs. Arel tries reasoning with him, claiming he could easily pass the test if given the chance, but the clerk sticks to the rules. Reluctantly, Arel leaves.
He tries every guild in the city. Sadly, the advanced skill of “lying to the recruiter” fails spectacularly—once they see he’s classless, he’s rejected every time. At this rate, no guild will ever accept him… or so it seems.
Then he remembers the recommendation letter his mother, Fara, wrote for him before he left. She promised that if he brought it to her former guild, they’d accept him without question. Arel sets off to find the building.
Just then, Lilia appears again, begging him to join her guild. Her group is on the verge of disbanding due to low membership. But Arel simply shrugs: not his problem.
Lilia gets desperate. She drops to the ground and starts pleading, even offering to lick the dirt off his boots if he agrees. When she looks up, though, Arel is already gone, leaving the crowd laughing at her pitiful display.
Arel keeps walking, trying to find his mother’s old guild. Just as he’s about to give up, Lilia pops up again. “At least come visit my guild—it’s really close! You can see it from here!”
Lilia points toward a building, and Arel is surprised—it actually looks pretty nice. He wonders why she’s so desperate to recruit new members if her guild is already established. Lilia explains that the guild used to be famous, but a series of unfortunate events turned it into a mere shadow of its former glory. In fact, it’s currently one of the weakest guilds in town. She assures Arel, though, that the Dragon Fang Guild will rise to the top again.
Arel is shocked to learn that the guild’s name is Dragon Fang, which is also the name of his mother’s former guild. What are the odds? This coincidence makes him more open to hearing her proposal, so he follows her inside. She leads him to the waiting room to discuss things—but her father happens to be there, and he’s an absolute mess.
He notices Lilia brought a newbie to sign up and immediately tells Arel not to waste his time, claiming the guild is doomed. Then, without letting Lilia respond, he storms out. Lilia explains that her father used to be one of the top two swordsmen in Breia, but he’s never been the same since losing his arm. She worries that seeing the guild leader in such a pitiful state might shake Arel’s faith in Dragon Fang.
To her surprise, Arel says he still wants to join. She double-checks if he’s serious, but realistically, no other guild would accept him anyway—so this is his best option. That’s enough for Lilia, and she hands him the enrollment contract. Once signed, Arel officially becomes a member of the Dragon Fang Guild.
But then Lilia notices she never asked what his class is. She checks the form and sees he wrote classless. At first, she thinks he’s joking and asks him to take it seriously. Arel calmly assures her he’s being completely serious and even shows his ID as proof.
Lilia goes silent for a moment before threatening to beat him up unless he resubmits the contract—because, let’s be honest, no guild wants a classless nobody. She’s thrilled to finally have a new member, but realizing Arel is classless makes her worry he’ll be useless in tournaments.
Just then, another guild member, Lena, walks in. Lilia bursts into tears, complaining that the new recruit turned out classless. Lena immediately recognizes who she’s talking about and asks Arel why he’s here. Arel politely says he doesn’t need to explain himself to a stranger.
Lena can’t believe Arel doesn’t remember her after all the training they did together in the village. But Arel insists he has never met her before—after all, he’d never forget training with someone as beautiful as her.
Leon gets flustered when Arel calls her beautiful. Wait… actually, as he thinks about it, he vaguely remembers training with someone who had the same red hair. At first, he thinks it was Captain Evans’s son—but Leon quickly sets him straight. “Evans only has a daughter,” she says. “That’s me.” Arel finally realizes the truth: she really is the redhead he trained with all those years ago.
He apologizes for not recognizing her, but in his defense… she looks very different now. And as he says this, he unintentionally makes direct eye contact with her opai, which is… well, awkward.
Leon has been training here for the past five years, determined never to lose to Arel again. Now that he’s here, she challenges him to a friendly match to show just how much she’s grown. Arel—always ready for a fight—heads with her to the training center.
The duel begins. Leon launches a twin blade slash, and Arel counters with a twin slash of his own. But as their blades collide, Leon’s attack still hits him. Confused, Arel asks what happened.
She explains that while he may be able to copy her skill, her five years of dedicated training have made her attacks at least five times stronger. Arel nods in appreciation—she’s definitely leveled up. But if raw strength is her advantage, he just needs to avoid getting hit.
Leon charges again, but Arel dodges her attack so quickly that he leaves an afterimage. She recognizes it immediately as the Supreme Shadow Sword skill and can’t believe he learned something like that all on his own. The reality? He basically just learned how to move absurdly fast.
Soon after, Arel counters one of her attacks and redirects the force back at her, knocking her out. The duel is clearly his victory. Leon tries to play it cool, but the moment she leaves the room, she bursts into tears—she can’t believe Arel is still stronger than her even after five years of training.
Understanding the situation, Arel and Lilia decide to give her some time to cool off. They head back to the meeting room, and Arel asks Lilia for more details about the guild’s situation.
She explains that the guild is heavily in debt and needs to win the next tournament to pay it off. However, at least three members are required to participate—hence her desperate search for new recruits. Given this, Arel can’t help but wonder: why has Leon stuck around this long despite the guild’s struggles?
Lilia explains that when Leon first arrived in the city, all the big guilds rejected her because they didn’t want to train a kid. But Lilia’s dad took her in despite her age, and ever since, she’s been a loyal member of the guild.
Regarding the guild’s current situation, Arel isn’t too worried. As long as they win the tournament, everything should work out. Sure, they’ll have to fight teams of five with only three members—but he enjoys a good challenge.
The next morning, Arel wakes up and meets with Leon and Lilia to discuss the next steps for the guild. Now that everyone is present, Lilia announces that since Dragon Fang has finally acquired three members, they now have enough people to participate in the team battle. They will be entering the guild competition this weekend.
She explains that the tournament is organized in one-on-one elimination rounds, and each team is limited to a maximum of five members. Leon is a little worried since they’re going in with only three, but Lilia assures her it shouldn’t be too hard since both she and Leon are B-rank swordsmen. As long as they aren’t set up against an A-ranker, they should be fine.
This is the first time Arel has heard of the ranking system, so Lilia gives him a quick rundown. There are four ranks detailing the strength of individual swordsmen. Out of the 500 swordsmen in Brussia, only around 20 are classified as A-rank. While Leon and Lilia fall in B-rank, Arel isn’t officially ranked yet—but since he was able to beat Leon, Lilia assumes he must be at least B-rank as well. So, as long as they aren’t unlucky with match placements, they have a decent shot at winning.
Speaking of which, the match brackets should have been posted on the Coliseum’s notice board by now. Lilia says she’ll check them, and in the meantime, Leon gets up to train until Lilia returns. But before she can leave, Arel calls her back with a favor.
Since Leon is a power bladesman, he asks if she has any skills aside from brute strength. She responds that she has a skill called Guts, which essentially makes her divine protection last longer than usual. Arel thinks it over and concludes that the Guts skill would be a major asset in battle.
So, he asks Leon to hit him repeatedly. Leon starts blushing and asks if they can try something more normal since she thinks Arel is asking for something… kinky. But Arel insists she’s misunderstanding him—the reason he wants her to hit him is purely strategic. He assumes the Guts skill is an ability that increases endurance, not anything else.
Arel decides that the best way to replicate the Guts skill is by learning to take hits without relying on his divine protection. Leon is shocked when she hears this and calls him absolutely crazy because, everyone knows, skills are blessings from the goddess tied to your class.
But Arel reminds her that she’s already seen him replicate the Twin Blade and Shadow skills. Why shouldn’t he be able to reproduce Guts too? To prove it, he asks her to hand over her sword for a moment. She hesitates—after all, this sword was custom-made to be five times heavier than a normal one. There’s no way anyone could handle it without the Brute Strength skill.
Naturally, Arel proves her wrong by effortlessly unsheathing and swinging the massive blade around. Leon gasps, “How are you doing that?!” Arel smirks and explains that while brute strength helps, years of hard training can do wonders too—and yes, he’s been working out diligently for years.
Leon admits she was wrong and agrees to help Arel with his training—but she warns him: if he wants her to hit him, she won’t hold back. And she does not want to hear a single complaint.
A few minutes later, Lilia comes running in with terrible news. She just checked the tournament bracket, and of all the possible matchups, Dragon Fang has been paired against the Black Blade Guild—a team with eight A-rankers.
Even so, Lilia stays confident, assuring everyone that they can still come out on top. But as she finishes her pep talk, she notices Leon has been beating Arel up for a while. Leon defends herself, reminding him that he asked for it. Despite his severe injuries, Arel shrugs and casually asks, “So…what’s for lunch?”
Finally, the day of the guild competition arrives. As the group gets to the arena, they overhear some nearby spectators talking about how unlucky Dragon Fang is to be matched with Black Blade. These gamblers remember that Dragon Fang used to be a top guild, but apparently, they aren’t willing to risk their money on underdogs. So, naturally, they’re betting everything on Black Blade.
Lilia is offended that anyone doubts Dragon Fang and starts heading over to give the spectators a piece of her mind. But Leon holds her back, wisely noting that it’s not worth getting into trouble over.
Arel couldn’t care less what people think about his chances, though he is a bit surprised that gambling is allowed. Leon explains that all matches at the Coliseum can be bet on, and, as it stands, the odds for Dragon Fang’s match are 20-to-1. Lilia is furious—no one expects them to win—but she quickly realizes this could be a golden opportunity to make some extra money.
If Dragon Fang doesn’t win, their guild will be completely screwed. So, Lilia decides to take out another loan, using their building as collateral, just so she can bet on their match. Arel now understands how the guild ended up in such deep debt in the first place.
Just then, Lilia hears a laugh from behind. She turns around, only to find Jorg, the guild master of Black Blade, smirking at her. Annoyed, she asks him what he wants. Jorg says he’s just here to “wish them luck,” claiming he hates seeing his former rival guild fall on hard times. He even heard that Dragon Fang was desperate enough to accept a classless loser as a member.
Lilia snaps that it’s none of his business, but Jorg chuckles and admits he went through quite a bit of trouble to make sure their guilds would face each other in the tournament. Naturally, he wants to know who Dragon Fang has on its roster. Lilia is shocked—Jorg rigged the matches just to face them? But he assures her that it’s actually a favor. Facing a popular guild like Black Blade will bring Dragon Fang a lot of attention and potentially a huge payout—if they somehow manage a miracle and beat the A-rankers.
A little later, it’s finally time for the main event. Arel and the Dragon Fang team walk into the arena. They glance at Black Blade’s roster, and Arel is surprised that Jorg himself isn’t fighting, considering how personally invested he seemed in crushing them. He wonders if Jorg might be going easy—but Lilia and Leon quickly point out that Black Blade’s lineup is full of their strongest A-rankers, meaning Dragon Fang is in for an insanely tough battle.
Upon hearing this, Arel can’t help but get excited—after all, this means he’ll get to see a lot of new skills in action. But Lilia reminds him that the fate of Dragon Fang is on the line, so he’d better take things seriously.
As the match officially begins, the announcer introduces Black Blade’s first fighter: the fencer Gio. When she begins introducing Dragon Fang’s fighter, she pauses. According to the roster, she’s supposed to announce someone named Arel, who is classless. The crowd murmurs in disbelief—how could a classless nobody enter the tournament? Gio feels personally insulted, having to face what she assumes is a weakling.
As soon as the match starts, Gio uses Blink Dash to close in and stab Arel through the chest. But to her surprise… it’s just an afterimage from Arel’s Shadow Skill.
Arel isn’t sure how he’s able to use such insane skills while being classless, but he quickly adapts, thinking up a strategy to deal with the afterimages. Unfortunately, Gio makes a fatal miscalculation: she assumes there are only three afterimages. After Arel takes out the first three clones, she lets her guard down—just in time for the real Arel to swoop in and deliver a finishing blow. Gio collapses unconscious, and the crowd erupts in wild cheers at the unexpected turn of events.
Both Lilia and Leon had faith Arel could win, but even Leon didn’t expect him to do it this easily. The audience is just as shocked. Meanwhile, Arel is less concerned with the win and more frustrated that he couldn’t figure out how Gio’s Thrust Skill worked mid-battle. He makes a mental note to study it later.
Next up, Arel faces a dual swordsman. As the boy charges, Arel casually blocks the first strike, counters with a Twin Blade Slash, and knocks the opponent off his feet in one smooth move, scoring another victory.
The third competitor is a barbarian. Since Arel has only fought swordsmen so far, the barbarian tries a surprise kick—but he’s way too slow. Arel blink dashes behind him and slashes across his neck, ending the match. Leon can barely believe Arel just eliminated the third A-rank fighter alone. Lilia, on the other hand, is thrilled. If luck holds, Arel might just win all five matches solo.
Leon teases Lilia, suggesting she just wants to avoid fighting altogether. She sighs in agreement. Honestly, she knows if she were in Arel’s position, she would have been toast in under a minute. There’s no way she could handle an A-rank one-on-one, so she focuses all her energy on cheering Arel like her life depends on it.
Arel’s next opponent is a shield bearer, and breaking through this guy’s defense is proving tricky. But Arel is still outpacing him. The shield bearer is furious, convinced Arel must be lying about being classless—there’s no way a classless teen could’ve beaten the previous three so easily. Arel just shrugs, claiming his victories come from sheer effort.
The shield bearer scoffs. “Effort? Pfft! Everyone knows effort can’t beat the power of classes!”
Arel just smirks. “Then why is a teenager handing your ass to you?”
The shield bearer charges with a Shield Bash skill, aiming to knock Arel over. But Arel sees it coming, counters with a kick, and sends the shield flying out of his hands. The shield bearer freezes—he recognizes the move!
Arel grins. “Probably copied it from the barbarian I fought last round. Still figuring it out, though.”
While talking, Arel adjusts his footing and goes for another kick, hitting the shield bearer square in the side. The shield bearer is utterly baffled—how is a classless teen casually learning skills like that? Arel just shrugs and explains that some skills are complicated and take a lot of practice, but the simpler ones? He can copy them after just seeing someone else use them.
To demonstrate, he strolls over, picks up the shield from the ground, and delivers a perfect Shield Bash, knocking the shield bearer out cold. That’s Arel’s fourth victory, and the crowd is starting to doubt whether he’s really classless. They’re convinced he’s faking it and start yelling for him to be disqualified.
In response to all the chaos, the organizers contact the guild association to verify Arel’s class. The announcer asks if he’s okay with sharing his personal information with the crowd. Arel nods, saying it’s fine if it will calm everyone down. She displays his assessment card for all to see—it clearly reads: Classless. The crowd goes silent, finally convinced that he really isn’t faking it.
Lilia mutters that if she’d known Arel was this strong, she would have pawned off a dozen of her dad’s treasures to place an even bigger bet. Leon rolls his eyes at Lilia’s gambling obsession but can’t help admiring Arel’s raw strength.
The final Black Blade combatant steps onto the stage: Masamune. Arel immediately senses that this opponent is in a league of his own and approaches cautiously. Masamune smirks, planning to lure him in and finish him with an ultimate move. The moment Arel gets close enough, Masamune unsheathes his sword and executes a lightning-speed strike—but just as it seems he’ll connect with Arel’s neck, Arel vanishes.
Confused, Masamune glances around. Arel suddenly appears behind him and calmly explains, “You’re fast, but I trained under someone even faster. My reaction speed is on a whole other level.” Then Arel unleashes the ultimate skill he learned from his mom—the Piercing Tempest. Masamune is sent flying and knocked unconscious.
With that, Arel is declared the winner. Lilia and Leon exchange shocked looks—they can’t believe they won without having to lift a finger.
As Arel walks off the stage, Lilia leaps in for a big celebratory hug—but he instinctively dodges, remembering all the surprise hugs from his sister back home. He then turns to see Leon holding her arms wide for a hug—but she quickly realizes what she’s doing, blushes, and awkwardly apologizes for getting carried away.
Arel says he actually wouldn’t have minded hugging Leon, but he wishes she had taken her armor off first so he could enjoy a bit of soft comfort. Meanwhile, in the stands, Georg watches Arel and the others celebrate their victory and vows to make him pay for this humiliating loss.
That night, everyone returns to the guild to celebrate Arel single-handedly carrying them to victory. Lilia is still trying to convince him to marry her so she can mooch off his talent for the rest of her life. Arel calmly says that if he were going to marry anyone, it would be Leon. Leon practically shoots up from her seat, demanding he stop making fun of her—there’s no way he actually means it.
Georg asks why she thinks he’s lying, and Leon explains that most guys mistake her for someone who only cares about swinging a sword. Arel admits he made the same mistake when he first met her. Leon insists that Arel wouldn’t want to marry someone with no womanly charm like her… but he’s clearly focused on two very compelling sources of charm right now.
In any case, Leon says she’s focusing on becoming the world’s greatest swordswoman, so she doesn’t have time for romance. Lilia is relieved—this means she won’t have to compete for Arel’s attention. She begins rubbing Arel’s leg and offers him a special massage as thanks for all his hard work that day. But Arel turns her down, asking Leon to do it instead. Only, he doesn’t want a regular massage—he wants Leon to bash him with her sword like last time.
Leon hesitates, feeling bad about hitting him so much, but Arel insists this is the only way he can learn the Guts skill. He trusts her more than anyone else, so she’s the only one he can ask.
Just then, Lilia’s dad comes downstairs to check the commotion. At first, he assumes Leon is venting frustration from their earlier tournament loss. But Lilia quickly informs him that they actually won their match against Black Blade, made enough money to cover the guild’s debt, and kept it operational.
Her dad can’t believe it. He asks if Black Blade sent a bunch of rookies by mistake. Lilia shakes her head—they actually sent their strongest fighters, yet Arel still managed to defeat them all on his own. He’s stunned at Arel’s strength, but true to form, he refuses to show even a hint of optimism, muttering that it’s only a matter of time before Arel leaves for a better guild.
Lilia insists that marrying Arel is a done deal, but Arel immediately interjects, reminding her that he never agreed to any marriage proposal.
Meanwhile, Lilia’s dad continues complaining that saving the guild is pointless, but Arel has had enough of the negativity. He snaps, telling Rod to shut up—at least Lilia is trying to do something with her life, unlike her father, who’s been sulking about having only one arm. Arel adds that the last time he checked, one hand is enough to hold a sword.
That comment enrages Rod, who grabs Arel by the collar and argues that his dual swordsman skills are useless with just one blade. Arel, having had to learn to fight without any skills, simply tells him to “just get good already.” Rod has no comeback, so he lets go and storms out of the training hall.
Lilia apologizes for her father’s behavior and thanks Arel for standing up to him, hoping it might have gotten through to him a little. Leon hopes it encourages Rod to start training again, knowing he has great potential. Arel admits he’d love to see Rod train, since there are many dual swordsman skills he’d like to learn.
Seeing Arel’s interest in training, Lilia suggests they explore the dungeon beneath the city—a place full of traps and swarming monsters. Arel is excited, and Leon wants to go too, needing real battle experience for the upcoming Sword God Tournament. Arel asks what that is, and Leon explains that it’s similar to the guild tournament, but it determines the strongest swordsman in the entire city—a massive deal.
Lilia assumes Arel will want to participate and presents a form for him to sign. Arel immediately rips it up, realizing she was trying to trick him into signing a marriage certificate. Lilia laughs it off as a harmless prank, but Arel isn’t letting it slide—he puts her in a headlock until she apologizes.
Meanwhile, a woman in a dark robe has been spying on them through a crystal ball on Jorg’s orders. He holds a grudge and soon comes to ask if she’s figured out where the group is heading.
The woman in the dark robe informs George that the group is heading to the dungeon soon. Perfect, he thinks—no one would suspect him if an “unfortunate accident” happened while the kids were inside.
The next morning, Lilia sneaks into Arel’s room in a nightgown, attempting to seduce him. But Arel, having dealt with similar antics from his sister, senses an intruder immediately. He wakes up, grabs Lilia by the head, and she starts begging for mercy. Arel lets her go but takes no chances—he grabs the bed sheets and ties her to the frame.
He then heads to Leon’s room for help talking sense into Lilia. Knocking on the door, he hears Leon tell him to come in. Inside, he finds her fast asleep, sleep-talking and imagining his voice as her father’s. She looks cute like this, so Arel pats her on the head and leaves her to rest.
Later that day, the group arrives at the dungeon. Arel is surprised—it looks far more elaborate than the cave-like entrance he expected. He’s also shocked by the crowd, but Leon explains it’s because the Sword God Tournament is approaching, and everyone wants to practice beforehand.
Once inside, Lilia shows Arel the teleportation circle, explaining it can instantly transport someone to any floor they’ve previously visited. Since Arel has never been in the dungeon, he’ll need to start at floor one. Lilia assures him she’ll show him the fastest path to the lower floors. While she guides him, Leon could go anywhere else, but Arel insists she comes along, stopping Lilia from arguing that having two guides is inefficient.
Their first real challenge appears: living armor. Arel charges at one and clashes swords with it. He’s impressed by its speed but still moves far faster, easily decapitating it. To his surprise, the armor continues moving—Leon explains it’s empty and animated by dungeon magic, so it has no true weak points.
Thinking quickly, Arel decides the best strategy is to take out its legs. He rushes forward and slices its kneecaps like the armor owes him money.
Leon finishes taking care of her armor, leaving the room clear for now, though the armor will inevitably start regenerating. Lilia strolls over, talking about how tough the fight was, but Arel points out that she literally didn’t do anything to help.
Lilia defends herself, saying it’s not her fault—Arel and Leon took out all the armor before she even had a chance. Thinking about it, Arel realizes he’s never actually seen Lilia fight, so he has no idea what her class is.
She draws her sword and tells him she’s a fencer, offering to teach him any of her skills. Arel smiles faintly and says there’s nothing she can teach him—fencer is essentially a downgraded version of his mother’s Sword Princess class.
The group heads toward the room’s exit when suddenly, they run into a boy who looks severely injured. He explains he fell into a trap after entering a new room and that his teammates are still stuck inside, asking for help to rescue them. Leon immediately offers to assist, but Lilia stops her—not because she suspects the boy, but because she wants to get paid first. She has a strict motto: never do anything for free. The boy reluctantly hands over some money, and Lilia finally agrees to help.
While the others are okay with this, Arel is suspicious. The boy seems far too mobile for someone with so much blood loss. Lilia brushes off his concerns, suggesting the boy simply took a few unlucky hits. Arel, however, is certain the injuries are fake. He doesn’t know what kind of trap the boy has planned, but he figures it’ll be a good challenge.
The boy leads them to a secret room. In the middle lies a pool of blood, but no sign of his missing teammates. Leon worries they might be too late, while Lilia’s attention is caught by a random coin on the floor. She rushes to pick it up—and inadvertently activates a teleportation circle.
The boy begins laughing, thinking his job is done since he’s successfully lured them into the trap—but he didn’t realize he was standing inside the circle himself. Moments later, the group is teleported to a different floor, one unfamiliar even to Leon and Lilia—clearly a deeper level of the dungeon.
From the circle, the trapped boy complains about his misfortune. Lilia moves to punish him, but accidentally kicks her coin into the center of the room. Instantly, a massive metal knight materializes. The boy’s eyes widen in terror as he explains the truth: he was paid to lure them into a teleportation trap leading to the dungeon’s bottom, where they’d have to face a Sword God—and that knight is the Sword God in question.
Lilia and Leon initially think the boy is bluffing—after all, Sword God classes are supposed to be nothing more than a myth. But that illusion shatters a moment later when the knight unsheathes its sword and launches a slash that nearly cleaves the boy’s head off.
The knight immediately turns its attention to Arel, slamming him into the wall with immense force. Thanks to all the endurance training he did with Leon, however, he weathers the impact with minimal damage. He strikes back, only for the knight to retreat using an advanced version of Dash Divine Step.
Arel realizes this is a true Sword God, but instead of fear, he sees it as the perfect opportunity to push himself and test all his skills. Using Divine Step, he closes the distance and clashes swords with the knight. In response, the knight activates Divine Presence, a skill that usually restricts the movements of everyone in the area. But Arel, having trained extensively with his mom to counter such abilities, jumps out of the way and dices the knight to pieces with Infinite Break Slash.
With the battle over, Arel drinks holy water to recover. Leon and Lilia are stunned and ask how he knew the Sword God skills when even they had never seen them. He explains that he learned them from his mother. While she typically limited herself to the moveset of a Sword Princess, she was actually a Sword God.
It’s hard to believe, but Leon trusts him—she knows Arel wouldn’t lie about something like that. She does, however, wonder why his mother would pretend to be a Sword Princess in the first place. He explains that she wanted to avoid the attention that would come with revealing her true strength, so she kept it a secret.
Meanwhile, on the surface, Rod has just discovered the trap Jorg set and is heartbroken, fearing for his daughter’s safety. To the shock of both Rod and Jorg, Arel and the others walk into the bar laughing as if nothing happened. Rod breathes a sigh of relief seeing Lilia safe, while Jorg can’t believe they survived a battle against a Sword God.
Lilia smirks, telling George that Arel easily defeated it. But that’s not all—they’ve also managed to get the boy to confess that Jorg was the one behind the trap. Panic flickers across Jorg’s face, but he quickly remembers that there are no laws in the dungeon. No one can arrest him for crimes committed there, so he strides out confidently, claiming there’s nothing they can do.
Back at home, however, Jorg starts trashing his room in frustration, furious that a kid like Arel is so much stronger than him. Suddenly, one of the swords in his room begins speaking. It promises to help him achieve his goals—but only if he sets it free.
