A pair of blueberry eyes blinked.

Iris turned, finding herself standing in front of a Sword Goddess Statue.

'So that's how losing a life felt…' she mused, looking down at her body.

Being buried alive was certainly uncomfortable.

She could only imagine how traumatizing it would be should it happen to her in Neo-Earth.

Thanks to one's sensitivity to pain being drastically reduced in the Myriad Sword Realm, she didn't have to shudder when remembering the experience, leaving her wits intact.

She was able to check her inventory just a few seconds after respawning.

A rare smile graced Iris' face at the rewards she had obtained, heart racing, hands shaking.

The disbelieving, once-horrified gazes she had unknowingly been on the receiving end of had turned suddenly dreamy.

The novice bladeborns who were fortunate enough to witness the cold Snowflower smile certainly had stories to tell their friends today.

While it didn't seem like her death was that bad, given her good mood, they couldn't help but wonder how she died.

Had she been unfortunate enough to step on a trap?

Or was she defeated by the arrogant Aetherborn at the Crystal Hollows?

They certainly hoped the reason was the former, as the latter would be far more difficult for their admiring hearts to accept.

There were also other scenarios with less probability of happening, like her being killed by a strong swordspawn.

But none of them were qualified to know the truth.

She was the unofficial number one among the Southern Bladeborn Academy's Ten Fairies, someone unreachable for common students like them, though only they enforced such limitations on themselves.

Closing her inventory window, Iris finally noticed the gazes.

She realized she shouldn't stay here for long.

So, Iris turned to leave, but froze as an unfamiliar face barred her path.

"Hey," the taller, striking-strawberry-haired young woman, who seemed to have slightly more mature facial features than what a novice their age should have, suddenly greeted.

Iris' brows rose in puzzlement.

"Hello," she greeted back with a puzzled yet polite bow, asking, "I'm sorry, but have we met somewhere?"

"Otsuna" was confused for a moment before breaking into a faint smile.

Right, how could he have forgotten that he wore the Oni Mask and chose a relatively random but appropriate disguise before being buried alive with the other Veshari?

"She" leaned closer, whispering:

"It's me, Daru, I'm wearing the mask."

Iris adorably gasped in realization, pointing at him with shaky hands before quickly grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the busy location.

The other novices followed for a bit, but as they turned a corner, they stopped.

No one was so thick-faced as to stalk fellow students so openly, especially two young women.

At least none among those present.

Confirming no one was tailing them, Iris shifted her focus back to Daru, her heart still racing in a mix of emotions.

"W-Why are you here? How did you die? Didn't you use the crystal?"

She had so many questions and so little patience to wait for the answer.

Daru couldn't help but stare at her in amusement, a faint smile on his face that Iris found slightly irritating.

Only after a breath did he explain what happened.

How the crystal wasn't so effective, sending him just a few meters ahead of the fleeing Vesharis.

How he cross-slashed the ceiling and trapped the pale-gray-skinned novices, and how he tried to quickly escape soon after, only to be buried in the middle of crawling out.

Daru naturally felt a bit bad for not surviving despite Iris's sacrifice, but what could he have done?

Even if he immediately used the crystal, he was still nowhere near the burrow-like exit when he got buried.

It was simply in the stars that he would lose a life there.

On the bright side, no enemy bladeborn survived either.

"Ahh…I see…that's unfortunate." Iris responded, looking a bit downcast.

But then, just a moment later, her eyes brightened up again, though the rest of her face didn't show much emotion.

Only if one was courageous enough to look into her eyes would they see the real Snowflower.

"Do you want to claim a heart? You're also eligible to receive one, I believe…" she asked.

Daru fell silent, pondering.

Right.

He, too, was an S-ranker and could recover his lost life quite easily.

The question was: would a life be worth his peace?

Iris was momentarily puzzled by his reaction. There should be no need to ponder such advantageous stuff.

But then, she realized that Daru valued his peace and privacy very much.

Thinking for a second, she offered, "I can help you talk to them. Maybe they'd be willing to give you one without meeting you?"

Daru's brows rose.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks…"

Iris nodded, then another awkward silence where the two only locked gazes ensued.

But not for long.

She suddenly remembered something that she had asked of Daru before, but the moment she opened her mouth, she vanished.

Her time in the realm was up.

Daru was dumbfounded for a moment before realizing what had happened.

He quickly went over to the novice inn, rented a room, and then left the realm himself.

The moment his vision returned to the blurred ceiling of his classroom, Daru heard his classmates talking, the tone of their voices passionate but heavy.

He pressed a button on his slumber capsule and stood up, hearing the discussions much clearer.

His eyes narrowed at what he heard.

Apparently, there were now three nuisances in the Crystal Hollows: A trio of A-ranker Vyrrkans, an S-ranker Veshari, and the SS-ranker Aetherborn.

The first two ambushed human bladeborns while the third roamed openly, killing everyone he encountered.

Class 69's A-ranker, Darren Zillman, seemed to have fallen prey to the arrogant individual, losing a life.

But the humans' counterattack was also being organized as they spoke.

Alopecion and his party were tasked to hunt down the three Vyrrkans; the other S-ranker, Taiya, has been assigned to duel the S-ranker Veshari and send her back to Veshara, and lastly, the only SS-ranker of Cluster 4's Southern Bladeborn Academy, Skylar, has been called in to deal with the Aetherborn, though he wouldn't arrive until late tomorrow.

In any case, his classmates seemed both excited and nervous.

If the pillars of their academy lost, their hearts and perhaps even pride would shatter, and the leveling area would be completely lost to the enemy until they were vanquished back to their lands.

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