"T-The Novice Warmedal Ranking Stone! It's active again!" exclaimed the youngest among the stonewatchers, prompting his colleagues to look.

It was Head Stonewatcher Amanda's turn to sleep, but unfortunately, it seemed that a peaceful rest wasn't written in the stars for her today.

"O-Oni!! Quick! Wake the Head Stonewatcher up!!"

Recently, Onimaru Kunitsuna was overtaken by the four SSS-rankers, falling to fifth place.

Gram sat firmly in first place at 5 points with Sigrun, Chi Xiao, and Durandal trailing behind at 4 points each.

This was why the mysterious novice was knocked down to fifth place, as they had been stuck on three points since then.

Now they weren't so sure if Onimaru Kunitsuna was indeed on another continent, fighting for their life, or if the bladeborn was simply lucky to be the first one to encounter a novice of another race who was sent to Valmaris.

After all, enemies were more numerous on another continent.

Why would they be knocked down to fifth by the four SSS-rankers who were confirmed to still be in Valmaris if they were on another continent?

But then, the theory that the mysterious novice was probably still in the human continent would soon be decisively debunked today, as the number of warmedals beside the name Onimaru Kunitsuna suddenly became four, then five, then seven.

"H-Head! I'm sorry for disturbing you, but the Novice Warmedal Ranking Stone has massive updates!"

"Mm…that's a delicious banana…so thick, long, and sweet…" murmured the sleeping Head Stonewatcher, still lost in dreamland.

Only now did her colleagues discover this side of her. As it turned out, Amanda was quite the nightmare to wake up!

The divine stone, however, would wait for no one and would update in real-time.

Onimaru Kunitsuna's total warmedals were now eleven. Yet, they still haven't sent an update to Boss PDD.

They would be done for.

The upcoming DD party wouldn't be so fun for them anymore, as PDD would surely take care of them there if they failed to send an update within the next minute.

The stonewatchers desperately shook their leader in an attempt to wake her up.

Only Amanda could contact the boss, and so she must be woken.

Unfortunately, still nothing. She was still dreaming of long, thick, and sweet bananas.

So, in desperation, one of the stonewatchers lost her mind, her courage shooting through the roof as her fear of Boss PDD destroyed her fear of Amanda.

"I-I'm sorry for this, Head Stonewatcher!"

*Pah!*

The crisp sound of a palm solidly making contact with an exposed cheek filled the air, the hairs of the other stonewatchers standing on end.

Their colleague, Jane, just dared to slap Amanda!

To their further horror…

"Aihh…why would you slap my face with a banana…bananas are meant to be eaten…don't use it for slapping…"

"Y-You gotta be kidding me! She's still asleep after that?!"

They truly couldn't lose more time, and so, in disorientation and bewilderment, another of the stonewatchers, a 28-year-old young man named Mark, kicked her chair, causing it to slide off.

Amanda suddenly felt like she was falling…backwards.

Because she was.

Before her mind could even process what was happening, she felt her back make contact with the solid stone ground.

A dull thud then echoed in the divine stone room, followed shortly by a cry of agony:

"Ahh!! M-my back!!"

Had it not been for the fact that her physical body was stronger in the Myriad Sword Realm and the reduced pain mechanic of the Sword Trials, she would've been bedridden for at least a week, given her age.

"WHO KICKED MY CHAIR?!" raged Amanda.

Mark felt like he was losing his mind.

Why did he do that?!

Fortunately for him, his best friend was witty and quick to the rescue: "A-An earthquake! Is it due to the crazy updates of the Novice Warmedal Ranking Stone?! Y-Yes! There's no other explanation!"

The Head Stonewatcher's scowl deepened in utter doubt, but she still stood up, rubbing her back as she shifted her attention to the Novice Warmedal Ranking Stone.

Amanda's eyes then widened.

"Why didn't you idiots wake me up?!" she roared while quickly retrieving the Whisper Sigil connected to Boss PDD's.

"W-We did, ma'am! P-Pardon my honesty, but you were asleep like a log!"

The Head Stonewatcher naturally knew herself best, clearing her throat in embarrassment.

"T-This…I'll let you guys off this time. However, next time, slap me hard in the face or kick my chair as hard as you can if you must, understood?!"

"Y-Yes, Head Stonewatcher!!"

***

At the Somber Swamp.

A green-haired young woman breathed heavily, a slight grin on her face as she faced slim opponents with pale-gray skin and varying hair colors.

"Ahfa, have you already informed the novice guild?!" a C-ranker Veshari snarled in panic.

Yesterday, they were informed by the assigned leader of their novice guild, Ae'shkar, that there was an A-ranker named Otsuna at the Somber Swamp.

They were to hunt the A-ranker down with a full party of B- and C-rankers, as their boss had been summoned to an important meeting.

Sixteen bladeborns—all of above-average tier—hunting down a lone high-ranker was nothing short of overkill, and every single one of them knew this.

But how could they dare defy Ae'shkar?

Not only was the guy's clan extremely influential with many vassals, but they were also among the richest clans of the Veshari.

They could only follow his orders, even if they believed it was a waste of manpower and time to send sixteen above-average rankers to deal with a lone high-ranker.

Half the number would've normally been enough…

Unfortunately, their opponent was not normal—far from the word.

They were suddenly ambushed by the target, descending on them in the form of a massive blue sword that instantly took out a fourth of their number, with eight more suffering heavy injuries after barely managing to defend themselves from a huge horizontal crescent.

Only four, including Ahfa, were relatively healthy.

The heavily wounded eight were naturally quite reluctant to engage, resulting in Otsuna rampaging through their damaged ranks.

To their horror, the wench's skills with the sword also far surpassed what they expected, causing even the B-ranker, Ahfa, to hesitate.

Their plan now was to delay Otsuna and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

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