Chapter 14: Training — Part 1

Nor spent some more time exploring the system's functions.

He didn't buy anything else from the shop...

Well, except for one sword that he had been staring at like a complete idiot for the past half hour.

— Whoa... I've never seen a sword like this before... — he muttered.

The weapon looked completely different from anything he had ever seen.

Its slightly curved blade and unusual hilt immediately caught his attention.

Without a second thought, Nor bought it.

Only a few moments later did a simple thought cross his mind.

— Wait... how much did this thing cost?

Nor glanced at his remaining points.

The moment he saw that twenty thousand points had disappeared, his face went pale.

— TWENTY THOUSAND?!

He collapsed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for several seconds, feeling as though his soul was slowly leaving his body.

— That's a whole fortune...

However, curiosity quickly got the better of him.

Taking the sword out of his inventory, Nor began examining it carefully.

The blade carried a faint bluish sheen, and strange symbols were engraved along its surface.

The black hilt, made from a material similar to obsidian, looked both beautiful and dangerous.

And then an interesting thought suddenly crossed his mind.

If the system could display the status of people...

Could it display the status of items as well?

Nor looked at the sword.

— Status.

A familiar purple window immediately appeared before his eyes.

— It worked... — Nor muttered as he read the information.

The weapon's rank itself didn't impress him very much.

Nor knew absolutely nothing about item rankings and had no idea just how valuable this sword truly was.

Something else caught his attention far more.

A dwarf.

Ever since childhood, he had only heard about dwarves in fairy tales and old legends.

They were said to be the greatest blacksmiths in the world, capable of forging weapons that could endure for centuries.

But Nor had never imagined that one day he would be holding a blade forged by one of them.

— Worth every point. Every man should have his own sword, — he thought, returning the weapon to his inventory instead of wearing it at his waist and attracting unnecessary attention.

After that, Nor noticed that it had already gotten dark.

Even though he wasn't tired at all, he still lay down on the bed and soon fell asleep out of habit.

He woke up to the sound of birds singing and the smell of fresh pastries.

After getting dressed, he headed downstairs and quickly had breakfast.

As he walked through the city, Nor watched Ravenport slowly come to life.

Shopkeepers were opening their stores, ships were leaving the harbor, and children were running through the streets with sticks in their hands, pretending to be knights.

— Nice day... — Nor thought as he continued toward the guild.

A few minutes later, he arrived and noticed a man standing near the entrance.

At first, Nor paid him little attention, but as he got closer, he noticed several familiar features and suddenly froze.

Only then did he remember that Chuck had changed after his breakthrough.

— He looks twenty years younger... — Nor thought, barely hiding his admiration.

— Hey, kid. We're leaving right away.

Before Nor could even open his mouth, Chuck placed a hand on his shoulder.

The next moment, they vanished.

A second later, they were standing in the middle of a forest clearing.

— What?!

Nor nearly jumped in shock.

Just a moment ago, they had been standing in front of the guild, and now they were somehow deep inside a forest.

— Incredible... — Nor thought, looking at Chuck with admiration.

Chuck himself was no less surprised.

After advancing to the Grand Master stage, his speed had increased dramatically.

Most people couldn't even stay on their feet after being moved at such speed, and some ended up vomiting immediately afterward.

But Nor looked as though nothing unusual had happened.

Chuck silently observed him for a few moments before taking out a small fist-sized sphere from his Space Ring.

A Space Ring? Nor thought in surprise.

— Here. This is what we use in our guild to measure cultivation stages, — Chuck said as he handed him the sphere.

— All you have to do is channel a small amount of mana into it. The color it displays will correspond to your cultivation stage.

Nor took the sphere and looked at Chuck.

However, Chuck seemed to understand his question before he even asked it.

— Relax. First, try to feel the mana inside your body. Then guide a small portion of it into your palm.

Hearing this, Nor closed his eyes and focused.

Some time passed.

At one point, Nor realized that he could no longer hear the rustling of leaves, the singing of birds, or any of the sounds of the forest.

It was as if the entire world around him had vanished.

Nor opened his eyes.

And froze.

He found himself in an endless void.

Floating before him was a colossal black-and-white sphere, its size comparable to that of the sun.

One half was completely white.

The other was completely black.

A chill ran through his body at the mere sight of it.

Instinctively, Nor understood what he was looking at.

It was his mana.

Yet that realization only made the scene even harder to comprehend.

For a long moment, he could do nothing but stare.

Then, slowly, his body began moving toward the sphere on its own.

The closer he got, the stronger the strange connection he felt.

A moment later, Nor abruptly opened his eyes in the real world.

Almost instantly, he realized that he could now sense the mana flowing within his body.

More than that, he could feel himself directing a portion of it into his palm.

Seeing Nor open his eyes, Chuck nodded in satisfaction.

It seemed the boy had managed to sense mana on his very first attempt.

However, the expression on his face changed in the very next second.

Crack.

The sphere in Nor's hand suddenly became covered in tiny fractures.

And then—

BOOM!

The sphere exploded into millions of sparkling fragments.

— WHAT?!

Chuck's eyes widened in disbelief.

He stared at the shattered remains of the artifact, then at Nor, as if he couldn't believe what had just happened.