As the sun rose, General Hardley woke Rai up. “It’s time to start your training,” said General Hardley. Rai nodded in return and went to the river to freshen up. On return to the camp, he noticed that his teachers were waiting for him.

Dale stepped forward and said “Okay Sir Rai, let me explain your schedule. First thing in the morning you will be training in swordsmanship with General Hardley, after that you will practice Magic with Jacob. After finishing up with all that you will be with me studying about the Kingdom and this world.”

Rai let out a sigh and said “That seems a lot of work.” They laughed and Dale said “Of course if you want to get stronger you have to do this. After all, there are no shortcuts to becoming strong.”

“Okay then let’s do it” Rai replied with an excited face.

“Yes, Follow me...” said General Hardley.

They went deeper into the forest till they were 500 meters away from the camp. “Let’s start now...” said General Hardley.

“Ye-yes!” said Rai excitedly.

General Hardley equipped himself with a wooden sword, and said: “Take out yours.”

Rai was carrying something in big green cloth. He dropped it on floor and untangled the cloth. The Black Sword was lying there on the floor. “Should I use this?” said Rai with excitement.

General Hardley replied “No…You don’t even know how to hold a sword , far less how to use it. That is a Phantasm Class sword so we will train before I allow you to equip it. We will be using a wooden sword.”

“I understand...” said Rai. while taking out the wooden sword that was given to him by Dale.

After few hours of training, Rai was exhausted and took an hour's rest. After that Jacob came to train him in the arts of magic.

“Sir Rai, clear your mind. Magic is all about imagination. The higher the imagination and concentration put into it the more Magic you can use, But to perform magic you have to take in the worlds Aaya.” said Jacob.

“Aaya what’s that?” replied Rai. with a puzzled face.

“It’s the element from which all magic is born and used. It is really small not what a naked eye can see but if gathered a lot you can see it. Like this” Whilst saying this he held his hand in front of Rai and in those few seconds his hand was covered with yellow Mist.

Rai with surprise immediately said, “I have seen this Mist!”

Jacob surprised replied “Where have you seen this, How is that possible?”

Rai replied “When I was coming to this world I saw it through the Pillar of Light. It covered this entire planet.”

Jacob replied “Yes, It does cover the entire planet but to be able to see it... I think you may have some Talent for Magic.”

After a few more hours of continuous training, the time came for Rai to study the History of the Kingdom and more about the world with Dale.

“Hello Sir Rai, are you ready for your lessons?” said Dale with excitement.

“Yes…” Rai replied with not even a shred of excitement.

“Erm…. Okay for today I will tell you the power ranks of the world how about that? Well if you don’t want to study that’s another thing.”

Rai suddenly filled with excitement replied “Yes! I love studying! Please tell me the ranks”

Dale laughed and said “Haha okay, so far we only know of 12 Ranks Because that's the highest one has ever reached.

Ranks are like this : Earth Touching Realm. Earth Breaking Realm. Earth Controlling Realm. Sky Touching Realm. Sky Breaking Realm. Sky Controlling Realm. Moon Touching Realm. Moon Breaking Realm. Moon Controlling Realm. Heaven/Hell Touching Realm. Heaven/Hell Breaking Realm. Heaven/Hell Controlling Realm.

Dale continued: “These are the ranks one can reach through training. Basically there are 4 realms we know of Earth, Sky, Moon, Heaven/Hell. Of course, these are measured by your whole power. If you are a swordsman and can use magic then your power is basically doubled! But it is quite rare, there are only a few Magic-Swordsman in the whole world.”

Dale continued speaking “Although there aren’t many ways we can determine which category you belong to but you yourself know when you reach a bottleneck of the Heavens or Hell. You can ascend by using different ways, some ascend by meditating, some through sheer force, and some through rigorous training of both body and mind.”

Dale continued “There was only one man who broke through the Heaven bottleneck but nothing is much known about that man. It is said that he broke through 50000 years ago. And everything about him is lost except that he broke through. Many now think that it is just an old Myth. But I think it is real..." at this point his face was filled with excitement.

“Anyways, that’s why we are here, to make you reach the peak we the teachers are here to nurture you properly so you can protect those you love in the future and defeat the Demon King and his Army”

“Right now you’re not even in Earth Touching Realm. So train hard and reach the top.” Dale continued.

“Yes. I will reach the Pinnacle of the World, Defeat the Demon King, travel the whole World!”

General Hardley came from behind and said while patting Rai’s shoulder “Mhm… And we will make sure your start is a great one. One which no one can deny.”

Jacob while patting the other shoulder and a big smile “I will make sure you become the best Magician there has ever been!”

General Hardley said with confidence “The best swordsman of the world!”

Dale stood up from his chair and said “I will give you all my knowledge because after all, there is no greater power than knowledge.”

Rai was shaken by their determination. He stood up, properly bowed, and said “I could not have asked for better teachers. Thank you and please continue teaching me.”

General Hardley and Dale smiled at Rai, while Jacob replied “You bet.”

-----

6 Months Later

From a distance you could see a black silhouette in the distance, jumping from one tree to another at a speed which would be considered equal to that of a Cheetah. As swift as the wind itself and it gave out the feeling of being untouchable.

Yes, it was Rai. He had a better build then before and longer hair which would reach down till his back but there wasn’t much change otherwise. He still had the same smile, which would calm others.

Rai lands in front of a tree, unsheathes his Black Blade from his back and, with slight movement of it the tree was cut in half. There were no rough edges on the tree just swiftly cut as though it was cut by Wind.

Rai smiled while looking at his Blade “Finally I can use magic on the sword. Now I just have to master it so I can use more than one element on the Blade which would surely help me on the way to becoming the strongest.”

He jumped again vanishing into thin air, jumping from one tree to another while controlling his balance and the balance of the sword for the clean cuts. So he returned to his training again.

-----

1 Year Later

Trees fell in one direction, cut very neatly as though a dragon was using a sword. Some were burnt whereas some were frozen, and there were some which were but neatly and swiftly cut and if you look at direction from which they all began to fell, you could see a man with long black hair that reached down to his waist, Black clothing. With a faint smile said “Finally it’s progressing.”

With some leaves and trees still falling to the ground he went back into the forest to complete his training, and finally, be able to return back to the castle. At this time his teachers have already gone back to the Castle.

He was training to hone his skills, so that he might be able to pass the tests of his Teachers and to venture out in the world.