Time lost meaning as Moyo dueled with ajax his master. Pain and fatigue blurred the passage of singular moments, skewing hours upon hours of pure brutal training. Ajax with his golden katana he called reaper typically vs the iron rod that Moyo used to control the battle intent he generated from his core.

The practice continued until moyo ran out of battle intent being refined by his core, meditating back to full strength as he crushed uncommon crystals he got from slaying the rucar hive soldiers, to be frank he didn’t consider them a challenge to him anymore, despite the latest batches being in their early 20 levels, he still cut through them like wet tissue.

“The katana” ajax explained as Moyo sat meditating, refining the aether in his core into battle intent, “is one of the most versatile weapon to ever exist, you can cut, stab, dice, defend and most of all, it is wielded by a swordsman, the single most dangerous warrior of all”

“You are just starting on that path; you have not gained the right to call yourself a swordsman yet. Few can reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship, not even the ruler on the path of the thousand blades can claim that position yet, perhaps the supreme being who holds dominion over edges can, but no one has seen him display a skill in centuries, not anyone who had lived to tell the tale rather” ajax stated,

“Luckily, the same way my master dutifully drilled the moves of the swordsman into my body, I too shall break and mold you into an ideal swordsman until you can perform the moves unconsciously, even when you’re unconscious, even when your mind is being decimated or you’re in the throes of agony” ajax said grinning

Moyo remembered then and there that despite how strong he thought he had gotten, ajax still tossed him around like a ragdoll, on the bright side his skill titans’ wrath had grown to a whooping 75 in level, blood absorption refused to level up, ajax stating that it was because it was a legendary skill and those were notoriously tough to level up. Slaying the rucar soldiers also drove him up to level 15, with each leveling up giving him 20 points to add to his attributes, ajax told him to hold unto it for now.

After that a whole day passed by, Moyo, a sweating mess of broken bones and flesh that healed rapidly,

Titans wrath(r)80!

Edge of the titan(u) 10!

Wincing as he sat up, ajax stretching his frame as another piece of meat from an unknown dungeon creature dropped to the ground from the spatial rift ajax opened. Moyos’ stomach rumbled in hunger,

“I have taught you all I can for now, tomorrow you clear the inside of this cavern of any creature” ajax simply said,

Moyo nodded, crossing his leg into the lotus position to begin meditating, producing the last common and uncommon aether shards that he had left and refining them into battle intent. Calling up his stats table, he decided it was time to add the 100 attribute points he had into both constitution and dexterity to increase both his health and speed as he was sure he’d need it going forwards the next day, his table now had most of his attributes in their hundreds, feeling rejuvenated and lighter as he stared at the table

Name: Moyosore

Path: crushing blade

Body: titans shield (+50% defense against mental attacks)

Race: human

Level: 15

Skills:

Blood absorption(L) 5 titans’ wrath(r)80 edge of the titan(u)10

attributes:

STR: 115 END: 115 P:130 CNS: 130 DEX:110 INT: 5

Satisfied with the table and ignoring intelligence for now seeing as he didn’t have mana in his core or will have anytime soon. The meat steamed as ajax cut a part for him, he dug in ravenously, sighing in delight despite the taste and washing it down with the jug of water ajax provided,

“Forging your blade would take some time, you need to grow accustomed to the metal first” ajax said,

“What do you get from training me?” moyo asked quietly,

“isn’t getting a disciple worth it?” ajax replied,

Moyo simply raised an eyebrow dubiously, causing ajax to chuckle, whatever or whoever this benefactor was, to get someone of a caliber like ajax was no small feat. Moyo wanted to be sure he had an idea of the kind of debt he owed for such boon,

“I have been…stuck at my advancement, your benefactor is of a higher tier than I am and controls a faction that spans worlds, he promised me tutelage on the path of the blades in repayment for me teaching you” ajax said

That seemed fair to Moyo, except he had no idea what he could had done to garner the attention of a powerful person, speaking of which, he looked at ajax again,

“what stage are you in?, you never said” Moyo asked,

“really?, huh, might had skipped my mind” ajax said nonchalantly, a smirk on his face that informed Moyo that he knew he hadn’t told him on purpose,

“Just a mere level 499 expert” ajax said,

Again, Moyo swore to himself, despite knowing that he had no say in the matter that he would never raise a blade against ajax. He bowed again as ajax chuckled,

“Now he takes me seriously” ajax said laughing,

They talked till late in the night, both master and student, expert and fledgling on two different paths tied to the blade, soon they went to bed, sleeping on the cavern ground with the bubbling of the lava pool serving as a calming background noise. Moyo stared at the cavern ceiling, staring at his hands that had callouses on them. Squeezing them as he grinned up to the cavern ceiling, he might not be there yet, he might not be able to make ajax take him seriously in a duel yet, but he would get there someday and he’d make them pay,

He would make them all pay…

Rising in the morning, Moyo sat and meditated, feeling his core brighten inside him as it radiated battle intent that filled it up. Opening his eyes after a few minutes, he saw ajax walking to the entrance of the cavern where they were, his battle intent still barred the rest of the hive from coming in,

“Today I leave you for the rest of your time in this dungeon disciple, should you survive this cavern, make you way to the highest peak of the mountain in this dungeon, there I would be waiting with the dungeon boss whom I have decided you would slay and whose bones, blood and skin would be needed for the creation of your blade, use all that I have taught you, decimate this dungeon and prove to me that I have not wasted my time here disciple” Ajax commanded,

Moyosore simply bowed, feeling his master’s presence disappear along with the barrier of the entrance. A loud screech echoed as the buzzing of wings crashed down the tunnels, rucar hive soldiers, drones and workers bursting into the cavern in defiance as the overwhelming pressure they felt disappeared, it seemed they had multiplied again, such hubris, Moyo smiled as he produced his rod, thinking of it as an already forged katana, he would teach them the errors of their ways,

With one swing he activated his skill edge of the titan as the very aether in the air echoed the sharp edges of his will, and in one hit, all the soldiers, drones and workers of this particular hive fell to the ground dead. Notifications began entering his Hud with a rapid pace, hearing the dings of leveling up as he had killed over a hundred of the insects. A loud screech echoed again as the hive queen who was level 40 finally entered the cavern, screeching in misery over the death of her broods.

Common sense dictated moyo should had been scared, he was a lowly level 15….23 now it seemed as he checked his table quickly, but he felt nothing but the thrill of the hunt, he had fought monsters like ajax, bathed in lava and became a swordsman,

A titan,

He would not tremble beneath a creature like this. With a burst of speed he tore into another tunnel, calling up his stats table, he had 160 points to allocate and he decided to put them into the physical stats that he would need to survive this fight, more like end it quickly but who cared?. Allocating 40 points each in strength, endurance, constitution and dexterity each, he accepted it as he felt his muscles become more flexible and harder, grinning as he could now comfortably follow the movement of the hive queen.

Dodging a dose of lava the queen spewed out, moyo rolled and dashed closer to her, activating his titans edge technique and hitting her with a barrage of sword hits as she slammed him into the cavern wall, he wasn’t going to lie, it had hurt a bit, feeling his arm shatter and heal again in a flash,

Titans wrath(r)81!

Grinning he peeled himself off the wall and attacked the queen again, this time stepping on a rock in the middle of the lava pool and launching himself straight at the queen, gathering a large amount of battle intent on his blade, eyes alight in determination. The queen saw him coming, spitting an insane amount of lava at him, but it was too late. Slicing the lava in two and sending the remaining blades at the queen, the dying screams of the queen echoed in the cavern as she fell into the lava pool, her bodily fluids spilling out and sizzling as her insides poured out. The notification of her death appeared in his front, Moyo frowned, that had been too easy, he had expected a better fight from the creature that drove fear into his heart a mere few days ago.

The dings of notifications drew his thought back,

Level 30!

Edge of the titan(r)15!

He activated blood absorption as he drained all the blood of the rucar hive from the area,

Notice! Title earned: bane of the hive: gain 10% extra attribute points when you successfully kill any insect hive monsters!

Blood absorption(L)6!

Notice! Can’t obtain any vital aspect!

That made sense seeing as he had already obtained the enduring body before and burnt it off during his body tempering, the title made him grin, along with the 140 points he now had to distribute on his table. Moyo decided his willpower should go up, seeing as it enabled him collect aether from the aether shards and refine it into battle intent as long as wield it well on his metal pole, smiling to himself as he realized his attributes were entering their 200 levels.

Adding a whooping 70 to willpower and 35 each to both strength and endurance, moyo accepted as he felt his senses tingle, feeling the location of all the aether shards around him as well as the rare ones the queen dropped, he viewed his table again

Name: Moyosore

Path: crushing blade

Body: titans shield (+50% defense against mental attacks)

Race: human

Level: 30(initiate)

Title: bane of the hive

Skills:

Blood absorption(L) 6 Titans’ wrath(r)80 Edge of the titan(u)15

attributes:

STR: 190 END: 190 P:200 CNS: 170 DEX:150 INT: 5

Moyo did a little tap dance as he saw the notification, he had broken into the stage of an initiate, no longer was a fledgling in the archailect, he could hold his own now. He definitely was coming on along fine, putting his hand into the lava and obtaining the rare aether shards, barely considering the heat of the lava, he placed them among the common and uncommon aether shards he collected from the slain hive members and with the last of his battle intent he crushed them all, sitting and beginning to meditate as he drew in all the dusts from the shards and refined them to battle intent in his core.

Moyo noticed the blade that served as his core felt…. deeper, like it could contain more battle intent than previously, perhaps when he eventually saw his master he would inquire as to the reason. After absorbing them all, moyo stood up stretching, with a final glance at the cavern he walked out, whistling as he passed another tunnel,

It was time to hunt….