He decided to find out.

The leaf was still drifting down. At normal speed it would have been gone in a second. At the speed his mind was running now, he had all the time in the world.

He drew the Star-Forged Sword.

He swung just once, the same basic Iron-Cleaver arc he had learned on day one of the academy.

Schick.

The leaf split in half. Both pieces continued their slow float toward the ground.

And then the system spoke.

[Action Registered: 1x Iron-Cleaver Sword Art Swing.]

[1,000x Multiplier Applied.]

[Practice Calculated: 1,000 Repetitions.] 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

[Processing.]

For about half a second, nothing happened.

Then his head exploded.

CRACK.

A wave of knowledge crashed over him. It felt like he had just practiced a thousand perfect swings. He suddenly understood everything about how to hold the sword, move his shoulder, and shift his weight. He knew exactly how the energy should flow from the blade back into his arm.

All of it.

At once.

The pain was worse than any beating he had ever taken.

He only stayed standing because he refused to give up. He wiped his nose and saw it was bleeding, but he didn’t really care.

Under all that pain, his entire understanding of the sword was being rebuilt. It felt like his old ways were breaking away and being replaced by something much stronger and more confident.

The system pinged softly.

[Iron-Cleaver Sword Art: TRANSCENDENT.]

[Tier designation exceeds known classification.]

[Skill has surpassed the limits of recorded martial arts.]

He stared at the notification.

Then he lowered his hand, looked at the two halves of the leaf on the ground, and felt the new knowledge settle deep inside him, becoming a permanent part of him.

From behind the bushes about fifteen feet away, a voice muttered:

"You have got to be kidding me."

Holden didn’t bother turning around. He had already sensed the person in the bushes about two minutes ago, breathing too carefully.

The voice continued.

"This is what Draven sent me out here for? This guy is in the restricted forest at three in the morning, swinging at leaves." A pause. " I skipped sleep for this."

Holden said nothing.

He looked down at the two halves of the leaf.

"I don’t know what I expected. A slum rat out here hitting trees. Wow, how impressive," the voice joked. "Lord Draven is going to love this."

Holden wiped the blood from under his nose with his hand and studied the clearing around him.

He could still see the glowing lines of energy around him. He saw the trees, the grass, and the person hiding nearby who thought they were invisible. He almost spoke, but then he decided against it.

He turned toward the far end of the clearing instead, listening.

The forest had changed again.

The same thing was happening now, but with something much larger. Whatever was coming through the trees wasn’t trying to walk around things; it was just crushing everything in its path.

CRACK.

A tree snapped somewhere to the north.

CRACK. CRACK.

The bushes rustled. "What was..." The spy’s voice dropped. "What is that?"

CRACK.

The treeline on the north side of the clearing exploded inward.

BOOM.

The Iron-Back Wyvern came through the trees, and it landed in the clearing with an impact that shook the ground. It was a giant creature, twenty feet from head to tail. Its body was covered in overlapping scales that looked like dark iron. No regular sword could get through that armor. It snapped its wings shut with a noise as loud as an explosion.

CRACK.

It had a long neck and a head full of teeth, and every single one of those teeth was currently pointed at Holden.

A panicked sound came from behind the trees.

The spy was terrified.

"Oh no," the spy said. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no."

"That’s a Rank 2 beast," he said, his voice getting higher and higher. "We’re going to die! Normal weapons can’t even scratch those scales. It’s a fact. I studied this! We need to get out of here right now!"

Holden didn’t move.

"I’m serious." The noise in the bushes got louder as the spy tried to decide whether to stay hidden or run away. "That thing smells blood. It smells the Mantis. That’s why it’s here, it followed the smell, and now it is right there, and we are right here, and I cannot stress enough how much this is a bad situation for both of us. Mainly me. But also you."

Holden looked at the Wyvern.

"We can still run," the spy said, his voice thin and shaky with panic. "Right now. Together. I won’t even tell anyone about this. I mean I’ll tell Draven you ran, but I’ll leave out the part where I also ran, so really it evens out for you dignity-wise if you just, please, oh please, for the love of everything, let’s go."

Holden reached up and wiped the last of the blood from his nose.

He drew the Star-Forged Sword.

He raised it toward the Wyvern, low and steady, and held it there.

The Wyvern coiled back on its haunches.

Holden breathed in.