The Human Calendar Year 178 AD

Drawing the Sword.

Swinging upward.

Slashing downward.

Perhaps that's all there is to it, but if our minds wander even for a moment, the rebound from the training dummy's hide will relentlessly batter our hands. Breathing, timing, speed, weight transfer—all must be precisely controlled from the start, channeling hidden strength from the sword's edge to the dummy, causing it to split slightly under Zayn's swing.

While he grasped the theory well, executing it was not as easy. Zayn had been practicing with this sword since he was ten years old in the spring, and this would be the second summer since then. Yet, he could only produce a satisfying sound once out of every ten swings. His predecessor, Uncle Sam, always regarded as a hero in their village, showed no signs of fatigue even after fifty swings of the heavy sword. But after fifty swings, Zayn's hands grew stiff, his shoulders ached, and he could no longer lift his arms.

"Again... Just a bit more... I'll try once more...!"

He shouted to motivate himself as he swung the sword at the dummy's hide. Sweat blurred his vision, his hands grew slippery, and his accuracy waned. Driven mostly by desperation, he gripped the sword tightly and swung with all his might.

"Hiyakkkk...!"

His final swing was different from the previous ones. It struck a vital point on the dummy, slightly off the main cut, and split the hide wider. Reacting as if a spark had hit his eye, Zayn dropped his sword, stepped back, and sat on the thick moss.

As he panted heavily, a voice mixed with laughter came from his right.

"Three good sounds out of fifty swings. So, the total is, erm... forty-one, huh. Looks like you owe me a drink, Zayn."

The owner of the voice, lying a little away from him, was a young man about his age.

Zayn didn't reply immediately but reached for a nearby water pouch and took a quick drink, the water now warm. Once he calmed down, he closed it with a hard cap and said,

"Hmm, you only managed forty-three, right? I'll catch up to you soon. Now, it's your turn, Eizan."

"Yeah, yeah."

Eizan was Zayn's childhood friend and one of his closest companions, as well as his partner in their grueling training. Eizan wiped the sweat from his black hair, stretched his legs forward, and got up. But instead of picking up the sword immediately, Eizan placed his hands on his hips and looked up. Curious about what he was doing, Zayn also looked up at the sky.

The summer sky in the seventh month of the Human Calendar Year 178 AD was incredibly blue, with the beautiful morning sun shining brightly from above. Countless leaves fell from the trees in their village, making the moment feel almost magical.

No matter how many times they swung their swords during the day, by the next morning, the dummy would reach its limit and need to be replaced. Zayn sighed softly as he looked back at the sky.

"This dummy... It has witnessed all my hard work..." To Zayn, these dummies symbolized his dedication to mastering sword movements over the past six years since he was six years old. Now, at thirteen, before experiencing the Elemental Awakening, Zayn could do nothing but reflect on this as he looked at the scars on the dummy. The cuts formed a long row, but the remaining part of the dummy, three times thicker, was still intact.

In the spring of last year, when Zayn and Eizan were taken to the village chief's house to seek permission to train with swords at such a young age, they heard a story that confused them.

Training with the sword wasn't as simple as they had thought. It required great effort to master even the basic movements, and to perfect a specific technique, they needed at least six years of dedicated practice. The task of becoming a knight had been passed down from generation to generation since the founding of the Human Empire on this continent. Counting from the first generation to their predecessor, Uncle Sam, who was the one hundred and twentieth generation, Zayn and Eizan were the current trainees before their Elemental Awakening, marking their official status as knights.

"Six years to master one basic sword move... That's a long time."

This was unimaginable for Zayn, who had just turned thirteen. But he understood that from his parents' time, even before that, and far beyond, the number of sword swings by all who had trained was countless.

Taeyang Village was part of the "Kingdom of Eldoria," one of the four kingdoms ruling this continent. It was also located in the northern border area, a place often considered the edge of the world. To the north, east, and west, steep mountain ranges bordered them, leaving the only option for expanding fields and pastures to clear the southern forests. However, this was prohibited by unassailable laws.

Eventually, the village's ancestors decided not to venture into the border areas and upheld this rule for over a hundred years, passed down through generations.

The village chief ended the story of their village with a trembling voice, making Zayn and Eizan feel scared. So they asked why they didn't leave the village, even if it was in the borderlands of vampires. The village chief, his voice shaking, explained that leaving the village was very risky. A man named Moud once tried, and when the king found out, he burned Moud alive without leaving a trace. Then Eizan, tilting his head, loudly asked why their ancestors chose to build the village here in the first place. The village chief was speechless for a moment before getting very angry and hitting both Eizan and Zayn on the head.

Eizan, standing next to Zayn and staring at the dummy without saying anything, seemed to be thinking the same thing. Then he quickly walked toward the dummy, extending his left hand.

"Oi, Eizan, don't do that. The village chief said not to overtrain, remember?" Zayn quickly called out, but Eizan only looked back with a mischievous smile.

"The last time I trained was a month ago. This isn't overtraining, just occasional practice."

"You're always like that, huh. I can't stop you then... Oi, wait for me, let me see too."

Zayn, now calm, quickly stood up and ran to his partner's side with the same movement.

"A hundred generations of knights before us have worked hard for hundreds of years, and the results haven't even reached their peak... I want to become stronger after our awakening, Eizan!"

"K~a~u~~"

Eizan, crawling while holding his head, looked at Zayn, then suddenly grabbed Zayn's leg. Zayn lost his balance from the sudden attack and fell onto the thick moss behind him.

"What's with your model student attitude! At least act more burdened by this pointless training!"

Though he sounded angry, a small smile appeared on Eizan's face as he sat on Zayn and ruffled his hair.

"Hey, let go! Why you...!"

Zayn grabbed Eizan's wrist and pulled hard. Taking advantage of Eizan tensing his body to resist, he spun vertically with a half-circle movement, ending up on top.

"Now it's payback time!"

Shouting and laughing, he pulled Eizan's hair with his dirty hands, but unlike Zayn's soft, bright white hair, Eizan's straight black hair made his attack ineffective. Zayn then switched to tickling Eizan's belly.

"Ugya, you... h-hahah..."

Eizan ran out of breath as he struggled against the hold and tickling, when suddenly a loud voice came from behind them.

"You two! Fooling around again!!"

In that instant, the fight between Eizan and Zayn came to a complete stop.

"Uu....."

"This is bad...."

They both shrugged and looked back fearfully.

Standing on a rock a little away from them, with hands on hips and a slightly protruding chest, was a figure. Zayn slightly lifted his body and spoke with a smile.

"H... Hey, Sophia, you're came early today."