Grinding

Swoosh!

Breathe Will, breathe.

Swoosh!

Damn it! Wrong again! Breathe Will, breath.

Swoosh!

Sigh... Wrong again. That wasn't even close!

White was all Will could see, white was what was affecting Will, and white was all Will could think of. The snow falling around him made all of the vegetation fade away into whiteness, blanketed by a myriad of unending snowflakes.

Will was used to seeing snow; it should not have been much of a bother to him under normal conditions. But, unfortunately, he was not under normal conditions. All he had were his thin robes. He didn't even have shoes to cover his feet.

Comfort makes one lose focus, besides, I need to connect with my surroundings. Okay Will, again, breathe.

After breathing in slowly, Will grasped the rusty katana in his hands and swung forward.

Swoosh!

The sheer speed of the strike caused the very air around the young man to tremble. Any normal master of swordsmanship would call his technique a masterpiece. If he had been aiming to become the most skilled swordsman on Earth, prior to the system, then he would have long since achieved that goal. However, that wasn't his goal. And the system was now there permanently.

Again!

Swoosh!

Will had already lost count of how many strikes he had attempted since he began his training. All he knew was that he had done thousands upon thousands upon thousands of different sword techniques.

From slashes to thrusts, to cuts, to sweeps, if it could be done by using a sword, then Will had already done it countless times. One could even say his swordsmanship had arrived close to perfection. Yet he didn't want to be perfect. He wanted to be more. Or rather, to survive, he needed to be more.

Modus' words rang in his ears every time he swung his katana. Every time he failed he contemplated a truth few would fail to realize in the system. The more you fail, the closer you are to death.

....

Clap clap clap!

After Will had bisected the King, he had laid flat on the ground, completely spent. He was breathing intensely and his body was unconsciously shuddering. Not because he was tired. No, on the contrary, he wasn't really fatigued.

No, what had caused the young man to behave this way was fear. Will had developed an instinctual fear toward the king.

After having faced Modus' killing intent, Will assumed he would never truly fear anything again. Little did he know that what he had been given was but a drop from an entire ocean.

"So! How does it feel to be so close to death? It's exhilarating, isn't it? Ah, how I miss such times myself!"

Will looked up and saw Modus with a nostalgic expression on his face. Adelda, as always, was standing dutifully behind her master with her hands folded behind her back.

That bastard was probably watching! And he probably wouldn't have helped me either!

Will was angry at Modus, however the battle he had just had with the king had reawakened his sense of fear, so he reluctantly kept his mouth shut.

This did not escape Modus' sight.

Good! Very good! He has finally regained his true sense of fear. I wouldn't have to go to such lengths, but those who possess bloodlust have a habit of losing their fear of death. But young Will here has finally regained it!

Marvelous!

Will couldn't stare at Modus' face any longer, so he decided to look at Adelda. The visible disgust that was on her face had disappeared at the moment and had been replaced by something else. Will wasn't quite sure what it was.

But as long as she isn't creeped out by me it's all good. Looks like my valiant efforts scored me some points with my waifu! Yes!

Will did a mental fist pump when he thought of this, however, if he realized what she was truly thinking about, he would not be as happy.

I don't get it. How did he survive this? What is it about this human that makes Lord Modus so interested? None of this makes any sense at all. I'm going to have to investigate this boy carefully. Becoming his wife? Hmph! He has a better chance of ascending to the heavens.

"Okay young man, get up. I don't have all day."

Will immediately responded to Modus' instructions and got up, even patting himself down to look less dirty.

Have to score more points in front of waifu, women like clean and responsible men, right? She must be so impressed right now...

Will couldn't help but reveal a smug expression at his silly thoughts.

Why are you being so smug in front of Lord Modus you ingrate!

Little did Will know that he was becoming more and more of a nuisance in Adelda's eyes. When she thought of the fact that she was going to have to monitor him in the near future, she pitied herself.

"So, how does it feel, defeating your first boss? It must feel good right?" said Modus with a cheeky grin.

"Well, it wasn't that hard... I mean, I didn't even get that much experience anyway, which is kind of disappointing," said Will, trying to sound cool.

That's when a thought that had been in the back of his mind suddenly surfaced.

Pause! I didn't get any experience! At all!

"Well, that's good. Your next task will be much harder to keep up the good work. Adelda!"

"Yes my Lord."

As quickly as they appeared, Modus and Adelda left a distraught Will.

"My experience, where is my experience!?"

Unfortunately, no one responded to his shout. Will was about to shout again when a strange event occurred: a mail icon had appeared in his vision. This was a first, so Will was unsure what he should do.

He tried to touch it but nothing happened. "Mail open!" Even after shouting still, nothing happened, causing Will to feel embarrassed. That's when an idea struck him.

He immediately closed one eye and poked the mail symbol. This time he got a response.

A new quest is available. The quest is to perform Ten Thousand True Strikes.

Quest rank: Unknown

Reward: None

These words floated in Will's vision for a few seconds. After contemplating what he had read, Will could not help but kneel to the ground helplessly for he knew exactly what a true strike was. As he knelt, numbers appeared in the top right corner of his vision.

True Strikes: 0/10000