Sword Peak Academy, beside the Dragonstone Capital City.
Calling it just an academy was simply curtailing its magnitude, the academy was as big as a whole city. Most alumni settle down in the city they called the Sword Land when they leave the academy, because of this the academy was a powerhouse of its own. The Sword Peak academy had been cooperating with the Dragonstone kingdom for over a century, most of the kingdom's knights were outstanding students from the academy, in return the kingdom supplied whatever resources the academy would need.
But the higher-ups knew that the ever-growing power of the Sword Peak Academy made the king feel greatly threatened, he kept an eye on their affairs and was ready to snag any prominent student in an attempt to curb their power rise. But even still, the Sword Peak Academy was a giant, and if it decides to rebel the whole kingdom would be thrown into disarray.
The Sword Land had a lot of tourists, some people come in from the different countries that surrounded the kingdom to walk through the neat roads and the lush lifestyle, but mostly they came to see the fabled Sword Mountain. Just like its name implied, the Sword Mountain was a mountain shaped like a gigantic sword.
No one knew where the mountain came from or how it was made, it even predated the Dragonstone Kingdom. Different stories circulated the kingdom, each telling a different guess about how the mountain came to be, each more ludicrous than the other. But there was one thing everyone knew about Sword Mountain, and it was the fact that it birthed the first Swordsperson. Her name was Coraline Lovegood, and she was a legend.
To common people, Sword Mountain was just a mountain, but to those at the Sword Peak Academy, it was their greatest treasure. In the Sword Mountain was a different dimension with different stages, students with special clearances get to train in there to get experience, strength and popularity.
In the Junior Buildings of the Sword Academy, Victor Crooke sat in a classroom while waiting for the teacher to come in. Normally the teacher would have arrived before them – the academy demanded punctuality – but according to the news circulating, the school had decided to teach a newly made lesson, and this was because of the change in the world.
The day the world changed everyone with a connection to a power source felt it, and the Swordspeople's Aura had a drastic change. Before, the Aura felt just like a tool, like an armor worn around the body to protect it from danger and to strengthen it, but now the Aura felt warm, like it was alive. And it looked alive, the red flame that appears when they power up their Aura beats just like a heart and blazed like an open fire, but the most significant and incredible changes were the ability to attack from a distance even with the First Aura, and the ability of flight for the ones with the higher stages.
Although the long ranges attack of a person who had unlocked their First Aura would be shorter and less destructive than the ones with Fifth Aura and above it was still a big deal because it wasn't possible before, there were probably more new things to discover about the changed Aura, Victor was looking forward to learning them.
Suddenly, the murmuring of the students hushed as a man walked into the classroom, everyone stood up to greet him.
''Good morning, Mr. Salazar!''
''Good morning class.'' He nodded. He waited for everyone to sit back down before starting the class, ''I'm sure that everyone has heard that this class would be a sort of experimental class, and that's because of the new attribute that we found the Aura can do.''
Victor leaned forward when he heard that, he cleared him mind and focused his ears, he didn't want to miss anything.
''The Aura now has two forms, the first is the normal way which we are all used to, in the second a blooming flame appears on the chest and amplifies all our attacks. But that's not the only thing that happens, those with lower stages wouldn't be able to see it but you will be able to feel it, a phenomenon occurs in the second form, it is invisible yet tangible. It can be shaped just like the Aura to pressure others; we call it the Sword Intent.''
As he spoke finish, his Aura blazed, and a pressure descended upon the entire class. The pressure wasn't pressing against them but instead hovering over their bodies, but they could still feel the tremendous force that it carried.
''This is Sword Intent,'' he finally removed the pressure, ''since this is just a lesson, I didn't directly use it on you, what you felt was just a sample of what the Sword Intent can do,'' cracks appeared under his feet as he spoke, ''the pressure can be a terrible force.'' The ground burst open, and the teacher's desk was rendered to splinters.
Gasps and screams sounded in the classroom; the students couldn't sit still because of their excitement. Victor clenched his fist and breathed heavily as he stared at the broken wood, he was dying to know how to do that, but he didn't scream with the rest, he waited for Mr. Salazer to explain deeper the intricacies of the Sword Intent.
Sure enough, Mr. Salazer clapped to silence the class, ''I know, I know, it's amazing, but don't get too excited. Not everyone is able to utilize the Sword Intent, but the ones that can have substantial advantages. I myself have unlocked the Fifth Aura but thanks to the Sword Intent I can fight and win against people with a higher stage than me.''
''Since this is a new study I can't spend too much time on it, so from for the next three minutes I will keep my Sword Intent around you all to let you get the feel of it. Who knows, maybe one of you will be able to utilize your own Sword Intent.''
…
Victor raced across the streets of the Sword Land, after his classes he had stayed in the Junior Training Area to practice Sword Intent and lost track of time, thankfully, although they couldn't fight in the city, he was still allowed to use his Aura to speed up. He ran out of the second gate of the city and raced towards the Sword Mountain, he smiled uncontrollably as the mountain turned bigger and bigger in his eyes. He had been chosen as one of the Junior Participants to enter the mountain and participate in the challenge, this was a great opportunity and the popularity of him, and his family would increase according to the number of stages he passed.
When he reached the foot of the mountain he met a crowd there, most of the Junior Students had come to watch the participants challenge the mountain, some of them even brought snacks to eat. Victor had never done this, he preferred hearing the news about the challenges than coming to the Sword Mountain because he wouldn't be able to see anything since the participants would be transported to another dimension. Although there was a way the people outside would be able to know the stages the participants reach it wasn't as exciting as seeing the actual process.
Victor flashed his badge to guard and went to stand with the other participants, right next to his friend and classmate, Brody.
''You're late.'' Brody said.
''No, I'm still two minutes early.''
''Whatever,'' Brody looked around and licked his lips, that was what he did when he had gossip to share, ''Look over there, the seniors have arrived.''
Victor whipped his head to the direction Brody was pointing at, and sure enough a group of seniors were standing there and watching them.
''I heard somewhere that the seniors are going to take the outstanding participants under their wing and, and as you can see the seniors that came aren't normal seniors. Madeline Zoomer, Ian Prescott, David Alamosa, the ones that came were all protégé's of influential teachers. The ones taken under their wings would definitely benefit a lot.''
Victor was in awe, the information he heard was too amazing. He had already known that he had to take the challenge serious, but now he had to be extra serious and dazzling, he had to shine bright so he would be noticed.
Brody snorted, ''Don't go crazy yet, do you see who is standing with us?''
Victor looked at the participant he was pointing at and couldn't help screaming in shock, ''Candelaria Lovegood!''
It was hard for him to look away from her after he saw her, the first thing he noticed was her stunning light purple hair that signified her great bloodline. Candelaria was very popular in the Junior Department, not only was she a descendant of the first Swordsperson she was also an astounding Swordswoman. Her whole family was powerful, they were akin to the royals of the Sword Peak Academy.
A man clearing his throat broke off Victor's thoughts, he didn't know when, but a teacher had stood in front of them.
''Welcome, participants, to the Solongia Challenges. You have all been chosen to enter the Sword Mountain, and I'm sure you know what an opportunity this is so don't waste it. When you enter the dimension, you will be separated, and yes there are different stages in there, you'll understand why I said that when you enter. The badge with you is used to record your achievements, and when broken it sends you out of the mountain. You can form a group with each other in there, but it won't make a difference since you all will be separated again in the next stage, so you should mostly rely on yourself.''
''That will be all, prepare to enter the Sword Mountain.'' He gestured for them to follow him. Victor was nervous, a quick glance at all the participants showed him all of them were nervous to. Except Candelaria, she didn't really have much emotion on her face. The walked close to the mountain, Victor saw that under the mountain was another stone sword, this one normal sized. The sword was embedded into the ground, there were runes drawn in a circle around it, the teacher grabbed the sword and twisted it like a key, the runes lit up and the air in front of them vibrated. Then the body of the mountain was torn open by a vortex of light, after a few seconds the vortex settled into a slow turn.
''Alright, you may enter.''
Victor and the rest didn't dally, they walked into the vortex with squared shoulders. When they entered the vortex the name of the participants appeared on the mountain, all shining with a white light. There were ten stages in the Sword Mountain, their names would change color as they ascend, white being the initial stage and red being the last stage. Although the people outside couldn't see what was going on in the mountain they could still imagine and speculate, watching the names change color let them know the difference between the participants.
Victor opened his eyes, then immediately squinted it from the bright sun. After his eyes adjusted to the light he could finally see where he was, he was in what looked like a forest, but the trees were too far apart, and their leaves couldn't provide shade for the bright sun. The trees were grey and looked like statues, but the leaves dancing in the wind showed him that they were real trees.
'But,' Victor thought incredulously, 'Isn't this place too big?' He had heard about dimensions before and according to what he was told the spaces inside weren't that huge, but the dimension of the Sword Mountain didn't seem to have an end.
Suddenly, a monotone voice sounded in his head, ''First stage, defeat 15 Aura Beasts.''
''What was that?'' Even though he vaguely understood what was happening he was still shocked at the sudden appearance of the disembodied voice.
According to the voice he had to defeat 15 Aura Beasts, was he meant to search for them? His competitive side flared up and he began searching the forest, the trees were spaced apart so it would be easy for him to find the beasts. He didn't use his Aura to move faster, instead he ran normally to save his Aura energy. He didn't have to run far though, he soon heard a loud roar behind him, he unsheathed his sword and whipped around to face the beast.
The beast looked peculiar, it looked feline and was two feet tall, but the weird part about it was that it seemed to be made out of smoke. It covered the distance between them with one jump, Victor jumped back and dodged the hit, the place where the beast landed cracked.
''Holy shit!'' the beast looked gaseous, but it was actually solid, Victor unlocked his Aura and attacked. The beast jumped back and dodged his swipe and quickly retaliated, shocking him. He blocked its next hit but still slid backwards because of the power packed in it.
'It has the strength of someone who has unlocked the First Aura.' Victor mused. If that were true then he didn't need to waste time on it, he waited for it to attack him then he spun out of the way and lobbed off its head. Defeating someone in the First Aura wasn't a hassle for him, he had unlocked the Second Aura a long time ago.
His instincts flared and he quickly kept his sword behind him, blocking the sneak attack of another Aura Beast. He used the momentum of the hit to flip in the air, catching a glimpse of the attacker. It was another feline Aura Beast, when he landed, he bolted towards the beasts and cut it in half. He felt his Aura flare up a bit before settling, he could feel that his Aura Energy had raised a bit. The first beast he killed had given him an almost inconspicuous amount of energy, so he didn't quickly notice it, but the energy from the second beast's death helped push it forward.
Victor suddenly had another reason to find the beasts, killing them would definitely give him energy faster that channeling it from the world. The problem now was to find the beasts that seem to be able to appear out of nowhere, since he didn't know anywhere there, he decided to run around aimlessly.
Because of the spaced-out trees sighting an Aura beast wasn't difficult, he soon saw one flying in the sky. The avian beast swoped down and attacked him with its talons before flying back up, it did this multiple times, its speed making it hard for Victor to hit it. The beasts in the Sword Mountain's dimension were keener than normal beasts, any time he waited and focused on the beast it would just hover in the air since it knew Victor couldn't fly.
Victor ran to a tree and jumped onto a tree branch, the beast seemed to understand his plan and flew even higher, but he was ready for that. He packed his Aura into his legs and jumped, he reached the beast instantly and cut it in half before it could do anything.
Victor landed hard then raced to a direction without pause, while he was in the air he caught a glimpse of a gathering of Aura Beasts, he also saw a figure fighting them. When he reached there, he could see eight feline Aura Beasts, he was about to join the fight when saw the person fighting them and stopped in his tracks.
Like a hummingbird, Candelaria Lovegood flitted around the beasts, easily dodging their sharp claws. She taped her feet on the ground and spun in the air, slicing the necks of two beasts, her feet drew an arc on the ground when she landed as she spun again, cutting down another beast.
Victor watched her in awe. There were a lot of sword manuals in the academy – although the easily accessible ones were mostly basic – and although he had never seen it, he knew the sword manual she practiced, it was the sword manual every member of the Lovegood family practiced, the Butterfly's Dance.
The Butterfly's Dance was one of the most complex sword manuals and it was reserved for the Lovegood family, this was the first time he was seeing it in action, it was definitely more visually pleasing than the sword manual he practiced, the Pouncing Tiger.
He ran forward and skewered a beast with his sword, his arrival shocked both Candeleria and the beasts.
Candelaria stared at him for a few seconds before speaking, ''I don't need your help.''
This was the first time he had heard her voice, it sounded cold and indifferent, he didn't like it, ''I'm not here to help you!'' he said. As he spoke, he blocked a beast attack, jumped backwards to dodge the sneak attack of another one, then lunged forward with a burst of speed and thrusted his sword into their heads in a fast succession.
Candelaria stared at him in shock, she can be said to be very knowledgeable in the sword manuals at the school, but she had never seen the move Victor did, thrusting a sword with one hand with such speed. She wanted to know where he learnt it but her pride wouldn't allow her to ask. She rushed forward, eager to kill the remaining Aura Beasts before him.
Victor saw a violet blur pass by him, he quickly unlocked his Second Aura and ran even faster. This was a competition after all, and who knew how many beasts Candelaria had slain before now, he desired to be the first to reach the second stage. The remaining three beast were slaughtered before they could react, Candelaria killed two while Victor, to his chagrin, was only fast enough to kill one.
Candelaria sheathed her sword in a smooth motion, she glanced back at Victor only to see him walking away. She stared at his back for a few seconds before snorting and walking in another direction.
Along the way, Victor killed four more Aura Beasts, leaving only five left for him to pass the first stage. He practiced Sword Intent little by little as he walked, after his training with Annie he had been practicing how to move his Aura and had gotten very good at it, the movement was so smooth that it was barely noticeable.
He stopped in front of a tree and focused on a tree branch, although Sword Intent was invisible he could still try to uses his imagination to trigger it. He first imagined a heavy weight, using the memory of Mr. Salazer breaking the desk as a reference, but that didn't work. Then he imagine a big flood, but that didn't do anything either. He spent the next minute thinking up various assortments, trying to shape his Aura to his will, he took him a while before he realized what he was doing wrong.
What he was doing was akin to a sorcerer manipulating the elements to form a spell, but he wasn't a sorcerer, he was a Swordsman, and his power comes from within. He fully ignited his Aura up to the second form and focused on the branch again, he imagined a pressure coming out of his blazing aura hitting the branch, but the branch didn't move.
'Is this wrong too?' Keeping the same stance, he brought out his sword and raised it above his head, he swiped down, imagining the sword pushing the pressure father. The branch shook a bit before snapping.
He stared at the broken branch on the ground for a few seconds before realizing what had happened, he stemmed his excitement before deciding to try again.
He imagined energy being gathered on the tip of his sword before thrusting it at the branch, the branch burst apart into different pieces of wood.
''I did it,'' he said slowly, finally allowing the smile to appear on his face, ''I used Sword Intent.''
A series of roars interrupted his jovial mood, five Aura beasts were racing towards him in an almost urgent manner. Victor didn't cower, he raised his sword and waited for them to come closer. A bright light suddenly bloomed and pierced the sky, Victor could guess what it meant; someone had passed the first stage. He could also guess who it might be.
Victor growled and ran towards the beasts, attacking them viciously. Although he was pissed that he wasn't the first to pass the first stage, he still didn't lose concentration, he slid on the ground and sliced the belly of the beast that flew over his head, he slapped his palm on the ground, pushing himself up then thrusted his sword into the throat of another beast.
He decided to experiment with his newly realized sword intent, he roared lowly and his aura flared, a pressure descended around him. The pressure was ten times lighter than the one Mr. Salazar used, but it was able to slow down the beasts to an extent, even though the usage of his sword intent sent them into a frenzy.
He didn't let them break free and made quick work of them, their deaths filled him with abundant energy, not enough to push him to condensed Second Aura but enough to keep him energized for a long while.
''Challenge complete.''
Before the voice ended a white light covered him, then he felt himself floating upwards. When the light disappeared he found himself in another plane with scarce vegetation and an abundance of broken stone constructs.
''Second stage, defeat 25 Aura Beasts.''
He didn't waste time running around, looking for beasts. If he was right, the beasts were attracted to his sword intent.
He released his sword intent into the atmosphere and waited, but he didn't have to wait for long. Three Aura Beasts with yellow smoke-like bodies walked out, Victor immediately stopped using his sword intent and inched backwards. The first stage beasts had white smoke, meaning that they were equivalent to someone in the First Aura, this beasts had yellow smoke, just like someone in the Second Aura. Victor himself was just in the Second Aura stage, he couldn't win in a direct fight with three Second Aura beasts.
He turned tail and fled.