The brute towered over me, standing a whopping five meters in height. Its raven eyes peered at me with intense killing intent. By dragging its mountainous legs across the white floor, the golem advanced towards me leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.
My naked torso was facing the beast. I leisurely unsheathed my sword and imbued it with energy using the energy solidification spell. The blade turned pitch-black and exuded an unnerving aura.
Unexpectedly, my opponent disappeared from my field of vision and resurfaced above me. A boulder-sized fist was aimed at my head; the monster was surprisingly quick despite its gargantuan size. My strength was outclassed so I retreated sideways and swung my sword. The path of the blade was followed by raging flames. The scorching fire transformed the room into an inferno as the crackling, roaring blaze made its way to my adversary.
The golem was not given ample time to anticipate the attack and took the blast head-on. My spell crashed against its mammoth body, engulfing it in a wall of fire. Its mouth gaped and a yell of sheer agony was released. The deafening noise shook my very soul as it echoed throughout the cave.
Its demeanor metamorphosed from a relatively calm beast to a blood hungry one. Its arm was raised and out of the blue, a powerful gust of wind was emitted and came crashing into me. I evaded the attack; however, to my surprise, the attack redirected itself towards me. I did my best to hold on and erected a barrier, but all of a sudden, I felt a crushing blow to my back. The golem had noticed that I wasn't paying attention to it and made me pay the price. My body was sent crashing into the white wall.
Blood spewed out of my orifices as I stood up, tightening my grip on the hilt. The monster was not an adversary to underestimate. For the next couple of hours, we were at a standstill, a series of back-and-forth took place. Both of us were dishing out our best attacks but none of them were effective enough to deliver a defeating blow.
This golem was not your average tenth stage fighter, it was at the peak. A sequence of questions popped up in my head; how strong must Ian Keller have been to create something this powerful and how long must it have taken. As those thoughts were unnecessary for the time being, I set them aside and focused on bringing this battle to an end.
My energy levels were decreasing at a far slower rate than the golem due to my modifications; the monster showed signs of being tired whereas I was still fresh. It was the moment to exploit its weakness.
Using my right leg to push off the floor, I lunged forwards at supersonic speed while pointing my sword at the golem's head. Its arms were raised to guard the target as soon as it noticed my attack. An energy barrier was generated behind me and my legs used the shield as a platform to propel my body and change direction midflight; this was certainly a better use of the spell!
My new target was the monster's abdomen. The tip of my sword made contact with the stone; the area began to disintegrate as my blade pierced through the golem and released a sea of flames from inside. My opponent screamed in horror; its figure shattered and crumbled akin to glass as an explosion that released an astronomical amount of energy ensued.
I was declared the victor after a long, grueling fight. A majestic character materialized in front of my eyes; my initial wariness faded as I noticed that it was a hologram. The man's long, silky-smooth blonde hair extended past his shoulders and his sword-like eyebrows framed his face; his gaze was also comparable to that of an eagle. His flawless, airbrushed skin combined with his facial features forged an almost magical being.
Compared to this man, I looked like a one-eyed bandit. This bloke was the one and only Ian Keller.
"I am an ounce of the soul of Ian Keller left behind to pass his knowledge onto you. Even I don't know whether I'm dead or not. I've been residing in this soulless, desolate cave for centuries and who would have thought that the man who would find me would be so young. To top it all off, you're from the Anderson family; a swordsman learning magic, how amusing."
"You will be staying here for three years to train with me, it is a necessity for you to be able to compete with them," he added.
"With the clans' heads?" I asked.
"Those small-fries? No way, you're already superior to them."
"I meant the fighters who hail from the other continents."
My jaw was on the floor when he uttered those words. That sentence went against everything I knew.
"Other continents? What do you mean?" I asked
"Oh it seems like the clan heads did not reveal this piece of information to the public. We've never been alone. This world contains twenty continents in total. The continent that we're on is negligible in terms of landmass and strength. We are merely frogs in a well."
The news that I received turned my whole world upside down; I was under the impression that my journey was nearing its end, but in fact, it was solely the beginning. A smile of excitement emerged on my face as I mindlessly stared at the hologram.
"Energy circulation ends at the zenith stage; however swordsmanship and magic have further levels after the tenth stage. The first ten levels are called the initial stages and the subsequent ten levels are known as the advanced stages. Whether there are more levels afterwards is unknown; therefore, you must stay disciplined and train as hard as possible," he said.
"I will help you break through the initial stages of magic in the following three years. I trust that you will be able to improve your swordsmanship on your own," he added.
Step-by-step, he approached me in an attempt to gauge the stage I've reached in energy circulation; he noticed something that stopped him dead in his track and left him open-mouthed...it was my energy circulation system. He managed to gather his words and asked,
"How did you achieve something like this and why would you do that?"
Assuming that he was angry and disappointed, I stumbled over my words. Upon seeing my reaction, his laughter became uncontrollable.
"Don't misunderstand me, I'm just surprised to see you succeed where I fell short. I attempted to do something similar back in my heydays but failed miserably."
I heaved a sigh of relief before asking,
"What type of magic will I be learning?"
"As you boast a lot of talent and energy, you'll be learning magic involving mainly the darkness element also known as the demonic element."
My eyebrows were raised in surprise; the legendary Ian Keller wanted me to learn demonic magic...