When Nick awoke early the next morning, he found Rita’s eyes staring into his own. His mentor was standing at the foot of his bed with an inscrutable expression on her face. What the fuck? The sight shocked him back to full alertness within a handful of heartbeats. Was she watching me sleep? That is creepy as hell.

  She must have read his thoughts from his expression, because she let out a wry chuckle and then stepped back to give him some space. “Don’t flatter yourself. You aren’t that pretty. I was studying the way that your Survivor trait regulates the energy of your body, creating that reduced need for sleep and other forms of sustenance. It’s an enhanced variant that I haven’t seen before and it’s remarkably complex, even for something generated by the System.”

  Nick’s ears perked up at her words. Any chance to learn more about the System’s powers was invaluable. “It’s a tricky business to rewire biological drives on that level and not cause catastrophic consequences or unwanted mutations. You must have really impressed it to have received a reward like that at your tier. Although, if you were among the first of your people to defeat a fallen beast, I can see why. You’ll have to tell me the story of that fight in greater detail, but not just yet.

  “Right now, it’s time to eat a quick breakfast and then teach you some stretches designed for novice swordsmen. Then we can watch the sunrise and we’ll move on to your first kata. One of the forms that will drive the proper way of wielding your weapon into your body, until it becomes natural to the point of instinct. Go ahead and get cleaned up, then meet me in the kitchen. We have a full day ahead of us and not a moment to spare.”

  With that, Rita left, and Nick sat up. He nearly fell over when he took his first step. His legs were incredibly sore from spending hours in a deep stance last night. Even with his high toughness and increased rate of healing, he couldn’t build muscle like that without paying for it the next day. Fortunately, it wasn’t quite as bad as he thought. The pain became less intense when he started moving around.

  Nick thought about using his elixir to take the edge off, but eventually decided against it. Rita would let him know when the optimal time to use the restorative concoction was, and a little pain was a small price to pay for the gains he acquired during his training.

  He washed his face and then walked into the kitchen, where Rita handed him a warm plate topped with what appeared to be a bright blue omelet. It smelled great, and when he tried his first bite, he discovered that it was fluffy and delicious.

  Nick didn’t ruin the moment by asking where the egg had come from. There must be a big blue chicken around here somewhere, and that’s the end of the matter. He washed the meal down with a glass of juice and then followed his instructor outside.

  She began their day by teaching him a series of stretches, her profile outlined against the murky predawn sky. As Rita had told him, these were more than just exercises for limbering up his body. This sequence of stretches was specifically designed for warriors wielding large weapons, targeting the muscles used in taking his stance and swinging a blade.

  Nick’s legs were still a bit tender, but it wasn’t too bad after he got used to the ache. These stretches are helping me to recover faster than normal. By the time they were done, his body felt better. Some of the tension from standing in a deep stance for hours on end had melted away. They came to a stop twenty minutes later, as the sky brightened from charcoal grey to royal purple.

  As she had promised, Rita led him over to the eastern edge of the plateau, where the horizon was growing light with the coming of dawn. As color bled back into the world, the flying foxes came out in full force.

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  There were hundreds of the little buggers zooming across the plateau, playing tag with one another as they soared through the sky. Occasionally, one of them stopped to lay down a spell-infused stone, reinforcing the barrier they had created to guard the highlands from the colossal predators ranging below.

  The sunrise on this world was completely different than on Earth, or any of the planets Nick had visited thus far. With the green sun and purple sky, the radiant bands of color came in electric shades of emerald, violet, and lemon.

  It was surreal and deeply moving to watch the gorgeous natural display. Below his boots, a herd of creatures the size of warehouses made their way across the grasslands, munching down on colossal blades of baby-blue grass along the way. Not long after, the sun crested the horizon, throwing long fingers of radiance and shadow across the Titans’ Prairie.

  The temperature began to rise, and Nick was sweating by the time they made it back to Rita’s house. She led him into the workshop and over to the open space in the back, where he could move his body without the sunlight baking his skin. He was growing more excited by the footfall, eager to learn his first sword form, which his mentor had called a kata.

  Before launching into an explanation, Rita took out a piece of chalk and drew a circle on the floor with a smaller ring in the middle. She pointed to the central area. “You are to remain inside this space the entire time. The outer ring represents the effective range of your sword. The distance at which you can strike in a single move. I can tell that you already have a sense of it, but you need to drill until you can discern the reach of your weapon as naturally as the tips of your fingers.

  “I’m going to teach you the first kata of my school of the sword, the ever-surging blade. You’ll need to master the first three before we move on to the next set. These sequences are the foundation upon which all advanced techniques are built.

  “I’ll show it to you first, then explain each motion while I walk you through it. Then it’s up to you to repeat the kata until you drop. After a few hours, I’ll have you drain that flask, eat lunch, and then start the whole thing over again. A few days into it, we will add the second form, and you can start sparring with Kiki again in the evenings.

  “There are ten katas in this school. If you can master the third and start on the fourth by the end of the month, I’ll consider our time to be well spent. Save your questions for now and watch closely. See how much you can take in.”

  With that, Rita drew the slender sword she wore at her waist. It was Nick’s first time seeing the weapon out of its scabbard. The only other time that his mentor had drawn it, she had struck so fast that he hadn’t even realized she’d moved.

  The weapon’s body was only the width of his thumb, gently curved with the blade on the outer edge. It barely looked heavy enough to chop vegetables, let along flesh and armor, but somehow Nick could tell that it was a masterwork. That if Rita were so inclined, she could carve him to bits in the blink of an eye, then slice those bits to shreds before the first chunk hit the ground.

  It was a shimmering silver blade, bathed in a powerful aura that must have contained elements of pure mana or essence, considering the way that its magic resonated with Nick’s core. He had the impression that the weapon was sleeping. That if its true power were unleashed, it could crush him with its presence alone.

  It rested between Rita’s palms so naturally that it looked like she’d been born with the blade in her hands. Nick suspected that she had forged the sword herself and carried it into battle for decades or more. That countless lives had met their end at its edge. It was a chilling reminder that his instructor was a warrior. A trained killer who had survived countless challenges, slaughtering her enemies along the way.

  While she was friendly enough, he sensed that there was a darkness inside her. Something that Nick had felt growing within his own heart too. The legacy of walking a path lined with corpses and drenched in blood. And yet, she had managed to hold onto her humanity. Lived a life filled with compassion and humor to balance out her ruthlessness. A boundless love of life to temper staring death in the eyes time and time again.

  While these thoughts passed through his mind, Rita stepped into the inner circle, then took a stance with her sword held in front of her.