The Saber Garden felt different this time.
I moved through the forest with confidence born from experience, my enhanced senses tracking every sound and movement. The Blade Sense skill operated in the background of my awareness, a constant radar detecting potential threats. My footsteps were deliberate and measured, covering ground efficiently while maintaining readiness.
But what struck me most was the sensation of my mana pool slowly refilling itself. It was subtle, barely noticeable unless I focused on it, but it was there. A gentle trickle of ambient mana being absorbed and processed by my Primordial Chaos Physique, converted into usable energy through my Intermediate-level Mana Circulation.
'That's new. Or rather, that's what being ranked means.'
According to what I'd read in the Einsworth library, Unranked individuals could only replenish mana through rest and meditation. But once you achieved Novice rank, your mana pathways became refined enough to passively absorb ambient energy from your surroundings. The effect was slow, maybe one or two points per hour under normal conditions, but it meant you were never truly empty.
It was one of the fundamental differences between being Unranked and being recognized by the world's power system as a legitimate combatant.
The path north toward the rocky highlands took me through dense forest where sunlight struggled to penetrate the canopy. I'd been walking for perhaps twenty minutes when my Blade Sense detected the first threat.
Movement to my left. Roughly thirty feet away. The distinctive pressure of claws, multiple sets, moving with predatory intent.
Crimson Maws. At least two, maybe three.
I didn't break stride. Didn't slow or show hesitation. Simply adjusted my angle slightly, moving toward rather than away from the detected threats.
They emerged from the undergrowth ahead of me, three of them, their fur the color of dried blood and their eyes glowing with hunger. Standard Novice-rank beasts, the same type I'd fought during my first venture into this forest.
But I wasn't the same person who'd barely survived that encounter.
The lead Crimson Maw lunged, jaws wide and claws extended, covering the distance between us with predatory speed.
I drew.
First Light executed with perfect form, the motion so fast it appeared as a single blur of steel. The Einsworth Family Saber left its sheath, cut through its arc, and released concentrated mana pressure in the span of a heartbeat.
The pressure wave struck the lunging beast mid-air, catching it directly in the throat. The cutting force sheared through fur and flesh and spine with surgical precision, nearly decapitating it. The Crimson Maw's momentum carried its body forward, but it was already dead, crashing to the ground in a heap of twitching limbs.
Nine mana spent. Forty-six remaining.
The other two beasts hesitated, their predatory confidence shaken by watching their packmate die before it even understood the fight had started. Their eyes tracked the blade in my hand, some animal instinct recognizing the threat it represented. They separated, beginning to circle in opposite directions.
Pack tactics. Intelligent. But insufficient against someone who'd spent weeks drilling counter-strategies.
I executed Phantom Step, repositioning behind the leftmost beast before it could complete its flanking maneuver. The creature tried to twist and face me, its claws digging into the earth for traction, but I was already moving.
Draw.
First Light again. The blade sang through the air, a whisper of steel that ended in thunder. The pressure wave took the Crimson Maw through the ribs, penetrating deep into its chest cavity and shredding everything vital within. It collapsed without making a sound, dead before its body registered what had happened.
Seventeen mana spent. Thirty-eight remaining.
The final beast's nerve broke completely. It turned and bolted, abandoning its pack, abandoning the hunt, driven purely by the survival instinct that recognized a predator far more dangerous than itself.
I let it go. My target was the Razorback, not every beast in the forest. Conserving mana was more important than eliminating a fleeing opponent. Besides, with my passive regeneration, those seventeen spent points would recover given enough time.
I knelt beside the two dead Crimson Maws and quickly harvested their cores. The process was mechanical now, efficient from repetition. Draw knife, locate the center of the chest, cut through the hide, reach inside past ribs and organs, find the hard crystalline sphere that served as the beast's mana core, extract it cleanly. Two fist-sized orbs of glowing crimson mana joined my collection, still warm with residual energy.
Then I continued north, leaving the corpses for scavengers.
The forest began to change as I penetrated deeper into the Saber Garden. The soil became rockier, small stones and gravel mixing with dirt. Trees grew more sparse, their trunks gnarled and twisted from forcing roots into increasingly inhospitable ground. The terrain started to slope upward, transitioning from flat forest floor to ascending grades that made each step require more effort.
This was the edge of the rocky highlands Jack had described. Razorback territory.
My Blade Sense detected more threats over the next hour as I pushed deeper. Single Crimson Maws or small packs, attracted by my presence. My Cursed and Unfortunate title was working exactly as the system had warned, drawing monsters to me with increased frequency and aggression.
But each encounter ended the same way.
A lone Crimson Maw burst from cover to my right, snarling with acid dripping from its jaws. First Light took it through the skull, the pressure wave caving in bone and ending the threat before it closed half the distance.
Nine mana spent. Regenerated two points while walking. Net cost of seven.
Two Crimson Maws attempted an ambush from opposite directions, trying to catch me between them. Phantom Step repositioned me behind the nearest one. First Light ended it. The second beast tried to flee. I let it go.
Seventeen mana spent. Regenerated three points while dealing with the encounter. Net cost of fourteen.
Another solo beast, this one larger than average, probably an experienced hunter. It actually managed to dodge my first First Light execution, its enhanced agility carrying it sideways fast enough that my pressure wave only grazed its shoulder instead of killing cleanly.
I flowed directly into a second First Light without resetting my stance, adapting the technique mid-execution in a way that would have been impossible three weeks ago. The second pressure wave caught the beast as it tried to recover from its dodge, striking center mass and punching through its ribs to destroy its heart.
Eighteen mana spent on two executions. Regenerated one point during the brief fight. Net cost of seventeen.
By the time I reached the proper highlands, my collection had grown to five Crimson Maw cores, and my mana pool had stabilized at thirty-three points. I'd spent significant energy eliminating threats, but the passive regeneration had recovered roughly twelve points over the journey, softening the impact.
'That's the difference ranking makes. An Unranked fighter would have depleted themselves and had no recovery. I can fight, rest briefly, and fight again. It changes everything.'
The highlands were exactly as Jack had described. Rocky outcroppings jutted from the earth like broken teeth, some as tall as houses, creating a maze of stone formations. Boulders the size of carriages littered the landscape, evidence of ancient avalanches or some long-ago upheaval. The trees that grew here were sparse and twisted, gnarled things that looked more dead than alive, forcing their roots into cracks in solid stone to find any purchase.
The entire area had a harsh, unforgiving quality that spoke to the type of creature that would claim it as territory.
I found the first signs quickly. Massive gouges in stone where tusks had scraped, the marks cutting inches deep into rock that should have resisted such damage. Areas where the ground had been churned up by hooves the size of dinner plates, the earth torn and scattered. And scattered throughout the territory, bones. Some fresh with meat still clinging to them, some ancient and weathered, evidence of countless kills the Razorback had made over what must have been years of dominance.
'This thing has been here for a long time. Apex predator of this region. How many challengers has it killed?'
I moved more carefully now, using the rocky terrain for cover, keeping to shadows and low ground where possible. My Blade Sense was fully active, pushing to its maximum range of seventy-five feet while I held the Einsworth Family Saber. Every thirty seconds, I paused and scanned, listening and sensing, building a mental map of the area.
The attack came without warning.
One moment I was moving between two large boulders, my attention divided between the path ahead and my sensory skills. The next moment, the boulder to my right exploded outward, massive tusks tearing through solid stone like it was wet clay, sending fragments flying in every direction.
The Razorback burst into the open, and the sight of it drove every thought from my mind except immediate survival.
It was enormous. Easily twelve feet long from snout to hindquarters, and six feet tall at the shoulder, with a barrel chest that spoke of devastating power. Muscles rippled beneath hide so thick it looked like armor plating, dark and scarred from years of combat. Its tusks curved upward from its lower jaw, each one as long as my arm and wickedly sharp, stained dark with the blood of previous kills. The ridge of quills running down its spine bristled with threat, each spine as thick as a finger and clearly sharp enough to punch through flesh and bone.
But what truly struck me was the pressure it radiated. This wasn't Novice rank playing at being dangerous. This was Apprentice rank, a full tier higher, representing a fundamental difference in capability. The beast's mana presence crashed over me like a physical wave, dense and overwhelming, the accumulated power of something that had survived and thrived for years in one of the most dangerous places in the kingdom.
And it was already moving, the initial charge carrying it toward me with speed that should have been impossible for something so massive.
I executed Phantom Step purely on instinct, my body reacting before my conscious mind fully processed the threat. Eight mana drained from my pool as the technique activated, repositioning me twenty feet to the left in the fraction of a second it took the Razorback's tusks to tear through the space where I'd been standing.
Twenty-five mana remaining.
The beast's momentum carried it forward, and it crashed into the boulder behind my original position with earth-shaking force. The stone shattered, fragments exploding outward like shrapnel. The impact would have pulverized my body instantly if those tusks had connected.
'It's fast. Impossibly fast for something that size. And that charge would have killed me before I even felt the pain.'
The Razorback recovered from its missed charge with frightening agility, its hooves finding purchase on loose stone as it pivoted to face me again. Its eyes were small and red, burning with primal aggression and something that might have been intelligence. It let out a sound that was half roar, half squeal, a noise that shook the air and made my bones vibrate, echoing off the surrounding stone formations.
Then the quills along its spine stood fully erect, bristling like a forest of blades.
'Oh no—'
I threw myself behind the nearest boulder as dozens of quills launched from the Razorback's back like arrows fired from multiple bows simultaneously. The projectiles struck stone with explosive force, each impact sending cracks spider-webbing through solid rock. The sound was like a dozen hammers hitting anvils at once, deafening in the confined space of the highlands.
One quill grazed my left shoulder, tearing through my coat and the shirt beneath, drawing a line of fire across my skin. Another embedded itself in the boulder I was hiding behind, penetrating six inches into solid stone before its momentum was arrested.
'It can shoot those things with enough force to pierce rock. A direct hit would go through me like I wasn't even there.'
I had twenty-five mana. My passive regeneration was still working, but at roughly one point every thirty minutes under combat conditions, it wouldn't make a meaningful difference in this fight. I needed to end this efficiently or risk complete depletion.
The Razorback charged again, and I could hear it coming. The thunder of its hooves against stone, the scrape of its tusks as they dragged the ground, the huffing breath from its massive lungs. The entire world seemed to shake with each impact of its weight.
I waited, counting the beats, judging the distance by sound. Three. Two. One.
Phantom Step carried me around the boulder at the last possible instant, repositioning to where the beast had been before it started its charge. Seventeen mana remaining.
The Razorback's momentum carried it past the boulder, unable to adjust mid-charge, and it crashed into another rock formation with devastating force. Stone shattered. Dust filled the air. The creature bellowed in frustration, a sound that spoke to rage barely controlled, and spun to face me again.
But this time I was ready. This time I had position and a brief window.
I drew and executed First Light in one fluid motion, not even pausing to settle my stance. The technique had become instinctive enough that I could execute from suboptimal positioning if necessary.
The pressure wave shot forward, aimed at the Razorback's exposed flank while it was still recovering from the crash. The cutting force struck true, carving a deep gouge in the beast's thick hide, drawing first blood.
Eight mana remaining.
But the wound that would have killed a Crimson Maw barely seemed to register. The Razorback's hide was so thick, its endurance so high, that my First Light had only managed to cut maybe two inches deep. Painful, certainly. Enraging, absolutely. But nowhere close to lethal.
The beast's bellow this time was pure rage. It spun faster than anything that size should have been able to move, and its tusks came around in a sweeping arc aimed at my midsection.
I tried to execute Phantom Step to dodge, but my mana pool was too low. Eight points remaining, not enough for the technique's cost. My body tried to move conventionally, diving backward, but the Razorback was too fast.
One tusk caught the edge of my coat, tearing through fabric and spinning me around. I hit the ground hard, rolling across loose stone that scraped skin and bruised ribs. Scrambled to my feet, gasping, realizing how close I'd come to being impaled.
The Razorback advanced slowly now, sensing it had me cornered. Its red eyes tracked every movement, calculating, and I saw the intelligence there. This wasn't a mindless beast. This was an apex predator that had survived countless fights through a combination of power and cunning.
And I had eight mana remaining. Not enough for any of my Flash God Technique arts. Not enough for anything except maybe one use of Savage Slash, and that wouldn't penetrate the Razorback's hide any better than First Light had.
'I need mana. Need it now.'
My hand went to my coat pocket, feeling the five Crimson Maw cores stored there. Resources. Energy. Desperation.
I pulled one core out and crushed it in my fist.
The crystallized mana shattered like glass, and I absorbed the raw energy directly into my depleted pool. It was crude, brutally inefficient compared to letting the saber process cores properly. The system had no notification for this emergency measure, no elegant description. Just desperate survival instinct channeling power the most direct way possible.
My mana jumped from eight to fifteen points. Seven points recovered from a core that would have provided twenty or more if consumed properly through the saber's absorption process. But seven points was enough to matter.
The Razorback charged again, building speed, its tusks aimed directly at my chest. I had maybe two seconds before impact.
Not enough time for First Light. Not enough distance for Phantom Step to create meaningful advantage.
But enough for something else.
I crushed a second Crimson Maw core, the energy flooding into my system. Twenty-two mana total.
Then a third core, pushing myself up to twenty-nine points.
The Razorback was ten feet away, its massive bulk filling my vision, death incarnate bearing down with unstoppable momentum.
I planted my feet, settled into Heaven Splitter's stance with mechanical precision born from hundreds of hours of drilling, and channeled every available point of mana into the technique.
My entire body engaged in perfect synchronization. Legs pushing off hard enough to crack the stone beneath my boots. Hips rotating to transfer force from lower body to upper body. Core muscles tightening like cables under tension. Shoulders extending, driving my arms forward. Every muscle, every fiber, every component working in harmony.
The Einsworth Family Saber thrust forward, and the air in front of it compressed violently.
But this wasn't the small cone of pressure I'd generated during training. This was different. This was twenty-nine points of mana, everything I had remaining plus what I'd desperately recovered, poured into a single technique with the amplification of a legendary weapon and the enhancement of weeks of intensive practice.
The compression continued building, visible distortion in the air becoming something more solid, almost tangible. The pressure wave condensed further, becoming darker, denser, a projectile of pure destructive force.
The Razorback was three feet away when I released it.
*BOOM.*
The sound wasn't just loud. It was catastrophic. A thunderclap at point-blank range that made my ears ring and my vision blur. The compressed air shot forward like a ballista bolt, trailing distortion in its wake.
The projectile struck the Razorback directly between its eyes.
For a fraction of a second, nothing seemed to happen. The beast's momentum continued carrying it forward, tusks still aimed at my chest, its bulk blocking out the sky.
Then its head exploded.
The force of Heaven Splitter didn't just penetrate the thick skull. It obliterated it. Bone, brain matter, blood, and tissue erupted outward in a sphere of destruction that painted the surrounding rocks crimson. The devastation was absolute, leaving nothing above the Razorback's massive shoulders except a ragged stump.
The body's momentum turned from controlled charge into dead weight tumbling forward. Twelve hundred pounds of meat and muscle and bone, suddenly without anything directing it, crashed toward me like an avalanche.
I threw myself to the side with everything I had, my depleted body barely managing the movement. The headless corpse thundered past, missing me by inches, and slammed into the ground with earth-shaking force. The impact created a small crater, cracking stone and sending up a cloud of dust and debris that obscured everything.
I landed badly, my right ankle twisting, sharp pain shooting up my leg. Went down hard, my shoulder hitting rock, driving the air from my lungs. For several seconds, I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, could only lie there gasping as the dust settled around me.
My mana pool was at absolute zero. Completely empty. The passive regeneration was still working, but at one point every thirty minutes, it would be hours before I recovered meaningful amounts.
My body shook from adrenaline crash and exhaustion. Every muscle felt like it had been wrung out and left to dry. My ankle throbbed with pain that suggested a sprain at minimum.
But I was alive. And the Apprentice-rank beast was dead.
I forced myself to roll onto my side, then up onto my knees, ignoring the protests from my injured ankle and bruised body. Through the settling dust, I could see the Razorback's corpse. The headless body had finally stopped twitching, lying in its own crater, blood pooling around what remained.
The system screen materialized in my vision, text scrolling across it.
[Combat complete.]
[Apprentice-ranked beast (Low-tier) defeated while Novice ranked.]
[Razorback Boar eliminated.]
[Exceptional achievement recognized.]
[Combat Analysis: Defeated opponent with superior attributes through tactical resource management, adaptive technique execution, and decisive final strike. Performance evaluation: Exemplary.]
[Rewards Calculated:]
[First Light proficiency increased: 15% → 19%]
[Note: Successful combat usage against Apprentice-tier opponent provides enhanced learning.]
[Phantom Step proficiency increased: 7% → 11%]
[Note: Multiple successful evasions under extreme pressure accelerate mastery.]
[Heaven Splitter proficiency increased: 5% → 14%]
[Note: Executing a killing blow against a higher-tier opponent significantly advances understanding.]
[New Achievement Unlocked: Tier Breaker]
[Achievement: Tier Breaker]
[Description: You have defeated an opponent of a higher rank tier through skill, tactics, and determination. This achievement marks you as someone who refuses to be limited by conventional power hierarchies.]
[Reward: +2 to all attributes]
[Additional Reward: Title upgraded - Rank Ascendant → Rank Breaker]
[Title: Rank Breaker]
[Rarity: Uncommon]
[Description: You have proven that rank is not destiny. You can defeat opponents stronger than yourself through superior technique and tactical thinking.]
[Effects:]
[- Experience gain from combat increased by 10% (upgraded from 5%)]
[- Learning speed for combat-related skills increased by 15%]
[- When fighting opponents of higher rank, all technique damage increased by 5%]
I dismissed the screen after reading it once, too exhausted to fully process the implications. The rewards were substantial, but they could wait. Right now, I needed to harvest the core and get out before something else decided to investigate the noise.
I limped over to the Razorback's headless corpse, my injured ankle making each step an exercise in pain management. The body was even more massive up close, its hide thick enough that I could see now how even properly executed First Light had struggled to penetrate deeply.
'Heaven Splitter was the right choice. The only choice. Nothing else would have had the power to kill it cleanly.'
I pulled out my knife and began the messy process of harvesting the core. The chest cavity was enormous, requiring me to climb partially inside, my arms disappearing up to the shoulders as I searched for the crystallized mana sphere.
When I finally found it and pulled it free, I understood viscerally why Apprentice rank represented a qualitative leap from Novice.
The core was massive. Easily twice the size of the Crimson Alpha's core, glowing with intense amber light that pulsed with contained power. The surface was perfectly smooth, the crystalline structure flawless, and just holding it made my skin tingle with the sheer density of mana it contained. This wasn't just more mana. It was better mana, refined and concentrated through years of the Razorback's existence.
'This is what advancement looks like. Each tier isn't just a step up. It's a fundamental change in what's possible.'
I wrapped the Razorback's core carefully in cloth torn from my already ruined coat and stored it in my interior pocket, keeping it separate from the two remaining Crimson Maw cores I still carried. Three cores total now, having consumed three in desperation during the fight. But the Razorback's core alone was worth more than all five Crimson Maw cores combined.
My ankle screamed in protest as I stood, but it would hold. The Primordial Chaos Physique was already working on the injury, accelerating healing beyond normal human rates. By the time I reached the forest's edge, the sprain would probably be reduced to a dull ache.
I took one last look at the Razorback's corpse, at the crater it had created, at the blood painting the rocks. Evidence of what I'd accomplished. An Apprentice-rank beast, killed through proper technique execution, tactical resource management, and the decisive application of everything I'd learned.
'Jack was right. The strong don't always win. The fast win. The precise win. Those who strike first and strike true win. And those who can adapt when the plan fails.'
I turned and began the long walk back toward the Saber Garden's entrance, moving as quickly as my injured ankle would allow. My mana pool slowly ticked upward as I walked, the passive regeneration working in the background. One point. Two points. Three. By the time I reached the forest proper, I'd be back up to five or six points. Not enough to fight effectively, but enough to execute one emergency Phantom Step if absolutely necessary.