Enjoy!

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Almost instantly as Zaran's head hit the pillow, the dream that had haunted him last time haunted him again, this time continuing past the point where it had stopped the last time.

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The moment he lowered his right arm, the air around Zaran howled as an absolutely terrifying amount of sword energy started to fill the air, with the eye of the storm being Zaran's greatsword. The ten pursuers where all scared witless by the sheer power of this sword energy as it was many, many times higher than what they had ever faced before. They felt as even a tiny step forward would mean the end of their life.

The moment his sword touched the ground the sword energy exploded all around him! Wave after wave of sword energy flashed out from Zaran's sword, explosion after explosion ringing out within the vast forest and overlapping each other!

BOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOO-BOOOOOOOO-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

Vast amounts of sword energy rippled forth from his greatsword, the unleashed force so great that this simple movement carved a path of destruction throughout the earth, opening up a large fissure within the forest. Trees were uprooted and sent flying before the second wave of sword energy cut them into splinters and wherever the sword energy went, flora ceased to exist!

Animals and humans alike were torn apart by the sheer force and their blood soaked the earth, turning the entire forest a deep red.

Zaran's pursuers tried to resist the sword energy by using every single strand of ki within their dantian to stop it! Doing so they were able to stop the first wave of sword energy! Yet not even a few split-seconds had passed before the second wave hit them, draining their body from the blood and a cloud of blood appeared around them! A split-second later the third wave of sword energy already gushed over them, instantly ripping the skin of their bones, only the bones and muscles left behind... The fourth wave tore the muscles of their bones and ripped the non-vital organs from their body before turning them to dust! At this point all of the pursuers were still alive, the pain turning them mad!

If they had not chosen to protect themselves with ki they would have long since passed away without any pain at all. The moment they used their pain is the moment they were doomed to die in pure agony!

The fifth wave ground their bones to dust, leaving only behind the nerves, brain and heart, their brain still processing the pain! The sixth wave finally redeemed them from their agony and turned whatever remained to dust. From the first to the sixth wave not a single second had passed... Yet the forest had become a plain!

In the forest a two kilometer long and half a kilometer wide sword scar had appeared! Its whole area dyed a deep and vivid blood red... All life within the affected area had ceased to exist. Not even a single leaf of grass remained.

As for Zaran himself... he stood in the center of it all! A single island engulfed by a sea of blood. However he too had not escaped unscathed... his body was riddled with wounds, small splinters of wood and metal clearly visible within them and his blood ceaselessly poured deep into the earth. Only bits and pieces of skin remained on his right hand and right arm and the greatsword he just held was no longer to be seen.

Gathering the last of his remaining strength, Zaran took out a medicinal pill and placed it in his mouth and swallowed it.

The medicinal power instantly engulfed his body in a warm light, his wounds slowly started to push out the metal and wood splinters that were embedded within them and one by one the splinters fell to the ground, creating a ring of metal and wood around his feet.

Only when all the splinters had been pushed out of his body, did the wounds start to close up at remarkable speed. Seconds later his whole body looked as if it were now, not a single scar remaining on his body! The blood and life force that he had lost were quickly renewed soon there after.

With his body as good as new, Zaran had a mournful expression on his face as he looked at his right hand that once wielded the oh-so familiar greatsword that had been with him through thick and thin. The power of the ki had been far too great for the greatsword to hold and it had shattered the second he started the skill.

"An ascension pill and my greatsword..." Zaran muttered, his voice filled with grief. Both were priceless treasures. An ascension pill allowed one to fully recover from any injury and regain any life force that they had lost in the past hour! Very few such pills existed at all and now he had to use the only one he had.

As for his greatsword... in all his years and fights not even a single dent had appeared on its blade! It reigned supreme over all weapons it had ever encountered and now too it was lost. Even though he was able to keep his life, the price he had paid had been far too great!

"There must be another way..." Zaran muttered as he looked at the air. "There must be another way to use intent! A way for me to lower the affected area and a way that does not break my sword!"

A flash of realization crossed his mid and he immediately sat down in a lotus stance and entered a deep meditative state.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moment he entered the meditative state in his dream, Zaran opened his eyes and a system message appeared before him.

You have slept for at least eight hours and gained the buff 'Well rested!'

+ 50 % experience

+ 100 % resource regeneration

+ 100 % health regeneration

Duration: 16 hours

"Annoying." Zaran muttered. "Reliving old memories in my dreams merely because the move occupies my mind at day."

It was rather neat how one was able to sleep and dream while in the game. Once one fell asleep in the game, one was also asleep in reality. Thus if one slept on a regular basis within the game, there was no need more need to sleep outside of the game. Needless to say if one always slept within the game it brought many side-effects along with it and thus one could only sleep for a limited time each real life day.

Zaran stood up and carefully walked out the door, trying to make the least amount of sound possible so he would not wake Florance.

Once outside the room, Zaran changed into some casual clothes he bought earlier at the market. Done changing, Zaran started walking towards the kitched.

"Eh... master? Up this early?" A cute sounding voice rang out from behind him.

Zaran turned around and saw Annika looking up at him with a confused face. She was of the fairy race and that combined with her innate petite stature added further to her adorableness. Four transparent green insect-like wings were spread wide open behind her back and nervously fluttered. Her green shoulder-length hair was styled in a wavy side wept bob.

"Ah Annika you come just at the right time. Tell Dietrich to prepare me a simple breakfast and then deliver it to me in the study." Zaran calmly said.

"Leave it to me!" Annika said, instantly storming off towards the kitchen.

Zaran quickly made his way to the study and sat behind the desk, taking out a few scrolls and placing them on the table. Zaran accessed a few menu's and opened up the sword school's menu. One of the options available was create skill scroll and after he selected 'Flutter' a window popped up in his sight, telling him how to create a skill scroll.

Skill scroll creationMaterials- Any type of scroll

- A pencil or ink and a featherSteps- On the top of the scroll, write the name of the skill

- The second line has to contain the name of the creator and the date of creation

- The next few lines have to contain a simple description of the skillOnce all the steps have been completed the system will automatically fill in the rest of the scroll with images describing the various stances or information necessary to complete the skill.

After Zaran filled in the required information, the scroll lit up and was filled with six images, depicting the way to utilize 'Flutter'. When he inspected the scroll it now gave the option to learn the skill within. He quickly stored it and created a copy of this scroll and then made two more for both 'Rise and Fall' and 'Velocity'.

As soon as he was done Zaran stored all of the scrolls in his storage ring and started to meditate.

After nearly half an hour of meditating, Annika opened the door with a plate of food in her hand "Master breakfast is here!"

Zaran opened his eyes and said "Put it on the table and then take a seat."

The maid placed down the tray of food and then looked around for a chair. "There's no place to sit?"

Tap tap. Zaran patted the wooden desk a few times and then glanced meaningfully at Annika.

"Oh..." Annika let out, her face fully flushed. "What if the miss finds out?"

"We're not going to do anything." Zaran said. "I just like to have someone to talk to while I eat."

"Uhn!" Annika said and she flew up a few centimeters, turned around in midair and gently landed on the desk.

Warmly smiling, Zaran started eating and the two of them chatted and Zaran tried to learn as much about Annika as he could. When he finished his dinner he said "Bring this back to the kitchen and tell Sandra, Neteri and Roku to get to the training courtyard at the backyard as soon as possible."