Chapter 63. The Dummy Test II

Chapter 63: 63. The Dummy Test II

Kael stood alone in the open space before the reinforced dummy, the packed dirt of the arena quiet around him.

At six-foot-six he towered over most of the rankers still watching from the crowd.

His frame was lean and tightly built, the kind of peak physical condition that came from constant movement rather than bulk.

Blond hair caught the afternoon light as a light breeze moved across the stadium.

The sharp lines of his face, clear blue eyes, steady jaw, the quiet confidence in his posture drew more than a few stares from the female rankers present.

Several of them looked openly starstruck for a moment.

Then recognition settled in.

This was Isolde De Thorne’s husband, the famously handsome man she kept close and rarely allowed out of her sight.

For a long time no one in Grayhollow had dared approach him.

Seeing him here now, standing in the middle of the emergency training for the demon invasion, left more than one of them quietly surprised.

Kael paid the stares no attention. His eyes stayed on the dummy in front of him.

The thing looked almost plastic under the sunlight, its surface smooth and faintly reflective.

The mouth had been shaped into a permanent, sarcastic little curve, as if the academy craftsmen had deliberately given every low-level ranker something to feel mocked by.

Kael’s brow tightened.

’Did they seriously design these things to make fun of anyone below C-rank?’

A rough voice cut across the short silence.

Amber, the red-haired member of the Valkyrie Order, spoke from the podium without patience.

"Okay. Hit it with your sword or your fist and use your mana. Stop gawking at it like an idiot."

The entire stadium waited.

Thousands of eyes fixed on the single blond figure standing in the open dirt.

No one spoke.

Even the wind seemed to pause.

Kael drew the Mulberry sword from its sheath in one clean motion.

The dark blade caught the light for a brief second before he settled into a basic stance, feet planted, shoulders loose, the sword held at a low ready angle.

’They’re probably going to ridicule me whatever I do,’ he thought.

’My D-rank mana is still newly acquired. It hasn’t fully settled into the channels yet. One hard fight would finish the integration, but right now it’s only half-stable.’

For a moment the idea of using Heaven-Cleaving Arc crossed his mind.

He dismissed it at once.

That skill was a trump card, something to keep hidden until a real threat appeared. Wasting it on a training dummy in front of the entire town would be pure stupidity.

Instead he opened the system interface inside his mind and filtered the skill shop for sword techniques under fifteen hundred LP.

Pages of options scrolled past. A few corruption-related skills flickered by like ones designed to affect a woman’s mind or body but he ignored them.

Then a clean, straightforward skill appeared.

[One-Point Sever]

Cost: 1,200 LP

Effect: Concentrates a dense node of the user’s mana at the tip of a bladed weapon for up to three seconds. Upon release the stored energy discharges in a single cutting line. Effectiveness scales with the user’s current mana density and weapon quality.

Kael selected it without hesitation. The points deducted.

A brief pulse of information settled into his mind and muscles, the knowledge of how to gather and release the energy arriving as if he had practiced the motion for years.

On the podium Lina’s impatient voice cut through the quiet.

"How much longer are you going to stand there? Do it already. The demons are not going to wait for you to finish posing."

The arrogant tone scraped across Kael’s nerves.

’Could you shut up for five seconds?’ he thought, eyes still on the dummy.

’Just wait. One day I’ll shut that mouth of yours with something a lot more effective than words.’

He adjusted his grip on the Mulberry sword.

Mana flowed from his core, down his arm, and into the blade.

Instead of spreading along the entire edge it gathered into a single dense point at the tip.

The air around that point began to distort, a faint pinkish-black shimmer coiling along the last few inches of the Mulberry blade like living smoke.

The cursed sword responded to the concentrated mana with a low, almost eager hum that only Kael could feel through the hilt.

He stepped in and swung.

The blade traced a clean horizontal arc aimed at the dummy’s neck.

For a fraction of a second the shimmering node at the tip flared into a thin, blinding line of condensed force.

Crack—!

There was a sharp cracking sound, followed by a harsh electronic buzz as the internal mana core of the dummy shorted out in protest.

Bzzzt... fsssh...

The head of the reinforced dummy separated cleanly from the body and tumbled to the packed dirt.

The torso remained standing for a moment longer, runic lines flickering and dying, before it simply stopped functioning.

A thin trail of residual pinkish energy still clung to the cut edge of the neck, slowly fading into the air.

Silence dropped across the entire stadium.

No one spoke. No one moved. The sarcastic smile that had been molded onto the dummy’s face now stared up at the sky from the ground, permanently disconnected.

Kael lowered the Mulberry sword and let the residual mana fade from the tip.

’How the hell did it break so easily? Am I stronger than a regular D- ranker?’

According to everything Lily and Lina had said, a newly advanced D- rank should not have been able to destroy one of these cores.

The only variable that made sense was the sword itself.

Whatever cursed history lived inside the Mulberry blade had clearly amplified the skill far beyond normal limits.

On the podium the three members of the Valkyrie Order reacted in different degrees of the same shock.

Lily’s black eyes widened for only a heartbeat before her expression smoothed again. Inside, her thoughts moved quickly.

’Even some of the C-minus students at the academy struggle to crack one of these with a full-power strike. How did a low D-minus ranker cut it cleanly in a single motion? And what is that strange sword he’s carrying?’

Amber’s scarred face tightened, the usual rough confidence briefly replaced by sharp assessment.

’He’s stronger than he looks.’

Lina made no effort to hide her reaction.

Her golden eyes were wide, lips slightly parted, the earlier arrogance cracked wide open as she stared at the cleanly severed dummy.

Then the surprise twisted into loud annoyance.

"Did you cheat?!" she demanded, voice high and carrying across the quiet arena.

"There’s no way a ranker at your level cuts one of those in half like that. You must have used some kind of trick!"

Kael looked up at her, expression flat and mildly incredulous, the kind of look someone gives a person who has just said something profoundly stupid.

Lina noticed it immediately. Her face flushed.

She stomped one foot hard against the stone podium, heavy chest swaying with the motion.

"Don’t look at me like I’m an idiot! I am NOT an idiot!"

Kael’s reply was calm and almost bored looking at her jiggling chest which made her look both cute and seductive at the same time.

"I didn’t say anything."

Lily stepped in before the exchange could escalate further.

She cleared her throat once and raised a hand.

"That’s enough. You seem more than capable for the basic demonstration."

She was about to continue with instructions for the rest of the crowd when Amber’s voice cut across her.

"Don’t worry, Lily," Amber purred, her voice dripping with delinquent menace.

"I’m going to train him personally. By the time I’m done, he’ll either break or learn how to bleed properly."

A sudden, involuntary chill ran straight down Kael’s spine, a instinctual warning that this red-haired demon was going to push him far beyond his limits.

But he also felt excitement looking at this red-haired beauty as he thought about how he will get the chance to be close to her proximity in the name of training.

While Lily turned her head, black eyes showing a rare flicker of surprise.

Amber almost never volunteered to take personal interest in anyone, especially not a low-ranker from a border town.

The red-haired woman kept her arms crossed, scar catching the light, expression set in stubborn lines that made it clear the decision was already final.

After a short pause Lily nodded.

"Very well."

She raised her voice so the entire stadium could hear.

"The rest of you will begin practicing with the remaining dummies immediately. No one leaves this arena until they have successfully broken at least one core. Begin."

Amber looked down at Kael and jerked her chin toward the far side of the podium.

"You’re coming with us."

Kael gave a short nod, then turned his head toward the two women still waiting at the edge of the crowd.

He raised his voice just enough to reach them.

"Brianna. Tina. I’ll be back. Both of you practice properly while I’m gone."

Tina lifted one hand in a small, almost reluctant wave.

"Don’t take too long, Kael."

Brianna’s green eyes stayed locked on him a moment longer.

"Come back in one piece."

He slid the Mulberry sword back into its sheath and started walking toward the three members of the Valkyrie Order.

Behind him the severed dummy head still lay in the dirt, the faint residual hum of its destroyed core slowly fading into silence.