Iron Will, Dragon Heart Series Book 2

2

“I don’t understand why you’re just standing around!” Nero shouted, putting a bundle of five logs on his back. “Come on! Move it! Otherwise, you’ll be running until dinner! Which will be... tomorrow evening! Now… f*****g MOVE!”

The recruits immediately rushed over to the log pyramid. Groaning, moaning, and drenched in sweat, they haphazardly threw the logs across their shoulders and, for the most part, found they couldn’t even move. Most of them stumbled, limped, and almost crawled around the parade ground. In their eyes, these officers were no longer just living legends. Not merely the heroes of bards’ songs.

No.

They were demons that had crept out of the abyss. It was only their first day with this newly formed squad, and some of the soldiers were already cursing the day they had decided to join it.

“They’re sickly.” Hadjar sighed as Nero caught up with him.

“Don’t worry. We’ll train them up,” his friend replied.

Hadjar looked to the north. There, the army of Balium, which no doubt numbered in the millions, was preparing. By now, the enemy had surely not only doubled their advantage, but had most likely increased their numerical superiority tenfold.

“We’ll make sure they survive, Hadj,” Nero said, sensing the troubles that plagued Hadjar’s thoughts as he turned to gaze northward as well.

“Even if the sky itself cracks?” Hadjar asked.

“Even if the sky itself cracks,” Nero agreed.

Next to the barrel that marked the center of their parade ground, the new standard of their squad was flying in the wind. It depicted a huge bear, wearing armor, and raising its large paws toward the heavens. Its eyes were clear, almost human in their intelligence.

The bear was still watching its charges.

Chapter 75

Sitting in the lotus position, Hadjar absorbed the energy of the world around him. He closed his eyes and breathed in the manner described in Traves’ meditation scroll that lay at his feet. Maintaining a proper breathing pattern and circulating the absorbed energy with this special Technique, he felt that he was progressing much faster than he otherwise might have. It took him only a single night to absorb all the energy. It wasn’t so long ago that he would’ve needed a whole month to do so. Finally, he was making real progress.

Message to host:

Energy points

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With every breath, he could feel the energy of Heaven and Earth penetrating everything around him. A kind of ephemeral substance that was in the air, water, fire, trees, iron, people, beasts, and everything that was under the boundless skies, in the flow of the endless waters, or beneath the granite earth.

This energy infused everything, even keeping secrets and guarding mysteries that Hadjar couldn’t begin to understand. Try as he might, he couldn’t find his way back to Traves’ Palace. He had been so eager to return there every day, but he couldn’t find the entrance in the endless dark of his subconscious. It was beginning to frustrate him to the point that he felt like giving up.

The only thing he saw in this bottomless darkness were the five sparkling Fragments which had once been an integral whole—the Seed. But thanks to his power and will, Hadjar had been able to break the Seed into these smaller parts. He had made each of them grow, gradually making every one bigger than their progenitor Seed, and then he’d nourished each of them with power.

He had discovered some interesting information while he’d been perusing the librarian’s scrolls, which he was constantly renting and never buying, thanks to the neuronet and its memory access. It had been suggested in the scrolls that a practitioner’s talent could be made almost limitless.

This meant a superior stage Heaven Soldier might be so strong that they could defeat an initial stage Spirit Knight. On the other hand, they might botch it and end up so weak that the Knight would wipe the floor with them without even trying. There was so much information to take in. At times, Hadjar worried that he wouldn’t have room in his mind to remember everything that he needed to.

It depended on too many factors: on Techniques and a cultivator’s skill, as well as how well they knew their bodies and the world around them. Moreover, Hadjar had learned that true swordsmanship didn’t end at the ‘Wielder’ stage, which had come as a surprise to him.

He had recently discovered this fourth stage. However, there was no significant information about it in any scroll, merely vague hints and discreet mentions.

Hadjar was beginning to see the sword as more than a tool of revenge. Every time he held it in his hands, with each s***h, he felt that it wasn’t just a shaped piece of metal made to end people’s lives. Instead, he felt like there were secrets and mysteries locked up within, hidden behind the veil of this reality. He sensed that answers were waiting for him, hidden within those depths.

Answers to the questions that continued, even now, to torment his soul.

Only the sword could give him the knowledge and freedom that he truly desired. The ability to decide his own destiny, and the opportunity to see and explore this boundless world.

All of these thoughts came to him as he took another breath. All of them hidden in the particles of the absorbed energy that surrounded him. Absorbed via the nodes, the energy passed through the meridian rivers, and then rushed into the Fragments. With his every breath, they sparkled a little brighter.

As the librarian’s scrolls had described, talent could usually be measured. It was possible to do this during the initial stages, when the difference in a practitioner’s power wasn’t so visible, by counting the number of Fragments.

It was said that very ordinary practitioners were only able to break the Seed into two Fragments. Those who were a little stronger managed four. The average level was five Fragments, and only the most talented of geniuses were able to split the Seed into seven Fragments.