Training My Hammer
1116 Words
I pushed my way through the crowd and slipped into an empty lounge, quickly claiming it as mine.
Only after I shut the door did I finally let out a breath. I sent Sera and Jax the room number, almost out of habit.
When the room fell quiet, I leaned against the door for a couple of seconds, listening for any movement outside. Hearing none, I moved slowly to a chair by the side and sat down.
My hand drifted instinctively to my lower back.
My hammer. We’d won the last match thanks to it.
I took it off and held it in my hand. The familiar chill was still there—but something felt… different.
Especially after that moment with Cassian. That brief contact of our mental energy—it felt like something inside me had been unlocked.
I set the hammer on the table and stared at it. A thought surfaced, sudden and clear.
Try it.
I slowly gathered my mental energy and reached forward with it.
At first, nothing happened. I focused harder, pushed again,
The hammer shifted. Just slightly.
I straightened instantly, staring at it, barely daring to breathe.
Did it just… move?
I swallowed and tried again.
This time, I focused even more.
My mental energy felt like an invisible hand, cautiously “grasping” it,
Then pushing.
The hammer slid across the table, slowly, maybe ten centimeters.
My heartbeat picked up.
I stared at it, my gaze changing.
If it can move… then can it attack?
I took a deep breath, eyes settling on the black crystal embedded in the hammerhead.
My father once said it was the hardest substance in the universe. I’d tested that myself—it was true.
It was the only reason I’d managed to survive on this unfamiliar planet.
I steadied myself and carefully guided my mental energy toward it, trying to “activate” it.
A faint vibration pulsed from within the hammer.
The next second, the crystal lit up. Threads of pale green energy seeped out, fine as silk, like delicate vines.
A single thought—and the strands moved. They swayed gently, responding to me.
I guided them left—they followed. Right—they obeyed.
I even tried to make them coil, and they wrapped obediently around a table leg.
Then I gave a sharp command. “Smash.”
The table flipped over instantly, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Fortunately, the arena was loud as ever—no one paid any attention to what happened in this room.
I couldn’t help raising a hand, gesturing in the air. The green strands followed, tightening, loosening, shifting with my motion.
A quiet curse slipped out of me.
“This is insane…”
But I couldn’t stop. I kept practicing, again and again—controlling them, pushing them farther, faster.
By the time I finally stopped, a thin layer of sweat had formed on my forehead and palms.
Right then, a knock came from the door.
I put the hammer away, gave the lounge a quick tidy, and went to open it. Sera and Jax had arrived.
The moment Sera stepped in, she handed me something—a small box, tightly wrapped.
She rolled her wrist, clearly curious. “Ash, what’d you buy? It’s kinda heavy.”
“Thanks.”
I took the box. It did have some weight to it.
“Just some small stuff for crafting,” I said casually.
Before she could ask more, I started unwrapping it.
The outer layers were sealed tight, but I peeled them off quickly, one by one. When I finally opened the box, the materials I’d just ordered were all inside.
I glanced down, brushing them lightly with my fingertips. Only after confirming everything was fine did I let out a quiet breath.
Whether my escape plan would work… it all came down to this.
There was still a match to fight. I packed the materials back into the box and set it in a corner, planning to grab it later.
Our opponent today was a team called “Blood Howl.”
Even the name sounded trouble. Three of them, all heavily built—muscle lines like they’d been carved, eyes sharp like they were ready to tear someone apart at any second.
They clearly didn’t take us seriously.
The match started, and they came straight at us. No subtlety—just brute force. The plan was obvious: take out Sera and me first, the “weakest” targets.
“Come on!” Jax roared, planting himself at the front like a wall.
He took their first wave head-on—fists against fists, muscle against muscle.
But there were three of them.
No matter how tough Jax was, he couldn’t hold off three people pressing him nonstop.
Within moments, blood was already showing.
Sera was moving. She was fast—constantly shifting angles, creating distance, firing paralyzing needles in quick succession. But they were prepared—blocking or dodging ahead of time.
Her hit rate wasn’t high.
And me—I was doing what I always did. Circling, harassing.
But this time, something was different.
I could feel it. My state was clearer than before.
It was like my mental energy had opened up just a little. The subtle tremor of their muscles when they exerted force, the shift of weight before their feet landed, even that split-second lag—they were all suddenly readable.
I waited for an opening.
Finally—one of them threw a heavy punch and missed. There was a brief recovery window, his strength not yet reset, his center of gravity just about to drop—
Now.
I flicked my foot. A small stone I’d prepared earlier shot out precisely, landing right where his next step would fall.
“Thud—!”
He didn’t react in time. His foot slipped, his balance collapsed, and he pitched forward awkwardly.
Their advancing momentum broke instantly.
“Nice one, Ash!”
Sera reacted immediately—almost the moment he fell, she was already in close.
A paralyzing needle struck his neck cleanly. His body stiffened, and he dropped out of the fight.
One down.
The remaining two from “Blood Howl” changed expressions instantly—contempt turning into anger.
Then their assault doubled.
The pressure on Jax spiked. Within seconds, one of them drove a punch into his chest—this one clearly carrying a surge of mental force.
“Ugh—!”
He grunted, staggered half a step back, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
My chest tightened. At this rate, he wouldn’t hold much longer.
And the third one… had already locked onto me.
- Writer
