New Benefits

It was a pitch black night, the stars shone bright as they twinkled in the sky.

On a desolated mountain top, a lone figured stood with a hood pulled up over his face. His silhouette was lit up by the moon behind him.

At the top of the mountain, the winds blew viciously like they were trying to destroy everything in it's path. Rocks were flying and trees shook, threatening to topple over. Countless leaves were pulled off of branches and scattered everywhere.

But the lone man stood unfazed, calmly facing the destructive wind without fear. His clothes rustled, but he paid it no heed, simply just standing there as carnage was all around him.

Rocks, branches and leaves flew close to him, but none touched his body. It gave the sort of impression that the wind was his foe, trying to cut him down with every means available to it.

But whatever the wind did, it didn't faze the man one bit. His posture was perfectly rigid as he stood, fearlessly facing the wind's onslaught.

There was something oddly familiar about that man, but it was hard to put a finger on what it was with his face covered. The wind was no help, it was like the hood was glued on and no matter how intense the wind became, the hood just wouldn't fall off.

But almost as if doing it for the sake of who was watching, the man pulled off his own hood, revealing what was beneath.

Black horns, red eyes, there was even that awe imposing presence. It was a man that was hard to forget, the same demonic man that had appeared in Kaden's nightmare.

In a look of contempt towards the wind, the man unsheathed his sword and started going through a series of movements.

It was like the man had become locked in a battle with the wind, fiercely fighting the invisible foe that was everywhere around him. The man's sword slashed, sliced, thrusted, and parried. To anyone watching it was a hypnotizing sight, like a sword dance that drew you in because of the performer's complete mastery of the movements.

Minutes passed before the man ceased his display. For a spectator it was hard to tell just who had won the battle. But the man seemed to be satisfied and re sheathed his sword into it's scabbard.

Soon the man's head turned and found the spectator.

Their eyes locked and as he watched those mesmerizing red eyes, Kaden felt as if he was being sucked into the abyss. Like he was being drawn into the man's world, into his domain.

But then the dreamworld shifted, and a black haze started spreading out all around him, enveloping his vision.

Kaden felt himself regaining control of his body and mind, being able to move and think once again.

So he was back in the dreamscape? It seemed so.

He shuddered. Urgh, he didn't think he would ever get used to those visions or whatever they were. It felt so uncomfortable, like he was passively watching through someone elses eyes, not in control of his own body. All he could do was watch, he didn't even know who he was in the visions, and he could only process them after.

In the moment he was always just, watching, not acting or thinking. He was like a puppet, blindly following along as he saw whatever the vision wanted him to.

But he felt a lot better now that he was in control again.

He smiled before taking a step forward, he had a theory that he wanted to confirm.

The phantom of the demonic man appeared before him, pulling out it's sword.

But in a different turn of events from what he had expected, small red letters flew out next to the phantom. The letters flew into place and spelled out 'Azrathian Common Sword Form'.

Before Kaden could even finish reading the small print, the phantom of the demonic man began performing what Kaden now knew was a sword form.

Kaden's eyes lit up as he saw it. This was perfect, and also meant that his theory was right.

He was sure now that after a vision, the phantom would be capable of teaching him new techniques. It was like he had to see the technique in it's true form first, before he could learn it.

So were those visions real events that had taken place? He simply had no way of knowing.

After the phantom finished going through the entire sword form, a few more letters flew out, aligning themselves at the end of the others.

'Azrathian Common Sword Form - Demonic Sword Slash'

The name troubled him a bit, but he was still eager to see what it was. After a short pause, the phantom then started moving again. This time it performed the technique that he had already been shown, the one he saw his first time in the dreamscape.

It all clicked into place now, the technique and the sword form were part of the same whole. They were made to be used together.

Simply put, the sword form was a general way of fighting, including how to attack and parry basic attacks. The technique was more of an enhanced attack, something that could be used as an ultimate move, something that could be used to kill. This he had witnessed first hand, and he knew that it was true.

It was interesting that he'd been taught a killing technique before the sword form, it was kind of like skipping the entire basics. As if he'd never learned how to drive, and then jumped straight into a racecar, taking it around the tracks at speeds upwards of 300 km/h.

Not to mention, why had the dreamscape seen fit to give him access to the sword form now?

He had no clue what the criteria could be. Was it because he'd mastered the technique to a sufficient level? Or was it because he'd used it in real life? It could even be due to him murdering someone.

That final thought irked him, he hoped it was nothing barbaric like that.

But it was useless to spend time speculating, he doubted that anyone on this planet knew the answer to his questions.

Instead, he spent his time on something that was actually productive, training in the new sword form.

He urged the phantom to slow down, and it followed his command. After summoning a sword he stood beside the phantom, mimicking it's movements.

It was easier to learn than the killing technique, but perhaps even harder to master. He found his body was still clumsy, tripping over itself as he tried his best to follow along.

Minutes passed, then hours as he found himself falling into a rhythm. The dreamscape truly had a curious ability to teach, it was like he could learn things just by watching and following. He didn't need a teacher to correct him, or tell him how to breathe or what to think of. As long as the phantom moved, and he imitated it, he found himself very slowly improving.

But alas, the time he had in here was too short, and soon he found the black haze starting to close in on him again. And even though he felt so good about the dreamscape's teaching ability, he still didn't feel like he had made much progress when he was kicked out.

He returned to the real world and woke up, fully rested again. It was like he could only stay inside the dreamscape until he was rested, then he would automatically wake up.

The clock was only a bit past 14, so he'd slept for around three and a half hours. It was a long time for what he had meant to be a short nap.

Still, despite the fact that he hadn't made much progress with the sword form, he'd still obtained another massive benefit.

As long as he kept dilligently training in the sword form and it's techniques, he would one day become strong.

Speaking of…

He unlocked his phone and went to the browser. How to put it? He tried to think of some good search terms, but there wasn't really much to go on except for the name he had just learned. It was doubtful he would find any results, but he still entered it into the search machine.

'Azrathian sword form.'

Of course, no results popped up. He tried again, this time entering in 'Demonic Sword Slash.'

But again, nothing. Well, not exactly. There were some results, but they were all related to video games. It wasn't anything that could help him.

It was all way too mysterious for his liking. Just who was the man in his dreams? What was the dreamscape? Where did it come from? He didn't know the answer to any of these questions.

It was stupid to dwell on it so much and he knew that, but humans had evolved to be curious. How could he find out?

There was only one idea he could come up with, and it included the aliens.

Now that he knew there was intelligent life in space, certainly there was way more than just the aliens he had seen so far.

The ones that had come to Earth had mentioned it was the 14th new race tournament, and the tournament included 100 races. That meant there had to be a lot more races out there, perhaps there was even an interstellar alliance, kingdom, or empire.

If Earth didn't know, surely the interstellar races would have the information.

He had a plan now, a goal. It helped ease his worries that he now had something to focus on.

For now, he couldn't do anything about it. But as long as he became strong, he would one day be able to find out the truth for himself. He would just have to wait for that to happen. And the dreamscape hadn't done anything harmful to him so far, he could afford to wait at this point.

For now, he had to go back to being productive. There was still way too much he hadn't done. The tournament would end in eight or nine days, and he had no clue what would happen at that point.

He got out of bed and felt the hunger pains. It was a long time since he had eaten something, he needed to get that out of the way first.