A towering man stood at the center of the training ground. He was at least six feet three, clad in gray metal armor, yet he moved as if it weighed nothing. Gripping a two-handed greatsword wider than his palm, he brought it down in a savage chop against an upright block of stone.

Whoosh!

A silver arc tore through the air.

Crack!

The upper half of the stone slid away at an angle and slammed into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust.

The slanted cut was smooth and clean, without so much as a burr.

The young nobles erupted in applause.

"Incredible! Instructor Perez is incredible!"

"So that's the strength of a true knight. How long will it take me to reach that level?"

Raine stared. He rubbed his eyes, then rubbed them again.

*A stone block so thick a grown man could barely wrap his arms around it, cut through with one swing?*

*How is that humanly possible?*

Until now, everything he knew about the supernatural had come secondhand through the rumors of troubadours and mercenaries. This had happened right before his eyes.

For someone from the modern world, it was as shocking as watching Iron Man land on his balcony. Raine's mind went blank.

Stories could be dismissed. His own eyes could not.

He remained frozen for a long moment. When he finally glanced at his transparent panel, it no longer felt quite so impressive.

Even if he became a blacksmith, he would still be an ordinary man.

This truly was a transcendent world.

The merchant boys hadn't been boasting. The wild rumors in the former Raine's memories were real.

*No.*

*If I've come to a world where people can wield such power, then I have to claim that power for myself. Otherwise, what was the point of coming here?*

The shock had barely faded before Raine made up his mind.

Another commotion at the center of the training ground drew his attention.

One of the young nobles, a girl in hunting clothes, had apparently challenged the swordsmanship instructor, Perez, to a sparring match.

From Raine's angle, he couldn't see her face. Her profile alone was enough to show that she was beautiful, with a lithe, athletic figure and the poised tension of a hunting cat ready to spring.

Perez accepted her challenge. Their blades met moments later.

Clang!

Sparks burst between the swords.

The noble girl had opened with a leaping slash. Both hands locked around her greatsword, she met Perez's weapon head-on.

The impact struck something deep inside Raine.

He might have dismissed Perez cutting through stone as the feat of one exceptionally gifted man. This collision left no room for doubt. Sparks flew in broad daylight, proof of the tremendous strength behind both blades.

No ordinary noble girl could strike with such force. This had to be a transcendent world. Raine could find no other explanation.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Despite the weight of her metal greatsword, the girl moved with the speed of a gazelle. A light push from her toes carried her to a new position, and she attacked Perez from one difficult angle after another.

Her chestnut ponytail bounced behind her with every shift.

Perez stood like a reef in a raging sea. He made no attempt to counterattack. Instead, he held his ground and calmly blocked every blow she sent his way.

"Cleave!"

With a sharp cry, the girl leaped several yards into the air. At the apex, her body drew taut like a bowstring pulled to its limit, every muscle brimming with explosive power.

She swung the massive blade, at least five feet of steel, through a broad semicircle and brought it down at a forty-five-degree angle.

Clang!

The shriek of grinding metal made Raine's teeth ache. Even from twenty or thirty yards away, the noise stabbed into his ears and numbed his jaw.

Many of the young nobles ahead of him couldn't bear it either. They winced and covered their ears. Only four or five continued watching without a change in expression.

A tiny gray spark flew from the meeting point of the two blades and struck the dirt about a yard in front of Raine.

It landed close enough for him to see clearly. A small metal fragment had broken from a nick in one of the greatswords.

Perez and the noble girl both looked toward him.

Raine's heart seized. Every hair on his body stood on end. Their gazes carried the pressure of two predators assessing him.

Then they turned away. They had only been checking whether the fragment had struck anyone.

The girl's glance gave Raine his first clear look at her face.

She looked heroic and radiant.

Her face was oval, and her slightly heavy brows lent her a striking, fearless air. Bright brown-gray eyes shone above a fitted hunting outfit that emphasized her athletic build.

She looked remarkably like a younger version of an actress from his previous world, Cristiana Yeri.

Perez inspected his greatsword. An irregular triangular notch marred the blade. A pang of regret crossed his face. The weapon had served him for many years.

"Instructor Perez, I'm terribly sorry. I got carried away and failed to hold back. Your sword will need repairs. I'll speak with Master Wilintan."

The girl was quick-witted. She caught Perez's frown and offered a solution before he could say a word.

With the sparring match over, the young nobles resumed their training. Under Perez's guidance, they began practicing some form of advanced swordsmanship.

Off to the side, Raine stared at the sliver of metal embedded in the dirt.

After a long while, when it became clear that no one intended to retrieve it, he bent down and dug it out.

Its weight was the first thing he noticed.

Such a tiny fragment felt surprisingly heavy in his palm. It clearly wasn't bronze, but it didn't feel like ordinary steel either.

Using it as a reference, Raine could roughly estimate the weight of the greatsword it had come from.

Those two had been swinging weapons that weighed seventy or eighty pounds.

Perez was a towering wall of a man, so his strength was at least conceivable. But the slender noble girl had wielded her sword just as freely. How?

Had she developed that strength through some secret technique and years of training?

Or was it an innate gift carried in her bloodline?

*If it comes from training, then I have a chance too.*

He had never studied swordsmanship. Was he already too old to set foot on the transcendent path?

*That reasoning might apply to an ordinary person.*

*But I'm not ordinary.*

*If the system can give me a craft class like Blacksmith Apprentice, then it should be able to give me a combat class too.*

*And this page boy program includes basic swordsmanship training, doesn't it?*

*What kind of panel will that unlock? Swordsman? Warrior?*

A new light kindled in Raine's eyes.