This sucks. Neraxis exclaimed as he plopped onto the ground.

The training, while fruitful, felt as though he was training to be a masochist. The electricity was beginning to get painful, possibly due to the limits of his current state.

Furthermore, even after all the abuse his muscles went through, he still did not manage to rank up his strength, it was still the same as earlier.

The only thing that changed was his growing hate for these types of dummies.

Who in their right mind would make these anyway? He snickered and stretched out his arms on the ground, however, as he did so, he felt something touching the tips of his fingers.

As Neraxis looked down, a small frown formed on his face. It was the wooden sword.

"Can you just fuck off for a moment?" He muttered as he picked it up and threw it to the side.

However, it once again flew into his hand, just like it had done multiple times before. But this time, it seemed adamant, not wanting to be let go.

Neraxis let out an exhausted sigh and proceeded to stand back up, the sword in hand. "You really do act like a dog."

He felt a small vibration traveling up his arm before settling down, as if the sword responded to him.

Nonetheless, since he could not get rid of the sword, he would try training with it instead.

The only problem was, it cut through practically anything, or so it seemed for now.

But if his theory was correct and the sword was actually sentient, then it might just work.

"Can you become... less sharp? I don't want you cutting through those." He said and pointed towards the remaining target dummies.

Another vibration went up his arm and Neraxis nodded in satisfaction, each time he gave an order or communicated with the sword in a way, it reacted in kind.

Walking up to a nearby target dummy, he swung it down, and to his surprise, the sword did not cut through, it only hit the dummy and bounced back.

It also seemed like the amount of electricity that he had been tolerating earlier decreased, as if the sword dispersed the majority of it.

He kept swinging the sword again and again, finding it quite fun, while at the same time, effectively training his muscles.

I should have done this sooner. Neraxis smirked to himself and slashed once more, however, a sudden flash of blue interrupted him, it was the system window.

He glanced at it in an annoyed fashion, but upon seeing what the message displayed, his eyes widened.

[New Skill Acquired!]

[Swordsmanship {G}]

[Slightly increases accuracy and critical hit chance when attacking with a sword.]

A Passive skill? He double checked to make sure, and he was indeed correct.

A skill that did not mention duration or cooldowns, meant that it was passively enabled all the time.

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There was a similar skill like that in the past, however, it took him quite a long time to get Scythe Fighting, and even then, leveling it up past E rank proved to be incredibly difficult.

Yet here he was, getting the swordsmanship skill within roughly 30 or 40 swings of the sword, yet he had never practiced swordsmanship before.

Neraxis smiled in satisfaction and glanced at the wooden sword in his grasp before exclaiming, "Well, aren't you a little miracle?"

The sword trembled in response and he decided to resume his training, after all, if it was so easy to get the swordsmanship skill, what would be his limits?

However, he noticed something strange as he was swinging the sword at the target dummies, ever since he called it a miracle, it had not stopped shaking.

His arm felt a bit weak from the vibrations, but nonetheless, he ignored it and continued swinging, feeling as though his arm would fall off from the fatigue.

But the effects were visible, his swings were getting faster, while his strikes were getting stronger. His stamina was increasing at a steady pace though.

It really was unexpected how a single sword could make such a difference, his hours of training were basically achieved in just 15 minutes.

God... Why didn't I pick this sword up soone—huh? Neraxis's thoughts were interrupted by his sword suddenly flying out of his hand and floating right before him.

He tilted his head in confusion. "Uh, hey?"

However, the wooden sword no longer reacted, merely floating before him, eliciting a slightly weary reaction from him.

But nothing seemed to happen for the longest time, therefore he decided to take a few steps back, and much to his surprise, the sword followed along.

Neraxis furrowed his brows and stretched out his hand before commanding, "Come, I need to finish my little exercise."

Nothing happened, so he decided to reach out for it, and the moment he did, it slashed down right at his palm, drawing blood for the first time since he first saw the wooden sword.

However, what happened after that was even more strange, as the blood began dripping down onto the grass below him, it suddenly halted in mid air and instead began traveling towards the sword, seemingly being absorbed into it.

Just as it seemed like it would continue absorbing the blood from his palm, he gripped the wound with his other hand, stopping a hefty amount of blood from going towards the sword.

Neraxis was beginning to feel a little wobbly, it did not seem like it had taken a lot, yet, even standing upright was proving troublesome for him.

His vision was scattering and he even began seeing double, but just as it seemed like he would finally pass out, all clarity returned.

Even the wound that was open just moments ago was completely gone, instead, only a small smear of blood was left.

What just happened? Neraxis thought as sweat began dripping down his forehead, landing on the ground with a seemingly loud splash.

His senses were enhanced, as if his body had been cleansed and strengthened. He even felt slightly faster and stronger too, it was barely noticeable, but to him who just a moment ago was completely tired, it was a huge difference.

Just as he regained all his senses, he looked upwards, directly at the previously wooden sword, which now emitted a sinister red aura. The sword now had a completely crimson blade and a pure black hilt.

The more he looked at it, the more he felt like it was calling out to him—it wanted him to hold it.

Neraxis could not hold back his curiosity as he stretched out his hand, attempting to grasp the hilt, but like previously, it flew away from him.

"Are you serious?" He asked with a twitching brow, his patience did have limits.

However, before he could get any sort of response, he could see the ground below him turning darker, especially the area right under the crimson sword.

A small fire was forming, but despite Neraxis's expectations, it held no heat, seemingly being just for show.

But upon seeing that it was actively beginning to burn the grass around him, caused a wave of panic to appear as he dashed at the sword once again, trying to grab it.

To his surprise, he was able to grasp the sword for a moment, however, it immediately exploded in gray particles, as if it was turning to ash.

He stared on with a raised brow as he noticed the fire stopped spreading just before it reached his porch, and with a sigh sat down onto the ground.

However, as he did so, he suddenly lost balance and fell right on his back, unable to move his body in the slightest.

But before he could even process what was happening, a sharp pain assaulted his head, making him twitch on the ground without restraint.

Fuuuuck, you damn sword! Neraxis exclaimed inside his mind, the pain was like nothing he ever felt before. It was as though several dozen sharp needles were penetrating his brain and swirling inside of it.

Nonetheless, he endured through the pain without losing consciousness, he was no child.

As it finally ended and his eyes regained their perfect vision, he saw a massive red system window, and upon reading what it said, he was left speechless.

[The Fragment of Calamity wishes to form a bond with you.]

[Do you accept? Y/Y]