"Huff… Huff… Huff…"

Jock, Lumian, and Cleo panted with exhaustion as they hiked up a steep mountain trail, following behind their master, Kiernan.

They were heading to the top of the mountain for their yellow rank test, but they couldn't quite understand why they had to do it on a mountain.

After the long hike, they arrived at the top of the mountain, where they could see the faraway city of Montrael and the forest surrounding it.

They could even see the ocean stretching all the way to the horizon and several ships sailing in the distance, their sails billowing in the wind.

The mountain wasn't that tall, and the top was very even ground with a single tree standing tall in the center.

"…"

Kiernan looked at the sky—there were clouds gathering—it looked like it could start raining at any time.

"Why've you come here, master?"

Jock asked.

"Shh…"

Kiernan shushed, and then he pointed two of his fingers towards the dark sky and waited for something.

His three students just watched with confused expressions.

RUMBLE~ RUMBLE~

In that moment, the sky raged with thunder, and it was so loud that Cleo literally jumped in fright.

RUMBLE~

Following the thunder, a bolt of lightning pierced through the dark clouds, coloring the sky a bright shade of blue, and it came crashing down from the heavens with a deafening boom.

Kiernan's eyes turned serious, and the lightning bolt struck his fingers, and with masterful control, it split into a thousand tiny sparks that danced across his outstretched palm.

"Mastered Iron Style!"

"LIGHTNING ROX!"

He stabbed his fingers forward, and the lightning flowed out of his fingers in a torrent of crackling energy.

The lightning bolt shot out of his fingers, pierced through the tree, and kept going until it reached the horizon.

…

Montrael, in a street.

"Wow, what is that, Mommy?"

A child pointed towards the mountain, where lightning was strangely flying horizontally instead of its usual vertical descent.

It looked amazing, as if there was a lightning-breathing dragon on top of the mountain.

The child's mother turned to look at the mountain, but the lightning was already gone, so she just looked back at her child.

"I can't see anything, Timmy."

"Oh…"

Timmy looked confused.

…

Jock, Lumian, and Cleo's jaws almost dropped to the floor.

This was the first time Jock and Cleo had seen him use this move, but Lumian had seen the video of Kiernan versus Zachary.

Thus, he knew that he could somehow control lightning, but this was the first time he saw him doing it in person.

It looked even more amazing than in videos!

"…I want to see your level of Iron Style, so attack me, all three of you!"

Kiernan moved into Iron Style's defensive stance and motioned them to attack.

They looked at each other, then looked serious, and dropped their bags to the ground.

"Iron Style, Iron Smash!"

Cleo punched, but Kiernan parried the pathetic attack, as it lacked the usual strength of the real Iron Smash technique.

Lumian came forward with a spearhand attack and thrust his hand forward, but Kiernan parried it and then grabbed his face.

He swept Lumian's feet from under him and tossed him onto the ground.

Jock whipped his leg around to deliver a low kick, but Kiernan blocked it with his shin and backhanded him across the face.

With the backhand landing across his face, Jock flew through the air towards the scorched-from-lightning tree.

"Cleo, your Iron Smash technique lacks strength. The technique is there, but you are afraid of utilizing its power."

Kiernan said.

"…I can tell that my bones are going to break if I use more power, master!"

Cleo shouted.

"If this is your current level, I am disappointed!"

Kiernan kicked Cleo at her leg. She lost her footing, spun in the air, and landed hard on the ground.

This was a different kind of experience for them.

So far, he had been a rather kind master, but now he was acting like a hardass, and it made them quite frightened.

"Haah!"

Lumian attacked Kiernan with all his might. His punches flew. Kiernan parried them without any difficulty, his face remaining completely calm.

He wasn't even using Rendering Edge.

In that moment, Jock attacked Kiernan's back, as he believed that he managed to ambush his master without him noticing.

However, Kiernan suddenly elbowed him in the face and kicked him in the stomach, sending Jock to the ground with a loud thud.

Lumian pressed forward, but then Kiernan palm struck him in the face, and he fell backwards until his back touched the ground.

"IRON SMASH!"

In that moment, Cleo punched Kiernan in the back, and they were only able to hear a soft sound of "crack" followed by a whimper of pain.

"?!"

Kiernan turned around and saw Cleo standing with tears brimming in her eyes.

Her right hand was broken, the wrist looked dislocated and swollen, and she was holding it gingerly against her chest.

"Iron Lance!"

Lumian thrust his spearhand forward, landed it straight at Kiernan's chest, but instead of stabbing through, his fingers bent backwards upon impact.

The fingers snapped like twigs, and Lumian bit back a scream of pain as he stumbled backwards, clutching his broken hand.

"…"

Kiernan looked at him silently and then turned to Jock, who saw what they did, and he just lowered his head.

It didn't look like Jock had any intention to attack.

"…The test is over."

Kiernan said.

Jock, Lumian, and Cleo all looked at him with surprised looks. They all expected to have failed the test.

"Lumian and Cleo… You two pass… Jock, you fail."

He said.

"Ah…"

Cleo's eyes widened in surprise, and Lumian also turned to look at Jock, who looked like his soul had left his body.

"…I failed?"

Jock said with a whimper.

"Yes, Jock, you failed."

Kiernan said with a serious look.

He didn't take pleasure in rejecting Jock's advancement to Yellow rank, but it was clear that Jock still had much to learn.

"Lumian and Cleo were willing to break their bodies if it meant winning, but Jock, you lack courage."

He said.

"…I understand."

Jock lowered his head, and it was clear that failing the test really was a hard blow to him.

"…Here."

Kiernan handed the yellow headband to Lumian and Cleo. Then he also gave them some elixir to heal their broken hands.

The elixir wasn't potent enough to miraculously heal them immediately, but it worked well enough for them to use their hands again.

There would be a little bit of soreness for a couple of days.

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