“So my boy, even if I did not enter Anvil myself, I know just how vital survival is. It’d be a waste for a lad like you to throw his life away due to the folly of wanting to pursue swordsmanship with such little time.”

Ryn had been at the Steeled Centre for a few months now and his lessons with Teacher Ginya had been progressing quite smoothly, learning all manner of ways to survive in the wild.

“Anvil’s environment is not something to be taken lightly. Though there may be meadows and beautiful fields, snowy expanses yada yada yada, there are a hundred times as many dangerous zones, areas where if you lose focus for a split second you could forfeit your life.”

Teacher Ginya mainly wanted to drill home the message of staying alert at all times, he claimed that even if Ryn was only a novice in his techniques, his alertness is what truly would save him. Little things such as being able to spot a creature’s habitat, trail marks and masking your scent would build up to become an indispensable tool. Sure, on their own they may not be that effective, but they truly shine when collectively performed, each pulling through where the others lack.

“Teacher Ginya, if I may ask… what makes you want to teach here? No disrespect intended at all, but like… What draws you to it?”

Ryn knew his question was out of the blue, and could be misunderstood as blatant disrespect, but once the question formed in his mind, he had to find out.

Teacher Ginya looked at him with a light smile on his face, seemingly fine with Ryn’s unexpected interjection.

“None taken, don’t worry. As for your question…”

Teacher Ginya gestured for Ryn to join him, at the front of the classroom so he could get a clear look at the map of Anvil projected onto the wall, though Ryn could see it perfectly fine from where he was sat. Ryn got up quickly and stood besides Teacher Ginya, both looking at the map, before wizened man began speaking.

“My boy… I was born too late to truly experience a normal life before the Heart of Sword appeared. And… I was born too early to fight alongside the youngsters of today in Anvil. Those like Arisen Vira of the Eternal Sword, Arisen Kyra of Glory etcetera, too early to witness humanity enter a completely new age… My time here as a teacher Ryn… is not something that has a drastic effect on many people. Hell, my course hasn’t been blessed with a student in years besides yourself. Sometimes I question myself too, as to why I’m still teaching. But you see Ryn… humans are fickle beings, and so the day I saw your unassuming face pass through my doors, that became my reason to teach. To help children like you, to become the flagbearers of humanity, leading the way for all those to come. At the end of it all, once one of my students succeed, perhaps all I hope for is to have a nice chat with them… about why Wilderness Survival is the greatest course of all time of course.”

Teacher Ginya shot him a cheeky grin at that last remark to which Ryn sighed with a smile on his face. Ryn could see the genuine happiness in the experienced man’s eyes, he felt a pang of sympathy for him, wishing more people could see the value he truly brought.

Pointing at the western region of the map, Teacher Ginya guided Ryn’s gaze towards the mark of a sword piercing the infinity sign.

“Here is the stronghold of The Eternal Sword, Silver. Now, when you’re sent to Anvil, if you’re lucky you’ll end up somewhere around here. If that happens, you can stay in Silver, get stronger, practice with your sword in safety and then challenge the first forge to return to Earth and become a Fledgling.”

Ryn nodded along, his eyes wandering over the map; most of it was covered in grey, a fog like screen covering it.

“Teacher Ginya, why is most of the map grey?”

“The grey boy, is all the unexplored and prohibited zones of Anvil. You thought humanity had all of Anvil mapped out did you?”

Ryn let out a little hum in admittance, thinking humanity had made at least decent progress in mapping out Anvil. However in front of him, roughly 5% seemed to be actually known. Even the remaining 95% was not a definite 95%, humanity didn’t have a true idea of the size of Anvil, so that 5% could very well be less than 1% due to humanity having gotten Anvil’s proportions and their strongholds in proportion to the whole place wrong.

“But then, the chances of me landing anywhere near a human stronghold let alone Silver is next to none no?”

Ryn’s concerns were within reason, it didn’t make sense to just hope that he landed near Silver.

“See boy, in theory you should arrive somewhere near Silver, usually within a one hundred kilometer radius of it, that’s because you’ve come to the Centre.”

“What does coming to the Centre have to do with it?”

“The day you arrived here boy, you received a full body scan no?”

Ryn thought back to what he deemed just a mere security check, the light turning neon green because he’d not brought anything harmful.

“Yeah, I remember, what about it?”

“That machine is fueled on Arisen Vira’s essence….”

“Huh-”

“Yes you heard me right, the Arisen are capable of absurd things, the realm of logic doesn’t apply to them. Anyways, that essence marks you. Now in theory, the essence of Arisen Vira acts as a tracker and due to Silver being controlled by Arisen Vira, the essence signatures should recognize each other and overlap, causing you to land somewhere in the vicinity of Silver. Even if you don’t, with the survival skills I’ve taught you, you just need to hold out for a while, Aspirants and even Arisen Vira himself sometimes will search for you guys, his essence tracks your location.”

“Wait… Tracks me? I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

Ryn tried to feel any sense of foreign essence within him however couldn’t feel anything, not a single drop of anything that shouldn’t be there. Perhaps the difference in rank masked Arisen Vira’s essence, unable for him to sense it.

“Don’t worry, the tracker only lasts a year or so. So it’ll dissolve by the time you’re found and brought safely to Silver.”

The news that the tracker only lasted a while brought a hint of relief to Ryn’s mind, though he wasn’t sure why being tracked bugged him.

‘I mean, being tracked is beneficial for me no? I’d rather have an Aspirant or even Arisen Vira by my side rather than nobody.’

Ryn’s eyes travelled to the Northern regions of the map, a symbol of a wolf’s head marking it. Teacher Ginya noticed Ryn’s wandering eyes and decided to indulge the boy’s curiosity.

“Clan Glory, the other of the two Great Clans, their position and Eternal Sword’s are filled with many debates, whether or not one is stronger than the other.”

“What if I land near them? Arisen Vira surely doesn’t have jurisdiction in a rival clan’s territory.”

Teacher Ginya flashed him another light smile before continuing.

“You do worry quite a lot don’t you my boy, though it makes sense, your life’s on the line. Once a year, both clans work together, if Steeled from the other clan are found in the other’s territory, they are safely escorted to the correct clan.”

“How though? I mean, most of the map is just grey prohibited zones, there’s no real route connecting them.”

Ryn really couldn’t satiate his curiosity, though there must have been a way, he just needed to know how, he felt even more powerless than he already was when he lacked sufficient knowledge.

“Warp gates my boy, the two strongholds have a warp gate connecting them, a relic of the Celestial Rank.”

Ryn had only ever heard of Celestial relics as make believe, why would he have believed whatever he’d heard about them? Humanity had only ever reached the Arisen realm of their Sword Hearts and for the Celestial rank, a whole three ranks higher to exist was just something Ryn’s mind couldn’t comprehend.

“…Celestial?”

“Yes, though it’s only active during the winter period, for some unknown reason. But… enough about that, once you get to Anvil, make sure you try find a high spot, look at your surroundings, if you’re lucky you’ll be able to make out some sort of landmark. Oh.. How could I forget, Silver’s main landmark is its giant pyramid, much like the one in the Centre, just, picture it ten times bigger.”

“So the one in the Centre is just a cheap copy?”

“Not necessarily, it was a Transcendent relic which Arisen Vira received when he conquered Silver, he chose to place it here on Earth.”

Thinking of all the engravings on the pyramid here, Ryn thought of the ones he couldn’t see as well as the two he could. Would those engravings also be on the pyramid in Silver?

“Teacher… the engravings on the pyramid here, are they also present on the pyramid in Silver? Though you probably wouldn’t know that seen as though you haven’t been to Anvil.”

Teacher Ginya continued smiling at him, his smile almost turning into a chuckle.

“You really do like to wind me up my boy don’t you… What engravings?”