Rocky felt like he kept free-falling for over five minutes, until the acceleration due to gravity acting on his body no longer had an effect on him, making him feel like he had reached a constant speed.
Once he felt like he was no longer accelerating, against his constantly black surroundings it became difficult to discern whether he was really falling or just stationary as Rocky felt like he was falling aimlessly until somehow the darkness dissipated and a white hole emerged underneath him.
*Thud*
With a soft thud, Rocky landed in a heap full of soft feathers, as he found himself in a white space that looked a lot like the surroundings he first saw when he met Shakuni, with the only difference being that instead of this being a pure white space with nothing inside it, this white space had heaps of white feathers scattered all around.
As Rocky held one feather in his hand and carefully inspected it, he could notice the fine silver lines within the feather that reflected light into his eyes at specific angles.
He had no idea as to which creature this feather belonged to as he had never seen or heard anything about it before, however, just by its appearance alone, Rocky did find the feather to be pretty beautiful.
"Arasmis don papismis " a voice said, as Rocky turned and found himself staring into the blue eyes of a Griffin like creature, but not quite a Griffin.
The body of the creature was like a four limbed human, however, his head was like that of an eagle with massive wings coming out of his midsection and a long feathery tail on its rear.
It walked in a hunched posture on two legs, however, it looked like it could walk on all six of its legs too if it wanted to, as the creature looked like the ancestor of four handed orcs, humans and Griffin's all blended into one.
"Huh?" Rocky said in confusion as he did not understand the language that the ancient beast spoke.
"Hello adventurer, welcome to the realm of calling" the creature said, as Rocky felt astonished at being able to understand its language suddenly.
"You speak bipedal English?" Rocky asked, as the creature looked curiously into Rocky's eyes and smiled kindly, or atleast Rocky thought it smiled, but he wasn't sure.
"No my child, the language I speak is Hudu, it's the most ancient language of the universe, one that was spoken before draconian was even created" said the creature as Rocky was convinced that this weird looking thing was indeed the ancestor of many species before they evolved.
"The realm of calling?" Rocky asked, sounding confused as the creature slowly approached him, every step it took causing a few different feathers to float around it.
"You seem to have a calling for the sword. You also seem to have taken a liking to it....." the creature said, as Rocky felt stunned as to how it could discern Rocky's interests so casually?
As the creature approached, Rocky stepped away from it slowly as he felt uncomfortable by how it stared into his eyes, as if reading his very soul.
The bow's ability to strike from a distance made it invaluable, reducing the danger of close encounters with larger predators and hence a better substitute to the spear.
With time, the design improved, and the bow evolved from a simple hunting tool to a sophisticated weapon of war.
It became a symbol of precision and skill, crucial for survival in both the hunt and on the battlefield, however, soon the bow's popularity was overshadowed by the sword, which was the weapon that was last created by your kind and is still not perfected by them even after all these years.
The sword's creation has its origins in a more mundane beginning. Initially, it was not designed for combat but as a kitchen tool. Early humans living near coastal areas needed an efficient way to butcher and prepare sea creatures and so they crafted the first rudimentary swords as long, sharp knives to cut through the tough skin and flesh of fish and other marine animals.
As these kitchen tools proved effective, they became popular among fishermen who ventured out to sea.
The ability to swiftly dispatch and process their catch made the sword invaluable, reducing the time and effort required to prepare food.
Over time, as the design improved and the potential for combat became evident, these tools evolved from simple kitchen knives into sophisticated weapons of war.
It began as a short, sharp blade meant for close combat, a weapon that could be wielded with one hand while the other carried a shield. The early swords were crude, lacking the elegance and craftsmanship of later generations, but they were effective in close-quarter battles.
With time, as humans advanced in metallurgy, the sword evolved. Bronze swords gave way to iron, and eventually, steel. The forging techniques became more sophisticated, and swords that could do much more than just cut through skin of marine animals were finally produced.
However, the sword that you humans have is still far too crude as you haven't even understood the proper shape needed to balance a blade yet and stupidly chase durability and sharpness of the edge in your weapons instead" The creature said, as it narrated a long and interesting tale about the origin of weapons on Earth to Rocky.
While Rocky did enjoy the story, he couldn't help but wonder as to why the creature narrated this tale to him, as it wasn't until the creature began explaining to Rocky about his tier promotion test, that Rocky finally understood why he was narrated the history of the sword.
"If you wish to continue down the path of the sword, it's only fitting that you fight the finest swordsman that your home planet has ever produced in a historical battle.
Your goal is to defeat him and claim his dual swords as your own, as if fate wills it, you will be enlightened mid-way through your bout, or die against his fine swordsmanship.
Either way, I wish you the best, my child, I hope you can surpass the ghost of the past, especially when the swordsmanship of the ghost himself is nothing to write home about in the wider picture of the universe" the creature said, as it jumped into the air, while Rocky felt the floor disappearing from under his feet as he fell into a freefall once again.
"Not again...." Thought Rocky, as he clutched his newly crafted bone swords and mentally prepared himself to face the finest opponent that human history had to offer.
On one hand, he felt slightly nervous about facing this guy, since he was supposed to be the best in human history, however, on the other hand Rocky also felt excited, as he wanted to see how he matched up against the very best.