In a remote, ordinary village, a young man named Alexander works hard to provide for his small family. Each day he laboriously chops wood and on the weekends he travels to the nearby city to sell his goods and make a modest income.

His lifelong dream is to one day be accepted into the Roaring Thunder Sect, a school of martial arts based in the nearby city, filled with powerful practitioners of martial arts, who inspire fear and awe alike for thousands of miles. Since he was a boy, he has been practising alone to master some basic sword skills, hoping that one day his talent will be noticed and he will be accepted as an outer disciple of the sect.

One day, while returning home through the forest as he does every day, he has an encounter that will change his life forever. Will he be able to achieve his lifelong dream, or is he destined to fail and forever life an ordinary life?

[Participant in the Royal Road Writathon Challenge]