'I should've used an energy wave there instead, and I shouldn't have turned the Mighty Sword into daggers here, it was a complete waste of blood. And who said that the blood weapons skill was only restricted to these weapons anyway? If I had been thinking properly I could've locked the flesh golem down using blood fetters. I had an adequate amount of blood so why didn't I change the way I fight?'

Gray often did this back when he used to play online games, he would watch a replay of his raids and think of different ways to improve on his fighting, however now instead of a replay he had to rely purely on his memory to analyze his fight with the flesh golem.

'What would've happened if I had shot out that energy blast one second later? The only consolation in all this is that I found a new way to use her, her combat abilities are a bit shabby but with proper training, I can use her to a better extent,' thought Gray as he stared at Tesse sleeping on his bed.

'Anyway, the only reason we cleared that floor was due to pure luck. Looks like I have a lot to learn before I can challenge the second floor. If the difficulty of the first floor nearly killed me even with my bloodlust mode, then there's no telling what dangers await me on the second floor.'

After analyzing his previous shortcomings to the greatest extent that his memory allowed him, he went outside to practice using his blood weapons skill.

'If I'm going to have fun, then I ought to do it properly,'

A few hours passed and Tesse finally woke up.

"Master!" exclaimed Tesse with a groggy voice, the last thing she remembered was Gray being unconscious after defeating the flesh golem.

"Huh, I'm in master's bed?" whispered Tesse with a red tinge on her face. She looked around the room however Gray was nowhere to be seen, "Master?" asked Tesse as she staggered off the bed in search of him.

'Master is.. training?' wondered Tesse as she peaked at Gray training in the yard. He had his shirt off and sweat trickled down his body, Gray had a rather athletic build for a shut-in, although his father was a deadbeat he couldn't deny that he had passed on rather good genes.

Tesse walked into the yard and sat down, watching in awe as Gray switched the form of his weapon with every movement he performed. Gray even pulled out some new forms Tesse had never seen before.

After swinging a long sword he changed it into a battle-ax, using the momentum from the previous swing to cut through the air, right before the battle-ax was about to hit the ground he changed it into a war-hammer, using its weight to increase the power of the impact.

Gray breathed heavily as he changed the war hammer into twin blades. He looked pale, almost as if he would faint at any second.

"Here, take this and get ready to spar," said Gray as he threw one of the blades at Tesse.

"Master, I don't mean to question your orders, but are you sure you want to fight in this state?"

"Oh, perhaps you think you can beat me? Just take the blade and come at me," ordered Gray as he got into a battle stance.

'I'll go easy on him,' thought Tesse as she charged at Gray.

Gray quickly changed the form of his sword into that of a sword breaker in response, catching Tesse's blade in one of its teeth completely shattering it once he pulled downward.

"Don't be mistaken, this training isn't so much for me as it is for you. Your fighting skills are lacking, if you are unable to beat me even in this state, then you're a failure as a subordinate. And don't question my ability to throw away things I find useless."

"Y-yes master," stuttered Tesse, still amazed that she had actually lost even though Gray's moves were sluggish.

Gray picked up the broken pieces of Tesse's sword and brought them back to one piece.

"Again," said Gray as he handed Tesse the weapon.

Tesse charged at Gray once again, this time swinging the sword from a low angle to avoid it being caught by the sword breaker.

Gray changed the sword breaker into a blood shield, using it to block Tesse's attack, right as the sword and shield made impact, he changed the shield into a sword, slashing at Tesse's side.

Tesse let go of her blade and fell down in pain, blood trickling out of the wound. "Heal yourself and stand up, we'll continue until you win or I faint," said Gray, his voice almost a whisper under his heavy breathing.

"M-master let me heal you as-" Tesse was about to say before Gray interrupted.

"Grab the weapon and get up, you can heal me once I faint. Perhaps I've been taking it too easy on you if you have time to think about others,"

"You still don't get it, do you? With your powers, we can push ourselves to the limit. We can spar as hard as we want, so long as no one dies you can just heal them back to full health. And if you faint from the side effects of your ability, you will just sleep and we will restart again once you wake up." laughed Gray as he turned his sword into twin daggers, a crazed smile on his face.

"The next time we go into the tower there will be no 'lucky moments', welcome to hell, savor the pain you are about to endure," said Gray, his speech rather unconvincing due to the paleness of his skin.

"Now come at me,"

***

"Captain, the General wants to speak to you,"

"Put him through," ordered Agent Ria from the portal station of 'The Tower of the Dead,'

"Agent Ria, what's the situation with the tower?" asked a rather harsh old voice from over a large analog communication device that seemed to be from world war 2.

"We've completed the first floor General, however, the second floor seems to be a challenge. Just give me a bit more t-"

"Agent Ria, need I remind you that the government is currently facing threats of being overthrown by the Church on one side and the 'Guilds' on the other? If we don't show the citizens that we still hold power then there's no salvaging this situation,"