New orange rays shone through the window, showing the beauty of the many tan hues that weave together to make the fabric of the new day. On the best closest to the oval-shaped window, a cute yawn could be heard under the cover of the cool sheets.

A warm ball of light filtered through her thin eyelids bringing her back from dreamland. Rays of brightness cast their circles on the wooden tile floor, reflecting onto several objects in the room which decorated its otherwise simplicity.

She blinked a few times, in an attempt to adjust her eyes to the illumination directed at her defenseless figure. Rubbing her still sleepy eyes, she peeked at the other side of the room where another messy bed could be seen.

Seeing as its resident was already gone, she clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. She raised her arms into the air, and stretched, waking her sleeping jolts and muscles along with another, louder yawn.

In response to her shenanigans, two large black dogs at the side of the bed responded in kind, and slowly stood up. Just like every other day in the past week, they approached their master for their morning head pats and kisses. After more than a little more than a week of cohabitation, they truly started to love this cute little master.

Although the command of the alpha still lingered in their hearts, they no longer had any doubts against it. Compared to their old life they felt like they were in dog-heaven! She was kind, she loved them, fed them, played with them… With their tongues out in the open, and with a wide smile on their faces, they gently lowered their heads as they arrived in front of the blonde master.

"Aww, you two! Come here!" The blonde girlie, Lily, smiled as these two were already in position. Giving them their due rewards, Lily got on her knees and gave them one big group hug, planting her face in their necks. After two noisy kisses, she slowly stood back up, looking at the door.

"Did brother already get up and went to train with Master?" she asked her canine companions.

In response, the dogs barked once simultaneously; their agreed method for saying 'yes'.

"How does he do it? How can he wake up before sunrise every single day? I just can't catch him at all…" she ranted into the air with a cute little frown on her face, gazing at the closed wooden door.

After letting it out of her system, she let out a soft, defeated sigh.

"Ah well, let's get ready, and see what everybody is up to!

---

Getting ready for the day, Lily left her room with Sam and Biggy lagging just a step behind. Approaching the already set dinner table, sounds of a heated fight reached her elongated ears coming from the back yard.

She walked towards the closest window to take a peek at her brother's and master's morning exercise that they've been doing every single day during the last seven days.

Looking out the window, two blurry silhouettes could be seen clashing and then separating at high speeds.

Although their figures were blurry, with a little focus, Lily could almost make out the half-naked body of Aiden as he tried to land a punch against his master, only to miss once again with a simple wave of her hand.

After his latest attempt, the boy jumped back several steps, creating a bit of distance between him and Number 3.

Heavily panting, the half-naked, long black-haired Aiden glanced at her master's casual, nonchalant stance. She looked just how she was every time. While he stressed his body to the limit, she always managed to casually and effortlessly evade and parry all of his attacks. No matter how fast he tried to swing, or how hard he tried to throw a punch, he never managed to get in a hit. A simple wave of her hands, a sidestep was enough to miss his intended target every single time.

"*Pant* This *Pant* is *Pant* not fair, Master!" He expressed his discontent.

In response, Number 3 only gave a faint smirk but did not respond. She slowly approached her tired student, giving her a warm towel to dry up his sweaty body. Giving it to him, she gently patted her right hand over his left shoulder.

With a warm smile on her face, she asked him.

"What do you think, why can't you land even a single hit, Aiden?"

Wiping his face, he thought about this question a lot already. It was frustrating, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never get past her defenses. It didn't matter how fast he was, or how much strength he exerted… The result was always the same, he hit the air instead of her body.

After a few moments of silent deliberation, he looked up at her smiling face. Letting out an exhausted, tired sigh.

"I'm not sure…" Thinking back about the last fight, he tried to think back all of his attacks. Soon noticing the repeating, simple pattern of the types he used, his expression changed for the better.

With an inquiring expression on his face, he inferred.

"My attacks are too simple?"

Number 3 smiled at how he finally noticed the root of the problem that she was trying to show him in these last days. She nodded, confirming the boy's theory.

"Yes. Your fighting style is simplistic and savage, coming from pure instinct. You fight like how a beast would. While it can be effective against other beasts and monsters, against a trained and experienced combatant you will lose just like how you did against me."

She paused for a moment, looking at his still sweaty upper body. Pinching his left biceps, she continued.

"Do you honestly think I'm faster or stronger than you? No. I'm only a human, don't forget that. You should be faster and stronger than me by a lot. Yet, you still fail to land a strike no matter how hard you try. Why?"

She waved with his right hand. As her hand traveled the essences in the air vibrated giving a visible transparent arc of energy along with a slight whooshing sound. As always, Aiden was intently focusing on the movement, trying to understand the mysteries behind it. The simple arc that her hand made carried so many intricacies, so many mysteries that he had a hard time wrapping his head around it.

It was in its core [Martial Arts], not a new, unknown skill, but something he already had, but never really relied upon. While the movement was simple, it seemed to carry something else, something new, something that caused the particles to become excited, and react to this simple movement.

He learned the basics of it already in the past, mostly to understand which parts of the body he should focus on attacking. Although the system granted him the skill, Aiden never spent time processing the knowledge on his own, never tried to gain any insight from it.

"I already taught you hand-to-hand combat in the past, and you did learn the most important parts, but now it is time to delve deeper into it. We will spend the upcoming days to teach you the art and then work on refining it into your own style."

Looking towards the kitchen, she continued.

"We will continue after breakfast. Someone is already eagerly waiting for us to notice her after all." She glanced at the blonde crown that was still visible despite its owner's best attempts to hide. A muffled giggle could also be heard as they approached the windowsill.

Entering the door, they saw the little crouching and giggling girlie, hiding behind Sam's large body.

Seeing how she was exposed, she stood up, looking at the duo with a cheerful smile.

"Good morning, brother, Master! Did you finish?"

Gently caressing the top of her head, Number 3 responded to Lily's question.

"Only for the morning. We will have to continue afterward. Before you two could go back to the city as you wanted, you need to have some more training done. That means you as well little sleepyhead!"

---

At an unknown location in a dimly lit large room that looked like it was carved out straight from a stone a group of stout, bulky, dark, brown-skinned humanoid figures was standing in an organized fashion in front of an empty podium. They were all bare-chested, the only decoration on their upper bodies were the reminders of their past achievements; scars, blemishes, and wounds. They weren't covered up, they all wore it proudly. These weren't shameful, to them, these were their pride, their accomplishments.

They were all looking in front of them, at the empty wooden podium, waiting for the arrival of somebody. They were an elite group, highly trained, skilled, and experienced veterans. Leaders, and warlords of their own tribes, ruling over thousands of similar-looking creatures. Yet, right now, they were mere warriors patiently waiting for the arrival of their king...