4th day of 3rd month year 10431.

Nevada was now five years old and that meant that he can now start with his training. But he won't be taught together with the others of his age, because Anna has forbidden him doing that. So instead he will be taught by Alice, Veronica and Maria. Alice will teach him how to use a sword, a spear, a knife, a crossbow and a bow. Veronica will be teaching him about poisons and traps. And Marias job will be teaching him magic. She also will substitute Alice's or/and Veronicas lessons, when they are away.

Apparently Maria used to be an assassin too, but after her brother died, she stopped. And that was a century ago. He hasn't gotten her exact age, but has calculates it to be about 210 years old. His calculation were based on her mothers ages. Alice is 356 years old and Veronica 247 years old. According to Veronica, she was 46 years old, when Maria was brought here with her brother. She looked to be about 10 years old at the time.

As for her rank in this place, it is unknown to many. Alice knows what it is, but won't tell, like Maria. Veronica herself doesn't know and hasn't bother asking her.

Currently Nevada was with Alice in one of the training room. He was sitting on a small mat and looking at Alice, who was explaining him about this place.

"Okay Nevada. Listen closely and remember everything I tell you. It is very important. Do you understand?"

"Yes mom."he replies to her.

"Good."she continues"First of all, we are called the Ice Fort Assassins, because this place is called Ice Fort and we are living here. Each trainee can take a trial to become one of us. As for the Assassin's, we are divided into ten rank, with the first being the lowest and the tenth the highest rank. First ranks are the new assassins who just have passed the trial. Tenth rank are those who are ridiculously strong, like Anna. As for me, I'm ninth rank and Veronica eighth rank."

She looks at Nevada and from his face, she can guess what he wants to ask.

"No Nevada. I won't say Marias rank. If you want to know, ask the person herself."she tells him and he just nods slowly back at her.

"Don't worry. If you are a good boy, she might tell you."she tries to cheer him up and it works a little. Seeing that he is a little happier, she starts talking again

"Okay. Continuing on my explanation."she continues"Anyways. When someone becomes a member, they are given a white mask, like this."

She takes a mask from her back waist and shoes him a white mask, with two holes for eyes. The mask is decorated with nine blue lines.

"Like you could see, I have nine lines on my mask. You can draw one new line, with each of your rank ups. So If you pass the trial and become a member, you can draw your first line."

"Why draw lines?"he asks his mom, who replies"It is to show our rank here and to make each mask unique to his or her owner."

"Okay."he replies back in a childish voice and so she continues."To rank up, you need to successfully complete assassinations. The higher the rank, the higher the pay and obviously the difficulty. If you reach the eighth rank, the Master will give you your targets personally and you don't have to choose one from the Wall. Any questions?"

"What's a trial?"

"A trial is when you have to do a task, given by the Master. The trials are pretty random and you will only now about your task, the moment it begins. So you can't ever prepare for it."

"When can I take a trial?"

"When I say you are ready for it. Until then you will be a trainee. So get good and then you can take it."she tells her and he replies"Okay mom."

"Good to hear. Now start by running around the room for a little."she tells him and so he starts running. His stamina is naturally better then a humans, so he could run for five minutes. Which is pretty good for his first actual physical exercise.

He stops, after she allows him. He is sweating, but he isn't very tired.

"Pretty good Little Fox. So now we go onto a sword training."she says and gives him a short wood sword. She herself draws her sword from the sheath on her belt. The sword is a two-handed sword with a silver coloured blade and with a black hilt and a straight guard.

"Lets start with a stance"she tells him and puts her left hand onto the sword hilt.

"Okay. First you hold your sword with both of your hands. Then move your left leg behind your right."she tells him, while showing the movements at the same time.

Nevada follows her movements perfectly and when she sees that, while looking at him, she says"Correct. That was pretty fast and good for a first time."

"Thanks. I'm copying mama."he tells her and she says"Veronica. When have you seen her practicing?"

"When mom is away."he replies to her and she asks"And she took you out to the training grounds, when she had to look after you?"

"Yes."he replies and then asks"Is mama in trouble?"

"No no."she assures him and continues"It's just that she never told me. What else she has done to you?"

"Nothing."he answers to her and asks then"Can we go back to training?"

"Yeah right."she remembers and then starts to explain again"Okay. Because you have copied Veronica, then want to show me what you have copied."

"Okay."he replies and starts to do all the swings, slashes, thrusts and other moves that he has seen Veronica do. After he finishes, he is breathing heavily and is sweating a lot. He looks at his mother and sees her with a surprised face.

"Mom."he calls her after seeing her doing nothing, but stare at him with a surprised face. But when she hears her son calling for her, she shakes her head a few times and replies"You copied Veronica perfectly. How?"

"Copying."he replies to her, without knowing anything more about how he did it.

"Could you show me your status. Say [Status Show]."she tells him and so he says"[Show Status]."

Name: Nevada Xeo

Age: 5

Race: Kitsune

Titles: Cursed Kitsune

Job: None

Skills:

Ice Magic lvl 4.

Bow Mastery lvl 6.

Sword Mastery lvl 5.

Knife Mastery lvl 6.

Martial Arts lvl 7.

Mana Manipulation lvl 1.

Physical Copying lvl 3.

"What the hell? How are you stats so high?"she yells out. She didn't know about his status before, because Veronica forgot to mention it.

He just thinks about his status and them says"Say [Show: Physical Copying] and read it out loud."

"Okay. [Show: Physical Copying]."he says and then starts to read out loud"Individual with this skill, can copy any physical movements, that the individual can see. The higher the skill level, the faster the individual can copy the movements."

After hearing his son reading the skills information out loud, she stays quiet to think about that. 'Hmm. So my Little Fox can copy anything physical he sees. That explains how he could execute Veronicas style without being taught. So does that mean, he knows more styles? Him having such a high [Sword Mastery] skill, makes teaching him easier.'

"Little Fox."she calls his name and continues"Have you copied anything else from Veronica or someone else?"

"Biting."he replies to her and she says"Yeah. I know and have seen that. I mean something I don't know."

"Hmmm. I have watched staff training."he tells her after thinking and she asks him"Who was training with it?"

"A tall man with red skin and only wears pants."he answers her in his childish voice and she thinks for a moment, before realising who he means.

"That pervert."she mutters and then says"Okay. You can copy his staff skills, but never get caught while watching him?"

"Why? Is he bad?"he asks her and she replies."His just gay and has a thing for beastkin."

Nevadas face goes pale and he immediately crouched down onto the floor.

"Won't watch. Won't watch. Won't watch."he keeps repeating and Alice seeing her sons condition, mutters"Oh dear. I scared him.....Also how does he know what gay means?"

After a minute, she sees that her son is still st the same state. She lets out a sigh and walks up to him"Little Fox. Don't be scared. He won't do anything to you. As long as you have mama or me along with you. Maria can't help you with him. She's a beastkin too."

"Really?"he asks her and looking up to her with his blue slitted eyes.

"Yes. He won't do anything to you. I promise that."she assures him and he replies"Okay mom."

"Good Little Fox."she tells him and then says"Lets go to mama now. I don't want to exhaust you."

"Okay."he replies to her and gets up.

They leave the room and then go to the place, where Veronica usually spends her time making traps and poisons.

So when they get to her lab, Alice knocks on the door and Veronica says"Enter."

So she opens the door and walks in with Nevada. At the same time, Veronica looks at the two and asks"Finished so early?"

"Yep."she continues with a proud voice"It appears that Little Fox has perfectly copied your sword style."

"Really? Thats pretty amazing."she says and looks at Nevada, who still has a slightly pale face.

"Umm. Is it me or Nevada looks pale?"she asks her wife, who replies"It's not you. I told him about Xert."

Veronica just looks at Alice, before saying"Alice. Are you trying to scare him?"

"Not entirely my fault. Nevada said that he was observing him to copy his style. So I kinda just told him about him."Alice tells Veronica, who just sighs and says"Okay. Whatever. Anyways you can go now. It's my turn to teach."

She gets up and pushes Alice out of the room. But before she could close the door, Alice gives her a little kiss and then walks out of the room.

She turns around to look at Nevada and says"Okay Nevada. Come with me."

"Okay mama."he replies to her and follows her into another room, where they behind the table. She sits down first and puts Nevada onto her lap.

"Okay. First thing you must know is that, you have to get and mix your poisons yourself. Same with the traps: you have to get the parts and assemble it by yourself. Second is that both of those require more practice and time to master."

"To use traps or poison in a mission is very hard and requires more time to prepare. So the best kind of missions for me would be those without a time limit."

"Okay mama."he replies to her, after hearing her short explanation."

"Okay."she continues"So before we can go anywhere with learning poisons or traps, you must learn about them. So right now, start reading this book and once have memorize it, we can start with practical."

She puts a thick book onto the table and opens the first page, where he has to starts reading.

"Mama. Isn't it too much?"he asks her in a childish voice and she replies"It is, but there is no other way. You have to read it."

"Okay mama."he replies and starts to read, while sitting on Veronicas lap. As for Veronica, she looks at her adoptive son reading and smile a little.

'He is a good kid. Mostly.'she thinks, as she looks at him. He pats his head, which he seems to like and continues to watch him.

After a few hours, Nevada has only finished two chapter and there is over thirty chapters. So he knew, that reading through that book, is gonna take time.

As for now, he has magic lesson with Maria. So he walks to her room alone and enters the room, to see Maria drinking tea on the couch. She looks at Nevada and says"So you're finally here. We'll start when I have finished my tea."

"Okay Wolfy."he replies and sits down next to her. So as she is drinking her tea, he just stares at her and doesn't say a word.

When she finally puts her cup back onto the table, Nevadas face brightness up.

"Okay. Lets start."she says and touches his forehead.

The next moment, they find themselves in a dark place and the place slowly turns into a land covered with snow.

"Eeeeh."he lets out a surprised voice and Maria smiles, when she sees that and says"This is a world created by magic. Anything we do here, won't have effect on the real world. So no need to worry about anything here."

Nevada still looks around in amazement, which Maria finds amusing.

"Okay Nevada. Lets start."she tells him and he replies after a few seconds"Okay."

He runs to her and both of them sit onto the ground. Even though it's covered in snow, it isn't cold at all. Maybe because it is a magic world or Nevada is just used to the cold.

"Okay Nevada."she continues"First we will learn about the mana. Mana is a source of energy, that is all around us. Every living thing can collect and contain mana in itself. How they collect, is different. For example: Alice collects her mana into her body passively, unlike Veronica and you, who have to drain it from others and then contain it in your bodies. And you mostly use mana to 'feed' your body, because food won't do it. So you have to always contain mana in your body."

"Okay."he replies to her.

"Because you are a kitsune, a being who feeds off from mana, you have a great control over your mana and don't need to bother finding your mana pool."she now asks him"So what magic you have?"

"[Ice Magic]."he replies to her. She thinks and says"Okay. So first try to focus your mana into your right arm. Don't try to over think anything. Just let it happen naturally. You have that bonus as a kitsune."

"Okay Wolfy."he replies to her and just tries to do it. While he tries, she tells him in a quiet and calming voice"Clear your mind and don't give up."

After a few minutes, he gets a hang of it and starts to move the mana into his right hand. She notices it and says"Good. Now imagine a shard of ice. Keep imagining it."

He does so and keeps imagining of a shard of ice. Slowly, it starts to form in his hands and after a minute, it is completed. He now has a small shard of ice in his right hand.

"Good Nevada. You may open your eyes."she tells him in a calming voice. So he opens her eyes and sees it in his hands.

He lets out an amazed voice, as he looks at it. Maria smiles, seeing that Nevada has succeeded.

"Good boy Nevada. Now try to keep it as long as you can. The longer you can hold it, the better you will get at creating it."she tells him and he nods.

So after half an hour, he finally gets tired and the shard shatters in his hands. His head slowly falls onto her lap and he says in a childish voice"Hungry."

"I guess you are."she tells him and presents him her wrist, in which he sinks his teeth into. He keeps draining her mana for a while and after five minutes, she says"Okay Nevada. You have had enough."

"Okay."he replies after taking his teeth out and cleaning his mouth.

"For today, we are finished. You can to your mom and mama now."she tells him and he replies"I want to be with Wolfy."

"Sorry Nevada. I have other things to do today. So next time."she tells him and he replies with a sad voice"Okay."

Seeing his sad face, she pats his head and says"Don't be sad. I'll take a bath with you the next time."

"Okay."he replies now in a more cheerful voice.

"Good. So bye for now."she tells him and the next moment he finds himself in his room, with Alice sitting on the couch.

"Little Fox. Did Maria teleport you here?"she asks him, while walking up to him.

"Yes mom."he replies to her.

"Why did Maria do that?"Alice asks herself.

As for Maria, she is now outside of the fortress, near a cliff. She currently is walking towards the cliff, while thinking'Damn. He drained most of my mana so quickly. My mana hasn't been this low for a century.'

She keeps walking, until she reaches at the edge of the narrow cliff. At the end of it, there is a sword stucked into the ground. She stops near the sword and looks at the sword.

"Hey brother. It's been a year again....I've been good like the other hundred years. Hehe...As for Nevada, he seems to be a promising one....That little rascal drained me almost empty..."

Tears start to run down her cheek sa she continues"It's now been exactly 105 years....And I still blame my self."

She puts her hand on the guard of the sword and continues"I just hope you are happy now. And maybe one day I will find my happiness too."

She takes her hand off from the guard and says the final words"Until next year. Goodbye."

She turns around and walks away into the forest, to be alone.