“To think he brought you to the point of needing to use skills.” Revenant said to Felix while they spoke in the privacy of Revenant’s office. Felix who was rubbing his ribs and massaging the thigh that One had attempted to destroy simply took a second to pause and reply.

“I couldn’t risk losing in front of the recruits. His fighting techniques felt like an embodiment of strength, like trying to fight a wall or something. Plus he felt completely battle tested, not like some helpless little runt that’s gotten into a few scraps.” Felix said as he continued rubbing his thigh. “Little bastard,” he mumbled while letting out a light chuckle

“True, but you still shouldn’t have taken him so lightly. His trap, the one that forced you into using your skills, was easy to notice to anyone who knew was to look out for. He’s an interesting kid that’s for sure. Either way, I’ll be taking the reins, as far as training One, once the sparring sessions start.”

“That would probably be best.” Felix said.

“Get that taken care of and get some rest.” Master Revenant said as he put a small jar on his desk and slid it towards Felix.

“Yes sir.” Felix said as he opened up the jar and began rubbing the healing ointment onto his thigh.

Asher found himself getting pushed back and thrown to the ground once again. This hadn’t been the first time he needed to pick himself up since he had begun his sparring sessions with Master Revenant. The teachings were strict, but fair. Every mistake was punished without hesitation, the lessons would wait until after. During a short break Master Revenant decided to enlighten Asher about things that were previously only sneaking suspicions floating around in Asher’s head.

“Do you know why you lost in your fight?” Master Revenant asked Asher.

“Honestly, no. As far as actually being able to fight, I’d figured out pretty quickly that I had the advantage,” Asher continued on “The same thing happened when you first attacked me, and when we spar. You were there, then you weren’t. It was faster than any person should be able to move.”

“You’re half right. As far as the actual fighting techniques went, you were better, but you’d never win due to a difference in skills.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Skills are special abilities that a person can learn. They can allow you to go past the realm of what is humanly possible,” Master Revenant looked at Asher “These skills tend to cost something, usually mana, but there are some classes that spend other resources to use their abilities.”

This training period lasted far longer than phase one of just learning basic pick pocketing. Once again Asher’s feat proved its worth:

FEAT: Jack of Everything

-Lifelong Student

You have spent your life trying to learn from people of all skills and all walks of life.Your thirst for knowledge has turned you into a lifelong student. Bypass restrictions on learning new skills and abilities. Learn skills and abilities at an increased rate.

Months had passed since they started learning how to use weapons and fight comfortably. They had cycled through the weapons originally shown to them, and had been trained up to use them to a comfortable level, but all of the kids were instructed to pick a weapon they’d felt most comfortable with. Most of the children stuck with the weapons they had picked on the first day of phase two training which meant that Asher found the dagger to be most comfortable. Judging time in the Sanctuary was a task, so Asher simply made his best guess based off of their sleeping periods.

Outside of sparring, Asher would take the time to practice with his team. Seventeen had the most benefit from this by virtue of also deciding to use a dagger as his main weapon. The swordplay did translate to Four and Five’s shortswords, but it took him a bit to adjust to fighting against an opponent with a longer reach. He also never sparred Four and Five one on one, they were at their best working as a pair, and fighting against multiple opponents gave Asher much needed practice. He didn’t know how often he’d be fighting more than one person at a time, but it never hurt to get acclimated to it.

Between all this extra training, with Jack of Everything passively being active, Asher’s fighting capabilities skyrocketed. Mixed with his natural physical traits, Asher was able to move in ways he’d only ever seen in ninja movies. He even had the tyrannical sensei and a secretive order of people to match the trope. All of the training the children had done put a lot of lean muscle on their frames.

When they weren’t practicing how to fight, they were doing calisthenics and running. Every day they were doing push-ups, sit-ups, and pull ups.

“Any good Syndicate member is fit and healthy. Most importantly, you have the ability to pull yourselves up over things and run away if the situation calls for it.” Master Revenant had told them before starting their strict exercise routine. Asher had always been fit, but his new body was on a completely different level of fitness. He looked like a mini Bruce Lee, so did most of the other children. The only one who deviated from this was Two, who seemed to lean more towards the bulky side for body types.

The children were all bruised up from their sparring sessions with Asher usually looking worse for wear. Master Revenant had never taken it easy during their sessions and would push him to the brink of exhaustion regularly. The handle of his wooden dagger had been stained red with his blood due to blisters constantly tearing off. During these situations, he’d be forced to switch hands, effectively making him ambidextrous.

Then one day after months of training, something new broke up the monotony. When the kids came into the training area, they saw a row of pigs strung up and hanging off a beam. There was one pig for each child, making it a total of twelve.

“It’s time you all learned what it feels like to stab something.” Master Revenant said as his assistants distributed daggers to the children. Much to Asher’s surprise, there was no discernable change between the weight of the wooden dagger he’d been practicing with, and the real one currently in his hands. The only difference was obviously the texture of it. The sleek metal shining with the dim light of the magical torches that lined the walls of the training area.

“Pig flesh is close to a human’s. Stab it, cut it, slash it. Get a feel for what it’s like to carve your way through flesh. Hesitation during a fight is the best way to get yourselves killed.” Master Revenant gestured towards the kids, “Go on, get a feel for it.”

Asher had never stabbed anyone before, he wasn’t against violence in the slightest, he had just never felt the need to kill anyone. He looked at the pig swaying in front of him then looked at his dagger. He jabbed the dagger forward and wasn’t met with much resistance. It was at that moment he realized just how easy it was to stab something, it took the smallest amount of force, but the blade would still find its way through.

After that day the children upgraded from wooden weapons, to their real counterparts. They also weren’t allowed to spar anymore during their training periods, instead they were told to use the techniques they’d learned on the new types training dummies they were given. These dummies had the silhouette of an adult human, but were stuffed completely with meat. The dummies would also alternate between having a masculine or feminine shape. Master Revenant had explained it as the Syndicate simply being an equal opportunity organization. They had spent weeks upon weeks slicing up these meat bags to the point where cutting through something, no matter how human shaped it may be, was simply just another motion.

A welcome change that happened during phase two of training was that their diet changed considerably. Before they had just been limited to fruit and water, but now meat and cheese had been introduced. With the extra protein being brought into their diet it allowed the kids to work harder during training sessions and keep focus for longer periods of time. It also reduced the severity of their sugar crashes once their stomachs finally got accustomed to the meat and dairy.

“Today is a special day.” Master Revenant said to the children. “You all are this much closer to graduating training and becoming full fledged members,” he said as he pinched his fingers together leaving a tiny gap.

“But, before that happens..you will need some skills before I let you loose on the world. Today I’ll be teaching you a few necessary skills.” He motioned for all the children to form a circle around him and his assistants.

“I want all of you to look at a spot roughly 5 steps in front of you.” He said as he monitored all of the children.

“As rogues we use stamina for a majority of our abilities. I want you to stand there and feel your heart beating in your chest. Feel the blood pumping from your heart and as it travels through your veins. Stamina and Life Force go hand in hand. Stamina based skills are no less than superhuman feats. Try to focus on building up the strength in your legs and expending some of your stamina to move from where you are to where you’re looking with one step. It’ll look like this.”

Master Revenant appeared to flicker from the center of the circle to standing in front of one of the children, then back to the center. The assistants demonstrated as well, one of them teleporting in front of Asher, then back to their original spot. When they locked eyes, Asher realized it was the same assistant that had beaten him on their first day of phase two. “So that was how he did it..” Asher thought to himself.

“None of you are moving from this spot until you manage to complete the ‘Skip-Step’. I don’t care how far you manage to travel, just get it done.”

The children stood there making strained faces as they tried to focus. Some of the kids were making goofy faces while others looked completely at a loss. They had been there for hours, standing perfectly still. Asher closed his eyes, feeling his life force circulating through his body. He could feel his heartbeat in his ears, the sound of his own pulse mimicked the ocean as it sloshed through his veins. He’d begun to force this feeling down towards his legs when -

“I-I did it!” Seventeen said jumping up and down as he cheered. “Master Revenant, I did it!”

Master Revenant nodded. “Good, go rest. All the attempts take up stamina as well.”

“Looks like he’s kind of a genius,” Asher thought to himself “Good job Seventeen.”

Asher forced the feeling of his inner strength down and looked up. Instead of aiming for five paces in front of him, he looked up and took a step forward, expending some of his energy and appearing in front of Master Revenant who was easily fifteen paces away.

“Done.”

“It would appear so, One.” Master Revenant said as they both looked at eachother. “Good job. Return to your place and keep practicing. We need to discuss things once the others are done.”

— Skill Learned! —

Skip-Step: Use stamina to quickly cover distances in a single step. The amount of stamina used is affected by the distance traveled. Skip-Step is limited to eyesight. Can NOT phase through solid objects using this skill.

It was hours before a couple of the children learned the skill, the couple being Four and Five. Asher had spent the entire time using it to go from place to place, eventually sweat was streaming down his face, and covering his body. He felt a level of exhaustion he believed to not be humanly possible, as he sat there taking a few minutes to relax and breathe. Eventually, Master Revenant simply dismissed the rest of the children.

“That’s enough for today. Those of you who couldn’t learn the skill today, expect to practice this and only this, until you do. Rest, build your stamina back up. We will continue tomorrow.”

The children began to file out and return to their barracks room. The only people remaining in the training area were Asher, Master Revenant, and his two assistants. He looked towards the assistants and told them to leave as well. Once they were alone he spoke up.

“You will be learning something extra.” Master Revenant said.

“Why, I thought the Syndicate was all about equal treatment for recruits?” Asher replied, and Master Revenant immediately let out a laugh.

“The Syndicate cares about talent, which you have, but that isn’t why I’m going to be teaching you a few extra things. I’ve been asked to give you a fairly difficult task for the next test by one of the higher ranking members. The skills I’ll teach you will be crucial for your success and survival in this task. Do you think you’re up for it?”

“Without any time to plan,” Asher stood there thinking for a bit “I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?”

“No, you don't,” Master Revenant said bluntly.

“Well then I guess there isn’t too much to talk about. I look forward to learning from you.”

“It won’t be easy, but I’m sure you can handle it. Get some rest.”

“Yes sir.” Asher said and he walked towards his barracks. He walked contemplating the many possibilities of what was in store for all of them. “Special training from Master Revenant…what the hell is going to happen during this next test?” he mumbled as he continued running different scenarios through his mind.