Nimh was feeling conflicted.

He had not been entirely confident when he declared he could raise Keira to E Rank. In truth, the Rank itself was a sliding scale and difficult to gauge. The only real difference when it and F Rank was the foundation, and the actual forging and therefore utility of the physical well.

Marcus had been largely useless when it came to understanding the bar to which progression of the Ranks was held. As such, Nimh could only use himself as a gauge.

He needn’t have been concerned. As it turned out, Keira was a prime example of talent just needing the right situation to grow. She was already innately aware of her vital energy, through her use of it was wild and unrefined.

The problem lay with her physical well. Which took all of an hour for her to reforge after being made aware of the connection between vital energy, the well itself and refinement.

Nimh wasn’t sure if he should be proud or not. He had a superbly talented student.

“And I’m going to have to push myself to stay ahead of her.” He said internally to a laughing Marcus.

Marcus had taken some delight in Keira surpassing Nimh’s expectations, though Nimh could not fathom why. In just a few hours the girl had become strong enough to kill Marcus on a whim had he not lost his body to Nimh already.

“Good for motivation though, right?” Marcus mocked.

With a groan, Nimh put his attention on his student. He had shown her the first nine forms. In his current state, he was only truly confident with the first twenty-eight. After those forms, his balance and timing started to falter. Not enough for an amateur to spot, but to his eyes it was unbearable.

And watching her, he felt a sense of relief as she finally hit a stumbling block. This was his conflict.

It was a poor instructor who took pleasure in their student's failings. But what Nimh felt was not pleasure, but a relief. Her talent with vital energy was sturdy, though her ability to control that energy was unstable and that was reflected in her forms.

And Keira's forms lacked accuracy and control. For now at least.

Control was vital for completing the forms with any measure of accuracy. It was why Nimh was displeased with his own progress, though it was not his control of vital energy that was the problem.

It was the body. Keira had spent her life in her body, making her instinctive aware of herself, though she may not have been aware of it herself. It meant that once she gained control of her vital energy, her pathway would be straightforward.

Nimh was rebuilding his awareness from scratch. Not easy after only two days. It didn’t help that Marcus had not taken care of his body, leaving it weak and uncoordinated. Echos of those coordination issues sprung up randomly when Nimh’s concentration slipped.

In short. He wouldn’t be able to let his instincts take over. His natural rhythm was formed for his old body, his fighting sense and combat awareness too. Until his awareness of his new body became instinctual at a fundamental level, it would require far more attention.

Just another thing for Nimh to work on. Which he refused to do in front of his student.

Instead, he observed her, offering advice and correction when she took a misstep. And while he did that, he fed trickles of his spirit into his spiritual seed. He did not need to place his awareness into the spirit well to feed the seed. Nor to slowly expand his spirit well and heal it.

It was far slower though, and without a useful spirit acting as extra fuel for the seed, it was slow and excruciating. Luckily for Nimh, Marcus had shut up as he watched the spiritual seed at work. Over time, he would learn how to ‘feel’ the process and be able to use it when he entered the Realm of Infinite Dreams.

Quietly, Nimh was tempted to burn Marcus for a little extra spirit energy. He wouldn’t, he’d given his word. But Marcus was…decidedly unlikeable.

No doubt Nimh would get used to the man. But for now, he resisted the urge to be free. Besides, Nimh didn’t want to indulge in that method more than necessary. It could lead to problematic habits and dangerous mindsets.

People were people, not fuel for spirit seeds. Even the useless ones.

Finally, Keira’s body faltered and she collapsed, panting and spent. Nodding, Nimh stepped forward, taking a seat before her.

“You are improving.” He said, sending his spirit aware into her body. Truly, she was a marvel. Even now, the vital energy coursing through her was healing the damages she had suffered at the hands of her captors. Disturbingly deep issues that made him feel some pity for the girl.

“I’m far from your level.” She gasped, lacking even the energy to sit up.

“I have a lot of experience and my control is far greater. When you master controlling vital energy, you will catch up.” It wasn’t even a lie. Once her injuries healed, her physical well would grow at a speed that made Nimh jealous. The sheer amount of vital in her was incredible and it just kept getting stronger.

“How long…do you think it will take?”

Nimh shrugged. “Only you can judge that. Though you are firmly an E Rank now.”

He caught her eye and smiled. She frowned.

“I’m not apologising.” Her rejection made Nimh laugh.

“Fine. But what are your plans now? Will you stay and train under me, or will you leave?”

She was quiet for a while. “You. You have a lot that you can teach me, don’t you?”

“More than you can imagine. Though I will only be teaching you the physical arts for now. There is something to be said about focussed training.”

“I think I will stay. For now, at least. I want to help those kids and I don’t think leaving them to your mercy is something I can live with.”

Nimh nodded. “If you can heal them, I will offer to train them too, just like I will train you. But remember this, if I train you, teach you my art and my secrets, I will not allow betrayal. If you decide to betray me after you have learned my teachings, I will hunt you down and kill anyone you divulge my secrets to.”

The fear in her eyes told Nimh enough. She wasn’t afraid of losing her life or of the pain he promised her, but she was concerned for the children. And she was terrified of losing this opportunity to grow in power.

Now that she had a taste, she would rather die than let it slip through her fingers.

“Right here and now is the limit I am willing to teach while letting you leave without consequence. Think about it. There are rooms downstairs. Help yourself to one and sleep on it.”

With obvious effort, she sat up, staring at Nimh. “Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Couldn’t you have taken over the gang and had a small army at your back? Why did you kill them all just to have a group of broken kids and me in your care?”

The question caught Nimh off-balance enough that he took a moment before answering.

“I am not saving you, nor the kids,” he said carefully. “I have my plans and I think you can help me achieve them. I would prefer to have a few talented allies than an army of worthless cowards that can only force their power on those weaker than they are.”

“In saying that, I may need to build an army one day, but for now, I should be enough. When I do build an army though, I would still need those I can trust and rely on to succeed. Best to start early.” He smiled, leaning placing his palms on the ground behind him and leaning on them, making space between them.

“I am not a soldier,” Keira said, there was no hesitation in her.

“Neither am I,” Nimh said. “I am a warrior and a teacher” and a killer.” In the second part, he did not say it out loud.

She stared at him for a long moment. Then she stood and walked away.

Nimh remained sitting for a long time after she left. Uncertain. He wanted to keep that girl close, make her into a weapon and conquer this world. He sensed that if she stayed, she would be a powerful force of change. Change that this society desperately needed.

But if she left? Well, it wouldn’t be a great loss. There were always alternatives.

Shaking his head, he stood, stretching. It was time to get back to training.

**

Hours later, Keira was curled up in a bed, wide awake and worried.

The subject of her worry was two floors up. She could vaguely sense him, like a tiny sun giving off heat. When she was around him, her body surged with energy, vital energy if he was telling her the truth.

Even at this distance, he affected her. He was training, slowly growing stronger by the moment.

He scared her, though she would never let that show. He was a powerful man and every man with even an impression of power turned it into a weapon. Far too often, she had borne the brunt of their ire.

Her father had been a horrid person, brutal and uncaring. Her mother had fled that man, leaving Keira to fend for herself. That had not gone well as her father had earned Wolfgang’s ire.

Months ago, she had been taken to teach her father a lesson. Lessons that he had refused to learn.

She did not want to think of those days. Her father had been killed, but Wolfgang was not the kind to throw away a pretty girl. And now he was dead.

Killed by a monster in human skin.

That was the only impression that Nimh had left in her mind. Powerful enough to kill other monsters. Yet generous enough to raise her to E Rank.

She could run now. If she could get away from the undercity, she could find a place in society. Perhaps build a good life for herself. Find a good man and build a family.

It was a nice dream to fantasise about. But she was not ignorant. She was marked now, tainted. There would be few that would want her. Pity her, maybe, but offer her a chance at a new life. Unlikely.

The undercity was a home for the unwanted, and she was one of them.

Except, he had said she could be of use to him. Useful for his plans. What were those plans? Why was he so confident in the face of the gang lords? Was he truly that unmatched, or just ignorant of what he was starting?

She did not know.

But she did know what she felt when she saw those children. Wolfgang’s broken toys. Boys and girls so young that it broke her heart to see them.

And that monster of a man would kill them out of mercy. After all that talk about futures and opportunities. What a damn hypocrite. Killing children just because the effort to help them too much?

She hated him for his callousness.

And wondered if she could be that decisive in the face of an impossible task.

Because she didn’t think she could heal them either. They were just so traumatised. She had tried talking to them, shaking them just to get a response but nothing worked. It was like there was nothing behind their eyes.

She cursed Wolfgang for what he did. Cursed Nimh for being unable to save them. And hated herself, because she was too weak to choose.