Nimh felt no danger as the world erupted into noise akin to a storm of blades clashing in his ear. Back home, his training had included similar situations and his abilities had been more than enough for the task then.

It proved to be the same here as he flowed through his forms, vital energy fully unleashed as struck the weights only to then dodged and parried the weapons. All the while, he let his enhanced senses take over.

The mental energy, he kept circulating in his mind well, only letting a trickle out to augment his senses. It would take time for him to fully adapt so he eased them along. It still made for a disorientating sensation, but he dealt with it.

His spiritual sense was sharper now, the consistent refining of his spirit well and spirit seed showing improvement. It wasn’t enough, but even as he used his spirit sense to feel the cacophony of weapons around him, he still fed his spiritual seed.

The final factor was of course his vital energy. It was by far his strongest resource, coming more naturally to him than he had expected. Perhaps it had been the extra effort he had placed on it in his past life, but the growth was phenomenal.

As it was, with all three arts working in unison, this training was child’s play.

So of course, he made it harder. This took the form of completing his ninety-nine forms in sequence. It was not an ideal situation for such training, as the forms required certain positioning and movements which required Nimh to finesse both his own movements and the movements of the weights and weapons.

Such finessing took its toll on Nimh’s concentration, pushing him to read and foretell his situation with ever-growing accuracy. It was more a necessity than a requirement and the main reason he had chosen this form of training.

His mind was still his weakest tool. As such, it required the most attention.

The only restriction he did not add was the vital energy restriction and the slow accuracy training of the forms. This allowed him to move through the forms with far greater speed, though with far less accuracy. All of which he catalogued with his newly attained cognitive art.

By the time he had completed his ninety-nine forms, his body, mind and spirit were strained. He was deeply focused on his training by that point, his concentration so fine that he barely noticed Keira staring at him. The strain, however, was not so easily put aside.

Accepting that if he continued then he may actually put himself in some danger, Nimh slipped away, leaving the weights and weapon to clutter together.

Sweat drenched his body, a shimmer of vital energy on his skin as breathed deeply.

“That,” he spoke lightly, “Is the value of spiritual awareness. The more you use it, the more attuned you become to your surroundings and the easier it is for you to react to the unexpected.”

“You expect me to be able to do that?” Keira said breathlessly.

“Not right away,” Nimh said. “But in time, you will manage it. By the time you get to C Rank, that will be nothing.”

“Wait, are you at C Rank now?” Keira asked.

Nimh wasn’t actually sure how his progress would be measured. The Ranking system wasn’t something he really cared about. All he knew or needed to know was how he matched up compared to the S ranks.

“Not sure,’ Nimh replied honestly, “I’m sure Sebastian will have a way to measure it.”

Talking about Sebastian, Nimh could feel his presence entering the basement. Curious, Nimh turned and grabbed a towel, wiping his face.

He had stocked up on some amenities after beating Marcus up in his spirit well. Though Marcus had been surprisingly resilient, it hadn’t taken long for Nimh to finish their lesson. Even now Marcus was practising changing his form, gaining more control over his spiritual self.

Meanwhile, Nimh had rearranged the training room. The room was split in three, with the hanging weapons only occupying a third of the space. There was still a large area open for practising forms and sparring. Though not much.

Nimh was happy he could put the hanging weapons away.

There were bottles of water in a corner, benches to the sides of the room and shelving to hold towels. He had considered getting someone in to maintain the place and had decided to ask Sebastian about it later.

Having staff to take care of the small things would be helpful.

Keira was staring at the hanging weapons, eyes thoughtful.

“So, I’ve been thinking about your training.” Nimh began, catching her attention.

“What about it?” she asked.

“Well, you seem to want to put your training to use, right?” he asked.

She nodded in response.

“Then maybe it is time to start that little project of yours,” Nimh said. “We can do our training here in the morning and you can go about your business. You don’t need to be here all the time and I suspect that Sebastian will have a group of people for me to train sooner, rather than later.”

Keira frowned. “I’m not sure I am good enough for that yet.”

“Well, teaching is also a form of training. Teaching others allows you to identify weaknesses in your own comprehension. Over time, it gives you greater insights into how to develop yourself. I think it will do you good. Besides, I don’t think you want to watch me beat basics into Sebastian’s people.”

Keira smiled. “That might be therapeutic. Some of Sebastian’s E Ranks are horrible people. Seeing them get beaten would be entertaining.”

Nimh snorted. “They’re going to be your compatriots soon; you realise that don’t you?”

They chatted as Nimh waited for Sebastian to arrive. He was alone, though Nimh could sense the man was happy.

His and Keira’s conversation had turned to further forms by the time Sebastian arrived.

“Apologies for interrupting Master Nimh,” Sebastian said with a slight bow. “I have come to report on the progress so far. The last of the pit fights concluded last night, so the twenty-four men you requested have been recruited. I also have ten men willing to train under you.”

Sebastian was dressed in formal clothing, black pants that looked oddly sharp with navy blue insignia running up his legs. His jacket was similarly pressed and sharp, with a navy-blue shirt beneath, matching the colour of the insignia.

Nimh had to admire the man’s taste in clothes.

Nimh nodded. “Good work Sebastian. Will you be training with us too?”

Sebastian nodded. “I would be eager to learn under you, Master Nimh.”

Nimh watched as Sebastian’s eyes roamed the training room, a sadness sinking into his expression. “I designed this room for my son,” he said wistfully. “I had hoped he would use it to better himself. Sapphire had a similar room and she actually used it for what it was intended for.”

There was an awkward silence. Nimh didn’t want to intrude on the man’s pain, after all, Nimh had caused some portion of it. But there was work to do and Nimh needed Sebastian on task.

“Are you okay training here Sebastian?” Nimh asked, drawing the man’s attention.

“I can manage,” Sebastian said with a strained smile on his face. “Wolfgang let his opportunities go to waste, even if I have to swallow some discomfort, I will not let this opportunity go.”

Nimh clapped the man on the shoulder. “You are a brave man, Sebastian. So, when do you plan on bringing the men here to train?”

“They have all been assigned to a roster, so when you decide you want them, they will arrive.” He took out a plan on a piece of paper. “I have detailed everything here for you to review. We can adjust it if you need.”

Nimh read through the information, nodding at Sebastian’s efforts.

“This will work,’ he said “Have them come tomorrow, though I will have you and Keira train separately. Would you mind being her sparring partner?”

Sebastian bowed. “I would be honoured.”

“Good. I will train you two for three hours a day prior to the men arriving. That should give you both plenty of time to go about your business.”

Sebastian’s plan had indicated three hours for each of the three groups of trainees. Which meant he would have a full half of the day dedicated to training and developing what would be the main branch of his power base.

Nimh was not looking forward to that.

“Sebastian, would you mind if we got started now? I want to see how solid your foundations are. Did the Prime train you at all?”

“He did,” Sebastian confirmed.

Nimh smiled, beckoning him towards the open space of the room.

With assured steps, Sebastian stripped off his jacket, hanging it on a peg that had held a weapon just yesterday. Then he moved towards the open space and began performing a butchered variety of the forms Nimh practised.

There was no tempo, no control and no accuracy. It resembled the later forms if nothing else which incorporated the merging of the first ninety-nine forms. But Sebastian lacked the foundation.

The lack of foundation left Sebastian with openings and flaws in his movements, inefficient distributions of force in his attacks and inconsistent applications of vital energy.

In short, Sebastian had been trained in something advanced to quickly improve his power, but without proper training, he had plateaued.

When he was done, Sebastian looked no worse for wear, his vital energy more than enough to rejuvenate him. It didn’t help that his vital energy control was, misused and unsupported by proper foundations.

No wonder the man had not progressed.

“Is that what the Prime taught you?” Nimh asked. At Sebastian’s nod, he continued. “Is it the same with everyone he trained?”

“No,” Sebastian denied. “Those with the greater talents, he trained differently, though he did not let anyone see those sessions.”

Nimh frowned at that. “How old were they and what rank?”

“Young,” Sebastian confirmed. “All F Ranks and around six to seven years old if I remember correctly.”

A cold shiver ran down Nimh’s back. At those ages, the spirit well began maturing in most children back home. If it was the same here, Nimh had a bad feeling about how the Prime had trained those children.

Letting out a calming breath, Nimh put that issue aside. “Sebastian, we need to talk about your forms,” Nimh said seriously as he began breaking down the man’s forms, the weaknesses, and flaws of how he had been trained. Even Keira gave the man a sympathetic look as Sebastian’s face went from confident to devastated.

He was speechless as Nimh finished.

“Surely it isn’t that bad?” Keira said kindly.

“It is repairable,” Nimh conceded. “But it will take effort and time.”

Sebastian perked up the first, then wilted as Nimh continued.

“Sebastian, you are a D Rank, which makes you strong regardless of your ability to use that strength,” Nimh spoke softly and supportively. “When you learn to use that power more efficiently your progress will begin again.”

“But it will take time,” Sebastian muttered, looking at his hands.

‘Well,” Nimh said simply, “Keira here only started a few days ago from almost nothing. Starting over doesn’t mean losing everything you have, it just means being open to change.”

Sebastian looked at Keira sceptically. “You got that strong that quickly?”

Keira nodded encouragingly.

“Then,” Sebastian said with a grin forming on his face. “When do we start?”