“ So you’re finally awake Crow.”

I was in Grant’s bed.

“ Did I master blood pressure control?”

“ You have impressed me once more, Crow. You lost consciousness at the 40th minute of training. YOU DIED! HAHAHAHA!”

Did Grant stop the training when I fainted? I did use my last resort in case.

“ Want to guess how you survive?”

“ Uhhh I.”

I spat out some blood.

“ Sorry, I was so excited that I forgot that you almost died. You were able to use the skill called Blood Control Blood Defense. It increases your whole body’s blood pressure to the maximum. I didn’t expect you to learn a complete defense skill. You must have used it before you lost consciousness. For some reason, I thought you were just testing this old man. I could have killed you but you maintained that skill for the last 20 minutes of training.”

My last resort worked.

“ Rest up Crow. We will continue your training tomorrow.”

The old man was right, only an idiot would train with death breathing down their neck. I’m too much of a proud idiot to stop my training. This is nothing compared to losing the girls that trusted me or being hunted down as a wanted fugitive.

It was the next day. Grant told me to rest for a while longer and began telling me his life story. I wanted to ask him about how strong the people of this world were but it’s best to let him speak first. After all, he did so much for me.

Grant’s biggest regret in life was that he was a terrible husband who neglected his wife too much and ended up leaving him. Also a terrible father for not being in his only son’s life. His wife remarried and his son passed away long ago in the war. His son was about 21 years old before being drafted for war. He regretted not being there for him and training him to have a higher chance of surviving.

Revenge has swallowed Grant. When he was a little boy, a Royal came to his village and slaughtered everyone. He was the only survivor because one of the higher-ranking soldiers hid him from the others. He told the little boy that you must survive and seek revenge against the royalty. Grant swore he would avenge his family and friends on that day.

He started living in another village and trained every day. Eventually, he made it into the army and rose through the ranks. Due to the prestige of being a higher ranking soldier, commoner families were offering him to marry their daughter in exchange for wealth and status. That is when he married his wife. He was 22 and his wife was 21 at the time.

They didn’t have a great relationship since he was always either working as a soldier, fighting on the war front against the other kingdoms, or training.

When his wife got pregnant with his first son. She told him that if he doesn’t want to help raise their child, she was going to leave him for another man. She ended up leaving. He didn’t care about her or his son. He wanted revenge against the royalty of this kingdom who slaughtered everyone in his village right before his eyes.

At 37 years old, Grant has reached his peak in power. He was stronger than the weaker Royals.

He had his first opportunity to kill a member of Royalty when he was assigned as a bodyguard to a 13-year-old Royal called Alicia. During one of Alicia’s walks through the forest. It was the perfect chance to kill her and blame it on someone else. However, when Grant was about to slay her head off, Alicia put her hand on his sword.

“ Grant you have worked so hard for this kingdom. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Commoners like you make this kingdom a better place for all of us. So if killing me would help you make this kingdom a better place. Then I will have no regrets.”

Alicia then took his blade and moved it closer to her neck, while kneeling on the ground. Waiting for Grant to behead her. Grant couldn’t do it and cried.

All his life he wanted revenge but not anymore. He knew if he killed her, it would make the kingdom worse. There were many rotten Royals in his eyes but this is not one of them. If Alicia was able to grow up and become a much stronger Royal. She would become one of the Royals to make the lives of commoners better and hopefully persuade the other Royals in doing the same. From that point on, Grant became a loyal soldier serving under his master Alicia.

“ Sorry Crow that was a long story, I will tell you the rest later.”

I immediately went to hug Grant.

“ Grant you would make a great father and husband to your wife as you are now.”

Grant cried instead of laughing at me this time.

“ Thank you, Crow. I always wanted to tell someone about my life.”

“ Speaking of Royals. Do you know how many there are in this kingdom? Are they really the strongest group of people? Is there anyone else?”

“ Ahh, I was going to explain that to you after your training. Perhaps telling you some knowledge about this world would make you train harder. I believe about 6000 Royals are living in this Kingdom.”

“ So many? Do they all fight for the throne too?

“No, they do not. They are split into 3 factions. The two biggest factions are the Sky Royals and Lake Royals. The smallest faction is the King Royals and only they can contend for the throne. I would tell you more but I still need you to focus on your death training first.”

“ You’re right. Then let’s begin the training.”

“ Hm... 2 more things that I want to tell you so you train harder. The highest-ranked nobility which is the duke and duchess of this kingdom is stronger than most members of royalty. There are 10 powerful Lake Royals called the Lake Serpents. And 14 powerful Sky Royals called the Sky Dragons. All of these people are far stronger than you Crow. Your training is baby steps to them.”

“ This world is set to nightmare difficulty for me. I will surpass them.”

“ Your ambition is beautiful, it makes me think that you will be the man who will change this kingdom.”

We went outside the shabby house to practice the basics of blood flow and blood pressure control. The faster your blood flow is, the faster you can execute blood control skills. It directly affects your body’s speed too. The higher the blood pressure, the stronger those skills can become. Which is also responsible for the body’s power.

“ You have mastered blood flow and blood pressure control at a pretty high level. I think it’s time we move to more practical combat training. Now my specialty was the sword so I will be teaching you sword skills.”

He handed me a wooden sword for me to use. Grant began showing me various blood control sword skills for me to learn, and the footwork that goes into them. He also told me that almost everyone fights with a weapon as they are way more effective in killing than using punches or kicks.

While I was a genius in learning the basics of Blood Control. Whether it was because of my Royal Blood or I was just good at focusing. I was a complete newbie in learning more advanced and technical aspects of the blood control sword skills.

“ Cmon Crow! You said you were going to become strong, why are you failing to learn my sword abilities? I thought you were going to become the man who will change the kingdom!”

“ I will become that man. It’s hard for me to focus when I am constantly moving around, I can concentrate better when I am standing still.”

“ Your enemies will not even give you a chance to focus! They can kill you instantly if you stand still!”

“ I know. Let’s keep the training up Grant, I will master your blood control sword skills in time.”

“ Alright, as long as you never give up. I won’t ever give up on you either.”

We continue sword training until night has fallen. I was failing so badly in being able to use blood control sword skills. Grant retracted my death training to beginner level training. It has only been 5 days since I began my life in this nightmare world. I supposed it wasn’t going to be easy for me to get stronger.

“ That is enough, you are a genius in the basics yet useless in practical combat. Your techniques are very bad. Usually for most people, the better your basics, the better their techniques and practical combat skills.”

“ …I ”

“ It’s alright Crow, You only been in this world for 5 days, after all, I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself on trying to learn something you never thought existed.”

“... yeah, you’re right. I was trying to take the shortcut into becoming strong. Looks like I still have a lot to learn and master in this world.”

Before we both went to sleep, I asked him about other fantasy aspects in this world. If monsters or demi-humans existed here? As I explained it to him. Grant was rolling on the floor laughing his head off. Apparently, there do exist people who will roll on the floor laughing.

He told me that I was one of the funniest people he has ever met. I didn’t felt any embarrassment about asking stupid questions. I knew that if I had to survive, I had to correct any misunderstanding of this world before going further.

“ I forgot to mention but a blonde woman was watching us from a pretty far distance. I never would have noticed her if we didn’t make the training easier. Which let me focus on something else other than your training.”

A blonde woman watching us? Who could it be? I had a sinking realization.

“ It’s Azure!”

“ The maid who you said that tried to frame you as a pedophile killer?”

“Yes! It has to be her. She’s-”

“ I don’t think it’s Azure. I will admit she has good eyes but it could be someone else with blonde hair. The darker your hair color, the stronger your blood control skills will be.”

I too thought it could be someone else. But it doesn’t make any sense for anyone to be watching us for the entire day. If she was a scout for the soldiers after me, she would have informed them to get me. But that never happened.

We were also deep in the middle of the forest. Why would Azure continue to watch us? It doesn’t make any sense but it has to be her. Was she waiting for a chance for me to be away from the old man so she can attack me herself?

The old man is indeed strong and I think he can beat her. Grant believed in my instinct that it was Azure. He came up with a plan to deal with Azure. I also told him of the possibility of her being a secret Royal and how you can bleach black hair blonde.