"W-What did you say, My Lady?" Guard Rhys asked in a panicked voice in the training area for the Booker Manor's Guard to the young lady dressed in front of him in a training attire.

"I said, I need you to teach me how to fight..." the lady in question answered. She was none other than Selena Booker, the Firstborn Daughter of the Booker Manor.

After the trickery of the Connors Family (Step-Mother's family) and recent attack by an assassin hired by the Wyatt family, Selena realized that she was far too weak at the moment to protect herself if things were left alone as it is. Hence, she decided to get some training for combat, and the best person for that would be the seasoned soldier from the Blood Sparrows unit which was known for its fierceness before it was disbanded.

"B-But, My Lady...!! I-I can't teach you Combat. It's... I..." Guard Rhys was sweating bullets. Aristocrat women rarely learned combat as it is considered crude and barbaric by them. Very few ladies train in it and that too if the family served in the Army for generations.

"I understand your concern..." Selena replied after seeing Rhys hesitate and continued.

"But after what happened with Grant's "Guard", I realized that I can't always rely on others when it comes to defending myself. I won't lie to you, I have attracted a lot of unwanted attention and I want to be prepared for what's to come next."

"My lady..." Guard Rhys wanted to say something but seeing the determination in her eyes, he quickly closed his mouth. Even though he wasn't aware of the assassin, he knew that someone was targetting her since he also knew of Claire Walker's incident, and no matter how skilled he was, he can't always be by Selena's side and currently there were no female guards that could be tasked with Selena's security during his absence. As a soldier tempered in wars, he was well aware of the realities of the world and had a keen sense of danger.

"Is... the Marquis okay with this?" Rhys asked.

"He originally wanted to hire a teacher for it, but after Claire Walker's incident, I decided to train from someone I can trust." Selena replied casually.

"My Lady..." Rhys teared up a bit. To think Selena trusted him this much.

"Alright..." Rhys finally caved in, "What kind of training would you like me to teach you?"

"Something that is quick to master and will allow me to defeat even the strongest of attackers." Selena responded with a straight face.

"This..." Guard Rhys almost keeled over at Selena's thought process.

'My Lady, if there was a combat style that easy, then wouldn't anyone be capable of becoming a Master?'

Although he thought like that, he was aware of why Selena would make such a request. She wanted to grow strong... and fast. He had a thought. He walked over the weapons stand, glanced around it and picked something out from it.

As Rhys walked over to Selena, the weapon finally came into focus. It was a sword-like weapon, but its blade was thin and elongated and it had a swept hilt for holding.

"My Lady, this is a Rapier." Guard Rhys explained as he held the sword in front of him and pointed its sharp point to the sky.

"Explain why should I use this weapon." Selena asked in a doubtful tone. The Rapier was mostly used as a secondary weapon like Dagger and throwing stars. Its blade was flimsy and could easily break if clashed with a proper sword.

"Please don't underestimate this weapon, My Lady..." Rhys began explaining.

"This weapon is lighter in weight compared to other weapons which make it suitable for women to wield it and unlike a dagger, it has a long-range of attack thanks to the length of the blade."

"It is a weapon primarily used for thrusting attacks and is specifically designed to pierce your opponents. With proper training and timing, you can definitely stab someone stronger than you with it."

Selena nodded at that. Even though she was a fit woman, she was not physically stronger than a man and in direct confrontation, she will definitely lose. The Rapier seemed suitable for her weight and it was a quick and agile weapon that could help her deter her opponents from approaching. She took the weapon from Rhys and observed it.

She swung it around for a bit. For a weapon from the Training Area for guards, it was not bad. If the training is to her liking, then she wouldn't mind having one made for herself.

While she was familiarizing herself with the weapon, Rhys went and came back with a training dummy that had circles painted on its chest to create a target.

"My Lady, please try to stab this dummy at its circled region." Rhys asked as he placed the Dummy in front of Selena.

Selena nodded and quickly pulled the sword back and thrust it forward.

*Stteecchh...!!*

The Rapier stopped around 25% inside in the dummy as its momentum came to a halt. Selena felt a small pain in her shoulder.

"Not bad for the first try..." Rhys replied after seeing it. It was just like he had guessed. Selena's strength was not enough for a full through piercing. If she had been given any other weapon, the sheer weight would have left her fumbling around.

"Please observe my movements carefully, My Lady." Rhys replied as he took another Rapier and took a pose.

He also pulled his hand back but unlike Selena, his upper body seemed to move along with it which helped alleviate pressure on the arm and also gain stronger momentum.

He thrust the weapon forward, and with a piercing wind sound, it stabbed through the dummy. Just like before, instead of only the arm, Rhys's entire upper body moved to support the attack which helped increase the stabbing force of the Rapier. He turned to look at Selena who had an expression full of thought on her face. Rhys smiled at that. Her expression meant that she had observed his actions and was trying to understand it.

"Here... Let me teach you, My Lady." Rhys said as he began teaching Selena the moves one by one.

After around 15 minutes, Selena was practicing the moves as Guard Rhys watched from the side.

"Huff...!! Puff...!!" Selena breathed sharply during each stab as she exerted pressure from her body.

Guard Rhys was pleased with the results. She mimicked his actions with a 90% accuracy, even if her strength was still a bit lacking.

Suddenly, Selena paused her actions and she stared blankly into space. Guard Rhys was confused by her sudden stop and wanted to say something. But before he could, Selena closed her eyes as she seemed to be thinking of something. Guard Rhys decided to wait it out instead.

After nearly two minutes, Selena breathed out and slowly opened her eyes again.

She started practicing the move again.

'I am glad Lady Selena took an interest in combat...' Rhys thought to himself as she continued observing Selena's movements for errors.

'But even though she is learning to defend herself, I would still like to see a female guard next to her. Maybe I should report it to the Marquis and maybe---- eh?'

Rhys's train of thoughts was interrupted by Selena's movements, which were getting different from its initial moves.

"My Lady, I..." but before he could point out that she was diverting from the taught movements, he re-examined Selena's movement again and froze on the spot with astonishment.

"This... How is this possible?" Rhys's Jaw was wide open for an entire family of birds to live in for 3 generations. He was shocked to see that although Selena's movements deviated from the original, it was actually being far more effective...!!

Rhys hurriedly grabbed the other Rapier and mimicked Selena's movements. What he experienced after a couple of tries left him freaked out.

The Current movements of Selena were precise and more constricted in terms of space. Any useless action was seemingly reduced by at least 50% and it seemed to put less pressure on the body and stamina allowing its user to fight for longer. The straight jab of the blade was also curved slightly which produced several effects. Since the straight jab was easy to counter, the curved arc made it slightly unpredictable and harder to block as even if it was blocked, the Rapier would bounce off and strike at least the shoulder. Sure, the arc made it so that it had to cover more distance but with the lightweight and speed of the Rapier, it made it almost negligible. What was truly scary about this technique was that the fact that it can't be directly blocked hence the risk of the blade breaking was minimized and somehow, the arc gave the user more time to exert strength which would allow for a stronger jab.

Guard Rhys was dumbstruck. He looked at Selena to see her nonchalantly repeat the advanced moves. From Selena's earlier actions, he knew she wasn't acting and was really a novice. To think, in such a short period, not only did she understood the movement completely, but she was also able to find flaws in the technique and fix it.

Sweat dripped heavily as he realized how he had accidentally unleashed a demon in the Martial World.

One should know that battle techniques go through heavy trial and error to perfect. It takes years to even master a technique, let alone improve it. If any of the old masters of the Rapier were to see Selena whimsically improving a technique, they would probably resign and become Street Vendors instead.

Selena stopped her movements again and closed her eyes. Seeing this, Rhys's heart suddenly sped up as he understood what was going to happen.

"There is still heavy drag on your right shoulder and a weighted pressure on your left knee causing your speed to regress..." Soul's voice reverbed inside Selena's head as he showed her a 3D model of her in her mind with the areas of her body, colored in red and green depending on the wind resistance.

"Green is good, right?" Selena asked Soul as it was her first time seeing the system.

"Yes, Green indicates there is no wind resistance or pressure from the weight and that part of the body is working fine when executing a move."

"How about this..." Selena transferred a thought to Soul and he immediately animated the 3d model to follow it. After a visual playback, the pressure on both points had been reduced significantly.

"That will do for now..." Soul replied as he made a note of the results.

"But my strength still seems to be a bit lacking though." Selena thought in contemplation.

"Hmm... perhaps we can introduce another move in this technique?" Soul replied.

"Another move? Do you have one in mind?" Selena asked.

"Honestly, I have only seen it in movies so I am not sure if it will work. Let me try it with the model first." Soul replied as he began calibrating the model.

Meanwhile... In the Real World.

Rhys waited with his breath held waiting for Selena to open her eyes.

'There's no way My Lady could improve on it any further, right?' Rhys doubted his own thoughts as he still did not believe that what he experienced right now was real.

"Pheewww...." Selena breathed out slowly as she opened her eyes again. Rhys clenched his fists in wait.

Selena slowly approached the Dummy and stood a distance from it. She quickly took the pose from the original technique and stabbed the dummy with it.

*Stteecchh...!!*

The Rapier stopped halfway inside in the dummy. It seemed like the original technique still improved her attack by 50%. She pulled out the Rapier and posed again.

But this time, she attacked the dummy with the improved version that Rhys saw her practicing. The Blade shredded the wind as it moved at an arc towards the dummy.

*Stteecchh...!! Rrriiippp....!!*

The Rapier went through the dummy all the way to the backside. Rhys jumped in fright at that. Just a small change in the movements of the blade and the person gave out such terrifying results.

"M-My Lady... that was impressive...!! How did---" But before he could finish, Selena pulled out the Rapier and posed again. However, this time... she had raised the Rapier above her head and kept it pointed at the Dummy.

"Eh?" Rhys was confused. He racked his head but still couldn't understand the reason behind Selena's actions.

Selena took a deep breath... and then with a quick motion, spun in place in an Anti-Clockwise direction with the Rapier also rotating with her in her right hand.

"This...!! A Dance Twirl?!" Rhys shouted out without realizing it.

Halfway through the twirl, Selena's hand began to descend smoothly into the original pose of the technique.

"That's...!! I see...!!" Rhys jumped in an excited frenzy...!! To think, she used the Dance Twirl to gain momentum for the attack without leaving the spot. It was definitely new.

Dance moves were similar to Martial Combat. They both required good control over the body and perfect timing to pull it off. Aristocrat children learn from young on how to dance. Rhys sweated at the factor realizing that such a rich guy thing could also be used in combat.

While the thought raced inside Rhys's head, Selena completed her twirl and the Rapier made a sharp whistling sound as it ripped through the wind at a very high velocity towards the Dummy.

*PAATTAAACCHHHH....!!*

"..."

"..."

Rhys and Selena both froze at the result.

The resulting damage was too devastating.

The Blade was so fast, that it did not break the surface tension of the dummy's cloth initially, causing it to cave in and built pressure inside it.

When it finally pierced through, the built pressure immediately scattered through the front and back holes tearing the fabric even more, thus resulting in the sound of a balloon popping.

To understand the severity of the attack more prominently, if the attack stabbed through someone's heart, it will not leave a simple hole in it, but it will explode from the impact.

"..." Rhys was still dumbstruck. He creaked his neck to look at Selena and a mixed feeling of pride and fear welled up inside him.

"This... didn't I only taught her the first technique of the Rapier's Basic Techniques?" Rhys breathed heavily at the thought.

"How far can she go... If she masters the Rapier?" Rhys felt his knees shaking as Selena looked at her weapon with a small smile on her face. It was the face of someone, who has found their weapon for life.

" ...and more importantly, how long could she possibly take to master it?"

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