Kyros had woken up with a strange feeling, as if something had been watching him sleep. He shrugged the thought off as him being paranoid though, since he had a lot to be paranoid over lately. First, he was conspiring with the guard over the newly thought up plan. Second, he had been fretting over his master perhaps knowing that Kyros had ‘borrowed’ a scroll off his desk.

He was in the mess chamber now, sitting at his regular table eating his breakfast. He was looking for any signs of James, as James had said he would give him the map of the cave layout at breakfast. He had seen no signs of James among the guards currently standing around.

He hasn’t possibly backed out has he? He did say he needed to run it by his father... Maybe his father turned the plan down. Shit.

Finished with his meal, he had started to head off to get to work with the mining. Along the way someone had bumped past him from behind, Kyros had turned to see who it was. All he saw though was fist flying into his jaw.

-36hp

Argh! Who the fuck is it?

Kyros looked up at James who was standing over him.

“Watch where you’re going, filthy slave!” James shouted at Kyros, attracting quite a lot of attention.

“…Sorry?” Kyros was seriously confused at what was going on.

“You dare to talk back to me!” James had bent over and picked Kyros up by his overalls. Kyros felt something slip into the side of his overalls but had no time to consider what it was because James had thrown another fist into his stomach.

-23hp

“Oi, Connor stop it. You know how the higher ups react if we damage their workers.” One of the other guards had ran over and held James back.

I see, Connor is his alias here.

“I know. Just hate being stuck around pathetic scum like them, you what I mean.” James sounded as if he was honestly disgusted by slaves. Quite a lot of the slaves who were watching the commotion, were now looking at James with hatred.

“I know, I know. Let’s go calm down.” The guard dragged James off.

It wasn’t uncommon for there to be tension between the slaves and the guards. The guards would take it out on the slaves whenever they were treated like shit from the higher ups, it was the snowball effect. The master would come down on the captain, who would take it out on his lieutenants. The lieutenants would then come down onto the guards, but who could the guards take it out on? The slaves.

Quite a believable performance… I’d still have rather done it without getting hit.

Kyros rubbed his jaw as he got up, joining the rest of the slaves as they headed to work. A few of the slaves had approached him and shared their hatred of the guards with him. It seemed that they felt a sense of familiarity with him after that exchange, seeing as though they were no longer scared of him. Kyros however remained silent and only stared at them, and shortly the surrounding group had dwindled until it was just him left over.

That’s much better…

Kyros was now in the mine, he turned to make sure Henry and Charles were a good distance away before he pulled out whatever James had slipped into his overalls, which he expected to be the map of the cave layout.

Opening up the folded piece of paper revealed that his assumption was correct on thinking it was the map, however James had written something at the bottom.

‘**Hey sorry about you jaw, had to make it a believable performance. It would also be good for the others to think there is tension between the two of us, just in case. Get started with the preparations today, however meet me at the same place as yesterday at around 4pm.**’.

What does he want to meet up for…? Anyway I’ll work here until midday, I’ll then duck off and start with the preparations. Finishing with meeting up with James.

It was now past midday and all the slaves were heading back to work from lunch. Halfway up the tunnel Kyros turned to Henry and Charles to give them an excuse for why he was ducking out.

“Oi you two. I feel like having a nap, you two won’t say anything, will you?” Kyros unleashed his aura of bloodlust, which was currently beginner level 3.

“Ah.. N-no of course not. Have a nice nap.” Charles responded. Charles was a smart man, he knew it was best not to do wrong by Kyros. He was also hoping that Kyros grew lazy, because that way he would drop from the top spot of mining and give the others a chance at getting to the top.

Kyros had arrived at the marked spot on the map and started to slowly mine into the wall of rock, until the appointed time he had to meet with James.

He was leaning against the cave wall when James had arrived.

“Sorry I’m late, Conrad, one of the other guards wouldn’t shut up. haha” James was his jovial self.

“It’s alright. What did you want to meet for?” Kyros inquired.

“When we escape, I want there to be as little mess ups as possible. So for the next month, I’ll be meeting here to train you.”

“Wait… train me? What about your duty?” Kyros hadn’t planned for this.

“I have the night duty, and if anything comes up I’ll send you notice with the same method I used the morning.” James had a wicked smirk as he said that.

“Yeah, you didn’t hold back…” Kyros rubbed his sore jaw.

“Had to make it believable. Also it was payback for spying on me. Hahaha” James laughed.

How petty.

“Enough of that now. Only have a limited amount of time, let’s get to training.” James dropped his sword belt to the ground and took off his leather chest plate.

“About that, what’re you going to train me with? sword fighting?” Kyros had a hint of longing in that last part, he was already picturing himself with a sword in hand and a slain dragon underfoot.

“Don’t kid yourself, it takes longer then a month to learn sword fighting. Also you wouldn’t be able to just carry a sword around with no questions asked. No, I’ll be teaching you how to defend yourself.” James declared.

“How to defend myself? That’s so lame.”

“Lame. You think it’s lame? Tell you what, throw a punch at me.” James was annoyed at how Kyros had disregarded his training method.

“No way, you’ll just hit me.” Kyros wasn’t stupid.

“No, I won’t. I’ll only defend myself.” James had arrogance in his voice. Kyros was still sceptical, but followed suit and threw a large fist towards James’s face. However, James simply stepped to the side and grabbed Kyros’s arm and swung him over his shoulder.

-16 hp

Status Effect: In a state of confusion for 10 seconds

Huh, what’s going? Why am I looking at the ceiling…? Wait that’s right.

“Hey you said you wouldn’t hit me!” Kyros climbed back up and accused James.

“Hahaha I did no such thing, that was all defence.” James said smugly.

“Same thing…” It really was to Kyros.

“No, it isn’t. Martial arts techniques are split into three sections: movement, offence and defence. Offensive techniques are used for the sole purpose of injuring your target. Defensive techniques are for the sole purpose of keeping yourself uninjured. However most defensive techniques can also cause injury. Which is the reason you usually start with the defensive and then move onto the offensive.” James had gone into teaching mode.

“Wait, but if defensive techniques can be used as a means of offence. Than doesn’t work the other way around?” Kyros was still hoping he could learn some sort of cool fighting technique, like in the martial art movies he watched as a child.

“Hahaha you’re annoyingly clever. Yes, you are correct. However, it is vastly harder to do so. Only once you have a sort of mastery over the martial art can you do so.”

“I see…” Kyros was dejected over having no way to retort.

“Stop sulking and be grateful I’m teaching you in the first place.” James reprimanded him.

“Yes. Alright, what technique are you going to teach me first?” Kyros asked.

“Hahahaha not the sort of technique you’re thinking of.” James laughed and answered ambiguously.

“… Than what are you teaching me?” Kyros was growing wary because James had reached down and picked up his sword sheathe, holding it as if it were a sword.

“Kyros, what do you think the most dangerous thing for a fighter is?” James asked, while doing some practice swings with the sheathe. It seemed as if he was trying to find the right amount of strength for the swing he wanted.

“Hmm… being weak?”

“No. The most dangerous thing for any fighter, a grandmaster or a disciple is one thing. That is fear. Fear of the enemy, fear of death, fear of pain. Fear can make you tense up and put your mind in a state of disarray. As fighter it is important to always be nimble and calm. Now I can’t train you in the first two, but I can do something about your fear of pain.” As soon as James finished his sentence, he unleashed a strike with the sheathe against Kyros’s shin.

-6hp

“Argh!!” Kyros screamed out.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Kyros had grown accustomed to a beating since his time in this world, however this pain was unreal.

“Stand up. The technique I’m using won’t leave any lasting damage, but it does increase pain. You closed your eyes when I hit you. Keep your eyes open. Always be alert. Don’t give the enemy a chance to blind side you.” This time he struck Kyros in the gut with his sword.

-8hp

“Guh!”

“You closed your eyes. Again.”

The strikes just kept coming, never slowing down. It had grown even more painful for the longer it dragged on because James started to hit in the same places, as there were no unharmed spots left on him. Kyros still couldn’t keep himself from closing his eyes, however he had learned to stop making any noise. When he had though, he gained a new stat.

New Stat Acquired: Perseverance. Unable to increase with status points.

Status Screen

Name:

Kyros

Level:

23

Race:

High Elf

Mana:

230/230

Health:

387/540

Stamina

476/500

Titles:

Gold Class Slave

Stats

Strength:

61

Intelligence:

10

Agility:

49

Wisdom:

23

Vitality:

54

Dexterity:

10

Stamina:

50

Luck:

10

“Alright, that’s enough. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight from guilt if we continue anymore Hahaha” James had quickly reverted to his normal self.

How can you just laugh it off… Look at me!

Kyros wasn’t being dramatic. He may not have been able to see his whole self, but he saw the blood dripping down all over his body. He was afraid that’d he pass out from blood loss. Although by the end he had increased his new stat to four. It had helped a bit with the pain.

“Alright, well we can continue this tomorrow.” James was putting on his sword belt and leather chest plate.

“Ah James, how do I explain why I look like this?” Kyros was secretly shuddering inside thinking of tomorrow.

“Oh yeah, that. Don’t worry I’m friends with the healer, I told him I was going to be training up a slave and if he wouldn’t mind healing him up. Don’t worry, you can trust him.” James explained.

“Wait, you’re friends with master?” This was news to Kyros.

“What do you mean master?”

“Well he sort of promised to teach me magic haha..” Kyros figured it wouldn’t matter telling James. James however just looked at Kyros in disbelief.

“You’re serious… Learning magic and martial arts. Hahahaha don’t bite off more than you can chew lad. Now I have to get going, otherwise I’ll be late for duty. Remember, here tomorrow.” James ran off laughing.

Bite of more than I can chew, huh… Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of taking it easy.

Kyros started to make his way to his master, wincing with every step he took.

Now that Kyros had the map of the cave layout, he could take a more secret route to his masters chamber.

Kyros knocked on his masters door, waiting for him. The same hurried footsteps could be heard from last time, as his master opened the door. The master squinted at Kyros, trying to make him out.

“I thought he said he was training you, not trying to kill you.” His master said, worry in his voice.

“Ahh master…” Kyros said in a light tone. However, his masters eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.

“Is that you Kyros!?”

“Yeah..ahah” Kyros scratched his head, and winced in pain from doing so.

“What’re you doing learning martial arts for?! You should be focusing on meditating!” His master furiously reprimanded him.

Shit, I knew he was going to act like this.

“Well, you see master. It’s common for the stronger slaves to extort the weaker ones for the ores they mined, so if I can’t defend myself I’ll never be able to earn my freedom.” Kyros lied. None of the slaves would dare try and extort Kyros.

His master studied him warily.

“Fine. I guess that makes sense. Now come in so I can heal you.”

Kyros walked in and sat down on the ground, like he usually did. His master came over and casted his healing spell onto Kyros. After the feeling of bliss left him, he decided to try and find out some information from his master.

“Hey master, I have a question about magic.” Kyros stated.

“Don’t even think of asking me to teach you a spell.” His master already shut down that line of questioning.

“No, actually it’s about how magic works. How can you possibly make something from nothing?” Kyros asked. His master looked down at him and smiled in a grandfatherly way.

“I remember asking my master that very question. Let me explain. To others it may seem we can make a rain of fire from nothing, but that’s not the case. In fact you already have the most essential ingredient for magic.” His master told him.

“I do?”

“Yes, the World's Presence. It’s actually the most basic form of everything. Even you yourself or this mighty mountain we currently reside in, all of it can be reverted back into the World's Presence. The reason we meditate is to collect and absorb the World's Presence. Think of yourself as a container, the more you meditate the larger the container grows. What fills this container? the World's Presence.” His master paused to catch his breath and let that last part sink in, before continuing.

“So how does the World's Presence become these many things? That’s where we come in. We use our knowledge of all things in this world, to transmute the World's Presence into whatever we want it to be. To do so, you must have vast knowledge on what you want to transmute it too. Even the weakest mage is a genius compared to a normal persons knowledge. It’s why I accepted you as a disciple, I could see you have the inner workings to be a magician. Also I should mention, it takes a while for you to recover used up World's Presence, so don't go using it all up at once.” His master explained. The scroll Kyros stole made much more sense to him now.

“So than as long as you had enough World's Presence, you could make anything?” Kyros wondered.

“Hahaha of course not. Unfortunately, we are bound to our affinities.”

“Affinities?”

“Yes, how well you relate with the elements. The elements are grand and majestic powers, they cannot be understood with mere knowledge. It has to do with who you are.” His master tried to explain, however failed on Kyros.

“Who I am? What does that mean?” Kyros asked in confusion.

“Haha don’t worry child, I still ask myself the same question. Let me use an example. Fire is erratic and causes destruction; so usually a person who is quick to anger and has no issue with destroying things has a high affinity with fire. A person with a high affinity with wind is bound to never stay in one place and known for their mood swings. It has to do with how well you subconsciously relate with the elements.”

“Than what affinity do you have master?”

“Well I don’t want to brag, but I have high affinity with both water and light magic. It’s why I can use healing magic, you need both water and light. I also have a low affinity with fire, I’ve been trying to study it actually but seemed to have misplaced my scroll…” His master started to ponder on that last part.

“Hahah…” Kyros laughed in guilt. “Than how do I find out what affinity I have?”

“Well, we would need to test you for that. I don’t keep that sort of equipment though. Don’t worry, once we get your freedom sorted, I’ll take you to the magic academy to get you tested. Being an elf, I’m sure you have a dual affinity as well.” His master tried raising his hopes.

“Magic academy?” Kyros said with bright eyes.

“Hahaha. Most magicians learn magic from their master, however a select few are talented enough to study at the Royal Magic Academy in the capital. I’m sure you’re talented enough, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there though. Now it’s getting late, you don’t want to miss dinner. Also remember to do you mediation!”

Kyros however was going to skip mediation in favour of studying the fireball scroll with his newfound knowledge.