Deon slowly opened his eyes. Groaning, he realized that he had lost all strength in his muscles and body. He could barely muster enough energy to open his eyes. His entire body was aching and he was breathing quite hard. Then, he remembered the situation with the Yin Sword. Focusing all of his strength into his neck, he slowly turned his head until he registered someone within his vision. It was Jessica. Her eyes were expressed worry at Deon's current condition.

"Little bro, please continue resting. You lost a lot of blood while trying to bind the Yin Sword to yourself. When you lost consciousness, I thought that it was all over. However, as soon as you collapsed, the Yin Sword stopped glowing and detached itself from your hand. Amazingly, it didn't kill you. It seems as if it were saying 'I'll give you another chance. Bind me again when you are ready.'"

Deon relaxed all of his muscles and sank into the comfortable embrace of the bed, slowly closing his eyes again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessica sighed and, without turning around, spoke in a loud voice.

"I know you're there Leo. Come out and stop hiding."

A burly middle-aged man, around the age of sixty, stepped out of the shadows enshrouding the doorway to Deon's room. Currently, his scarred and wrinkled face displayed exasperation at being found out by Jessica. Even though he was not releasing his aura right now, one could feel that he was extremely powerful, as he gave off an intimidating presence. However, this man was currently missing an arm. There was a stump in the former location.

"How is it that you always manage to find me wherever I'm hiding? Do you have eyes on the back of your head?!"

"No. I can simply smell your idiotic scent from here, you dimwit."

Shaking his head, Leo cast his eyes on Deon's sleeping form. Frowning, he rubbed his chin as he thought about the huge risk Deon just took.

"What a reckless boy. Even when he was warned of the dangers in binding a growth-type weapon, he still went ahead with the process. It seems that he does not know his own limits. I don't like him, even though his talent seems to be enormous."

At these words, Jessica slowly turned around and stared at Leo directly in the eyes.

"Take him as you personal disciple."

Snorting, Leo replied, "Didn't I just tell you? I don't like him. He's too reckless. And didn't you just say I was an idiot?"

"You are an idiot, but your weapons skills are unparalleled within Grayson Family. Even in your current condition, I still think you can win against Gaige. As someone who was the former leader of the Five Generals, I expect no less from you. By the way, if you don't accept him, I'm going to make you clean all the bathrooms in the mansion for the rest of your life. Weekly. Until you die."

The expression on Leo's face slowly turned to horror. There were over fifty bathrooms in the mansion.

"Please! No! Alright, I'll do it! But I'm teaching him my way. You are not to interfere with my teaching, even if it looks stupid. I promise you, I will not waste his talent."

Jessica gave a mischievous smile.

"Good. We may need him in the future."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five days later, Deon was completely healed from the ordeal with the Yin Sword. He could finally stand up and move around. As Deon peacefully sat on his bed cultivating Energy, the door to his room suddenly burst open. Leo strode in, dressed in light leather armor. Startled, Deon quizzically looked at Leo.

"You there! From today on, I'm your master. Make sure to address me as master, or you're in for a scolding."

With these words, Deon quickly stood up and bowed to Leo.

"Your student pays his respects to Master."

Smiling, Leo said, "Haha! It seems your politeness is not as primitive as your intelligence. I'm starting to consider liking you. Well, I'm not going to go easy on you for training. We're going to start our first lesson today. Follow me outside."

As Deon followed Leo outside, he wondered what Leo would be teaching him. Would it be sword technique? Or would it be an agility technique?

Deon and Leo went outside to the training ground. Standing there, looking like an indomitable mountain, Leo spoke.

"Ok! The first thing I'll be teaching you is... judging other people's strength!"

Hearing these words, Deon's face immediately looked downcast. While whacking Deon's head with his scarred right hand, Leo yelled, "You fool! This is an important skill. From your experience with the Yin Sword, I learned that you can't even judge your own ability. You were reckless, trying to contract the Yin Sword at your level. Even after hearing that you would die if you fail, you still went ahead with the process! You must be almost one hundred percent sure that you can succeed! Since the Sword let you off this time, it means that it is giving you a second chance. I'm here to make sure you are ready for that opportunity."

Turning away from Deon, Leo walked over to the main hallway of the Grayson mansion. Each minute, there were over one hundred people walking past this area.

"This is the largest and most populated hallway in the Grayson mansion. Your task is to determine which of these people you should run away from. Only when you get one hundred people in a row correct, will I begin teaching you sword techniques. Report your judgments to the guard next to you, he will tell you if you are correct. When you get one hundred in a row correct, come find me."

Deon had almost zero experience judging other people. Since he was released from the cocoon, he had only interacted with less than ten people. Therefore, he had no idea how to look at people's strength. In truth, Leo's training had a much deeper purpose than simply allowing Deon to judge other people's strength. It also trained Deon's Spiritual Sense as he used his Energy to probe others. Spiritual Sense can be used in a variety of ways. One of the ways, as used by Leader Zeke earlier, is to probe another's talent. A more common usage is to predict the opponent's attacks by detecting changes in his Battle Energy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One week later

The guard observing Deon yawned while leaning on his broadsword.

Deon was squinting after each and every person while attempting to judge their strength by using his Spiritual Sense. At this time, he was staring at a burly man walking straight past him. Taking a deep breath, he was about to state this person's strength to the guard.

Suddenly, Deon sensed an Energy beyond any other he had sensed while performing this task. Whipping his head around, a skinny, black-haired boy walked past him. He looked as if he could be blown down by the wind any second. Deon shook his head, thinking, "It can't be coming from him, can it?"

Extending his Spiritual Sense even further into this person's Energy reserves, Deon determined that the Energy he detected earlier did indeed come from the boy. But Deon extended his Spiritual Sense a little too deep into the boy's Energy reserves. Without warning, the boy turned his head and looked directly at Deon with his piercing black eyes.