The next two weeks passed by rather quickly, Shun had been training both in the open and secretly with Catherin, while they were under everyone’s watching eyes Shun would only receive beatings under the hands of Catherin, but it was in fact to strengthen his reaction speed and improve his movement’s fluidity while giving him an experience with live combat

At night they would train in the forms of stances and the various abilities of combat, just like Stealth being a learnable skill, abilities like Smash and Quick Step could also be learned by people who didn’t possess them, after all they only employed muscles, nothing magical was needed to smash someone, though the proficiency of using your muscles to exert maximum strength is a challenge on its own

By the end of the two weeks Shun was practically as proficient as someone from the Soldier grade could be

“Say Catherin, what are my chances in winning the duel with Fiola if we use no abilities?”

“None master”

“Haah, as I thought two weeks of training won’t cut it”

“Master, that girl has an epic grade Rapier Mastery, it is only natural that you would take some time to catch up”

“Really? An epic grade? She didn’t strike me as a strong warrior at all”

“That’s because she never participated in any real battles, she only trained under her master for the past two years”

“Oh I see, a sheltered flower, still two years? When is the coming of age for you in this world?”

“Master, that would be at the age of sixteen”

“Hmm, so how long have you been training?”

“Seven years master, I have recently hit the age of twenty-six, but I had received my skills ten years ago, only after three years did I start training since I was raised in a rural village before my grandma who was a palace maid picked us up”

“Seven years huh… that reminds me, can you tell me what your skills are?”

Shun never got around to ask this question, but now that the topic was raised he was suddenly curios

“Yes master, this one’s skills are Halberd Mastery of the epic rank, Gold Body of the epic rank, Blood Rage of the epic rank, and lastly Dominatrix Aura of the epic rank, off course there is the Soul Slave of the uncommon plus rank”

“…..”

Shun was plain gob smacked, his head only drew blanks for a while standing with his mouth opening and closing like a fish

“Th-that’s ridicules! How the hell are you just the captain of the guard?! This is impossible your better than some of the heroes even”

“Haha this is all thanks to master, how could I have four skills otherwise, its master’s blessings that gave me strength”

While Catherin said that she had a loving look on her face

‘My blessing? Wait could it be?’

“Catherin… what were your skills before you became my slave?”

“I had Halberd Mastery of the uncommon rank, Silver Body of the rare rank, and Blood Ire”

“And how did you know of the new skills you gained after?”

“Master this is the work of the Soul Slave, when my soul is lower than yours, which it will forever be from that moment onward, I am allowed to view my soul fully, that includes all the skills I own. Master, you are also able to view my soul as you wish”

“How so?”

“Well, I have no idea, but I believe it has something to do with my heart?”

“Heart…”

Shun gulped as he looked at Catherin’s chest, he didn’t want to do anything weird but he had to check on this new information, getting all shy and jittery could wait for another time

“Forget it, it doesn’t matter even if I check, right now we need to brain storm a bit”

“For what Master?”

“A way to beat her without my skills”

“Is it to make it a more brutal defeat? I think making her beg using Soul Rend is showy enough”

“No, that’s not the point, do you remember the pendant and ring I told you the two infiltrators wore?”

“Yes, they had soul guarding accessories, I even retrieved the neckless as per your instructions, I was surprised to have seen them carry such expensive items”

“It is because you had told me they were expensive that I recalled something, back then when you had wanted to rat me out to the witch you wanted to contact Fiola’s family to get to her correct?”

Catherin had a despondent remembering her betrayal, she nodded her head with a guilty look

“You had also wanted me to duel Fiola at the arena before that as well, what was your plan for the after fight”

“Yes Master, your subject is indeed guilty of all those crimes, this one had even planned to send you to the witch to be healed up as an excuse to…oh I get it Master!”

Catherin’s tone shifted from guilt to enlightenment as she finally understood what he was hinting at

“The one who orchestrated all three events including two arena battles and the kidnapping, was the witch of the spirit tower! That explains why they had soul guarding amulet and ring, it also explains why Fiola would want to duel you so badly! It seems the witch is hunting after Master!”

Shun nodded, that was indeed his guess

“I first suspected something when those two talked about how Avihal was wasting a precious solider who had great strength both early on and late into the war, the items had also caught my attention, but it was only when I met Fiola that I finally connected everything by remembering your letter”

“So now Fiola may also be given such an item to ward off your attacks, how will you defeat her without your Soul Rend?”

“I can break those guarding items with a full power attack, but if she brings out a more powerful one then I won’t be able to win, not without bringing out all my hidden cards which I can’t show to the public”

The two fell silent as they thought way to solve the dilemma, brain storming through the night while they bounced ideas off of each other

Knock! Knock!

A knock interrupted the duo’s conversation and before Catherin even responded the other party opened the door on their own

“Hello Cathy~ Are you having a nice night~”

Fiola entered wearing casual clothing, when she went in she saw Catherin drinking tea calmly

“Miss Fiola, what brings you here at this time?”

“What else other than my lovely red kitty~”

She said seductively while approaching

‘The implications are strong with this one’

Shun thought to the side, he had entered Stealth the second the door was opened, thus Fiola who entered in a very relaxed sate couldn’t sense him one bit in the dim room

‘This isn’t the time to play around with her, I need to figure out a way to beat her and I really need someone to pitch in their thoughts’

“Is that so? What about your duel?”

“Hah! What about it? That peasant can’t even tussle with a few bandits how can he ever pose a challenge toward me?”

“Still you have to watch out for his Soul Rend”

“Humph not you too Cathy, I have already heard enough of people telling me to watch out for his attacks but so what? I am sure his full force can’t even make me feel an itch! Still the madam of the spirit tower blessed me with a soul guard bracer, that way all his attacks would be usless, even though I don’t really need it”

Fiola puffed her chest out in pride

‘Ohhh, goading her into spilling her plans are we? I have taught you well Catherin’

Shun smiled at the two who now started to exchange thought about the duel, Catherin kept on asking questions as she dogged Fiola’s attempts at sparing a scene while Fiola kept on blabbering about how she would do this and that, giving Shun all the information he needed to formulate a plan

By morning Catherin managed to keep the happenings pg 13, and Fiola finely relented and decided that it was time to go prepare for the duel, but not before brining Catherin along with her

When the two left Shun exited his Stealth state smiling devilishly

‘Know thy enemy and know thy self and fear not the result of a hundred battles, only with absolute power can this rule be crushed and you Fiola do not have such power”

He walked to the forest to set his new plan up, wicked laughs escaping his mouth every now and then…...

A little way from the castle was a massive structure, one that looked like a massive colosseum, but it had its own differences, instead of having many pillars supporting it, it only had two massive pillars that held it together, the pillars were shining with a red hue, giving the weak hearted onlookers a fright just by seeing it

The colosseum with its massive size usually looked empty, but today even with its rows of seats people had to stand at the back, that’s how full it was

On the viewing platform set for the nobility various figures could be seen amiably talking about, only a few figures were a little anxious as they nervously asked their friends

“What do you think will happen to Shun? He doesn’t know how to fight and his skills aren’t meant for a head on clash either”

“I don’t know, what was he thinking? To accept such an unfair duel is just arrogance”

The two girls talking were two of his classmates, the one with the glasses was named Clement she was the one that had the Ocular Mastery skill, as for the girl next to her, her name was Nazz, she was the girl who usually stood proudly at the helm of the girls at school, but after arriving to this world and gaining her legendary rank Cooking Mastery skill she became a little timid with all the scorn she received, even though it wasn’t too obvious like Shun’s case

“Don’t worry girls, I think it is miss Fiola we are supposed to be concerned about, after all she has to withstand Shun’s skill head on, it is totally unfair to her”

“Indeed, I find Fiola’s circumstances rather pitiful, to have to face a hero with such an unfair skill”

Jack came from the side and pitched in, his words didn’t help the girls at all though, especially when the princess who was holding his hands agreed with him, it pretty much proved he didn’t care about his classmate and was rooting for the other side instead

At this time Fiola made it to the platform, gathering the attentions of all the nobles and students toward her, she noticed everyone looking at her and puffed her chest out in pride and walked with large strides toward the king who sat in his high chair

“Fiola Fernasko reports her presence to his highness”

She said bowing, this was just formality that must be done before the king allows the duel to start when it involved a party of rather high class

The king looked at the entrance to the platform but didn’t see Shun coming in, this was a cue for the nobles to start their bashing

“Why is that kid not here yet? Did he run away?”

“No how could he even dare to run? He’s probably hiding under his bed sheets shaking”

“Haha! No you guys are giving him too much credit, I think he already peed his bed, that guy is all talk after all”

“Indeed, hahaha”

Jeering and laughter resounded

“Boo!”

“Ah!” “Hii!” “Hicc!”

Scared yelps intrupted the laughter as everone looked at the group who had just spoken, before their surprised eyes they saw Shun standing behind the nobles, smiling slyly

An unpleasant waft spread in the place and everyone turned to look at one of the nobles, only to see his pants turning dark at the front, this was the same man who had said Shun would wet his bed

“Oh? I guess you were speaking from experience”

Shun gave the guy a jeer, then he ignored these busy bodies and looked at Fiola

“Stop dilly dallying, let’s start the duel”

With that short sentence he turned his back to the king and walked down, clearly expressing his full disrespect to the rules

“You! Come here now!”

Fiola yelled but Shun was already going down the stairs, so she turned to look at the king, but he was not giving her the time of day as he only stared at Shun with sharp eyes, she saw all the ministers and guards also stare at him with such eyes and did not understand what was going on, in the end she just credit it to them being angry and grit her teeth before heading down as well to teach him a lesson on their behalf

What her arrogant mind didn’t understand was that none of them paid any mind to his disrespect, the only thing on it was one fact, Shun had the ability to get into their midst without anyone noticing his existence, the very same Shun who had the Soul Rend skill, that meant that other than the king who had soul guarding accessories, every minister on the platform could have died without even knowing how it happened

All the ministers swore to themselves to get a soul guarding tool even if it meant they had to beg that old witch