It took a full minute for the magnitude of the question he was asked to sink in. "What?" Gin finally supplied in surprise after a lengthy pause. Wait, what!? No, oh, no, no, n—

"No way," Kiri waved his hand as if to expel the air of Flower’s dangerous words.

Gin was about to thank Kiri profusely, but... "He should join me instead. It's safer, and he can travel the vast lands—"

"Take a hike, you don't even have a sect or team," Flame countered Kiri with another eye roll.

"I do have a following, mind you," Kiri corrected proudly. “One that isn't as mercile--”

"Whatever." Lock interrupted Kiri, "Gin, join me in the Royal Palace, I'll train you personally so you can join the Palace's Defense." She said the words very casually, her head still bowed and eyes closed. Kiri's annoyed glare went unnoticed.

Gin would have admired her calmness only if she hadn’t spoken in a language he couldn’t understand. Joining the Palace’s Defense? Gin highly doubted that Lock was someone to joke around, but as with Kiri and Flower, he could be wrong. Another thing, and most important, he certainly didn’t lack things to do to end up running to join the Army! No, not at all.

Gin wanted to respond to Lock, but was beaten to the punch by Flower.

"Nonsense! Palace's Defense? For what? Gin," Flower knocked the table for Gin's attention, which they already had from the first words they uttered only to lose it again as they continued to speak. "Come join me! you will work for yourself, and earn for yourself. Become rich as me, and fight mighty battles at my side!"

"Take your barbarian ways somewhere where the light doesn't shine, Flower." Flame chided seeming exasperated by their antics.

Gin agreed wholeheartedly with Flame, and she was the only one… No, never mind. Gin shook his head and remained wary of all 5, no exceptions!

"Let me tell you of my pros, young Gin," Kiri started while clasping his hands on the table.

"Ugh," Flame scowled and raised her hand to stop Kiri, again.

"Um..." Gin uttered tentatively. He didn't want to shout, cause a ruckus, and demand for answers; as was his right. He knew that the unreasonable members of the little gathering would make him burst into tears in bitter frustration; they were nearly succeeding in doing so at that moment.

When Flower first stated their chaotic words, he had thought it was all a joke. Then Kiri jumped in, but Gin gave less care about what he had to say. Unexpectedly, Lock joined in the madness and that's when he became unsure about the whole situation. Gin's head began to ache, the sequence of events was consistently overshadowing the monumental fact that he was seeing the legends in the flesh, and having close contact with a big shot like Il San.

What was getting clearer to Gin though, the behavior of the group left much to be desired. It was so far out of touch from what he knew about them. In-as-much as he hadn’t given a single lick to the Divine Art, he had to admit that the gossips of the 5 legends were invigorating to listen to; reading, not so much.

The focus the 5 were paying the young boy was ridiculous. The offers even more so. Why would the 5 want to have him with them? Were they doing it for fun? Had no one visited them to alleviate their boredom for so long? Or were they so bored that seeing fresh meat to mess with made them jubilant because their adventurous lives didn’t give them much of a chance to square it out with a weakling? He prayed it wasn’t, since he could now imagine that being the case.

That aside, Gin questioned whether some miscommunication occurred between the lot of them. What was more curious, why hadn’t the Master corrected the situation? Gin peeked at the Master's rigid figure, still glaring daggers at the students. Hmm, maybe he would... soon enough? Gin was sure Kiri and Flower knew that his stay with the Master would be brief, his parents had talked about it at the entrance of the estate. So then, where was the dissonance?

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Unfortunately, Gin wasn’t given a chance to voice his questions because the group continued to quibble.

First was Flower with a chiding for Kiri, "Once you start talking about yourself, you never finish! So shut the hell up!"

"This coming from an overly aggressive person like you is too much," Kiri retorted with a disgusted look.

"Aggressive?! Me?! Fight me if you dare!" Flower pointed their dagger at Kiri. They weren't as offended by the words as their outburst would indicate, they just wanted to prove Kiri right.

Flame burst into giggles while Lock had a small smile, her eyes, of course, still closed. Kiri shook his head, and Spear didn't look interested in any of them at all. The Master...

"Speaking of fighting," began Flower, glaring at the other 4 students with a vicious grin. "Let's do just that; fight. The one who wins will take Gin." Flower threw their dagger on the table, it bounced once and landed with a heavy clang.

Gin willed himself to calm down. Significant dents were left on the otherwise brown and thick wooden table where the dagger bounced and landed on. He found himself distracted with the weapon; what was him being taken away, when a weapon that was slightly over half the length of his forearm made a wooden table its sack? And, if the dagger was that heavy, how about Kiri's greatsword? Gin eyed the greatsword leaning on the chair Kiri rested. If they fought as fast as they had with those weapons, then what would happen if they fought with weapons weighing less, far less?

No, settle down! Priorities! Why are they so adamant about taking me? Are the proposals they were throwing around genuine?! They speak amongst themselves as if I'm not in the damn room! Mother! My toothy attitude is hard to hold back when I'm being treated like a load of corn! Gin grumbled inwardly as he clutched his head.

"Nonsense," Flame uttered simply, clearly disinterested in the idea.

Yes, very much so, considering I don't even know what's going on, Gin thought meekly. He glanced at Il San but the man still sat unmoving and uncaring about the ongoings. Just as he was about to start panicking at his Master's unresponsiveness, his thoughts made a complete halt. Spear has said it earlier, they wouldn't be taking him anywhere. The problem, if one could call it that, had a simple solution, one that sat right beside Gin. He was the Master's guest, why would things go towards a wayward route? Gin concluded that the students were just talking empty words. To rattle him? Maybe.

Gin shook his head lightly. He decided to emulate the elder’s calmness instead of being dragged around by the students' antics. Let them have a go at each other, it had nothing to do with him anyway. Gin started taking in deep, calming breaths.

Suddenly, Il San banged the table, making Gin jump up in fright, "Enough!"

To Gin's surprise, the table remained intact, there was only a light handprint visible, but no cracks or breakage. He had expected it to break down with such an impact from a Divine Art user.

"It's made out of Ash Wood. The only wood that can withstand the force from the Divine Art. Over time it repairs itself by exhaling the Divine Aura infused." Spear spoke up, explaining to the curious Gin.

"I see, thank you," Gin nodded his head and continued looking at the table. It was interesting, and he was glad to be able to delve into the new findings without having to care about being whisked away by a bunch of man-made demi-gods.

"Gin," Il San's voice flowed over Gin, capturing his attention. "From today onwards, you will be my student." The elder's gaze shifted from rigid coldness to sternness with every word uttered.

Gin couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief when the topic introduced was one he could get behind on and understood. "Yes, Master. You had mentioned I would be learning under you for the time that I'm here," Gin bowed his head respectfully.

"No, not for the time that you're here, but for much longer," his Master corrected.

Gin looked at his Master doubtfully. When he mulled over it a little, he wondered if the Master was making a play of words. Three months was indeed a long time, and maybe that was what the Master was implying? Gin replied positively, but with hints of his doubts lingering in his tone, "Um... Yes…"

"When you learn the Divine Art, I will only need you to do one thing for me." Il San looked into Gin's eyes with a steely force. "Get revenge."

Gin inhaled sharply. He had no idea why he did, but he did. His body felt like it was the right reaction. His mind, though, which had managed to settle down some, decisively blanked out as he stuttered out, "P-pardon?"