While Genji and George was talking, a beautiful girl that looks like Casey Cooke from Split arrived in the training ground. When Genji saw her, his gloomy thoughts about his mother's cruel fate disappeared and was replaced by happier ones. He then introduced the girl to George.

"Mary, we was just talking about you. Here, meet George, the castle's new blacksmith."

"George, this is Mary. My servant."

"Sir Cain, is she the... Uugh!"

Before George can finish what he was saying, Genji elbowed him in the solar plexus first."

"Oh, Mr. George, are you ok? Master, please don't be rough on Mr. George."

"Haha, we was just playing Mary. Have you prepared our stuff already?"

"Yes, master!"

"Thanks, can you please fetch my new set of armor in my room? Bring it to the barracks please, Mr. Bertrand, can you please assist her?"

"Yes, master/sir Cain."

George got hit and wasn't able to speak. He looked angrily at Genji but he was surprised by what he saw for Genji looked pale, lacking the composure and confidence that he saw before the girl's arrival. He thought about it and realized something. After Bertrand and the girl left, Genji turned to him.

"Sorry about that, George, she gets anxious once she remembers those events."

"That's okay, sir. I understand. It's my fault, I was confused for a moment there and didn't care about the situation."

Genji misunderstood George's answer for he thought George was thinking badly of him.

"(You think I am afraid of her? I'll show you fear!)"

"Now, Mr George, I see your fighting technique is not bad, only lacking in actual combat. Would you like to spar with me?"

"What! Spar with White Death? Yes, absolutely!"

After saying that, George was so excited he didn't know what to do. Genji, seeing that, merely smiled and kicked the sword that was dropped by Bertrand to George. George, after seeing the sword fly at him, blocked it with his shield. Wood banged against wood then George heard Genji's voice in front of him.

"Good stability!"

George swung his sword forward blindly when he heard Genji speak, thinking that Genji was in front of him, but Genji caught the falling sword conveniently with a reverse grip then used it to deflect George attack. While deflecting George's attack, Genji was also moving forward on George's more vulnerable swordarm side. The exchange ended with Genji running his wooden blade through George's neck. George felt friction in his neck and acknowledged that Genji has won the bout.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What was that?"

"Did your teacher ever tell you not to let your guard down?"

"Umm, yes, yes he did."

"Well, fair enough. Again."

After that, Genji wielded his sword with two hands and assumed a high guard. George walked to Genji with his shield raised up. Fearing that Genji might take advantage of his attack again, George just did a defensive guard while positioning sword to intercept Genji's attacks with stabbing movements.

Genji saw his intention, but he continued to attack by doing a powerful overhead slash. George felt Genji was commited in that attack so upon feeling the impact, he responded by stabbing Genji in the torso but what he didn't expect was that Genji recovered too quickly for he too was stabbing and jumping forward at the same time. The bout ended with Genji's stab pushing George's stab away from his body while also hitting George's torso.

"Ugh, that was amazing!"

"When stabbing, aim to pierce through your opponent. Again!"

The two fought a few more times after that, with George not even winning a single round. They stopped once Bertrand and Mary returned with Genji's armor, consisting of shoulder plate, shinguards, back scabbard, and handguard. Mary was also carrying a flintlock pistol.

Genji then decided to stop training and finally said to George.

"You learn fast, but don't forget that no amount of talent can beat hard work, unless you're me. Let's call it a day. Bertrand, let the soldiers rest, we'll attack bandits this afternoon."

George left them while Genji received help from Mary in wearing his armor and Bertrand went to round up the men. After wearing his new set of equipment, Genji instantly tried a new fighting style, one which suits his current equipment. The set that Genji was currently wearing is the same as what Kenji Oja was wearing during the second lap of Kenji's journey. Genji made it with by outsourcing it to multiple blacksmiths, copying the blueprint that was given to him by the system.

The fighting style has training techniques for sword and pistol, which he plans to also teach to Mary. This set of movements has less requirements for the user when compared to Genji's current fighting style which is more suited for powerful offense with strong individual attacks. The first form's fighting style, which he calls the White Death Style, consist of jumping stabs, decisive slashes, and jab-somersault-spinning slash combos.

The second form's fighting style ,which Genji just learned, unleashes flurries of weak blows, more suitable for defense rather than attack. But it goes well with the pistol who makes up for the defect by enabling him to attack from afar. Genji decided to name the style Roaring Thunder, for it has a complete set of pistol marksmanship methods and the sword and armor are merely a set of tools for situations when the opponent has engaged the fighter in close combat.

Genji taught Mary the melee techniques of Roaring Thunder as he raised his familiarity with the style. Genji's mastery of the style is at the the highest level so he was able to naturally incorporate the principle of the style itself with each of his movements, and perform the basic stances and techniques of the style with machine-like precision. In the natural state, Genji is able to do training with his body while thinking of other stuff in his mind.

What Genji is currently thinking about is that he has received a new notice from the system about unlocking his next form with the girl. He unlocked the first form, White Death, 2 years ago when he rescued Mary's other personality, Maria, from the witch. He unlocked the qualifications for the second form, Roaring Thunder, just a month ago when he received news of his dead mother. He was very sad that time, but Mary comforted him so he learned the new fighting style Roaring Thunder after the deed.

This next form could be a metamorphosis for him. This is the form where Kenji Oja embodies the spirit for each of the two clans. To unlock this next form and the equipment blueprint for it, he needs to do it with both Mary and Maria at the same time. A task he thought to be impossible but he comforted himself with the idea that the prize will definitely be as rewarding as it is troublesome.

He soon discarded his other thoughts as he fully concentrated on the task at hand. Training the Roaring Thunder style with Mary.