Click!

I passed through the door and entered the indoor training space. It is big, with several sparring rings, big weapon racks, and other training instruments.

I had been here a few times with Lancel. It was funny to see the people fawning over him, taking hits and even losing intentionally. I didn’t blame them, I myself did the same when he asked me for a spar.

Lancel was a sour loser. He used to get angry when lost.

I am here today because I am going to resume training. It will be the first time since the first battle. I have been trying to find time for training but have been extremely busy. Even now, I am, but that is no excuse.

I need to be in shape and trained to face any challenges that would come to me. The last enemy I had fought had been very strong. If not for the retreat, he would have defeated me.

I don’t want to face such circumstances again.

I didn’t start immediately. Instead, I went to the center of the practice ring and started with the yoga.

Hun!

Within a minute, I was surprised. I shouldn’t have been, but I am. It felt easy, too easy.

The Gymnast Grace had already made it easy and now with Gymnasts Control, it had become easier.

I stopped, took a deep breath, and concentrated on the skills. I breathed out slowly while doing that, I lessened the power of the skills.

It is hard with the passive skill, but I have been focusing on learning to control my passive skills. Especially in the past three weeks, since I had got the Silver Tongue and Lord's Presence.

Those skills are very good and have a powerful effect, but there is a problem. Trustful Presence from the Dealer of Desire.

The two skills work well together, but many times messes things up when I want to intimidate the person. I want them to fear me, but it is hard to achieve that when a Trustful Presence makes them feel peaceful in my presence.

Trustful Presence is a skill that has grown powerful with the constant advancement of my primacy class. Currently, it is as powerful as the Lord's Presence. More, seeing a Dealer of Desire is at a higher level than a Valorous Lord.

I want the message to be clear, not confuse people with mixed signals.

It made me refocus on passive skills again. I have been spending considerable time learning to control them. My focus had been on mind-attributed skills, not the physical ones, but control is control.

If I can control one. I would be able to control others, not nearly as well, but still with sufficient mastery.

By the time, I had exhaled, the power of both of the skills halved by nearly half. Which is good. It is not as good as some girls, I know, who could reduce the power of their passive skills to 20%.

Margaux and Lola could do it to 10%.

A master could control it to 1%. I have one person, who had such precise control. She had been training me and it was because of her that I have been able to make such fast progress.

Though, it would take me years or decades of constant practice to reach close to her mastery.

Once again, I began the yoga, and this time, things are much better. To make it more challenging; I had gone for the harder positions.

Some, I had never thought, I could do in my life.

Thud!

I fell, nearly spraying my wrist. I had underestimated the difficulty of the positions too much.

It didn’t disappoint me. Instead, there was a smile on my face. I would have been disappointed if I had achieved it easily.

I stood up and tried again, but fell down once again and got up a second later to try again.

I kept failing over and over, but I kept trying again and again. Nearly an hour passed, and I hadn't succeeded at all.

‘Let’s see what happened, with the full power of the skills,’ I thought and let the control over the skills go. The Gymnasts Grace and Gymnasts control came back at full power, and I tried again.

Thud!

I lasted a few seconds longer before falling down once again.

‘It seemed like, I had underestimated it too much,’ I thought. People take years to master those positions, which I tried to achieve in minutes.

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I would need to put in some real work to succeed in that position and several more, which are even more difficult than it is.

The failure had made me happy and proud of the place of I had come from.

Happy because there is a challenge ahead and proud because I know, not all things can be surmounted with skills and classes.

I will need to put in some hard work. If I want to succeed in it.

“Major Petrus, let’s start,” I said to a thin, tall man, standing beside Shaun. These two have become my permanent protectors, along with Jon and Zela.

There was too much pressure on those two, especially Zela.

She is a mage and as a new advanced High-Mage; she needs time to learn the new spells. So, now the guards worked in two shifts, giving time to both Shaun and Zela to learn the spells.

Speaking of spells. Those things are damn expensive.

I have bought a couple of them from the merchant state, and they have cost me arms and legs. Those are far from enough; I need more spells for my mages. Not only Grade 4 spells, but also the lower-level ones.

The man bowed and came toward the ring. He stopped at the weapon rack, before picking up a practice weapon.

The man in front of me was tall and looked to be in his early thirties or late twenties. He is handsome with black hair and pale blue eyes and would have been more if had been not so thin.

He is Cardin’s man; the only one to level up to Lv. 30 from the men who come from the mirador hold.

“Shall we?” I asked as the man appeared in front of me and he nodded.

I moved with the Blitz Steps and a surprise flashed into his eyes. Till now, very few have been aware of my advancement. They know, I had leveled-up, but they don’t know, how transformative it is.

As I appeared in front of him. I attacked with Blade of the Gale, which had become even more powerful than before.

He responded a moment later, and while he responded late, his saber was fast but not faster than mine.

Clang!

Our weapons clashed, and I activated Quick Parry wanted to move at him, but to my surprise, he broke my parry. He didn’t use any skill or superior force; he did it using pure skill.

Stone had praised him for his combat technique and control, and I could tell he was.

He pushed me back and came at me. I reacted quickly to defense and was about to clash with his saber when he avoided mine smoothly and came at me.

Phak!

I retreated, but he was ready for it and moved with me. A second later, the saber hit my chest sharply.

Clang Phak!

He didn’t stop with the attack and attacked again immediately, which I was able to defend before he hit me again.

The spar continued, he kept attacking, barely giving me any chance to offense. I did find a few, but those were the exceptions.

My strength had increased, but not enough to fight against Lv. 30+. They won't even need a minute to finish me off, but I already expected that, and my purpose is not to defeat him, but to train.

I need to get used to my skills, and learn to use them expertly and efficiently.

Clang!

I finally got another attack, which he defended easily. He moved for another attack, but stop seeing me, stop.

“Thank you, Major,” I said to the man breathlessly. He nodded and bowed before walking out of the ring.

I stayed there, feeling tired. We have been sparing for two hours non-stop. It had made me thoroughly tired and got my body aching.

Though not as much when I train with Jon.

Major had held back a little with his hits on my body. Jon and instructor David rarely do. It is such a regret that the man had left the city, he was really good.

Hun!

I walked out of the ring, only to see the children standing not far away from the ring. They didn’t have their nanny with them; she was likely waiting outside.

I had restricted this area when I was practicing. Only those very trusted could come in.

“When you do you come?” I asked them as I walked out of the ring. “Not long ago,” replied the boy.

It had been over a month since they came, but the slight awkwardness had remained between us. It is disappearing slowly, but it will take time.

“Do you like it?” I asked, and the boy nodded. “I will arrange the trainers for you,” I said, and his expressionless face cracked as joy appeared on his face.

Seeing that, a smile couldn’t help, but appear on my face.

“Did you train before?” I asked, and the boy nodded again. “Yes, Mom had taught me a few things,” he replied, and I smiled.

She had trained me, since I was a child till the day she left. After that, it was trainers that father had hired. “And you, Josie, do you want to train too?” I asked the little girl. “I don’t like, fighting,” she replied.

I was surprised at such a blunt answer from a child.

“Mom tried to teach her, but she didn’t have any interest in it,” he said. Lovingly riffling her hair, for which she glared at him. They may act perfectly, but they have their differences, which is normal for siblings.

I was a little worried when I saw how perfectly they acted around each other. Siblings should have differences and rivalries.

Love alone isn’t enough for a healthy relationship.

“That’s fine, too. You need to focus on your studies,” I said to the child, before walking out of the training hall.

As I had expected, their nanny was waiting outside for them.

Soon, I went back to my suite, removed my sweaty clothes, and showered. I didn’t apply numbing cream; it is still hurting, but not as much as before. In an hour, every pain will be gone on its own.

Fifteen minutes later, I finished with a shower and stepped out of it, and changed into a suit, before walking out.

When I entered the kitchen, Carla and the children were waiting for me at the breakfast table, as always.

“Good morning,” I said and took the seat and soon the staff served us breakfast.

“Have you made all the preparations?” I asked, “Yes, I have triple-checked everything,” she said, sounding faintly nervous. She is usually not nervous, but the place she is going to isn’t normal.

“Don’t worry, you will not meet any elders,” I said.

“Even if you meet them, you won’t be able to recognize them; those who came out of the hidden city are capable of casting a glamor to hide their features,” I added, and she smiled nervously.

She is going to Nova Elyra with Lady Blackwell and Miss Ulaxasys for the business. Plants to exact.

She will not go to the hidden city. That place is restricted, but Yaris. One of four cities of Nova Elyra. Of all the states of merchant states, Nova Elyra had the least population. It only had four cities.

It is also a restricted state; even the citizens of merchant states would need permission to enter it or rather enter its cities.

Anyone could travel through the river route. Docking the ship is an entirely different question.

“I had read about that place when I was a child. I had a book, which had a story about it. My mother used to say, that one day, we will visit this place when we travel the world,” she said, with tears dripping from her eyes.

She had told me, a few things about her mother. One of which was that she wanted to travel the world.

“You will be fulfilling her dream by visiting,” I said, taking her hand in mine and pressed it gently.

She nodded and wiped her tears.

“These are happy tears,” she said to the children, seeing them looking at her worriedly.

“I will miss you, Carla,” said Josie. “I will miss you too, dear,” she replied and kissed the cheek of the little girl.