The Danghai Conference was seventeen days away, and Dream was extremely pleased with how Yuri progressed.

The Horizon Dawn had developed their own swordplay, acquired from extensive studies of mixed martial arts. But if anyone asked the savvier member like Empress, she would admit Dream built most of their combat-style through trails, errors, a random goddess’s advice, and copious amounts of material inspired by Star Wars.

From those experiences, came three styles of combat. First was a highly adaptable-style heavily rooted in zone-control and adaptability, allowing for the practitioner to weave mystic attacks in their sequence. Second was a tight and defensive oriented form, inspired by an old-man living on the desert planet who went by Ben Kenobi. Finally, the third form was heavily exhaustive swordplay — a momentum-style — heavily depending on footwork, acrobat, power, and stamina.

It was in this training Yuri found a common ground with his mentor. Both of them weren’t a defensive fighter, and neither didn’t have the raw physical might to support the acrobatic-style.

The two combatants were pure adaptive specialists. Rem might feel inadequate to teach Yuri many advanced subjects, but for his signature style — the mentor was more than enthusiastic.

Inside the misty Astral Realm, the two blades collided. Yuri traded the cut with a block, orienting into a thrust that got easily batted aside. Rem used the brief pause when Yuri regathered his blade to close the distance. Knowing this maneuver, Yuri, holding his sword tight, slid back to avoid a grab. Rem, knowing his tactic fell short, pressed his offense.

Rem moved into high-gear, shifting to a two-handed grip. He started from the medieval High Stance and struck with a cut, gathered the blade back into a flowing slash, then hammered on Yuri with a chop. The combo transferred into a transitory hanging stance that quickly transferred its momentum into an upward slice.

To Yuri’s credit, he fared incredibly well against Rem’s barrage. He blocked every strike, but the sudden pause before the slice ruined his tempo. This sudden opening forced him to step out of range, leaving him in Rem’s crosshair.

Yuri felt a kick in his stomach, sending him sprawling and winding him. He barely rolled to his knee to block the sword coming at his face. The instinct honed by experience of countless life-or-death instances kicked in. Yuri recognized the movement of Rem’s finger. He responded by shoving his hand out.

Two palms faced each other. Their respective owner focused the immense knowledge of mystical forces to contest for supremacy.

Kinetic force assembled behind Yuri.

[Aero Law]

Rem met it with the telekinetic push.

[Tenshou]

Yuri stood his ground. Every microsecond proved the height he had climbed, but it wasn’t enough.

Within a second, the telekinetic force broke through the trainee’s attempt to stop it. Yuri fell back, softening the power of an earth-shattering telekinetic smash with his Aura. However, his mentor transformed into a blur and ran the blade through his chest.

Yuri felt the steel breaking two of his ribs and penetrated his heart. He gathered the strength to look at his teacher with annoyance.

“You did well,” Rem said.

Yuri closed his eyes and died.

…

A second later, Yuri opened his eyes, resurrecting from his death.

“Not again,” the student complained. “Can’t you give me that one?”

“I’m already going easy on you,” Rem said, sitting beside him. “You should be proud, Yuri. Even with time dilation in the Astral Realm, you have progressed at an amazing pace. It took you only a five-years worth of time to reach this point.”

“I still got killed,” Yuri complained.

“But your stiffness and fear is gone,” Rem pointed out the major improvement. “You are still too defensive. Remember, you are supposed to be adaptable, not a turtle.”

“I know,” Yuri said. “How many times have we done this?”

“To be honest, I lost count after the fiftieth match,” Rem said. “But given how time flowed here, likely around ten thousand.”

“Ten thousands lost, zero win,” Yuri flopped back to the floor. “Great.”

Rem laughed, “Good, remember how this feels. Before we can win, all of us need to learn how to lose. It helps ground us. Those humility stops us from sinking to the level of our enemy.”

Yuri sighed. Once again, Rem had a point.

Ever Since he could enter the Astral Realm at will, he had been learning combat-technique from Rem. The perception of time in the Astral Realm differed from in reality, and the Horizon Dawn exploited that to the fullest. They could spend a year training inside the Astral Realm but time would hardly pass outside. Better yet, in this realm, the environment and the scenario could be adjusted into any scenario. Even death and fatigue wasn’t a constant in this world.

With such a powerful tool, Yuri’s growth rate spiked in a vertical direction. Countless life or death duels against Rem transformed the boy who hesitated to hold a sword into a capable warrior who held his ground against multiple opponents and triumphed. His mystical skill grew to the point he earned Rem’s respect. The alterable condition of Astral Realm also gave Yuri the opportunity to fight through scenarios after scenarios from search and rescue, hostage situation, search-and-destroy and pursuit in all terrains.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Contrary to classical expectations, he failed many of them.

Yuri was many things, but seasoned wasn’t one of them. However, with every death and failure he remembered and improved. Soon, he learned the lesson that Rem tried to teach. Strength you were born with was cheap. The path to mastery was paved with failures.

“Another match?” Yuri said.

“Maybe,” Rem sank into thought. “But I believe it is time for the actual field training. Come on, let return to reality.”

Yuri closed his eyes.

…

Yuri opened his eyes beneath the green liquid.

He broke out of the alchemical solution, wearing only his underwear. A sudden energy coursed through him. The familiar spark ran through his body. I was like someone jammed the national grid into his nervous system and gleefully lighted the circuit.

“Oww,” Yuri groaned, feeling aches from his entire body. “I’ll never get used to this.”

“You will in time,” Rem said. Like Yuri, he was similarly dressed in this boxer.

Yuri glanced back at the tub.

The weakness of the Astral Realm was while it could condense intense training into a short time, the body couldn’t biologically catch up. You could upload the knowledge of Kung Fu, but your same old reflex and muscle didn’t make you a martial artist practitioner overnight.

Like everything the Dawn did, the group found a way around that weakness. The Horizon Dawn invented an alchemical mixture of protein, growth stimulant, steroid, and healing solution. The liquid was supposed to develop the body according to the nervous system’s activity during the user’s delve in the Astral Realm.

It was how Yuri’s originally shabby shape developed a fine muscle overnight.

Behind him, L and T watched the two half-naked men left, before secretly discussing in the invisible solitude.

‘Hey,’ L said, admiring the boy's new body. ‘You know, the kid might not be a bad catch.’

‘Shut up,’ T said.

L turned to look at her shadowy temporary ally.

‘Are you perhaps attracted to this kid?’ L teased. ‘I can’t believe it. In your prime, people much stronger than him throw themselves at your feet to swoon over you night and day. What does this kid have that they don’t?’

‘Aren’t you supposed to be the seductress?’ T said.

‘Hah, you can’t be serious?’ L giggled darkly. ‘I might bat my eyes to gain allies or pieces, but we both know. Both of us understood full well. Our teacher might never teach us this knowledge, but the lesson she never imparted is obvious — love is a weakness.’

T sighed, ‘Well, at least we agreed about that.’

L glanced at her lifelong rival, ‘So what is this new fascination with that boy? Come on, you can’t hide it from me.’

‘Don’t you find it alarming how fast he improves?’ T said.

‘Jealousy?’ L laughed. ‘The once-in-a-millennium genius finally felt jealous. Wow, this is great! Isn’t this part of our plan? Strengthen him so we can benefit’

T glared at the shadowy visage of L, ‘Our original plan doesn’t include that guy. Can’t you see he is reading us like a book?’

L snorted, ‘He is a mere mortal! Are you saying one flesh-and-blood human could outsmart us when the gods couldn’t?’ L sneered. ‘Sure, he knows many things we don’t, but that didn’t change the fact that we got him beat in experience. I only need to know his weakness. Just one opportunity is enough to get us back on track.’

…

The two eldritch entities believed their entire conversation wasn’t heard. Like the Dark Lord who puppeted the Galaxy and corrupted a messiah, the two put plans in motion to get everything they ever wanted, waiting for that one step to reassert their dominance.

Sadly, they weren’t pulling anything new. L and T might be a massive threat for the god, or an average two-cent kid like Yuri a few weeks ago. However, those advantages were slipping, and they didn’t even know it.

In the van’s — the Perseverance — living-room, the two Knights weren’t amused.

“Do they know we can listen to them?” Yuri asked, exploiting the sound amplification of [Aero Law] and mastery over Mana to eavesdrop on the two arrogant morons’ discussion. Not to repeat L and T’s blunder, he also manipulates the vacuum property surrounding them, creating a silencing zone to prevent their conversation from leaking out.

“Absolutely not,” Rem snorted. “‘Love is a weakness?’ What a load of bullshit. The capacity for empathy and nobility in loving yourself and others defines the greatest accomplishment of humanity.” Rem squinted at the door leading to the biggest morons of this planet. “No wonder those idiots all fell the same way.” Rem grimaced. “Master of the year, everyone. Mistress of Heaven, my ass. She taught them everything but what truly matter.”

Yuri turned toward Rem, “You know who they are.” He didn’t even pretend that was a question. “Who the hell are they and how did they become so,” he struggled to find a word, “lame?”

“It is a long story,” Rem said, sitting on the sofa of the living-room and opening a cooler. “Blame it on out-of-date inadaptability that butchered the ancient Sparta, and lack of decent role models when they are kids.” Rem grabbed a soft-drink and tossed it at Yuri. “They might be gods, but they still fell prey to the bane of humanity — the inability to accept that not everyone thinks like they do.”

“Aren’t you afraid they will corrupt me?” Yuri said.

“I trust you not to fall for a ploy that you can see coming from a thousand miles away,” Rem replied. “Let’s be honest here, they plan to corrupt the naïve kid a week ago with a promise of wish-granting Kool-Aid. Do you think the trick that worked on ‘Yuri the Porter’ still works against you?”

Yuri stayed silent, thinking about the two shadowy women promised of fame, wealth and power. He must admit he found those offers attractive, but the prospect of becoming like Alpine sickened him. Yuri refused to become a bully. Fame and respect? Yuri wanted to laugh at the idea. He had witnessed the beauty of the cosmos in the Astral Realm. Life was more than being famous. Yuri admitted he needed wealth, but it wasn’t worth losing his honor for a few currencies.

Yuri knew those two had nothing to offer him. He had outgrown them in two weeks. Now, he understood why Rem gave the two so little respect. L and T were what both of them had surpassed. They were Anime’s filler bosses compared to the evil Yuri was being trained to fight.

Not to mention Yuri would rather trust the word of a door-to-door salesman over anything out of their mouth.

“Not in a million years,” Yuri said. “But why aren’t we exorcizing them?”

“Because your True Magic requires their continual existence,” Rem said. “Plus, they are damned pitiful.”

“Pitiful?” Yuri said in disbelief. “The two eldritch bitches unashamedly planning to use me like a sock-puppet are pitiful?”

“Wait until you realize what they are,” Rem said. “For all their bravado, everything about them is in—”

It was then the van paused. The Perseverance had come to a sudden stop.

“What is going on?” Yuri said.

“That,” Rem started,“ is the signal we have arrived at our destination.”

…

Half an hour later, Rem and Yuri, garbed in hoods, approached the entrance of a small town.

Rem began narrating their purpose.

“There are a lot of things the Astral Realm could teach, but real life experience isn’t one of them,” Rem said. “Sometimes research and foreknowledge make the difference between us walking out with a victory or heading into a trap.”

Yuri watched the town. The memory of the event which led him to leave the previously similar town surfaced into his mind. He bit the memory down bitterly.

“So what are we doing here?” Yuri said.

“There is about to be an international conference in Danghai,” Rem said. “This town — Dangxiao Er — is one of the satellite locations around that city. We are here to measure the public opinion and rumors around the conference.” Rem squinted at a city. “If someone planned something at the meeting, they needed to gather supplies and labor. This town is near Danghai with relatively thin security and is the perfect place to do that.”

“Aren’t you being too paranoid?” Yuri said.

“It is what I would do,” Rem said. “Come on. Let us find some rumors' hub.”

With that, Dream and Requiem left on their first mission as colleagues.

…

Seventeen days remained until Danghai’s Conference.