In his mind space, Damon followed the movements of Umbra until they were almost second nature to him, and then he separated himself from Umbra's shadow.
The hologram of Umbra faded away and Damon was left alone in the space.
He then started practicing the movements intentionally, without the shadow of Umbra as a guide.
When he made a mistake, was out of balance or was misaligned, it felt instinctively wrong, and he corrected himself.
This lower-level version of Over-Mind was great, but he could feel that it was not as effective as the higher versions of the technique.
For starters, at the level he had reached in his previous life, his mental space was accelerated.
He could practice for hours with only a fraction of time passing in the real world, due to Over-Mind accelerating his thoughts.
That was not the case currently.
Not only that, but there were still some details of Umbra's movements that he had not fully captured. He would need to observe her a few more times and overlap the various instances he saw to get the perfect movement copied.
After two or so hours had passed, Damon felt himself running low on mana, so he dissolved the last of his mana threads, giving him a slight boost.
He stopped practicing the stances, and instead focused on recalling all that he had read regarding the stances in the textbooks.
As the information compiled within Damon's mind a silhouette of a hologram came into being, eventually forming a faceless figure that looked like a man wearing a plain bodysuit that covered all the features and definition of their body.
This silhouette began to move, performing the stances in accordance with what Damon had read, but there were slight differences to this text-book figure and Umbra's.
The figure was more rigid than Umbra, and it showed itself to be more awkward in places, especially in the Eastern and Western stances. Conversely, the Northern and Southern stances were more natural to this figure.
This made sense to Damon. Umbra preferred the Eastern and Western stances, and it was very likely that she had created her own techniques or learnt a technique that built off them.
Those more complicated, more efficient details of the additional technique would have bled into her rendition of the Eastern and Western stances, making her version more effective than the original.
Unfortunately, those same quirks and changes would have an adverse effect on the firmer Northern and Southern stances, and though the difference was not massive, they were present.
Taking a breath to gather the mana he had remaining; Damon imposed his shadow self on the silhouette of the training figure and went through the motions of the Northern and Southern stances.
It felt uncomfortable at first, especially where the figure deviated from what Umbra had been doing, but he relaxed and allowed himself to be swept up in the figure's movements.
Once they felt comfortable to him, he dismissed the training figure and began to practice the movements on his own within his mental space.
Eventually, his mana ran dry, and the effect of Over-mind faded away, and Damon opened his eyes.
He breathed out a slow, long breath, then shakily stood up.
His muscles felt as if he had just completed an extended marathon after strenuous resistance training.
He was sore all over and it took a lot of his will power to make his way over to his bed and lie down.
It was a bittersweet feeling.
With this, he would be able to learn the Royal Sword at a ridiculously fast rate but would regret it during physical training the following morning.
Putting those thoughts aside, Damon let sleep take him.
________________
The following morning was a struggle for Damon. He felt a deep ache in his muscles and bones, and a faint throbbing in mana-veins.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He managed to walk over to the channeling stone despite the pain and sat down on it.
There was an immediate refreshing feeling, but it did little to combat the soreness of his body.
He spent the next thirty or so minutes forming mana-threads.
He had found that dissolving mana threads into his body had a greater rejuvenating effect than simply absorbing and circulating mana, and he made use of that.
By the time he had gotten up to bathe, he could move properly, but his muscles, bones and mana veins were still quite sore.
When he came down for breakfast, he was surprised to see an unexpected guest.
Sat at the table were his mother, Umbra, William, and Lucy, and at his mother's side was Fernand, Damon's uncle.
Fernand Marlow had grown to be noticeably rotund over the past seven years. His sly, sleazy demeanor had given way to a generally jovial look, but there was still some seediness about his eyes.
"Damon! My dear nephew, how are you doing?" asked Fernand, clasping his hands together and smiling at Damon.
Damon did his best to hold back a frown as he turned to his mother.
"This is?" He asked.
Damon saw Fernand's eyebrow twitch, but the man maintained his smile.
Lady Ariel held back a laugh as she responded.
"This is my older brother, Lord Fernand Marlow, he is your uncle." Said Ariel, introducing them.
"Ah" said Damon.
He turned to the still smiling Fernand and inclined his head.
"Good morning uncle, my apologies, I did not recognise you." Said Damon.
Fernand brushed off the apology.
"Nonsense, my boy, nonsense, you haven't seen me since you were but a babe. It's no fault of yours that we've been kept at a distance." Said Fernand, side-eyeing Ariel as he emphasized being kept at a distance.
Damon took a seat at the table, and a maid who was on stand-by hurried over to pour him a cup of tea.
"It's alright Uncle, I understand that the affairs of the capital can make it easy to forget you have a nephew, I don't blame you either." Said Damon, smiling at his uncle.
Fernand's eye twitched once more at the suggestion that the blame was his, but he let it pass.
"Actually, I came here this morning to address that." Said Fernand, putting on a pained look.
"You see, my nephew, we have had some strained… interactions with your mother in the past, but our father is at his wits end with how things are, and he sorely wishes to see his grandchildren." Said Fernand.
Damon noticed that when he said 'Grandchildren', his gaze shifted from Damon, and he glanced at Lucy.
Lucy was uncharacteristically quiet as she ate, keeping her head down and chewing slowly. The mention of Ariel and Fernand's father made her perk up a bit, but she bowed her head down once more when her eyes momentarily met Fernand's.
Damon frowned internally, at the interaction.
"Father is celebrating his 65th birthday five months from now, and he wishes to bury old wounds. He wants to see his daughter and grandchildren attend the event." Finished Fernand.
Lady Ariel tried her best to maintain a neutral expression, but Damon could see that she longed to meet her father.
Lucy kept her gaze down, so Damon was not so sure of her opinion. He had a strong feeling that whilst she missed the old man, she was not so comfortable with the rest of the Marlows, particularly Fernand.
Damon tapped on the table as his mind raced.
The timing of the event coincided with the assassination of Damon's mother, but in his previous life, no such thing had happened.
Fernand had not extended an invitation, and Damon's mother had attended a party in a different county, where she had been killed.
He wished to keep his mother from leaving the manor at all costs, but if it was an event at the Marlow family, where not only her father, but several nobles who were neutral or on his mother's side were present, would an assassination even be attempted?
Looking into his mother's eyes and seeing her desire to see her own father, Damon did not have the heart too object.
He knew that if he refused, it was likely that his mother would go with what he decided, regardless of how she felt, but he couldn't do it.
He would have to hope that Umbra decided to go along, and if not, he would have to ensure he became her disciple so he could have more weight in convincing her.
Damon held his tongue, only looking to his mother to respond.
Lady Ariel sighed, then nodded her head.
"I do wish to see father, so tell him that we will be in attendance." Said Ariel.
Fernand's eyes lit up and he continued.
"Perfect, I will have a courtyard prepared for your stay there. Have Alan produce a list of any amenities or delicacies that you would like, and I will work to ensure all is in place for you." Said Fernand, smiling,
"Our stay?" asked Ariel, frowning.
"Ah, my dear sister, surely, you don't plan to simply turn up and leave in the same evening? You must come visit for at least a month." Said Fernand, unabashed by his brazen request.
"I'll have to disagree". Surprisingly, it was Umbra who cut in.
Fernand's mask of smiles finally, dropped, and he found himself stuttering to gather himself.
Umbra was one of the few people in the kingdom that he could neither guilt, bargain with, or intimidate.
"May I ask why, your ladyship?" asked Fernand.
"No need to be so formal piggly, you can just call me Lady Umbra." Said Umbra, eating as she spoke.
Fernand's face darkened as some of the surrounding maids held in a laugh.
He cleared his throat, the reiterated.
"May I ask why, Lady Umbra?"
Umbra gestured towards Lucy, Damon, and William.
"A month is too long for them to take off from training. They already recently missed time due to that birthday nonsense over the last week." Said Umbra.
She raised a single finger.
"A week at most." She said.
"Of course, Ari can go for as long as she wishes, but for these three, a week is the maximum."
Fernand nodded as she spoke, he looked to be doing some calculations in his head.
"Sister?" he asked.
"I think a week is reasonable Fernand." Said Ariel.
Fernand nodded his head, though he still looked distracted in his thoughts.
"Then a week it is!" he finally said, his smile returning.
Fernand turned to Umbra,
"And will we be preparing for your lodging as well lady Umbra?" he asked.
Umbra responded without looking up from her food.
"No need, I'm quite comfortable in this manor and I don't know the old man." She said, causing Fernand's smile to widen.
Damon narrowed his eyes a this.
No matter what, he had to be accepted as her disciple within these five months.