"Often the most simple method to deal with a human is with trickery. However elaborate or complex the actual execution is, they will be quickly fooled and left vulnerable for whatever plans you have for them. Learn from the humans themselves, and adapt their techniques; that is what makes a successful warrior. Not skill; rather thought."

-Redcap Translations, by Cameron Coy

The morning sun shone brilliantly through the kitchen window, illuminating the entire room, and blinding Igo who went in to wake up the snoring boy that continued to slouch on top of a wooden chair.

"Daniel. Da-aniel. Daniel!"

"Huh!" the boy lurched forward, and almost out of his chair, taking time to catch his balance, "Oh, it's just you Igo... just you."

"I heard about yesterday. Bet you didn't think they'll find out so fast."

"M-Maybe..." he said, turning away bashfully.

"You will be surprised by the perseverance of some curious folk. Now those are some wise words; maybe I should frame them!" Igo laughed out loud, before quieting down and turning a somewhat contemptuous gaze towards the put-out Daniel, "You're really hoping for it, huh?"

"What?" snapped Daniel.

"That they won't treat you like crap. That you miraculously gain an Art of some kind and teach them all a lesson. Even if you had an Art, it would be your fathers and then you'd probably be treated worse. And then what would happen, even the teachers will-"

"Shut up!" Daniel shouted, "Please just... stop it..."

"I was just trying to be helpful, Daniel. You know that. Anyway, you gotta get up early today. The Academy requested it. Before you ask, I don’t know why. Just get on with it." he finished, leaving the room and going upstairs.

When the boy had gotten ready and left for the Academy, the sun that hung high in the sky yesterday was only just rising, casting golden rays of light across the horizon. It was pretty; as Daniel looked up, hopeful, into the sky above and towards the Guild; very pretty. Yet when he looked down and towards the path ahead, he found a curious looking boy staring into him with an intent smile across his face. His flowing white hair flowed gracefully down past his shoulders and eyes that pierced his very being yet looked as serene as the sea, and more enchanting than an angel's. It was pretty; he was pretty, very pretty.

"Hi! What's your name?"

"D-Daniel." the stunned boy managed to get out, almost involuntarily.

"Nice name. I'm guessing you're in the Academy, if you're going out to Upper Alandriel at this time of day. My name is Sun. What a pleasure it is to meet you, Daniel. A pleasure indeed."

There, in that meeting between the two boys, sat a greater silence than that of the early morning, and even the rest of the world. However short it was, it was soothing and calm, yet ever intense and stressful. It was, as Daniel could only think, pretty.

"What class are you in, Daniel?"

"M-Me?" the boy said shakily.

"Yes, stupid, there's no one else here, is there?"

"Y-Yeah, I suppose," Daniel let out a half-laugh, "I'm in Class 1-B, and you?"

Sun, taken aback and surprised at this seemingly weak person's answer, replied, "Well that's a pleasant surprise. I'm in Class 1-A. Guess we're more alike than we seem, eh?"

He, this boy named Sun, was a monster. Not like Daniel himself, but a monster among other monsters. A person who is said to become a Platinum at their very worst. It was jarring to say the least to this already stunned enough boy, gazing straight through Sun, with a dead glare.

"Y-Your... in C-Class 1-A?"

"Yep. Now don't act like that, you're practically the same as me, so there's no need to be scared."

"Y-Yeah, I suppose."

"So how does going to the Guild together sound, Daniel?"

"s-sounds good... Yeah! Sounds good!"

The morning stroll to the Guild was uneventful, and silent, all except the mutterings and converse of two boys roughly the same age, prowling through the city like they owned it.

"Are you poor, Daniel?" asked Sun, on the verge of the great steps to the Guild.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well... You, from the path you took before we met, live in Lower Alandriel and yet you don't seem like that at all."

"I'm not poor in the sense of struggling for money or having a rough life, but I'm definitely not well off at all. You see, I came from the countryside and I'm now living with my Dad's old friend in the city here."

"What's his name? I might know him."

"Iago Duskwalker, is his full name, but he prefers me to call him Igo."

The usually calm and collected Sun, stopped halfway up the stairs, left in the tracks of the absorbed Daniel who had not been paying attention; his eyes focused to a single point with no object for their hungering gaze.

"Daniel," the frozen boy said, in a dark and blank tone, devoid of his previous jolly and bright attitude

"What is it, Sun?" Daniel said before looking around and seeing the distraught boy

"I-I need to..." the boy gasped for breath before collecting himself, "Sorry, Daniel... but it seems I've forgotten something at home and... well, my lecturer said I needed it today... so, I'll be right back!"

"Wait! Should we meet here... after class is over?"

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"Yeah, let's do that," he agreed, in that same distant tone, before running off back down the path they went. It was odd. It would be odd to anyone remotely nearby to that scene. Although, for Daniel's clueless yet honest personality, nothing particularly stood out as abnormal or peculiar, just a dazed wondering of what that forgotten thing was.

* * *

Unlike the day before, the main entrance and reception were quiet. Except for porcelains roaming the corridors of the Academy every now and again, the only people there were some Guild Members preparing their lecturers and that same old man who sat at the main desk. Similar to the other day, there were signs pointing to where you had to go but instead of showing the different areas of the building they all pointed towards the back half of it. Confused, Daniel approached the man again, asking:

"Hey! Do you know what's going on?"

"Uh!" the man exclaimed, drearily arousing from his rest, "Oh yeah, that. You got the message to come early at least... unless you like waking up early... or something... Anyway! There's going to be some... something... oh yeah! Something about training in basic weaponry or something like that. Anyway, since we're going to be seeing each-other for a bit over the course of Elase-knows how long, I'll tell you my name. It's... I think it's... oh yeah! The name's Kirk Donaldson. Nice to meet you... uhhh..."

"Daniel, sir."

"Nice to meet you... Daniel," he replied, before resting his head back down on the desk and seemingly falling asleep on the spot.

Half-content with the answer, Daniel simply gave up questioning further, since he already knew that asking anymore of Kirk would be useless, something he grasped in the short while he's talked to him.

Following the signage, Daniel found himself in front of two large halls; to the right, one with an engraving on the side to its entrance, spelling 'Class 1-A' and the other a simple and somewhat rotting set of wooden double-doors. Passing through the door that the signage was pointing to, the far left door, instead of being met with a large lecture hall such as what he had experienced yesterday, Daniel was met with a sprawling, open courtyard spanning the whole length of the building. The ground was horribly tread upon and what left of any grass or flowers had been grounded up into the earth, and a half-a-storey high pile of crates in its centre. Opposite to the doors, sat two Guild Members grudgingly sitting next to each other on the fencing that encompassed the grounds, staring the other down.

One was a heavily scarred man, with a long, flowing black cloak, with a neatly buttoned shirt underneath that had seen its share of battles; alongside it, sat a pair of empty holsters around his belt that continued down into his brown, and stained leather trousers. And the other was, of course, Daniel's teacher. Wearing casual clothing compared to the other man, the teacher had lack-lustily put on whatever had fit him that day: a leather tunic that was obviously a bit too tight around the edges; a small unremarkable necklace of a gold coin which had aged terribly; a small brown hat that kept the blaring sun out of his eyes and a set of simple pants and worn shoes.

"Told you one of my porcelains would arrive first!" his teacher exclaimed, getting up in the face of the other Guild Member.

"Always babbling about useless things, Lanyon, it's almost like your trying your best to make yourself out to be better than me." the cloaked Guild Member retorted, slyly.

"Well, Victor, it shows that you're so weak when it comes to me that you can't even tell when someones stronger than you."

"You little-"

"Now, now. No time to fight in front of our little visitor, isn't that right?"

"Fine, you won this time, stupid brat..."

The two men stopped their petty argument, and Lanyon got up from his seat on the fence and began to approach the boy who could only look on, stunned.

"You’re first again, Daniel."

"Yes, I guess I am sir..." he muttered, wondering why that even mattered.

"Well it's gonna be a while before the rest get here so I might as well tell you what's going on and why you've been called on and all that boring stuff." the man paused before propping himself up on a large pile of crates that lay in the middle of the courtyard, "So. Normally, we would have done this at the normal time but it felt like it would be a good opportunity to drill something into you that would only take effect if it was early in the morning or late at night. Working, fighting, walking, in fact doing anything on the field can happen at these times. For you; sleep isn't a necessity out there, it's an inconvenience and it's gonna get in your way a lot. So, even if you're sloppy, even if you can barely get yourself out of your cosy little bed, you will arrive at the Academy at whatever time you're requested to do so; same expectation on the field, same expectation here. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Some ignorant brats like your fellow porcelains won't get that and cry and moan until, before they know it, they've been kicked out of this place. For that reason, we're going to have you do some basic training with weapons, and get you used to working at the crack of dawn and having your skills, at your worst, be made into your best when you're not sloppy, if that makes any sense at all to you. It doesn't matter if you have an art or not or how good that art is, everyone in the Guild knows and is good at at least one of these bad boys," banging his hand on the crates beneath him, "And, if you ain't, you better hope you have a good Art. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now we have all that out of the way, let's get you your first weapon since you've got here early and you can be a good example for everyone else who comes." the teacher remarks, confusing Daniel to what he would be made an example of, before unpacking some of the various crates with an ornate and jewelled dagger he was keeping in his pocket, "Here ya' go. It's a small collection for now. These are the easiest to learn and the most simple to use. If none of these take your fancy, we'll be forced to take out the more complicated and advanced ones, but please try your best to use or even try to get used to one of these."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. But if you don't mind, stop calling me sir, it's kind of embarrassing," he whispered, pointing to the other teacher behind him, trying his best to, and failing at, not laughing his heart out, "Please?"

"Yes, si- Mr. Pierce."

In the crates now opened to him lay carelessly strewn about weaponry, ranging from a simple shortsword to a bow or even a quarterstaff. Most of these, Daniel had never seen or even handled, with the exception of a toy wooden sword he had as a small child, the one he played with, with his father. Upon a minute or two of nothing catching his eye, and the teacher impatiently glaring at the porcelain, he finally gave up, asking:

"Do you want to see the more complex weapon choices?"

"If it's my only choice, yes..."

"If I was you, a simple sword would do well. It matches your personality and from your build, I'd say it matches that as well. Nothing remarkable but nothing lacking either. Simple and honest. Don't you think that matches the bill?"

"No. I don't think it does."

"Eh? What do you think then, what matches, well, you?"

"Something seemingly simple and honest, but deceivingly so. Something that seems no different than a regular sword, yet all the more fantastical."

"A curved sword such as a falchion or scimitar might suit your pick then, or if you fancy something a bit smaller like a dagger, a shotel might work too."

"No. I don't mean anything as clear-cut as that. It doesn't want its intentions to be made clear. It wants to be made simple, but used differently and surprisingly so."

"So, definitely a more complex weapon then. Fine, but I'll say this; I heavily encourage you to pick a more simple one. It's not just easier to learn. But it's easier to see results with."

"I understand this. But, as you just agreed, nothing 'simple' fits me."

As Lanyon simply nodded his head, he began to yank a large rectangular crate from the centre of the pile before revealing its contents as he had done before. The difference was significant in both scope and appearance. A longsword larger than the man who wields it, some sort of crossbow, a large longsword with a slight yet noticeable curve and a firm and decorated handle and guard, a metal object with a small trigger embedded into it and a barrel at its top and many, many more. Some, Daniel recognised. One was the metal object, as a gun, a newly developed weapon that attempted to replicate the weapon produced by the Gun Art's branch of the Weapon Arts. Another was zweihander, which his hometown guard captain wielded proudly wherever he went. Of course there were countless others that were unrecognisable to him, but one did stick out. He had never seen it, yet if felt definitely like something he would wield. Something simple, yet deceiving all the same. So, Daniel reached in into the crate and retrieved a large blade that when was revealed, the teacher could only say:

"Yes, yes... that makes sense. After all, it was your father's weapon of choice too: The katana."