A week had gone by since Dungeon Master 00's unexpected visit. Since then, I'd been expecting the visits to be a little more frequent. That was the impression I garnered from that last summon of his—that it would be a recurrent event. But it seemed I got it wrong, at least for now. There had been no more summons. However, there was still that lingering feeling, even now, that we could be summoned at any time. This impression brought another sensation, one that made me feel like I was constantly being monitored.
It’s a strange feeling. Being Theta’s first successful prototype, I’m quite familiar with the sensation of being watched. It’s almost exactly what I felt, though it doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as the type of monitoring I was subjected to in Theta’s facilities.
There are two equally possible explanations for this. One, because I don’t have anything to be ashamed of or anything to hide. And two, because the one observing me is Dungeon Master 00 instead of Theta’s Maiden ascetics. Or perhaps it was simply a combination of the two.
In any case, that’s just to say that while the impression is constant, I didn’t mind it much. If anything, it gives me a certain assurance.
This constant monitoring, or to be exact, the impression thereof, has woven itself into the fabric of my—no, our daily lives. Every action, every thought, every decision feels strangely like they'd been approved by a higher order, for I know, or at the very least feel, that unseen eyes might be observing. And thus, our life—Aiden’s and mine continues in its own little rhythm.
Early mornings begin with the usual routine—upon waking up and bathing, we have breakfast at the refectory, promptly followed by scholarly activities in the room above. As per usual, I watch over Aiden as he and the little girl, Tina, have their young minds soaked in carefully picked knowledge under the close supervision of the Caretakers. In certain aspects, it tempted me to say that it reminded me of my early days. I'm not talking about being taught as a child—that part I don't remember from my previous life. My earliest memories were much later, and as a Dungeon Master, the moment I was born as HMC-P217, I had a fully functioning psyche. Even though I was stuck in the body of a child, I was raised by Theta and spoken to like an adult from the moment I was born.
What really reminded me of my early days was the close supervision of the Caretakers. The fact that the Caretakers here are very much the same as Theta's acolytes back then is for sure to blame. But at the same time, there is something about them that makes them quite different from the average ascetics. One of them is showing signs of pampering and actual fondness for Tina. Having grown up around them, I know for a fact that this is not something to be expected from Theta's ascetics. They are, in essence, closer to automated robots than actual humans. They only exist to serve Theta, and Theta knows they only exist to serve her. But here, while I still feel they are under this unique Theta influence, there is something about the ascetics assigned to this orphanage that makes them a little more genuine than the conventional ascetics.
Unless perhaps I'm wrong, and this is all a special arrangement made by Theta. Maybe their hint of normalcy or even that fondness of the director for Tina is just something artificial, specially manufactured by Theta for some strange experiment. That's a possibility, and frankly, I wouldn't be that surprised if that were the truth. But I really hope, especially for Aiden and a little for Tina, that this is just me being overly paranoid over anything Theta-related.
Anyway, once done with about two hours of scholarly time, they are led to a spot in the orphanage where their latest addition to their usual daily routine is carried out—the training sessions. It happened out of nowhere. The Caretakers just one day took them to the spot and had them begin. It didn't come as a surprise, for I was expecting it to happen one day or another when I discovered what was inside the storehouse. If anything, it just happened a little earlier than expected. I had assumed they would wait for the children to be a couple of years older before subjecting them to it, but it seemed I had been too naive.
***
In a green-fenced playground in a corner of the orphanage courtyard, a mere dozen meters from the large walls being built around the village-like grounds, under the watchful eyes of the Caretakers, Tina and Aiden stood with wooden swords in their small hands.
One of the Caretakers knelt beside Aiden. Her expression was calm, almost mechanical, yet there was a trace of a genuine smile on her lips. She gently adjusted Aiden's grip on the wooden sword, guiding his tiny hands to hold it properly.
"Aiden," she said in an intently soothing voice, "the first step to using a sword is to have a strong grip. Hold it firmly, but don't tense up. Feel the balance of the sword in your hand."
Aiden looked at her with wide eyes, nodding as he tried to follow her instructions. With her own wooden sword, the Caretaker demonstrated a basic swing, her movements precise and fluid, though to the beginner's eyes, not mine. She then stepped back and nodded to Aiden, indicating that it was his turn to try.
He lifted the wooden sword with determination, mimicking the Caretaker's stance. As he swung, I winced internally at the sight, for as he did, the sword slipped from his hands and clattered to the ground. His face flushed with embarrassment, and he quickly bent down to pick it up.
The Caretaker placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Aiden. Everyone makes mistakes when they're learning. The important thing is to keep trying." She picked up the sword and handed it back to him. "Now, let's try again. This time, hold it a bit tighter and focus on your movements."
Refraining from giving in to any internal urges, like the one to take over Aiden and tell her to do her job better, I just listened to the woman’s encouragement, my eyes rolling to the back of my head.
On one hand, I could understand the underlying logic of this all, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel it was a little absurd. Training them in swordsmanship at such an early age made a lot of sense. In this world, if there was one skill that could easily be unlocked, it was swordsmanship. To be exact, it wasn’t really that it was easily unlocked; it was more like it had the most accessible unlocking pattern for humans.
In Fiendfell, there were three distinct types of humans, not to say subspecies, for there wasn’t much physical difference between these types to categorize them as different subspecies. It was just that these types were labeled by the system as different, and thus they had to accept it.
The first were “Peons.” They were not so different from the people in the world we, Dungeon Masters, came from. They had no access to the system and thus no access to any supernatural power.
The second type was called “Verdenkinds.” All Verdenkind are born Peons, as people without access to the system. It is only as they get to a certain age, between 7 to 9, that a Verdenkinds gets access to the system and thus becomes a proper Verdenkind. This simple access to the system made them different from Peons, yet this simple difference could create an abysmal gap between the two types of humans.
Another existing type of human in Fiendfell were Highbreeds. There were many characteristics about Highbreed that made them look very similar to Verdenkind. Not only did they also awaken their access to the system at around age 7 to 9, but before that, they looked a lot like Peons. However, there were two things that made them very different from Verdenkind. First, Highbreed had access to an additional levelable attribute compared to Verdenkind. This attribute was called Faith. Highbreed status was inherited; a Highbreed child would be a Highbreed regardless of whether the parent was a Verdenkind-Highbreed couple or a Peon-Highbreed couple. So long as at least one of the parents is an Highbreed. The child born of this union would be a Highbreed.
This is obviously not the case for Verdenkinds. When a Verdenkind has a child with another Verdenkind or with a Peon, chances are high—extremely high to not say absolute—that the child born of that union would be a Peon.
Becoming a Verdenkind is something that is spontaneous, something you can’t just be expecting to happen, and to some extent rare. Their spawning was a curious thing, but no amount of curiosity had ever found a pattern to the spawning of Verdenkind, and even less so a way to intentionally trigger it—at least, not by anyone native to this world. For this didn’t include us Dungeon Masters, or any fellow Incarnates, who knew more than one way to actually make it happen.
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Anyway, despite those difference thats truly makes Verdenkind different from Highbreed, there is one thing they have in common: it is only at age 7 to 9 that both get access to the system and, by doing so, that they acquire the things through which the system manifests itself from its virtual interface into reality—skills.
For Highbreed just like Verdenkind, skills can be unlocked through two methods.
One involves no effort; in other words, it is just a skill that spontaneously spawns within the wielder. Just like at age 7 to 9 a peons might suddenly become a Verdenkind. Some like to believe that there is some sort of destiny involved in this, some believe it’s random, a matter of luck, and others believe the spontaneous spawning of the skill is the result of unknown factors with prerequisites known only by the system, but who knows.
The other method through which skills can be unlocked is active training. While most skills are unlocked rather spontaneously, without the wielder understanding what they did to unlock the skill, there are a handful of skills that one can strive toward acquiring and actually has a decent chance on acquiring.
Swordsmanship is one such skill. In fact, compared to most skills, swordsmanship has a very unique particularity that makes it that practice is the optimal way to acquire. Another common consensus about this skill is that the earlier the sword training is initiated, the greater the chance for the Verdenkind or Highbreed to acquire the skill. But here’s the thing, by “earlier,” I meant around the time the wielder either becomes a Verdenkind or truly becomes a proper Highbreed with access to the system, which is both around age 7 to 9.
This means that the training Aiden and the girl are going through, which obviously has the set goal of having them acquire the swordsmanship skill, is at least three years too soon compared to the average early training for the average Verdenkind or Highbreed. But obviously the problem here is that they’re not the average Verdenkind and Highbreed. Aiden and Tina, and from what I’ve read, all the children born of Theta’s latest experiment, are born with immediate access to the system. So just because they have access to the system earlier than most, is that a good reason to have them undergo this training that, had they been normal kids, they would have undertaken at least three to five years later?
That’s a question that I wouldn’t be able to answer. I myself have to admit that I am quite guilty of having to Aiden something similar to what the Caretakers are doing to him and Tina, so I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I’m better than them, for it’s obviously not the case.
But here’s the thing, the training I’ve had Aiden partake in didn’t involve anything physical, for I obviously understand the risk that physical training poses for a child this young. So, is this alright? And I don’t mean that morally, for to me, it is.
But still I’m divided.
In one way, I genuinely believe that it is a little too early. On the other hand, I know myself well enough to admit that I would have, at best, waited just a year and a half before having him train to acquire swordsmanship because I know that while it’s a known method to acquire the skill, it doesn’t mean that it is an easy task. A lot of sweat is to be expected, and the sweat he was currently sweating was already a little too much.
After once again dropping the sword, Aiden, after being once again “reassured” by the Caretaker, retrieved his sword. He took the sword and tried again, his movements more controlled. This time, the sword didn’t slip, but his swing was still awkward.
"Good, much better," Sister Althea encouraged. "With practice, you’ll improve. It’s only been two weeks; look at yourself."
Following her words, Aiden looked down and then asked inwardly, “Did I get better?” in a voice that I knew was directed at me.
“Did you get better?”
“Yes?” He nodded eagerly.
“You did. But just like last time, just a tiny bit, but it’s alright. That’s how big things are made, a small step at a time.”
A proud smile appeared on his little face as he nodded.
Perhaps sensing Aiden’s cheer, the Caretaker added, “Now, let’s do it a few more times."
***
After several more attempts spanning over several days, Aiden's swings began to show signs of improvement. No signs of the so-expected skill yet, but his grip was steadier, and his confidence grew with each try.
The Caretaker, who went by the name Althea, had been the same caretaker in charge of his sword training since the beginning to this day. She turned her attention to Tina, who stood beside Katléya, another Caretaker who’d been training her, just as Althea did Aiden. They seemed to be resting from a session and were now staring at Aiden.
"How’s she doing?" Althea asked Katléya.
"Great as always," Katléya said, patting Tina’s shoulder. Being praised, the girl smiled with all her teeth.
"I see," Althea nodded, throwing a quick glance that I didn’t quite like at Aiden. Then, as if having found an idea, she said, "Tina, you've been paying close attention to Aiden’s training, right?"
The girl nodded.
"That’s great. Do you want to help Aiden practice what you’ve learned?" In a much softer voice, she said, "Show him how it's done."
Tina nodded eagerly, her eyes bright with excitement. She stepped up and approached Aiden, her own wooden sword in hand.
There I, wherever I was, watched Tina demonstrate the basic swing, her movements surprisingly smooth for a child her age, but once again, it could be better.
Aiden watched Tina closely, then attempted to mirror her movements. While still not perfect, his swings were beginning to resemble those of his young partner. The duo practiced together, the sound of wooden swords slicing through the air filling the courtyard.
After a while, Althea made an unexpected suggestion. "Now, Aiden, Tina, it's time to test what you've learned. I want you to practice with each other."
The strange emphasis she made on “practice” right now made it imminently clear that the practice she was referring to had nothing to do with the one the duo was currently partaking in.
Katléya, the other Caretaker, didn’t seem much entranced by Althea’s proposition. She must have seen it as the bad idea it was, but a simple smile and the words "it’ll be a little game" from Althea as she looked her way made the caretaker change her opinion.
Aiden didn’t seem to immediately catch on to what she meant, so he looked at Tina with confusion. However, as he did, he immediately understood, for unlike him, Tina not only immediately understood but also seemed surprisingly eager, a determined look on her face as she adjusted her glasses back deep up her nose bridge, readying her wooden sword, which for some reason I could imagine being a real one in her mind.
I wanted to comment, but wanting to see Aiden handle this, I just remained silent.
"It's just practice, but playfully this time," Althea assured them. "So, remember, the goal is to have fun in our little practice and have fun at the same time, so make sure not to hurt each other. Be gentle and pay attention to your movements."
Tina stepped forward, her wooden sword held high. Aiden mirrored her stance, his grip tightening around the hilt. They began to spar, their movements cautious and deliberate. The wooden swords clacked together, the sound echoing in the late morning.
As it went on, Aiden's confidence obviously grew. He began to move more fluidly, his swings becoming more precise. But here’s the thing that I quickly understood: he wasn’t getting more fluid because he quickly became good. His movements suddenly looked better because the girl Tina, with the natural agility provided by both her innate skills, matched his every swing, his every stance, making their practice for a brief moment turn into a dance of wooden blades.
Now it only happened for a brief moment because the one that initially intentionally matched him for a dance was too invested in the dance. So much so, she quickly left Aiden behind, causing the wooden blade to slip from his hand and him to fall on his butt.
It didn’t take the girl long to understand she got a little carried away from what she was initially up to, so she quickly went apologetic. "I didn’t want to… I’m sorry."
"It’s okay," Aiden said, promptly standing up and wiping his back and bottom, summoning a smile, "I’m alright." He then proceeded to look for the wooden sword that flew from his grip.
As he located it a couple of meters away from them and made his way toward it, I emerged from the silence I remained in to not get in Aiden’s way to comment sincerely, “A martial skill and ability wielder against someone with no martial skill, it was unfair from the beginning, and that’s how it usually is out there..."
"Sigma?" Aiden asked, confused by my sudden action.
"But since we’re doing this, let’s make this even more unfair," I said, as I knelt down to reach onto Aiden’s wooden sword.
Turning toward the girl Tina, I said, "It was fun, let’s do this again." Turning my voice more inwardly, directed toward Aiden, whom I made take my place as the spectator, I said, "Boy, I want ‘you’ to show you both how it’s done, so watch well and, more importantly, learn."
With that, I took control of Aiden's body, feeling his small hands tighten around the wooden sword. His eyes widened as I fully took over, and I could sense his excitement and curiosity. I positioned Aiden’s body into a proper stance, feeling the weight of the wooden sword.
"Now, Girl," I said, focusing my attention on her. "Let's begin."