Chapter 2

With his hair standing on end, Matthias stared forward. He was in a guarded stance, one used for defense or evasion. Constantly staring at his foe, Matthias entered an almost empty minded state, similar to meditation. He did not know why it happened, but it increased his prowess quite a bit. With widening eyes, his enemy disappeared and Matthias dodged to the left.

He felt a whistling wind scathe past his face as he ducked below the attack. He smile grimly as he leapt in and threw a jab. About halfway through it, he ceased his movement and slumped to the floor. “You actually dodged this time. Good improvement.” A tall man appeared behind him and Matthias frowned. “Dad, ever since you took over my lessons I’ve never managed to get past the second hit. I can see them but I can’t react to them.”

With a small laugh, Norton crouched down and patted Matthias on the shoulder. “An average human like you generally has a visual reaction time at about a quarter of a second. After undergoing our training for a couple weeks you actually managed to cut that time in half. It’s a phenomenal improvement compared to other people.” Sighing, Matthias looked at his father with an annoyed gleam in his eye. “What’s the point when I can’t even make it past the second hit?”

At this statement, Norton looked slightly confounded. Sometimes this child could be really incomprehensive. “Well, you see son. Having a quicker reaction time than your opponent is extremely important in real battle. After all, if they are faster than you but your eyes are faster than theirs, you can react to their movements. Your attacks will seem unpredictable, but unavoidable. Currently, all we’ve trained is your vision but soon, we will train your hearing and touch.”

Matthias unleashed a groan as he looked away. He had a vague feeling that this was important but it just wasn’t that fun. Though, he knew he should do his best as school was only in another 2 years. At 11 years old, he would be tested on his knowledge, talent, and potential. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the school you got into dictated your future self. If he did good then his life would be laid out for him, if he scrapped it then he could only resent his fate.

The world had always been like that, the talented had their positions skyrocketed while the rest were left behind. You can try and cover it up with society but only those who show true value are worth anything. Matthias naturally understood this hidden rule and so he strived to become strong. If he didn’t, then he feared he would have to rely on his parents for his whole life. What kid wanted to be restrained by their parents? The answer was none!

They all wanted to leave as soon as possible, to the behest of their parents. Only after they mature do they begin to understand but even then, living by relying only on oneself was something that many people wanted. Matthias could comprehend information at an extremely quick rate, not to mention just thinking of the future.

“Come on, get up and let’s go again.” At those words, Matthias groaned internally but got up without much protest. Getting into a defensive stance, Matthias kept his eyes fully trained on his father, resolved to make it past the second strike. His father struck and he dodged just lie last time as he pushed his body to the limits. Then, just as the second hit came, Matthias quickly dodged away. In the end though, he still got knocked to the floor by it.

Punching the ground, he stood up and shouted in a combination of annoyance and anger, “Again!” Norton’s lips curled upwards at Matthias’ remark. It seems that he finally got the boy in the mood to fight. He wondered how shocked Matthias would be if he told him that he was suppressing his speed to be less than 2% of his maximum. It was a tempting offer but he knew that the boy might just quit if he knew that.

Hours Later

Laid out on the grass, Matthias panted wildly. He finally made it past the second attack. Exhilaration flew through him as he mentally high fived himself. He was too tired to do so physically. However, while he was congratulating himself, Norton stared at Matthias with a strange look. Just how had Matthias dodged his second attack?

It took him well near a week to see the first one, how did he adapt and dodge in only a few days? Luck? No, that’s simply not possible. If he had dodged out of luck then Norton would have known it. There’s a difference between dodging intentionally and otherwise, quite a large one if you had to ask him.

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No matter how hard he thought though, Norton could only attribute it to him being talented. Looking at the sky, he noticed how late it was. The sky was a dark orange that told him the daytime would only last another hour or so. “Come on, let’s go inside.” Norton started to walk inside as Matthias got up. Or more accurately, tried to get up.

He was much too exhausted to get up using his own strength now. All of it was used up throughout the day, contrary to Norton who was as lively as a bull. It seems that although the boy may have been a talented individual, he was by no means a monster. With that in mind, Norton strolled to Matthias’ side before squatting down in front of him.

“Need help?” How could he have known that Matthias was extremely stubborn? With a pant, Matthias shook his head and continued his attempts to stand. Norton took this in and stood to the side with a watchful eye. If Matthias truly couldn’t stand, then he would help but helping now could be potentially detrimental.

As he started to stand, Matthias grimaced in pain. His legs were in pain, it seems like he tore a muscle or two. He couldn’t let that small injury bother him and he continued to stand. If he needed help to stand then how would that make him look? In spite of only being 9 years old, Matthias was a prideful person. It wasn’t to the extent of being arrogant but it was no doubt something that could get in his way in the future.

With sweat pouring off of him in rivets, Matthias grit his teeth and finally stood up, shaky, but steady. Norton, off to the side, had unknowingly gave a small smile. “Tomorrow, we move on from reaction speed to actual fighting. You will not learn any complicated martial art, we will simply spar.” Without the strength to lift his hand, Matthias nodded his head. He could at least affirm his father’s words.

When seeing Norton disappear in the distance, Matthias looked around at the surroundings. He should’ve asked for help. He couldn’t move anymore. Standing up put him in a great deal of pain already. “Young master!” Hearing that shout, Matthias could only sigh in relief. It was Annabelle, his personal maid. She had been with him since birth and the two were naturally close, almost as close as real brother and sister. Only the status of servant and master separated them from being like true family.

Matthias opened his mouth and looked at his maid, she was 16 and had started cultivating long ago. Unfortunately, her talent left much to be wished for. After 6 years, she was only at the beginning stages of the solidification stage. Though, most servants don’t even have the privilege to cultivate. Actually, to say nothing of restrictions, most of them willingly offered themselves as servants because they couldn’t cultivate or didn’t have good talent.

This wasn’t the case with her however. She was an orphan saved by Norton years ago. ack when she was only around the age of 4. At that time, Matthias hadn’t even been conceived yet. In truth, the chances of her becoming Matthias personal maid was low. However, matthias took a liking to her as a child and stuck around her quite often. This was the only reason why she had been able to attain a position such as this.

“Annabelle, please take me back to my quarters.” As soon as she agreed, Matthias passed out and was quickly caught by Annabelle. She had panicked for a bit before gently carrying him back to his room to rest. As she gazed at his sleeping figure, she looked back on her past few years of life and a tear came to her eye. She cried silently as she reminisced all the time she and Matthias had spent together. In her eyes, he truly was family and she knew that it was the same for him.

When she finally stopped, she laid a hand on Matthias forehead and with a gentle, sorrowful tone she spoke to his unconscious self. “I’m sorry Matthias.” Those words seemed to have stirred something in Matthias mind as he frowned and shifted around uncomfortably, before falling back into a gentle sleep. As she saw this, Annabelle left the room with puffy red eyes. All the while muttering words of apology.

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As Matthias arose from the depths of slumber, he felt vaguely uncomfortable. He didn’t quite get why, it was just a feeling in his gut after all. Something good though, was that he had made a miraculous recovery. He didn’t feel any pain in the slightest. In fact, it was as if he had never trained the day before!

No one woke him up this morning and he mentally thanked them for that, but also wondered why. Usually, no matter the type of training that happened the day before, he would always be woken up from either his parent or from Annabelle. Strangely though, neither had even greeted him yet.

Jumping off the bed, he left the safe confines of his room to see the familiar light blue hall he was used to. The sunlight invaded the building and everything was peacefully quiet. However, that was extremely strange. Where were the birds? The wind? The people? What happened to all the things that brightened the world?

They were nowhere to be seen and nowhere to be heard. They had disappeared. This wasn’t the oddest thing though, Matthias didn’t remember having another dream. He always remembered them. He could remember the very first one extremely vividly even though it had happened years ago.

After taking in the odd sights, Matthias yelled a total of three names, “Hello? Mother?! Father?! Annabelle?!” He didn’t receive any answers so he ventured further into the home. He passed by the bathrooms, theater rooms, and without any of the people inhabiting it. He realised how large his home actually was.

Soon, he made it to the main hall. Taking step by step down the stairs until finally, he was standing on the base floor. He looked to the doors that led to the outside and saw that there was a man just opposite of him. Sitting in the chair, he still seemed quite tall. Matthias began to veer into a fighting stance as he saw the man just sitting there.

However, he soon stopped as he realised what the man was wearing. The clothes that tightly fit the man were not worn by any person in this world. Or, at least any that Matthias had seen. He did recognise the clothes though. They were common and he had seen them frequently. Once a day if not more.

The cloth was exactly the same as the man’s clothes in his dreams. The man that Matthias had seen through the eyes of, the man that killed, the man that cried. They were the clothes that signified authority. To his relief and behest, Matthias realised he was in a dream.