Samael's life in the sanctuary had gotten even busier than ever before. Without time for leisure, his routine was full to the brim.

He trained and trained and trained without stop as he progressed through his reaction time training little by little. What started slow and few in number was slowly tuned to become more deadlier.

Using what he learnt and developed in Mendez's training, Samael also began to apply in his forging session. He's learnt to incorporate the necessary speed and reaction time to strike upon the impurities in rapid succession.

Turns out, even what Olaf taught him in their combat sessions had their own use in forging, leaving Samael with a thought. Perhaps Olaf is so good at fighting and weapons because he's also grandmaster in smithing?

As the day began, Samael would find himself hammering away at the forge as he bought down his hammer without stop, causing sparks to fly in the sky and shadows to dance on the walls.

For each impurity he ends, another one would replace, repeating this endless cycle of cleansing and corruption.

However, as Samael failed to make it past halfway, he wore a smile even amidst his failures. At first he couldn't even make it past the initial fire-up of the forging process, yet now he can make it halfway.

He was making good progress.

And so the cycle would repeat.

"Harden your core!" Olaf roared as Samael swung endlessly for hours on end.

Giving huge emphasis on his body's torque, Samael gave his utmost as his grunts echoed upon every slash, leaving small shockwaves rippling through the training hall.

Not only that, but Samael's began to utilise his vision even more than before as he kept on attempting to find and fix his angles only to end up in failure.

On the brighter side of things, his muscles had finally begun to adapt to his new fighting style, and thus he is now committing less and less of his past mistakes.

"Again!" Olaf roared.

Raising his axe high, Samael roared as he swung down with a reckoning boom, causing the dummy to explode in a mess of gore.

And yet the cycle repeats.

Samael's eyes flew open as he jerked his head to the side, narrowly avoiding a steel ball hurling towards his face as the sphere embedded itself upon the metal confines of the training hall, leaving a nasty dent that would have been his face.

Without time to worry about the initial speed of the attack, Samael's figure swiftly dove before weaving back and forth, avoiding a wave of projectiles while dozens more he parried to the side.

The sounds of the steel balls hitting Samael's axe sounded like cannons firing consecutively and without stop, as some caused sparks to illuminate the entire room for a few seconds.

Yet, in this onslaught of attacks, Samael remained unfazed as he gritted his teeth, keeping his speed consistent and his focus sharp as a razor blade.

When the final projectile had been deflected, Samael smiled as he watched the small sea of steel balls around him, not a single one making it past his guard.

After days of training, he has now spent roughly 3 weeks in the sanctuary, and those 3 weeks have not been easy. But because of that, he's forced to be stronger than ever before.

He has about 2 months and a week left before proceeding to Oros to finalise his training. Time was slowly running out. Thus, Samael had begun to grind his bones to dust to make ends meet.

Right now, he's already managed to increase the difficulty about five times of the first time he tried this training method. And merely four days had passed.

But he's not stopping soon. There simply was no way to do so.

Another cycle repeats.

Samael's eyes swivelled and he raced around like an arrow, darting forward and back as he chased after the disc in the machine.

He was now in stage five, and the severity of the training had gone by multiple folds. Not only did the system incorporate multiple other ways to fool him, such as the use of illusions or copying the disc with barely any changes to its appearance, but it also began to use difficult environments like fog to make it even harder.

Following the disc without stop, Samael grunted as he struggled to chase after the device going through the low-light environment and even passing through multiple blockades with dozens emerging from the other side.

Eventually, the blaring sound of the machine alarm rang loud as Samael sighed in frustration. However, he did not yield as he slammed the start button without mercy.

"No, not enough. Again!"

And so the cycle would repeat.

As more days passed and nearly a week had gone by, Samael pushed himself beyond the limits that more and more Mellaguns had started to take notice of him.

They began to admire his work ethics, and some even had started to follow his way of life and routine, dedicating themselves to bettering their craft like he does, without rest and without stop.

One Mellagun in particular watched Samael with great intent and admiration as he observed him slowly rise through the difficulties of his training.

Hiding behind the large columns, Zargot, a young Mellagun, watched Samael stand in the centre of the room, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of machines mounted in different angles and positions.

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As the boy opened his eyes and the first round was shot, Zargot's eyes glinted in surprise as he watched Samael's inhuman movements as he dodged, slid, and parried the projectiles with a sense of grace he had never seen before.

This was his first encounter with the boy.

Intrigued by Samael's identity, the young Mellagun began to investigate further about him as he followed Samael's journey to the last bit.

Fuelled by his curiosity, he went to visit another day where he saw Samael hammer away at the impurities of the steel in front of him, his speed and precision igniting an emotion Zargot has never felt.

So he kept following Samuel's journey. Day by day he would rise early in the morning just to watch Samael from a distance and his pursuit of perfection.

He observed as the boy conquered the stages of Mendez's cruel training one by one, celebrating with him in secrecy and lamenting with him in frustration.

He was there when Samael bandaged his bruises and applied cream to his sore muscles, sometimes even leaving medicine by the door of his room, disguising it as an act of kindness by Olaf.

He documented his feats, reminiscing and detailing each step he took as his form began to improve day by day.

He was there, and he was inspired by Samael's courage and will.

Zargot's family was lost years ago when they went on a venture towards one of the other sanctuaries to aid in the war efforts and craft weapons for the soldiers there. However, their carriage was ambushed by hordes of beasts and was lost.

Zargot recovered no one. He didn't even have the ability to raise a funeral for them, for he was too young. He had no possessions but the hammer of his father.

He was left alone.

His ideals began to be twisted as he looked at the war and thought to himself how futile all of this was.

They kept fighting, and yet they've made no progress. There were only the dead and those that were left behind, too little to be looked upon by the people fighting.

So it was a massive surprise as Zargot willingly approached a smithy, asking to be taught to forge, and for once in his years of living, he took up a hammer.

He became diligent as he trained like Samael did, each day striving for his best. The people saw this, and they admired his spirit and how much he's changed.

Using what he learnt over time, he made a simple item, but something he poured his all into creating.

A set of forearm guards.

Packaging the item, Zargot hastily made his way out of the forge as he ran across town, meeting a few people on his way.

"What's got you riled up, young Zargot?" A mellagun asked.

"No time to waste! I'm in a hurry, sir!" Zargot said as he breezed through the wind.

Nearing the place, Zargot exhaled as he began to walk towards the forge when a loud scream thundered, causing him to run in assistance when someone held him back.

"Not now, boy," Olaf said as he held back the boy before pointing towards the forge.

Following Olaf's fingers, Zargot shot a look inside the smithy, where Samael was currently celebrating his victory for passing the fifth fold. A victory worthy of being written into legends.

Samael screamed at the top of his lungs as he wore a satisfied smile. Weeks of hardship and nonstop training all led up to this.

"I'm guessing you made this for him?" Olaf asked.

"Y-yes," Zargot replied, his eyes stuck on the boy, the flames in his heart burning even brighter. He's left wondering, Just how great must it feel to surpass the wall before you?

"I shall give it to him. Besides, I know you don't want to be revealed," Olaf said as he entered the forge, leaving the boy bewildered at this revelation.

Maybe he needs to work on his stealth sometimes.

***

Samael wiped the sweat off his face with a towel as he saw Olaf approach him.

"Here, boy," Olaf said as he handed Samael a box. "Don't open it yet. Only do so when you've finished your training. Consider it my early congratulatory gift."

Samael nodded as he put the box inside his dragon horde remnant.

Ever since beginning his hammering training, nearly two months have passed. He only has a month left before they depart.

He has also finished Mendez's training for eye coordination and speed and has since finished the man's training for the sentry's eyes.

During his final training, where he had to create a lens of essence to amplify his vision, Samael actually followed the Codex's training plan as the system had already laid out a better plan, which caused Mendez severe confusion as to how Samael could improve so fast.

This was even more so when Samael demonstrated how he can infuse his element straight into his eyes, causing the man to go into an uproar for a while.

However, he did finish it in the end. And as he did, he obtained something greater than sentry's eyes.

Another Insignia.

Harnessing the power of the Void and its watchful eyes, you have achieved yet another great achievement!

You have gained an insignia!

[Void Seeker]

As they gaze upon thee, thou gazes back.

Rank: Chained.

Grants the host the following:.

Allow the host to perceive enemy critical points and weaknesses.

Although vague at first, Samael understood right away the strength of this skill.

Much like Mendez's sentry eyes, the ability does help the user to find the weaknesses of his foes. However, Mendez's ability only applies as a general application. The ability is able to point where the enemy is weak but not precisely.

Samael's Void Seeker ability is precise. Not only does it pinpoint the weaknesses of the enemy, but it marks it with a red sigil.

The size of the mark and its colour show how weak the enemy is to those strikes and even aid him in deciding which angle is best to hit. Not only that, but there are also multiple white insignia, and upon experimentation, Samael found out that although they're not critical shots, they are what Samael considers as gaps.

Gaps, when tested, are parts of the enemy that he can strike instead of the critical points, as those parts can be heavily defended. When struck enough, gaps can transition to critical points and are able to inflict severe pain on the enemy.

Now Mendez has started his training regarding the use of killing intent.

As for his forging, he's already reached the fifth fold, which is already enough to consider him a superb master blacksmith in mellagun standards. In fact, he's advancing to the final phase of his learning, which is runic imprinting.

As for his weapon mastery, Samael is now able to consistently do strikes with great form, angling, and speed. His muscle memory had finally caught up, and he does it seamlessly in comparison to him before.

Due to this, Samael is able to proceed to the next stage, which is the utilisation of his weapons strengths and weaknesses.

"Remember, boy, your weapon is a Tomahawk axe, meaning it's lighter and has the ability to be thrown," Olaf said. "Your weapon suits your aggressive style of combat due to this."

"Then does it mean there's nothing else I can learn?" Samael asked.

"You can only improve it further," Olaf said. "I suppose this is to be expected of someone who managed to find his soul weapon."

"Then does this mean I'm now going to proceed with blade unity?" Samael asked.

"Yes," Olaf confirmed. "Tell me, do you have any idea what blade unity is?"

Samael fell silent for a moment. "Perhaps the total mastery of the weapon?"

"No," Olaf said. "Rather, it's the connection of the soul to the weapon that will allow you to enter the flow of state, giving you the ability to wield your blade like it's your hand and a part of your body."

Samael's eyes widened. "When I first got Crimson Raven, it felt as if he's an extension of me. Is that it?"

"Yes, you must have entered it for a brief moment since it was triggered by your enlightenment," Olaf confirmed. "Now we aim to do it even without the aid of enlightenment."

"So what's the first step?" Samael asked.

"Well, first, you need to learn Runic imprinting."

Samuel's brows furrowed.

"What."