"You underestimate me. You can definitely use it well against someone who has no idea or the basics of wielding a whip. Maybe even a tamer would find it hard to fight you, but not against someone who learned the art of using it for offence. That is why you need the training," said Lucius unfurling the whip from his pole.
Balthazar was completely shocked by this. He had never expected that Lucius would be so good at fighting against someone with a whip. It required a lot of skills and having the perfect timing to do something like this. He simply looked at his hand where there was red mark from having the whip pulled from his hand. "How?" he asked looking at his hand and then Lucius.
"You have decent reflexes and skills but have never honed many of them and probably fought people less skill than you. So, you have a higher estimation of your skills. Fighting against someone like me need you to have such tricks and using it at the perfect time cultivated into instincts. I might be able to use this against you, but it will fail if I fight against Leon," continued Lucius. "I showed you this so that you won't get complacent in your training. Your enemies are probably stronger than any you have fought till now. The only reason, they aren't making a clear attack is because they fear your family. You need to be able to learn to handle them on your own."
Lucius threw the whip back to Balthazar. "Come on, I won't use that again, but show me what you can do. I will just block you," he said beckoning Balthazar to attack again.
Balthazar caught his whip and started his attack again. This time, Lucius just blocked or evaded him rather than counter it. Balthazar used the whip faster and in different strike, trying to hit him rather than put a lot of force behind the strikes which he did in his first attack.
A few attacks later, Balthazar got tired and Leon also felt that this method might not actually teach Balthazar, before he got a bit better with the whip. "Leon told that he would soon be sending you instruction videos of using whip and the chain knife. He is glad that he finally found a reason to compile one for this kind of weapon," said Lucius. "Maybe we best not use these in the training sessions before you go through them."
"No, give me some time. I can improve," said Balthazar. He hardly ever got a chance in his previous life of this one to improve his skills with a whip. So, seeing that he could experiment with a person who was strong enough, he didn't want to stop so quickly even when he was feeling tired.
"You have no clues about fighting with a whip against those who are prepared for it or those who fight with whips themselves," said Lucius. "Controlling a whip requires a lot more expenditure of energy and mental fortitude. It is not advisable to use it continuously in such fights. You will not learn anything. Drink something and rest," said Lucius as he pushed him out of the combat ring.
"You can get to your daily activities after an hour with Salazar. I heard you have another meeting at 7. It looks like you somehow fell into the eyes of the Scions of Minerva. What did you do?" asked Lucius out of curiosity. Having garnered the attention of the Scions of Minerva was something so impressive that apart from Lucius it piqued the interest some of the member in the generation above Winston and Walter.
"I am as confused as the rest," said Balthazar when he heard the question. It was a something that he dreaded as he had no clue what it was about.
He called for Robert and had told Salazar to spar with Balthazar during this time. Robert came and took his place as he went out and found Salazar waiting for him at the entrance of the other combat room.
"I guess you missed your lessons with me," said Salazar smirking at him. He knew that Lucius had most probably had beaten up Balthazar and tired him out. "He told something about trying out a new weapons training program with you. What was that about?"
'Oh! I asked for a few weapons from Ellie. Included a whip and chain knife in my request. Leon had to test and give me permission for that, but apparently his test was to check if I can use it against animals and others who have no skills with these weapons. He applied a license for me to use it as his apprentice, but I apparently need to train," said Shadow.
"So, he asked Lucius to beat you up and provide you with some practice?" asked Salazar conjecturing the part based on Shadow's statement and his knowledge of Lucius. "He had been a regular sparring partner with Leon for a long time. So, did he just tire you out again?"
"Yeah, I doubt he ever lets his trainees off without completely tiring them out," said Shadow. "Give me a couple of minutes and I will be ready to train."
"Tell me when did Leon actually test you?" asked Salazar suddenly. "He always maintains a strict discipline every day and doesn't usually accept such request to test someone, especially young ones like you. He says that the young ones are always overly confident of themselves."
"He does? He did talk only about the weapons and not much about anything else. I don't know why he tested me. He used a software created with the samsara framework and somnium technlogy to test me yesterday night," said Balthazar.
"Oh! Elias tech?" asked Salazar.
"Yeah. I requested a meet with Elias. So, met them both yesterday," said Balthazar.
"Now, it all makes sense. They had been trying to use the somnium technology as there is a rumor going on that it helps to imbibe skills better than other training and has the additional advantage of not damaging a person in the fight. They were testing it with multiple persons and decided to include you for those two weapons," said Salazar as he understood the situation. He was also asked to participate in these tests by Elias a day ago.
"The somnium technlogy is really something. The natural sensation of touch felt almost like it was real. Leon had been using it for some time and says that after continued usage, one would find it almost the same as in real-life. Elias told that they had also been planning to experiment with various environments," said Salazar.
"That might be useful. It would help with the mental development of security forces and train to increase their tenacity," said Shadow agreeing with Salazar's words. This plan definitely made sense and that might be a good reason for Leon to be actively involved in the project.
"But the fact that he registered to obtain a license to carry a whip for you, as an apprentice under his name means that you have definitely impressed the guy. It is a test from him and not the usual kind. It mean he might be considering to take you as his apprentice and teach you," said Salazar.
"That is a story for a later time. For now, you get to teach me," said Balthazar as he got up and moved into the combat room for his lessons. "By the way, are you impressed by the somnium tech?"
"What not to be impressed about it? Get ready," said Salazar.
"What do you think about training with me through the somnium tech. It provides us more time than in real-life and is a good way to impart weapon skills," said Balthazar.
"That is not a bad idea. It can actually speed up your training, but we need to ask Elias for the proper tools, and I need to get a headgear for it," answered Salazar.
"I already ordered one for you. Consider, it as a small token of thanks for saving my life. It should be delivered today," said Balthazar. "I also did the same for Lucius. Do you think that he will accept it."
"Ya. Most probably. Leon is involved in it and with them being old rivals, Lucius would also be interested in checking it out. He will probably like the fact that you sent him one," replied Salazar. "No more talks, we haven't been training for quite some time."
After that, another hour of continued attempts to defeat Salazar but getting his ass handed to him, Balthazar left the combat room tired and hungry. He went directly to the dining hall and wolfed few pancakes and some meat in a hurry before having a hot shower and got back into his V.R. pod.
He opened the link for the meeting that he received in his mail and joined the virtual room. Apart from him, Evelyn had already joined the room and was waiting for others. She was seated on one of the chairs surrounding a table in the centre of the meeting room.
"You know why those Constantine brothers were asking for you?" asked Evelyn as soon as she saw him enter the room.
"Please, you could see from the mails that both me and Winston were as shocked as you. Have never been involved in any research. My sister was actually involved in a research along an alternate line of bio-feedback warframes which they are rumored to be working on. But I am a nobody in the research fields," said Shadow lifting his hands in an expression of ignorance.
"Hmph, then I hope they didn't get confused with something else. I have been checking out a lot of things about the you but have ended up with the same conclusion. The only one I could suspect was your sister. I wanted to get her to join, but both the Constantines and Winston deemed it unnecessary," said Evelyn as Balthazar seated himself on a chair.
Winston joined into the virtual room as soon as she finished about it. One look at Evelyn and Balthazar, he immediately said, "I am completely in the dark about this." He took a chair and put his legs on the table waiting for the others. He was very angry and looked like he was ready to hit someone.
"Wait for those two. I am very eager to know why they were so interested in him," said Winston as he pointed to Balthazar.
In a minute, Xander and another person arrived. The new guy had a very pale complexion and pure white hair and pale blue eyes. "The albino guy is Ichigo Suzuki. He is from a family that is very old and has quite a few military contracts. He holds a honorary title of being a lieutenant general and is one of my brother's three technical advisors who is in frequent contact with the Scions of Minerva," whispered Evelyn to Balthazar.
"What are you doing here, Ichigo? I didn't see you anywhere in the mail chain," said Winston standing up. He knew that Ichigo's presence at the meeting was meant to be a show of force from the Scions of Minerva.
"I am as confused as you are, Winston. I was requested to attend this urgently by Hector. He told that it was something about the new somnium related experiments," said Ichigo putting a hand on Winston. "What did Walter do now?" he whispered in Winston's ear.
"Walter? This meeting is about my grandkid, not Walter. Why do you always suspect him," said Winston.
"Really?! You know what all he did. I heard he was missing again probably in pursuit of the Nirbaadh pirates, but he is missing. So, I repeat again. What did Walter do?" said Ichigo repeating his question.
"This isn't about Walter, Ichigo," came a voice as a couple of men entered the room. "Excuse me for my delay. I was shown something in the morning and was going through it and almost forgot about the meeting," said Hector Constantine as he entered the room with his brother, Victor.
"You mean the kid actually did something that you considered important?" said Ichigo surprised. "What were you researching kid?" he asked looking at Balthazar.
"Nothing. He isn't involved in research but is an important asset nevertheless," said Hector as a stack of papers appeared in his hand which he handed over to Ichigo. "He has the best adaption rate we had seen among all the people using somnium technology. His compatibility never went below 80% in vita-nova."
"Impressive," said Ichigo as he laid down the papers over the table. "Well, I guess you have had good results with this. You can probably get to the second phase, if the people have such a high adaptation rate. This is enough to consider moving ahead in your plans."
"Look carefully. He is the only one who is able to do this. The rest aren't even close to him. Only for others hit 90% and their total number of hits isn't even in double digits," said Victor Constantine showing him another paper with more statistics.
"So, you are saying that he is special?" asked Winston and Ichigo.
"Yes, he is special. An anomaly. When we noticed him to be the first to hit the 90% mark, we checked upon him and found out about his involvement with Evelyn's unit," said Victor Constantine.
"Following Walter's footsteps, are we?" asked Ichigo as he came closer to Balthazar putting the papers in Winston's hands.
"Not exactly," replied Balthazar looking at the white-haired Lt. General who was looking at him like he was some special toy of his.
"Haha. Even talks back like him. I guess it is in their genes," said Ichigo looking at Hector. "What are your intentions, Hector?"
"I don't have any plans involving him for now. But Evelyn's unit isn't a simple line of work. It is dangerous. He has a never before seen adaptation rate to the somnium tech. It is like his thoughts don't fluctuate at all or come back on track very quickly. This is highly recommended for the bio-feedback war frame project. So, I propose that he be relieved from her unit. I am willing to take him completely under engineering wing as a representative of the armed forces, if he agrees," said Hector.
Working directly with the Scions of Minerva would be a dream for any person who had any involvement in scientific research or engineering. Victor who had gone though Balthazar's details knew about his education and thought that this was the best way to get him to agree to it.