Percy walks into his father's tent, still rattled by what Jerzai just told him. Why would his father make Jerzai his shadow?
"You're probably wondering why Jerzai just told you he'll be your shadow?" Percy father looks straight through his thoughts, or it was just a rather obvious statement. "It's easy. He's trained since long to be a shadow, trained in all the arts one should know to help a person that stands in the light. But that's the problem, he's trained like that and refused to act on anything without a worthy person to follow, but now he saw this worthiness in you."
Percy is silent for a bit, letting this information settle in. "But why me?" he asks eventually.
"He saw something in you, Lee sees something in you too. But honestly, I don't see it. Looking at your performance from the armiger point of view you did terrible. You were more of a thieve, throwing daggers and swords, stealing weapons." The captain sighs. "From a military point of view you did an okay job. You didn't disobey orders and acted in what you thought was the best way after your supervisor got taken out."
Percy's father stands up from his chair and walks around the desk. Only now Percy takes the time to look around the tent, but there's not a lot to see. A simple desk and chair in the middle of the square tent, a few papers on top of the desk and walls, and a chest behind the chair. Nothing personal whatsoever.
"I admit, I put you in a situation I thought you wouldn't make. I thought you would succumb to the disadvantaged match-up even before it started, but you didn't. I thought you'd fail from the aura of the noticeably stronger army, but you didn't. I thought you'd give up when everyone around you got taken out, but you didn't. I thought you'd be greedy when Wall was right in front of you, but you maintained your calm and finished them off perfectly." The old strict man finally gave a small smile and patted Percy's shoulder. "I'm proud son."
He walks towards the chest. "Having said that I promised you some things. I promised you the full manual for Atlas's Phantom and a tip for your dream. But honestly those two things can both be the same thing." He places three books on the desk in front of Percy. "The complete manual is designed to have an open 'slot', a single chance to add something to the technique to make it more fitting to you. You can choose this way to start on your road to fulfill your dream. That's why there are 3 books here."
He points to the first book. "This is the complete form for Atlas's Phantom not filled with a second technique." He points to the second book. "This is the book both your grandfather, I and the family founder used, it's Atlas's Phantom completed with a medium level Blink, this allows you to move seamlessly through space with whatever you're carrying, no cooldown whatsoever." Percy looks in wonderment how his father seems to move in a triangle through the tent without a sound, but whenever he takes a step he's at the next corner of the triangle.
"Now you know what this does, but the distance and how quick you can move is depending on your mastery. The advantage of this is a tested technique and I can train you very well in this part." He finally points at the third book. "This is a technique your great-grandfather found in a tomb, and he was amazed by how well it'd theoretically fall into the slot of Atlas's Phantom. It's called Myriad Phantom, it's a technique that on its own can create phantoms that share your senses and can, to a point, interact with the world too. Your great-grandfather theorised that this aspect could be enhanced and that you can carry at least a single weapon with each phantom."
His expression turned even more serious. "But know well that this would be a new path that no one has walked before. You wouldn't be the first to try a new route and fail." The captain stands up abruptly and asks loudly "Percy, show me how dedicated you are to your dream and choose."
"Father, I'll show you that my dream won't stay a dream, I'll show you my true path." Percy catches the two books that were thrown to his head.
"Go to your tent and study. You'll stay as the second to bottom ranked for now, Jerzai will always take the one place below you. I'll give you two weeks before you need to show up for general training. There will be a new battle drill in two weeks time, show me how you'll improve."
Percy walks outside in a hurry without even saying anything. Outside the tent Jerzai walks behind Percy. "Let's talk while we walk, I want to get started on this." Percy doesn't even look at Jerzai, he doesn't like it when other people choose for him, and having no say in gaining this shadow made him a little pissed. "I want to know why you picked me, and what you can do for me."
Jerzai's face stays calm, a little lazy even, but Percy can't see that. "You're interesting, you seem a little crazy, you don't care about the given role but you decide what needs to be done, and you'll do whatever it takes to get it done. I respect you for that." He breaths deeply before continuing. "And what I can do for you is simple, you can stand in the light and I'll be in the shadow, I can do the things for you that shouldn't be seen by the people."
Percy stops for a split second before he continues walking. "Think of something else, if things go as I plan I won't need another person for that. You're skilled, but I can catch up with you for sure."
There's silence for a minute before they reach their tent. "Think of something you can do for me, I'll be practicing."
And like that Percy walks into the dark inside of the tent, a single lantern lighting the interior. He sits on his bed that they assigned to him before the battle drill and starts reading Atlas's Phantom first.
It turns out that there are some minor differences, but all the parts that are more mystical instead of just pure technique make a lot more sense. It even shows a way to mimic auras, and so Percy tries, first the nothingness of Jerzai, then the snake like aura of Snake, he even tries the whimsical auras of the other guys.
"I really need someone to watch me do this and say how convincing it is, otherwise I won't be sure what to improve. It feels like how I think I sing very well, but everyone else seems to disagree."
Of the time he studies Atlas's Phantom most of the time is spent reading about the slot part and how it is different from just learning two different techniques. And what it came to is that Percy needs to integrate Myriad Phantom into Atlas's Phantom. And to do this there are certain blank spaces in Atlas's Phantom that will help with this as truly combining two skills is very difficult.
But what Percy needs to do first is gain a level of understanding of Myriad Phantom to see how it works and how it will fit.
And the first word that came to Percy's mind when reading this manual was "What?". It is complex, maybe that's not even the right word, it is foreign. Atlas's Phantom is mostly a physical technique, like move in this way to make no sound, move in that way to not be bothered by the weight of what you're carrying, and so on. It surely has some mystical parts, like breath like that to hide your aura, and focus on that to fake the aura. But that's still quite straightforward.
On the other hand, Myriad Phantom needs one to move in a certain way, while thinking a certain phrase, while breathing in a certain way, before one can push a 'phantom' out with enough willpower.
It is a multitask challenge that Percy has never needed to do before. But in a way it excites him. Finally a new challenge!
He reads the entire book before falling asleep, falling asleep way after his teammates fall asleep, with toilet visits being his only brake. And after waking up before his teammates wake up he starts reading it a second time. Committing everything to memory.
He ponders on every word, and as he's ponders he sees all pieces falling into place. He even gets a feeling for why he needs to breathe in a certain way to get that result, or why he needs to chant the words in his head to get it. He's almost close enough to complete the picture with the pieces before taking the pieces apart into their owm separate pieces. He decided to not just cut and paste quite well fitting pieces into Atlas's Phantom, he decided he will pour the technique into Atlas's Phantom. He will fill up all empty parts, he will make it the ultimate technique.
At least the ultimate technique as far as he knows for now.