"I'm rank-A boy and you think you can kill me." The teacher said with a grin then continued. "Okay, I'll agree to a duel if you finish my training without dying."
"Good give me two hours then I will train with you." Greg said wanting to make his second summon.
"Who said you get to choose when to train? We start now." The teacher said while shooting a bolt of darkness at his eyes.
Suddenly Greg who could see in the dark clearly was blind.
"You are only allowed to use [darkness sense] to dodge the attacks." Teacher said and began to shoot black orbs at Greg.
Greg didn't know how to use dark sense so he didn't say anything and started to focus on the darkness around him. Before he could fully focus another black orb hit him on the leg.
Greg lost his focus and tried again and as soon as he started another orb hit him in the chest. Then another hit him on the back of the head. He started to get frustrated, and he couldn't focus.
'Why aren't you helping me!' Greg said in his mind.
'Why would I help you I'm not getting attacked?' Gareth responded sarcastically. Another orb hit Greg in the leg after he said that. He grew angrier and angrier after every hit.
------
Two hours have passed.
Greg is sweating profusely while trying to dodge the orbs. The orbs were silent so he couldn't hear where they came from, nor did they activate any of his other senses.
He could vaguely feel when the orbs were about to touch him, but he was too late to dodge them.
'Are you really so weak you still can't sense it?' Gareth said taunting him.
"AAARRGH SHUT UP!" Greg roared out in rage. Dark energy began to pour out of him into the environment. The shadows began to become ecstatic, dancing around the cell.
At the same time a black orb passed through his shadows. he felt it as if it passed through him. He instinctively moved his body and dodged it.
The teacher saw this and began to fire orbs rapidly. The darkness surrounded him like a cocoon. Each orb that passed through it he could feel and dodge. His anger still got the better of him, as the cocoon began to spin like a tornado.
This time the orbs that touched it were flung away.
Suddenly the teacher moved at high speed through the tornado and punched Greg square in the face, sending him flying into the wall. He sat against the wall with pain coursing through his face.
"I told you to use darkness sense not go out of control!" The teacher said while glaring at Greg.
He didn't say anything as he rubbed his nose while shooting a hateful glare back at her. She ran forward again and kicked him hard in the stomach.
He let out a bloody cough.
"You wanna kill me when you this weak. UTTERLY PATHETIC!" The teacher yelled with disdain. She then launched a barrage of kicks at him which were so fast he couldn't dodge and could only block.
She finally stopped after three minutes and left. Leaving him with a few words.
"To the strong you are nothing." The teacher said as the darkness left his eyes.
'Ignore the pain. Refill your mana and increase my power' Gareth said without care for what happened.
------
Two weeks have passed and the training has been constant everyday is the same thing except he was in a larger room that The teacher led him to.
On the second day, Gareth broke through to [rank-E]{Basic stage}. When that happened he grew 2ft taller and 3ft longer. tiny horns appeared on his head along with a small set of wings on his back. Tiny nubs also went down the middle of his back.
Gareth also gained two new abilities called [Corrosive black spit] and [Shadow step].
[Corrosive black spit]{ allows user to spit black venom which slowly eats away at target}
[Shadow step]{ allows user to use the shadows to boost their speed}
Greg on the other hand was become better at using the darkness sense. He could sense the black orbs when they were within a foot of him giving him a slightly better chance at dodging them. It had developed into an official skill.
The teacher continued to beat on him after every training session, leaving him sore everywhere. However he could block the attacks better each time and he could sense where they would land which prepared him for the pain.
During the cultivation time, Gareth talks about his life as the Demon God of the abyss. He told Greg that he was a powerful Dark paladin class and with his dark blade he killed million of the sun king's soldiers.
This inspired Greg to train even harder to reach that level one day.
------
Four months have passed and the training has proven fruitful.
Greg could now dodge all of the black orbs even the ones the came at him with 10x the speed. He could also evade some of the teachers attacks and take the ones that landed.
The continuous cultivation also allowed him to break through to [rank-D]{advanced stage} which was amazing for a 10 year old kid. However for Greg it was too slow.
Gareth reached the [rank-E]{master stage} and he was close to breaking through to the next rank.
Greg got into the habit of checking his stats at the end of each day.
~~~
Greg Gareth {Rank-D, advanced stage}
Element: Darkness
Class: Shadow Summoner- 3/4 summon links left
Skills: [ Summon fusion ]{level 1} [ Dark-world travel ]{level 2} [ Darkness control ]{level 3} [ Dark absorption ]{level 8}
Summons: abyssal lizard {Rank-E, master stage}
~~~
Greg had been using [ Darkness control ] to draw in more power for his training with the teacher since his [Dark absorption] could not pull the darkness from his surrounding to well. He was disappointed to see the skill is not a higher level since he's been training with in every chance he got especially when training with his teacher.
'It must take a lot more usage with each level.' Greg thought to himself.
As Greg closed his menu the teacher walked through the door.
"Your first lesson is over. Now it is time to see how strong you are against beasts." The teacher said as she entered.