The next day arrived as the grungy mash of colorfulness and dinginess was lit up once again underneath a reddened sky.
A skeleton stood "deathly" still, his bones rigid and unmoving no matter how the tall man with sandstone orange flowing locks batted it around with the large sheath in his hand.
Snap. A cackle. Pop! A snicker.
Mara floated around in her empty system space in a fetal position, just barely able to keep her gaze on the contents of the immaterial screens that followed her movements.
A cruel scene that evokes many kinds of pity occurs within the oasis within the expanse of undifferentiated crooked trees. If Teret could cry, he would.
But bones don't produce the tears needed to weep or sob.
A new skill appeared within his status windows, one within the Active directory.
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Manikin LV 02
Type: Active (no modifier)
Description: A skill that allows its owner to stay exceptionally still in any given state. Maintains limberness and optimum agility. Effects scale with level and Tier.
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"You keep drawing question marks, ey, apprentice? You want to know why I didn't give you that qi option and did this instead, right?"
Teret vigorously nodded, his bones jostling back and forth as loud creaking noises resounded in his skull. He was constantly in motion, twirled about by the end of Walker's sheath, and rolled around on the grass with extreme prejudice.
"...Gotcha."
With a leer and a foreboding smile, the upper half of Walker's face was cloaked in a thin shadow. Teret broke the instruction, which was to stay in a still position no matter what he, his master, said.
And since an instruction was broken, a strict punishment was administered.
"Coochy coochy coo!"
Walker waggled his fingers as he unleashed a salvo of ticklish blows on Teret's poor bones. His teeth clattered together in a hammering noise more intense than the strikes of a woodpecker as he desperately wished for a reprieve from this ticklish torture!
(God I wish that were me...that bastard! Tickling my child before I can even...UGH!)
Mara bit at her fingernails as Walker tilted his head, scrunching up his face in a faux threatening swagger as he backed off.
"Yeah, see what happens next time! Then, I won't be so lenient...heheheh."
Walker wiped away a thickened tear as he regained his composure, straightening his back before he sat on a boulder.
"Alright, enough fun. Did you get the skill 'Manikin?' Nod if so."
Teret took some time to recover from his daze, swinging upright as he crossed his limbs with his hands held around his shinbones. Then, after leaning his head forward as if to investigate whether Walker was tricking him or not, he eventually stopped his inquisitive movements after a while.
Walker trembled, though this would only be visible with the most astute of gazes. The cute behavior made him want to bully his lovely little apprentice even more! No wonder those old badgers back home bragged so much about their trifling cubs...how fun!
"So, here's my explanation. I'm gonna train you to be an assassin as your foundation. In fact, I'll engrave it into the very fiber of your bones! And before you tilt your head around and ask, it's because assassins are cool. Who's cooler than your awesome master? Tell me when you find an answer."
Walker patted his chest with pride for a brief moment before refocusing his intentions. With an ardent gaze that could burn holes in the sun's surface, he stared, even tilting his torso forwards in a movement that seemed to offset his balance.
"Sooo, step one is to make a certain amount of skills appear without giving you qi. Then, I will teach you a qi control method after you gain these fundamentals. Sound good? Atten-tion!"
Walker suddenly straightened his back, his hand swiftly taking a position at the rightmost upper corner of his forehead. Teret nodded along, trying his best to mimic the salute.
It took a while, and Walker sat there with expectant eyes.
...
A couple days of arduous training transpired as Walker widened the area. In order to train Manikin, he picked up his "lovely skeleton apprentice" and dropped him off in different areas.
No matter what condition Teret was placed in, he was expected to remain completely still. Even the fluctuations of his emotions weren't allowed to escape!
And how was his progress judged? A scene straight out of a horror movie was the entirety of Teret's last 48 hours...except the cliche was twisted.
"...Found you."
The subtle stirring of insects suddenly faded as Walker appeared right above Teret. With a grin that stretched all the way to his ears, the sight imbued a tremendous sensation of fear in the skeleton's marrow.
This was a game of hide-and-seek. After being tossed in a random area by Walker, he would have to find ways to avoid his teacher's perception.
Which would genuinely be impossible if Walker didn't give himself a massive handicap. Literally cutting off most of his senses, he wandered The Wettened Woods deaf, blind, and without a sense of smell. He could only detect where Teret was by his sense of touch alone, having to differentiate between the many fluctuations and figure out which one belonged to the skeleton.
"Heheh. Well, it took a little bit longer this time, huh? You've learned it, right? 'Intent Sheathe.'"
Making sure that Walker kept his hands in his pockets with tentative glances, Teret steadily engraved an exclamation mark on the tree nearest to him.
The skill was one without a verbose description since it was pretty self-explanatory. The emotional fluctuations and thoughts running through his head were harder to pick up on thanks to this skill, which meant any sudden attack would have a higher rate of likelihood.
"I've said this many times already, but an assassin should always go for the killing blow. But, unlike a lot of dumb bastards I've seen, imma make sure you'll be able to fight if you miss it...well, I don't think it'll be so hard for you? Butcher is good for solo enemies, and Sadism is good for dealing with trash mobs...yeah, I think you can make yourself into a masterpiece!"
Walker was naturally talking about Teret's traits. A while ago, he asked for his apprentice to write down a summary of their effects. It took him less than a minute to think of a multitude of paths Teret could walk down...
But why commit himself to just one? Teret wasn't a kid who thought he knew everything, and he very quickly learned what Walker had taught him. If it was Teret...
Why not progress down them simultaneously?
Walker nodded to himself with his arms crossed. The more he saw, the more sure he became. Then, with a crisp clap, he peered at the skeleton with eyes that sent a shiver down his dear apprentice's spine.
(Oh, is that how it works? I'll be scarier than you one day...ahehehe...)
Teret silently noted down the actions mentally. Knowing the meaning of Walker's intense stare, he dragged himself up on his bony feet.
It was time for more training.
A hellish session that made one consider whether dying would be less painful ensued within this week.
Teret felt his joints yearn for solace, and he felt regretful that skeletons didn't have any need for sleep. Yet this bitterness could not even reflect 1% of his excitement, as he really felt himself growing stronger!
More than anything, he was just envious that Walker seemed to be having so much fun bossing him around. Not to say that he wasn't joyful in his day-to-day proceedings. No, he was even resplendent as he judged his progress and savored the feeling of becoming more substantial.
In an area further away from the nexus Walker had established, his master performed a series of fleeting steps. With movements that made no sounds yet with footsteps heavy enough to cause impressions on the ground, Walker floated and shifted freely along the floor as if he was a dancing ghost.
The movements were irregular and odd, yet strangely harmonious. If one paid too much attention to them, they would miss something. If you paid too much attention to his trajectory, he would reappear at an odd angle!
Walker's movements weren't flowery or overtly stylish, however. Instead, he performed dynamic movements that shifted in multiple stances, at times crouching, squatting, crawling, gliding, or standing still in midair. His whole vessel squirmed with the litheness of a snake as he disregarded the natural limitations of the human body, performing smooth movements that casually flowed into one another.
After performing these steps for a long time, he reappeared right beside Teret. The skeleton wasn't caught off guard by this, becoming increasingly familiar with Walker's antics the longer they interacted with each other.
His empty sockets surveyed the carnage. There was no surface left untread, his footsteps even walking up the crooked trees. The clear indents were striking and distinct, as was Walker's attention.
"Alright! Here are the Whisper Steps. It's imperative that you get even a fundamental grasp of them before you get qi, trust me. Is that thing working for you? I still can't believe you got two skills I didn't even know about..."
--Of course, you wouldn't. I was shocked when my darling baby unlocked them as well.
Teret had gained two additional skills from his efforts, alongside the two Walker had taught him so far. These were Ingenuity and Learner's Adaptability, skills that allowed the small skeleton to be quick on the learning uptake and even process things faster!
Walker thought that Ingenuity was very familiar when he mugged--I mean asked--his system for information on the skill. Moreover, it was one that would even allow Teret to make new abilities for himself from inspiration or clever usage of his powers--which was very similar to Walker's trailblazing ways.
(Like master, like apprentice. Or was that something about fathers and sons...ah, I really can't be assed to remember. I wish I had some popcorn.)
Walker thought as he sat upon the boughs of a middling tree. Then, overlooking Teret's admittedly clumsy progress, he decided to halt the Manikin and Intent Sheathe training for this skill instead.
After all, hide and seek might be a lot more fun if Teret had this ability as well. Already looking forward to the merriment on the horizon, he looked forward to the day he could earnestly play without having to handicap himself.
He hoped Teret would at least be able to do it before he was an old man. Sure, he figured the skeleton would be able to catch up with the current him down the line...but Walker wasn't intending on forgetting his own improvement!
Teret couldn't move in this weird way at all without stumbling over himself. Bones were tossed this direction and that, all hither and thither as he valiantly tried to progress.
Every once in a while, Walker would stop him and give him pointers. Then, when Teret appeared frustrated, the man with flowing sandstone orange hair would give his student temperate statements without any empty platitudes...
Before snickering as his face contorted into an amused smirk.
"Ever heard the term 'Rome wasn't built in a day?' Do you really think you can just succeed on everything first try? With that mentality, you should just give up. You'll be unable to accomplish anything once you hit a steep wall..."
Mara would begrudgingly nod as Walker floated about in a lazy slouched-over position.
Distracted from his failure, Teret gradually gained the optimism to try again until he got it right. Then, days after seeing it, he finally was able to place his bony foot within one of the engraved marks for even a split second...he felt enraptured by his progress.
Teret spent two weeks before he was rewarded with the mere fundamentals of the Whisper Steps. Yet, that level one indicator never looked more appealing to his gaze filled with giddiness.