An old man was thrown across the room. His hair was gray and his skin was full of wrinkles. His image reminded the boy of a caring grandfather, he looked nothing like the crazy poison killer shown in the video.
As soon as he noticed Kayden on the other side of the room, the man came towards him. Unlike the woman, he had a neutral expression on his face. He probably knew what was going to happen there.
Before he started speaking, Kayden interrupted him:
"We both know what's going to happen here, no need to waste your breath." The boy learned from his mistakes, his last fight was when he was closest to losing his life.
The man, seeing the boy's quick reaction, didn't waste time with words. As soon as he got close, he took a dart out of his pocket and threw it at Kayden. The boy just dodged to the side.
Unfortunately, there was an extra-thin mana thread attached to the dart. Kayden felt a small pain in his left calf. Quickly, the boy removed the weapon from his leg. Without a doubt, it was poisoned.
"Enjoy your last 5 minutes of life." Saying that the man started to walk away while looking at a watch on his wrist.
Kayden knew he had little time and used full throttle. The man moved away and was using his darts to keep Kayden away. His strategy was to buy time.
The boy used his Pop Flash by surprise against the man and, at the same time, the concentrated beam. This allowed him to get close enough to land a blow with his katana.
A large horizontal cut appeared on the opponent's chest. It was fatal, but not immediately. The depth was not enough for this. The two continued their game of cat and mouse.
With every minute that passed, Kayden felt his body begin to burn. At first, it just felt like a tingling sensation, but around the 4-minute mark, every inch of him felt like he was bathed in fire.
When he reached 5 minutes, Kayden was still able to move, with a slight delay in his actions. The boy didn't know why, but the poison didn't have such a strong effect on him. It was probably his heart's fault.
"Very well, any last words?" With that sentence, the man stopped running. His confidence in his venom was incredible. Kayden noticed his ego and tried to take advantage of it.
Pretending to be staggering, the boy approached the man. According to his calculations, he still had 2 minutes left before his body became unusable. When he got close, he fell to the ground as if dead.
His opponent wasn't a beginner and didn't come close to submitting Kayden. He threw another dart. But before he could even throw the blade, a Pop Flash burst directly into his face.
He tried to quickly retreat, but before he could move away, he felt the metal of a sword on his leg. Then, his body froze for a few moments before he felt the blade being withdrawn from his leg.
Cold. It was the last sensation the old man felt before his neck was slit. Not even two seconds had passed. From one victory, the old man ended in death. Kayden couldn't move that fast, so he threw his katana with the lightning concentrated at the old man.
It wasn't a very good tactic, but it worked. His actions were quick and precise. He didn't spend time thinking or hesitating. His body started to heat up again. He turned to the guide.
"Well done, kid. You have potential. Now sleep." With that sentence, Kayden felt his vision darkening and his senses losing their scope. Again the boy was caught before he could fall to the ground.
...
The same stone bed, the same room. The same moment of reflection. Everything was the same as last time for Kayden. The only difference was that this time he didn't feel any negative emotions about what he did.
It didn't make sense. It was irrelevant. He had no idea who the old man was, the videos could be edited and even if it was true it was either him or someone unknown. In particular, Kayden did not have a great attachment to humanity.
His other life taught him how common human greed and selfishness are in society. Not even the best soul helped him for more than a few weeks. It made no difference to him the fate of humanity. It was... irrelevant.
"Good morning, Kayden." The guide's voice woke the boy from his thoughts. "Let's start with our psychology session." Before the ghost could begin, Kayden interrupted him.
"It's not necessary anymore. I'd rather we focus on the practical part." The guide looked into Kayden's eyes for a few seconds. The boy was unable to detach his vision from the mask. A chill started down his spine and a cold sweat ran down his back.
"Your opinion doesn't matter." Then the same rain of questions began for the boy. This time it was faster and as soon as they finished the strange atmosphere was canceled.
"Let's get to the combat report then." The man began to pass on everything he remembered. "Your attention is too focused on the opponent. You practically ignore your surroundings. In your last battle, it almost cost you your life."
Again the guide began a long monologue. Kayden tried to absorb everything he said. After a few minutes, the man finished.
"Are we going to your third fight?" Kayden had no idea how many times he would fight.
"I need time to digest your teachings." The freezing gaze fell on him again, it seemed that the ghost didn't like having his plans changed. "I need at least a few hours."
"You will have four hours between one fight and another. You can wear yourself out as much as you want. I will be able to cure your physical fatigue." As soon as he finished saying that, the man leaned back against the wall and adopted a relaxed position.
Kayden wasted no time and began to play through his two fights in his mind, along with this he also considered the guide's teachings. The boy organized his strengths and weaknesses in his mind.
His main advantage was his physical strength combined with magic and his main weakness was his low repertoire of spells, thus allowing him to have only one fighting style.
"Should I learn more spells, guide?" Unable to find an answer for himself, he asked for help. The man didn't look like he was going to respond, but after a few minutes, Kayden heard his voice.
"What's your point in learning more spells?"
"Versatility. I feel like I'm very stuck with the range of possibilities I have." Against knight opponents, Kayden managed to perform excellently, but against mages or tamers, his performance was poor.
"No, just modify the ones you already have to get the most out of your fighting style."
"How can I change a spell??" Kayden didn't even know how to create a spell. The three he learned just consisted of manipulating mana in a certain order until he achieved the desired result.
"You must first understand how it works and why. Have you ever stopped to think about what electricity is? What is it made of? Does it have variants? Which ones? You should know these types of questions before delving into a spell."
His explanation reminded Kayden of the computer analogy used by man earlier. He had no idea about the guide's questions. The boy fell into reflection.
A few minutes later, Kayden used the concentrated lightning in his hands and divided it into two, then four, and so on. He began to study every nuance of his spells: how could he improve with them? What could speed up the training process? And what would make it stronger using less mana? All these details were never really studied by the boy.
Quickly, four hours passed. The boy made almost no progress. He didn't understand anything behind his spells.