Shadow Slave

Nephis looked at him and contemplated. This time, she remained silent longer than usual.

Sunny felt a bit nervous under her gaze, knowing that he was being evaluated. With Changing Star's skill and insight, it wasn't hard to imagine just how much she had gleaned from his battle performance. Both his current level and future potential must have been pretty much laid bare in front of her. Were they enough to make teaching him worth her while?

After some time, she took the soul shards and nodded.

"Okay."

Sunny smiled, congratulating himself on a successful deal. Not only did he receive a lot while not losing much, but he had also managed to create a bit of a favorable impression of himself in the eyes of Nephis and Cassie. As far as performances went, this was a great one.

"So when do we start?"

Nephis shrugged.

"Now."

Now?

Sunny glanced at the sun, which was already almost gone. Were they going to train in complete darkness? It wasn't really an obstacle for him. Changing Star, however…

"We will start with some words. That will be enough for today."

After hesitating a little, she added:

"Cassie, you listen too."

Sunny and Cassia turned to Nephis, listening to her like two obedient students. Despite the fact that their age was more or less similar, both knew that, in terms of martial prowess, their companion had authority that was as beyond theirs as a dragon's might was beyond that of a worm.

for a while and then

you need is repetition and experience. In a fight, things happen too fast to consider every detail in the moment. That's why your

She paused.

it must be cemented through experience. The more battle experience you have, the deeper a technique will be assimilated into your body. There is no other way. A thousand hours of training won't be as impactful as one real

hand, Changing Star's statement made it

difficulty. So maybe her statement was true. That, however, posed a question of its own… just

I stop calling

Meanwhile, Nephis continued:

mind, however, is not simple at all. That is because, once you reach a certain level of skill, the mind is where the true combat takes place. The outcome is often decided before your body begins

at them and

you think

The… essence of combat? What might it

have been tempted to say something stupid like "honor", "valor" or "duty". But he already knew that Nephis did not fit into

a minute or so, Cassie finally

"Victory."

at the

"Survival."

Star shook

"No."

she rubbed her neck and pierced them with a

of combat

a little. Nephis, however,

the core of it, there is only this: you are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you. In the end, one of you will be killed, and the other one will be the killer. Everything

reverberated there, causing something inside of

matter. Reason and intent do not matter. The only thing that matters is to be the last one standing. In this way, anything you do in combat must be viewed as only serving one of two purposes: either to kill your enemy or to