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.

a while and then

One is body, and the other one is mind. Training the body is not easy, but it is rather simple. All you need is repetition and experience. In a fight, things happen too fast

She paused.

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 fight. Only those who survive countless battles can be truly

On the one hand, the principle of improving through practice was quite logical. On the other hand, Changing Star's statement made it seem like all those lofty Legacies with their years of training were nothing but harmless children. After all, no matter how good

no apparent difficulty. So maybe her statement was true. That, however, posed a question of its own… just what

I stop calling

Meanwhile, Nephis continued:

the mind is where the true combat takes place. The outcome is often decided before your body begins to move.

at

you think that

essence of combat?

been tempted to say something stupid like "honor", "valor" or "duty". But he already knew that Nephis did not fit into the image of a noble aristocrat he

minute or so,

"Victory."

almost at the same time, Sunny

"Survival."

shook her

"No."

she rubbed her neck and pierced them with a

of

little. Nephis, however, did not seem to

the core of it, there is only this: you are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you. In

sank deep into Sunny's heart and reverberated there, causing something inside of him to

matter. Weapons don't 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 prevent the enemy