Chapter 2: "DOME"

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'Uncle Sebastian asked me to be in DOME, fuu anything but no training with mom again this soon'

I made my way toward the training arena, I couldn't help but feel dread recalling the last spar with Mom left me nearly hospitalised if not for Aunt Nora.

'Fuuu'

Taking a deep breath to focus, I arrived near THE DOME.

THE DOME well literally was a gigantic dome made of some dark shade material. A marvel of technology with all the enchanting possible. It's the holy ground for training for our House.

The Reason – You can't die inside no matter what you do , one can get injured but will never die.

'Well there's an exception if a transcendent or a ruler after you…then you are dead regardless'

'But still I would have absolutely loved this place if mom held practice here… But no no no no she spars with me in a clearing she made on the mountains behind our estate and beats me to death'

'Shiver'

'Yea let's not think about it let's go with the flow '

Entering THE DOME is a stunning view nonetheless hundreds… thousands of recruits and trained personnel undergoing drills and practice sessions before joining battlefields.

THE DOME has multiple instances meaning each and every person has a level of clearance on them which allows them to access different facilities and all these facilities are multiple layers of space stacked on each other.

I still don't understand 2% of the enchants in its creation even though Aunt Nora who was the enchanter of this marvel and also one of my teachers told me I will eventually be able to see all of it.

'THUMP'

The Guards broke me out of my thoughts as silently saluted. The SILENCE GUARDS under Uncle Sebastian are our house guardians and like their name never speaks yet terrifying in combat.

Nodding in return I moved to find the designated area where Uncle Sebastian would be waiting.

'Wait'

I stopped just before entering the gate.

'Fuu'

Taking a deep breath, I stretched my body quickly before checking on my gear.

' Everything in place….let's go '

Before I could move a cold metal was placed on my neck.

"Well It seems you learned a little bit since the last session Young master being ready is decent practice but what's good it's use if you don't mentally prepare yourself for getting ambushed or attacked"

"Yes teacher"

The blade disappeared along with Uncle Sebastian's presence.

' fuu '

Moving inside the door with body taking every single detail, hand on sword pommel.

Uncle Sebastian was directly in front of me standing casually, " Young master, no one will give any prior warnings"

"Long gone are the days where people talked about chivalry and honour of Men and Knights."

Gesturing with his hands a table and chair set appeared.

"Take a seat Young master, we will not engage in any physical activity… though for spar with your Mother you will need it"

"Now If you manually use energy for constant scouting you will drop down before your enemies of exhaustion"

" Instincts are a very powerful tool you should wield it not let it guide you any expert worth his salt could read them like an open book "

" Does it only come with practice and experience teacher? "

Uncle Sebastian leaned back and gestured it towards THE DOME

"Lexi, this place is holy ground for training and practice, yes. There's no doubt in that but that's only for soldier type people. This place allows us to instil drill for various scenario and prepare them for worst so they turn their tails and run"

Taking a pause he continued,

" But for people like you whose aim is power, strength that only comes with dancing around death, Lexi until you embrace the fact every battle could be your last if you misjudged a variable. I have lost way too many people like that"

" Since you are a student I'm proud of tell me Young Master THE RULE of my teachings "

'Fuu'

"Fear the Known and Beware of Unknown"

"hmm , that's a nice motto you got … Well I say Young master you have way with words"

"Ha ha"

"Yes, remember Fear the Known and Beware of Unknown you can truly neither never know what hidden aces your enemies may have nor what they might do when pushed to death"

"Any sentient life will desperately find a way to live regardless if their choice leads to a far more terrible consequence than death"

"Never underestimate an enemy, especially if it has sentience"

Nodding seriously, ' i don't have any plans to die anytime soon I would swiftly dispatch my enemies rather than letting them to whip out some lovecraftian horror '

"Yes teacher!"

"This is one of the reasons your mother is so harsh on you young master"

"To prepare you for worst of situation, we can never know how long peace will last or another calamity with spawn form"

At the mention of calamity I could feel my heart race reminding me of a horrible past.

Turning towards MC sebastian

"You are our hope, our pride Alexis , don't let this become a dark zone in your heart. Everything We do is for your growth, maybe not but you will realise it one day."

Sighing Uncle Sebastian leaned back.

"As you are aware young master , I am a Rogue/Assassin Archetype and we prefer darkness , being in dark, in shadows to bring our foes to eternal darkness"

'That's edgy but …", MC listened carefully disregarding various thoughts,

"Although you have yet to commit to an archetype but remember these things which we tell you these will become your core principles "

"The paths are endless Lexi, but remember EXIRA is the only power that's truly yours archetypes are just professions how you will mould your EXIRA will create your path that's only yours"

"Since you are already booked for the session with your mother, we will instead go through some scenarios and thoughts"

"As I and others have mentioned before, most of your battles will unplanned, unknown you will be thrown in battles that you didn't choose to be a part of if you continue on your path to power"

"You will bleed, will be broken, witness death of both people you knew and your enemies"

Uncle Sebastian met my gaze and said seriously.

"It's important to not drown in self blame and self pity that's disrespecting anyone who you've known"

"I know talking about these thing is easy, only when you are going through these will you understand all i hope you remember these words"

I nodded seriously, 'personally i can't even think of losing anyone in my family…"

"Now I have been teaching you and it's important that you understand your combat style is more of a ambush striker, right now you are a glass cannon very high versatility and power but very little juice in tank to keep pumping up the damage"

" As such you must never stretch the battle into one of endurance unless you are planning on going for full plate heavy armour and shield like Ser Mathias and be a tank knight archetype "

"Which you are not and probably will never be, am I right to assume that Lexi?"

"Yup teacher, I rather be moving around dodging than be sitting ducks"

" That'll bring us back on topic, you must finish the battle quickly but never be hasty. If you stall with your build and take excessive time, what would happen? Can you guess ?"

'Well I'm pretty I'll be dead but if i say that Uncle Seabstian will beat the hell out me no matter how kind he is most of the time that will warrant a beating, a violent one at that'

Quickly shaking my head, I dumped those thoughts and thought of possible scenarios…

Uncle Sebastian chuckled at my antics.

' Man , I'm only 17. How would I have those experiences… damned kind old man'

"Hmm,..Reinforcement, probably the enemy may also be stalling for time,...um Recovery rates,.. Some hidden tricks, Ace.."

Uncle Sebastian nods and continues , " Indeed! You will learn with time or by injuries if you survive us "

'Twitch'

'I really felt my eye twitch, these guys are my teachers and I respect them for that but all of them may have some screw lose when it comes to combat'

Uncle Sebastian continues,

"Remember Lexi, in a foreign land oftentimes it will be a hostile environment, never wait for an attack, take initiative, explore possible surroundings, set them up for the battle if confrontation is inevitable"

"However, sometimes your initiation of an attack may fail even when you have the best cards in your hand, in such situations getting greedy and losing patience is akin to death."

Uncle Sebastain seriously said,

"Retreat after dealing as much damage as possible to avoid the enemy from giving a counterattack on you, even the ground between you and your foes."

"Never give a hold of advantage to your enemy, no matter how small it is"

"Never face 50/50 odds"

"And final lesson for today, If facing hordes or multiple enemies, never fight head on retreat, kill one and learn whatever you can about them"

"If your enemies are monsters it's better to fill your bestiary and figure out its weakness and strengths"

" Weakness of flesh is very important"

With a sly grin Uncle Sebastian continued,

"I'm sure Lady Nora must have taught you the required skill for performing autopsy and appraisal on them."

"Yeah She did, it was horrific experience Uncle Sebastain"

My face scrunched up recalling the experience that Uncle Sebastian chuckled.

"It's better you feel disgust and reluctance now than when he times are desperate"

"Although It may seem useless now that there ton and tons of information about nearly all the monsters seen in the gates and rifts but we never what could happen in future"

'Flips'

Uncle Sebastian casually flipped a pocket watch out of existence and checked time.

'Huff show off!, still not teaching me that huh old man'

"There is still some time. So breathe, meditate, take in all the information and assimilate it, for it is very necessary, I will be at the sparring grounds "

'sighs'

MC sighs as Uncle Sebastian's presence fades away leaving him alone at The Dome.

'Inhale'

'Exhale'

MC takes a deep breath to calm his mind into a meditative state preparing for the brutality ahead.

"What's the worst thing that could happen, Mom not gonna kill me at least…"

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