A Rat Trapped in a Cage (1)

"Rise and shine!!"

The sun shone through the mucked windows, letting dirty sunlight into the room as I yelled out loud. In combination with my loud wake-up call and the golden rays that touched their eyes, the group of five slowly got up. It was obvious most of them weren't used to waking up so early with how groggy they looked. The only ones who looked energized were Culdia and Vernam.

"Why the hell did you wake us up too early?!"

After getting over his stupor, Iraspisit didn't waste time complaining. I kept a straight face as usual and responded, "It's good to rise as the sun rises. I would recommend you get in the habit of it; it's how you'll be waking up every morning from now on."

Iraspisit was going to retort my statement, but then Culdia cut him off, "Hey, Igmor, are you alright? You seem very a lot more sluggish than usual. Did you get enough sleep?" To think, the blood-craved maniac is worried about me... but that seems to be how she is. She'll make people she doesn't like hurt, but for people she does like she is just a normal, kind person. Hardly a psychopath and more just someone who acts truthfully to their desires. Though, that still is something that needs to be fixed.

I turned around and scrummaged through the hollow podium, "I'm fine. I just didn't get any sleep last night. I was too busy."

It was at these words that Vernam spoke up, "Too busy doing what?"

I mentally smirked at her words. She had taken the bait I laid out.

I grabbed something and turned around with a paper in my hand while responding to her, "Well, I had to teach you all during the day, so that left me with the night to do some personal stuff. Like, for example, making a schedule for Paxium over here."

I handed the paper in my hand to Paxium which she quickly snatched from my hands and began to read over. I then turned back around to the four others and continued, "Speaking of schedules, you all have your own, so I would recommend you look it over. Starting today, it is that slip of paper that will dictate your life."

With my words, the four of them brought out their respective schedules from whatever kind of storage facility they had attached to their clothes and began to follow words by eyeing them. After a little bit of silence, I heard Paxium say something from behind me, "Um, Igmor... I've actually looked over everyone else's schedules, so I already know a bit about it. With that in mind, why do I have two private sessions with you compared to their one?"

I turned back around to face Paxium as I spoke and answered her question, "Well, that's because I need to work on both you and Paxium B of course. That side of you is still a part of you, so I must take care of it all the same."

She nodded her head in understanding, and I walked forward to the Podium before standing behind it, "Alright everyone, go ahead and sit down. As your schedules told you, we will be starting every day with a lesson of mine to help you with your strategic abilities during combat."

In response to my announcement, the five of them found their seats and waited for me to begin the lecture; so I did such, "Today I want to go over a fundamental in fighting. I call it Think before, Act now, and Think after, or TAT for short. Before even entering combat you should have a grasp of your enemy's abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Once you know those and have come up with a viable plan, you must act. A plan without action is just an empty husk. Then once you act you must think again. Think, "Was what I did correct?" If it was, then do it again; if it wasn't then learn from what you did wrong and then make a plan again. This is something that you already do while in combat automatically, but you must train it if you wish to get better at it. Once you train it for long enough, you should be able to do it so quickly while in combat that it becomes something else entirely. I, and many others, call that "thing" instinct..."

___________________________________________________________________________

It was around noon now. I had already done my private sessions with Onvima and Iraspisit. Onvima was easy to work with. He mostly asked questions and I answered, though they had some trickiness to them. I was fine with this because it solidified me as a master figure in his mind even more. They were questions ranging from cultivation theory to philosophy. Of course, I made sure to sprinkle in a healthy dose of indoctrination. I was able to be a lot less subtle about it because I wasn't scared of Onvima being an eye of Medisma's. He wasn't one of the suspects.

Next was Iraspisit. He was difficult as always, but he would always do what I asked of him eventually; with a little coercion from me that is. Today we went over basic exercises that helps one keep calm. I obviously could just show him the meditation technique that Hasrem gave me, and that I still use today, but that wouldn't be in my best interest. It would be better if we both worked on it together over a long period of time to build a relationship with each other. I didn't do much brainwashing, that would come into play once he actually held a little bit of respect for me. Right now I had to focus on building that foundation of respect.

Now I had to meet up with Vernam, the one I was most suspicious of. There was something off about her, so much so that I already had everything planned for her. But just in case, I would confirm it in this private session of ours. According to the schedule I wrote out for her, she should be meditating right now and thinking about her goals. It was something overlooked by most, but very important to do on the regular. It would keep you focused on your goal and not let you stray off of its path.

I walked to the landmark I assigned her, the wildest of the Campus' rivers, "The Rapids". As I grew near the specific part of the river I assigned her, the sound of brisk water hitting rocks entered my ears, and eventually my sight as well. The river was dotted with stone that stuck out of the ground and moved so quickly that these rocks created waves within the river. The sun bounced off of the river, creating a reflection of golden-blue floaters in my vision. And the smell of the rushing water along with the flourishing jungle was heavenly.

Next to this river was a girl dressed in a fashionable black robe with rose designs sewn into it. That was actually another reason why I believed this sect was so broken. It seemed minuscule, but a mandated sect uniform to be worn by all inhabitants would do wonders for unification.

I approached her and sat down cross-legged next to her. I didn't interrupt her meditation as that wouldn't be a great way of making my presence known. I'm sure that she knows that I would be showing up anytime, so I would just wait until she decided to look around wondering where I was. Like this five minutes passed, and eventually she did what I thought she would do. Once she turned and saw me looking at the river, she jumped a little bit before calming down immediately.

After noting that she recognized my presence, I spoke, "This river is truly wonderful. Peaceful things of nature can bring soothing to your soul, but I find that the chaos is much more calming. People don't find the answers they're looking for in the peacefulness of their lives, but the intense and sporadic. Just as nature only works in those chaotic moments. When a sheep ruminates on grass. When a fish eats a smaller fish. When a snake swallows a mouth. When a lion claws open a gazel. Or when a human kills another. It is in those moments that nature does its job."

I Opened with something that seemed imbued with wisdom and mystery to create a profound atmosphere that our conversation would be spoken in. Without turning away from the river, she responded to my words with a question, "I think I understand what you mean. It's the chaos that creates true change. So I have a question for you Igmor. How is it that you will change? Everyone wants to change, whether that be their social position, their physical strength, or their mental strength. How is it that you will do that?"

I gave a slight chuckle before answering the answer carefree-like, "Well, of course, I would create chaos. Now let me ask you something. What do you think is the best way to defeat an enemy?"

She put her hand on her chin in thought for a moment before answering me, "Hmm, wouldn't the best way to do it be quickly and intensely? Strike the hammer down before they can react and there will be no cause for concern."

I stared deeply into the river before me and gave my reply to her answer, "You are correct, somewhat. There were multiple ways to defeat an enemy, and the way you described was one of those ways. But that method is best used on people you know are weaker than you. When you have an enemy of equal or higher strength it is best to use more subtle methods. Maybe you can lure them into a false sense of security and then strike fast and hard. Maybe you can slowly take them over from the inside. Or maybe you can make it into a war of attrition and beat them like that. The point is that there are many ways to beat an enemy, but each holds its own uses for whatever position you find yourself in."

I turned to look at Vernam, "To correctly choose that method, you must act as a spy. Infiltrate your enemy's mind, discover their deepest secrets, and use those secrets to correctly choose the corresponding action. That's your problem Vernam. You are so focused on what you should do that you never have thought, "What is my enemy doing?" A battle isn't a one-way fight, it's an art including multiple minds with personalities and thoughts behind those minds. You have to consider those around you before you consider what you should do. You have to be a spy of your enemy's mind."

What I was saying was nice and all, but the analogy I made was what I was focusing on. How would she react to the word spy? And so far I got nothing. I'll have to pump it up a bit more.

"So, Vernam, I have a question for you. Could you be a spy?"

She didn't react to this at all, not physically anyway. But, unfortunately for her, I was a master at reading one's emotions through the eyes, a commonly overlooked hole in the soul. Once I said those words, her eyes showed me a change of emotion. It went from a philosophical look to an anxious one. It was only for a moment, but that was all I needed. With my suspicions now confirmed, I awaited her answer.

"I have actually never been good at reading others, so that is why I have always used the same method. It worked well enough most of the time, so I thought that it was a solid technique..."

I stood up and said to her with my hand outstretched, "Then how about we focus on that? I'll teach you how to read people so that you have more versatility in combat."

She grabbed onto my hand and stood up before nodding, "Alright, then show me how it's done."

Honestly, she really is trying as hard as she can for me to not suspect her. What kind of spy couldn't read others? To use the opportunity to work on herself only to submerge my thoughts of her as far away from a spy as possible... she was tricky. I wouldn't be able to learn much of anything with these subtle little clues she gave me. So I would have to do something a lot less subtle.

As they say: Win through your actions, never your argument.