Chapter 5 - The Idle Mentor

Roland's eyes widened in shock. After Lusuka woke up no matter what kind of question he asked she was unable to correctly answer. Even though Lusuka was a commoner Roland had often enjoyed her company in Sophina's absence and the two were more or less friends though it was disheartening to see she was now faced with amnesia. On the bright side Lusuka had suffered from a strike to the head and had not become idiot, only losing her memories was already a lot to be thankful for. Thinking of Sophina made Roland frown. The hardships he had gone through as the heir to the family would be forced onto her now that he was gone and Roland wondered if his little sister's frail body and fragile mind could withstand the stress of their father's expectations. As he thought of how to free his sister from what once was his burden to bear Roland heard a noise in the distance but realized he was paralyzed from the fall.

Roland was only able to move around after applying [Reverse Heal] to his body which only managed to treat minor injuries.

Inside the cave was a lot more vast than Roland had imagined. The floor of the cave was covered with illuminated pebbles that ran down to a shallow stream that seemed to lead outside. The cave seemed to stretch far into the distance where even the blinding lights of the illuminated rocks could not show completely.

Splash!

Sounds could be heard coming from the nearby stream. Roland quickly located the source which made his heart skip a beat. In the shallow stream stood a creature that resembled a smaller version of prehistoric dinosaurs that were once a popular topic a few centuries ago except it was completely black in color with golden pupils that shone in the light and what seemed to be an exoskeleton that covered it's head, acting as a form of defense. Another thing that made this creature abnormal was it's triangular shaped flesh that was attached towards the end of it's tail that gave of a menacing gleam as it swung from side to side.

"Don't move" Roland instructed Lusuka to stay still. His encounter with Tanithil and Hendrik had left him in a sorry state where any creature could take his life, not to mention such a ferocious looking monster.

Fortunately the reptilian creature either took no interest in them or already had a full stomach as it only glanced in Roland's direction once before leaving.

Roland slowly got on his feet and headed towards the stream. After about fifteen minutes they had found their way outside the cave. Without his status as the heir to one of the biggest families in the Capital Roland had no choice but to lay low and avoid places that would put him in danger. Coincidentally the stream had led the duo to a small village right outside the city, since his reputation hadn't reached this far Roland thought it was possible to rest there for a while until his injuries had healed.

"Are you new here, lad?" an old man came over to Roland and greeted the two with a warm smile.

Roland who was thinking to himself gave a startled jump at the voice. He knew it was unlikely for the residents to know he was related to the latest news since they had never seen him before. He was very careful with pictures taken of him and had often avoided taking any. As far as Roland knew he had taken less than 5 pictures in his lifetime and none of them were available to the public so even if the news spread all over Q-Link not many people knew who Roland was and could actually pin his accusations to him. Even though he knew this Roland kept his guard up and would look around from time to time.

Roland nodded at the old man's question and frowned "We are the children of merchants that we're headed for the city, we were attacked by beasts on the way here, only the two of us managed to escape" Roland lied.

Lusuka showed a confused look. Roland had explained to her in detail the actual situation they were in and it did not match the story the old man was told. As she was about to speak out, Roland quickly interrupted and continued "I'm Alex and this... is my sister Lilia, a monster struck her on the head so she has a hard time remembering things, don't mind her"

After hearing Roland's story the old man gave a pitiful look and shook his head at the children's misfortune. Reaching out he tapped the duo on each shoulder and led them to his house. The moment his palm had come in contact with the duo the old man made a surprised expression but quickly returned to normal. Roland followed the old man and soon came upon a fairly large building that read Coldshore Inn that was situated in a remote corner of the village.

After the duo had settled in the old man brought a lady that seemed to have just entered her late twenties from the next room to tend to their wounds. As it turns out despite having such a large building only the old man, the lady and a little boy lived there before Roland and Lusuka's arrival.

After treating checking on Lusuka the lady came over to look at Roland's wounds. "The poison in your body has been removed through special means and your vessels seem to have burst apart under a terrible force that should have rendered your right arm useless beyond the point of repair yet the bone fragments in your arm seem to be forcing themselves to become one again in your arm, Alex, how did you do it?" said the lady, disbelief in her eyes.

Roland then explained how he had fallen over a cliff and and had fractured his arms up to the point where he had applied [Reverse Heal].

"Reverse Heal?" a look of surprise appeared on the lady's face but much like the old man, quickly returned to normal. "Young Man your constitution makes it ideal to train under me, will you take me as your teacher?" the lady asked Roland.

If it had been a different scenario Roland would have immediately declined in the blink of an eye as even imperial advisors incapable of instructing him which had led to his self study and also the reason he had stopped accepting new teachers but for some reason Roland felt if he stayed with this lady he would grow into someone who could shake the empire. Roland nodded slowly.

A month had quickly gone by since Roland had received his second chance and now that he was fully integrated into his new life Roland realized something that made his blood boil. Unlike his previous world where rules were made only by the nobles and aristocrats, those who reigned supreme here were decided by those who could strengthen their bloodlines through a process called evolution and climb to the top of the hierarchy with their own abilities. After his second month in Miss Martine's tutelage Roland started to doubt whether or not he had made the right decision to let her become his mentor. He had learned more about sword skills from the old man, Sir Vincent whom was not even his mentor than he had learned from his actual Mentor. With his doubt growing with each passing day Roland decided to confront his Mentor. "Mentor, I understand the need to train my body but you have yet to teach me anything of importance, exercising alone will not make me stronger" Roland complained.

Mentor Martine shook her head and said "I cannot teach you as you are now , your body is your greatest weapon and if it is lacking then so are you "

Roland left with a frown. After two months his progress in swordsmanship had improved under Sir Vincent's guidance, aside from that he was basically the same person he was when he fell off the cliff.

Boom!

A loud sound followed by a tremor came from the courtyard of the inn, throwing Roland from his thoughts. As he arrived at the source of the noise Roland relaxed. Standing before over a dozen toppled logs each the the height and width of a human Lusuka sheathed her sword. While he had been taken in as Mentor Martine's student Lusuka had become the successor to Sir Vincent's sword style, Soul Dividing Sword.

Roland envied Lusuka for having such a good teacher. All his mentor did was criticize his training and drink booze, maybe if she had dedicated a fraction of the time she has spent drinking to properly teaching him Roland would not have felt so upset.

In this manner 5 more months went by. After a long period of waiting Roland gave up on attending Mentor Martine's lessons and would practice next to Lusuka and improved his sword skills. After his first ten swings Roland glanced at Lusuka who had been performing the same sword techniques but with more grace and precision. No matter how good he got Roland felt his sword skills paled in comparison to Lusuka's.

Vincent saw this and shook his head. He could see why Roland would want to take his classes but Roland was more suited to Learn under Martinez than under himself.

"Roland take a break, how about you try training your body like your Mentor said?" Sir Vincent said.

"Training? I have trained my body for 6 months and Mentor Martine has yet to teach me anything, most days she cannot even be found!" Roland gave a wry smile.

Under Sir Vincent's persuasion Roland eventually decided to return to his own courtyard to train like his mentor had requested. As he approached the courtyard Roland could hear sounds of the air being ripped apart violently.

Swoosh!

The air next to Roland distorted, causing a turbulent wind pressure to send his hair frolicking.

Standing in the center of the courtyard was Mentor Martine. Her eyes were closed and in her hand was a wooden pole that was almost 9 feet long. Martine flicked her wrist, sending the pole into the air then grabbing it in her right hand and made a wide horizontal sweep. Martine did not stop but moved faster. Putting her left foot forward she stabbed at the air thrice, making 'pah' noises as if she was piercing the air itself. The wooden pole spun in Martine's hand and the next moment it was already in her left hand, performing a vertical sweep. Her every action was seamless and natural as if she had performed them a hundred times and had reached perfection.

Roland gazed at Mentor Martine in stupor. Every action she took would look docile but suddenly became fierce at the last second, producing a strange yet beautiful scene.

"Were you watching, Alex? do you still doubt my skills?" Mentor Martine said with a smug look. She knew how impatient and eager Roland was and had finally decided to give him his first goal.

Roland nodded in excitement. This was his first time seeing Miss Martine move this way and felt she was by no means inferior to Sir Vincent and his sword skills.

Martine smiled. She had forgotten that Roland was only a child and had no real thirst for power or he would have resolved himself to training his body even if it took him a year. His want for power was barely commendable.

"Your First and Second tasks are a pair" As she said this Martine threw the wooden pole into the distance. Approaching a nearby boulder she had brought precisely for this demonstration Martine took a deep breath. The boulder was more than three times her size and height which she thought would make the perfect demonstration for Roland. Martine shifted her left foot forward and her carefree attitude was replaced by a focused steer as she looked at the boulder. Her next move was too quick for Roland to follow, in the next moment her fist had had already stopped near the boulder.

Boom!

A deafening explosion came from the boulder which made Roland cover his ears. By the time Roland had moved his gaze to the boulder his body shuddered.