Chapter 26 A little light in the dark.

"Okay I know where to start."

Kyle had formulated a plan for Ash and the start was to inform him of his new technique 'breath of deliverance'. Even though Ash was essentially a testing bed to look for possible irregularities at higher cultivation levels, as this was based on existing training methods there shouldn't be any issues.

"I'm going to impart my own training technique to you. I and my friends are currently training in this method but you will be the highest level practitioner so there may be unforeseen irregularities. You can refuse this if you choose as I want you to be my chief of guards so the choice is yours."

Finishing his speech here Kyle leaned back and waited for Ash's decision. Ash was shocked as there has been almost no new techniques and skills developed for centuries maybe even longer. Thinking through Kyle's offer Ash decided to trust in this strange young man he'd just met, this was based solely on his gut feeling.

"I accept, when do we start?"

"Right now I'll start by giving you the technique and you'll begin training with the rest of our people tomorrow."

Ash felt a warm feeling when Kyle referred to him and the rest as 'our people' it gave him a sense of belonging to something greater he hadn't felt since leaving the army.

Kyle imparted his technique like he did with his friends up to the level he was operating at the moment. He wouldn't produce a new level to this technique until he himself had reached the required level so he could properly envision it.

As Ash circulated this technique, he was shocked by the complexity in it. Standard techniques only push mana along set paths but Kyle's technique requires the user to loop the mana at specific points which has never been done before as far as he knew.

While Ash had started his training Kyle was using his soul sight to ensure there were no problems with the process. Inspecting Ash's nodes and channels Kyle could see various points of damage and what he assumed were scars from using incomplete or incorrect techniques and skills. The army provided a basic training regime but the techniques and skills were only at a low level so the rank and file wouldn't gain enough power to challenge the existing nobility. This seems to have caused damage to the soldier's bodies over time and weakened the national strength which Kyle found paranoid and stupid.

As Ash was training Kyle saw something which pleased him greatly. As the mana was circulating, some was bleeding into the damaged areas and was letting them gradually heal. Kyle also didn't forget to check Ash's gates. He was looking for any differences between people as that may lead to a greater understanding of the cultivation process.

Although Ash's gates were opened more fully the Bruno's they weren't as fully open as his mothers even though she was younger. Kyle attributed this to the level of techniques they used as his mother was already at the second stage. This should also mean that with the correct method they should be able to fully open the gates even if the person had already partially opened them. He would wait to experiment with this until Miranda had her first breakthrough so he could see the process in its usual form, but he would wait until she had accumulated a greater than usual mana store.

Ash continued his training for 20 minutes before gradually coming out of his trance. Standing up he cracked his back while rotating his shoulders.

"Wow I feel awesome."

Ash was amazed, with just one session his body felt refreshed and younger. A lot of aches and pains had disappeared some of which he hadn't noticed until they had gone.

"Glad to see you're feeling better. I found out something slightly disturbing however and I'm assuming you have contact with some local army vet's which this will concern."

Hearing Kyle speaking Ash stood at attention as he'd fully accepted Kyle as his lord now, but when he heard what Kyle had said his brow furrowed. He did indeed keep in contact with some of the locals who had served in the army. These men had served with honour but once their service was complete or if they were injured they were discarded. These men claimed a pension from the state if they had completed their tour of duty so they would bump into each other at the imperial office when they claimed their pensions and so they all became drinking buddies and eventually established a network. This network was not nefarious or had any grand plans but if work came up and one heard of this he would let the network know and those capable of working would have a head start.

"What's the issue you have found?"

Ash asked Kyle in a monotone keeping his emotions under control as he saw these men as brothers who had been cast away just like he was.

"There was damage inside your body, I suspect this was caused by the low level techniques you used in the army. The new technique I gave you has already allowed some of the damage to repair itself and over time your condition will continue to improve. I need to see some of the others who used the same techniques to confirm my hypothesis so would you be able to request some of these men to come to the mansion in a couple of days?"

"Of course let me know when and I can get some to come the same day."

Ash began to worry about his comrades due to Kyle's words but he knew better than to push the issue, plus this issue didn't seem to be an imminent problem so he would follow Kyle's lead in this.

"Well since we've come this far I think we should stop for now. If you would like to take a room on the first floor and get cleaned up I'll wait for you here. Oh yes when you're coming back can you collect a set of armour from the armoury with a helmet."

Bowing to Kyle Ash headed out and claimed a room just three doors down from the study. Looking around the room Kyle saw it was a large and well appointed room. It had a large en-suite bathroom attached with a shower large enough to take three people with ease.

This room didn't have any attached training or cultivation rooms as Kyle's previous room did. As the mansion appeared to be a functional fort there was a series of cultivation rooms which shared powerful mana accumulation arrays for a more efficient use of space.

Ash was joyful to finally be able to have a shower and clean himself up after being in prison for a while. Even though the Powell's treat their prisoners better than other nobles this is different than our world and there are no prisoners rights so the facilities and conditions are much harsher than here.

Once Ash left Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't scared or anxious but Ash was a bit to ripe and being in close proximity made him wish for some air freshener. After about 15 minutes Ash knocked on the door and re-entered the study.

The change was drastic after a quick shower and tying back his hair Ash presented a powerful and charismatic figure, he still needed a shave but he didn't want to keep Kyle waiting. The armour he picked up was a partial scale mail with ring mail at the joints. Looking at him Kyle nodded as he looked intimidating as his chief of guards should be.

Kyle knew there may be an issue with his identity, but Kyle had planned for this and may roll this plan out to all his guards. Indicating that Ash should come forward he stood at attention in front of Kyle's desk.

"Pass me your helmet."

Kyle requested of Ash and he responded as if he was conditioned to. Even though Kyle had decided to treat all his people equally in the end he was still in charge and even without meaning to, he possessed an aura which compelled people to follow. This was a bleed through effect from the strength of his soul giving him a strong charismatic pull.

When the helmet was placed on the desk Kyle inspected it. The helmet looked similar to an ancient Greek helmet with a long nose guard between two channels for the eyes. Kyle began to create an array and projected it towards the helmet. This was the first time he used this array, it used the glyph 'hide' as the core. When the array was complete Kyle passed the helmet to Ash.

"Alright put it on and let's see the effect."

Confused Ash still followed the order and placed the helmet on his head. From Kyle's view once the helmet was down the view of Ash's face disappeared and was replaced by dark. The helmet obviously had something inside but you couldn't see what was in there. It appeared as if there was a shadow wearing armour. Regardless of which direction he looked he couldn't see in the helmet, even when he brought a light beneath the helmet he couldn't see past the shadow.

"Can you see alright?"

"I can see fine why?"

When Kyle asked Ash took off his helmet as he was confused by Kyle's actions. Kyle took the helmet to show ash the effect he'd created. When Ash saw this effect he was shocked.

"If you can do stuff like this with an array why not do something more powerful?"

Ash asked a pertinent question as why wouldn't you place an array on armour to strengthen it.

"This array is simple it only uses ambient magic to diffuse light. A more powerful array would need directed mana to use and concentrating man during battle would be too hard."

He left alone that he had placed an array within his sword as this was due in part to the nature of the alloy he'd created.

"Well your first duty is to take this letter to the kitchens in the main compound and to bring back the provided baggage, once you come back keep at least one of the articles with you the other can be left in a room nearby, any questions?"

"None sir."

Ash had a lot of questions but decided to hold them in and just saluted.

"Okay then I'm going for dinner with the craftsmen. When you return just get some sleep we've got another jam packed day tomorrow."

With that Kyle stood up and headed out followed closely by Ash. As they returned to the more populated areas of the estate they split up.

Ash headed towards the kitchens in his armour, as people saw him they moved out of the way in fright. Who would know what to do when you see an armoured shadow stomping through the halls?

As Ash was getting closer to the kitchens he came across Landon and Maria as they were just heading in to dinner. Giving a over the heart salute to show his respect Landon paused and asked.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ash sir your son has just appointed me as his chief of guards."

Hearing this Landon just smiled and whispered something to Maria who smiled and nodded towards Ash before carrying on. Seeing Landon and Maria move into the dining hall Ash thought of his own family but shook it off as he had a job to do.

Reaching the kitchens Ash approached the head cook who was watching over the whole proceedings with an eagle eye.

"My master has asked me to deliver this to you."

Ash passed the letter Kyle had given him to the cook. When the cook opened the letter 2 pieces of paper came into his hand. Passing one back to Ash he said.

"This looks like it is for you."

This piece of paper had 'For my guard' written on it. Unfolding the paper it was just a simple sentence 'enjoy your dinner'. Ash couldn't think what that meant before the head chef shouted in a voice more suited for a drill instructor.

"Oi newbie, you and the runt grab three dinners and follow this guard, you've been reassigned."

Hearing the shout there was a scurry of movement as someone working behind the large shelves began moving things before shouting.

"Okay we're coming."

What appeared before Ash's eyes were two women, well one woman and one girl carry three large plates. Yup you guessed it this was Ash's wife and daughter.

****POV change****

Lauren Ash's wife came around the shelves stacked with various goods after she'd loaded up the plates with today's menu only to be met with an armoured guard standing next to the head chef. She could swear she saw a shiver when he saw them. Her daughter who was helping her in the kitchen froze seeing this large man with only shadows for a face, but she steeled her nerves before placing both plates on one arm and gripping her daughters shoulder.

They moved towards the guard who appeared to be staring at them, but as they couldn't see his face it was hard to tell. As they approached the guard turned away and began to lead the way. Following behind this figure Clara her daughter whispered.

"Don't you think the guard is familiar?"

"I don't know."

Responded Lauren there was something tickling the corner of her brain but she couldn't nail it down. As they walked they left the populated areas and gradually approached Kyle's mansion. Clara and Lauren began to tire as this was a long trek carrying a food tray but as Clara was about to trip the guard caught her and the tray. He took the tray from her and one from Lauren and carried on walking.

It was rather comical seeing a large guard carrying dinner trays like that. Clara looked at Lauren who just shrugged and followed behind the guard. Eventually they reached the mansion which looked as intimidating as the guard in the dark. As he reached the door it opened on its own surprising all three of them.

It appears the intelligence within the mana crystal had used Kyle's acceptance of Ash as authority for him. The base intelligence the manor appeared to be developing may be more advanced than previously thought. The guard paused for only a moment before continuing while the women crowded a little closer as this was all very clandestine.

When the guard entered the entrance way he placed the tray's down on a table before Lauren followed suit. Drumming up her courage Lauren asked the mysterious guard.

"What will our duties be?"

As this was her new assignment she wanted to know what was required of her. The guard while still facing away from them took off his helmet and placed it on the table. There was something about his profile which made Lauren freeze, it couldn't be. Clara saw the odd reaction of her mother and was looking between the guard and her.

As they watched the guard turned around slowly. They could see tears running down the face which they knew instantly before they ran into his waiting arms.

"Honey!"

"Daddy!"