Chapter Six.

Yesterday Grim came back from his reaping duties and notified me that we would begin phase three of my training, the scythe training. Now, I stand here in the same familiar place where I have trained a lot, with a scythe in my hand. We went directly into using real scythes and I was given my own scythe, this scythe is near indestructible and can cut through anything with ease, but the most important thing is it can reap soul so I have to be very careful when I comes to handling it or I may end up cutting my own limb off.

There are multiple forms as to how the scythe is used but the most simple ones are just aiming for the vital points in the body, and since the scythe is sharp enough cutting of a head isn't as hard as it may seem.

The first thing I was taught were my stances so as to stand sturdy whilst also ready to defend and counter attack at any moment. You must know that the scythe is a really unconventional weapon for combat and that it is really hard to learn compared to your average sword.

Luckily this process didn't take long as it only took me 5 standard days to learn it, all I had to do was get my muscles to remember it so they do it automatically without me even needing to pay much attention to it.

The next part of scythe training will be the actual countering and fighting. The same thing happened as to the defense training and Grim just started without notice, he didn't really need me to teach how to defend since that was the major part of the second phase's training and me being able to sense his malicious intent made it a whole lot easier. I am beginning to notice that with every phase I complete training will get easier, that is probably why Grim said that the first phase would be the hardest since now my body has been adjusted.

And now after 20 standard days of combat training with Grim you could see us spar against each other, I am of course going all out and Grim is matching my strength and ability but sometimes he pulls a sneaky on me and moves faster than the eye can see as to "teach" me for the unexpected, I personally like to think that he just likes torturing me even though it is for my own good.

Today was the day we finished the training with the scythe and moved on to phase four and finally the last phase, as to why phase three ended so quickly it was due to me being used to training after a year of physical condition and mental endurance.

…

Today is the day that we start phase 4, the most important thing about being a Grim Reaper, being able to reap the souls of the dead. So of course I am going to pay good attention to his instructions, not like I didn't do that anyway.

Grim and I were once again located at the gray field that like usual stretches as far as the eyes can see. Today unlike other days Grim wasn't giving that malicious feeling that I have been feeling ever since I was able to sense intent, he was full of seriousness and coldness.

"This lesson is of most importance so make sure to not mess up anything I teach you." Grim said, his tone full of seriousness to which I could only nervously nod at.

"Thanks to your meditating your mind has been sharpened and is now finally able to handle the strain of reaping someone's soul, if you were not able to handle it your brain would most likely melt and you would obviously die."

"First of you need to know what a soul is, the soul is the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal that is regarded as immortal, immortal in the sense of when a person died the soul lives on to be brought to the next realm. Every living being contains one without exception, even undead have one as to stay alive."

"The location of the soul varies from person to person, for example a smart person would have most of his soul located in his brain and a kind person would have it mostly in his heart, as for an undead the soul is located where the necromance of the undead wanted its soul to be, but a soul must be in someone's body to survive so a necromance can't stuf it in a jar and let the undead roam around."

"To reap the soul you need to determine the place where most of the soul is created and focus on the location and your scythe at the same time and kill the being at that spot, beware though that some people can have protective talismans or spells around their souls as to defend them against this but they usually don't work when the owner is dead so you only have to worry about spells that have been cast on undead."

"Are you still following?" Grim said when he saw that his student was deep in thought.

"Hm, yes but I do have a question." William said looking at Grim with questioning eyes.

"Yes I suppose answering your question can't harm, ask away student" Grim allowed William to ask his question.

"What happens when you miss the specific place where most of the soul is located, let's say an arm." William asked, thinking about a certain anime he watched, there was something that happened in that anime that led up to a point that someone's soul was "taken" out of his arms and then he was unable to use them anymore.

"Hm yes I believe that the arms would become "soulless" as to say and they won't be able to be healed or function again, unless that part of the soul is recovered." Grim said, clearing up Williams' suspicion.

"Now tomorrow we will venture into a world where we will search for a dying soul where you can learn how to use it in practical ways since just learning the theory behind it isn't going to help much, obviously we won't be up against a strong soul so you should be fine unless you seriously mess up." Grim said leaving in the same black swirl he used to appear with.

…

William was mentally exhausted so he decided to rest down and it was probably also good to rest up before heading out for his first time in more than a year coming out of this place where he from now on lives.