Lacking

At the sudden question, Yulie paused and looked away from her strange item—she then stared intently into Damian's eyes.

The two of them remained still, engaging in a pressuring silence.

"...No." Eventually, Yulie broke the ice with a simple disagreement.

"Now I understand that you may feel hesitant to say yes, but-" Damian negotiated, uneasy.

"Just ask Kley." Yulie rolled her eyes at his blatant plea.

At her response, Damian knowingly sighed:

"Fair, but to be honest, I just really want to know how you do those strange movements you've been practicing all these days."

"...That's not something I can teach you. Those practices belong to my family and can only be sufficiently performed by my family alone." Yulie answered back unchanging and indifferent.

"Why is that?" Damian curiously asked.

"The runes inscribed into our bloodline all follow a certain aspect that my family has tailored a martial art to over multiple generations." Yulie calmly explained.

"Although I have no idea what you just said…I suppose it probably makes sense." Damian slowly began to nod in understanding.

Eventually interrupting their conversation, Kley slowly walked onto the practice field and met their gazes.

"Hello everyone, I saw you two talking a bit—mind if I join in?"

"Not at all," Yulie replied, going back to studying her artifact in silence.

Leaving Damian to fend for himself, Kley turned to him.

"I-uh…was just asking her if she could teach me her swordsmanship. Or more specifically…that weird movement she does every day.

Widening his eyes briefly at the question, Kley shook his head:

"Not possible, that movement is something tailored to Yulie's abilities. Even if you could learn it, you would probably get in trouble for performing something like that in public."

"Plus, it's not even swordsmanship—it's simply a unique kind of movement that can be applied to nearly anything, not just combat."

"There are different ways to move in combat?" Damian inquired.

"Of course, there are. You'll understand as you meet more Imprinted later on."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Regardless, I can still teach you swordsmanship if you're up for it but it'll hurt like all the other practices we've been doing." Kley walked over to a nearby rack filled with all kinds of fake weapons.

Taking one last glance at Yulie's oblivious sitting figure, Damian readily agreed.

— —

Although, what should've been some amount of sword dueling, ended up as a sort of laborious, and boring task.

"What are you doing? I taught you some simple movements and stances earlier, but none of that will matter if you can't even hold the damn weapon." Kley talked whilst leaning on his own sword like a cane.

"How am I supposed to hold the weapon if you keep knocking it out of my hands?" Damian begrudgingly spat in response.

"Well, then I guess you would be dead. Maybe try getting a grip or something. Do you have any idea as to what kind of strength might be on the other side of that sword of yours? The least you could do is learn to not let go." Kley shrugged without a care in the world.

"This unfair treatment will not go unpunished, you piece of shit!"

"To be honest, I think I'll be getting away with it just fine. Some may even congratulate me for putting you in your place." Kley yawned.

As Damian routinely struggled, the day continued to pass by.

Unfortunately, now that Damian had been brought into sword training, an even wider teaching of fundamentals would have to be set and lay waste to his already straining mind. But learning both at the same time does have its benefits as both skill sets tend to merge into each other, allowing for more fluency in combat.

Eventually, to Damian's surprise, Yulie actually agreed to swap with Kley—the two finally having their own sword duel as well which led to another brutal slapping around.

"...*Cough* *Cough*...*Sigh*..Ok…I get it…I don't have talent for the sword…god damn I'm in so much pain! What the hell did you do to me?!" Damian grasped at the powdered dirt ground—struggling to even remain on his hands and knees.

"It's not that you don't have talent Damian, you're just a little…lacking? Yeah, just lacking since you're still malnourished and your body isn't conditioned well—you've been here two days, so try to be a little patient." Kley spoke up, relaxing on the dirt and reading while Yulie trained with Damian.

"Then maybe go a little easy on the starved child for once!" Damian yelled back.

"Denied."

Sadly, Kley nor Yulie showed any remorse for the ragged boy that day.

"Ughh"

Throughout their bickering, Yulie calmly waited for Damian to get up.

"I'll definitely pay you back someday for this." The boy growled in his childish tantrum.

"Alright, let's go over the basic steps again." Yulie finally spoke up.

Maintaining his sincere concentration, Damian thought to himself aloud:

"Even though what I'm doing feels fast and accurate, it's not anything like what you were practicing yesterday."

Disappointed greatly, Damian continued his training.

"Just because it looks cool doesn't mean you'll actually benefit from it even if you could learn it." Yulie pinched her brow, subtly annoyed at his constant complaining.

"...How the hell do you even acquire something like that?"

"You either learn it or you make it."

"...I don't think I'll be able to do either of those…"

"Then I can't help you."

"You could teach me your family's practices." Damian responded smugly.

"Why would I possibly do that? Even if you could learn it, do you know how much that knowledge is worth? How would you pay for it?" Yulie scoffed at his shamelessness, nearly losing her indifferent expression.

"Well…that…do you take credit?"

Speechless at his ridiculous comments, Yulie paused their training.

"The way you act is just so tiresome."

"To say that to a poor struggling orphan—I don't think my brittle heart can take any more of this…"

"Then please pass away quietly," Yulie mumbled cynically as she drank from her water canister.

After their Imprinted training had ended, Yulie parted ways with him and Kley—allowing his extended private lessons to begin once again.

As the light faded, Damian thoroughly fought and trained against his instructor as the night deepened.

— —

"I've been meaning to ask for some time now, but what exactly is that glove on your right hand?" Kley inquired about Damian's fallen and tired figure.

"Oh, this? I have no idea." Damian lazily lifted his hand into view.

"I mean, it's clearly a rune artifact, so you must be wearing contacts to conceal the glow in your eyes. I just wonder if you've figured out the item yet.

Brought back to reality by Kley's statement, Damian shot up from where he was lying.

'That's what the old man said!'

"...If it's alright, could you explain to me what that glow in my eyes even is?"

Stretching lightly, Kley continued his words:

"When someone achieves something great, sometimes they can be rewarded with a rune artifact. When this happens, they are marked with a glowing dash in their eyes. This is referred to as receiving a vanity mark. It's essentially a magic object that can be manifested into existence at your will. For every rune artifact you get, you receive a golden dash in your eye as well." Kley calmly explained

Absorbing the information, Damian passionately thanked his instructor before eventually furrowing his brow:

"You can manifest at will? What? Also, you said for every artifact you get. Does that mean you can get more than one vanity mark in your eyes?"

"Yes to both of those questions. Rune artifacts can vanish out of thin air if you want them to. And you will receive another vanity mark if you are rewarded with another rune artifact." Kley confirmed his suspicions.

"On another note, if this glove is a rune artifact, would you have any ideas as to what it's even supposed to do?"

"Honestly, I can't really help you with that thing. Since it's a glove, it definitely has something to do with your sense of touch, but figuring out how is your job." Kley expressed thoughtfully.

"Well…I guess that makes sense. Alright, I'll deal with this later—again, thanks for the information. I'm gonna head to sleep." Damian decided to conclude his training and head to his room.

— —

On his way into the walls of the outpost, he slowed his pace to a stop as he looked into a familiar space. The old and worn library stared back at his tired figure, with its flimsy door slightly cracked.

'I know I searched through there earlier, but…that noise. Is it still there?'

Caving into his curiosity, he opened the entrance to find everything as he had left it. Ignoring the debris gathered within the small space, Damian approached the empty bookshelf and shoved it aside to be then greeted by an empty stone wall. Carefully, he brought his ear up to its cold surface.

"…"

In the presence of silence, Damian pulled away from the wall, disappointed.

However, still skeptical, he began pounding his hand at the surface.

*BANG BANG BANG*

"…"

Still nothing.

Looking around, he quickly grabbed one of the two old books still left on the table. With all his strength, he then slammed at the stone wall.

*BANG, BANG, BANG*

After a few consecutive hits, he paused and brought his ear close again—listening closely.

On the other side, he heard nothing again, but as he was about to pull away, a strange sound subtly echoed.

*SCRATCH, SCRATCH, SCRATCH*

There it was—that same uncomfortable scratching from beyond the shelves and concrete walls.