"You bought the building?" The receptionist asked.

"Yes, I am determined."

The man snorted. "Fine, your club fees are $40,000 a month. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all." Brax chuckled. The lawyer had handed him the lease agreement with the club, and that was the amount they had to pay in rent every month.

"Alright, you can join. I am the owner of this club by the way. The name is Anthony Vindel but you can call me Tony."

"I am Brax Tomlin. When can I start?"

"Come on back, no point in waiting."

Brax followed Tony into the gym as the owner began to explain the club.

"We focus on several types of hand to hand combat here, we do a little bit of empty hand, but most practices involve small weapons like daggers or stilettos. Almost all of our members come from the military or dangerous walks of life. Don't come crying to me if they don't give you face. I am only letting you join so we don't have to shut down."

"Alright, I understand."

Entering the gym, Brax could see two men in a sparring ring. Each had a rubber dagger. They were circling each other and lashing out. Their combat was intense but not very pleasing to the eye. Brax could tell that in their minds they were not putting on a show or strutting their prowess for each other. They were locked in a life and death battle. To be struck by the dagger meant flesh would be cut. Taking a blow to get in closer to the enemy was not an option. He was amazed by what he saw.

"Don't get your hopes up. It will be years before you are on the same level as those two. It's possible that you will never be that good."

Brax watched as one of the men caught the wrist of the other before giving his opponent a flurry of stabs in the stomach.

"Hmph, if you were to try something like that, you would likely get your hand cut off."

"Yeah, yeah, I am the worst and you're the best." Brax said to Tony while watching the two men split up and try again.

"At least you can admit it." Tony said, ignoring Brax's mocking tone. "Go get changed and get back out here." He said pointing to the locker room.

He changed, even though he showed up in sweatpants. He got rid of his jacket and tightened the laces on his shoes.

"Since I am the only trainer here today, you are stuck with me. Tell me about your character, no need to talk about real life, one look at you and I can tell you have no real-world experience with cold weapons."

"Okay, well first and foremost I am a warlock, but-."

"A warlock?"

"Yeah it's a type of spellcaster that-."

"I am not dumb; I play evolution too. Where else could I practice my skills so easily? It is just surprising that a caster wants to learn knife skills."

"I am also a thief and with magic I can turn wands into daggers. Magic wise, I specialize in illusions and telekinetic, but I have access to all shadow and mental magic."

"Hmm, I see. Alright, that's enough, I have the general idea. I will start your training in Paranza Corta. It's an Italian style of fighting that uses a stiletto. The stiletto was originally invented to pierce through chain-mail and uses a stance similar to fencing. It's ideally a stealthy type of knife fighting. Perfect for assassinations."

Tony picked up a couple of rubber stiletto knives and tossed one to Brax. Unlike regular daggers, a stiletto had no edge, it was purely a thrusting weapon.

Brax held the stiletto and tried to match Tony's movements, unsuccessfully. The instructor circled around him, staying in constant movement. His blade hand was in front, swirling around, to keep Brax guessing while his off hand stayed close to his chest for defense. Suddenly the instructor dropped down slightly, swiftly shifted his weight to his front foot and went in for the killing strike. A fierce thrust placed the stiletto between his ribs on his side.

Caught unaware, Brax dropped his rubber knife and clutched his side. There would definitely be a bruise.

"Your feet are too far apart, and you are too distracted by my blade. Keep your eyes on my hips. They will tell you when I am about to strike."

Over and over, Brax tried to fend off Tony's attacks until he was wheezing and tired.

"You're too weak. Go to the workout equipment in the back and get stronger, train for an hour then run three miles on the treadmill. That will be all for today."

Tony walked away without waiting for Brax to answer.

In the evening, Brax left the club and got in his car. He was tired and in pain, but he felt like he had joined the right place. If he could be a tenth as good as Tony, then the tough training would be worth it.

***

Lucan walked out of his room in the castle, Silent was waiting for him so they could start the day.

Setting off, they began the journey to the Black Steel Mountains.

Flying on his broom from Garth, Lucan began to become restless. He was nervous but also a little giddy. A part of him was excited to go back to the place where his insanity was born.

Entering into the mountain, he followed the familiar path that he once walked with Goldbear and the others. He and Silent were stronger than the level 85 Lucan who had previously been here. Working there way through, they dealt with the earth elementals and eventually wound up at the guard house.

Peeking in, nobody was inside.

Five minutes passed while Lucan just stared at the door to the bridge, not opening it.

"Are you ready to go?" Silent eventually asked with a questioning look.

"Did I ever tell you that this is the place where I was betrayed? Outside this door, I was thrown from the bridge. I plummeted into the Depths of Despair and found the ethereal essence while also going insane."

"Oh." Silent said. Not sure what to say to comfort Lucan. She wasn't even sure if he wanted to be comforted. While she could hear fear in his voice, there was also a strong desire on his face. His eyes had the familiar twinkle that came with his insanity. She placed her hand on his back and said the only thing she thought might help. "I will follow you."

Silent then merged with his shadow. She was still with him, but Lucan felt alone in the room.

Lucan sighed to himself before pushing the door open, he was ready to meet what was on the other side.

[Warlock's Insanity has been triggered.]

***

"This sure has been a tough fight, but we are almost there, come on guys. The overseer has been defeated and we only need to clean up a few more miners before we can enter." A knight said to the rest of the party.

"With leader here, there is no chance of us dying. I told you guys that joining the Burning Mast guild would be a good decision." Said an elementalist as he created a pitfall underneath a dwarven miner.

"I never would have guessed that they would send a high-level healer to come with us on our first run." Remarked a thief.

"It's important to know how to run this dungeon, any mistakes before entering can be costly. Our guild always sends a high-level player with the new recruits their first time through." Said the healer. "Don't forget to collect your arrows when we are done." The priest reminded the archer.

An eerier cackling was heard from behind the players.

"He, he, he, ha, he, ho, ha."

The players looked back to see a lone warlock coming across the bridge. They were frightened at first since he had 20 levels on them, but they calmed down when they remembered that the guild had sent a level 140 priest with them.

"Group together." The knight said. "Cleancut, go into stealth and get ready to act if he does anything funny."

Three players gathered around their priest while the thief vanished.

Holding a scepter in hand, the warlock stopped in the middle of the bridge as he swept his eyes over the 4 who were killing the last of the dwarves. They felt chills run down their spine.

"Leader, should we attack?" The knight asked. He received no response. "Leader?" He asked again.

Turning to look at their priest, the knight grew concerned. She looked upset and shocked.

The priest started to speak. "L-, L-, Lucan."

"SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH!" The warlock screamed before letting out another laugh. "Shinny, Oh Shinny, of all the places I thought I would see you, I never thought it would be here."

"I-, I am sorry, I tried to look for you but."

"DO I LOOK LIKE I WANT TO HEAR YOUR DRIVEL!?!"

Seeing the reaction of their healer, the Knight frowned. "This isn't good." He sent the order through party chat to attack.

An arrow flew across the bridge and landed in the warlock's shoulder. They were surprised to see the caster didn't even try to avoid it. They had a bad feeling as a smile crept across his face.

"He, he, no red name for me. You did damage first."