...

Shin was currently lying on the ground and staring blankly at the sky. He lost his battle against David and it seemed to be a one-sided battle.

The unexpected reflexive dodge and counter that he did earlier at the start of the battle was just a fluke. Even though he was always closed at redoing it, he only did it once and didn't manage to repeat it in the span of the entire battle.

Meanwhile, David was thinking differently. Even though the battle looked so one-sided earlier, it was actually quite hard for him to defeat Shin completely. He might not use his full power, but what Shin had shown was more than enough to win against the other Mentalists who were in the Peak Grandmaster Realm.

David didn't use his real strength during the battle. In fact, he didn't even use half of his current potential because Old Benn instructed him not to use any special techniques; all of his moves were only restricted to the ones that could only be used by average Mentalists.

Even though he could use different variations of those techniques, using it against a talented person like Shin was actually quite hard. And if Shin really managed to fully grasp the right way to properly utilize the special technique that Professor Plum and Grandmaster Benn were teaching him, then David might even have to use his real techniques in battle.

After taking a deep breath, David took another look at Shin before turning his head at Old Benn who was currently watching from the side. He shook his head a little before muttering to himself. "Trying to teach this guy to freely combine and separate his body and consciousness? These old monsters sure are crazy."

He then turned his head at Shin once again before shaking his head for another time. "And if this freak of nature managed to achieve it, then he will surely be going to become a much scarier monster than he currently is."

"Maybe he is still unaware of that, but that is the thing that makes it even scarier. A monster that is unaware of its real potential is much more terrifying than a monster who is aware of their own potential. It was because they can grow without any restrictions of knowing their own limits."

While he was thinking about that, he suddenly recalled a thing that his master had told him which made him shake his head even further. "And there was that thing too. For how much of a monster this kid can be?"

With that, he took a deep breath to calm his mind a little before walking towards Shin to offer him a hand on standing up.

Seeing that, Shin smiled a little before accepting David's help and stood up. "You really are strong, Senior Brother. I am looking forward to having another sparring match with you again in the future. And I hope you properly battle me at that time and not restrict yourself with those lousy techniques."

Hearing that, David smirked at him a little before saying. "But those lousy techniques almost beat you senseless."

Shin slightly shook his head when he heard that. "You are just a monster. That's all."

David looked at Shin skeptically before thinking to himself. 'Says who?'

At this time, Grandmaster got near them before saying to Shin. "How was it?"

Shin turned silent for a moment because he felt a lot of meaning from the old man's words. But he couldn't grasp what exactly it was. He also knew that both Professor Plum and Grandmaster Benn wanted to tell him something through his training, but he couldn't fully get it yet.

Given that, he just shook his head a little, indicating that he didn't know what to say. And when Old Benn saw that, he just nodded his head before crossing his hands behind before turning around while saying. "We will skip your Mentalism Training for today. But I want you to reassess your battle experience on this sparring."

"I will teach you how to properly use the Mentalism Runes in battle tomorrow. But you will resume your usual task immediately after it."

Hearing the first part of Grandmaster Benn's words, Shin immediately became excited as he was finally going to learn some proper battle techniques as a Mentalist. But he immediately became slight dejected when he heard that latter part since that meant that he still needed to pull that stupid rock boulder towards the top of the mountain.

While Shin felt a little down, Old Benn suddenly rubbed some salts on his wounds. "And you also need to fix your mindset in battle. You are still battling like a Martial-Artist rather than a Mentalist."

"That first move is slightly good. But the moves after that are not. You need to properly utilize your Mental Energy more and stop relying too much on your physique."

******

Later that night, Shin went to the river to take a bath. And when he was done, he decided to walk around the forest to reflect on what he had experienced in this special training so far.

And while he was walking aimlessly in that place, he suddenly bumped into David who was currently meditating in the middle of the woods.

Shin knitted his eyebrows for a moment after seeing that before deciding to not disturb the latter. So, he just shrugged a little before starting to walk away.

But right after he turned around and took a single step away, he suddenly felt something hit the back of his head and made him fall on the ground unconscious.

Thud!

David stood beside Shin's body before making a few hand gestures in the air, creating a huge barrier that isolated them.

After that, he took a bunch of talismans from his pocket before throwing it in the air. A moment later, those talismans flew towards the barrier that he built fused themselves with it.

Not long after, David looked at Shin's body on the ground before saying. "Hey! It is time to get up. I know that you are awake, so don't pretend to be sleeping there."

Minutes had passed but no reply came in. And when David saw that, he started talking once again. "If you don't want to get removed, then you better get up from there right now and stop pretending. I am fully aware of your existence, so that act will not work on me in the slightest."

Silence descended once again after David said those words. And when he saw that the one he was calling was still not willing to respond to him, the look on his face suddenly turned cold as he released an intense aura from his body.

BOOM!

But right before he did something, a powerful shockwave was sent out from Shin's body which forced David to move away.

After that, he started at Shin who was currently lying on the ground with a cautious look on his face. Then he suddenly saw Shin push the ground with both of his hands to get back on his feet.

"Tsk! Can't I just have a peaceful time? I am trying to behave myself here, so can you respect that at the very least?" said Shin as he stood up. And when he got back on his feet, he looked at David with a dissatisfied expression on his face.

Right now, Shin's pupils had purple color instead of grey. At the same time, the aura that was currently leaking out from his body was totally different from what he currently had.

Seeing that, David became even more cautious as he could feel an intense threat coming from 'Shin'. And after a few moments of observation, he suddenly took a deep breath before saying to himself. 'So, it is actually true.'

Meanwhile, 'Shin' leisurely stretched his waist left and right before asking. "So, what do you want from me? I am sure that you are not going to wake me up just to confirm my existence, right?"

Hearing those words, David couldn't help but knit his brows even further before asking. "How about we introduce ourselves to each other first?"

"There is no need to introduce yourself as I already know who you are. As for myself, then you can just call me Uno," replied 'Shin' while putting his hands inside his pocket.

He then turned silent for a few moments before saying. "So, what's the deal? Don't tell me you called me out just to have some casual chat?"

After that, he started walking towards the nearest tree around him before leaning his back on it while waiting for David's reply.

At the same time, David squinted his eyes as the dangerous feeling that he was sensing was getting even stronger the more Uno acted leisurely.

But despite receiving such a dangerous threat, he didn't feel any killing intent from the latter's aura much less any ill intentions mixed in it.

'He really gives off the same as Sir Adam,' thought David to himself as he took a deep breath to calm himself down before saying. "I have a favor to ask from you."

...…