In the dense morning fog, three shadows were dancing in the Forest of Teria.

"Don't lose focus!"

Valurn was shouting and coaching up Darian and Alicia, who were both frantically leaping from branch to branch trying to escape his sudden appearances and attacks. Their blindfolded faces strained as they tried to concentrate and feel Valurn's movements.

BAM!

Darian cursed as he felt a kick slam into his back. He fell off the branch he was on and landed face-first in the forest's wet ground. His front body was soon covered in mud.

Alicia didn't fare much better either. Caught completely unaware, she felt a fist punch her right in the stomach, causing her to heave and fall down to the ground on her ass. She let out a yelp as she felt pain radiate from her rear-end.

"Damn it. Why's this skill so hard to learn?"

Grumbling and rubbing off the mud, they both got back up and continued trying to sense their surroundings.

Of course, this training wasn't just random. For three months, the three of them have been repeating the same drill over and over again as Valurn tried to help his two pupils acquire the [Presence Detection] skill. Considered one of the hardest skills to learn, it usually took intense training and willpower to attain.

While Darian and Alicia both felt they had a better grasp of predicting movements and feeling the air around them, they still fell short of being able to sense any living beings, let alone an assassin like Valurn. As for sensing his emotions and intentions, it felt like a faraway dream for the young pupils.

"Stop trying to box my presence with your senses. Try to feel me beyond your five senses."

Hearing Valurn's encouragement, Darian tried to concentrate once more. Thinking over and over again on his teacher's teachings, he tried to understand the meaning of going beyond one's five senses. Logically, it seemed like an impossible task. After all, it's very hard to do and understand something that's physically impossible to experience.

Even so, the arduous task of honing [Presence Detection] involved understanding the impossible. For each individual, that impossible understanding was different in meaning. Trying the illogical logical was the reason so many failed to attain the skill.

Sensing beyond the five senses...

Feeling...

Darian thought back to a few days ago where Valurn was touching the importance of "feel." How not all feeling comes from what a person senses through touch. With that train of thought, he tried to think of ways to connect that with a whole new line of ideas.

Intuition...

Instinct...

Reaction...

With a sudden revelation in thought, he started to try applying his understanding of instinct and intuition with going beyond the five senses. Concentrating his thoughts on events where he's had to trust instinct and intuition, he started to grasp a better understanding of the unknown he had been desperately chasing.

An innate "gut-feeling" from instinct and intuition ... going beyond the five senses to detect and realize something.

Suddenly, a faint but trustworthy feeling started swelling inside of him. Grabbing hold of that feeling, Darian let it grow and swell inside of him like a raging inferno. All of a sudden, he felt a click go off inside of him as a whole new wave of understanding poured into him.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Conditions for [Presence Detection] met!

[Presence Detection] skill acquired! Starting level: [1/20].

[Presence Detection 1/20] is now intuitively operational.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Seeing that rare message screen pop up, Darian almost let out a yell of excitement right there. After months of training, he finally was rewarded.

Whenever a person acquires a skill, a screen and message pops up in their mind. When that happens, the skill and knowledge of use becomes known to the user. Since most people do not have [Appraisal], they aren't able to access any visuals of their list of skills, statuses, or levels. However, like a person knows how to instinctively move an arm or leg, they also instinctively know what skills they have and how to use it.

The downside is the fact that this message screen only pops up for skills and leveling up said skills. They are unable to access their attributes or what level they are without an [Appraisal Orb] or a [Hero] class with [Appraisal]. For normal people, they'd only feel fatigue and/or other side effects if their MP or HP is low rather than understand the numerical value.

Nevertheless, this message screen is something anyone in training for a skill yearns to see.

"Hell yeah!"

He decided to try and surprise his teacher.

"[Presence Detection]"

Right on cue, warning bells went off in him as he recognized a flying kick coming his way. Reflexively, he rolled away and started honing in on the assailant. Sensing his location, Darian got up and sped right towards him with a kick of his own.

BAM!

The air exploded in all directions as he felt his kick connect with something hard and immovable. He remained stuck in mid-air unable to move as Valurn grabbed hold of his foot.

"Hmm. You should no hesitation with that kick as if you already knew where I was," Valurn commented while in thought. "Don't tell me ... you finally learned [Presence Detection] already?"

"YEP! JUST LEARNED IT." Darian replied with a huge grin.

Valurn stood there stunned. While he knew Darian was a very promising young man, he didn't think he'd be this talented.

When it comes to learning skills, [Presence Detection] belonged in what was termed as the "enlightenment skills." These kinds of skills involved understanding a certain process, hidden meaning, or logical makings of said skill. The issue was how such understanding was different for everyone, as everyone's conclusions were all unique on how they understood the skill.

For the most part, coming to an understanding of a skill like [Presence Detection] was a process done over long periods of time as experience piled up. Doing training for said skill everyday was already considered a very big boost in the learning curve, and even then Valurn expected it to last for two years at the minimum. After all, the fastest he's ever heard anyone learn [Presence Detection] was in about a year and a half. Even he himself only learned this skill in three years.

The fact that Darian figured out [Presence Detection] in three months was absolutely terrifying.

"If I only could tell you how much of a freak you are for learning that skill already." Valurn muttered in exasperation.

"Hehe!" Darian replied skipping around like a toddler with joy.

Although Valurn was internally proud of his student learning so fast, he also was conflicted with how fast and easy it was for him. After all, seeing him learn [Presence Detection] in such a short amount of time was like a slap in the face for all the hard work he put in trying to learn that skill before.

Soon, Alicia appeared beside Darian and Valurn as she noticed the two of them stopped fighting. Looking at Darian's ecstatic face opposing Valurn's regretful expression, she was completely confused

"Hey. What happened?" She asked with a bewildered expression.

Valurn turned towards Alicia, his face completely stuck on said regretful expression as he replied.

"Oh, nothing much. Except the fact I just learned Darian is an absolute monster."

Laughing with tears of joy, Darian hugged Alicia in excitement. She yelped in surprise at the sudden attack.

"Da-Da-Da-Da-Darreeeaannn. Wha-wha-what are y-you doing?" Alicia asked nervously, her face reddening like a tomato.

"I FINALLY LEARNED [PRESENCE DETECTION]!!! I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW I'D EVEN MARRY YOU!" Darian cried out in happiness.

Letting go of a completely shell-shocked Alicia - who was currently struggling to process Darian's words - he went right back to Valurn and hugged him as well. As for the assassin, he didn't exactly take the hug the same way as Alicia did and found himself annoyed instead.

"Let go of me you freak."

"VALURN MARRY ME TOO!"

"Oh fuck no."

With a petrified Alicia, an unstable happy Darian, and their teacher Valurn, who was currently contemplating what he's been doing with his life all this time, the three of them ended their usual morning practice on a high note.

Levion, Darian, Alicia, and Valurn were all sitting at the dining table inside Levion's farmhouse with plates of food in front of them. After hearing what happened in the morning, the Father's face beamed with pride and happiness. He started 'patting' his son's back in satisfaction.

"As expected of my son! To do the impossible already in such a short amount of time!"

Wincing, Darian took on his father's barrage of hard 'pats' in pain. However, since he knew his father was in a good mood, he didn't do anything about it. After all, he also was in a good mood, albeit more subdued than he was that morning.

"Honestly, it wasn't too much. Just took a little bit of understanding is all." Darian replied meekly.

"'It wasn't too much' my ass. You did something that took me three years in three months. How the hell is that not 'too much.'" Valurn replied angrily.

"Oh stop being so jealous Valurn. Shouldn't you be excited seeing a student of yours exceed yourself as a teacher?" Levion replied indifferently.

"Hmph," Valurn grunted, "First it was Alicia learning [Hide Presence] in six months, and now Darian with [Presence Detection] in three. Would be nice to have normal students next time instead of monsters."

"What'd you expect after taking in a son of mine?" Levion questioned in a teasing tone.

Getting a tad bit tired of the conversation centering around him, Darian decided to put an end to it.

"Anyways, let's stop talking about me. I'm starving!" He yelled out as he grabbed his utensils.

Agreeing, the three men ceased their conversation and started eating the breakfast in front of them. However, while everyone else was eating, a certain red-faced silver haired demon continued sitting there staring at her food. Noticing the abnormality, Levion perked his head up.

"Hey Alicia. What's the matter? You don't look too well." He asked her with concern.

"Umm...uh..." Alicia stuttered.

"Hey you don't worry. Go ahead and tell us what's wrong." Levion continued trying to comfort the nervous Demon.

Inhaling, Alicia decided to break what's been on her mind.

"Um...D-D-Darian, uh, p-p-pr-proposed to me." She weakly muttered.

All activity in the farmhouse immediately ceased upon her revelation. The father looked at his son quizzically while Valurn cracked a small smile trying to suppress his laughter. As for Darian himself, his once elated mood immediately turned sour as he realized the huge mistake he made.

"No no no no Alicia!" Darian yelled trying to corrrect himself. "That was just me saying whatever because I was excited! Definitely not a proposal! No fucking way that was legitimate!"

"So...that wasn't a proposal?" Alicia looked up at Darian with an uneasy look on her face.

"Oh fuck no. That was most definitely not a proposal!"

After hearing that, the world shattered for Alicia. Just a moment ago, while embarrassed, she truly was happy thinking Darian would finally turn into the Prince of her dreams and sweep her away in marriage. However, hearing him say it was an accident was like pouring fire and burning away all her fantasies.

With tears forming in her eyes, she stood up and threw her food at Darian's face.

"I HATE YOU!' Alicia screamed as she ran away.

"Hey wait! What's did I do wrong?" A dense 13-year old Darian yelled out as he got up and chased after her.

Meanwhile, Valurn and Levion both stayed behind laughing at the sudden drama between the two kids.

"That's what that kid gets for trying to out-do me and rub it in my face." Valurn cried out as he bellowed.

"Oh man. What it's like to be young again."

Levion smiled at the two running figures while chuckling.

After finally chasing after Alicia and sorting the issue out, Darian came back to his house with her in tow. As for how he calmed her down, that's a story for another time. Meanwhile, his dad was already ready outside waiting for the two.

"So now that the excitement's done, you two ready for more training?"

Nodding, the two of them confirmed Levion's words.

"Alright! Well let's get started then. Darian you're up first."

Immediately, Levion sprang out from his spot and went after Darian loading up a fist. Seeing his father come after him, Darian stepped and leaned backwards to avoid his attack.

Levion remained unfazed as he punched empty air and extended his opposing leg into a backwards side kick. Darian put his hands on the ground and propped himself into a backflip as he also avoided that attack. Afterwards, he tried coming in with a punch of his own, only to have his dad side-step and avoid that hit.

The two of them continued attacking and evading each other for a while as they trained each other's fighting skills. They both appeared to be at an absolute deadlock as neither of their continuous attacks landed.

However, after a while, Darian soon saw an opening. After launching a straight-line punch, he noticed his father was in an awkward position with his back fully exposed. Landing his punching arm on the ground while laying to the side, he immediately used this moment to swing his leg around in a sweeping kick towards Levion's exposed back.

Unfortunately, Levion was expecting that.

Suddenly lurching forward, he avoided his son's kick as he dropped down on all fours. He then loaded up his legs and sprung them straight out at Darian's crotch fearlessly.

BAM!

Darian cried out in immense pain as he was sent flying through the air. Landing back on his ass, his face crunched up as he feared the worst for his manhood. Seering, unfathomable pain radiated as his balls were most definitely squished burger patties by now.

Meanwhile, Alicia watched the whole episode unfold with horror as she saw Darian in extreme pain.

"Oh no! Darry-Poo!"

She ran as fast as she could over to Darian with absolute concern plastered on her face. Reaching out, she hugged Darian and put him in her embrace as she checked his crotch area while sniffling.

"Damnnnn it hurts. No I'm not fine, but please stop staring at my manhood." Darian groaned while in pain.

"That's what you get for falling for that trick."

Levion laughed as he walked over. While he did feel bad for inflicting the worst pain imaginable on his son, he can't say that he didn't find it humorous.

"I'll heal it so you don't need to worry Alicia." He told Alicia in a comforting tone.

"Okay...." Alicia sniffled while Darian rolled his eyes.

Extending his hand, Levion started to chant.

"[Heal]!"

A glowing yellow light sprung out from Levion's hands and flung to Darian's injured sac. His nether regions glowed as the healing process took place.

"This is so fucking weird." Darian muttered while unsure whether it was normal to be enjoying the feeling of his balls returning to normal.

Finally, the glowing stopped as the healing finished. Darian stood back up while confirming that he indeed still had balls. Breathing a sigh of relief, he gave a thumbs up to Alicia and his dad confirming he was fine.

However, Levion didn't let any more time go to waste as he began his grilling.

"Alright. So, what exactly went wrong son?"

Darian looked down grumpily as he replied.

"You decided to be a dick and take away my baby-makers."

"Continue acting like that and I'll rip your dick out instead."

Clicking his tongue after hearing his father's threat, Darian decided to answer seriously.

"I thought I saw an opening and went for it," He began speaking. "But clearly it was a trap and you took plenty advantage."

Levion nodded hearing Darian's words. While he had to admit most people would probably do the same, it was still disappointing to see his son still not understand what he's been trying to teach all this time.

"Exactly. As I've said countless times, any opening from an experienced fighter is usually a trap. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than a fighter accidently showing an opening."

"But wait. Didn't you say before there were moves that could cause enemies to expose an opening?" Darian interjected.

"Yes I have. However, in this instance you never used any of those moves so you never created an opening. However, if you did execute those moves perhaps an opening would've been made."

Darian bobbed his head in understanding as his father continued.

"Once again, treat everyone you fight as if they're better than you. To protect yourself, you have to know when to strike and when to fall back. Next round, I don't want to see you make any stupids mistakes again."

"Yes sir!"

Satisfied, Levion let out a grunt and turned over to Alicia.

"Alright. It's your turn now! Show Darian how to really fight!"

"Yes sir!" Alicia nodded as she took a stance.

With plenty more bang and flair, the training continued on into lunchtime as the three of them honed each others skills on the farmland.

"So that's Tanquai village."

A cloaked figure muttered to himself.

Looking over at the large village surrounded by grassland, his mood fell down into a depression. Noticing that Humans and Demons were really interacting and living with each other, he felt total anguish for his fellow brainwashed species. Landon knew that he had to hurry and fix up this absolute mess.

With tears in his eyes, he made a silent vow with those Humans as he continued on.

"Don't worry. Your suffering will end soon. I'll personally end the lives of you all and the demons so that you no longer have to live such a depraved life."