Red was woken up by the sound of knocking at his door.

“Huh?” the boy sat up in his bed in a daze.

He looked around in confusion.

He remembered staring at the sky one moment, and on the next he was back in the real world. Red didn’t recall what he saw, but he had the distinct sensation that it was an extremely terrifying sight.

In fact, the more he tried to remember it, the more this feeling of dread settled in his gut. Red fought his own desire of understanding and looking into this mystery and decided to let the matter go for now. He learned from his own experience and from the hawk’s words that certain things in this world would be aware if they were mentioned in conversation or even thought about.

He couldn’t afford that right now.

Another knock at the door.

“Come out, kid.” Domeron’s voice came from the other side. “We need to talk.”

Only now did Red register there was someone waiting for him at his door. He looked out his window with a frown.

It was still the middle of the night.

The boy got up and opened his door. On the other side, he saw Domeron waiting for him with a smile.

Red’s frown deepened. “What is it?”

“I said we need to talk.” Domeron said.

“What about?”

“Many matters.”

“Is it so urgent that we need to do it in the middle of the night?”

“Well, not really.” the swordsman shrugged. “However, you should get used to it. It’s not convenient to do your training while others are watching, so we will mostly train in the middle of the night.”

“And you think the others won’t notice it?” Red was skeptical.

“They probably will.” Domeron said. “But they will know better than to stick their nose in my business. Besides, you have your power, don’t you? You will be able to tell if anyone is spying on us.”

“Makes sense.” Red nodded. “Where are we going?”

“To the training field.” the man pointed it out. “We can have our conversation there.”

Domeron led the way, and soon the two of them found themselves in the sand field. Red checked for his sect member’s fluctuations, but all of them seemed to have retired to their chambers. The boy did feel the curious absence of Rimold’s presence in the sect vicinities, but he didn’t mention it to Domeron.

The swordsman turned around and nodded at Red. “Go ahead.”

The boy frowned. “Go ahead with what?”

“With your questions.”

“What questions?”

“Aren’t you wondering why I didn’t tell you that Hector knew about Allen’s escape plan?”

“Not really.” Red shook his head. “Hector’s explanation was very clear.”

“And aren’t you angry that I tricked you?”

“Not angry, just surprised.”

“Really?” the man frowned.

“Well… Yes.” Red nodded. “I don’t trust much at face value, but I was really convinced by your speech about the Empire and how Hector’s attitude was helping them… Turns out, the two of you are just really good at playing your parts.”

Domeron smiled. “A good lie always has a bit of truth mixed in. I believed in what I said, and to a certain degree, I do think people like Hector were responsible for the rise of the Empire… But in that situation, I was just using that to convince you to take part in our plan.”

“So it seems. I only hope it pays out for Allen in the long run.”

The man sighed. “There’s no way anyone can know that. We can only try to push him on the right path, but he is the only one that can walk it.”

“And what is this right path exactly? Do you plan to have him start his own sect and begin an uprising against the Empire?” Red asked.

“That is more or less Hector’s dream.” Domeron nodded. “Although he is thinking more in the long term, too. As long as Allen can sow the seeds for the growth of the rise of a new sect according to his image in the future, then Hector will consider his work done.”

“What about you? Do you have any thoughts of your own about this?”

The swordsman smiled. “Are you trying to probe into my real thoughts?”

“Yes.” Red nodded.

Domeron was a mystery to the boy. First of all, he was apparently the strongest person in the sect below Hector, and that was just with one arm. However, Red had never seen him in action outside of training. Then there was also the man’s attitude. He was the only person inside the sect that seemed capable of reprimanding Hector on his actions, and the old man also respected his opinions. However, a lot of it might have been pure theatrics, and maybe Domeron was actually completely deferential to the elder.

Red didn’t think that was the case, though. He wasn’t the best judge of character, but he didn’t think Domeron’s attitude and fearlessness in front of Hector could be faked. There was something about the man that spoke to an unyielding and carefree attitude in front of anything in his life, despite his missing arm and non-existent hopes of reaching the Lesser Ring Realm.

The boy thought it was admirable, and if Domeron was able to fake it, then Red had to applaud him.

The swordsman continued to smile at him. “I don’t care much either way. I don’t have any ambitions and one of the few joys I can get from my day-to-day life is preparing the next generation to take on the world as I once did. If one day kids like you, Allen, Narcha, and Eiwin leave their marks in this world, then I’ll be satisfied.”

Domeron turned around and walked to the weapon rack. He picked out two wooden long swords, throwing one towards Red.

He stared at the boy with a widening grin. “Now I finally get to train an actual assassin. I’m quite excited myself.”

“What’s the difference between what you will teach me and what you are teaching the others?” Red asked.

“Well, I teach them how to fight. You, I will teach how to kill.”

Red frowned. “Is there a difference?”

“Sure there is.” Domeron nodded, as if it was the most obvious matter in the world. “You see, the fighting I teach them is straight forward combat - how to defend yourself and defeat your opponents. It is obviously an extremely important skill, but fighting is not the most efficient way of killing. It requires too much effort and involves taking too many risks, and in cultivation, that is something you want to minimize whenever you can. The most efficient way of killing is ending the fight in a single blow before the enemy even knows what is happening.”

“Isn’t that obvious though?” the boy was confused.

That train of thought was self-evident when you spoke about fighting in general.

“Of course it is, and yet if it could be accomplished as easily as that, there would be no need for learning how to fight.” Domeron shook his head. “It requires grasping and creating opportunity, as well as knowing how to act when the time comes. The mastery of that practice is called assassination, and it requires far more than just knowing how to fight.”

“That makes sense.” Red nodded in understanding. “But why don’t you teach the others about it, too? Wouldn’t it be a useful skill to have?”

“Every skill is useful to have, but not everyone can learn every skill.” the man said. “Assassination requires subtlety, cunning, and skullduggery. Do you think people like Narcha with her unruliness, Eiwin with her honest nature, and Allen with his naivety would be good fits for that?”

“I suppose not…”

“Indeed.” Domeron nodded. “Only someone devious like you who is used to sneaking around, stealing things, and stabbing people in the back with no remorse is suited for such a practice.”

Red wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment.

Domeron continued. “In any case, I’m not really here to teach you everything about assassination. I was never an accomplished assassin myself, so a lot of the fine details will be on you to learn.”

“What are you here to teach me then?” the boy asked.

“I will teach you the most important part of assassination.” Domeron pointed his sword at the boy. “Killing with one blow.”

The swordsman walked over to one of the wooden dummies in the courtyard.

“You see, one of the more important matters of assassination is knowing where to strike and for this you need a knowledge of human anatomy.” Domeron started to tap the dummy with his weapon. “The human being has a total of five vital organs, without which their body would certainly die very quickly. Those are the kidneys, the lungs, the heart, the liver, and the brain. Damaging any of those hard enough may cause near instant death, or at the very least imminent death, and is what assassination mostly focuses on. Of course, though, when it comes to cultivators, you may often find out that they can survive what would otherwise be fatal wounds…”

Red actually knew that from experience.

Domeron continued. “Some cultivators who have all their veins open can survive damage to a lot of their vital organs, and with healing pills, they may even recover in a matter of minutes. Therefore, you have target areas that can cause instant death, such as the heart and the brain…”

The swordsman went on to explain a lot of human anatomy to Red and how to best kill a cultivator. He spoke about how to locate an individual’s heart properly, from which position to stab into someone’s back, how to best penetrate into a skull. It was all explained in fine and gory details, without the man so much as swinging his sword once.

Apparently, Domeron had a lot of experience with this and he told Red all about the difficulty and traps one might run into while trying to kill someone.

“Mind you, even if you’re not perfect, it doesn’t mean you can’t kill someone.” Domeron said. “It may often happen in your assassinations that you won’t be able to kill someone in a single blow. However, the spirit of an assassin is to always strive to achieve that perfect killing blow, or else you give the opportunity for your opponent to retaliate and recover, and at that point, your assassination skills will avail you naught.”

“… I never imagined you could put so much thought behind killing.” Red said.

Domeron smiled. “You can put a lot of thought behind anything, kid. There is a science and principle behind any practice or art in the world, and a large part of cultivation is figuring out exactly what those are. Isn’t that exciting?”

“I suppose.” the boy nodded with no emotion in his expression. “I do have a question, though.”

“What is it?”

“A lot of what you told me is useful, but do I have the strength to become an assassin as I am?” Red asked.

He had seen cultivators with twelve open veins in the past. They had far better senses than him and could react much faster, too. The boy imagined trying to use these techniques on someone like Reinhart, and he didn’t think the results would be very good for him.

“If we’re talking about ordinary combat strength, then there is no chance.” Domeron shook his head. “But assassination is the ultimate opportunist’s art. A true master assassin can kill people many times stronger than them as long as they have the right opportunity and technique. I can’t really help you with finding opportunities, but I can teach you the right skills.”

The swordsman pointed his sword at him.

“So, do you want to learn the heron’s way, kid?”