He really is a slave driver, but I manage to surprise him with how much my strength increased. I can now make it through a full set of his exercises without feeling tired. I am starting to feel a lot more confident about this plan that I came up with.

Originally I just wanted to do something to delay the demon lords, now I am thinking it might actually work. If I can actually help bring down both Lord Shendaw and Lord Dra, then that will be two less demon lords. Not to mention they are the two most powerful demon lords, their deaths will be a big achievement.

With the two strongest lords dead, and the armies of the other five severely damaged, it should buy us years. Originally I was just going to use this as a chance to escape, now I think I should go through with it and do as much damage as possible. Besides, who knows what interesting things I might be able to pick up in the sacking of a demon lord's castle.

Also if I can get Vacker free and take him with me I will have a true swordmaster to train my people. I'm sure that given a few years Vacker can train a lot of good swordsmen. If we have beastmen trained as swordsmen they should be able to deal with demons easily.

So bringing Vacker back is almost as important as damaging the demon lord's armies to buy time. This trip may end up giving us an enormous advantage if this plays out in my favor. It's a good thing the demon lords don't know who I really am or they would have killed me on the spot.

If this all works out then when they invade they are going to really regret not killing me. Assuming I can survive until then anyway, speaking of I should probably pay attention. If Vacker catches me not paying attention to my exercises I may not live to see the arena.

Luckily it seems my body was going through the correct motions while I was thinking of other things. Vacker didn't notice, or if he did he doesn't care, which would mean I got the exercises correct. As long as I am doing what I am told and not making mistakes I don't think Vacker will care all that much.

Vacker says "Well, you seem to have the basics down finally. If you can do them while thinking of other things it should mean you are ready to learn the next set!"

'Crap! He did notice! Next set? There are more?!'

Vacker says "Now watch carefully how I do them. Once I am done you will repeat them."

As instructed I watch every single movement Vacker makes, doing my best to memorize them. He takes pity on me and runs through the exercises a second time. As soon as he finishes them I start going through them while he watches and corrects me.

Due to intense exercise Str +1!

This set of exercises is much harder, even after three tries I can't get it all correct. Yet Vacker doesn't seem upset with me for making mistakes which is odd. Maybe he expected me to have trouble with it, maybe it is advanced stuff and is hard to learn.

Vacker says "Not bad for your first try, but now you are getting sloppy because you are tired. Relax until dinner and then get some sleep after you eat."

"You are being nice, what gives?"

Vacker says "Normally, when I train soldiers they spend at least a month on the basics before I teach them intermediate."

"Oh, so I am actually doing well to be moving on so soon?"

Vacker says "No, we are just on a very short time limit. So don't get cocky!"

"Right, sorry."

Vacker says "I'm not saying you are bad, you do have the potential to become a master."

"Just not this quick, you are teaching me faster than you should because we are running out of time."

Vacker says "Right, if you survive this and we get out of here I will definitely turn you into a master."

"I will hold you to that. I also want you to train a couple of thousand swordsmen."

Vacker says "I will train as many as you want, just as long as I am free."

"You will be free, you will also have a nice house in the city of Illium. You will be paid for your time and after the war you can open a school if you want to."

Vacker says "That all sounds very nice, so you make sure you win in the arena and earn our freedom."

"That's the plan!"

A few minutes later dinner arrives and we are too busy eating to continue our discussion. As soon as I am done eating I head to bed to get some sleep, since I know I will be woken up early. In fact Vacker wakes me up just as soon as he wakes up, and since he hasn't been too active that is in about six hours.

Vacker says "Since we have a few hours until breakfast let's go through it again."

"Alright, alright! I'm up!"

Vacker says "Go through the new exercises, and use your mind blade."

"Okay."

Summoning my mind blade I slowly work through the new exercises that he taught me. Each time he points out a mistake I start the exercise over until I can get through it without a mistake. It takes me two hours to finish a single set of exercises.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Mind Blade has progressed to level 2!

Mind Blade

Level: 2

Int +4 Willpower +2 Dmg 1/2 Int

A blade created with mental strength.

'No strength up? Guess going through it slowly isn't enough exercise.'

After we eat breakfast I start going through the exercises again, this time faster. Vacker only has to correct me a few times as I go through it this time. It isn't perfect yet but it is much better than it was last time.

Due to intense exercise Str +1!

Vacker says "That was much better! You really do have a talent for the sword."

"Why do you sound surprised?"

Vacker says "Well, you are part demon after all. Like I said, I've never seen a demon swordmaster."

"After seeing the demon lords I am fairly sure that if they wanted to they could master the sword. Lord Bibiq gave me the feeling that he had mastered the spear."

Vacker says "I suppose it is because they prefer to master their own powers rather than weapons."

"Each demon lord seemed different from what I could see."

Vacker says "Yes, each demon develops differently as they rank up. So each demon lord is unique because they ranked up differently."

"So each one has unique powers they have to figure out and master on their own? That wouldn't leave much time for mastering the sword."

Vacker says "Exactly, if you plan to master the sword you won't be able to master the powers of a demon. It is a choice you need to make."