Moyo stared in abject terror at the man known as Ajax death blade, who in turn just raised an eyebrow in amusement, none of them was willing to break the obvious silence after the words ajax had spoken, both for different reasons. Ajax stood up from the rock he had blended seamlessly to, Moyo noted he had some sort of cuff with chains linked to it that extended to what seemed like the hilt of a blade that rested on his back. He wore a dark robe that ended at his knees, a slit at the middle of the robe that seemed to divide the cloth like a coat with only a sort of sigil or golden button holding it together at his chest area, the arms of the cloth seemed to had been torn off giving the armless look some sort of rough killer vibes, and if Moyo was sure of anything, it was that this man was a pure killer, the feeling of blood and dread oozed off him in intangible waves.

Ajax crouched in front of him, sniffing and frowning his face,

“You look like shit, smell like shit, oh and you should pick the enduring body” ajax said,

Moyo nodded dumbly, accepting the aspect and in a rush of blissful energy he felt his body grow sturdier, a bit stronger like he just came off a gym high, it helped him push off the crippling fear of ajax. Eyeing ajax delicately, while not forgetting he was at the mercy of the man, he asked

“disciple? who are you?”

Ajax grinned shamelessly,

“finally able to talk eh?, disciple because I wish it if you do not want to be that, you simply have to duel and beat me, it's that simple,” Ajax replied,

Seeing that Moyo remained quiet, he chuckled and continued, the wordless acceptance noted, for moyo could do nothing in front of such a monster,

“a certain benefactor, whose name I cannot mention hence I draw the attention of both his allies and foes on this very place has taken a liking to you, in my opinion, I honestly feel pity for you for getting his attention, but who knows? there might be a future for you, should you survive, I’m guessing he was the one that gave you the blood absorption skill at a high tier?” ajax said as Moyo nodded, wondering how ajax knew, had he been watching him? was he the one he had been feeling?

Stroking his beard ajax muttered to himself,

“seeing as you’re a novice, you are yet to grasp the weight of what was handed to you, even I don’t have that skill, yet anyways. It is one of the most sought after skill in the whole archailect, and I do not know what dangerous game he is playing, but all I can say is you’ve been given a great cross and boon to bear” ajax said,

Moyo digested that, staring at the burnt and smoking clothes that barely covered him, he didn’t ask for this, his life was fucking fine before all this craziness and now he might have been made a target for obtaining a skill of value, however, his eyes hardened,

Fuck them all,

He would use it to grow stronger, he would keep stealing their life essences, accumulating power till he could defend himself from those who would label him prey. Ajax saw the look in his eyes and grinned again, his eyes alight also,

“this is why I chose you, you have the look of one who would do anything, sacrifice anything to attain power,” he said,

Moyo stared hard at him,

‘if I follow you if I obey you, would I get as strong as you?” he asked and felt a blooming pain on his skull as ajax lightly tapped his head,

Son of agony(u) level 26!

Moyo stared in astonishment at the notification, what monstrous strength did Ajax have for a light tap from him to increase his pain endurance level?

“aim higher!, the archailect does not suffer small dreams, but I promise you strength, and with the kind of skills you have, I promise to make you into a monster” ajax cackled to himself, barely restrained glee in his eyes,

“a monster?” Moyo asked,

“ah, show me your stat table” ajax said,

Moyo stared dumbly at him as ajax rolled his eyes,

“Just will it for me to see, overtime you’ll get to realize that things are possible with the archailect with efficiency”

Moyo nodded and willed it, his stats screen appeared before his eyes and by the looks of it, ajax could see it also, a chill went down his spine as ajax seemed to smile,

“It is as I thought, you may close your stat,” he said as Moyo dismissed it,

“a little lesson kid, few people have the kind of combination of skills you wield, all an individual is only allowed a combination of ten skills. Three at fledgling, three at initiate, three at acolyte, and one at advocate, following?” ajax asked as Moyo nodded,

“With your combination of skills, two which are rare in the case of blood absorption and physical regeneration, it has ensured you can take the most brutal of training, which has negated the use of a body aura core as most sword fighters like me need elixirs and the likes to temper our bodies, seeing as our cores are built towards battle intent, refining of aether to sword energy or ki. You on the other hand can keep taking punishment upon punishment and still get back up, and by the time we’re done in this cave, even the bite of a rucar queen mother would break on your skin” ajax said,

Moyo highly doubted that seeing as they only had thirty days to spend in the cave, but he let ajax continue his speech,

“We would raise your skills so high; it would leave any other human rising in your world in the dust, and with the common aether shards that you would be getting, we can either raise your skill level or use it to further temper your body, a pity it is the common ones you would be getting for a while, perhaps when you get to the initiate stage, and the tier increases to uncommon, we can use it to further temper your body” ajax said, his mind far away,

“Um…sir?” Moyo said as ajax turned back to him,

“You may address me as ajax” ajax said,

“I got a reward for being the first from my world to get a legendary skill, a thousand legendary aether shards,” Moyo said,

Ajax stared dumbly at him for a minute, before a big catlike smile broke out on his face, a malicious glint in his eyes,

“Oh, I would train you well, on my sobriquet death blade, by the time we’re done here…eh” ajax whispered,

Standing up from the crouching position he was, ajax motioned for Moyo to get up. Moyo could feel his muscles as they moved, they felt a bit more resilient like he could take a bite or more from the rucar drone and keep moving. Ajax used a finger to draw a line in the air and Moyo could see space warp in his front till it tore in a straight line as ajax motioned it to, ajax pushed an arm into that tear and brought out a pair of black robes like his, tossing it to Moyo who caught it,

“After we go through the first stage of tempering by fire, you would wear this cloth and from then on, you would have become a disciple of mine, do you accept?” ajax said formally, his face losing all form of amusement and a bit of steel in his voice,

Moyo bowed from the waist down,

“I moyosore hereby swear to go under the tutelage of you, ajax death blade,” Moyo said as he felt something binding in his chest, for a few seconds he couldn’t breathe,

“a simple yes would have sufficed, do not make oaths so carelessly in the archailect, they bind your soul” ajax replied as Moyo nodded,

“Rip off your old clothes and follow me” ajax said as he began walking down another tunnel hole,

Moyo followed with nothing on him but his briefs, they walked on in silence,

“From now on, you do exactly as I say, the aim, for now, will be to build or rebuild your body till you become strong enough to weather any bite, claw, or attack of any creature in this dungeon, and seeing as we have almost ninety days to spend in this dungeon, we have more than enough time to make our goal” ajax said,

Moyo felt confused,

“ninety days? the guide that appeared said thirty days” he replied,

“That would be so, except you spawned in a dungeon far above your level, and in battle, dungeon time moves faster, a whole lot faster. A day in your world would be three days here” ajax replied,

Moyo nodded, not like he had a choice, and if it would give him the edge that he wanted then he would spend it here. The tunnel led them out into another lava cave, Moyo took a step back, the thought of another rucar hive being in this place brought out fear in him, ajax saw it and hardened his eyes,

“First rule of following my path, a katana always advances, from now on you will always take a step forward, no matter the danger you advance, push yourself to your limit, if not you might as well let me relieve you of your oath” ajax said,

Moyo bit down on his fear and moved forwards entering the cavern and watching as ajax walked towards a lava pool and stood near it,

“None of the rucar hives that resided here are around, I might have persuaded them to take a vacation for a few hours” ajax said,

Glancing at the sliced and diced parts of a lot of the rucar drones he saw on the floor, Moyo knew it was a one-sided request, but his mind went back to what he suspected was about to happen here, glancing at the lava pool and remembering when ajax said something about tempering by fire, he shuddered at the thought,

“In my path, the most trusted method when tempering the body during its first stage is through the use of fire, the body must be burnt and rebuilt from scratch almost literally with the help of healing elixirs of course, then comes the rebuilding of the bones and then the purification of the blood. You have all those skills together, a rare feat that I will not let pass by. Using lava, a liquid denser, hotter, and brutal by fire, I intend to get most of the work done, do you have the resolve to face it disciple?” ajax asked,

Moyo stared at the lava, seeing it bubble, imagining the amount of pain he would feel, it might even kill him. Then again, he had nothing to live for currently than the thought of his revenge, and if this would take him a step closer to that, he was ready, he took a step forward,

“The katana always advances” he whispered…