With a loud sound, another footstep landed on the wooden floor. The silence that reigned in the dark training hall began to crack, and a second later a hearty sigh tore it completely.

Straightening his back, Rei loosened his grip on the hilts of his daggers.

"Status".

The guy mentally scanned the familiar information panel and sighed in displeasure, not noticing any changes there since yesterday.

“And these specializations are really hard to develop.”

After making sure that nothing had changed, the guy again raised the weapon in front of him. As he struck again, there was a distinct sound of air being cut.

It's been five days since he started training here, but 「Dagger Mastery」 is still level 1, even though Arvus has already shown him quite a few ways to hit, parry, dodge…

“I feel that I have mastered quite well what he taught me. We should talk about it today."

Ray had already returned from hunting and it was not long before dawn and now he was training, looking forward to his so-called teacher, who always came quite early. He did not disappoint him even today, but this time his appearance turned out to be slightly unexpected - Arvus attacked the guy.

The blades collided with a dull sound, slightly different from metal.

“Follow my every move. You should be focused on everything that can help you parry or strike. Without wasting time on greetings, the Faroese immediately got to the point. He took three steps back and raised a pair of practice blades in front of him, which, though blunt, could still hurt.

Rei was not going to beat around the bush either, quickly closing the distance, he struck with both hands at the same time.

At some point, the guy even thought that he noticed a semblance of a smile on the eternally dissatisfied face of Arvus, when he kicked him in the stomach and sent him a few meters back.

- Get up. - these words were not needed, because the pain did not bother Ray in the slightest. Standing on his feet without any problems, he delivered an oblique overhead blow with the right dagger with the same vigor.

"This time…" - flashed through Ray's head. He didn't dare take his eyes off the dagger of Arvus that had blocked his blow.

Deciding to continue, the boy was about to stab with the second dagger and try to overwhelm Arvus with what he had the advantage of - physical strength.

Again, it seemed to Ray that his opponent smiled slightly, although this twitching of the corners of his mouth could hardly be called a smile. The guy's thought was interrupted by an elbow that Arvus landed on his face, turning his whole body around.

"Too fast".

Rei couldn't say exactly why he couldn't react. He saw how his mentor began to turn the body, but for some reason he wanted to see how this attack would end - the movement was so graceful and smooth.

- Get up. Arvus repeated again, stepping away from the apprentice sprawled on the floor.

As if ignited by these words, Rei took off. Several normal but quick successive blows rained down on Arvus's torso. The same one did not stand still, as before, but with no less rapid steps, retreated from the raging young guy.

Only after taking the fourth step and dodging already seven attacks, combining both short stabbing and sweeping blows, Arvus abruptly stopped and parried the attack coming from the right. Grabbing Ray's left arm, he twisted it and immediately kicked the boy's left chest.

There was a crunch, which for the sensitive hearing of the forest said a lot.

"Two broken ribs." Arvus was about to let go of the guy's hand when he realized that he did not stop the attack, despite the damage received, his other hand, with a dagger clamped in it, rushed to his neck.

Immediately relaxing his palms, Arvus leaned back with his whole body, missing the blow, but in doing so, he broke the stance, opening up for the next attack, which Rey landed unexpectedly correctly. Simply turning the dagger in his left hand, which was still outstretched from the grip, he brought it down on Arvus's chest, who couldn't evade the attack at that distance.

With a dull screech, the dagger went through the man's clothing, ripping it completely to reveal a chainmail training chestplate. Arvus did not give the apprentice a chance to complete the blow, for he knew that there was much more power in the boy's body than it might seem. Instantly using the technique, he moved back a meter with a flash of dim green light.

"He doesn't feel pain...?" – wondered forest looking in cold white eyes. “This complicates everything, now you need to be more careful not to accidentally kill him.”

While Arvus pondered how to proceed, Rey stood at a loss, not lowering his hand with a dagger that should have at least wounded the enemy, but instead, he felt how the resistance of the armor under the blade disappeared, and his teacher stood only with cut clothes a meter away from him.

“Wh-how is that?” the boy's mutterings let Arvus know he was fine. How good can someone be with a couple of broken ribs...

- HM? - but the forest one did not understand what exactly his new student did not understand. Fortunately, he asked the question more clearly:

– What did you just do? This move…

- It's just a welcome. Arvus agreed. In time, you too will learn.

After listening to the answer, which was uttered as a matter of course, Rei was quite surprised.

"Reception? Does he understand how it works?

- What do you mean? How do you use it?

Arvus frowned at so many questions, but answered anyway:

– This is a normal movement, there is no warrior in the city who could not use something like this.

– How did you learn it?

“I told you,” the man continued forcefully, “when you get better with daggers, you can repeat it too.”

“Don’t ask again…” After thinking about it, Rei grabbed the daggers in his hands again and turned to Arvus:

- Let's continue.

He thought for a moment, cast a skeptical glance at the guy's chest, but without saying anything, he also raised his weapon.