First thing in the morning, Kane quietly left his room to avoid waking his roommates, who wouldn't start training until an hour later. Tutor Horen, waiting in the training area, presented him with all the exercises.

"We don't have some advanced equipment here, so we're using traditional solutions. I have prepared a load for you, which you will attach with a cord to your arms and legs, and you will do the exercises wearing them, if you want even better results, it's best if you continue to wear them throughout the day after your morning exercises, and add weight every few days. 

As for the exercises, you're a knight, so we'll only exercise the parts of your body that you use in battle, so I'll give you weighted barbells and you'll do the strikes. And for a whole hour until 8 in the morning, you'll practice, then join the rest, and possibly, if you want, you can still practice after supper before we put the equipment away."

"Okay, then I'll start."

The exercises were no different from the ones he'd been doing so far, but because of the extra weight Kane had distributed throughout his body, they were even more difficult to perform but also more effective.

Just as tutor Horen had recommended, he didn't take the load off after 8 a.m., and he planned to go with it all day for both exercise and running, not taking the load off even at breakfast, which he was just heading to.

"Eeehh, I can't stand it, they didn't take me to the second stance again."

A nervous Collin began to complain

"And did you ask tutor Nilon why?"

Asked Daren, himself also not getting into the second stance.

"I haven't asked, maybe I'll try later."

"Everything hurts me since I came here..."

Tears began to come to Auren's eyes from fatigue and stress, slowly ate breakfast, longing for home-cooked food.

"I'm doing poorly in this group from the second stance so far, but I know what to do to improve. Did you guys learn anything at all about Ren?"

"We didn't ask."

"Ehh, only Jin knew something more so far, but he didn't tell me anything..."

"Why?"

"We had a bet that if I won at least one duel with him, he would tell me everything, but you know how that turned out."

Sighs a resigned Kane as tutor Horen calls out to him.

"Kane! Go help set up the exercise equipment."

"Yes, sir!"

He shouted in the tutor's direction, saluting and leaving the dining hall.

The boy met his roommates just at lunch after all the exercises.

"Finally, there will be sparring, I'm already looking forward to it, I'll try to win as much as I can, and then maybe tutor Nilon will let me move to the group from the second stance."

Expressed his hopes, Collin

"Kane, will you try to go to the third stance today, or is that impossible for you yet?"

Asked Daren, curious about the boy's plans.

"Hmmm..."

Kane wondered before answering while staring at his meal, wondering in what situation he would have the chance to do so.

"Tutor Lorenz said I'd have to block all strikes in three duels in a row, no matter what opponent from my group I come up with, it's more likely to be difficult today."

"How hard is it there?"

"I've only just started to catch up to the rest of the group, and nobody randomly got into the group, so I won't get to anyone who hasn't learned the first stance, so I won't block 15 strikes in a row."

Suddenly, Collin stood up with excitement and leaned over the table toward Kane

"And me! Do you think I could do it?"

"I don't know how you fight."

He looked at Collin as if he were an idiot for asking such questions.

"Right..."

He sat in silence, finishing his food, as the time for fencing training and sparring approached.

Kane, leaving for the training ground after lunch, met tutor Horen who had information for him regarding today's sparring.

"As I said, I'll be assigning you someone similar in physical strength to you, so today you'll be fighting Landis, as far as I know, you've already sparred with him before?"

"Yes, I have fought still with tutor Nilon with him".

"Well, then you know each other, go to your stance and start the repetitions, don't forget the load on."

"Yes sir"

Saluted Kane

During the repetitions, both of the first and second stances, he kept wandering thoughts about what might happen in sparring. 

"Do I have a chance to get to the third stance now that I'm fighting Landis?"

"Last time, the second stance didn't work on him."

"Since Landis is familiar with Jin, maybe he knows something about Ren?"

There were more and more questions in the boy's head until it was time for sparring. Just as tutor Horen mentioned, Kane fought Landis again.

"Hi, we see each other again."

"Hi"

"I saw that you already fought Jin, strong, right?"

Laughed the boy, mentioning his friend

"Do you know him?"

"I'm in a room with him, why?"

"That explains a lot."

"Yeah, Jin has talent and skill, but for some reason, he probably mentioned his father."

"He said he was a Master"

"Yes, but when I tried to find out something about Ren, he wouldn't answer me."

"You too?"

"Yeah, as far as I know, he didn't say anything to anyone."

"Do you know why?"

"No, he just doesn't tell anyone anything about it, then should we start with sparring?"

"Okay."

Kane took off from his body all the weight he had been carrying all day and, grabbing his sword, felt that this was an opportunity to move on to the third stance and, in the process of learning it, make up for his physical strength for the other recruits. He had fought Landis before and knew it was possible to block 15 strikes in a row. 

Hoping to seize the opportunity, he didn't rush, knowing that if he lost patience, he would lose his chance.

"I will attack first."

Said Kane, wanting to prepare to defend himself, knowing that after the attack his senses would sharpen, and he would have a better chance of achieving his goal in defense, while checking how much Landis' skills had improved.

The two boys set up in stance, Landis waiting for Kane to attack, and Kane waiting for the right moment to attack.

They stared at each other in silence, as still as stone monuments, without a twitch of an eyelid or hand.

Kane knew that his hands lacked strength and speed, so he decided to use his whole body to attack, ignoring tutor Nilon's recommendations on how to perform the first stance.

Instead of keeping his feet steady on the ground, with his right leg extended forward, and using the strength of his arms to attack. Kane, took a quick step forward with his right leg and, at the same time, attacked with his sword. Thanks to the movement of the whole body and the sword at the same time, the speed of the attack was increased twice, so much so that 

"Ouch!"

He shouted in pain, falling to the ground. He looked at Kane, grabbing his sore shoulder.

"I see you've improved."

"Now I've made it up."

"You've always had a talent for improvising."

Laughed Landis

"I see those eyes, Kane, they are no longer empty like the first day, but full of determination. You want to get into the third stance today, don't you?"

"Yes, and I don't plan on you keeping me from it."

Both boys heard heavy footsteps in their direction, it was tutor Horen.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Good, then you can continue to fight".

Tutor Horen, while looking at Kane, saw in the boy what he never wanted to see in someone his age - Determination to achieve his goal at all costs. Seeing this, he walked away from the two recruits without a word, hoping not to lose himself in the pursuit of his goal.

Landis, seeing Kane suddenly change his behavior after winning, as if he was eager to win as soon as possible, as if he didn't have time to wait out of impatience, felt shivers of fear go through him.

Landis was unable to describe it, looking at the boy, he had the impression that he was slowly losing his humanity. 

"Kane... Are you okay?"

The boy slowly looked at Landis with a menacing gaze, as if he saw a ghoul looking at its prey.

"Now you're defending."

Landis said, forcing a fake smile on his face, hiding his fear behind it.

Kane took the second stance in silence and concentration, not taking his eyes off his opponent, as Landis, who was still shivering, slowly took the first stance.

Through a sore shoulder, and fear of Kane, he attacked recklessly and slowly, causing no problems in deflecting the attack for Kane.

"I got the first deflection, 14 more."

The boy, without saying a word or showing any emotions, pain, happiness, fear, or satisfaction, with a blank stare like a boundless sky devoid of stars, stared at Landis, again and again deflecting all his attacks without flinching, gaining the attention of the tutors, thinking they were seeing a future member of the third stance group.

"You deflected them all, congratulations."

Landis fearfully tried to soften the boy's attitude, praising him so that he wouldn't hurt him during the sparring.

"Go to stance".

Kane looked at him with horror. The boy's heart was beating faster and faster out of stress, and the boy felt anxious, from not being able to beat Landis, the only glimmer of hope to leave this group. 

Landis let out a tear and clenched his teeth, wanting to get the fight over with.

"If I manage to hit his right shoulder, it will be even easier for me to defend."

Kane thought, unconsciously throwing away his pride for the sake of victory. The problem with his plan was that his right shoulder would be shielded by the sword first, so he decided to use Landis' method from their previous sparring, as he was still with tutor Nilon.

Kane specifically took advantage of his opponent's condition. He stomped hard to create a sudden noise and made a slow swing to create anxiety in his shaken opponent and give him time to try to deflect. Thanks to the stimulus of fear and sound, Landis made a rash decision, swinging the sword in front of Kane with his eyes closed. 

Kane was waiting for just this opportunity, and as soon as his opponent's sword made a full swing, he immediately attacked with all his strength in his right shoulder. 

Landis screamed in pain, but through the fuss of sparring with other recruits, none of the tutors heard the cry of suffering.

Aware that everything was going according to plan, Kane's anxiety began to leave him, and, ignoring the pain and condition of his opponent, he set up in a second stance, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"Attack."

He said this to Landis, who still didn't know what was happening, and tried to pull himself together.

"ATTACK!"

He shouted furiously, out of impatience, to end the sparring as soon as possible.

Despite his focus, Kane felt constant anxiety and stress, his heart was beating like crazy, all because, while he had finally found his purpose in life, his future with it was uncertain.