"A proposition?"

Asked a curious Kane

"Yes, I have a plan."

Smiled a proud Jin while continuing to persuade Kane

"I am currently gathering talents from Byrock, and together we will form a group. After the Knight test, we will choose the same Master, so that in the future it will be easier to deal with everything. 

What do you think?"

"And what will that do for me? I might as well do the same thing, only on my own, nothing will limit me in the process, I can also practice on my own."

"I know from my own experience that a group of friends while training with a Master is a thing.... as if to put it ... priceless"

"Priceless?"

"As you know, my father is a Master, I have seen and heard a lot. Where we are going after leaving Byrock is no longer going to be a bunch of children waving wooden swords.

Politics, force, brutality, power and deals are involved. If you are left alone surrounded by a fractions full of enemies, life becomes more difficult and uncertain, don't you think?"

"What did you see?"

"As I said, there are only children here, from ten to thirteen years old at the most, admittedly they will grow up in time as they will still train here for a year or two, but you know what I mean. Where we're headed will be both teenagers and adults, people from different social strata and with different skills and talents. 

I saw with my own eyes how one faction, which was under my father's training, beat a guy to death just because he didn't support some nobleman as they did.

The bastards beat him for hours with wooden swords instead of iron swords to prolong his torment. He screamed in pain, from every strike and every broken bone, tortured crying and screaming until he died at dawn, covered in blood, from constant strikes, in places until skinned down to muscle and bone. He was left a wreck, not the carcass of a man.

No one helped him, because why should they put their necks on the line for some unknown person.

Do you want to end up like that?"

"Master allows this? After all, they know all about it, don't they?"

"He knows, but they don't have to do anything about it, anyway, most of them adopt the principle, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so they purposely leave the students to their own devices."

"What if someone is unable to wield Ren?"

"That falls out of the group, and what did you expect? I don't collect useless people who will be a bother."

Kane looked at Jin, pondering in his head all the options

"I can go with him, and I'll probably be a sidekick in his group, and later a fraction, even if at Master's we pay attention to others, it's easier to defend ourselves in a group, and it will probably be safer.

The second option, I stay by myself, finish my training, and choose a Master that suits me, if there are any problems later, I have a sword for that..."

He wondered which would be the most beneficial option, considering all the pros and cons.

"I will not join you"

"Why? Are you in a hurry to the grave?"

"You have nothing to offer me but mere restrictions, and I desire freedom, even if it costs me my life."

"Are you sure about this decision?"

"Yes"

"In the future, you will regret it, and this is not a threat. You have no idea what is waiting for you..."

Jin sighed disappointed, answering in his departing voice, unsatisfied that Kane rejected his proposal.

As soon as he left, Kane went back to training, contemplating what Jin had said, and all the things that might await him over the next year.

"Ehh... If there really are people out there treating people's lives like this and attacking each other, I'll have to defend myself somehow or join one of the sides, although I'd prefer the first option."

He continued training, still pondering, until he took a break.

Wiping drops of sweat from his forehead and trying to slow his breathing, he sat down on a nearby cold concrete wall and watched the rest of the recruits in his group, while trying to catch his breath.

Only after resting for a while and quieting himself from the heavy breathing and sword swinging, did the boy notice anew all the surrounding sounds he had forgotten while falling into a trance of training.

While looking at the others, he unconsciously evaluated the technique and execution of the stances he knew. He did this for several minutes, until he realized that he didn't fare too badly against the group, even though he had only just joined the fourth stance.

"Okay, let's see how the situation is."

He said to himself, approaching the wooden dummy after a rest, wanting to make an unofficial test for himself for the fifth stance.

"Ten times to attack the dummy with the fourth stance, in such a way that my sword doesn't move in my hand, was probably something like that."

Unsure if he had remembered his tutor's instruction correctly, Kane began his unofficial test, starting to attack the dummy and counting the slashes.

With each attack, Kane checked the movement of his own body and sword as he had done previously in training.

"It would be easier to base the hilt against the wrist and attack, in such a way that the sword blocks each time, as if it were to move, but then I will attack with less force..."

He sighed to himself, hoping to find a reliable solution without risking inadvertently failing the test.

"After the slashes, I didn't see any sword movement, but I'd better let go of the exam for today, I can barely move my hands..."

While waiting for supper, he continued to practice the fourth stance.

"He! You're already in the fourth stance?"

Exclaimed a surprised Collin at supper.

"Yes, in fact, I can already take the test for the fifth stance, but I let myself go for today, because my hands are already sore, I did not want to take any risks."

"What do you mean you can already take the fifth? After all, you only got to the fourth today!"

He continued to shout, not believing the boy's words, but not hiding his annoyance, feeling as if Kane was distancing himself from him in skills.

"There's a reason I sat so long in the third stance, it's not that I couldn't get out of it, I just didn't want to,"

"Don't make fun of me!"

Burst out an upset Collin, still one-sidedly competing with the boy.

"Instead of moving on to the next stance as quickly as possible, I focused on developing my own body, so now it's enough for me to understand how to use a stance and I can basically move on to the next one."

"It's amazing, Kane, normally even if someone's strength is sufficient to control a stance, it takes them at least weeks to move on."

Daren praised him, appreciating his skills, which he had been aware of for a long time.

"So, what are you planning now? Are you going to try to pass the Knight exam in the early spring?"

Auren asked him

"I wanted to complete the fourth and fifth stance within a week, and over the winter, polish my skills for the test. At first, I wasn't sure I could do it, but looking at how I did today, it will be doable.

By the way, has Jin talked to you guys?"

Asked a curious Kane, not knowing if Jin was actually asking for specific people or looking for anyone to join his group.

"No, why?"

"During training, he offered me to join his group, he didn't tell you anything or ask?"

"No, what group do you mean from the stance?"

"He collects, as he said, Byrock's talents to pass the Knight test together in the spring and choose the same Master, but I refused him."

"You refused Jin? Why?"

Auren continued to ask

"It would have only limited me, besides, I have my own plans."

"Jin collects Byrock talents? That is, he probably didn't find me at the training ground today and will ask about me tomorrow"

Said a cocksure Collin, confident that Jin had him in mind, among other things, looking for Byrock talents

As soon as Daren heard this, he immediately burst out laughing, so loud that he punched the table with his fist, and tears flew from his eyes, embarrassing Collin in the meantime.

"Of course he didn't notice you! Come up to him tomorrow, he certainly wants you in his group!"

He started joking with Collin still laughing louder and louder, until he was starting to get all red in the face from unstoppable laughter.

Auren looking at Daren and his brother, turned away from everyone, tried to hide and contain his laughter.

After a moment of constant mocking and joking with him, Collin embarrassed and offended, prematurely left the supper and went to the room.

Kane merely watched the whole situation, trying not to react to Collin's foolishness.

Although there was a strange atmosphere in the room after the jokes during supper, Kane did not care about his roommates and looked forward to the next day. Feeling as if every training session spent in Byrock would change his future.

During a beautiful starry night, with fog floating outside the window, Kane lay in bed, thinking about his plans for the winter.

"Tomorrow I will go to the fifth stance, and from there it would be best if I went out and became a lower night in a few days. As far as I know, I already have a free hand regarding training.

Only now would be the best option, either to polish the basics by spring or to focus on combat experience and fight with other lower knights in sparring.

Still, for the knight test itself, no tutor has divulged details of what it will be, nor do I know anything about Ren or how to get into Master's training..."

He sighed, thinking of all the things he didn't know.

Slowly, his eyes closed with fatigue after a full day of training, and after a while, Kane fell asleep.