15th September.
Almost another month had passed, and Marcus's territory was ever busy.
The foundation for more structures had been laid.
More people had awakened their Blood Force, bringing the total to almost six thousand warriors.
Unfortunately, the rate at which people failed to awaken after the end of last month was discouraging. It had turned into a 3 successes to 10 failures ratio.
Mainly because they were almost done awakening the younger generation and were now including more of the elderly ones.
So Marcus had to switch his priorities to growing the warriors he currently had. They would use the beast blood essence to cultivate their realm and make them stronger.
Saving little for anymore to try and awaken their Blood Force.
Either way, Marcus was well aware that his climbing numbers of warriors would soon come to a lagging halt.
But he didn't mind much at the moment.
Their numbers wouldn't affect much without the right skills.
Which is what he had Eddy, Sam, and Veronica help him do.
That day, Marcus gave two conditions. If they wished to cultivate with more beast essence, the first thing they would have to do was help train his people.
They had to at least teach his people three different basic fighting skills. It didn't have to be anything complicated or powerful, just a way for them to protect themselves with their numbers against stronger opponents.
It didn't matter how they planned to achieve this; as long as they didn't kill his people in the process, he would allow them free rein.
Secondly, they had to give him timely help on the day of the battle.
Whether it was at the beginning or the end, it didn't matter as long as they participated.
And if any of them could kill Maney, he would provide beast blood essence for them to cultivate with for a year. Marcus made sure to allude to the fact that their ranks wouldn't matter; he would still be able to provide enough to support their rank.
And even if they couldn't, they would still enjoy this benefit until the day of battle…
The second condition had two faces: one that doused their excitement with cold water, and then the later part that rekindled that interest.
"Deal, I'll do it!"
Eddy took the deal without thinking twice about it. He didn't even pause to consider if he had the time to entertain such a deal.
After all, they were all still students in Ulha's Academy.
But that didn't seem to concern him at the moment.
As for Veronica, her brows furrowed for a while before she came to a decision.
While Sam, it took him a day before he, too, came to a decision.
Marcus's burden lessened the moment Veronica agreed to his conditions.
In fact, he didn't even care for Eddy and Sam anymore.
But in the end, he didn't want to rely totally on them. If he could solve this with his own ability, he would try his best to do so.
After all, why spend so much to provide beast blood essence for them for a year if he could solve this himself?
Hence the reason why he was still training hard.
Standing alone in his private training grounds, Marcus swung his sword for the umpteenth time.
He widened his legs and slashed to the side with every ounce of strength he could muster.
A gale of wind rose with his strike, seemingly strong enough to perhaps sweep a normal person off their feet from a distance.
And yet, Marcus gritted his teeth in annoyance, dropped his sword, and squatted. "Arghh, why can't I get it? I've followed all the movements, but I still haven't been able to perform the first move."
He ran his fingers through his hair several times as he began entertaining the idea of giving up on trying to practice the Seven Desolate Swords.
The first move, First Sword of Desolation: Ashes That Remember.
Marcus could almost completely recall the vision he saw of that swordsman who performed the move. And following his memories, he had replicated every move the man made.
The way his breathing was timed, the stance he made, and the speed of the swing.
At first, Marcus had seen an improvement in the force behind his sword slash. And the more he continued to imitate the swordsman's movement, the stronger his sword strike became.
However, this improvement soon came to a bottleneck. And since then, Marcus had been practicing day and night, trying to successfully perform the First Sword of Desolation.
He sensed that there were several things missing, but it was just an inkling. And despite that, it continued to add to his frustration.
That feeling when you know that something is missing, but you have no idea what it is. It could be maddening, especially when one was facing the same strife as Marcus that could cost you your life.
"Will there be enough time to attempt learning another skill? I have more than thirty thousand achievement points at the moment… I can afford one or two…"
As he was absorbed in his thoughts, Marcus failed to notice that someone had been watching him practice from the shadows.
That person was Veronica.
"Young Mistress, this is going to turn into a bad habit. You have been stalking this young lord for the past few weeks… this is unhealthy."
Veronica frowned. "I'm not stalking him, Lily… I'm only secretly observing him from afar."
"That's the definition of stalking, young mistress."
Rolling her eyes, "And so what? I'm just curious. He has felt how strong Maney is; why not run? He might not be able to take all his subjects, but some would definitely survive.
Why stay to face a wall that is insurmountable? Egotistical pride? Madness? Or… confidence."
"He doesn't look like he's confident at the moment, though," Lily said lightly.
But her tone seemed to carry a trace of curiosity too.
Marcus was indeed an enigma.
Last month, when he gave the students the conditions for providing more beast blood essence to them, Lily got the feeling that Marcus did it because he was aware of her presence.
Though she didn't have any proof. She had even stepped in Marcus's path many times since that day, trying to figure out if he could somehow sense her.
However, the young lord never noticed her.
Despite this, that feeling stayed at the back of her mind. If he couldn't sense her presence, then why put a bounty on Maney?
Surely he wasn't a fool.
Amongst everyone in his estate, Marcus was the strongest. Surpassing Sam and Eddy, and on the surface, Veronica too.
But none of them could take on a Tier 1 Being.
Whoosh!
Wind rose again from the distance as Marcus was back to swinging his sword.
He looked as if he had stopped doubting himself.
But it didn't take long again before he dropped his sword and sat on the ground.
"It looks as if he's trying to perform a Graded technique," Lily said.
"I've been getting that same feeling since. But since when does one of this level attempt something like that without the basics?
There's no resonance in his movements. No resonance with his sword. He's only treating it as an extension and a tool to perform the move." Veronica muttered.
The more she watched Marcus, the more she felt like she was watching a newbie trying to achieve something veterans would struggle to.
"Did he learn nothing about the basics, or… is he just being stubborn?"
As she said this, she stepped out of her hiding place. She was tired of seeing Marcus continue this way.
The moment she revealed herself, Marcus noticed her.
He raised his head and looked in her direction.
Marcus quickly got up.
Was he surprised to see Veronica here?
Well, not completely.
He had long tagged her as a stalker in his previous redos. He would stumble across her many times.
But he didn't expect that she would reveal herself to him here.
"Young master Ron, what brings you here? Are you aware that this is my private training ground?"
"What are you doing?" Veronica said, dismissing Marcus's question. She sounded annoyed with him.
Marcus caught this annoyance as it was evident in her tone.
Dismissive as ever. He thought, but took no offense from her attitude.
His head tilted to the side a bit, causing sweat to roll down across his cheek. "I don't quite understand your question. If you've been watching me for a while, you should be able to tell that I'm training."
"With such sloppy and foundationless moves? I doubt that. You've been looking like a child that's trying very hard to show off."
Marcus frowned. Another insult; however, he didn't take it as one. Rather, he was trying to wrap his head around what she meant by his moves being sloppy and foundationless.
Truly, he didn't have proper foundations for things like this. He had never been put through the basics.
All he had been doing was taking from the knowledge in his head.
And while the system had infused information into his brain, it had its limits.
How was he to tell Marcus that he lacked the foundations for certain things? If one didn't know, how are they to recognize and identify the issue at hand?
His frown quickly turned into a serious look.
"What then do I lack? Please, teach me." He spoke sincerely.
Veronica, who was about to lash out at Marcus again, thinking his ego was making it hard for him to admit that what he was doing was wrong, was cut short.
The sincerity in Marcus's voice almost made her bite her tongue. Forced to blink at the attentive young lord.
She stared into his eyes and saw the desire to know within. His pupils were steady and resolute, to the point where she almost felt like she could get absorbed into them.
Have his eyes always been this like…able?
"...Sure." She uttered, and quickly shook that thought away from her head.