The next morning, David was the first one to step out with the nameless girl. Before coming, he had tried waking up Chumiyo but after saying "five more minutes", he had conveniently went back to sleep.

Once out, he quickly searched for Bernard who was in the kitchen, noting down something on a parchment.

David coughed slightly, drawing the butler's attention.

"Good morning, Uncle Bernard."

A frown almost appeared on his smooth skinned face, as if doubting he heard something really wrong.

"That's rare... someone calling me an uncle. The newbloods here mostly call me directly by my name. You can do the same."

"I shall see." David replied vaguely.

"Do you want something?"

David glanced behind him once before hesitatingly asking, "Uh I know the training hall generally remains closed at night. But can I request someone to keep it open? Afterall, there are trained Sihapis guarding the territory everytime."

"You want to train at night?" Without missing the point, Bernard asked a direct question.

"Kind of."

"Hmm, well it doesn't fall under my authority. I would ask the others before allowing you to. But I think they shall give you the permission. Just remember to take a proper rest. A warrior's body is nothing but a hollow shell if they can't rejuvenate their inner self."

David nodded, accepting his advice and thanked him for his assistance on the way out.

Upon reaching the training hall, the nameless girl asked. "Big brother, can I join you as well?"

He thought for a while and then carefully answered her question. "If you really think your progress isn't satisfactory, you can surely join me. Or else I would advice you to have a good sleep at that time of the night."

After about half an hour, every single claw had entered the training hall. Their training began shortly later.

While the others focussed on marching snd making formations, Claw Zamian ran. Round and round around the field. Even when they were exhausted.

Just from the two days of training, one thing has become clear to them, that is, if even one of them failed to complete the three rounds, their training for that day wouldn't progress further.

So why waste time by falling mid-field when you can run a little more and then collapse? And even get a short break of fifteen minutes. Not a lot, but better than nothing.

They went into their own routine of sparring with each other while the other Masters taught battle coordinations and other techniques to their disciples.

"Is our Master planning to do nothing? The other claws are progressing so fast!" Chumiyo complained In a soft whisper to David, who shrugged it away.

In truth, even he could see how rapidly the other claws were improving upon their team spirit.

At that moment, if Claw Zamian would have been pitched against any other claw of that Isikolo, David was confident they would lose.

On an individual level, Claw Zamian had stronger members, that is, if the fight is a 1v1. However that advantage would vanish the moment, it became a real battle, where coordination and battle strategies were of utmost importance.

'I really hope Master knows what he is doing.'

Minutes later, he was back to fighting. This time, his opponent was once again Harith.

Without wasting time, they started the duel. And within half a minute, David was once again pushed back. Suddenly, his speed increased as he raced to Harith's back.

Though momentarily surprised, Harith spun back and blocked David's sword. Then manipulating the water droplets sticking to his sword, Harith made the sword slippery.

David leaned in unintentionally, the sword suddenly slipping away from the crossed blow with Harith.

On pure instinct, he leaped forward, his back crouched and again jumped sideways. Dodging two successive sword strikes!

"Woah woah, you sure have gotten a bit agile." Harith complimented David's improvement but didn't let go of his own advantage.

Within the next few minutes, David was lying on the ground, panting from lack of breath and with an ailing body.

His next match came soon after, where he tried his best but to no results. Losing yet another match.

His biggest loss of that day was when even a Tier 0 individual, just few more souls short of Tier I, defeated him as well.

He could feel how his ranking at the bottom of their claw was being solidified slowly and slowly. And all he could do was grit his teeth and pull up chunks of grasses from the ground, swallowing his continuing losses.

"To be honest, I don't even know why you are being so overly worried about this."

David looked up from the ground, only to find Aeris standing beside his sitting figure.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

Aeris smirked."See it this way. Every loss out there for you is a sign that you are lacking and I can see you know it quite well. So, what I am trying to say is that currently, the claw doesn't expect much from you. And thus, this is the perfect moment you can keep on improving yourself without any notice from others.

I am not saying you to make some grand comeback or something and shock the others. If you really care about this art of fighting, you shouldn't bother yourself with showing off anyways.

I know how strange it sounds coming from someone like me but... it's what it is."

A moment of silence ensued it. David slowly asked, "Why are you saying this to me?"

"Because you learn fast. Just the last time I saw you fight, you didn't have good control over your own element. And today? You are using wind to quadruple your speed. You are an assassin right? I am one too. So let's say, this is an advice from a fellow assassin."

Saying that, Aeris went away to his own group, leaving David with his own train of thoughts.

'He isn't wrong there. Why am I caring so much about losses and wins? I could understand this if I were in some serious competition or tournament where wins would decide reputation. But these are just friendly fights, for our improvement.'

Sighing, he whispered to himself.

"I really am being foolish."

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