William and Celine had been inside the Divine Artifact for three years and two months.
The Half-Elf had spent the first two years awakening his Aura and forming his own Aura intent. After he managed to enfuse his aura on his spear, Celine had focused on honing his ability to keep his aura in battle for as long as possible.
Celine was amused at William's resourcefulness and even praised him for being able to accomplish such a feat.
After two years of Aura training, William finally focused on his spearmanship training.
"The spear's primary attack is the thrust," Celine explained as she thrust her spear straight at William's face, stopping two inches away from his nose. "The spear's main advantage is its long reach. If you were to use it to slash at people then you're better off using a sword. Remember, thrust first, slash later."
"Thrust first, slash later," William repeated as he nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"When you aim your spear at your enemy, aim it at their face. Not their chest, not their stomach, not their legs, but their face," Celine continued her explanation. "The reason? It allows you less openings, and your spear point would act as a deterrent. Basically, you're telling them that you'll hit them before they hit you."
Celine then showed William how to properly hold the spear. Her right hand was holding the rear-end of the spear, while her left hand firmly held the middle of the handle.
"The basic attack of the spear is the short thrust." Celine demonstrated a short thrust for William to see. "When you pull back the spear, do not lower the spear head because it creates an opening. It must remain ponting at your opponent's face at all times."
She repeated the move a few more times and asked William to do his own short spear thrusts.
"I've noticed that, when you use your spear, you make wide slashes which is not really the way to properly use it. In close quarters, the short thrust will be your friend. All you need to do is match it with good footwork and your opponent will definitely get a headache when they fight against you.
"The next thing you need to learn is the long range thrust. When you extend your thrust, your right hand needs to move up to underneath your armpit. Same rules apply, when you pull your spear back, it should still be pointing at your enemy's face. Remember, the spear is made to thrust, not to slash.
"Your primary objective should be to poke your target to death and not use wide swings that leave your body open for counter-attacks. Even in mounted combat, you will still use the thrust more than the slash."
William raised his hand to ask a question. "Master, then when do we slash our opponents?"
"Good question," Celine smiled. "Usually, we slash when our thrust is deflected. When the thrust is deflected upwards, we need to recover our stance and that is why we slash downwards. Of course, we can also initiate a slashing attack if we want to, but there are two things that you have to keep in mind when you do a slash.
The first thing you need to remember is that when you slash, your slash shouldn't go past the center of your body. What does that mean? It meant that your spear blade should never point downwards. You mustn't slash your spear all the way to the ground, because that is not how spears are used. Those who do that are amateurs."
She then showed William how a slash was made. After that she showed him a combination of slashs and thrusts in rapid succession. It was a very deadly combination, if used effectively, because the possibility of poking your enemy's eye out using that combination attack was very high.
The beautiful elf then resumed a fighting stance and showed William another option. "Of course, there are other alternatives that you can do when your thrust is deflected. The blunt end of your spear is not just for how. It is also used to block and counter-attack when your thrust is deflected.
"The key here is hand position and control. When your thrust is deflected, you can move your hand and position the spear to either block an attack, or hit your opponent's body part such as their joints, knees, or hips, to catch them off balance."
Celine demonstrated the block and counter-attacks that he could use using the bottom end of the spear in order to regain the fighting stance and continue fighting.
After showing William how to block effectively using the spear, the two once again engaged in a sparring match which helped William increase his proficiency with his spear mastery and, of course, gain experience points at the same time.
In the past, William thought that he could only level up his Job Classes by killing monsters in the dungeon. He didn't know that constant repetition also gave enough experience to level up the Job Class as long as it was done properly.
When William showed Celine the Monkey Staff Technique that Dwayne had imparted to him the Dark Sorceress laughed and said that it could be used as an effective means of attack if William's defenses were breached.
Basically, what Celine was saying is "Just let go of your spear and switch to your monk class and pummel your opponent with punches until he doesn't recognize East from West".
William scratched his head because he couldn't refute Celine's comment.
Then William's repetition training began. Short thrusts, long thrusts, short and long thrust combinations, and slash and thrust combinations.
Celine also paid extra attention to William's footwork. The Spearman Job Class has the battle art called the "Relentless Dragon Spear Art".
William was quite fascinated with this Spear Art because, unlike the Prince of Thunder's "Lightning God War Art" that focused on killing strikes, the Relentless Dragon Spear Art focused on close combat spear techniques and Cavalier Spear Techniques.
It was a spear art that was Commonly used by Dragoons and Templars in the Central Continent. The young boy's main weapon was the wooden staff, so learning this war art was a good option for him.
He would only use the Lightning God War Art as killing blows because most of them were "One Shot" techniques.
William spent his remaining time inside the Divine Artifact Eternity, perfecting his spear art until his Spearman Job Class reached its Max Level. Celine also made sure that he didn't slack off in the rest of his training.
Their routine was simple.
Spear training during the day, and Dark Magic Resistance training during the night. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it Hellish Training by normal standards.
These days continued and William spent each day in pain and suffering.
Then, the day that William had been waiting for finally arrived. Celine finally gave him the nod of approval to end their "almost" four years of training.
If they were to add all the years he had spent inside Eternity then the red-headed boy would already be sixteen years of age.
However, no changes could be seen in his face or body. Celine was the same and she was still as young and beautiful as the day she had stepped inside the basement of her house.
"Master, thank you for everything," William gave Celine a very respectful bow.
"It is my duty as your master to supervise your training," Celine replied with a calm expression. "Go and stay with your family for a few days, because your next instructor will be arriving shortly."
"Eh? I have more training to do?" William blinked in confusion. "How come?"
Celine cupped the boy's face as she looked at him with a serious expression. "I don't know if your grandfather is right or wrong about his decision to ask that man to become your instructor. However, I do think that you need his teaching in order to survive in this world."
The beautiful elf lightly pinches William's cheeks before letting go. "I just hope that you will still retain some of your innocence when his lessons are done. Although I want you to become strong and powerful, I don't want you to become cold and indifferent. I still prefer this stupid version of you."
William massaged his cheeks as he looked up to his Master with a frown. "Master, I'm not stupid."
"It's just a figure of speech," Celine snorted. "Go. Spend some time with your family because you will be leaving Lont soon."
William was still half in doubt, but he still nodded his head in acknowledgement.
Celine and Oliver watched the boy's retreating figure through the window and sighed.
"Mistress, I like this version of William. If possible, I don't want him to experience such an ordeal," Oliver said.
"Me, too," Celine replied. "But change is the only permanent thing in this world. Let's just wait for his return. We can think of a way to help after he finishes his next lesson."
Oliver closed his eyes and sighed one more time. "Tough times don't last. Tough people do."
Celine had already done her best for William, it was now time to pass the torch to others. However, the one to whom the torch had been passed on was someone who thrived in the darkness.
In a place where darkness reigned supreme, a burning torch was no different from a small candle who's light would be snuffed out by the swaying of the wind.
----
"P-Please, have mercy! I won't do it again!" a middle-aged man begged as he looked at the man approaching him with dread. "What do you want? Money? Women? Authority? I can give it to you! Just spare my life! I beg you!"
The man wearing a hood walked towards the middle-aged man with silent footsteps. Due to the hood covering his face, no one could tell if he was handsome or not. The man in question didn't care for such trivialities. The only thing he needed to do was carry out his work, as ordered by his Liege.
"Please, I beg yo-- ahhhh!"
The man wasn't able to finish his sentence, for the hooded man pierced his chest with a short sword in one swift motion.
The middle-aged man died with his eyes wide open and staring at the starry skies. For a brief moment, before his death, his eyes showed fear, and regret before they clouded over as his life left his body.
"I find no joy in this, but there is no other way," the hooded man said. "Requiescat In Pace,"
(A/N: Rest in Peace)
The hooded man walked away, disappearing in the darkness of the night. Having finished his task, it was now time for him to return to Lont, where his new mission was waiting for him.