*Cough*

Interrupting the duo with a cough, Butler Alec continued with a forced smile, "Lady Isolde... is your behavior... appropriate?"

Isolde immediately let go of Zhen Shi, as if she had just realized what she was doing. She lowered her face in embarrassment with light tears still vaguely visible in her eyes.

Zhen Shi was pissed, 'Old Man what the hell are you doing? You ruined my chance to have some fun! *Cough* I mean, how could you be so heartless as to trouble a lady when she was being comforted?'

Nevertheless, Zhen Shi turned to Isolde and asked with raging eyes, "Isolde what's wrong? Did someone trouble you? Whoever it is, I'll beat them to a pulp! "

Isolde raised her slightly head and whispered almost to herself, "No, no--- It's your fault!"

Hearing her words, Zhen Shi was speechless, 'What the hell did I do? And am I supposed to beat up myself now?'

Unwilling to beat himself up, Zhen Shi turned to Butler Alec and stared daggers at him as if to say, 'This isn't my fault. It's actually all your fault!'

Butler Alec could only force a smile and say, "Shut up young man! Forget it. In return, let this old butler give you a valuable opportunity and teach you some skills."

Zhen Shi frowned, "Old man, I didn't say anything! Besides, do you think you are worthy of being my teacher?"

Butler Alec grinned and spoke in a relaxed tone, "Meh. Whatever. If you don't want my help just say so."

Zhen Shi grimaced, 'No matter what, this old man has some top-notch archery skill. Might as well see what he has to offer.' As such, he hurriedly spoke up, "No, No. Butler Alec is truly skilled! The God of Archery! Now come and give this young and inexperienced self some guidance!"

It was Alec's turn to grimace at Zhen Shi's shamelessness, 'This kid...!'

Isolde who had been silently listening from the side, couldn't help but smile at the playful interaction between the two. She had been feeling guilty and unhappy before, but this warm atmosphere had thawed away her sorrow.

Grandpa Alec had taken care of her ever since her mother died. To her, whose father was almost always busy with official duty, Grandpa Alec had been the real father figure. But he himself was rarely truly happy, even though he would always smile when he was with her. Seeing himself genuinely enjoying himself warmed her heart and she felt even more satisfied with Zhen Shi.

Butler Alec laughed and said, "Come on then, let's go," and began to walk back towards the mansion. Zhen Shi and Isolde both followed him.

Zhen Shi stayed silent as he was following the role of a good and obedient student. After all, he wouldn't be rude and slap a gift horse in the face!

Within the mansion, they met several servants and guards who quickly bowed in respect the moment they noticed Isolde and Butler Alec. Lightly nodding in acknowledgment, they continued onwards.

But, just when they passed an isolated hallway, Zhen Shi who had advanced hearing began to hear the sound of muffled screaming being transferred through the air aether.

The screams appeared to originate from deep within the hall. They were simply heart-wrenching and animalistic as if the person in question had fallen into sheer despair...

Being reminded of the four years 'holiday' with the Divine Church, Zhen Shi couldn't help but pause in worry and stare down the hallway, 'Does this place have a torture chamber or something?'

While he did have some trouble trusting people, especially after the betrayal in his memories, he didn't doubt Isolde and Butler Alec. After all, how could he be suspicious of the people that had nursed him to health?

But hearing the painful screaming he couldn't help but frown. Seeing him stop, both Isolde and Alec paused as well.

"Young man, what's the problem?" asked Butler Alec with a questioning look. Zhen Shi shook his head, "Nothing. I thought I heard some screaming from down this hallway. I assume it's a torture chamber?"

Alec frowned while staring at the hallway in question, but still nodded and said, "Of course. The Brishman Mansion has captured countless criminals and spies. Torturing them isn't all that unusual. But your sense of hearing is pretty good! Your skill in the element of wind is even higher than I anticipated..." ending with a praising tone.

Zhen Shi nodded and smiled politely at the praise, albeit slightly skeptically. Nevertheless, with the question answered, Butler Alec continued to walk and Zhen Shi followed him.

However, Isolde paused for a moment and turned to look at the hallway with a face full of disgust and anger. But moments later, she too followed the duo with a light sigh of helplessness...

Within a few moments, they entered a dark corner of the mansion, which looked rather dreary and slightly uncared for. Zhen Shi was slightly surprised to find such an area in the pristine and perfect noble mansion he had seen so far.

Butler Alec lightly waved his hand causing a nearby wall to disappear and reveal a passage hidden behind it.

'Nani? A secret passage?' Zhen Shi found this unbelievable as he had previously swept the area with his spiritual sense, and yet he had found nothing! He grew weary as he realized that if a Count's Mansion held such powerful illusions, the Lyonesse kingdom was definitely not simple either!'

Isolde replied with a smile as if she had noticed his disbelief, "This place is some ancient secret chamber the Grandpa Alec and I discovered when I was still a little girl. It has some powerful enchantments that can be considered fairly strong magic within the kingdom!"

She continued while throwing a quizzical glance at Butler Alec, "But for some reason, my father gifted this entire place to Grandpa Alec... who used it to set up a training ground."

Butler Alec shook his head with a mysterious smile and walked into the secret chamber while ignoring her words. Isolde pouted unhappily, nevertheless, she followed him in with Zhen Shi only a step behind.

From initial probing, Zhen Shi could feel that this chamber was fairly large. Actually, it was larger than what could be held within the mansion walls leading him to believe that some spatial magic was at play.

Suddenly Alec clapped his hands together, causing the roof to rumble and spread apart giving way to the sky and sunlight which lit up the room.

Under the sunlight, the room revealed itself to be filled with shelves of weapons, tools, and randomly assorted targets for practice. There were some unique setups that Zhen Shi felt came straight out of those martial arts stories where the main character would train and grow stronger. He could almost imagine himself doing the same...

Butler Alec, who seemed to notice his gaze frowned, "Young man what are you looking at? Those are some stuff that I made for beginners! As an archer with talent and skill higher than my own, you'll be using those," pointing at two distinct devices.

Zhen Shi followed his finger and gaped, "Are those TORTURE DEVICES? Is this the actual reason behind those screams? Could it be that this old man wants me to train in torture and become a MALE DOMINATRIX? Wait... as the owner of this stuff, could it be that the kind old Butler Alec is a DOMINATRIX as well? Or worse... uses them on HIMSELF?!' while staring at Butler Alec with judging eyes.

Butler Alec frowned under his gaze, "Shut up young man. You seem to have a wild imagination. This is some of the best training equipment under this poor Butler and many will fight for a chance to use them. Here, I'll show you how they are used."

Isolde who continued to watch in silence, couldn't help but giggle at the comedic show between the two.

Butler Alec walked towards the equipment with a shake of his head. He entered his hand into a cuff, that Zhen Shi thought was for restraining poor helpless fellows, and tightened it. Immediately the cuff expanded forming in a metallic glove.

Flexing his fingers, Butler Alec explained, "This is a glove that makes it extremely difficult to move or use your hand. Even though you are skilled, I noticed that you had some difficulty making use of your bow. This should help with that."

He then walked towards a pool that was sealed and covered except for a small entrance, which Zhen Shi had figured was either for drowning people or some strange type of perverted water-play, "And this is a pool of liquid diamond. Although diamond is valuable for enchanting weapons and tools, there are very few uses for liquid diamond. It is at least a few dozen times denser than water and as such can be used for training."

"By training in water, one can get used to the presence of fluid around oneself and make rapid progress in mastering the wind element. Liquid diamond can be used to make that process even faster.

I'm sure you already know that control over the air is an important factor for archers! But liquid diamond is deadly if it permeates into the body through pores. So you will also have to keep your pores sealed off with qi while training. This is the only problem with this training and the main reason that many do not use it."

Alec proceeded to point towards a bunch of vests and black bands, "These are specially artificed heavy equipment. Wear them while you train. And once you make some decent progress I'll give you a special skill for archers."

Isolde's eyes widened in surprise at Butler Alec's words, but Alec calmly looked at Zhen Shi, curious as to how he would react.

Zhen Shi was silent for a moment. While his initial guess was wrong, he was never going to acknowledge his mistake! Thus he replied nonchalantly, "Old man, thanks for this. In fact, since the time I entered this place I had been thinking that your training equipment was topnotch and awesome! But why ARE you going this far to help me?"

Butler Alec was speechless at Zhen Shi's shamelessness and the sudden question. In the end, he simply shook his head in exasperation saying, "Shameless kid, get to work!"

Zhen Shi grinned in satisfaction as he put on the finger gloves. As promised, they greatly tightened his fingers and made their movement next to impossible. He also put on the weighted vest and bands that slowed down his movement greatly. Immediately, he dashed forwards and jumped into the diamond pool.

"WAIT!" shouted out Butler Alec while hurriedly dashing forwards to get Zhen Shi out. It was extremely difficult to handle all three types of training at the same time, and this fellow just jumped in without any warning...

And indeed, Zhen Shi had some difficulty at first. He had greatly underestimated the diamond pool, and as such he had immediately cranked up <Vermillion Dragonification> up to 30% covering his entire body under the liquid diamond with azure dragon scales.

With scales upon his skin, there was no longer a reason for him to seal off his pores, eradicating the only disadvantage of this training. But he did have to struggle against the rising killing intent for a few moments, but he quickly gained control since it was still manageable.

As Butler Alec arrived with a worried face, Zhen Shi raised his head nonchalantly and spoke with a smile, "Old man what are you worried about? You know that worrying isn't good for the elderly right?"

Alec stared at him in surprise but quickly realized that Zhen Shi was using some sort of special technique when he noticed his bestial red eyes. Visibly relaxing he spoke, "Idiot child, get out before you die."

Zhen Shi shook his head, "Old man, relax. I can handle this much." Butler Alec was speechless for a moment. But he gave in with a shake of his head as well, "Fine then. Let's see how long you can hold out," and walked back.

Isolde who did not have much of an understanding regarding the difficulty of this training could only watch on in amusement. Since that moment in the training grounds, she had decided to believe in Zhen Shi.

Turning to Grandpa Alec she asked in a curious whisper, "Grandpa Alec, why DID you go so far to teach him? Even planning to teach him that skill of yours?"

Butler Alec paused with a reminiscent look in his eyes. But he quickly returned to the present and shook his head, "Nevermind that my lady. But are you aware that his name is Zhen Shi?"

Isolde frowned questioningly, "So?"

Butler Alec continued with a light smile, "It is highly possible that he is from the Zhen Clan. He did say he lived 'close to Hubei City'. With his level of talent, he might even be someone of important stature to the clan. So, the question is, will you report this matter to Lord Count? He will find out eventually... and so will the kingdom..."

Isolde frowned even more, "Maybe. Maybe not. Just because his surname is 'Zhen' doesn't mean that he is someone of that clan. But I won't tell Lord Father. I won't see him getting hurt under my watch."

Alec smiled deeply and nodded, "Good. Because I would've strongly opposed it if you did."

Isolde fell into thought for a moment, but continued shortly, "So?" causing Alec to look at her in feigned confusion. Isolde continued with a smile playing on her lips, "Grandpa, you know what I'm talking about! You ignored my first question! Why are you teaching him your skill?"

Butler Alec smiled and replied teasingly, "Sure, I'll tell you... If you would care to explain why the young lady, who is almost always impervious to emotions in public, suddenly burst into tears, jumped off the balcony, and hugged him...?"

Isolde was speechless and caught off-guard by his question. But their conversation came to a sudden stop as they heard a loud splashing sound and turned around to witness a stupefying scene of Zhen Shi swimming within the diamond pool.

In fact, Zhen Shi could've handled this task easily by completely activating <Vermillion Dragonification>, but that would've beaten the point of training and there were also some worries about whether he'd be able to control the bestial killing intent.

Thus he had decided to maintain the skill at 30% and had attempted to walk while moving his fingers. However, this proved to be rather easy. As such he began to swim about; freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly, you name it!

Zhen Shi quickly lost himself in the joys of swimming in a pool of liquid diamond, but whenever it became too easy he would reduce the level of <Vermilion Dragonification> and continued training.

Alec and Isolde who continued to watch were greatly impressed and even intrigued by the novelty and variety of his swimming techniques...

Having made some decent progress in getting used to the liquid diamond, Zhen Shi decided to switch to combat moves and began to punch, kick, and strike.

Quickly realizing that the pool of liquid diamond gave him a unique chance to comprehend the element of water, Zhen Shi began to contemplate the movement of the liquid diamond around his body. He even began to practice the [Unarmed Water Style] and quickly fell into a trance-like state.

Butler Alec's eyebrow raised in surprise for a moment, but he proceeded to watch in silence as Zhen Shi continued to train in this manner for a few more hours.

----------------

By the time the sun visible through the open roof had started to set, Zhen Shi had made great progress in his training. He had improved quite a bit in the [Unarmed Water Style] and had even comprehended a bit of the aether of Water, and surprisingly the aether of Earth!

Falling into thought, Zhen Shi quickly realized the brunt of the matter. Since Liquid Diamond was several times denser than water, gaining insight into the element of water wasn't surprising. As for the element of Earth, it should be related to diamond being a mineral of the Earth. No matter what state it was in, that wouldn't change...

Feeling rather tired, Zhen Shi began to exit the pool while canceling <Vermillion Dragonification>. Isolde began to hurry forward to welcome him, but surprisingly Butler Alec held her back as he continued to watch Zhen Shi expectantly.

Zhen Shi while feeling tired, was also rather satisfied with the progress he had made. He was now able to maintain his previous level of movement within the liquid diamond at just 30% of the skill. But for now, he seemed to have hit his limit...

But he soon forgot about that, as a strange feeling came over him. The moment he left the pool, the pressure of a medium that was many times denser than normal air disappeared and was replaced by the cool brush of wind. The air seemed to dance about his tired muscles almost in pity for the rigorous training they had undergone.

Zhen Shi closed his eyes and reveled in this newfound comfort. He felt as if his body was an extension of the wind itself and subconsciously began to move about like a light breeze. Even without using [Draconic Wind Steps], his movements were now reminiscent of a dance by the wind as his figure disappeared and reappeared.

As a result, Zhen Shi was able to just barely glimpse at the true nature of the wind and something extremely complex... but that sight was too confusing for him to make sense of and caused him to lose his concentration. Nevertheless, those few seconds had helped him make some great progress in the element of wind!

As Zhen Shi came to a stop, he felt that his understanding of the wind aether was interacting with the faint shadow of the bow within his dantian.

And as if in a trance, Zhen Shi brought his hands into a position of holding a bow and arrow. The air blurred and the wind blew as a bow and arrow materialized using pure air appeared within his hands. Zhen Shi proceeded to pull back the bowstring with the loaded arrow of air.

Butler Alec looked on in stupefaction. He had expected that Zhen Shi would make some progress but not this much! This was the materialization of the Bow! Something that only those with sufficient understanding of both wind and archery could achieve!

He himself had only reached this point after reaching the soul stage... And yet this fellow was in the early Core Formation Stage and had reached the same level, causing Butler Alec to grow rather curious about his level of talent.

The former Zhen Shi's arduous archery training paid off at this moment!

But Zhen Shi's mind was calm, free of distracting thoughts, as the arrow shot out! There was not a single sound since all he used a bow and arrow made of air. Thus the arrow was completely unimpeded by the air, after all, how could the same thing impede itself?

But just when the arrow was released, strands of strange energy began to appear around it... It was as if this energy was fuel and the arrow was fire causing the arrow to light up and explode forwards with shocking power.

Butler Alec took this result calmly, while these were strands of arrow intent, it was a much easier achievement than materializing the bow. Nevertheless, he was rather impressed that this fellow had actually reached such a level of competency...

Boom!

The arrow dashed forwards, like a fish in water, and struck the target, which was destroyed in a loud explosion!

These targets were unlike the ones outside and carried a strength at the Soul Formation Stage!

Zhen Shi allowed the bow to dematerialize and fell into deep thought about what had just happened. While he had memories of the former Zhen Shi making use of arrow intent, he had been unable to use it himself until this very moment. And by using Arrow Intent, his attack just now had reached the level of Soul Formation!

But... one also had to note, he was not using a real arrow or a real bow. He was also still wearing the weighted equipment, the finger gloves, and was tired from several hours of training.

As such, in a completely normal state, his attacks with the 'manifested bow' should at least reach the Soul Transformation Stage! But he could also sense that his arrow intent would run out after three more attacks...

Additionally, if he used an actual bow and arrow, his attack should just barely reach the Nascent Soul Stage! But then he would only be able to use one or two attacks...

Either way, the ability to transcend cultivation levels through weapon intent was simply unbelievable! But, at the same time, weapon intent was the true power of a warrior, and not many could reach this level at the Mortal Stage...

He was brought out of his thoughts as Isolde ran over and grabbed his hand while saying, "That was amazing Zhen Shi! I've never seen even Grandpa Alec doing that!"

Butler Alec walked over and replied with playful annoyance, "Hmph. Don't underestimate the power of old butlers. I've simply never used this skill!"

Zhen Shi grinned derisively, "Huh? Old man, you're just jealous that Isolde is holding my hand and not yours... right?"

Immediately, Isolde let go of his hand while blushing a bright red. Zhen Shi almost began to slap himself to death, 'Me and my SCHOLARLY mouth!'

Butler Alec couldn't help but smile at this turn of events, but continued seriously, "Young man, I'm sure that you are aware of your current level. Having reached both 'Materialization of the Bow' and the level of 'Gathering Strands of Arrow Intent' one could say that you are a cut above most of your generation. So tell me, are you done with this training?" and gestured at the diamond pool.

Zhen Shi calmly shook his head, "Nope. I feel like I can gain some more results if I keep at it for a while longer."

Old Man Alec nodded wisely, "Good, this training will be quite useful for comprehending the element of wind and maybe for some of your other skills as well... Remember, you might be strong, but there are many above your level of power. Here," and passed a black leather-bound book into Zhen Shi's hands, "I was going to give it to you later, but you're already skilled enough. It holds my greatest close combat skill, the work of my life. I can't make you understand the art of archery, as such it'll be up to you. However, before you move onto the next level of intent, I hope that you remember archery intent is unlike others... If you can master this skill well enough, you might be surprised..."

Zhen Shi was grateful for the old man's help and intrigued by his words, but was rather unhappy at being underestimated, 'Old man what do you know? With just a simple drop of my pants and a single flash, my enemies will freeze and be sitting ducks under my <Shaming the Heavens>!'

Butler Alec stared at Zhen Shi with a quizzical frown causing Zhen Shi to be speechless, 'Fuck! Can this old man read minds?'

Butler Alec continued with a shake of his head, "Kid I have some work to take care of. As for this place," while looking around the secret room, "Isolde will be with you and she has control over it. As such, she will be able to solve any of your problems. But... you better not do anything 'ungentlemanly'!" finishing with playful anger in his eyes.

Isolde blushed once more, but with a slight smile on her face.

Zhen Shi played along thinking, 'Fine. Since he is an old man I shouldn't let him worry too much.' and said, "Sure. If I dare to call myself the second in being a 'gentle'man no one will dare call themselves the first! So no need to worry and increase your blood pressure for no reason!"

Alec laughed out loud and began to walk out of the room while waving his hand in goodbye. Zhen Shi grinned back, "See you old man," and waved his hand in return.

Observing their interaction, Isolde smiled once more. She couldn't help but feel happy within her heart and feel a deep desire to protect this...

As for Zhen Shi, he soon became oblivious to the surroundings and he lost himself within the old man's skill book. After an hour, the moment he finished reading the book, an identical copy appeared within the Scholarly Library and a system notification rang out.

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering the skill [Descending Bow]!

Zhen Shi grew excited as he realized that he could use any skill as long as he had an identical copy within the Scholarly Library! But improving his comprehension of the skill would take time...

Nevertheless, as he thought back to the contents of [Descending Bow] he couldn't help but grin. It was an unconventional skill that made use of the bow itself as a weapon to attack! Although Zhen Shi could use skills and physical attacks, this would give him a chance to catch any enemy off guard!

Of course, the skill wasn't simply slamming down with a bow. It gathered a deep comprehension of archery and consisted of specific attacks for both attack and defense. It could even be considered the old man's legacy! In fact, the sheer level of the skill made Zhen Shi wonder if this old man was actually only a Spirit Transformation Expert...

Nevertheless, he soon forgot about it and his eyes glistened maliciously, as he began to imagine himself whacking people's heads with his divine bow and [Descending Bow]!

Even if he couldn't be a swordmaster, he could still whack people to death!