Chương 33: Mentor

"Oh, your mentor possesses the power of Shroud?" Gray's eyes lit up with hope.

"Then shouldn't we ask him for help? What about his disciples? Have any of them been given the Mistveil class too?" Gozen held up a hand.

"No. I'm the sole mentor of the Mistveil. Only one mentor can be designated per class."

"Once an Awakened reaches the Kaiser rank, they can take up the mantle of mentor for their class, if they choose to. Doing so retires the mentor above them from the System's mentor-disciple protocol. I'll stay the designated mentor for anyone summoned into the Natural Selection with the Mistveil class, until my disciple reaches Kaiser and decides to replace me." Gozen tipped his chin toward Gray.

"There's one exception, though. If the current mentor of a class is an Earthborn, they have the option to refuse to relinquish their position. The Astorian don't get that option."

"That's why the elite families born in Astoria sabotage, or outright eliminate, the disciples they adopt from Earth," Gozen said.

"It keeps an Earthborn outsider from reaching Kaiser and stealing the mentor mantle for their class. Some guilds use a different trick. They send their own kids to Earth right before the Natural Selection begins, so their bloodline gets summoned into the race instead of a stranger."

"I'm guessing Ivan, Gwan, Shota, and Gwen went to Earth for that exact reason?" Gozen nodded.

"The Jade Lotus, the Gisaeng House, the Forge, and the Altair Clan are notorious for using that method with their children. They're among the few elite guilds with access to interstellar travel, after all."

"Okay… then what about us? Is there a guild of Mistveil users?" Gozen's mouth curved into something that wasn't quite a smile.

"It's just you and me, kid. We're the only ones who carry this class." Gray hesitated.

"So… your mentor?"

"Dead." Gozen clipped the word short.

"And I was the one who killed him," he added, his face unreadable. Gray's face twisted into a scowl. Hot fury surged through him, and his hands curled into fists at his sides. The thought of someone killing the man who'd practically raised him made his stomach turn. Whatever respect he'd built for Gozen during this intermission evaporated, replaced instantly by disgust. It was the same thing he'd felt toward Hyun back at the cafe.

The memory flashed through his mind, and Gray caught himself before the anger could carry him any further. Lashing out in blind rage before he understood the full picture was a habit he needed to break. He wouldn't make the same mistake with Gozen that he'd made with Hyun. Gray took a breath and studied his mentor's face. Gozen's eyes held no malice, no indifference. Just guilt, and something close to shame.

"Why did you do it?" The words came out sharper than Gray intended. Gozen flinched, then quickly smoothed it from his face and replaced it with a stoic mask.

"Bold of you to ask. Usually, I'd tell you it's none of your business. But you carry the weight of his legacy now. You deserve to know the history behind it." He drew in a slow, heavy breath.

"As I've said previously, my mentor was a bearer of Shroud. But when the Primordial possessed him, the man I knew, the man who raised me, ceased to exist. In that bloodthirsty state, he attempted to bring down the sky city of Aetherfall. The Altair Clan lost half of their members that day, permanently ousting them from the big five."

"Before the entirety of the guild collapsed, I was assigned to eliminate the Kaiser threatening their existence—oblivious to the fact that it was my mentor." Gozen's voice wavered.

"I couldn't reason with him. He was hell-bent on destroying the city, so I did what I needed to do." Silence filled the room. After a few seconds, Gray eased into his next question.

"So, why is this happening to me? What made me such a perfect vessel for Shroud and the Mistveil class?" Gozen just stared at the boy, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm not too sure…" Gray shot him a look, half despair, half annoyance. Gozen sighed and continued.

"The catalyst for inheriting the Mistveil class is a constant. Every disciple before you shared a similar quality that confirmed the System's intent in its selection. But I could tell that criterion didn't apply to you." Gray leaned in.

"What is it?"

"The Mistveil has no offensive abilities. It's a class built entirely for defense. To make up for that weakness, the System looks for vessels experienced with weapons or combat." Gozen scanned Gray's body up and down.

"And that definitely isn't you." Gray gave a mock frown.

"And what makes you so sure of that, huh? Didn't you see me fight those goblins at the club?" Gozen let out a laugh that rattled the furniture.

"Boy, reading about combat in your manga doesn't count as experience! It seemed as though you shared a drink with those gangly green beasts right before the fight even started!"

"And who do I have to blame for that, huh?" Gray snapped.

"Boy, you are a lost cause. Receiving training from even the best fighters in this world won't even—""So why was I chosen as your disciple, then? I'm clearly not some great samurai such as yourself," Gray cut in. Gozen waved a dismissive hand.

"I was no samurai, but a blacksmith. I assume the System deemed that as 'experience with weapons.' You were clearly qualified to inherit Shroud, but the sample size is practically nonexistent to deduce why. The only recorded inheritors in history are you and my master after all." Gray ran the math in his head.

"How is that possible? The Natural Selection has been running for well over four thousand years. How can there only be two Shroud inheritors in four millennia?" Gozen shook his head.

"That is only how long the competition has run. The System was summoning humans to Astoria long before it invented these games."

"My mentor informed me that there can only be one bearer of Shroud alive at a time. Once the bearer passes, the legacy goes dormant, taking one thousand years for Shroud to instill his will onto another wielder of Mistveil." Gozen paused, his expression darkening as he stared into Gray's eyes.

"My master passed away three years ago."

"So I inherited this power nine hundred and ninety-seven years early," Gray muttered.

"Did your master at least tell you why it could happen so fast? Or, you know, how to fight against the possession process?!" he exclaimed. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Gozen didn't respond, turning his head away and avoiding Gray's gaze. Gray shot him an unamused stare.

"He never told you, did he?"

"He… wasn't the type of man to discuss that. Communicating with him… wasn't the easiest endeavor, to say the least." Gray let out a tired sigh.

"So he couldn't prevent the possession in the end, but did he at least show you any signs? Any hints on dealing with this god?" Gozen rubbed his chin and searched through his memory.

"There was one strange thing I noticed about him."

"Which was?"

"He would talk to himself a lot." Gray's shoulders slouched, all hope lost.

"Are you telling me that I'm going to go senile?"

"My master was never senile." He shook his head.

"He would always pause his conversation the instant he noticed me approaching. But in the brief moments I overheard him, he wasn't rambling like a madman. It sounded more like he was in a heated debate with somebody. I can only assume he was conversing with Shroud himself."

"So, my goal is to convince a bloodthirsty god to allow me autonomy over my own body," Gray sighed.

"Fantastic." Gozen gave a sharp nod.

"Precisely. Quite simple, actually, now that you say it out loud." Gray snarled at the man.

"Take it easy, child. My mentor was deep into the Kaiser rank before the Primordial possessed him. You still have a long way to go. You probably won't even make it past the Peak anyway."

"Now," he said, striking his hands together.

"It is time for your System-sanctioned boon." With a snap of his wrist, a large wooden crate materialized in the air, landing on the ground with a heavy thud. It was an entire army's arsenal in a box. Gray tilted his head to peek into the crate. The thing was filled with a massive variety of weapons. Longswords, maces, recurve bows, and spears were all bunched together in a pile. Gozen sifted through the weapons and pulled out a katana. He inspected it as if he were choosing the ripest fruit in the market.

Sliding the blade out of its sheath, he measured it against Gray's frame. He vehemently shook his head. Without even looking, he tossed the sword over his shoulder. Gray winced, bracing for the impact of the blade. But the sound never came. Just inches away from clattering against the floor, the sword distorted into space—blinking into a blue ball of light and soaring straight into Gozen's ring. He repeated this process over and over again until, finally, his hand closed around a long, heavy shaft.

He yanked it out of the crate and a huge smile spread across his face as he admired the weapon in all its glory. A glaive. Gozen slammed the pommel of the weapon against the floor and struck a heroic pose.

"So? What do you think? Magnificent, isn't she?" Gray narrowed his eyes and stared at the weapon. Then, his gaze darted to the white glaive mounted on the wall beside them.

"Oh, wow," Gray said, his voice flat.

"I wonder what possessed you to choose a glaive, of all things."

"That weapon is a bit too 'war commander' for me. I think I'd rather use a setup similar to what I already have. I'll be acquiring the Mistveil's evasion abilities, so something discreet and light, like my daggers would suit my style perfectly." The twin daggers warped out of Gray's ring.

"Do you have anything similar to these?" Gozen phased out, leaving only a faint wisp of mist in his wake. A half-second later, he reappeared in the exact spot he had just occupied. Then, a sharp clatter rang out at Gray's feet. The blades of his daggers had been cleanly cut into precise thirds. The fragmented metal lay scattered across the floor, leaving Gray holding nothing but the hilts. Gray's mouth fell agape as he looked up at his mentor.

"What was that for?!" Gozen wagged a finger.

"Daggers are weapons for cowards. You will not utilize my class to creep around in the shadows and stab your opponents in the back. I am raising a warrior, not a thief. When you take a life, I expect you to look your foe in the eye. You will give them the dignity of seeing the one who ended it." Gozen tossed the glaive through the air and Gray scrambled to catch it. The heavy weight of the pole caused him to lurch forward, nearly dragging him to the ground.

Gozen Kotetsu's Glaive [UNIQUE] A polearm forged and tempered by Gozen Kotetsu. Gray's eyes shot wide open as he scanned over the Unique tag. He leveled the glaive in front of him and tightened his grip on the shaft. The weapon was incredibly top-heavy, causing him to stagger forward. Regaining his balance, he drew a long breath and envisioned a war commander riding into battle on his trusty steed. He took a commanding step forward and swung the glaive in a sweeping arc.

After completing the swing, he retracted the polearm, bringing the blade down in a heavy overhead chop. Gray repeated the process several more times, gradually feeling more accustomed to the weapon in his hands. That wasn't how Gozen saw it. He clicked his tongue and shook his head, watching the boy flail the blade around like a frantic beekeeper trying to catch a swarm of escaped bees.

"Boy, give me that!" he grunted, snatching the glaive from Gray's grip.

"The glaive is a weapon of versatility. It can chop like an axe." He gripped the polearm with both hands, raised it high overhead, and plunged it down through the air. The blade stopped an inch from the floorboards, and a gust of wind rushed past Gray's body. Gozen bent his knees slightly and planted the side of the haft against his ribs.

"It can impale like a spear." He thrust the weapon at Gray, the edge of the blade stopping mere inches from his nose. Gray jerked back from the attack and gave his mentor an unamused look.

"But its true strength lies in crowd control. A spear is for a duel. A glaive war. You command your surroundings in a full 360-degree radius, keeping entire squads at bay." He took a wide step back, then hoisted the glaive straight above his head. But he didn't swing it down. Instead, he began rotating the shaft. Maintaining the momentum of the twirling blade, he brought it down and wove the polearm around his body in a tight figure eight, passing the weapon from hand to hand and twirling it behind his back.

He finished the display by sweeping the blade around his body in one final 360-degree swing, extending the point out to his side and tucking the haft securely under his arm.

"So, will the System grant me a Glaive Mastery ability to do what you just did?" Gray asked, jutting a finger at the pole. Gozen narrowed his eyes into slits.

"Lazy. What has this new generation become? Expecting everything to just be given to them without actually working hard for it."

"You might've just been joking, but that is a common misconception fresh Awakened have about their abilities. Just because the System conveniently gifts them to you doesn't mean that you've mastered them in the slightest. And that is something you especially need to get through your head." He jabbed a finger at Gray.

"Why me?" Gray planted both hands against his chest.

"Your class will be heavily stunted if you opt for a tight loadout of abilities. The strength of being a Hybrid and having the Storm and Mist affinities lies in their versatility. My mentor didn't just become one of the strongest Kaisers in the world—he was the strongest. It was in part to his mastery of his affinities. But having a wide spectrum of abilities sounds surreal on paper until you realize that you have to learn to master them all."

"A jack of all trades, master of none," Gray murmured.

"You understand. Good. Here." Gozen tossed the glaive back to him.

"Primordial Shroud wasn't just a spellcaster. He was a magic swordsman. You need to master the fundamentals of weapons combat if you want to utilize your class efficiently." Gray caught the polearm and gave a sharp nod. He wasn't able to emulate the mastery of the weapon as Gozen had, but he could at least start with the basics. He bent his knees, planted the haft against his ribs, and repeatedly thrust the glaive back and forth—familiarizing himself with the motion of wielding a spear.

After several repetitions, he hoisted the blade above his head and slowly brought it down in an overhead chop, focusing on keeping his balance steady. Gozen let out a grunt.

"You still have a mountain to climb, but this is a good start." Gray pulled back the weapon and relaxed his guard.

"Well, if only I knew somebody who was a master of this exact type of weapon. Maybe they could coach me? Or if they're too busy to teach me in person, would they be able to… I don't know, teach me remotely?" He tapped the side of his temple. Gozen let out a sigh of defeat.

"I understand what you're saying. You do not have to dance around it. I will teach you the fundamentals, but don't expect me to hold your hand." He jabbed a finger directly at Gray's face.

"Now, accept your boon and help prepare the table. Dinner is almost ready." Gozen Kotetsu's Glaive has been approved as a boon. Would you like to accept? Y/N Gray's finger hovered over the 'Y', but a sharp sound interrupted his confirmation. It came from beneath the floorboards, sounding like a feral animal throwing a violent tantrum inside its cage. Gray's finger froze an inch from the screen.

"Uh, what is that?"

"What is what?" Gozen shouted, attempting to drown out the noise from the basement.

"That." Gray pointed the butt of the glaive at the floor.

"The rattling coming from the basement." Gozen waved a hand, and a thick fog erupted just above the trapdoor, concealing it entirely. Gray squinted at his mentor.

"Gozen… what exactly are you keeping down there?"