"Alright, will this place suffice?" William asked as he revealed the underground training area beneath the villa where they were currently residing.
"Yeah, it will suffice for now. So tell , do you truly not know any weapon arts?" Adam inquired, his brow furrowing in disbelief.
William shook his head, replying, "Yeah… I don't know any. I realize it's rather peculiar for soone like , coming from a privileged background, to have had no formal training in this domain."
"But let's just say my parents weren't particularly inclined to invest in . When I was a child, they didn't do anything special for ."
"And add that to being a privileged minded kid who was also lazy back then and you get the current with no experience."
Adam nodded, "Yeah, it struck as odd when you told I was supposed to train you. For a mont, I even thought you had hired just for appearances."
"Haha… ha, how could I even do that? You're one of the most formidable individuals I've ever known. How could I possibly deceive soone of your caliber?" William said with a laugh, though inwardly, he was grappling with a dilemma, aware that Adam had nearly uncovered his true intentions.
Adam, noticing William's words, smiled initially but then grew serious. "Boss… there's sothing you ought to know about ."
Sensing Adam's shift in deanor, William put aside his internal thoughts and focused on him intently. "Yeah?"
"I think I may have misled you about sothing."
"About…?"
"When I claid to be the strongest… the truth is, I'm not. I don't think I even rank among the top 10 in the criminal underworld, even if we exclude mbers of the great houses and royalty."
William regarded him silently for a mont before responding, "I was aware of that."
"Hmm?"
"Did you really think I would believe you were the strongest out there? No, I can't. Not by a long shot." William was quick to shoot his pride down as he continued.
"There are far too many individuals out there who keep themselves concealed, biding their ti for the right mont. Those are the ones who are truly formidable. They remain hidden, not out of fear, but because they're waiting for the right opportunity."
"Those are the people who are the real deal, at least that's what I believe."
Adam felt a twinge of hurt hearing those words, but he knew they were entirely accurate.
"But I'm not saying you're not strong. In fact, you are strong—exceptionally strong. But you probably fall sowhere in the middle of the spectrum, perhaps even a bit higher. I believe that if you had trained with greater intensity, you might have surpassed your current strength.
Who knows, you might have even been qualified to claim one of the top 10 spots." William said, and both n shared a smile at the thought, which felt surprisingly genuine.
'Yeah… yeah, I might have. Not the top 10, but close.' Adam thought about the future possibilities that fate had taken from him.
"The primary reasons I couldn't achieve that were because of the 'most wanted' label—I was severely restricted in many ways, particularly in terms of the places I could go." Adam said as the 'Most Wanted' label had their advantages.
"The other reason was the prohibitive cost of the items I needed. Without them, it was nearly impossible for soone to advance naturally."
"Back then, I didn't have a na for myself, so the work I got didn't pay enough to buy even one of the items I needed. And in later years, I just lost interest in training and focused mostly on jobs."
"And just like that, I who once adhered to great training and principals… went to such a state." Adam stated as he gave a dreadful sigh.
William nodded thoughtfully, "Well, that's unfortunate. But sothing fortuitous has happened to you now."
Adam asked, "Such as?"
"You're working for , so now you don't need to 'work' anymore… aside from training and handling so other non-essential tasks, you'll mostly be free to do as you please. You can dedicate that ti to training." William said as Adam nodded internally thinking about his words.
"Yeah, that's a good plan. But the issue of securing training materials still remains. I may need to resort to… less ethical ans of training to reach the next level." Adam said, contemplating so of the dark thods employed by notorious criminals and shuddering inwardly at the thought.
"What are you talking about? I'm going to cover all your expenses, including training items and advancent materials." William said suddenly to Adam's surprise.
Adam stared at him in disbelief, "Seriously? Do you even comprehend how exorbitant those training items are?"
This ti, William looked at him as if he were naïve, and Adam quickly grasped why. If William could casually purchase a sword worth nearly a trillion dollars and gift it to him, then it wasn't far-fetched for him to also finance his training.
"But for to do that, you'd need to promise sothing." William suddenly said.
Adam looked at him inquisitively as William continued, "I want you to train with utmost dedication and not skip even a single day." He said and listed more.
"I don't just want you to beco stronger than you are now—I want you to beco the absolute strongest you can be."
"I realize this may sound like a lofty ambition, but if you commit with all your conviction, and with my resources, I can provide you with the very best of everything you need. And I'm confident that one day, you'll be able to contend for that top 10 spot."
Initially, Adam regarded it as a nice dream, sothing not easily attainable. But as he continued to listen to William's words, the idea began to seem increasingly plausible.
He unconsciously smiled as he envisioned standing before the most powerful individuals, holding his ground against such formidable adversaries.
'To actually vie for the top 10 spot… it doesn't seem so implausible now.' Adam felt the future had brighter possibilities now.
William observed Adam deep in thought, wondering if he would truly accept the offer. But his doubts vanished when he saw Adam's genuine smile, realizing that it was indeed possible.
Adam deliberated for a while longer, weighing the dangers and other critical factors, before making his decision. He opened his eyes and told William with unwavering conviction, "I accept your condition."
"If you're willing to invest so much in , then I can promise you that no matter what happens, I won't just strive to beco the strongest—I'll also remain loyal to you until death."
William smiled at that and replied, "I appreciate that, but be careful not to say sothing you might regret later."
But Adam was resolute now as he said, "No! I'm certain about this."
"Alright, that's good."
"But there's sothing else I'd like to ntion about myself."
"Hmm?"
"When I said I wasn't the strongest, that remains true. But there's a reason why I'm so highly valued."
"And that reason is that I've mastered every weapon fighting style a person can learn by hand."
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