Thomas raised his hand, stopping Nobi.
"Stop. That's enough," he commanded sternly.
Nobi sighed and sheathed her sword at her hip.
Thomas turned his gaze to the young sli. "You're Level 89, right?"
"You already used Appraisal… but you're still asking?" Sli#47 mumbled. Still, he nodded.
"Good." Thomas grinned. "Then we'll train you to reach Level 100—and find you a battle style."
"Battle style?" Young Sli asked, tilting his head.
Instead of answering directly, Thomas asked, "Just now, how many skills did you use?"
"My skills…" Sli#47 replied instantly. "Less than ten, I guess."
The instructor nodded. "Yes—around ten. But how many skills do you possess?"
"Far more than a couple of dozen," Young Sli answered without hesitation.
"Yes." Thomas's eyes narrowed. "You don't utilize them, do you?"
Then he answered his own question.
"So skills beco obsolete. They're not power-efficient because they can't evolve—or because you gain better skills as you level up and tier up."
Young Sli nodded.
Nobi folded her arms and stared blankly at the ceiling lamps.
"This is where battle style cos in," Thomas said, raising his index finger.
"A battle style lets a person focus on one fixed combat path." His tone turned instructive. "It increases power by discarding useless skills."
He explained slowly, "Discard doesn't an throwing them away. You can still use them."
"But when you don't rely on those skills inside that style—and focus only on the ones you truly need—your overall combat becos sharper and stronger."
Sli#47's thoughts clicked into place.
He recalled a style he had temporarily inherited from his future self when fighting the sealed artifacts' vessels in Ruins City Lunixa.
But he hadn't focused on it. He dismantled the artifacts, and within monts, that power vanished.
So he never gained a clear understanding of the style.
Now he listened closely, not wanting to miss anything.
Then—
Disappointnt.
"How many months do you have left?" Thomas asked.
'Months…? Does everyone else get months?' Young Sli sensed bias, but answered honestly. "Twenty-three days."
The mont he said days, nervousness returned.
Days were slipping by like blinking.
Thomas stared at him, expression blank. "Are you serious?" he asked doubtfully.
Young Sli nodded bitterly. "Yes. I got only one month."
Most would get years, in fact; the instructor had sensed Sli#47 was special, so he'd felt the young sli would get months—but he never imagined it would be just one month.
Thomas suddenly flashed in front of him—Whoosh!—and inspected him from every angle.
"Is there sothing special about him?" he muttered.
Under the lion's scrutiny, Young Sli felt embarrassed and rubbed his forehead.
After a mont, Thomas muttered, "He's a regular sli. Nothing special."
He rubbed his own forehead, still not understanding why—or which Demon King—had decided to give Sli#47 only one month.
Still, he couldn't deny it: Sli#47 was exceptional in combat.
After a few monts of thought, Thomas decided, "That's it. I'll go all out training you."
A chill ran through Sli#47 as the lion narrowed his eyes.
Nobi started sneaking away on tiptoe.
"This sli is done for," she muttered. 'Instructor Thomas's going all out… It's been a long while.'
She rembered the last ti Thomas trained soone with ferocious intent.
A few hundred years ago, Thomas had trained a lizard demon.
Lizards were considered distant descendants of dragons, and it was nearly impossible for them to evolve into even impure dragons—much less match the pure-blooded ones.
But Thomas sohow forced it through.
The lizard he trained evolved into a pure golden dragon.
That incident shook the entire Demon Kingdom.
Even the entire Divinara trembled.
After all, if lizards could be trained into higher dragons, the dragon race's status would fall.
For a brief ti, it seed lizards might beco one of the ruling races.
The dragon clan beca a laughingstock to its rivals—the Phoenix clan and other high-end races.
Humans reacted even more violently.
Hero King Yuki entered Demon City Remorae and held discussions with Demon King Remora.
The demons reported everything because they didn't want an all-out war with humans.
Instructor Thomas and the newly evolved golden dragon were inspected and questioned by Yuki.
After learning the details, Yuki left with a wide grin instead of anger.
Later, everyone learned why.
The lizard had been trained brutally.
Every day, half—sotis more—of his bones were shattered.
He fainted five to ten tis a day.
And he hadn't slept or eaten properly for nearly fifteen years.
After learning that, the dragons—who had been preparing to wipe out the lizards—backed off.
They even honored the newly evolved dragon, since it elevated the dragon na again.
The dragons proudly declared, "It is very tough to beco a dragon."
Then they returned to sleeping on their luxurious hoards, legs crossed, smug as ever.
----
Nobi swallowed hard. 'I need to escape.'
Thomas's gaze shifted to her.
"Join in," he said coldly. "You'll be trained together."
Nobi froze. Sweat broke out as a chill ran down her body.
'Is it really that tough… or am I overreacting?' Sli#47 wondered, watching her tremble.
Thomas pulled a mana recovery potion and an aura recovery potion from thin air and tossed them to Young Sli.
Sli#47 gulped them down imdiately.
Thomas nodded, satisfied. "I'll explain the plan."
"First, I'll teach you a training technique. It involves training all body stats—Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility…"
He continued, "When those increase, your mana and aura increase as well."
"And when everything rises, your level rises too."
'So, it's level up by training…' Young Sli mused, recalling Elder Sli's explanation.
Then Thomas asked sharply, "Do you know why this trial—the Demon King's Heir trial—is taken so seriously?"
Young Sli shook his head.
All he knew was that he would gain power—and he needed it to survive and create a safe area for his family, followers, and himself.
'I need to tell him,' Thomas thought. 'Or he'll give up halfway.'
After the lizard-to-dragon incident spread, no one ca to train under him seriously anymore.
They all wanted light training—then leave.
Thomas sighed.
"It seems your tis are too harsh," he said quietly, "if you're participating without even knowing the trial's importance."
After a pause, he added, "It's for the King's Mark."
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