Kale gritted his teeth, his jaw tightening as a flash of guilt flickered through his mind. He opened his mouth to explain, to offer some small shred of truth to the man who had saved his life. "Master, I... I can’t..."
Lazek got up from his crouched position on the ground, extending his hand towards Kale with a sudden, decisive motion. He cut his disciple off before the boy could retreat into his usual wall of vague excuses and silence.
"But regardless of all that, I have decided to trust you, kid," Lazek said, his voice returning to its usual functional tone. "Make sure you keep your promise just like you said you would. The instant you achieve the rank of Lord, remember that."
Kale hesitated for a long second, staring at the calloused hand of the man who was both his saviour and his greatest threat. Finally, he grabbed the hand of his master and allowed himself to be pulled up from the dirt of the black crater.
There was a complicated look in his green eyes as he stood before Lazek, a mixture of gratitude and an ache of betrayal he couldn’t shake. The more days passed, the more he felt guilty and torn about whether to reveal his origins to his master.
At first, it had not even been a question in his mind. There was absolutely no chance of revealing even the tiniest bit of his secrets to a Fleshcraft Grandmaster who could turn his very cells against him if he desired.
But now, after everything that had happened, Kale found himself struggling with the weight of the man’s kindness. Despite Kale constantly being selfish and secretive, Lazek continued to help him in every possible way with resources and protection.
He almost felt disgusted with himself for not being willing to pay back his master’s kindness with the truth. It was a debt of honour that he felt he was failing to settle, a stain on the pride of the researcher he once was.
In the end, he realised he was not brave enough to come clean and reveal the reality of his past. The weight of betrayal by one of his closest friends and long-time colleagues from back on Earth still hurt him deeply.
He had died because of that betrayal, because he had trusted too much and allowed himself to be vulnerable to someone else. He had vowed from the very moment he woke in this new world that he would never make that mistake again.
He had promised himself never to trust anyone enough that they could stab him in the back while he wasn’t looking. That trauma was a thick, impenetrable wall blocking his path from showing true gratitude to the man who had done so much for him.
While it was likely true that Lazek also had his own agendas for helping Kale so greatly, they were not purely malicious. Lazek was like a mad scientist, willing to do almost anything to further his own research and knowledge.
He was using Kale for that purpose, treating his disciple as a unique case study in the laws of biological discord. But in this world, that was a form of care that Kale could at least understand and respect on a professional level.
Suddenly, Lazek reached out and patted Kale’s shoulder with a firm, grounding pressure. "Enough of that, stop thinking too much," the Grandmaster said, his face expressionless as always.
Lazek looked around the bloody black crater, his eyes scanning the mountain of lizard carcasses and the scorched earth. "We are in the perfect spot. You survived the pit, but you fought like a wild animal with no settled structural grounding."
The Fleshcrafter stepped back, assuming a loose but incredibly balanced combat stance that made the mana in the air hum. "You rely too much on brute force and the feedback from your beast. It is time for your physical combat training to begin truly."
Kale straightened his ruined white coat, his analytical mind quickly shifting back into focus as he realised what was happening.
"Your centre of gravity is too high during your pivots, leaving your lower dantian wide open," Lazek noted, his voice turning clinical. "You move with speed, but you lack the settled grounding of a true Martial practitioner."
Lazek blurred into motion, appearing in front of Kale before the boy could even blink his eyes. He did not use a weapon, simply tapping Kale on the chest with two fingers, a strike that sent a jolt of mana through Kale’s core.
"Again," Lazek ordered, his voice echoing off the high stone walls of the crater. "Show me how you move when you are fighting singular or numerous beasts. I will fix those obvious flaws of yours until they are buried."
Kale drew his daggers, the mana humming along the edges as he focused on his master’s movements. He realised that this was another form of kindness, a way for Lazek to ensure his disciple survived the next wave of the tide.
For the next several hours, the black crater became a training ground of sweat and blood. Lazek was a relentless instructor, pushing Kale to his physical limits and forcing him to refine every shift in balance and every strike.
He taught Kale how to manage his energy during prolonged battles against hordes, showing him the efficiency of circular movement over wide lateral shifts. He corrected Kale’s stance, forcing his weight lower to the ground for better stability.
"A Tamer who cannot fight for themselves is nothing but a liability to their beast," Lazek barked as he dodged a high-frequency strike from Kale’s dagger. "You must be the anchor that Neo can rely on when the world turns to chaos."
Kale felt his muscles screaming under the strain, but he did not stop, his Hexarion physiology allowing him to endure. He felt the Beast Force pathways in his body humming, providing the stamina he needed to keep up with a Grandmaster.
As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the graveyard of black chameleons, Kale finally collapsed to one knee. He was drenched in sweat, his breathing ragged, but his movements were already noticeably sharper and more disciplined.
Lazek stood over him, remarkably spotless despite the intense training session they had just completed. The Grandmaster looked down at his disciple with a rare, unspoken respect shimmering in the depths of his cold black eyes.
"That is enough for today," Lazek noted, his voice returning to its usual tone of terminal boredom. "Go and rest. Tomorrow, we will see if those lessons of yours stuck, or if you are still just a talented weed of the forest."
Kale nodded, too tired to offer a witty retort as he slowly stood up and began to clean his daggers. He felt a strange sense of peace despite the secrets he still carried, a bond forged in the bloody mud of the dark pit.
He realised that even if he couldn’t offer the truth, he could offer his strength and his progress. That would have to be enough for now, as he prepared to face the next wave of the Beasts once he returned to the Base of the Greenroot Guild.