Refinement

I woke up to Jayne snoring loudly on the floor while splayed out in a very unladylike manner. I did my morning routine and got dressed in a pair of black shorts and a black sleeveless vest. It was time to train. I snagged a few pieces of food from the kitchen before making my way to the courtyard, but on my way there I heard two distinct voices from behind me.

"There you are!"

"The hell are you doing man, you look like a dumbass."

I turned my head to see Kabuto and Lyra with the former walking up to me while the latter just stayed standing a few paces away. Kabuto placed his hand on my shoulder and turned me around before stating "I want to train with you." with a resolute look in his eyes.

"Nope, sorry not happening."

"What...?" Kabuto's eyes squinted in confusion.

"You heard me, now go find your own place to train, I've already called the courtyard." With my parting words I turned to leave but I was suddenly bound by a strange force.

I whipped my head around with a fierce fire ignited in my eyes, but when I saw Lyra holding her hand out with her brows twitching in annoyance, I knew it was a good time to shut the hell up.

"Do you have a hearing problem? We said we want to train with you." Lyra's tone made it to where it seemed that was the end of the conversation, but I couldn't help it.

"Actually Kabuto asked and not yo-" It felt like I was being crushed when Lyra started to slowly close her extended hand into a fist, but she stopped just short before letting me out of her strange magic. I fell to the ground gasping for air for a few minutes until I could breathe again but, when I looked back up, Kabuto and Lyra were nowhere to be found.

I shrugged and continued on towards the courtyard, after picking up the food I grabbed of course. When I got there I immediately started my routine and when I was done, worked on my fighting style. It was almost noon by the time I felt tired enough to call it a day. I had to constantly brush my hair to the side because it had grown longer than I would like it to be over the past month, and this caused many of the Nobles daughters, who were probably here because their fathers were in a meeting with the King, to hide their faces from me and whisper among their respective friend groups every damn time I passed them.

I had reached the door to my room and was about to open it when I remembered that the custom made armor that I had requested was supposed to be delivered today, so I made my way over towards the Vault.

[KABUTO'S POV]

'Damn, this guy is a monster...' I thought to myself as I watched Yuuki perform many different exercises countless time without the slightest hint of fatigue showing on his face. Lyra and I watched him from the roof of a nearby building as he cursed himself for making mistakes while he was going through what looked like a form, yet it was the most beautiful form I have even seen. It was smooth like glass and flowed like water while Yuuki himself was immovable and stood strong like a mountain.

I knew the guy was an absolute monster when it came to the foundation, but this is ridiculous. I even saw him look at me in the eyes when he spun for a backfist. It's like he knows everything that goes on around him, but he just lets everything happen.

[YUUKI SILVER'S POV]

Wow...now this, this is what you call armor.

I was holding the chest piece made of what seemed to be a type of leather but it was the same color of my hair with gold and red embroidering and it reflected light despite it being leather. It was as flexible as the same vest I was wearing, yet it was harder than any type of metal I have ever come across. The rest of the armor was of the same design but there was no helmet, only a mask that covered my nose and mouth. I asked what it was for, but the smith just said that it was a secret. That bastard. All things considered, I was fairly pleased with the armor and looked forward to the day I would put it to the test.

When I had entered my room Jayne was nowhere to be found, so I decided to take a shower. I mulled over what she had said previously. 'Well damn, I'm utterly lost. She said magic isn't in your core, yet it takes form and develops when your core is about to breakthrough to the red stage.' I wanted to find out why these two variables were so closely knit together, yet so far apart that they are their own separate entities. Just as I felt like I was on to something the door swung opened and I looked towards Jayne with a deadpan stare.

"Oh, shit I didn't know you were in here."

"You're telling me you can't hear the loud ass water running?"

Over the course of my life I was faced with many different things, most being disgusting or disturbing. Most of the time both. Yet nothing has ever disturbed me more than having Jayne eye my body with an unveiled admiration in her expression.

"Are you just gonna stare at my cock, or are you going to leave?" I said in a cold tone.

Jayne visibly reddened as she stammered "I-I was just surprised that a kid your age had such a toned body, I wasn't staring!" She quickly turned and shut the door leaving me to sigh and rub my temples. I had forgotten what I was thinking about earlier... Frustrated and tired, I did the only thing I could think of doing. Meditate.

I was never able to gain any insights into the mystery of my mana core before, so what made me think I could now? The only thing I knew was that people did not inherit the same magic core as their parents and that a persons magic formed and took shape during their first breakthrough. I found myself in the familiar black landscape of my mind, not a thing had changed since last time I had come here. Just as I was about to leave my consciousness, I saw a faint glow in the distance, with the color being impossible to make out. I went to take a step towards the glow but I found myself back inside of my room sitting on my bed.

Now even more frustrated and tired than before, I stared at the stars on top of the roof of the castle, my thoughts roaming. "Mom, I'm lost and I don't know what to do. I want revenge. I want to kill the person who took you from me, but I need power to do so. The thing is, well I don't know if I have that power, and it kills me knowing that I may not be able to put your soul at ease."

Tears fell from my eyes as I silently laid there and stared at the seemingly infinite expanse of stars, shining brightly above me. I felt a strong sense of shame for lacking the power that I needed to enact my revenge.

I fucking hate it!

I feel so helpless and yet no matter what I try to do about it I'm knocked back down to square one. It pisses me off that I'm so useless...all I want is to be strong enough to do what I wanted. To make my mother proud, and to prove that I'm better that what everyone else said I was.

I was so focused on my thoughts, I hadn't even noticed that Kabuto was sitting next to me. He looked at me with a small smile and punched my arm lightly before saying "And here I thought that you couldn't shed tears. I'm surprised."

"Well I am a Human after all, not some monster." I replied sarcastically.

Another bout of silence followed after my words until Kabuto spoke in a soft tone.

"You know, Lyra and I have been worried about you lately. I mean you've always been somewhat distant, but this isn't like you man. It feels like you treat us like a liability rather than people let alone friends." Though his words were somewhat accusatory, they helped me realize something.

"Look, Kabuto, I'm sorry alright. But you two can't get too close to me or you'll just end up dead and gone, leaving me to mourn and feel helpless all over again."

Kabuto's look turned sharp as he said "So you think we're incapable of standing at your side, fighting until the very end, and that we're people who need to be coddled while you're fighting your ass off? We're more than capable of fighting if that's what you're worried about, but if you think that we'll just get in your way then you're dead wrong. Just because you lost others doesn't mean you'll lose us, Yuuki."

I watched as Kabuto jumped off of the more than 30m tall building, landing softly on the ground below. What does he know anyways. He never had parents before so he will never know how it feels to have them taken forcefully.

I must've fallen asleep on the roof because I was greeted by the warm light of the sun rising in the distance. I stretched my tense muscles and climbed down the building at breakneck speed, landing on the ground in less than 10 seconds. Today was my first day of training with Jayne and I wanted to make sure I was on time. Something I would later regret.

I climbed down the side of the building closest to the courtyard so I could make my way into the castle to get something to eat. Just before I reached the door a firm grip landed on the back of my shirt, quite literally pulling my attention away from my previous thoughts. I came face to face Jayne, who had her usual cheery smile, as she stated "Today is the day of your first lesson!" with more than a bit of excitement in her voice.

She then guided me to a metal door covered in moss at the base of a nearby tower. I was confused as to why we would go here for training, but I kept my thoughts to myself as Jayne tapped on the door in seemingly random locations before a dull green light spread through it. The metal door swung open with a loud creak, revealing a spacious room with racks of weapons on the left wall.

Jayne's previously cheery smile faded into something akin to a starving wolf that found an injured rabbit. Before I could voice my inhibitions, she shoved me through the door and shut it upon entering herself before stating "Grab a weapon." in a serious tone.

I looked towards the various racks lining the left wall, each designated to a specific type of weapon with longswords on the far left to polearms on the far right, and I began to carefully inspect each and everyone of them while also testing their balance and weight. I came across basically every weapon that you could find anywhere, I even found an old longbow from the Origin Age, a time when Gods roamed freely with men.

I eventually settled with a shortsword belted to my hip, a dagger around my thigh, a bow with a quiver slung across my shoulders and two metal gauntlets around my hands adorned with the basic insignia for the Royal Family. Jayne nodded after glancing at my 'arsenal' before forming a sword made of molten rocks and fire.

She held her left hand back while gesturing with her sword before smirking and saying "Come, show me what you got brat!"