historical

"I can't believe Master's teaching is so good compared to even the instructors I know. How is Master so good at this?" Lily couldn't help but wonder how a fifteen-year-old boy could teach others better than those old men with white beards.

"Hahaha. Actually, this isn't my first time teaching someone." Wistfulness flickered across Damien's face briefly before he beamed, "Also, I guess I am a natural at teaching, hehe."

Women are very perspective by nature. She saw how Damien had a doleful expression on his face for a moment. She wondered if something unfortunate happened to the person Damien thought about.

But she didn't comment about it as she smiled, "It's true. Master is truly talented in teaching people too. I am sure Master would be successful as an Alchemy teacher, and the Alchemist Society would be fortunate to have you in their midst."

Damien chuckled, "Thank you for your compliment, Lily."

Lily was startled for a moment as Damien once again called her by her name.

Damien saw Lily's startled reaction as he said, "Well, I hope you don't mind me calling you by your name whenever we are training. Since you are calling me Master, it would only be right to address my disciple by her name. Also, you said before that you allowed me to call you by your name whenever we are alone, isn't it?" Damien grinned.

No one would dare to address the imperial princess by her name except the direct royal family.

If the two court masters saw Damien being this audacious in front of Lily, especially when he teased her before, their eyes would have bulged, and Damien would be lucky if they didn't pounce on him on the spot.

But Lily didn't actually mind Damien calling by her name but was instead happy. It was just that she never expected Damien to call her by her name suddenly.

Lily wryly smiled, seeing Damien's shamelessness, "Yes, I did allow it. You can call me by my name. It's no problem. As you said, it would be less weird if you call me by my name instead of princess, hehe."

He looked at the sky for a moment and then looked at Lily, "So, how about we continue this tomorrow?"

"Ah.." Lily heaved a pronounced sigh as she was a bit dissatisfied with the training session being over so fast. Due to her passion for sword mastery, she didn't really notice the time passing by, and also, at the same time, she was enjoying her training session with Damien.

She had never had fun like this for a long time, and at the same time, she was happy as she even forgot about her worries during the training session. She never really had friends, and Damien was the first person she could freely talk to without being wary of him.

In her life, there were many people who wanted to obtain her favor by being nice to her, and also many more who desperately strove to please her.

But from her childhood, she had seen enough callousness, seen enough insincerity and heartlessness, seen enough malice within sugared words and sinister ambition... Among them even included her closest family members. She was discouraged time after time, a few times, almost to the point of despair.

Otherwise, she would not have left home to go all the way to a black market, all to find the slightest trace of hope.

After her father died, she had closed off her heart entirely to everyone. Even when she spoke or smiled to others, her heart was still caged without showing her true feelings.

But when she saw Damien, she was able to smile genuinely in front of him for the first time in many years.

Damien saw her sulky expression and chuckled, "Come on, no need to be down, Lily. I will give you some training exercises as your homework which you can practice whenever you are free. After all, teaching too many things in a single day is not good. It would be best if you took some time to reflect on the concepts I had talked about.

"And I would be seeing you again tomorrow. Since you are so enthusiastic about swordsmanship, it only makes my job easier. I am glad I have such a dedicated disciple, haha." Damien laughed aloud.

Lily giggled, "Hehe. That's true. Master should be glad that you have such a good disciple. Okay, let's stop for today. I will see you tomorrow then, Master." Lily no longer felt reluctant about ending her training for today.

She also thought that she should ruminate on what Damien taught her today. She would anyway be continuing tomorrow morning.

Lily turned to leave, but she suddenly turned her head and said, "I forgot one thing to tell you. Maybe you have noticed already, but the herbs you wanted are already here. Feel free to take any of them as much as you want."

Right after Damien had finalized the deal between him and Lily yesterday, he had sent a list of ingredients required for concocting a Rank 1 Sustenance Pill.

He decided to start learning to concoct from today onwards with Luna's guidance. And he chose to begin with simple pills like the Sustenance Pill since its composition was pretty simple and the ingredients were simple and readily available.

"Sure, Lily. I won't be polite." Damien grinned.

Lily smiled as she shook her head and left the inner courtyard.

'So, I have this whole place to myself till evening. Time to start learning.'

"Luna." Damien mentally called out.

"Hmph, seems like you didn't forget about your priorities while you were busy playing footsie with the princess." Luna appeared and said as she crinkled her eyes.

Damien rolled his eyes as he pretty much got used to hearing her chattering.

"But, I have to admit your way of teaching is passable. You are not totally illiterate about the ways of the sword. When you fought those beasts, I was surprised that a mortal like you was able to manifest Sword Will, even though it was faint. It is not easy to attain the enlightenment you mentioned to that girl. She is surely pitiful if she is hoping to manifest one unless her mastery touches the illumination realm. Well, Sword Will is just a higher realm of sword intent, so maybe she can pull it off if her sword heart resonates with her soul. But even ones with talent would take thousands of years to even comprehend the path to that realm." Luna said as she stroked her chin, giving off the vibe of a senior master.

Damien scoffed, "And what do you know about the ways of the sword?"

He admitted that Luna's true power was something way beyond his league that he couldn't even imagine in his wildest dreams. He didn't even know what this illumination realm was.

But since he can manifest Sword WIll, doesn't it mean that his sword mastery had already touched the mysterious illumination realm?

But he wanted to find out if she was equally good in swordsmanship by provoking her. If he simply asked her, she would just waste his time with sarcastic remarks.

Who knows, maybe he might learn something useful from her.

"You dare underestimate this goddess? Other than my ethereal powers, I take pride in my ethereal swordsmanship. Unlike a single wielder like you, I am a dual wielder. And your swordsmanship is only a child's play in my eyes." Luna said as she pursed her lips.

"Aren't you too shameless to always keep comparing your prowess with that of a mortal? I didn't know you felt too insecure about your own abilities." Damien said with a mocking smile.

But inwardly, he was still surprised that Luna was an expert in swordsmanship too. And if she proclaimed that she was an expert, then it was not just her boasting but the real deal.

Damien couldn't even imagine what kind of realm she had reached and wondered how her swordplay was like. That too, she was a duel wielder; even though Damien knew how to dual wield weapons, it wasn't his forte. He was accustomed to being a single wielder.

"Pah, why would this goddess lower herself to compare with you. There's nobody else here to compare to give you an idea of my ethereal power, hmph." Luna turned her head away with a scoff.

"Then, why not prove it by teaching me? I want to find out if you are not just merely bragging your so-called ethereal skills and that it's the real deal." Damien asked provocatively.

"Pfff, as if I would waste my energy teaching a mere mortal. You are already proficient enough for a mortal. You should be satisfied with that. It's not like you are going to fight against gods tomorrow. I don't think anyone in this world can even manifest a sword will. But you are an anomaly. Lots of inexplicable things are related to you, and the Origin seed is just one of them." Luna said, shaking her head.

'Tsk, what a pity. Nevermind, I will just try to develop my skills by myself.' Damien inwardly sighed.

But he was surprised when he heard Luna say that Sword Will is not something mortals can easily comprehend and that probably in this world other than him, no one can even manifest Sword Will.

Other than just having some powers, since he was still a mortal in his previous life, he wondered how he was able to achieve his attainments in swordsmanship in his previous life without taking thousands of years.

However, he was sure it was nothing related to the Origin seed because Luna told him that the Origin seed merged with him in this life only.

Damien knew that there was no point in thinking about it now, "Okay, fine, forget about it. But after interacting with Lily today, I am sure of one thing." Damien said as his eyes focused.