The group spent time training. As they didn’t have much time to do proper training, they just focused on one aspect of the training.
Getting to know each other.
Victor spent a year and six months away, not to mention that several things happened when they returned home.
Because of this fact, Scathach didn’t focus on teaching Victor anything and instead focused on knowing his current state.
And upon knowing his current state, she did something she hadn’t done in a long time. She used her spear.
Originally, Scathach Scarlett was an expert at using the Spear, but she’d decided that she would only use the Spear on worthy opponents.
Breaking her own code, she decided to use the Spear for training.
Why did she do this?
She wanted to know Victor’s current limit.
And even without using any kind of technique, or power on the spear, Victor managed to survive and put up a good fight during the little spar with Scathach.
Needless to say, she was quite excited about it, even though she wasn’t using any techniques or powers of the spear.
Her level was so high that just spinning the Spear around like an idiot would do a lot of damage.
‘He is much better. Everything is better, including his reactions.’ Scathach’s smile grew a little.
She also noted a fact. Victor never used the Odachi techniques he learned against her. Just like Scathach, he was also holding back.
After all, there was no point in fighting seriously in basic training, and Victor’s main purpose was to learn something by watching his Master fight.
And it goes without saying that by just watching Scathach, he could see a lot of mistakes he was making.
He learned as he fought, and that had never changed.
Victor was one person when he started training with Scathach, and when he finished training with her, he was a completely different person.
‘The speed at which he learns is still terrifying.’ Scathach laughed. Like the master at arms that she was, she understood what he’d done.
By observing Scathach, he perfected his handling of the Odachi.
And to further help her foolish disciple, Scathach also decided to use an Odachi…
Yes, Scathach Scarlett was a master of all weapons and knew how to use all weapons efficiently.
Despite her main weapon and most experience being in the Spear, she could use other weapons quite expertly as well, but of course, she wouldn’t have the same skill as she did with the Spear.
And just as expected, when Scathach started using an Odachi to fight Victor, the man changed once more.
Like a sponge, every time they clashed with each other, he learned.
Wrong, the answer was more like he adapted?
He was adapting the Odachi’s fighting style to his own style.
It was as if, subconsciously, he knew what he needed to do to improve.
‘Is this due to the memories he absorbed from the tree?’
Scathach had a theory that Victor, from the beginning, was abnormal. He was always a fast learner, and that was a fact.
But… The pace at which he learned things was now much, much, faster!
It was weird too.
For example, in the midst of training, Scathach ordered Victor to use a weapon that he certainly had never used before.
And which weapon did he choose?
A circle-like weapon, Chakram.
And the result?
He was terrible, he couldn’t use it.
And that was to be expected for Scathach. After using Chakram a few times, Scathach ordered him to change weapons again.
This time, she asked him to choose a weapon he knew but never used.
And what weapons did he choose?
Daggers.
At first, he was awful, and he barely knew how to use a dagger properly, but throughout the course of the fight with Scathach,
Something strange started to appear.
Victor’s ‘Rhythm’ began to change.
Despite it being Victor who was in front of her, she felt like it was someone else.
What was the result?
As if he was a monstrous genius, he began to quickly use the dagger efficiently. He made unconscious moves, moves that Scathach or even Natashia, as dagger experts, never taught him.
‘As expected…’
Unconsciously, Victor was using the knowledge of the souls he’d absorbed on his behalf.
He didn’t realize it since it was an unconscious act of his body as a Progenitor.
Among the thousands of beings that Roxanne absorbed, there must surely be a Vampire or two who’d used a dagger as their primary weapon, and it appeared that Victor was using their absorbed knowledge.
While fighting Victor, Scathach noticed something as well.
Despite having efficiently learned to use it, he wasn’t experienced like Natashia or even Sasha.
He only ‘knew’ how to ‘use’ them, but that was all.
‘Which means the being that used the dagger inside him was not as proficient in this technique as the members of Clan Fulger.’
Obviously, Victor couldn’t use knowledge he didn’t know.
This applied to all beings.
Even if he was unconsciously using the knowledge of one of his consumed souls, if that soul didn’t have the necessary knowledge, there was a limit to what he could learn and adapt into his fighting style.
But even so, this was still very good.
Just imagine, you don’t know something, something like riding a motorcycle, and all you have to do is kill someone, absorb their soul, and begin practicing what that person did before they died.
Eventually, you’d arrive at a result similar to the person you killed in no time.
That’s what Victor was doing now.
‘He is indeed like a legion… A one-man legion.’
And that wasn’t the only thing that made Victor better.
She noticed that his reactions were better, right?
But she forgot to say that these reactions were beyond better, they were weird!
Scathach attacked Victor with an attack he couldn’t have possibly defended against. He didn’t even see the attack coming.
But what did he do?
He seemed to make an instinctual and subconscious movement, so slight it was difficult to even notice, and dodged Scathach’s attack, an attack he wasn’t even aware was coming towards him!
After this demonstration, Scathach started making more unpredictable attacks that he wouldn’t be able to defend against, let alone know were coming.
Out of the 10 attacks she’d made, during three of those, his instincts kicked in, allowing him to dodge.
It was as if he had foreseen the future.
Wrong, he was predicting the future.
‘The skill of Adonis.’
But just as expected, this skill had a flaw. Victor couldn’t control it, meaning it would depend on luck whether or not the skill would warn him about a future attack.
An unreliable ability like that, Scathach strictly warned Victor not to rely on it.
And just as she expected, Victor spoke:
“Of course, this skill is like gambling in a casino, and I don’t particularly like depending on something so fickle as luck.”
Nod, Nod.
Scathach nodded in satisfaction, she liked Victor’s answer.
Despite not having trained for a long time,
This training was very useful for Victor.
He could thoroughly learn about his new self and about Adonis’ gifts… especially against women.
As someone who was blessed by the Goddess of Beauty and someone who was already naturally beautiful, Adonis’ charm was irresistible.
Of course, for beings that had no interest in him or that didn’t care for him, like Scathach, this charm wouldn’t work.
It didn’t matter to Scathach if the man was handsome. If he was weak and useless, in her mind, he wasn’t even worthy of her gaze.
Now, where did Victor come into this?
Well, he’d absorbed Adonis, and he gained it all…
The irresistible charm and unearthly beauty of the most handsome man in existence.
And… Coupling that charm with his status as a Night King, he’d literally turned into an existence that couldn’t be ignored.
Even most warriors like Scathach would be weak to his charm.
Of course, Victor had assumed her reaction was because Scathach had ‘feelings’ for him. If not for that, Victor would doubt if the woman would spare him a second glance.
With his appearance and his status as a Night King, who was a Progenitor, he could more easily influence beings of the night and even other beings.
It was not brainwashing. If I were to sum it up in one sentence, it would be something like:
“He is handsome, strong, and trustworthy?”
Scientists say that the first 5 seconds when you meet an unfamiliar person, the brain automatically judges the person according to their appearance, speech, and posture.
This was the famous ‘first impression’ that everyone talked about.
And through that first impression, the person would decide if he was trustworthy or not, if he would like the person or not.
Adonis’ charm helped those first impressions and made beings more favorable towards Victor… Especially women.
Victor could smell the trouble that this appearance would give him thousands of miles away, but unlike Adonis, he was not weak, so he should be fine, he thought…
“!!!” Victor felt a shiver down his spine.
‘Shit, is that the famous raised flag?’ Victor looked around cautiously, but he didn’t find anyone. He was thinking too much.
Back to training.
Of course, that’s not all he got from Adonis.
His memories, his way of acting, and most of all, now he knew how to ‘actively’ seduce a normal woman if he wanted to.
Of course, Adonis’ methods were completely contrary to the methods his mother taught him.
It was a method he used when he needed to extract information from women who were resistant to his charm.
But that wouldn’t be a problem for Victor, and because of that, he thought he wouldn’t use it much. He still preferred to do things according to his mother’s teachings.
Her teachings never failed him.
Speaking of charm.
His Vampiric Charm, an ability to enchant beings, became stronger.
He didn’t even need to look you in the eye. As long as the person heard his voice, and they were a being of the night, they’d obey.
Victor hadn’t tested this on humans or other races other than beings of the night, so he was not sure the same pattern might work.
But he had a feeling that all weak-minded beings would obey them if he wanted them to.
It was like a natural instinct, an absolute certainty.
The day was quite productive. Now Victor was resting with Sasha and Natashia by his side, he decided to wait for the girls to recover a little before returning home, and then he would go to Eleanor’s territory.
Now that he’d come to think of it, everything he’d gotten from Adonis involved politics, strategies, and ways to seduce a woman…
He didn’t learn anything related to fighting…
Victor focused in his mind and tried to search for any fighting-related memories, and he saw that he didn’t have any!
Adonis practically never had to fight anyone his entire life!
“Hmm???” Victor found an interesting memory.
He focused on that memory, and soon he found himself lying next to a woman with long golden hair.
“My Queen, are you sure it’s okay to do this?”
“…Don’t think about it too much. Just enjoy it.” She climbed on top of Victor/Adonis.
And touched his face, “And don’t call me, My Queen.”
Victor looked at the woman. Despite being a beautiful woman with golden hair, and red eyes, Victor thought that Sasha was prettier than her.
“Yes… Stella.”
Victor opened his eyes.
‘Shit Adonis. Fuck.’ Victor facepalmed.
He tried to remember once more and soon realized that Adonis had been kidnapped by the Queen, Vlad’s first wife,
Stella, and spent a few nights with her. The man had no choice, he was weaker and compared to the situation of the Goddesses and Agnes herself, Stella was much more affectionate.
‘How the fuck did that happen with a woman like Agnes around? She was like a hawk that was always keeping an eye on Adonis.’
Victor decided to focus on his memories again to find out if Adonis slept with other women, but after reviewing the entire memory of Adonis’ life in Nightingale, he saw that the only woman he slept with other than Agnes was Stella.
Victor touched his chin and flashed a small smile, “To think she was really an unfaithful woman.”
“Victor…”
“Yes?” He looked at Natashia and Sasha, who were sitting next to him.
“You’re making that face that you’re planning something bad.” Sasha spoke with a sharp look as Natashia nodded.
“… It’s your imagination. I was just admiring the beauty of my wife and my mother-in-law.”
“HMMMMMM…” They both looked at him with a dry look.
Victor ignored the two women’s gaze and focused on the information from Adonis that he had discovered.
“…” Victor flashed a small smile.
‘Let’s cause a little chaos.’
[Kaguya.]
“…” Kaguya, who was close to the Maids, looked at Victor for a few seconds and then went back to looking at the Maids.
[Yes, Master.]
[Contact Selena Moriarty, I want to speak with her before heading to Eleanor’s territory.] As soon as Victor returned home and had some time with his Maids, Kaguya informed him about Selena, the daughter of the Witch Queen, who wanted to make a deal with him.
[…Yes, Master.]
Victor nodded in satisfaction and stopped talking to Kaguya.
But Kaguya hadn’t finished the conversation yet:
[Master, I have a report on Violet…]
“…” Victor’s eyes opened wide, and his whole body visibly shook.
[What happened to her?]
[Nothing happened, calm down… It’s just a report of the events that took place when she went to visit her mother.]
[Oh…I see…] Victor sighed in relief. The subject of Violet was actually a very sensitive topic for Victor at this point, despite being very worried about his first wife.
He also knew he should let her grow on her own and just watch and protect her.
She had things to do in the Snow Clan, and it was his duty as a Husband to protect her if anything happened.
… But that didn’t mean he would let her handle all the rotten stuff alone, and because of that, he cleaned up the Snow Clan.
‘Leave the rottenness of this world to me. You just need to shine like the blinding star you’ve always been, even back when I first met you.’
Victor was indeed a hypocrite. Despite wanting his wives to be independent and not just do his bidding, he didn’t let them deal with the ‘rotten’ side of the world.
Despite saying he wouldn’t meddle in his wives’ business if anything happened to them, he was the first to get involved.
From the beginning, he was always a hypocrite, and he knew it.
This way of acting was due to his obsessive and possessive nature, he would always prioritize his wife and family. He would ignore all their teachings and things they believed if it was necessary to ensure the safety of those close to him.
Both mental and physical security.
As long as his wives were okay, he wouldn’t care if the world burned.
He was and always had been a possessive bastard, he was someone whose own wife (Ruby) called a ‘Yandere’.
‘Come to think of it, that girl with pink hair sure is beautiful…’ Victor thought about the anime he had watched in the past together with Ruby.
The whole story was shit, and he didn’t like the protagonist, but the main heroine was very interesting.
[Tell me what happened, Kaguya.]
[Yes, master.]
[The moment Violet arrived at the Snow Clan…] Kaguya began to recount the events according to the information she’d received from her subordinate.
