Seberus had known about Jaku’s talent in swords, but he always thought that the young Dragonborn was an unpolished gem.

Yet with what he had shown in that brief instance, he could already tell that Jaku had fixed a lot of the crude aspects of his swordplay. He was starting to look like one of those swordsmen Knights, one that was incredibly good in the foundational aspects of the sword.

"But why does he look so dissatisfied?" Seberus asked.

Michael laughed. "It’s because his masters’ teachings are way too good. Now, his body moves without him even thinking about it. So, he can’t just laze around even if he wanted to."

He had seen Eldea and Caliburn force the young Dragonborn out of bed many times before.

Every time that he needed to do something, like train, his two masters would essentially force him to get up off his lazy behind. Otherwise, he’d be in a world of hurt. They had basically conditioned him to move instead of let his laziness get the best of him.

And now, those training sessions had been paying dividends.

"Oh, he has a master now? Great! Who are they?"

"It’s actually two," Michael corrected.

Seberus took Michael by his shoulders. "You know that’s dangerous, right? Having two masters will complicate things for the student. They might not even gain mastery over a certain pathway because their focus is going to be divided."

Michael nodded. "Yeah. They knew that. But it’s the only way that they were going to be teaching him."

Seberus put his hands on his waist. "Who are these irresponsible masters? I would like to have a word with them."

"Oh, they’re—"

But just as he was about to say something, they heard another rumble in the distance. This time, there were a lot more footfalls than the first time.

Michael used his perception to look at the disturbance. He was able to see an entire army of those Magical Monkeys coming straight at them!

The bad thing was that there must have been about a hundred of them in total.

But the good news was that they didn’t seem as strong as the one that Jaku defeated. They were not only smaller than the monster, about the size of a gorilla, but their individual strengths were also a lot weaker.

Michael didn’t even have to say anything as his army immediately charged forwards.

They seemed completely eager to fight these monsters. Seeing their general fighting that monsters had truly motivated them.

His army was divided into divisions and battalions. They separated into their own sections, before separating from each other and surrounding the incoming horde of monkeys from all sides.

Seberus couldn’t help but be impressed as he saw this. Such professional and swift movements! They could already be compared to the armies of the Conglomerates!

Then, the monkeys arrived. Screaming high-pitched cries, they bared their fangs at the Rebornians.

They seemed completely filled with bloodlust after seeing their leader dead right in front of their very own eyes.

They wanted to tear these humans into different pieces!

And with abandon, these monkeys jumped high into the air and didn’t care if they would crash right in the middle of the army formations.

Five distinct sections of the army, each one struggling as twenty or so monkeys jumped into them.

The Rebornians held steady, surprisingly. They kept their formations steady as the monkeys assaulted them from above. If they had to retreat to avoid an attack, then their entire sections would move with them, avoiding the monkey.

They were like flowing water avoiding a stone in a river!

Michael was impressed. But he knew that this wasn’t the best that his army could do. Now that the monkeys had jumped in the middle of the formation, they finally had them where they wanted them to be.

Fire erupted from the soldiers’ swords, brightening the entire chasm cavern into a hot orange.

Seberus watched intently. It took him a good second before he realized something.

"Wait... that’s... that’s... that’s not magic..."

The soldiers’ swords billowed out with this powerful flame. Then, they began to swing it in a concise pattern, one that was all too familiar to someone like Seberus.

Flames on the tips of the soldiers’ swords rose up into the air, creating a cage of fire that enclosed the monkeys into a single space. The monsters thrashed around, but they would be met with severe burns anytime they got too close to the fire.

After that, the soldiers became methodical. Their movements became a lot more proactive, a lot more confidence as they changed their stances into something more offensive.

It wasn’t long before the flames seemed to take a mind of its own. They became like whips, striking down at the monkeys with great force.

It became a total massacre for these magical monkeys.

Just a few seconds later, the flames died down. A hundred monkeys laid on the floor, their brown fur singed and balded.

The soldiers resheathed their swords, before celebrating this momentous win. They had conquered their first fight! All those training, all those hardships, they had all been proven worth it!

"Good job!" Michael called out to them. "They’re great, aren’t they?" he asked Seberus.

But Seberus seemed just completely stunned at what he had just witnessed. "That... that fire... where did they learn that?"

"The Lionhearts. They’re the ones that helped us create this army."

"... the Lionhearts... the most famous swordsman family in the world. The one sought after by all conglomerates? That Lionheart family?"

Michael shrugged. "Yeah."

Seberus’s jaw was on the floor. Now he knew the reason why Michael was so confident. As it turned out, his army was taught by the very best of them! No wonder he was so brave in letting them go into the Chasm.

"Caliburn, do you know him? Their patriarch? He is one of Jaku’s masters."

Seberus could already tell that Michael would be saying something absurd after that.

"And... who’s the other?"

"Eldea."

Seberus fell on his knees.