The Last Warlock

Mack kept practicing and easily lost track of time doing the sword style movements.

Righ slash, back thrust, up slash, kick, dual slash, and so on. Until Harlack cam to see his progress.

[You are still too rigid kid, you need to be more fluid, more flexible, this style is not about hitting hard]

Hearing Harlack, Mack stopped and removed the swat from his forehead.

"I know, but is hard for me. The only thing I know about swords came from Raz, And was a very straightforward style"

Hearing the name, Harlack's eyes grew as if remembering something lost in memories

[Raz]

"Was he really your mentor or was a thing only at the gate? Another lie....."

[He was indeed my master, Raz was a good warlock, but he was very orthodox, you need to understand something kid, there are thousands of way of doing the same thing, some are easy to learn and easy to give results, that's why they teach it first]

Harlack put his hand over his long beard as if trying to remember something as his eyes looked to the right side.

[You see..... This assassin dagger style, they taught it to kids with age of 6, the kids grew practicing it every day along with other things, and by the age of 15, they had a ritual, they would put the entire group on an arena and only the last survivor would pass the test]

"The warlocks did this? You never told me where this style came from"

[No, warlocks never had an assassin group as far as I know. This came from a conquered civilization by the mages. It's a long story.... the point is... they practice it for years to be considered good at it]

"I see, I can't expect results so soon..."

[Worse than that, you are using two swords, what means you will need to adapt the style, hummm... let me think.... ]

Said Harlack, caressing his own long beard.

[Yes, I think you should receive proper assassination training from now on. This will help you understand the mindset of a assasin, and improve your skills in general]

"Assasination skills?"

[Yes, here, take this book]

Said Harlack, flipping his hand and a book appeared over his palm.

Mack took the book and looked at the cover of it. Two daggers crossed behind a black skull.

"What is this?"

[It's a book that contains several assassination technics, some at mortal level, as we call them, but others go up to be very high skilled skills involving manipulation of elements or spell activation, you will also find some very very specific runes on this book, and I know you love learning runes]

"Indeed... "

Said Mack flipping a few pages of the book and seeing the first technique on the book...

"How to walk?"

Mack looked puzzled but immediately saw what the technique was about.

Mack flipped a few more pages, and a realization hit him in the face, as if he was dumb before reading that.

"As you usually says, I'm too green, too green."

Said Mack siting in the sofa and reading how he should properly walk to avoid being noticed by others, among others aspects of 'feet movement' that applied to how he should move his feet during a fight, running, and using the steps to intimidate, or to pass the image of a weakling.

The book explained all aspects of how someone could take advantage of his feet movements, be it in a practical way or in a psychological way.

And that was only the first chapter of the book.

"Just like teaching babies, you first need to teach them how to walk. "

Said Mack in a self mocking tone, while reading the pages.

Seeing Mack's curiosity was piqued, Harlack left the room and went to his office.

'Less one part of the plan to worry, I hope his test is not too much cumbersome.'

Thought Harlack, opening the black device again and pressing a few times.

(Me: 'I will teach him assassination skills, schedule his test for the next batch.')

(Azeroth: 'The next batch is in three Savenas. You are sure he will be ready?')

(Me: 'So close? Ok, at least he has the best teacher he can afford.')

(Azeroth: 'If he doesn't pass, I will cancel your plan, and we will send him to one of our towers as it should be from the start. Also, your authorization as Master of the Tower of Chaos was revoked. You should never had brought him back to his home planet, this is against the protocols.')

'Well.... I was already expecting for that. They always follow the protocol, such morrons. But a tower closed for three aeons is not worth being a master of it. I should take it as a vacation.'

(Me: 'He will pass')

(Azeroth: 'You better be sure of it.')

Reading the last line, Harlack wondered if they had something more drastic undergoing.

'Azeroth is a bastard, but one that follows the protocols. What they are cooking now?'

Thought Harlack, tapping a few times on the black device, and it vanished again.

'Three Savenas.... I will need to get serious.'

Thinking of that, Harlack took another device from gods know where and adjusted something on it, later making the device disappear again.

Harlack went to the main room where Mack usually trained and seeing him reading the book just kept there. The kid probably didn't even notice he left for a few minutes.

"I'm quickly passing the pages to get an overview and I see the dagger style here is a bit different from the one you taught me. Is not from the same 'assassin group' or something?"

[Indeed, this is the basic version of the same style. The one I taught you doesn't have a 'recorded' version anymore. We can say that you will be the only official user of it.]

"Why is that?"

[Because.... well... everyone of that civilization is dead. They revolted against the mage alliance several aeons ago and got wiped out in the end. Not a single child was left alive. They were used as example to the others trying to do the same.]