Shadow slave: In The Eye of The Beholder

Silas stepped into the large dojo, its spacious yet confined walls seemed to be made out of a smooth wood, though Silas doubted the authenticity of the wood, it was most likely synthetic in nature, although the academy definitely had a surplus of funds from the government, a room that was used to teach combat did not seem like the place to put the incredibly valued timber. 

Though Silas could not deny it was spotless, it felt utter smooth under his shoes, it was different from the Archey class where they had to share an area with the awakened students, maybe the popularity of the class allowed them for such luxury. 

Silas took a deep breath, his fingers curling into fists as he surveyed the room. Despite its smooth, almost too-perfect appearance, the air was thick with tension. The other Sleepers were already lining up, their postures tense with anticipation. This was it—the moment where they'd all be tested, their abilities scrutinized.

He shifted his weight, his muscles still sore from the archery class. Combat was different, though. More direct, more personal. Here, his skill would be tested not by comparison but with direct confrontation. 

He gazed at the sleepers who had arrived here to learn, there was certainly a lot of people compared to his archery class, he found a couple legacy's as well as the first ranked nephis, though he kept looking he still could not find the person of interest. 

'Sunnys not here huh? I was hoping to be able to tussle with him here' The only person who he had even somewhat knew was absent, so once again Silas was alone, although he was accompanied by some looks from those who had been in his same archery class, they still did not seem to be over his 100m shot. 

The instructor of the class was the burly instructor he already seen before, awakened rock stood tall with his arms crossed as he waited for the rest of the class to arrive, the rest of the sleepers eventually made it through the doors.

instructor Rock stepped forward, his voice booming through the spacious dojo, instantly commanding the attention of all the Sleepers gathered. His sharp gaze swept over the group, making sure no one missed a word.

"Alright, listen up!" he began, his tone firm and no-nonsense. "Today's class is all about testing your basic competency and abilities. We need to see where each of you stands before we can move forward. Combat isn't something you just jump into blind. You've got to know your limits, your strengths, and, most importantly, what you still need to work on."

He paused for a moment, letting the gravity of his words sink in. Some of the more eager students shuffled in place, but no one dared speak.

"After this assessment, you'll be split into groups based on your overall level. Novice, advanced, expert—it's all about matching your skills to your training. Some of you will be placed with personal tutors, while others might be paired off with sparring partners. This isn't just for your benefit—it's so we can make sure that everyone is pushing their limits and growing at the right pace."

He then gestured to the right of the dojo, there were a multitude of equipment, one that caught the eyes of most sleepers there was a machine built into a wall with a metal plate extended out of it.

"Now first to help guess your skill we will test how strong your punch is, the machine here can measure the force you applied, so line up and strike the plate." 

Silas found himself around the back of the line, right behind a tall majestic green-eyed legacy, Silas found himself getting aggravated as the taller man unlike most other people he had met was not keeping his space, if he were any closer, he would swear his breath would be on his neck. 

As the line kept forward and the legacy followed gallantly behind, Silas eventually decided to defend his space, turning around he deathly stared the young man in the eyes.

"Would you mind waiting even a little bit? I would like to not have you hovering right behind me"

The young man took notice, and despite the irritated tone Silas held, he didn't faulter and instead help a welcoming smile. 

"My bad.....Silas right? I'll keep my space, just one question, I've been hearing about your accomplishments in the archery class, it's good to have such an accomplished archer among our cohort."

'God dammit its already spreading' Silas inwardly groaned, the kindness the legacy had delt made him shiver, it was utterly creepy! 

after receiving the surprising warm welcome, he attempted to maintain a smile, although utterly frigid with no sense of warmth in his eyes.

"Why yes I did achieve a feat in it, although I may ask, what's your name?"

The broad legacy tilted his head for a second before responding 

"It's Caster of the Han Li clan, pleasure to meet you, although I hope you can teach you me how to shoot on your level, I on the other hand will try to teach you about combat, hope we can get along well."

Silas seemed a bit shocked by the statement, he didn't have anything to say in response, whenever he thought he had something on the mind, he would look into his eyes and immediately vanquish the idea, they were an emerald green, it reminded him of a snake. 

Caster might of been expected to receive some words from Silas but was answered with silence as Silas turned back determined not to interact with the eye burning shine of the legacy, he had experienced many horrors in his life, but to be treated like this from a clan member of all things was a terror he had never experienced.

A subtle feeling of wanting to claw their eyes out before gorging his own.

'What does he mean "teach you about combat" how arrogant! to even think I would teach him, and then say he could teach me!' Silas growled thoughtfully; the tone of caster seemed specifically designed to tick him off. 

Silas knew he shouldn't let the words get to him, but Caster's tone was like nails on a chalkboard. He couldn't help it—his pride wouldn't allow him to just brush it off.

Silas let his anger dwell and gave a quick look back to the dashing legacy. 

'Caster of the Han LI clan....'

gazing back at the punching machine before his gaze could be caught.

'I'll remember you' 

-------------------------

He let his mind focus on the results of the other sleepers, the results so far had been between 10 and 14, though with the next challenger, he felt the test scores before felt easily breakable. 

the dojo seemed to quiet down slightly as the silver haired nephis walk up to the plate, without much preparation, delivered a sudden, crushing blow. Silas was not the most skilled fighter, yet her calculated strike looked flawless. 

He looked to the results on the screen and saw 16 labelled in bold letters, 

'Well, her aspect doesn't seem related to strength, I kind of expected more from her'. 

nephis didn't seem impressed by the score either, walking back to the remaining sleepers waiting for the other tests, with her gone it was only Silas with caster behind him.

his soft steps sounded on the smooth floors as he made his way to the plate, his chest slightly tensing facing the machine, he looked back to the observers, the people watching did not look expectant towards any feat, they looked a bit impatient to get to the next part of training. 

The legacies were of the same, yet he felt their gases looking down upon him, they were expecting not much, as nothing, maybe they had not heard of his 100m shot, or they simply did not care, thinking Silas would not pull off anything more than that. 

To them, how could a clan less outsider would be nothing but mediocre, excellence from his background was viewed as simply more impossible than earth reversing its orbit. 

Taking a deep breath, Silas felt his strength, the boost of becoming a sleeper was not too drastic, yet the change felt miles ahead of what he had before, today he had strength and today he would show it.

Of course he had decided at first to hide his strength, to make them show their backs to who they underestimated, yet he already let some of it leak out, and plus Infront of the gazes of the putrid legacy's, such ideas. seemed pointless, it was a dam to a tsunami, for what he felt was too powerful to be held by logic.

The memories of the experimentation flashing by as he clenched his fist, he had promised to rise and crush the legacy's, not to simply stab them behind their backs, although it made sense to lower their expectations, he did not want to be looked down on anymore.

In the moment what he wanted more than anything else. 

Was them to fear him. 

[Empowerment] responded to his will, his muscles tightened, strength flowing though him as the familiar surge bolstered his fragile frame. positioned Infront of the plate he breathed out, and with the power in his body, he expressed it, with a single focused movement, drove his fist into the plate. 

activated [Empowerment]. His muscles tightened, strength flowing through him as the familiar surge of power bolstered his fragile frame. He positioned himself in front of the plate and, with a single focused movement, drove his fist into it.

*BANG*

The sound of his fist colliding with the metal plate echoed through the dojo, sharp pain shot through his knuckles, rattling the machine, its screen immediately beginning to process the result.

Silas drew his hand back and waited for the results.

Nineteen.

He looked at the score for a single second, a devilish grin taking his face as he looked back to the crowd. 

'How was that.' 

The crowd seemed surprised, with a couple of raised eyebrows, with intrigue from instructor rock and some attention from the aloof nephis. 

In the silence that his fist had created, slow clapping could be heard. 

Caster behind wore a smile as he appraised. 

"Not bad"

Silas took in the glory, his delight being peppered with attention grew to some smugness, walking past caster who had begun to approach the machine.

'I would like to see you do better than that!'

Silas determined to put the legacy in his place looked for his strike.

He barley even caught the flying fist-it was too fast for him to properly process it, before he could even realise, he had made it the machine trembled and began calculating. finally, two numbers 

flying fist — it was just too fast. The machine trembled and took more time calculating. Finally, two numbers appeared.

Twenty-one.

Silas's heart plummeted. His smug grin faltered, turning into a blank stare. 'What…?' His mind raced to catch up with the numbers on the screen. Nineteen felt like nothing now, just a fleeting moment of victory that had crumbled before it even settled.

Everyone gaped at the display, stunned. especially Silas as he stood mouth wide in shock, he never actually expected him to beat his score, 

He watched in disbelief as Caster, without a word, bowed gracefully and turned his back. He didn't even look at Silas. It was as if the contest had been over before it started. Silas's fists clenched, his earlier triumph now stinging with the bitter taste of dismissal. 

'God dammit'

Silas could only stare as the legacy ignored him and went to the crowd who embellished his achievements, already forgetting about the peer who had been only two points behind.

to them all they saw was caster, and to Silas, all he saw was casters back. 

And in the corner of the dojo, a shadow watched the pitiful display, noticed by no one, yet seeing all.