Chapter 188 - First Session

"Cyril, I've been meaning to ask you… What happened to your left eye? Is it a reward after you defeated the Lich?" Melody suddenly asked as they were about to enter the house.

She had noticed that Cyril's left eye seems to be perfectly fine and it wasn't some kind of prosthetics like she initially thought it was.

"Ahh… You're right. I was lucky that the Lich has something that could heal injuries and abnormalities in one's body." Cyril was startled but he immediately collected himself and answered.

Warren and Sheena may not have noticed what happened to his eye since they've never seen him when he was still blind. However, Melody knows about it and was of course, curious about how it was healed.

"I see… That's good for you." Melody smiled as she followed Cyril inside.

"Let's rest for a bit before I take your lesson Teacher Melody." Cyril suddenly said which caused Melody to cough.

"Teacher? Just call me Melody. It's not like we have that much gap."

"Oh! Cy! You're still alive. Why didn't you inform me.?!" Bonnie came rushing down as soon as she heard the gate opening.

She wanted to complain a bit more but she noticed that Cyril is together with a beautiful girl. This young lady has a fair complexion that perfectly suits her floral dress. Her long black hair also neatly reveals her charming face and even Bonnie felt that she was being charmed even from afar.

'What beautiful eyes… Is she my nephew's girlfriend?'

Cyril immediately apologized to his Aunt as they chatted for a moment explaining what happened. He also introduced Melody as a fellow Awakened working for the Association and he's about to learn some things from her that might be useful in his future exploration.

After having some snacks, the two of them finally left Bonnie in her small botany garden as she tended the flowers.

"Is this space enough?" Cyril asked as he looked at the front yard.

"Yeah… This is wide enough. As expected of an A-Rank Awakened, your family seems to be rich."

"Eh? Not really. We just recently bought this place. How about you? You're a B-Rank Awakened, right. You should've been able to save money to buy a nice place." Cyril probed.

"Me? It's not that good since the repair and maintenance of my Rank-B Artifacts are expensive as well. We also have some debts to pay." Melody bitterly smiled as she lifted her spear.

The spear in her hands is retractable so it's very convenient to be carried. As for his spear, he decided to purchase a long wooden pole. Anyway, he's not really planning to learn the Spear Art but he can't just say it to Melody.

He just felt that it's easier to learn the Aura Technique this way.

"Oh… If you need to save money for repair and maintenance, you might want to consider going to the Black Market. There's a shop there that gives a huge discount to those who purchased their Artifacts in their store. It should save you a lot of money in the long run so you can pay off your debt." Cyril suggested.

Actually, he was a bit curious about how Karen really became poor.

'Just how much debt is she talking about?' He thought.

When he met Karen in the past life, she doesn't seem to be someone who has received some help from a B-Rank Awakened. Although Melody will leave her after a year or so, Karen should still have enough money to support herself since a B-Rank Awakened has a high payout.

They should be living a good life.

This is what he thought considering how he was still able to live a frugal life even though he was only an F-Rank Awakened before.

"The Black Market? Are you serious?" Melody was shocked.

She knows that going there is not a good thing especially for those who are working for the Association.

The Black Market has all the illegal things after all. From prohibited drugs, unlicensed Artifacts, illegal Magical Materials, and there was even human trafficking from what she heard before.

"Yeah… However, I'm only lingering in the outer area of the city. So there are only Artifacts, ores, plants, and miscellaneous things. If you want to go deeper into the city, there will be a different entry method and It's not something I'm aware of. Those are for the bigshots I guess." Cyril immediately explained after noticing Melody's gaze.

He recalled that Melody indeed has limited knowledge about this since no one had taught her about the secret matters of the Arcane Explorers.

Anyway, he decided to give a bit of explanation about the Black Market and she can decide whether to check it out or not.

"Alright… Let me teach you my Spear Art… It's called Barbaric Impaler and I learned this after I absorbed the knowledge inside a stone tablet. So I managed to learn it in only three days and mastered it in three weeks. However, since I can't pass down the knowledge like the Stone Tablet, we'll have to do it slowly."

"Yes, Teacher Melody!"

Cyril answered. It was no wonder why Melody seemed adept at her spear technique. She actually had the same opportunity as Bonnie when she obtained her Alchemical Skills.

Melody only shook her head after she was called teacher again. She no longer bothered correcting him as she started showing the technique.

"There are only five Impaler Techniques… This is the First Stage, it doesn't have a name so you can name it yourself. I'll be showing it to you once then I'll teach you how to do it from scratch so you'll have an idea what kind of technique you're practicing."

After Melody spoke, she briefly closed her eyes to focus and took a deep breath.

Cyril used his senses to the limit and watched intently. Although she would later teach him in detail, he still wanted to fully experience this Spear Art.

Zzzaapp!

The first technique appears to be a simple thrust of the spear but Cyril's senses couldn't be mistaken. There were three continuous stabs on that!

***

While Melody is having the teacher-student relationship with Cyril, Bonnie has already completed doing the background check on her. She only pretended to check the botany garden after all.

"Melody A. Claude. 22 years old, B-Rank Awakened signed at the Awakened Association… A few explorations. Hmm… Too little information... But she's a B-Rank, huh. That's incredible. Anyway, I didn't know Cyril likes older women. I thought he likes that girl… was her name Naomi?"

Bonnie spoke to herself while recalling Cyril's childhood friend.

She then looked at the window outside her room to see what the two are doing.

Anyway, after she realized their 4-year age gap, she thought that she finally learned what Cyril's taste was for women. Of course, she wouldn't stop her nephew from whomever he likes. What's important is that he won't be led astray by this gorgeous lady.

"Right… I should inform him later about Vanessa's offer." Bonnie muttered as she recalled the matter regarding the Golden Grace Merchant Union.

Since Cyril is an A-Rank Awakened, he should have more access to such information and he should be able to make a better decision for the future of their store.

***

The first session of the Spear Arts Training has finally come to an end after over four hours of teaching.

At this point, Cyril finally has an idea about the incredible Aura Technique applied to this Barbaric Impaler Spear Art.

If he managed to grasp the principle of how it controls the Aura, he's confident that with his S-Rank Ability, he would be able to fight magical creatures even without relying on his Artifacts.

"I'll visit here every weekend to have two sessions. You should be able to learn a lot faster that way. During the days I'm not teaching you, be sure to explore all my teachings."

"Yes, teacher Melody, thank you so much for today. Ahh, it's already late. Please eat with us. I'm going to prepare a meal." Cyril said as he looked at the time.

"Alright, I'll take that offer."

"Great… By the way, I think I didn't pay enough for this incredible Spear Art. It feels like I'm scamming you." Cyril spoke sincerely.

He realized just how amazing this Martial Technique was that Melody is willingly teaching him. It just doesn't feel right to him that he's exploiting her like this.

"Huh? It's fine. You saved my life."

"Ugh… But still—Ah! How about this, I'll give you a discount instead at my Aunt's Shop. It's a recently opened Artifact and Potion Store. I hope you can visit it at some other time." Cyril said as he showed Melody inside the house.

Though Melody wasn't too tired since she didn't act too much during the session, Cyril still felt that she might want to take a bath to refresh.

After about two more hours, Melody finally left the subdivision. Cyril offered to bring her home but she insisted not to so he decided not to force her. She probably didn't want to have someone know where she was staying at.

"Master, I guarded the store really well."