Another week passed.


    They gathered in the combat automation room. It was a large space filled with over thirty automations of different sizes that could simulate attacks from multiple directions. Adam had them circling around them constantly to keep them on their toes, even if he only ever sent three or four at them at a time. They had started the routine straight after his spell breakthrough session, and the difficulty had been steadily increasing ever since.


    The girls looked rightfully terrified, as the training was rough. Adam tried to limit the consequences, but the fights, by design, were brutal; significant injuries occasionally occurred, and there was no convenient healing crystal to fix them immediately. Instead, it fell to Tom to heal them, and that often-meant delays while he waited for his pool to regenerate.


    That left them in pain for longer than usual, which was not something they could cope with.


    “Briana hurt her foot at the start.” Eloise complained. “Why didn’t we fix it straight away?”


    “The scenario wasn’t finished,” Kang explained.


    “We could have paused it.”


    “It’s useful to practice fighting while in pain. If you get injured in a real battle, you can’t afford to freeze up because you’ve never experienced fighting through pain before.”


    “Battles are different. This is training.”


    “It’s okay, Eloise,” Briana tried to pacify her.


    “No, it’s not. This is stupid. Why are we listening to you, anyway? You’re not better than us.” She squared up to face Kang.


    “Because they’re reincarnators.” Briana hissed at her, sounding scandalised.


    “So? Who cares?”


    Briana looked speechless at that response.


    “What does being a reincarnator even mean?” Eloise continued. “So what if they’ve got a couple of extra fancy spells?”


    Both Tom and Kang glanced at each other helplessly, neither of them sure how to respond. They had been trying to play down what being a reincarnator truly meant to avoid startling Briana too much. In some ways, Eloise’s current recalcitrance was their fault.


    With a sigh, Tom answered when it was clear Kang wasn’t going to. “It means we have memories from another life.”


    “It means we are better.” Kang took over. “While you’ve been doing magic for two years, we’ve been doing it for more than twenty. While you’ve been drilled in how to spar, we’ve been in life-or-death battles for decades.”


    “Dec- Decades?” Eloise asked. “What does decades mean?”


    “Tens of years,” Kang told her tightly. “But that isn’t important. What matters is our competency. You’ve seen the number of spells Tom has and how often he can use them.”


    “That’s just because Eden gave him the trait.”


    “It’s not only because of that. But that’s one of our advantages, yes. You know how we don’t talk about titles?”


    They both nodded.


    “Both Tom and I have titles from our previous lives that help us.”


    That caused Tom to look at Kang more closely. He guessed it made sense. Anyone chosen to be reincarnated was an elite and therefore was much more likely to have titles, but he hadn’t realised that Kang possessed one.


    “But you’re no better physically. You’re the same.”


    “We are.”


    “And I have my Force Step.”


    “Which is an amazing skill,” Kang agreed.


    “Then I don’t know why you’re in charge.”


    Briana grabbed her elbow. “They’re like adults. They might appear to be kids, but they’re older than Dimitri. You can’t talk to them like that. They’ll tell you off.”


    “It’s not that simple,” Kang told her. “But in some ways, it is. Here, let me show you. Hit me.”


    Eloise did so, or at least tried to. Kang easily evaded her.


    “Keep going. I’m not using magic or skills, just knowledge.”


    She threw punches and kicked him. Sometimes he blocked, but usually he just swayed out of the way. As a result of her practice, she launched a successful force missile that briefly made Kang scramble, but his experience let him get his rhythm back quickly. Then she incorporated Force Step into her routine, which allowed her to change direction in an unnatural manner. It didn’t help at all. The addition of what was effectively a movement skill wasn’t a surprise to Kang like the successful magic attack had been.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Kang countered her each time.


    “Stay still.” Eloise screamed in frustration.


    Kang only smiled.


    “Stop doing that. Let me hit you. How are you blocking me so easily?”


    “Experience.”


    “They’re reincarnators.” Briana said urgently.


    Eloise stopped trying to hit Kang. She gave him a suspicious smile. “Good fight,” she said formally before bowing as a mark of respect, like the teachers of the hand-to-hand combat classes encouraged to do. Then, the moment she thought the large boy was distracted, she tried to sucker punch him.


    She had been as subtle as a bull in a china shop. Kang was ready, and blocked the attempt contemptuously.


    “I’m a reincarnator.” He reminded her. “So is Tom. If we’re going to survive this, you have to accept that and listen to us.”


    “I…” she threw another punch, which Kang effortlessly dodged. “This is impossible. How much difference is there between us?”


    “Physically? Not a lot. Practically? A heap. If we use skills, I might be a hundred times better than you. Tom, with his Danger Sense, is probably even further ahead.”


    “But I was here to save you.” Eloise was almost crying.


    “And it was a very brave thing to do.” Kang agreed.


    “But you’re only teaching me to run away.”


    “Brave, not wise,” Kang corrected. “Your efforts should be directed towards getting good enough that you can evade the monsters, so that we don’t have to worry about protecting you.”


    “But… I’m a genius.”


    “You are, Eloise. You are. You’re possibly the best prospect the orphanage has had in years, excluding Briana. But I’m not a prospect. You’re not competing against me. I’m a reincarnator. Not only do I have fifty years of experience, I was the best of the best. Tom’s the same. You need to help us keep you alive.”


    “By running? Should I not have come?”


    “No, you shouldn’t have.”


    “Tom!” Kang yelled at him. “That’s unnecessary. She did something very brave to save a friend, respect that.”


    “Sorry.”


    “Don’t worry about this. Eloise, Briana, you’re both doing great. Let’s try again. Adam, can you rerun the scenario?”


    The constructs moved, and they continued their training their training. Hours later, after a frosty dinner, completely exhausted, he collapsed into bed to sleep.


    Then it was a fresh day, and Tom had woken up earlier than everyone. He was in the central room and was busily practicing the step that was going to lead to the remote use of Power Strike. He was not sure he could get the skill without April’s aid, but he was trying it anyway.


    The door to the bedroom opened, and Eloise - not Kang - snuck out. She approached him with a hand behind her back.


    “Can I help you?”


    She nodded. “Um, I was just thinking about yesterday, and how you’re a reincarnator and have to protect me...”


    “It’s okay. I’m happy to.”


    “It’s not that. I just thought this might help.” She pulled her hand out, and revealed that it held a sheathed knife. Tom recognised it because it was the proof-of-concept weapon that he had put together with Kang. The other boy had strengthened the metal, and he had done the same to the handle.


    The overall impact was a slight improvement, which probably hadn’t been worth the time they had invested. But, having done it once, they were more comfortable with the process and hopeful that future versions might even reach tier-one. Eloise only had it because it was trash that was going to soon be outdated.


    He knew why she was here and why she was giving it to him, and it was something that he would need to get used to.


    “Thank you,” he said and accepted the weapon with as much grace as he could manage.


    It was clear Eloise didn’t know how to deal with the situation. She looked flustered.


    “Um… Um… I…” Her cheeks bright-red, she ran away to the kitchen.


    Tom stared at the dagger in his hand, bemused. That was exactly how his trait was supposed to work, but, given they had been cut off from their belongings, Eloise had nothing valuable to give him. Nothing but this trash knife that they had made a show of gifting her. They had pretended it was valuable, even though it was useless to them. She didn’t know that, of course. To her, this knife had been a valuable treasure, and now it was his again. It was kind of funny.


    The knife looked very practical, if not very pretty; however, as he held it, he realised that there was another option available. That trait he had received had spoken about extra ways to enhance the gift, and he could feel a link to the weapon.


    A connection reached into him; one that he recognised.


    His heart rate sped up.


    It was linked to him, implying it was more than a mundane dagger, or at least that it had the potential to be greater.


    What happens if I, he thought, and then tugged on that extra bit.


    The weapon vanished.


    To any outside observer, he was staring at his hands in apparent amazement. Practically, his attention was focused internally. He had not expected the title to have gifted him that as well.


    “Adam, can you show me a description of my soul storage?” he whispered.


    No. Whatever it is, it’s invisible to me.


    “Oh, one of those.”


    Yes, exactly, and I really don’t need any more information.


    That message broadcasted a feeling that reminded him very much of Throm’s reaction in a similar situation where he had revealed a link to DEUS.


    “My lips are sealed,” he muttered absently. His focus was on his hand. Mutely, he flexed his mind, and the dagger reappeared on his palm. It was that easy. He repeated it once twice, and then a third time. The storage space was super reactive to his desire to the point that its response felt instantaneous, even better than what he had in his past life.


    With Eloise having breakfast and the others asleep he was alone in the room. Excitedly, he walked by each of the sets of armour, and they all vanished at a touch. Then he repeated the process backwards, and they returned to their original locations. The level of control he had on re-materializing items was impressive.


    He was buzzing inside, but he managed to keep a dignified frown on his face. Then the grin broke through, as he was unable to maintain the stoic look. It was amazing. A fully functioning soul storage space was not a game changer, but it increased his combat options. Materialising a spear to impale a charging creature was a valid tactic that, in many ways, was better than any single spell he possessed, especially if he filled the significant space he had available. He was already thinking about dozens of spears, swords, and daggers.


    Finally, he stopped pacing and focused on the weapon inside him. He remembered what the title said. Provided no one ever found out that she had done it, the knife could become a permanent tier-three object. It could keep the stats it currently had in his inventory.


    Weapon: Arcane Dagger – Tier 3


    Stores energy and, when triggered, creates an arcane blade with twice the length and cutting power of the base weapon.


    He had a magic dagger that should be able to cut through enemies he faced like they were tissue paper. Even with its effective length doubled it was still a dagger. It wasn’t a great weapon for him, but plans spun around within him, and he wondered what he could do to get Eloise or Briana to gift him a spear.