Chapter 262: Different Kind of Training

Victor arrived at the Valentine military palace shortly after noon.

It was the same place where he had met Anette the previous day, one of the palaces farther from the Capital, used mainly for military meetings, private training, and matters Chysis preferred to handle away from the bustle of Headquarters. From the outside, the building looked like an ordinary noble residence, but Victor had already noticed that many of its rooms were protected by magical barriers and built to withstand confrontations between extremely powerful vampires.

This time, however, the reception was a little different.

As soon as he passed through the gates, two guards straightened their posture and bowed.

"Young Master!"

Victor looked at them and nodded calmly.

"Good morning."

The guards seemed pleased with the greeting, although neither raised his head until Victor had passed. The same happened with the staff near the entrance. Maids stopped what they were doing to greet him, some officers stepped aside to let him through, and even the vampires chatting in the corridors lowered their voices when they noticed him approaching.

Victor ran a hand through his hair.

’At least no one here is going to try to stop me from getting in.’

After the little incident at the Army Palace, he wasn’t particularly interested in meeting another guard who believed he had enough authority to decide who could and couldn’t move around his own family’s properties.

He kept walking until he came across a maid carrying some clean towels. The woman was distracted, looking at a small list attached to her tray, and didn’t notice Victor approaching.

"Excuse me."

"AH!"

The maid jumped.

One of the towels slipped off the tray, but Victor managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

He blinked, surprised by her reaction.

"Damn, sorry about that."

The woman placed a hand over her chest and took a deep breath, clearly trying to recover from the fright. When she finally looked up and recognized who was standing in front of her, her expression changed immediately.

"Y-Young Master!"

She tried to bow, but Victor raised his hand.

"Easy, easy. I’m the one who appeared out of nowhere."

He placed the towel back on the tray and smiled.

"You don’t need to be so nervous."

The maid stared at him for a moment.

Victor’s relaxed smile, combined with his casual way of speaking, only made the woman more flustered. Her cheeks took on a faint reddish tint, and she had to look away to gather her thoughts.

"I-I’m... sorry, sir."

"It’s fine." Victor glanced around briefly. "Do you know where Chysis is?"

The maid nodded quickly.

"Y-Yes! The Marshal is on the top floor."

"Top floor?"

"She’s helping Lady Grace with her training."

Victor raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Ah, so that’s what she’s doing."

He had already imagined that Grace would be training quite a bit since the attack on the palace. Chysis herself had mentioned several times that she intended to oversee Grace’s development more closely, especially after noticing how much her ice abilities had evolved.

Victor looked back at the maid.

"Thanks for your help."

"Y-You’re welcome, Young Master!"

He smiled once more and continued down the corridor.

The maid remained standing there for several seconds, watching Victor walk away, until she realized she was still gripping the tray far too tightly.

She looked at her hands.

Then at the empty corridor.

"...He’s so kind."

Only then did she remember that she still needed to deliver the towels and quickly returned to work.

Victor, meanwhile, had already reached the main staircase.

He looked up.

The top floor was quite far away, and climbing all those stairs seemed like an unnecessary waste of time when there were much more convenient ways to get around.

"I’ll take the fast route."

His body began dissolving into a cloud of small black bats.

The creatures scattered for a moment before flying together up the staircase, moving at great speed between the railings and through the upper corridors. A few staff members in their path simply stepped aside when they recognized the technique.

A few seconds later, the bats gathered in front of a reinforced door on the top floor.

Victor’s body re-formed.

He adjusted the collar of his clothes and looked at the entrance.

A considerable amount of freezing energy was escaping through the small gaps around the door. Victor could feel the temperature dropping even from outside, and a thin layer of ice had already begun forming along the lower part of the wood.

"Looks like they’re having fun."

He placed his hand on the doorknob.

And opened it.

A blizzard immediately struck him in the face.

"Ah, fuck!"

The freezing wind rushed through the doorway with such force that his hair was blown backward. Small ice crystals struck his face and clothes, freezing practically everything within seconds.

Victor remained standing in the doorway.

The temperature inside the room was absurdly low. The floor had disappeared beneath a thick layer of ice, the walls were covered in crystals, and an enormous amount of snow swirled through the room, making it difficult even to see.

His clothes froze almost immediately.

A thin layer of ice also formed over his skin, particularly on his face, arms, and neck.

Victor looked at his hand.

He flexed his fingers.

The ice covering his joints cracked.

Despite the temperature, his body suffered absolutely no damage. The Divine Blood Body Refinement Method had already refined his physical structure enough that this level of cold posed no real threat.

Even so, the situation was quite inconvenient.

Victor sighed.

"Sometimes I really need to be more careful."

His voice carried through the blizzard.

Grace, who was standing in the center of the room, immediately stopped circulating her energy when she recognized who had spoken.

She turned her head.

And found Victor standing in the doorway, partially frozen.

Her eyes widened.

"VICTOR?!"

He raised a hand.

"Hi."

Grace went pale.

"I’M SORRY!"

She started running toward him, practically slipping on her own ice.

"I didn’t realize someone had come in! Are you okay?! I didn’t mean to—"

"Grace, calm down."

"Your clothes are completely frozen!"

"I noticed."

"And your face!"

Victor looked at his hand again.

"Noticed that too."

Grace was already getting close when Victor decided to solve the problem in a simpler way.

A small white flame appeared above his fingers.

He closed his hand.

The next instant, White Fire spread across his entire body.

The layer of ice covering his clothes disappeared immediately, along with the crystals clinging to his hair and skin. Victor controlled the expansion of the flames, preventing them from consuming anything beyond the freezing energy accumulated around him.

But he didn’t stop there.

The fire spread across the floor.

It traveled along the walls.

And reached the rest of the room.

Within seconds, the entire blizzard disappeared.

The freezing energy was consumed, the snow dissolved, and the ice that had taken over the room began melting rapidly. The floor became visible again, although it was now quite wet, and the walls completely lost the white layer covering them.

When Victor finally extinguished the flames, the room was practically back to normal.

He looked around.

"There. All done."

Grace remained motionless.

Then she quickly lowered her head.

"I’m sorry!"

Victor blinked.

"Grace..."

"I really didn’t realize you’d come in!"

She remained bowed, completely embarrassed.

"I was concentrating on my training and ended up increasing the area of effect too much. I shouldn’t have let my energy spread all the way to the entrance!"

Victor stared at her.

He opened his mouth to respond.

But before he could say anything, a hand appeared behind Grace’s head.

"Oh, shut up!"

Chysis grabbed her disciple by the head.

And lifted her off the ground.

Grace let out a small scream as her feet left the floor.

"M-Master?!"

Victor stood still.

Chysis was right behind her, wearing training clothes and looking thoroughly irritated.

"Stop this useless bullshit!"

Grace tried to grab her wrist.

"But, Master, I just—"

"I saw!"

Chysis tightened her grip on her disciple’s head a little.

"And that’s exactly why I’m complaining!"

Victor brought a hand to his mouth.

Grace grimaced slightly in pain.

Chysis pointed at Victor with her free hand.

"Do you think he’s just some ordinary person?!"

Grace tried to follow the movement with her eyes.

"N-No!"

"Then why are you apologizing like you just froze a defenseless child?!"

Victor began to smile.

Grace grew even more embarrassed.

"I just didn’t want to hurt him..."

Chysis narrowed her eyes.

"Hurt him?"

She looked at Victor.

Then back at Grace.

"You could attack this idiot with everything you’ve got and probably wouldn’t even manage to break his skin!"

Victor raised a finger.

"I’d like to point out that—"

"Shut up, Victor."

"Okay."

Chysis turned her attention back to her disciple.

"You’re getting far too arrogant."

Grace’s eyes widened.

"M-Me?!"

"Yes, you!"

Chysis lifted her a little higher.

"You keep using that little ice power of yours for everything, freeze the entire room, and think you’re getting strong!"

Grace tried to respond, but Chysis continued before she could.

"Your control has improved, your freezing ability has increased, and your temperature perception is much better than before. Great! Now we need to deal with everything else!"

She tightened her grip on her disciple’s head slightly.

"Your body is still weak!"

Grace fell silent.

"If someone manages to get through your ice and hit you directly, what happens?!"

Grace looked away.

"I..."

"You die!"

Victor finally couldn’t contain himself.

"HAHAHAHA!"

His laughter echoed through the room.

Grace immediately turned her head toward him, still being held up by her head.

"Victor!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

He tried to regain his composure, but all it took was another look at Chysis holding Grace like that for him to start laughing again.

"Holy shit... you two really are master and disciple."

Chysis raised an eyebrow.

"What’s so funny?"

Victor pointed at the two of them.

"She’s practically hanging by her head while you explain that she needs to train her body!"

Grace turned red.

"You don’t have to say it!"

Chysis looked at her own hand.

Then at Grace.

"Hmm."

Victor kept laughing.

"That’s a pretty interesting teaching method."

"It works."

"I’m sure it does."

Chysis let out a small sigh and looked back at her disciple.

"Listen carefully, Grace. Your ice is powerful, but that doesn’t mean you can depend on it for everything."

Grace nodded quickly.

"Yes, Master."

"You need to learn how to survive even when your abilities don’t work. Your body has to keep up with your power, or you’ll end up dying to someone who manages to get too close."

"I understand."

"Good."

Chysis finally loosened her grip on Grace’s head.

Victor took the opportunity to approach.

"Well, sorry for interrupting your training."

Chysis looked at him.

"You didn’t come here just to laugh at my disciple, did you?"

"No."

Victor’s expression became a little more serious.

"I need to talk to you about something urgent."

Chysis studied his face for several seconds.

Then she sighed.

"Of course you do."

She finally released Grace.

The young woman landed on her feet on the wet floor, quickly straightened her clothes, and ran her hands through her hair, trying to recover some dignity after spending practically the entire conversation hanging in front of Victor.

Chysis crossed her arms.

"Grace."

"Yes, Master?"

"Since you’re so worried about hurting other people with your ice, let’s do something different."

Grace immediately became suspicious.

"What?"

"Freeze your own body."

She blinked.

"...How?"

"You heard me."

Chysis pointed toward the center of the room.

"I want you to lower your body temperature below freezing and try to survive using only your physical resistance and regeneration."

Grace stared at her.

So did Victor.

Chysis continued calmly.

"No external barriers to keep out the cold. The goal is to make your body learn to withstand your own ability."

Grace swallowed.

"Master..."

"It’s an excellent way to begin your body refinement."

Victor grimaced slightly.

"That sounds pretty unpleasant."

Chysis looked at him.

"You practically destroy your own body to get stronger."

"Yeah, but I like complaining when it happens."

"Then don’t complain about other people’s training."

Victor raised his hands.

"Fair enough."

Grace sighed and slowly walked toward the center of the room, already beginning to gather freezing energy around her own body.

Chysis waited until she had started before turning her full attention back to Victor.

The Marshal’s expression grew more serious.

"Is this about Anette?"

Victor nodded.

"It is."