Thursday was a long day, filled with exhausting exercises. Ryan started his morning with a Practical Combat Strategies class, where students repeated ambush drills under Professor Kael Drake's supervision. This time, the exercise was more organized, the movements more precise. He finished the class feeling he was beginning to master the strategy, despite the fatigue accumulating in his body.
It was followed by Practical Physical Fitness with Instructor Vera Stone, who seemed determined to drain every ounce of energy from the students' bodies. A new obstacle course, longer and harder than before, with higher walls and longer nets. Ryan finished exhausted, but he was among the top ten, earning a silent nod of acknowledgment from Instructor Vera. His muscles screamed, but he felt stronger than he had a week ago.
Then came Advanced Elements with Professor Aldric Vane, a continuation of what he had started in the previous class. This time, he spoke about combining elements in compound attacks – merging fire and air to create a fiery storm, or water and ice to freeze an opponent in place. The information was dense, but Ryan absorbed it quickly, already planning in his mind how he could use these techniques in a real battle.
After these three classes, Ryan felt fatigue weighing on his body, but he knew the day wasn't over yet. He had one final class: Camouflage and Deception.
*******
Ryan entered Hall Thirteen, a small room located in the basement of the east wing. It was completely different from the other halls he had visited. There were no wooden seats, no high podium for the professor. Instead, the floor was covered with soft gray sand, and the walls were painted a dark gray, making the place seem to absorb light rather than reflect it. The lighting was dim, almost twilight-like, causing shadows to form and disappear with every slight movement.
Before them stood a man in his forties, slender, with short black hair and gray eyes that seemed to pierce through anyone who looked at him. He wore a simple black robe, but what caught attention most was that he seemed to be part of the shadows – standing there, yet you could almost forget his presence moments later. He seemed to blend into the sand and walls, as if the space itself was designed to be an extension of him.
Professor Kasian Volk – an expert in the arts of camouflage and deception, said to have served in the royal intelligence service for years, and to know over a hundred ways to disappear in broad daylight. His reputation preceded him – it was said he had infiltrated a fortified palace without being seen, and that he possessed skills most people had never heard of.
He began the class without introductions. His voice was quiet, almost a whisper, yet it was as clear as a bell in the silent room.
"Today, we will talk about something not taught in most academies. About something that may seem dishonorable to some, but is essential for survival in a merciless world. We will talk about the art of disappearing."
Professor Kasian walked among the students, his steps so light they were barely audible on the soft sand. He seemed to float above the ground rather than walk on it.
"Camouflage is not just placing some branches on your head and hiding behind a bush. Camouflage is the art of convincing the eye that you are not there. It is the art of deceiving the mind, not just the eye. Because the eye sees what is in front of it, but the mind is what interprets what it sees."
He stopped in front of one student and looked directly at him.
"Tell me, how many people are in this room?"
The student hesitated. "Around twenty-five?"
Professor Kasian smiled faintly. "Look around. How many do you actually see?"
The student looked around and began counting. But he stopped suddenly, his face paling slightly.
"There were... twenty-six a minute ago. Now... twenty-five?"
Professor Kasian smiled and pointed with his finger toward a corner of the room, behind a stone pillar where the darkness was thick. There, a tall young man in a black robe stood, having been there the entire time. But the students' eyes hadn't fallen on him because he was in a place they didn't expect anyone to be.
"This is Vincent. He has been here since the beginning of the class. But your eyes didn't see him because you didn't expect to see anyone in that corner. Because your minds told you that corner was empty, and you didn't bother to verify."
The students stared at the corner in silence, some still not fully believing what they were seeing. Vincent stepped forward slightly, then returned to his place, disappearing into the shadows as if he had never moved.
Professor Kasian returned to the center of the room.
"Camouflage has three basic rules. The first: break the pattern. The human eye searches for patterns. If you move regularly, you will be seen. If you hide in an expected place, you will be seen. The idea is to be unpredictable. To move when they don't expect movement, and to stay still when they expect you to move. Repeat this rule with me: break the pattern."
The students whispered with him: "Break the pattern."
"The second rule: use your environment. Don't try to be something you're not. Use what's around you. Shadows, light, surrounding sounds. If there is noise, move with it. If there is darkness, hide in it. Don't fight the environment. Merge with it. Make it part of you."
He raised his hand and began moving it slowly, as if it were dissolving into the air.
"The third rule: deceive the mind, not the eye. The eye sees what it sees. But the mind interprets what it sees. If you can deceive the mind, you will deceive the eye automatically. How? By creating false expectations. Make them think you will move left, then move right. Make them think you will appear here, then appear there. The mind fills in missing images. Use that against them."
Professor Kasian spent the rest of the class demonstrating practical techniques. He showed how to move in shadow, how to use angles to avoid direct line of sight, and how to adjust body posture to reduce visual footprint. He also demonstrated how to use sound to mislead opponents – a heavy step here to make them think you are there, while you are elsewhere.
Ryan was highly attentive. This kind of knowledge wasn't in the books he had read, nor in any previous training. It was entirely new, but he felt it was important. That he might need it one day. Especially after everything he had heard about the Black Sand Desert and the Shadow Worm, he felt these skills could mean the difference between life and death.
At the end of the class, Professor Kasian approached Ryan and looked at him with his gray eyes. He stood before him for a moment, as if examining him.
he said, his voice quiet.
"You are very attentive,Most students get bored with these subjects. They think they're useless because they prefer direct force. But your eyes say you understand. That you see beyond the surface."
Ryan replied calmly, without looking away.
"It's interesting,"
said Professor Kasian, his voice becoming more serious, as if sharing a secret.
"Camouflage is not just a skill,It is a way of thinking. If you learn to hide yourself, you will learn to see those who are hiding. You will learn to read shadows, to hear silence. And in this world, the one who knows how to see the shadow is the one who survives."
Then he walked away, leaving Ryan to ponder his words. Ryan felt that Professor Kasian was trying to say something else, something unspoken. Perhaps a warning, or perhaps advice.
Ryan left the hall feeling his mind filled with new ideas. Camouflage and deception were not just combat skills; they were a philosophy. A way to look at the world, at enemies, and at oneself. He felt this subject might be the most important of everything he had learned so far.
He headed to the dining hall for dinner. He was thinking about how he could apply what he had learned in future duels, or even in daily life. Then he suddenly remembered: his meeting with Valeria in the library after dinner.
He ate quickly, then headed to the library, eager to discover what those old books held.