Alfie finds himself standing beside his two Renshical sides.
"Welcome back, Mr. I-Care-About-Everybody," his Dark Renshical side says with a grin.
The White Renshical side chuckles, and even Alfie laughs.
"What's with that name? Just call him Alfie. That's our name," the White one says.
"I'm not calling him that. That's also my name," the Dark one replies.
"Call me whatever you want. That's not why I'm here," Alfie says.
"We know why you're here. Don't forget, we're your thoughts too," the White one replies.
"Wow... I have no privacy in my own body."
"Our body, in case you forget next time," the Dark one replies.
Alfie sighs.
"Whatever. Can you guys help me with this?"
"Of course. That's the only way to strengthen us," the White one says. "But the effects won't reach your physical body. Your skills will improve and you'll become stronger, but you won't gain physical strength from this training."
The White Renshical side creates two white Renshical swords and throws one toward Alfie. The other goes to the Dark one.
"Your swordsmanship is terrible compared to mine. You need to try harder if you want to keep up."
The Dark one raises his sword.
Both of them take their positions.
"The first round will last one hour. No resting. Any injuries you receive here won't matter. It's as if they never existed," the White one explains.
He raises his hand.
"Begin."
The two immediately charge at each other.
Clang!
Their swords collide.
They exchange attacks rapidly, each movement becoming faster and more precise.
After only a few seconds, the Dark Renshical side suddenly activates Switch Mode.
He disappears.
Whoosh!
He reappears beside Alfie.
Then behind him.
Then above him.
He keeps switching positions, attacking from every direction.
Alfie struggles to follow.
Clang!
Clang!
Slash!
The Dark one lands hit after hit.
Five minutes pass.
The White Renshical side watches from a short distance away.
He needs to become faster if he truly wants to grow stronger.
His eyes narrow.
And the only way to do that is to enter Phase Zero.
Alfie's defense continues to collapse under the Dark one relentless attacks.
Every time the sword cuts him, a flash of white light appears before the wound instantly disappears.
There is no pain.
But losing still frustrates him.
Alfie tries to counterattack.
The Dark one simply disappears with Switch Mode and reappears somewhere else.
Seconds turn into minutes.
Eventually, the first hour comes to an end.
Alfie drops to the ground, breathing heavily.
"I told you I was stronger," the Dark one says with a laugh. "You need to do better if you plan to defeat me."
Alfie sits up and exhales.
"I'll give you credit. You're strong. The way you move your sword is completely different and unpredictable. It's difficult to defend against."
"That isn't the biggest problem," the White one says as he walks toward them. "He's skilled, yes. But the biggest advantage he has over you is his speed."
He stops in front of Alfie.
"I think we need to approach your goal of becoming stronger differently."
"How?"
"We shouldn't waste time on combat when you already have a combat Renshical side waiting here."
The White one points toward his Dark Renshical side.
"You need to break into Phase Zero of cultivation. That's the stage where you'll be able to use Switch Mode."
Alfie looks at him.
"How do I do that?"
"It's not easy. I'm surprised those young people managed to break into it."
"You mean those SILENTERS?"
"Yes."
The White one nods.
"Phase Zero gives your body a completely different advantage. Your Renshi increases greatly, and using techniques that consume large amounts of Renshi becomes much easier. Running out of Renshi is already rare for you."
He pauses.
"You'll have to come here more regularly and keep training until you break into Phase Zero."
"I have an idea... but for now, you need to sleep and prepare for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"You'll be training with those SILENTERS."
"No way that's happening!" Alfie immediately protests. "Didn't you guys see how they treated us?"
"That's not why you're here," the Dark one says. "Get yourself together and ignore them."
Alfie turns toward him.
"Don't forget, I was the one who interfered when they tried to cut your head off."
The Dark one smirks.
"We need information from them. You need to stay as close to them as possible."
"And the only way to do that is to train with them," the White one adds. "That bow guy seems interested in you. Make him your friend. Get him talking. He might tell you something that can help you grow stronger."
Alfie sighs.
"It's going to be difficult... but I guess I don't have a choice."
He turns away from them.
The next moment, Alfie returns to his body.
He opens his eyes and lies back down on the bed.
---
Several hours later, morning arrives.
BANG!
The loud sound of the door jolts everyone awake.
Sasaki immediately jumps up.
Alfie and Jackson do the same.
"What the hell was that?" Alfie asks sleepily.
Sasaki walks to the door and opens it.
"Wakey wakey, Reaper."
Beatrice stands outside.
"Why are you here so early? Don't you have things to do?" Sasaki asks lazily.
"Things to do?"
Beatrice raises an eyebrow.
"You're my only concern right now. Get dressed. We're going out."
Sasaki slowly closes the door.
"What have I gotten myself into..."
He lazily walks toward the bathroom.
"Hey, Jack."
Alfie looks toward Jackson, who is sitting nearby.
"Yeah?"
"What do you know about Phase Zero of cultivation?"
Jackson looks at him.
"Don't you know what it is?"
"I do. I just want you to explain it in more detail."
"All right."
Jackson thinks for a moment.
"Phase Zero of cultivation is a stage a Shinra reaches where their ability to learn new techniques becomes almost limitless."
"How someone reaches this stage isn't completely understood. According to my father, Phase Zero sometimes comes naturally after years of training."
"But there are also people who know how to cultivate toward it."
Jackson continues.
"My family doesn't specifically cultivate for Phase Zero. We simply find ourselves reaching it through relentless training."
He pauses.
"However, reaching Phase Zero doesn't automatically make someone powerful. It mainly increases your Renshi and gives you a limitless space for storing techniques."
"If your bloodline isn't special, the increase in Renshi might not be much. And if you don't have enough talent to master new techniques, Phase Zero won't help you much."
"So it doesn't automatically make everyone stronger. It benefits most people, but not everyone."
Jackson smiles.
"That's what my papa told me. And I know he's almost always right about these things."
Alfie thinks for a moment.
"Wow... I think Phase Zero could be really useful for us."
"Yeah, but I doubt we'll reach it anytime soon. Maybe later, when we're older."
"Why do you think that?" Alfie asks. "Don't you believe we can reach it now?"
"It's not that easy, Alfie."
Jackson shakes his head.
"We have more important things to deal with. Focusing too much on Phase Zero would waste our time. We should use the opportunities we already have to become stronger."
"When Master wakes up and we continue our journey, she'll probably know a way for us to reach it."
Alfie becomes silent.
"Yeah... that makes sense."
He smiles slightly.
"But I'm still going to sniff around for whatever little information I can find."
Just then, Sasaki walks out of the bathroom, fully dressed.
Alfie glances at him.
"There's no need to ask you, Mr. Reaper. I already know you don't know how you got there, so there's no point."
"Huh? What was that?" Sasaki asks, confused.
"Nothing, Mr. Reaper."
Alfie smiles and falls backward onto the bed.
Jackson chuckles.
"Just leave Mr. Sasaki alone. He didn't even say anything when he came out, and you attacked him with a bomb."
He laughs softly as he walks into the bathroom.
"Hey, Alfie. Why did you say that?" Sasaki asks curiously.
"Nothing, Mr. Reaper."
Sasaki hisses before walking outside, where Beatrice is waiting.
"I can't believe you're this worked up over a kid," Beatrice says as they walk toward the stairs.
"Shut up."
Sasaki gives her an annoyed look.
"You're no different."