Triton affirmed, "Yes. If it's possible for you, it would be best if you could teach the kids here to fight. Even though I haven't experienced it firsthand, I have heard that your swordmasterty is peerless. So I take it that you won't have a problem with that. Of course, if your teaching is excellent, we could even let you give pointers to even the black ranks. We already have some instructors, but they are numbered less in comparison to the youngsters we have to train."
Damien nodded, "Well, I guess not. By the way, does the color of these masks show one's ranking here?"
Triton looked at the silver mask in his hand and said, "Black masks are amateurs who would be managed by ones with silver masks. And the ones with sky blue masks would lead important missions. Of course, the ones we send for low-risk missions either would disguise in some other way, or they would carry around a grey mask here to show that they are newbies."
"So I guess I am not a newbie even though I am new to this whole thing?" Damien asked.
"Well, we don't exactly rank according to cultivation or experience. But according to the value they hold in our organization. Some of the black-masked people here have higher cultivation than silver masked ones, but they are given jobs they are best at. One's cultivation can't mean everything." Triton remarked.
"I guess then you must be at the top because of your azure mask, right?" Damien asked with raised eyebrows.
Triton shook his head, "Not at all. It's all because of my grandma's position in our society. All of them look up to her as their savior and worship her. Only because of that, they also show equal respect to me. Personally, I have yet to do something that could truly help our people."
Damien said with a helpless sigh, "Dude, you are too hard on yourself. So far, from what I have seen, the sincerity and respect the people here show to you are not half-hearted. They truly believe in you, and I have to admit that in this world, so far, the most impressive youngster I have seen is you."
Triton looked at Damien's eyes, and he could see that Damien meant every word he said and felt strange hearing Damien's compliment as he never thought Damien was the type.
And the most strange thing was that he felt like he was getting complimented by a mature man and not a sixteen-year-old boy. The more he interacted with Damien, the more he couldn't see him simply as a sixteen-year-old boy.
He felt that Damien's age doesn't do justice to his way of thinking and knowledge.
Damien genuinely admired Triton in a way. Triton had almost all the qualities he wished he had in his previous life at the same age. He thought that if that were true, things would have been way different.
Despite his prodigal talent, Triton was modest, but at the same time, he knew how the world works and how to make decisions to protect his people and survive in this cruel world.
Triton faintly smiled, "I never thought you would give me that much credit. But I appreciate it."
Yara Haley suddenly asked from behind, "Hey Damien, what's this cutie pie's name?"
"Oh, her name is…" Damien knew he couldn't say 'Valentina' so he offhandedly said, "Talia."
'Wait...why did I say that name…' Damien felt as if that name inadvertently flashed in his mind when he thought of saying another name for Valentina.
Valentina heard that name, and she looked at Damien with a complicated gaze.
"Talia?" Yara Haley smiled with quiet amazement, "Wow, what a beautiful name. It really suits her so much. Damien, I have to admit that you know how to name someone."
She then looked at Valentina and said, "Hello Talia, seems like your papa has given you a good name."
"Meeew…" Valentina let out a low-spirited whimper as she dropped her head.
Damien sighed, thinking that he should have better control of his emotions and thoughts. But no matter how many years passed, he still could clearly remember the day Talia and the others died. And how they revealed their pent-up feelings just moments before they rushed to their deaths.
"What are you thinking about?" Triton asked with arched brows as he saw Damien suddenly going deep in thought.
"Ah, it's nothing. I should go and take a look at those kids you want me to teach and train." Damien said as he turned around to walk towards the door.
Valentina quickly jumped off the table and hopped onto Damien's shoulder, leaving behind a startled Yara Haley.
"Hey, Talia—"
"Yara Haley, stay. I have got something to tell you." Triton stopped Yara Haley from chasing Valentina.
Valentina closely looked at Damien's face from the side, and she could see that his eyes were glazed as if he was thinking about something or someone.
Valentina wrapped her tails around Damien's neck to get his attention and let out a low whimper near his ears.
"Hmm, what is it?" Damien asked as he pulled back from his thoughts. But all he saw was a pair of ruby red eyes plainly staring at him. He smiled as he patted her head and headed out.
Outside the building, Shania was waiting for him and had a pleased smile on her face seeing that Damien had joined their cause.
"Follow me. I will take you to the kids though not all of them are children. Some are even older than you." She continued as she observed Damien's expression, "But it seems like you are not bothered whether you have to teach kids or youngsters."
Damien said with a casual smile, "Well, I am not bragging, but honestly, teaching is a breeze for me as long as the ones I am teaching got some interest in the topic. By the way, Senior Shania, Triton said that you and Blake brought him up, right? Does that mean his birth parents have already passed away? You don't have to tell me if it's too private."
Shania had a complicated expression on her face as she said, "His parents are long dead, and his mother died for the cause. They weren't too extraordinary like him or anything. Still, by heaven's grace, Triton was blessed with heavenly talent, but at the same time, he was burdened with the mission of our cause. He truly loved his mother and her death...well I can only say this much as it is not my place to say anymore. Did you ask me because you thought that his parents must have been extremely powerful?"
Damien said as he caressed Valentina, "Yeah. Because in this whole continent, the most powerful young practitioner I met is Triton, who is even a tad stronger than Reva Xeton."
He asked Luna parallelly in his mind, "Luna, do you know why Triton is so strong? Is his talent really better than Reva's? I mean, Reva must have been nurtured by a god while Triton was brought up within hardships. Obviously, the Xeton Empire has more resources than the Forsaken, so how is this possible?"
Luna sparingly said, "Oh, you will understand in due time."
'Huh? What does she mean?' Damien was puzzled by Luna's answer. But he knew that he wouldn't get anything more out of her after hearing her short reply.
He then remembered something he had meant to ask her for a long time, "Okay, forget that. Tell me one thing. Are you able to read people's minds?"
Luna lazily said, "Huh? I could easily if I merged with one of my other shards. But now I can't."
He still stressed, "Then how are you able to know people's intentions or motives? Like when the Forsaken kidnapped me, you told me that they wouldn't kill me. Or the same with Lily, when you hinted many times that she doesn't hold any bad intentions towards me."
Luna said nonchalantly, "Who knows if I can? Probably, I just guessed as it is easy to read mortals. After all, I had created them myself. Mortals are way too predictable and their thoughts too simple."
"Hmph, if you don't want to answer, you could simply say that. No need to go about it in such a roundabout way." Damien inwardly shook his head, thinking that Luna loved to entertain herself sometimes by keeping him in the dark.
Soon enough, Shani led Damien towards an open field. He saw kids and youngsters of various ages talking to each other while some were playing.
"Come, I will introduce them to their new instructor," Shania said with a smile.
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