The training began with a lesson in failure.
Miles stood in the center of the vast, open space, the [Phantom Edge] a solid, humming thing of darkness in his hand.
He felt the raw, clean power of the absorbed Soul Crystal thrumming just beneath his skin, a deep well of energy waiting to be unleashed.
He felt invincible.
He was about to learn he was not.
"Come on, then," Miles said in his head, a cocky, unfamiliar grin on his face.
"Show me what the old man's got."
Gideon Thorne stood opposite him, his hands clasped calmly behind his back.
He looked less like a master system user and more like a disappointed history teacher.
"The goal of this exercise is not to win, Miles," Gideon said, his voice a low, steady rumble that seemed to absorb the room's ambient light.
"It is to understand."
"Right," Miles thought, his internal voice a dry, sarcastic whisper. "Understanding."
"I'll understand him a lot better once I've knocked him on his butt."
