The training regiment that Ben had planned for Leo after breakfast was even crazier compared to his training until then.
As if climbing mountains and killing squirrels wasn't enough, Ben wanted Leo to practice weapon arts between breakfast and lunch hours where he would personally instruct Leo on how to become proficient with weapons.
In the world of Terra Nova, weapon mastery was considered a separate department to skill moves and one could master as many weapons as they wished to, just like one could learn to speak multiple languages.
According to Ben, while an assassin needed to have a passable grip on every weapon, whether it be bow, spear or mace, they needed to be masters of the short sword and dagger.
For him to impart his actual core skill moves to Leo, the ones that made him the legendary assassin that he was, he first needed to build Leo's foundation as the current Leo lacked the strength and explosiveness of muscles needed to learn his moves.
First Ben needed to slowly mold Leo physically to become a suitable recipient of his techniques and only then could he begin to teach him the real techniques he wanted to pass down.
To do so, Ben had to put Leo through intense muscle training as there was no other way to achieve peak assassin physique without putting in the hard work.
Thankfully, Ben intended to give Leo a brief rest after weapon training, allowing him to have lunch and rest for a few minutes, before starting with a flexibility regiment that would improve his range of motion.
The flexibility regiment was only partially done through body weight and self will while the majority of it was to be done via torture devices that would painfully hyperextend Leo's muscles.
This painful torture would go on for about three hours after lunch followed by the last excercise of the day which was reflex training as Ben would throw stones towards Leo which he needed to dodge continuously.
Finally, to end the day, Leo would have a medicinal bath prepared by Ben and a light snack, going to bed early at around 9pm only to wake up early in the morning and starting all over again with the mountain climbing.
Just by listening to this training regimen, Leo felt his head go dizzy as he could not imagine himself living such a stressful life.
There were so many things to enjoy in the world of Terra Nova where he could detach from reality and truly enjoy the finer luxuries that the game had to offer yet as fate would have it, he had chosen a torture regiment over a fruitful life as he would be cleaning sewers in the real world and being tortured in the game world.
"It's for mother…. I'm doing this to bring her with us" Leo murmured to himself as he reminded himself as to why he was going through this torture and why he could not give up in the face of adversity.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION - A new Quest has been generated! ]
[ QUEST NOTIFICATION - A new Quest has been generated.
Quest Title - 'Learning The Way'
Quest Difficulty - S
Quest Duration - 12 months.
Quest Description - Earnestly complete the training regiment suggested by your master and develop into the best Assassin that you can become.
Quest Rewards -
Weekly Completion Rewards :- +2 levels for training earnestly for the whole week.
Monthly Completion Rewards :- 1-5 extra levels shall be rewarded based on progress assessment.
Final completion rewards :- +1000MP, +????
Failure Penalty- None ]
Leo took a look at the system notification and found some extra motivation to follow Ben's insane training regimen.
Although the quest duration was a full year long, there were weekly rewards and monthly rewards which were mostly in the form of extra levels to make sure that Leo did not fall behind on leveling because of his training.
The cherry on top was the massive 1000 MP reward plus add-ons, which was what Leo most desperately wanted.
" Alright, it may be hard, but I'm 'TheBoss', I will find a way to do it" Leo motivated himself as Ben gave him some light training for the first day which included scouting Mt.Faulkner and jogging around its base once.
While Leo did go on his jog around the mountain base, Ben set up traps and markers around their base of operations which were non-lethal and only designed to alert him in case and enemy assassin was approaching.
He had already killed one Assassin from the Night Guild and it was highly likely that Dem Paltrow sent more of his men after him.
Ben had already ensured to leave wrong trails of where they went on track to Mt.Faulkner as he used the spot where Max and he camped for the night and left a wrong trail of footsteps from there that suggested that the two were headed for the Royal Capital.
In itself, Mt.Faulkner was an unnamed mountain in the middle of nowhere and was not a place where one could easily find the master student duo.
It was uninhabited, harsh and safe, which was the only reason behind why Ben's father chose it to be his retreat.
Nonetheless, there was no such thing as being overly cautious in the field of being an Assassin and hence Ben was thorough with his security measures.
He sincerely wanted to pass down all his knowledge to Leo and was feeling much more vibrant and alive after coming to Mt.Faulkner than he had felt in years working at the alliance.
Leo was innocent, street smart and tenacious, just the sort of student whom Ben could mentor to become more than a purposeless assassin, as what Ben wanted to teach Leo the most was the virtue of mercy.
To only kill those who deserved to be killed and sparing the weak.
Only someone who walked the world with this ideal deserved to be called an assassin as strong men murdering babies were no different from masked bullies.