Chapter 7: Chapter 6 - Training
"C'mon Cain, you still have three more laps!"
Right now I feel like a mess.
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After I was one year old, thanks to all the mana channeling exercises I did I was able to take my first steps in this world.
A few months later, my voice box had also developed to the point where I was able to speak.
And once I had just turned two and a half years old, my family discovered that I could channel mana.
It was during one of my cultivation sessions. In the past few years I had found out that refining mana was as simple as gathering all the mana in my mana sea and compressing it until it turned from its gaseous state to a liquid one.
I suppose that's why it's called the mana sea.
Unfortunately I was too busy focusing on my inner state that I had neglected to take care of my surroundings.
It turned out that Clarissa had been watching me as I was cultivating and she noticed the mana getting thinner as I absorbed it.
Needless to say everyone was shocked when they found out, but surprisingly they took it in stride.
Apparently they'd always suspected I was gifted since I was born to a mage and a warrior, which means I had a high chance of being one too.
And half a year later during my third birthday, Abraham had something important to say to me.
"Do you know what mages and warriors are?"
"Yes father"
"Good," he said with a smile, "seems like all that time you spent in the library hasn't been a waste."
To learn more about the world and because I enjoy reading, most of my time spent after learning how to walk was in the library, but to my dismay a lot of the books there were study materials Abraham had bought after becoming a noble to understand how to rule the territory better.
Things like finance management and detailed descriptions on the nobility in the kingdom.
"From today onwards, I'll be teaching you how to use the sword and your mother will teach you about runes", Abraham continued in a serious voice.
Confused, I asked,
"But why father? Don't mages usually just learn about runes?"
"I, no, we don't want you turning out like those other useless mages. What if you find yourself in a situation where you've run out of runestones, or worse, run out of mana? What will you do then?"
I had nothing to say. He was right after all. If I were in those situations then I'd have no choice but to roll over and die.
Seeing me speechless, he smirked and added,
"Plus, women like strong men."
Is that really something you should be telling a three year old, father?
But why do I suddenly feel fired up?
"Great, we'll start tomorrow."
Perhaps he'd seen the passion in my eyes.
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Anyway, that's how I ended up like this. Panting and sweating profusely as I'm running at a snail's pace around the training area my father set up outside.
After passing the finish line for the final time, I drop to my hands and knees and take as deep breaths as possible.
But despite seeing me like this, Abraham has no intentions of letting me off.
"You're breathing wrong. You should breathe out through the mouth and in through the nose. You have one minute to rest, then we'll start practicing sword swings."
"Yes father." I spat each word out between each heavy breath.
Dammit.
How can you say that with a straight face while your son is dying over here?
Are you a monster?
Perhaps a normal child might have given up at this moment, but as an adult I can understand that this is necessary.
If I stop now, I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
Though that doesn't mean I can't regret accepting it now too.
Ignoring the despair in my eyes, he keeps to his words and demonstrates his swing.
"Watch closely," he said, his presence turning sharp.
He silently slashed downwards.
...
Seconds later, a few meters from where we were standing, a sword mark appeared on a tree with a *CRACK*
My mouth formed a wide O in shock.
"How did you do that?" I asked.
Abraham replied with another question.
"Do you know how long this sword has been with me?"
I shook my head.
"Since I was 13. I'm 25 now. Do you know how long that is?"
"12 years"
Even though the arithmetic in this world wasn't advanced, there were enough books on it in the library for me to pass it off as me learning it there. Nodding in approval, he continued,
"When an object comes into contact with mana for enough time, it slowly changes to accommodate it by allowing mana to channel through it, causing it to become a spirit weapon. By channeling mana into my sword I can release it through a slash, which is what you just saw."
I see. So that's why I noticed a mana fluctuation where the tree was impacted.
"The reason why runes gave humanity the strength to fight back wasn't just because of spellcasting. The other races had been ahead of us in that aspect for centuries. Instead it gave us the opportunity to inscribe our spirit weapons with runes. With it, humans were no longer constrained to fighting up close."
Wait, so this could be done as well?
Human innovation truly is remarkable.
"Then, can anyone use a spirit tool once it's born?"
"That's right. But it's best if you don't rely on them. Once you've created your own spirit tool will you be strong enough to not treat it as a crutch."
Makes sense. If a level 1 newbie were to receive max level gear, they wouldn't be learning anything when they fought.
"So does your weapon have runes on it too?", I ask.
Abraham makes the same dumb smile he has on whenever he thinks about Clarissa, but it for some reason shifts to a pensive look as he speaks.
"Well, I asked your mother to inscribe whatever she wanted on it and she actually inscribed healing magic. Perhaps if I'd had this spell back then, I might have been able to save..."
"Father, how many more swings do I need to do?", I blurt out.
It seemed like he'd started thinking about something sad, so I did my best to change the topic.
It looked like it worked.
As he slowly regained his confident look, he replied
"No slacking off now. Let's keep going until you reach 500."
Sigh.
The things I do for my family.
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