Chapter 3: Chapter 3
The sound of heavy breathing filled the room, I inhaled deeply desperate for oxygen, my knees scraping against the stone flooring, my hands grasping a sharp steel blade resting on my lap.
'Not enough, it's still not enough. Far from enough. Not even close. Absolutely insufficient. At this rate, I won't be saving anything.' These thoughts have been plaguing me since the second I picked up a sword, yet it was getting more and more difficult to ignore them. The stronger I grew the more I could notice the distance between where I am, and where I need to be widening.
Though doubt started creeping in, I banished these thoughts of despair from my mind, and like usual I steeled my resolve and pushed through.
The creatures I will one day confront are similar to the Six Great Gods that my country worships, beings from a distant realm, a world known to them as Yggdrasil.
Many of these entities have crossed over to our plane throughout the centuries, the first documented case being the Six Gods, some fading into history, some making it, but without exception, all powerful creatures wielding god-like abilities.
The older I get, the easier it is to decipher my visions, the clearer things become. And within them, I see flashes of myself, and though decrypting the age of an elf is usually a futile endeavor, I seem to have become an adult by then and ordinarily those of elven lineage reach adulthood by their hundredth birthday. So it's quite likely those monsters won't arrive for another century.
I pulled myself back on my feet and continued on, with determination. 'I need to convince the cardinals to let someone teach me faith magic. Most of the monsters in my dreams are demonic and undead in nature, being apostles of evil. The Paladin and Cleric type classes can help me directly counter their abhorrent existence. I've tried for years to have anyone teach me anything, since the start of my training, but they just tell me to have patience, to wait. Due to this, despite achieving my eleventh level in the Fighter, I have not learned a single martial art, the core skill of any martial class. They are almost as important to martials as spells are to casters.'
I restarted my routine, continuing on with my inner monologue.
'I just don't understand their refusal, I know they want a new weapon to utilize, to replace mother since her mental health has been rapidly declining in recent years due to her immense trauma. However, whenever I asked them, they seemed extremely reluctant and hesitant, as if there were something holding them back. It is imperative that I receive proper instruction, otherwise the world may just have to embrace death. I'll have to ask Crais next time he comes over.' Remembering that the Cardinal of Fire, Crais, should be visiting in a few days.
He was formerly a member of the Black Scripture, who are a group of the greatest heroes the Theocracy has to offer and a large part of the reason that the Theocracy has held off the tide which threatens to render humanity extinct.
He is also the one I have the most contact with outside of Nazaire and Faine.
I once again struck at the training dummy, my already chipped blade started to crack, and with one last swing, it broke. The broken edge snapped, narrowly missing my face due to me instinctively moving out of the way.
I dropped the shattered sword to the ground, before kicking it into a small pile of other weapons who are similarly fragmented.
I looked towards the wall where all the armaments are situated, alongside where all the training equipment are located. There were weapons of all shapes and sizes, such as swords, spears, hammers, and the like.
Walking over I reached for a shortsword fit for my stature, and as my fingers brushed against the handle, a jolt of electricity coursed through my body, and along with it, an image flashed through my mind, the vision of a grizzled man wielding a flaming blade burning with a golden fire cutting down those who stand against him.
Information was injected straight into my brain. Knowledge about my Talent.
Talents are supernatural abilities randomly granted at birth, with a wide range of capabilities, from predicting the weather, to accelerating your growth in different categories several fold, to being able to naturally cast spells.
Comprehension about the Talent that was gifted to me appeared in my mind. Its ability? To bring forth upon reality, from the records of an object's history, it's true owner's self embodying pinnacle.
In other words, to be able to use the trump card of whoever the item recognizes as its wielder.
Almost instinctively, I activated my Talent, igniting my steel instrument of slaughter in bright yellow flames granting greater illumination to the already well lit room with brilliant splendor.
"Aura Flame Blade." I spoke, grasping the past, and consolidating this Martial Art into existence.
Immediately I could feel a moderate strain upon my mind. Not exactly surprising, considering that I am only eight of age and having eleven Fighter levels, the cost of a Martial Art of this level almost filling my entire capacity for Martial Arts.
I could probably sustain this for a while, however if I were to add another, it would be pushing my limits.
The light of my Talent also felt dim, as if signaling the temporary loss of its power. I would have to experiment further to explore its full potential.
I quickly returned to training, wanting to capture this feeling of tempered inferno in my hands, trying to imprint it upon my body, to recreate it without a crutch. Without my Talent.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone