Bab 46: Approaching the New Year

*Clack* *Clack* *Clack*

All throughout an open field the crack of wood swords colliding rang out. In the middle of the field stood a raven-haired woman and young silver-haired boy were sparring. Well, sparring was not the correct word to describe the one-sided beating that the boy was receiving. However, his strokes were strong and his basic form was correct. Finally, the woman struck out and the boy was sent flying back onto the ground.

"I yield!" The boy shouted while panting.

"Teacher Vivienne don't you think you're being too harsh? Grey has only been learning basic sword strikes these past six months, but every time you guys spar you go all out." A cute voice spoke out complaining. A small body came down from the air, her light pink hair flowing behind her.

"Hmph, Leilena, you're just too soft. The only reason he has made such rapid improvement is because I continue pushing to his limits. Basic sword forms are all he needs! Everyone who uses those fancy sword moves are just looking for flashiness instead of real efficiency. In the end, sword-fighting is made up of slashes, stabs, and blocks. The biggest requirement is experience, there is no one who can just be good at the sword. Some have special talent for weapons, but cannot become a true master until they have experienced thousands of battles and their weapon is a part of their body."

"Hmmmm... I don't know about that, but I do know that you are bullying our precious disciple." Leilena just continued teasing Vivienne while approaching Greyson who was still panting on the ground.

"Teacher... Leilena, I appreciate, ha, the concern... But I like... the challenge." Greyson tried speaking through his gasps for breath. Soon he finally controlled his breathing and activated his light magic and the exhaustion in his body completely vanished.

"Exactly, Greyson. This is the correct attitude for a success!" Vivienne nodded feeling pleased with his answer and the fact that he took her side instead of Leilena's.

"Boo... Grey Grey, I'm trying to defend you but you just left me hanging like this." Leilena pouted. Hearing her complaints, Greyson just smiled not knowing what to say.

"Enough, Leilena, what are you here for anyways." Vivienne saw that Greyson did not know how to respond, so she quickly changed the topic for him.

"I'm here to take Grey to the Principal. He has something to discuss now that the auction and exam in the Idris Kingdom are approaching."

Hearing the word Principal caused Greyson to instinctively flinch. His body couldn't help but respond to the trauma of his beatings from before. The spars with Teacher Vivienne were exhausting, but he was not necessarily in any extreme pain. However, the Principal would slam Greyson with all sorts of spells that broke bones or burnt his skin. He was beaten pretty much until his body's desperate survival instincts kicked in. After around 3 months, Greyson could almost control his bloodline at will so the Principal stopped beating him half to death around then as well. 3 months later, Greyson could now summon the bloodline whenever. The scales only came out on his hands so the abnormal strength only applied to his fists as well at this point. His whole body's strength was improved, but his fists had at least five times the strength when he activated his bloodline. Staying in this dragon-mode took a lot of concentration so Greyson could only stay in it for around 30 minutes or so before the strength fades.

Vivienne nodded to Leilena and let her carry Greyson away. Flying quickly through the air, in just around a minute they had already arrived in front of the central tower. Soon he was standing in front of he Principal's desk, looking at the man who seemed like a smiling devil. He looked harmless and kind, but this exterior only hid his real sadistic personality.

"Greyson, so good to see after so long! I brought you here today to ask you what your plans were for your trip to the Idris Kingdom. Will you be leaving soon? There is only around 2 months of time left."

"I will be leaving at the beginning of next month."

"Next month? Will you have enough time?"

"Yes, I am sure I will. I have tested out how fast I can travel using Zephyr so noting the distance of the two kingdoms it should only take me comfortably around a week to travel to the Idris Kingdom. I have pushed back travelling one month because I want to take this month to make myself another tier two weapon."

"Tier two? Don't you have your flute already?"

"That a low level tier two magic tool since it was my first try. I have been building experience this half a year, so now I want to create a peak tier two magic sword to help me fight. I will probably create another flute once I learn how to create tier three magic tools."

"Ohhhh, Grey Grey, you have to make a magic tool for me in the future once you become a tier four blacksmith okay~." Leilena spoke out. Greyson just nodded while fighting the urge to sigh. He never knew how to handle this childish teacher of his.

"Okay, well I'm glad to see you have a plan. What kind of sword are you looking to make? I'm a little curious as to what kind of people tier two sword you are looking to make for yourself."

"Well I am going to put all my element symbols onto the sword so that it corresponds specifically to me and I could maybe perform combination attacks with multiple elements so the power of my attacks and defense would increase substantially."

"All seven? Well I guess going to the blacksmith occupation really was a good idea on your part. It is very difficult to make magic tools with multiple elements let alone seven. It's also very costly. Usually not because the materials are too rare, but the mental strain it puts on normal blacksmiths so they are reluctant to take those sort of weapon requests unless a lot of money is involved."

"Yes, I also have started to realize my decision in the beginning was wise." As the principal said, multiple element magic tools take much more effort and fine tuning to the person they will be used by, so it's easy to reject requests for tools like them or demand exorbitant fees. Now that he was making his own tools, Greyson could understand their mentality. These specific kinds of tools took a longer than normal process to make and drained mental energy much more. He was completely exhausted after finished the entire process starting with making the blueprint, studying the symbols to perfection, and then to hammering out the actual tool. If the person was not special to him, Greyson would not want to waste so much energy on a stranger, either.

Quickly, the conversation ended and Greyson headed back to the dorms to meditate and reflect on his earlier spar with Teacher Vivienne. His sword skills were still beginner level, but he was proficient enough that he could use the sword to attack and fight. Thinking of the sword made him inadvertently think of Aria again. A dull ache continued to pain his heart anytime her memories were brought up as his guilt was still an open wound.

Greyson also had not mentioned to the Principal that before he headed to the Idris Kingdom, he was going to fly back to the church to see Sister Lily. Idris Kingdom was very far away and he felt that this would be his best chance to see her before he goes off for a long time again. As much as he tried to act strong as if he was over all the trauma, he felt that he needed to see Lily again and feel her comfort. In the end, she was the mother that he wanted to run and cry to about all his struggles. After he finished forging his next weapon, he would bring his savings with him to see the church and Lily while also giving them the money to help renovate the church and fill in the holes in the wall. Five years somewhere might not seem that long in the grand scheme of things, however, Greyson knew that he was lucky to have such a loving foster parent and family. Now he was powerful and had a lot of money to spare so he wanted to finally be able to give back and allow his family to live luxuriously and happily.

He smiled happily thinking of finally seeing everyone again. He wondered how much the other kids had changed...