I woke up by myself. I wasn't even sure, I had slept.

What was certain is that I didn't remember falling asleep, or any dreams for that matter... More than that I felt depressed and tired, and didn't know what to do with these feelings.

I guess this processing would have to be done at a later time.

After some time of me laying in bed with my eyes unfocused, a voice said.

"Oh, you're already awake"

It was Romuald, in his same jovial mood from earlier. Now not scary, but slightly saddening.

He's happy.

"Uh- What are you doing?" He asked, as I didn't reply.

"Shape up, I'll be waiting for you outside."

And without another word, he left.

I don't have time to be depressed... I ran away to become stronger!

I readied my clothes, stretched and slapped myself.

"Wake up!"

I then went outside, and there was Romuald waiting for me with a sword. A sword made of wood.

No... way

Is this an heritage tool!?'

"What are you waiting for?" Romuald asked "Follow me."

I was left in shock.

Weren't these tools super rare, why would Romuald...

Whoa.

There were only 2 possible ways, either Romuald was such a high ranking member of the Galvrung that he could take such a treasure for himself without anyone opposing it, or he was so strong that they simply didn't dare.

Either way, Romuald had much more things to him than what he shown. Also the fact that I had never seen this sword in the shelter meant that he likely had other shelters, or at least storages on the peak in which he stored things.

I walked alongside him, not daring to ask questions.

I knew there was no way he'd kill me, after all there was no way he'd use such a treasure, when a mere stick would have done the job. This on the other hand meant that what he'd show me would be earth shattering.

The walk to our location was a silent one. Romuald walking with a serene and steadfast step, me, following; my head full of questions.

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It didn't take too long to guess where we were going, however, the cascade. The most breathtaking place in this forest.

"Stay there."

After saying that, he advanced his step calm and steady, he unhinged the sword and held it in front of him.

"Before I do this, I wasn't planning to show this to you since your body is simply unfit for it, but I am confident that you'll be able to do something with it still."

"Also, despite what I am showing you right now, you don't need to restrain yourself to close combat, you got what it takes to learn whatever you want..."

"Now sear this in your memory, because I won't show it again unless I am planning to kill you."

Somehow, these last words sounded like a threat.

He then took a deep breath, and held the sword in front of him. My eyes instinctively zeroed in on his mana flow, and at that moment it was totally immobile.

Dead calm.

Then all of a sudden he exploded in a choreography that was anything but calm, starting and stopping with the drop of hat, striking from impossible positions, attacking with no discernible flow while still making all of his attacks connect on an imaginary target.

It felt like a much more refined version of what he had taught me, a dance made for pure killing.

While I had followed the rhythm of water, he seemed to be creating his own rhythm as he went, maybe it was the rhythm at which his mana flowed, or the beating of his heart...

But seared into my mind it was.

When he finished his final strike sent a blade of air, stopping the flow of the cascade for a few second, spreading a refreshing mist into the air.

"No..."

"way..."

I mouthed powerless.

My eyes glued on his back, which seemed much wider than I remembered.

This is totally overkill, there's no way you'd need..

That's when it clicked.

That's the scale of battles between proficient magic users. This was the epitome of mana strengthening. The ground where he stood was full of laceration marks, the wind itself had stopped as if paying respect to his being.

No... fucking way.

All the stories that had been told to me by my father while impressive, felt foreign, and I was almost certain there was some exaggeration, but this made it clear. There likely hadn't been any exaggeration or embellishments.

Those at the top, could they even be called human?

I erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

"You're broken?" Romuald said watching me.

He sighed.

"What a shame."

I continued pushing my lungs to their limits, tears flowing from my eyes.

"That's great, that's great! Against that! HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" I said, i wasn't making sense.

I would likely had given up, had it been 2 weeks before. But this bootcamp of sorts had allowed me to prove to myself that I could get stronger, and Romuald himself had said it, I had what it takes to live here.

Maybe not directly, but this dance had showed me was an acknowledgement of that.

"Romuald," I said wiping the tears from my eyes with my index. "I'll show you something even greater than that!"

Romuald looked at me, his eyes as big saucers before he too was overcome by laughter.

"You never stop surprising me you twerp, good! GREAT!"

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Two crazed lunatics laughed together in the forest, their roars making the local fauna flee.

##

After that it went quick.

Romuald talked about how I shouldn't be afraid of having multiple masters, that I should try to learn as much as possible to carve my own path, instead of following a premade one, made for magic users.

He also said, things that made me squirm. "This place is your home"

This place is my home...

These words made circles in my head.

But after that and a goodbye where I did not cry a single drop, I left for the shelter; place where this weird relationship had began.

He didn't come with me, claiming that he had nothing to say to Albert and that, "Albert would definitely say unneeded things if he was there."

Romuald was a weird person.

He was first an obstacle to surmount, but quickly enough he became much more than that. He gave me hope. Hope that despite my condition, I could still topple whatever would come my way.

While I knew it'd take monstrous effort I now had the hubris of standing atop the world, in my own way.

I chuckled with my chest puffed. "Watch me father! You'll regret casting me away."