Viran turns to look at the now open space in the residence and sees the setting sun outside before looking back at Sir Leonard. Viran slowly approaches and pats down the seat of wooden bits before awkwardly sitting down. Sir Leonard sat opposite Viran with a bothered look on his face as he thought deeply.

“Um, Sir Leonard didn’t you want to continue the lesson?” Having waited long enough Viran nervously speaks out.

“Hrmm. Yes you’re right. Seems like you know the basics, so how about you go ahead and self-study for now. Hrmm, I have other things to attend to so don’t mind me.” Sir Leonard slides a large book to Viran before standing up to leave.

“Yes Sir Leonard. Thank you for your help.” Viran took no heed to studying alone.

‘Hrm. So he’s used to this, no wonder the amount of mana he can use is pitiful.’ Thought Sir Leonard.

Sir Leonard chuckled slightly to himself at the situation his new pupil was facing before leaving his decrepit doorway.

As Leonard walks closer to the residence next door, he sees a tanned old man sitting in a rocking chair with a slight smile on his lips.

“Hmph. Looks like you really aren’t going to teach the boy, though I can’t say I don’t blame you.” Sir Renault spoke out to the approaching Leonard.

“Hrmm. I can tell the kid doesn’t know much and it seems his past teachers also went through with the Lord’s directives anyways. I’m not about to feel pity for the kid and lose my only source of funding for my experiments you know.” Sir Leonard spilled out.

“So yer just gonna make the kid study on his own like his past teachers? That’s ‘bit rough, though I'm sure your tune would change if the kid showed some talent.” Sir Renault grumbled.

“It’s not my fault the boy isn’t loved by the Lord. I’m not doing anything for the kid and neither should you, he’s a lost cause anyways. Hrmm.” Sir Leonard argued.

“Still, I don’t feel it’s right to leave the kid like this. When the other kid gets the inheritance, Viran ain’t gonna have a chance in the real world. He hasn’t even left the estate grounds yet in his entire life! It’s too pitiful for me not to do anything.

“...Maybe for you but not for me.” Sir Leonard looks away from his old acquaintance.

Seeing this attitude Sir Renault could only shake his head in deep exasperation. Sir Renault and Sir Leonard had known each other for years and yet they have had a great many arguments in their time of knowing each other, yet Sir Leonard still felt different in Sir Renault’s eyes.

“I really am getting old…” A whisper leaks out of his tanned throat as he continues rocking in his chair, as though separated from the world.

Viran picks up the book and begins to comb through the secrets within. Viran had always loved books, though he had picked up the hobby mostly in desperation. The touch of the pages on Viran’s fingertips were coarse and felt ancient beyond compare. The book itself weighed an enormous amount and had vocabulary unknown to most kids Viran’s age.

Viran himself had always thought this was the basic duties of a tutor. Their purpose was to simply talk some formalities and then distribute books for their pupils to read, as that had always been what it was before in the past. Though this was what has always been done, it did have many benefits on Viran’s early development and mind. Now that Viran’s time was absorbed in reading he could be considered more cultured and with a more refined mind than other kids his age, though he may be more refined. Viran was but a child at the end of the day.

Lost in the texts of the book, Viran was unaware of a new presence in the room watching his movement. Lost in thought at the unknown and new world he would experience from within this book, Viran was entranced. It was not another adventure book he would usually read, but a book concerning the cultures and world from before the Great Beasttide and Harbringer Disasters. Before these cataclysmic events, the human race and their allies had dominated the continent and had a variety of cultures and nations. Before, the beasts that had inhabited the unknown lands outside of Human territory were few in number and exotic. Whether it was fate or a sudden pass of bad-luck for the races of the world, no one could tell. All that was apparent was that the once rare beasts of imagination and myth had become all too real for the populations around the world. The tide could not be stopped, and humanity was pushed back to a dark corner of the continent and forgotten about as nature had overtaken their cities. The hegemon of the continent, laid in the hands of the beasts and humanity was kept under their heel.

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This book concerning the past was fantastical and wondrous to the young Viran who had never before seen the world outside of his own estate. The Great Beasttide happened a millennium ago, yet society still progressed from its weakened state and culture still flourished only stopping at the borders of the decrepit civilizations. Such a thing was like candy to Viran, absorbed in the descriptions and texts of old. Though the book was lifeless and its origins old, it still had the feeling of life to the young Viran and he took every second to read through it.

Lost in the book, a sharp pain shoots through Virans temple and throughout his body. This jolts him out of his daze and he shoots his gaze behind him. The tanned old man had been standing behind Viran for some time, and Viran had no way of realizing this was so.

“Hoh? You’re supposed to be studying… This? When you should be studying magic?” Sir Renault grabs the edge of the book and holds it up before laying it back down. “Look, Lord Viran, you should be studying something like this instead.”

Sir Renault looked around and picked up a book much newer and had more of a dramatic aura compared to the old history book. The book was meant to detail the basics of magic theory and help its reader to gain new insights on the world of magic.

“But Sir Leonard told me to study that…” The disheartened Viran could only muster up a small defense at the words of Sir Renault.

“If he says anything come to me. I can beat some sense into just about anyone.” A grinning Sir Renault says to the boy.

“Now follow me Lord Viran. It’s time for me to administer you yer lesson for today.”

Sir Renault, with an excited glint in his eyes, quickly rushed to the other side of the estate with Viran in tow. Sir Renault had looked down upon Sir Leonard for giving up on Viran, and now it was his turn to show what should have been done long ago.

As Viran gazed upon the familiar scenery shown in front of him, he was still entranced in thought as he looked upon. The training field was suited specifically to handle large amounts of magic and were often the place to witness duels between two rivals. Viran had always come here with his tutors of the past, yet he had never seen the enthusiasm in them as he did in Sir Renault.

The training field was a flat ground with stands surrounding it all around. On one side stood a large building that held a multitude of staves, axes, swords, and training dummies. These items ranged from wooden tools, to steel, and to even tougher materials. On the opposite side stood a large well that was used to gather water from. This area had been rebuilt and renovated many times through the ages and had gone through years of use.

As Viran walked out into the field, a sudden weight was felt in his hands. Looking down he can see a short sword made out of fine steel, the sudden increase in weight almost making him fall to the ground. Inquisitively looking up, Viran saw the stone-cold face of Sir Renault staring directly back at him.

“Prepare to parry.” This short murmur from Sir Renault shakes Viran down to his core.

Before Viran could prepare himself or utter a word of response Viran was almost skewered by Sir Renault. The sudden gust of wind shaving through the air over Virans right shoulder makes Viran realize the predicament he was currently in. Though Viran understood clearly, it was still hard for him to respond in kind.

As the steel blade whizzed through the air towards Viran, the boy can only barely strike the sword away from him with all of his concentration fixed on the fight itself. Slowly the shaking in Virans arms and legs begin to increase and his movements get even more sluggish as the sheer ferocity of the strikes deal a blow to Virans stamina and concentration. Viran has to use the sheer force of his will to not become dumbminded in the fight and to concentrate on the fight; so as to not feel the pain erupting throughout his body.

This sort of fight was unknown and foreign to the young Viran, his tutors had usually only taught him a single thing then directly left for the rest of the day. Were Viran to fight another child the same age, all he could do was use his large build to his advantage and hope for a positive outcome. Viran was unaware of the true aspects of the art of sword fighting, and even he only knew so much as to what he was originally told.

Through placing his entire body, mind, and soul into the tip of his blade, Viran is able to hold onto the fight and continue defending against Sir Renault’s severe and unrelenting attacks. The sheer weight was driving a vibration and force through Viran, shaking his very bones.

Unconsciously, Viran’s body slowly starts to move on its own and makes minute changes to his swings and stance. The tremors erupting through Virans body begin to fade away from Virans consciousness as his whole mentality and concentration is focused on the sharp sheen that repeatedly strikes at him.

‘This kid…’ Disbelief is written across Sir Renaults face as he witnesses the state Viran is in.

Sir Renault had not used his full strength against Viran obviously, and was merely slowly increasing his power and technique to see the true threshold of his new pupil. Sir Renault had been expecting to find Viran to stumble relatively quickly- but Viran had dashed these thoughts out of Sir Renaults.

‘A genius… No. A prodigy even. The kid had never been taught much in anything and yet he is able to make minute changes to his swordplay to this degree. Rigid and rough as these changes are… Such a thing is still outrageous.’ Sir Renault himself was not focused solely on the fight, but more on the changes echoing out of Virans body.

Though Viran had exceeded Sir Renaults expectations hugely, Viran was still a young boy and stumbled to the ground in the end. It was at this point that the pain and exhaustion that had wrecked Virans body for some time was finally made known to the boy.

A deep sigh echoes throughout the training field with tearful sniffles following.