Lucian chuckled, "You alright, Munchkin?"

Elianna lay there, staring at the clear blue sky, feeling the afternoon sun beating down on her. The grass beneath her felt comfortably soft yet also warm. The gentle breeze felt lovely as it caressed her, giving her a slight reprieve from the heat.

"I'm fine," Elianna said, taking a deep breath and trying to slow her rapid breathing. She looked to the side, eyeing her father as he stood there with a humourous grin, leaning on his wooden longsword. "Are we almost done with training for the day?"

Lucian raised a brow, "Eager to be done today, are we?" He gave a knowing smile, "I wonder why. You're usually determined to train all day."

Elianna sat up, looked to the side, and sheepishly shrugged, "I don't know."

Lucian laughed a little, "How about this? We do one more defense training drill, then we'll call it a day."

Elianna looked at her father excitedly, "Really?!"

Lucian nodded, "Yep." He smirked a little, "Then you'll be free to go hang out with Nick."

Elianna blushed slightly and looked to the side, "I-I never said I was going to hang out with Nick."

Lucian playfully rolled his eyes. "Oh, so you haven't been cutting our training sessions short these past few weeks just so you can hang out with your friend?"

Elianna looked at her father curiously, "Is that bad?"

Lucian looked at his daughter, surprised at the question, before he smiled and shook his head, "Not at all. In fact, I'm very glad you and Nick get along."

Elianna looked down, and she genuinely smiled, "Me too." She looked at her father curiously, "D-Do you think he will come if I ask him?"

Lucian chuckled and nodded, "I do." He stored his wooden longsword in his spatial ring and gestured for Elianna to stand up, which she did. "Now, let's go ahead and finish your training for the day. This time, we will be using real swords."

Elianna nodded, stored her wooden sword in her spatial ring, and pulled her real sword out. "Why?"

"I wanted to start with wooden swords because they're safer," Lucian explained. "Now that you have a basic understanding of the defensive movements, we are going to use real swords so you can feel the difference. However, we will slow our movements this time to be on the safe side. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Good," Lucian said, pulling a longsword out of his spatial ring that made Elianna's eyes widen with awe.

The longsword's golden metal glimmered in the sun, and decorative blue gems adorned the center and base of the blade. The cross guard resembled two small golden wings with a mana gem embedded in the center. The longsword had a smooth white handle long enough to be gripped with both hands.

"T-That," Elianna stuttered, mesmerized by the sword. "That sword is beautiful."

Lucian looked at his daughter curiously, "Have I never shown you this sword before?"

Elianna shook her head, staring at the blades shining golden metal, "N-No. You've always used your wooden training sword."

Lucian hummed and raised his sword, gripping the handle with both hands, "Well, I don't usually draw my blade unless I absolutely need to. I keep it safely in my ring."

"Where did you get it?" Elianna asked, looking at her father in awe. "Could I get one like it?"

Lucian smiled at his daughter and shook his head, "I'm afraid not. This sword was a gift given to me by the divine."

"The divine?" Elianna said, surprised. "Mom and Raina told me about them. They're the beings of pure spirit who watch over us, right?"

Lucian nodded, "Correct, Munchkin."

Elianna looked at her father curiously, "Why did they give you a sword?"

Lucian looked down for a moment, contemplating his answer, before he looked at his daughter and smiled, "A story for another time. For now, take your stance."

Elianna nodded, got into her ready stance, and activated her mana guard. She stood there motionlessly, watching her father as he got into an attack stance and surrounded himself with his mana guard.

"Now, block my attacks," Lucian said, and Elianna nodded.

Elianna watched her father intently, waiting for him to move and analyzing him for the slightest movement. When she blinked, her eyes widened as she saw he was now gone. A shuffling sound behind her had her rapidly twirling around, and her eyes fell on her father, who was standing there casually.

As her eyes met her father's, he moved and dashed to the side. Her father was quick, and Elianna had trouble tracking his movements. Still, even with him exerting this much speed, she knew he was holding back, which always made Elianna wonder just how powerful her father was. Her father was always careful when training her, making sure not to hurt her, which is why Elianna was never afraid of being injured.

As Lucian moved around Elianna, she ensured to keep him in front of her, not wanting him to get behind her again. Lucian planted his front foot on the ground, stopping his movement, and quickly, but not too fast, swung his sword horizontally at Elianna. Seeing the attack, Elianna raised her blade and blocked it. The sound of metal hitting metal rang in Elianna's ears, and she winced slightly from the impact as it vibrated through her arms. That single impact made Elianna realize that a collision with metal swords had more of an impact on her arms than the wooden ones.

Lucian quickly pulled his sword back and twirled to the side. Using her footwork, Elianna swiveled, keeping her father in front of her. Lucian continued to twirl and dash around her, with Elianna keeping him in front of her when he suddenly raised his sword and brought it down in a vertical strike. Elianna swiftly blocked the attack, her hands throbbing from the force of the impact, before Lucian pulled his sword back and dashed around again.

Elianna watched him closely, waiting, concentrating on her footwork and her father's movements. She tensed as her father suddenly stopped and moved to dash in the opposite direction. She quickly adjusted her footwork, preparing to follow her father, when he suddenly twirled in the direction he was moving before.

Elianna's eyes widened, seeing her father had pulled a feint movement. He pretended to begin to head in the opposite direction and ended up successfully deceiving her. Out of her peripherals, she observed him prepare a vertical strike to her left side. She knew she didn't have time to fix her footwork and block the attack, giving her one option.

Elianna quickly jumped to the right, letting herself fall to the ground, and combat rolled, giving herself more distance. After she rolled, she quickly got to her feet, faced her father, and returned to her fighting stance.

Lucian stood there, surprised, before he smiled wide, "Very good, Munchkin." He stood straight, storing his longsword in his spatial ring.

Elianna relaxed and smiled, seeing the training drill was over. She stored her sword in her spatial ring and stood straight, "Thanks, Dad."

Lucian approached his daughter, giving her a complimentary pat on her shoulders, "Good footwork and good blocks. You did a good job keeping me in front of you, as well."

Elianna shrugged, "You fooled me that last time."

Lucian chuckled and nodded, "Perhaps. However, your recovery was brilliant. You made a good decision. If you don't have time to block, gain some distance."

"Understood," Elianna said, then looked at her father curiously. "So, that was the end of the session, right?"

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Lucian smiled, "Yes. Go have fun with Nick."

Elianna smiled wide, "Thanks, Dad!"

Elianna wrapped her arms around her father in a hug, and Lucian chuckled as he hugged her back. They broke the hug, and with a warm smile, Lucian watched as his daughter ran off toward the first battalion area.

"Going to hang out with her friend?"

Lucian turned around, seeing Maurus standing there, looking in the direction Elianna ran off with a smile. Lucian nodded, "She is. I think she's more excited to spend time with him than me nowadays."

Maurus looked at Lucian and chuckled, "They grow up fast."

Lucian sighed, "Too fast." He looked at Maurus inquisitively, "Out for a walk to stretch your legs?"

Maurus' smile faded, "I'm afraid not. We have had a development."

Lucian looked at Maurus seriously, "What is it?"

Maurus sighed, "A detachment of Tri-Union soldiers was sent from Khison Outpost to investigate some infernal cult activity spotted in Ehomire forest. However, we lost communication with them last night."

"What?!" Lucian said, alarmed. "We need to backtrack their movements and try to find-"

"They've already been located," Maurus said gravely. "Another detachment was sent out to find them. We just received word from Khison that they were located."

Lucian sensed the darkness in Maurus' tone and asked, "Any survivors?"

Maurus shook his head, "No. All bodies accounted for."

Lucian looked at Maurus sternly, "I want a full report."

Maurus nodded, "Khison Lieutenant Commander Quarak is preparing a debrief as we speak."

Lucian jerked his chin toward the headquarters building, "Let's go, then."

Maurus nodded, turned, and began to walk back toward the headquarters building. Lucian spared one last glance in the direction Elianna ran off before he followed Maurus.

***

Elianna ran toward the first battalion area, scanning the dozens of mages and knights training in front of the building. When her eyes finally settled on the three figures she was looking for, her lips curved into a smile. She undid her ponytail, knowing she was done with training for the day, and began to walk toward them.

Nicholas stood in front of Fryea, looking at her intently as she spoke, while Celine stood to the side, manipulating the ambient elemental mana with her wand. Celine's eyes flicked to Elianna, seeing her approach.

Celine canceled her elemental magic and smiled, "Hey, Elle!" Nicholas and Freya looked at Celine before following her gaze, and they smiled when they noticed Elianna.

Elianna returned Celine's smile and waved, "Hey, Celine." Her eyes flicked to Nicholas, "Hey, Nick."

"Hey Lia!" Nicholas chirped, excited to see her. "How're you?"

Elianna's smile widened a little as she had become accustomed to Nick calling her Lia. She had constantly reminded him she didn't care for the name at first, but over time, she had gotten used to it and even started to like it.

"I'm good," Elianna responded. "What about you?"

"Same. Training as usual," Nicholas said and looked at Elianna curiously, "Are you done with your training for the day?"

"Yeah. I wanted to come see what you were up to."

"I was just explaining dispel to Nicholas," Freya advised and smiled at Elianna. "Would you like to see?"

Elianna nodded excitedly. Over the past few weeks, she had witnessed Freya teach Nicholas magic a few times and loved every moment of it. "Sure!"

"Perfect," Freya began and motioned to Elianna. "In fact, it's a good thing you are here. Our dispel is similar to how your mana guard works. Could you please explain that?"

Elianna hummed, recollecting her father's explanation, and nodded, "Yeah. The mana guard serves several purposes and acts like a second skin. It surrounds our body and acts like armor. The mana guard will also protect you from being directly manipulated by mage spells or even cancel an active spell effect, such as transformation spells."

Freya smiled and nodded, always impressed by Elianna's knowledge, "That's correct. However, transformation spells are not usually practiced as offensive magic."

Elianna looked at Freya inquisitively, "Why?"

"Transformations are complicated as the mage needs to have a familiarization with the shape they want to turn into," Freya began. "A living being can only be turned into another living being, and vice versa for inanimate or non-living objects. You see, a mage is constantly using magic to maintain the transformation, and it takes a great deal of concentration. We can't focus on transforming someone else, as they would have our full attention, and we can't concentrate on anything else, putting us in danger."

"So, a mage can't turn into anything they want?" Elianna asked.

Freya shook her head, "No, not unless they are familiar with the shape they want to take." She gestured to Nicholas, "Or, if they have an enchanted item. Like Nicholas' necklace."

Elianna inquisitively looked at Nicholas, who smiled and grabbed the chain around his neck. He pulled at the chain, pulling a beautiful pendant out from his shirt. The pendant was silver and intricately designed in the shape of a crescent moon, with what looked like a bird sitting on it. Two triangular emerald gems were embedded at the tips of the pendant, with a mana gem in its center.

"Woah," Elianna whispered, mesmerized by how beautiful the pendant was. "That's beautiful."

"Thanks," Nicholas said, looking down at the pendant. His lips curved into a small smile, but Elianna thought Nicholas looked a little sad as he eyed it. "It lets me turn into a falcon."

"A falcon?" Elianna looked at the pendant in wonder. "That's so cool!"

"Enchanted objects have benefits but also drawbacks," Freya said, looking at the pendant with a small emotion-filled smile. "While objects like Nicholas' necklace allow one to cast complicated magic, like a transformation spell, which is third circle magic, it is limited to one spell. His necklace can let him turn into a falcon, and a falcon only. The mana gem also helps, making it so he doesn't need to use much magic to activate the enchantment. Now, the same goes for other enchanted objects as they can only cast one single spell or have one effect." She gestured to her mage robes, "Like our mage robes, which help us absorb mana faster when we activate the enchantment. Or the knight's apparel, weapons, or mage's wands and staves, which have durability enchantments."

Elianna look a little confused, "But my sword's durability enchantment doesn't need to be activated."

Freya nodded, "There are two types of enchantments. Ones that have abilities, and the second which has permanent effects. The enchantments with abilities require activation with magic, while the enchantments affecting the object do not, like the durability enchantment. Makes sense?"

Elianna nodded, "Makes sense."

"Good," Freya said and looked at Nicholas, "you understand as well, Nick?"

Nicholas smiled and nodded, tucking his medallion back into his shirt, "Yeah."

"Perfect. Now, let's get back to our lesson," Freya said. "As Elianna explained, the mana guard can be used to negate the effect of a spell. This occurs when Elianna uses the mana from the mana guard to push out the foreign mana from her body. Our dispel works similarly. We push our mana into an object or person or even push mana out from our mana core to expel the foreign mana, canceling the effect."

Nicholas looked at Freya quizzically, "Can I just form a mana guard around me like Elianna does?"

Freya nodded, "You could, which is how we dispel magic effects from us. But we call it our dispel since it's unreliable as a defensive spell." Freya gestures to Elianna, "You see, Elianna's body augments or enhances itself as her mana guard is active thanks to her mana veins. Our bodies cannot, as we don't have internal cores or mana veins that enhance our muscles. This is why if a mage gets hit even with their dispel active, our bodies will feel the full force, and we can sustain internal damage. Understood?"

Nicholas nodded, "Yeah."

"Good," Freya said and looked at Celine. "Celine, dear, would you be okay with demonstrating self-dispel from the paralyze spell?"

Celine smiled and nodded, "Sure, Mom." Celine stood straight and rolled her shoulders and neck before giving her mother a nod. "Ready with you are."

Freya looked at Nicholas and Elianna, "Pay attention, and see how Celine quickly dispels the effect." Nicholas and Elianna nodded before looking at Celine.

Freya pulled her wand out of her spatial ring and pointed it toward Celine. Emerald mana began to swirl around Celine before quickly closing in and surrounding her body like a second emerald skin. Celine immediately stiffened, her body seeming frozen and unable to move. Elianna and Nicholas grew wide-eyed with concern, seeing Celine begin to fall back.

However, their concern was quickly washed away as a blast of pure white mana burst out from Celine, blowing apart the emerald energy that was surrounding her. Celine stumbled back for a moment before she stood straight and smiled.

"Ta-da," Celine chuckled at Elianna and Nicholas, gesturing to herself. "I'm fine."

"Woah!" Nicholas exclaimed." "That was so cool!"

Freya chuckled, "This is the power of the dispel. It's a simple yet effective spell."

Nicholas nodded, "Gotcha. Are we going to practice now?"

Freya hummed, pulled her pocket watch out of her spatial ring, and looked at it. "Not today. We will continue this lesson next time." She stored the pocket watch and smiled at her daughter, "It's time for Celine's lessons." She looked back at Nicholas and Elianna with a knowing grin, "You two don't mind, do you?"

Elianna and Nicholas shared a glance and smiled, knowing this meant they were now free to spend time and play together. They simultaneously looked back at Freya and shook their heads.

Freya chuckled, "I thought not. Go ahead and go have fun, you two."

Nicholas nodded and began to walk off but stopped when he noticed Elianna was still standing there.

"Um, Mrs. Argyle?" Elianna asked, sounding a little nervous.

Freya looked at Elianna curiously, "What is it, Dear?"

"Um," Elianna began, twiddling her thumbs, looking incredibly nervous. She looked at Nicholas and then back at Freya. "Would you, Nick, and Celine be able to attend my birthday next weekend?"

Freya looked surprised for a second before she smiled warmly. She looked at Celine, who was also smiling, and nodded to her mother. Freya then looked at Nicholas, "What do you say, Nick? Do you want to go?"

Elianna whipped her head toward Nicholas, looking wide-eyed and nervous about his response.

Nicholas smiled brightly and nodded, "Yeah!"

Elianna smiled blissfully, eyes shimmering with delight.

Freya looked at Elianna and nodded, "We would love to be there." Elianna looked at her with a gleeful expression. "Just have your father send me the information."

Elianna excitedly nodded, "Okay!" She happily whirled around, hearing Freya chuckle behind her as she ran toward Nicholas. "Come on, let's go play!"

Nicholas nodded excitedly and began following Elianna with a happy smile. "What do you want to play today?"

Elianna looked at Nicholas with a jovial smile, "I brought a frisbee today. Want to play that?"

Nicholas nodded excitedly, "Sure!"

"Cool!" Elianna said, taking her hair tie out of her spatial ring. She tied her hair back into her ponytail, knowing she would be running around. She looked at Nicholas and competitively smiled, "Just don't drop the frisbee."

Nicholas returned her smile, "I don't plan to."

Elianna giggled with a blissful smile and began to run toward the tree line where they usually play, "Come on!"

Nicholas smiled gleefully and ran after Elianna to have fun and play together.