Elianna's skin glistened with sweat as she panted hard, trying to catch her breath. If she had learned anything this past year, it was that her father's combat training was far more intense than the physical exercises he showed her to strengthen her body. Though she may complain at times, she truly loved the time she got to spend with her father during her training. She definitely enjoyed her training days more than the days she had to stay home and study with Justine.

The cool breeze was a comfort as it brushed against her skin, and when she looked up, she was thankful for the clouds that covered the afternoon sun. Elianna closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing as she sat on the lush green grass in front of the headquarters building. She counted each breath to herself, noticing her respiration rate decreasing with each breath. Soon enough, she found herself relaxed and her breathing rhythmic.

"How are you holding up?"

Elianna looked at her father, who was sitting a few feet before her, smiling at her. He held a small black canteen in his right hand, similar to the one she was holding.

Lucian looked at his daughter curiously, "Do you need to take a longer break?"

Elianna shook her head, "No, I'm fine." She took another sip of her canteen, cherishing the refreshing water as it hit her lips.

Lucian smiled, "You sure? You can take a longer break if you want to. Don't push yourself too hard."

Elianna screwed the lid back onto the canteen and got back to her feet. "I know, but I'm fine. Let's keep going."

"Alright," Lucian got to his feet, storing his canteen in his spatial ring. He motioned to Elianna, who tossed her canteen to him, and he stored it in his ring as well. He took the sparing pads out of his ring and began to put them on, "We will continue with the two one-two drills."

Elianna nodded and reached back, tying her hair into a ponytail. When she first started combat training, her father had recommended tying her hair back to keep it out of her eyes. She tested out two different styles: the bun and the ponytail. In the end, she decided the bun was tedious and would sometimes come loose. However, she realized the ponytail was much easier to maintain, as she could undo and redo it quickly as she did earlier when she was cooling down.

Once she had tied her hair back, she looked at her father and saw that he had put on his sparring pads. Lucian held his hands up and smiled, "Ready?"

Elianna nodded and approached him. She got into her usual fighting stance, placing one foot in front of the other, and held her fists up. She took a deep breath, pushed mana through her body, and activated her mana guard, "Ready."

Lucian's smile faded, and he looked at his daughter seriously. He went into his training mode, as Elianna liked to call it. "Punch, kick, punch!"

Elianna burst into action, throwing a right hook to Lucian's right sparring pad and quickly following up with a left hook to his left sparring pad. She punched as hard as she could, feeling the connection of her punches. She brought her hands back and kicked up with her right foot. Lucian brought down his right sparring pad, meeting her kick, before holding his hand back up. Elianna quickly got back into her fighting pose and threw two more punches.

"Good!" Lucian yelled and took a step back. "Side kick, spin kick, side kick."

Elianna quickly adjusted her fighting stance so she was canted with her father. Using her right leg, she delivered two quick side kicks, which he blocked with ease with his right sparring pad. Elianna planted her right foot on the ground, spun on her heel, and delivered a spin kick to her father with her left foot. Lucian blocked the spin kick, taking another step back. Elianna quickly readjusted herself before delivering two more side kicks with her left foot, which Lucian blocked.

"Very good!" Lucian commended and stepped toward his daughter. "Punch, uppercut, punch."

Elianna didn't hesitate to throw a punch, connecting her left fist with her father's left sparring pad. Suddenly, before Elianna could bring her arm back, Lucian swung his right arm out toward her head. Elianna's attention snapped toward the sparring pad aimed at her head, and she quickly ducked. Her father advised her he would sometimes sneak attack like this. The first time he did it, he knocked her on the floor, which she was sure would've hurt a lot more if she hadn't had her mana guard activated.

Lucian's sparring pad sailed harmlessly over her head, and she stood back up, getting back into her attack stance. Lucian held both sparring pads up, and Elianna delivered a quick right punch. Lucian angled his sparring pads down, and Elianna delivered a quick uppercut with her right hand. Once Lucian held his sparring pads up again, Elianna delivered two more quick punches as hard as she could.

Lucian smiled proudly, "Excellent!" He lowered his sparring pads, "Relax, munchkin."

Elianna looked a little surprised, lowered her hands, and deactivated her mana guard, "That's it?"

Lucian smiled contently and nodded, "That's it. Your technique and reaction time are exceptional. It's time we moved on with your training."

Elianna smiled, feeling joyful from her father's compliment. "What are we going to work on now?"

"First things first," Lucian took his sparring pads off and stored them inside his spatial ring. He raised his right hand, palm face up, and a smooth silver ring appeared in his hand. Lucian smiled at his daughter, "Do you know what this is?"

Elianna raised a brow, "Uh, a ring?"

Lucian chuckled, "Technically, yes. It's a spatial ring." He dropped the silver ring into his left hand and raised his right, revealing a gold ring on his right ring finger. "This is my spatial ring. As you know, they're used to hold items."

"Like a bag."

Lucian smiled and nodded, "Yes, like a bag."

Elianna looked at her father curiously, "So why do you need two spatial rings?"

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"I don't," Lucian held out his left hand, the spatial ring lying flat on his palm. "This one is yours, munchkin."

Elianna beamed, her eyes locked on the spatial ring. She slowly reached out and picked up the ring, being gentle with it, thinking it was the most precious thing in the world. "It's mine?" Elianna breathed out in disbelief.

Lucian chortled and nodded, "It is."

Elianna smiled, her eyes tearing up with joy. She quickly moved forward, wrapping her arms around her father in a loving hug. "Thanks, Dad!"

Lucian smiled affectionately, returning her hug, "You're welcome, munchkin." They broke the hug, and Lucian gestured to her, "Go ahead and put it on."

Elianna nodded and excitedly slipped the ring onto her right ring finger. However, her smile faded, seeing the ring was a little too big for her. "It's too b-" Her eyes widened with surprise, watching as the ring began to glow with an emerald green hue. The ring started to shrink, settling comfortably on her finger. "Woah," Elianna breathed out in awe, wiggling her fingers. "That was so cool."

"Spatial rings are designed to fit its wearer," Lucian began, and Elianna looked at him. "As you grow, your ring will grow with you."

Elianna nodded and looked at the ring again, seeing its silver band shine against her skin. She smiled happily, "I love it."

"I have one more thing for you," Lucian said, and Elianna looked at him again.

Lucian raised his right hand, taking a short brown wooden sword out from his spatial ring. Elianna's eyes widened with excitement, seeing the wooden sword in her father's right hand. It looked to be a basic sword design, with its blade about the length of Elianna's arm and a crossguard separating the blade from the hilt.

"Elianna," Lucian said, looking at his daughter seriously. The excitement in Elianna's eyes faded, and she looked at her father curiously. Lucian held the wooden sword up, "While this is a wooden sword, I do not want you treating this like a toy. You will treat this as if it is real. Understood?"

Elianna shrank back a little and nodded, "Understood."

Lucian's gaze softened, seeing his daughter's reaction to his tone. "I'm not trying to scare you, munchkin." He squatted down so he was face-to-face with his daughter. "It's just that the more you get used to treating this sword like it is real, the more careful you will be when wielding a real one. Okay?"

Elianna smiled, "Okay."

"Good," Lucian patted Elianna on her head before he got to his feet. He reached the sword out to her, "Here. This will be yours, and you will keep it on you."

Elianna's heart was beating quickly with excitement. With her father's words ringing in her ear, she grabbed the sword by the hilt and held it up before her. Her eyes traced the wooden sword up and down, "It's heavier than I thought."

"It's made that way," Lucian said, pointing to the sword. "While training swords aren't as heavy as real swords, they're made to be heavier to mimic the real thing. This way, knights are used to the weight of a sword."

Elianna nodded and waved the sword around a little, remembering what her father had said about being careful with it. Her lips curved into a smile, feeling the sword in her hands. It was something she had dreamed of ever since she saw the knights training on her fifth birthday. Now, here she was, three years later, and holding a sword.

"Now," Lucian began. Elianna stopped waving around her sword and looked at her father. He held up his spatial ring, "Using spatial rings is quite easy. All you have to do is push mana into it and, with your intent, take an item out or store something away." He gestured to his daughter. "So, what I want you to do is direct the mana flowing inside you to the ring. The ring will then activate, and from there, you can use it."

Elianna nodded and looked at her ring. Focusing on her mana core, she directed her mana to flow through her right arm. She focused on her ring and pictured her mana flowing into it. Like a sponge absorbing water, the mana flowed into the ring, which felt warm on Elianna's finger. Staying focused, she looked at her sword and thought of it going into her ring. The sword disappeared in a flash of emerald green light, and Elianna's eyes widened in awe. Her eyes flicked to the ring, and she could sense the sword inside, like an itch in the back of her mind.

"Very good," Lucian complimented. "Taking out the sword is just as easy. Just-"

Lucian didn't even finish his sentence as Elianna pulled the sword out of her ring, which appeared in her right hand once again. Elianna smiled gleefully, cutting off the mana to her ring, "This is so cool!"

Lucian smiled, "This way, it'll be easier to carry your sword around. Plus, you can store other items in your ring if you want."

Elianna looked at her father curiously, "Can it hold a lot?"

Lucian shrugged, "About as much as a storage room, I would say." He smiled and gestured to her, "Now, as you've probably guessed, we are now going to start training on sword skills. Are you ready?"

Elianna smiled and nodded in excitement, "I'm ready."

"Good," Lucian began. "First les-"

"Commander."

Lucian and Elianna looked to the side and saw three individuals approaching them, all dressed in formal Tri-Union military attire. The first individual was Hector, the lieutenant commander of the Tri-Union City forces.

The second individual was an elven man who looked to be in his forties. He was tall and muscular, with short green hair and brown eyes. Two gold triangles on his uniform collar signified his rank as a captain.

Walking beside the green-haired man was a human male who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He was just about as tall as the green-haired man but looked to be more muscular. He had medium-length midnight-black hair and sapphire eyes. A single gold triangle on his uniform collar signified his rank as a lieutenant.

Lucian looked at the three men and smiled, "Hello, Hector." His eyes flicked to the green-haired man, "Maurus." He looked at the black-haired man, "And Mathew."

Hector looked at Elianna and smiled, "Hello, little Elle. How're you?"

Elianna returned his smile, "Hey, Uncle Hector! I'm good!" She held up her wooden sword, "Dad was just about to teach me sword skills!"

Hector chuckled, "Was he now? Just be careful. Swords aren't toys."

Elianna nodded, "I will."

Lucian looked at Maurus curiously, "Hector showing you the ropes of lieutenant commander before he retires?"

Maurus smiled and nodded, "Yes, sir." He gestured to Mathew behind him, "And Mathew is shadowing me for when he takes my spot."

Lucian looked at Mathew and Maurus simultaneously, "You're about to take on new responsibilities. Are you both ready?"

Mathew and Maurus nodded and, at the same time, said, "Yes, sir."

"What's retires?" Elianna curiously asked.

Lucian looked at his daughter and said, "It means that Hector will no longer be part of the Tri-Union forces."

Elianna looked at Hector with a saddened gaze, "Uncle Hector, You're leaving?"

Hector gave Elianna a small smile, "Not for a few more months. But yes, little one."

Elianna physically slumped, not wanting him to leave. Hector was like family to her, and she didn't really hang out with anyone anymore. "Where will you go?"

Hector looked up, thinking, "I think I'll join my son and become an adventurer and go off and explore the continent." He looked at Elianna and smiled, "But don't worry. I'll still visit. Besides," he gestured to the two men behind him, "these two aren't bad company."

Elianna looked at Maurus and Mathew curiously. She had seen Maurus around the headquarters building and had a few conversations with him in the past. Mathew, however, she had never met before.

Maurus smiled, "It's good to see you again, Elle."

Elianna returned his smile, "You too." Her eyes flicked back to Mathew, and she gave him a small wave, "Hello, I'm Elianna."

Mathew returned her smile and waved, "Good afternoon, Elianna. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Elianna's smile widened, seeing that he was friendly. "Nice to meet you, too. My friends call me Elle. You can call me that if you want."

Mathew chuckled, "Elle, it is."

Lucian smiled, glad to see her getting along with the others. He looked at Hector curiously, "Were you just stopping by to say hi?"

Hector sighed and looked at Lucian seriously. "I'm afraid not." Lucian's smile faded, seeing Hector's change of demeanor. "We just received a report from one of the outposts. There's something pertinent we need to discuss."