Seeing Dillim ready his stance, Keith’s eyes had turned a little red already. Dillim’s words had made him recall the feelings he was just trying to figure out. Dillim had correctly seen that if nothing would change, Keith would continue to lead a life with a depressed attitude. Now he just wondered how Keith would change by pouring those feelings inside something.

Keith rushed towards Dillim, gripping his wooden sword tightly with 2 hands. He was rushing at Dillim in a direct line, holding his sword to his side. Dillim saw Keith coming, and simply lowered the tip of his own wooden sword. He would be ready for everything Keith would throw at him.

Keith sharply stopped his advance, and blindly swung his sword towards Dillim from below. He used all his power, and exerted more force than he ever had, his deep emotions serving as a catalyst.

Dillim slightly grinned and stepped to the side, casually dodging Keith’s strike by a very slight margin. Keith’s momentum carried his sword upwards, but seeing how he had almost hit Dillim, he couldn’t help but become even more excited. Keith used the momentum of his previous strike, to rotate his body completely and make another chop at Dillim from above this time.

Dillim’s eyes momentarily flashed with surprise, he didn’t expect Keith would be able to keep his momentum going, not wasting the force of the previous attack. This time, Dillim didn’t step aside. He raised the tip of his own wooden sword for the first time, and neatly intersected the incoming blow from Keith. The swords collided with each other for a split moment, and the result was that path of Keith’s sword has slightly altered. Keith’s sword didn’t manage to hit anything again. Keith didn’t expect that their clash of swords wouldn’t result in any force at all, but would only result in him being slightly parried. Not expecting this outcome, Keith stumbled after his sword and fell towards the ground.

“Come at me again,” Dillim said. Surprisingly, a slight tone of excitement could be heard in his voice. He was pretty content, he noticed that Keith had used all of his might in every strike he used, and he even managed to use the momentum of his first strike to smoothly follow up with another blow. Keith only failed controlling his body after Dillim had slightly parried him, but it wasn’t a big deal.

Keith had received lessons in the sword before, just like all royal princes. When they were six years old, they would be assigned instructors to teach them various things. They would receive lessons in the sword and when their potential was discovered because of the royal test, they would be assigned a new instructor according to their potential.

Dillim knew that Keith had trained a little already over the years, but he didn’t expect him to have a basic grasp of correctly using momentum already.

Keith quickly stood up and ran at Dillim again. This time the exact same thing happened, Dillim would dodge once, and then he would slightly alter the path of Keith’s sword. It took Keith three tries, with different strikes, but eventually he managed to predict Dillim’s parry. He used this against him, and instead of striking a second time, he stabbed!

Dillim just smiled, and parried the stab as if he had seen in coming miles ago. Surprisingly, after Keith’s sword collided with Dillim’s, and after it changed its trajectory once again, he managed to remain standing, and make a horizontal slash. Dillim was happy, this was the first time Keith remained standing after being parried, and he was even able to incorporate it into another strike. Of course, this made almost no difference at all, because Dillim simply stepped back, dodging the blow. They started from scratch again: Keith charging at Dillim.

They continued their exchanges for a while, until the sun had already set. Keith was utterly exhausted; he had poured all of his feelings in every blow, and had been forced to keep attacking him. Every attack he had used on Dillim was only slightly dodged or parried, making it seem like Keith could actually almost hit Dillim every time. But seeing how none of his blows connected, he could only get more frustrated, expending more energy.

Keith was sitting on the grass field, catching his breath while he was tightly clutching the wooden sword in his hand. He wasn’t thinking about anything at all, he was simply recovering from his exhaustion. He was a little frustrated that he had come so close to hitting Dillim, but hadn’t even hit him once.

“When you hold a sword, you shouldn’t rest until your enemy is dead.” Dillim’s voice shocked Keith out of his trance. Dillim had chosen this opportunity to teach Keith his first lesson under Dillim, and to have him sort out his feelings. He knew that this moment would be a moment Keith was vulnerable because of his exhaustion. When someone had completely exhausted himself, they would be extra susceptible to new teachings. “Every time you hold a sword, you should change. Every man holding a weapon, should become a demon,” He said, looking at Keith with a serious expression. “From now on, every time you pick up a sword, become a demon. Pour all your feelings and regrets in every strike you make. But only use your body for this, your mind must be calm, you must be able to rationalize while fighting. Weapons are tools for killing, hence, the attitude of the wielder should also reflect this.”

Keith didn’t fully understand what Dillim was talking about. ‘Become a demon?’ It was something he couldn’t fully grasp, but he intuitively felt what Dillim meant a little. Even without understanding everything completely, Keith was able to see the importance and seriousness in Dillim’s eyes. That’s why he also pretended to fully understand and he simply nodded, “Uhn!”

Seeing Keith’s serious reaction, Dillim couldn’t help but to slightly grin. Then he continued; “That also means you won’t have to face your feelings always. What has happened, has happened. You can’t change it, feeling sad won’t change anything,” Dillim’s blunt words resounded through Keith’s head. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t feel sad, or frustrated. When you do, pick up a sword and start swinging it. Release everything inside, every time you feel it coming up!” Then Dillim dropped down through his knees, as to face Keith with the same height. If you approach children and tower above them, they would be easily intimidated. But if you were to bend through your knees, and look at them from the same height, reaching them with words would be a lot easier.

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“This doesn’t mean that you must cast every feeling aside. If you want to take revenge for your big brother, then that’s fine. But never let it affect every action you make!” He seriously said. “You should remember it, but never let those feelings affect the other parts of your life. If you want revenge, you can take it sometime, but never make it your final goal in life!”

The words thundered through Keith’s mind. Admittedly, he had thought about harming his 7th brother, and even some others, quite a lot of times. Normally he hadn’t been bothered by it, but hearing his Big Brother had died, he simply didn’t care anymore.

“What do you think your brother would think? Do you think he wants you to throw your life away?!” Dillim aimed at Keith’s weak spot. “If you ever think that everything is too hard, then continue to live for your brother! He wouldn’t want you to be sad, or only think about revenge!”

Keith was shocked, he had never seen it like that. ‘Live my life for Big Brother.’ Keith slowly considered the words, almost repeating them in a trance. Dillim had silently stood up and took a few steps back, giving Keith some room.

Keith pondered the words for quite some time. Normally those words would’ve been way too complicated for normal children to understand. But Keith had a mentality that was superior to the average children of that age. He had been forced to endure scorn and hate for a big time of his life, while he had managed to try to constantly stay happy. This had already shown that Keith had a stubborn and strong will.

After some time, Keith looked at Dillim, and surprisingly, he smiled from the bottom of his heart. Somehow, Dillim could feel sincere gratitude coming from Keith. He then knew Keith managed to solve some of his feelings. Even if Keith didn’t manage to understand everything he taught him, he would simply repeat it a lot of times until he would. At least Keith would be able to slowly figure himself out now, instead of becoming full of hate. Dillim saw that the seed he had tried to plant had managed to sprout a little. He would only need to slowly nurture it, and watch it grow.

Keith stood up and walked towards Dillim. He handed him the wooden sword, and enjoyed watching the swords disappear into Dillim’s ring. Then they headed back to the more populated parts of the city to spend the night.

On the way towards an inn Dillim knew, Keith spoke up; “Hey, Dillim. How is it possible to move so fast? Or to shoot those white things from your sword like father did?” Keith had been curious about this for a while, but he had never actually asked it. He had, of course, been occupied with different things.

Dillim paused for a slight moment, considering the question. Then he continued walking and answered, “That is quite difficult to answer. I can tell you that it has to do with world energy,” he said. “It is the opposite of the destructive energy called mana. That is the type of energy mages use, while all warriors use world energy,” he thoroughly explained. He looked at Keith’s face to look for any hint of confusion. As he saw none, he continued with his explanation: “Mages uses mana, which is a very destructive kind of energy. It can’t be used to aid the body, and can only be stored in the mana core. World energy is the complete opposite, it is very gentle and is used to strengthen the body. That’s why every warrior absorbs world energy, and lets it circulate throughout his body. When this reaches a certain level, they will be able to shoot world energy from their swords, or use it to move extremely fast. The reason that mages are generally more feared and discriminated than warriors, is exactly because they use the arcane destructive energy called mana. But eventually, the same level of power can be reached with both paths.”

Keith took a moment to process all this, he then looked at Dillim intelligently and asked him, “If world energy and mana are both very strong energies, why aren’t there any swordsmen that also use mana?”

“That’s impossible,” Dillim immediately answered. But then he reconsidered his answer, and added a little: “Actually, it’s not. It’s just that it wouldn’t make sense. Everyone can do it until a certain level of power. If you cross that line, you will destroy your own body,” he said. “It has to do with mana and world energy fluctuations that will not combine. Even more so, they will not only combine, but also cause severe reactions. But those fluctuations only happen after reaching a certain level.”

“Oh,” Keith answered dejectedly. He thought he would be the first to use the two types of energy and combine them, but hearing Dillim’s answer, he naturally didn’t doubt it at all.

They reached the inn shortly after their conversation, and Keith was already enjoying the lively atmosphere. The sun had gone down, so everyone was loudly laughing and drinking. There were a few inns next to each other, but Dillim had chosen one without hesitation.

They entered the inn, and Dillim ordered a room and some dinner. Keith enjoyed the food very much, even though he had eaten lots of better food in the Royal Capital, he hadn’t tasted anything quite as delicious as the meat in front of him after he had undergone his test.

After eating, they left behind the plates and went to their room. They shared one room between the two of them.

After lying in his bed, Keith wanted to know one more thing from Dillim. “Dillim, when can I start using mana or world energy?” He was still yearning for power, especially so after trying to hit Dillim today. He couldn’t touch him at all, resulting in him realizing how weak he was even more.

“Don’t get so anxious Keith, you’re only nine years old. Do you know why most people enroll in academies when they turn ten? Or why the Dominus princes’ test is held before they turn ten?” Dillim asked.

“…”

Seeing how Keith remained silent, Dillim chuckled and answered him, “It’s because children younger than twelve can’t absorb any energy yet. When you became six years old, your body automatically started to create a mana core and energy veins. They will only be completely formed when you are twelve years old. Before that age, you can’t absorb any energy at all, but you can strengthen their foundation. That stage is called the ‘cultivator’ stage. It lasts 2 years, from ten years old to twelve years old and it’s exactly the same for mages and warriors,” he explained. “When you become ten years old, your energy veins and mana core are not completely developed yet, but they should have grown enough to have them strengthened through various means. If someone were to do that already between the age of six and ten, then only detrimental effects would be left behind, because the energy veins and mana core would still be too weak to endure the strengthening methods.”

He then heard Keith ready another question for him, but before Keith could speak he spoke up. “The Royal Test is also held right before the heirs turn ten, because someone’s potential can be measured the most accurately in this period. That is because the higher the potential, the bigger the mana core and energy veins will have grown in the period from six to ten years and the more energy they will have absorbed. Even though it isn’t possible to consciously absorb energies until you become twelve, the mana core and energy veins still automatically absorb energy from the surroundings to grow. The energy absorbed can already be measured under dire circumstances, hence the nature of the test.” Dillim said. He then sternly looked at Keith and continued: “You will learn about the rest later, quickly go to sleep now. You will turn ten in two months, we’ll have arrived in Erelath before then.”

Keith swallowed what he was about to ask, and turned around inside his bed. He couldn’t help but grow excited when he thought about completely forming his mana core and energy veins.