My father was with us for another year but, he had to go back to his duty as the Village Guard after I turned four. It was nice spending some time with him, at least I now know he didn’t leave my mother willingly for her to do all the hard work; he didn’t have a choice if he wished to protect the village; I’m proud of my father and nothing was going to change that. I planned on doing some training as soon as possible but, I think the most reasonable age for that is when I turn five years old and when I’m actually able to hold a wooden sword; I’m going to see if I can persuade my dad to train me in swordsmanship and get some books - I’m sure they have some information about mana. Since I was now able to do most things by myself, I would occasionally help my mother clean up the house and try to make her life much easier; this was the least I could do for someone who cared about me so much, in fact unlike my other life, It was actually quite nice to do something with someone; it made me chuckle and smile to see my mother’s smile get brighter.
Another year flew by with me just helping my mother around the house and occasionally going on errands to sell the crops we grew in our farm; I was able to meet the villagers in the process and they seemed quite kind. None of them really stuck out as your unusual villager but, maybe that’s because I didn’t go everywhere within the village. I only had to sell the crops that was given to me by my mother and possibly get something I want but, I was trying to save as much money as possible; in the end my individual money amounted to a single silver coin. The currency system in this world is so basic and easy to understand: 100 Copper Coins à 1 Silver Coin and 100 Silver Coins à 1 Gold Coin. It’s my birthday and my father was once more allowed to leave his job to stay with us; this was something that made both me and my mother happy. I’ve grown so much over the few years, I wasn’t actually able to move by myself without being supervised until now, so I took the chance to look at myself in the mirror that is in my room upstairs; I’ve seemingly inherited both my mother and father’s looks in one place or another: a pale complexion comparable to snow itself; obsidian-black hair which is straight and goes up to my shoulders, a few hair strands coming down from the sides and hazel-brown eyes. I stand a little bit taller at 3’7, which is quite average if I say so but, my looks leave an excited grin on my face.
“ Happy birthday, Daren ! “ my parents said synchronized lifting their hands in the air, I put on another idiotic and childish grin on my face.
“ Thanks a lot mum and dad. “ trying to keep calm and composed; I would then go over to the kitchen table which had several various food laid down and prepared; they looked so delicious that it made my mouth-water but, I shook my head glaring back at my parents who were now smiling and looking down at me. Running towards them; they both went down to my height and caught me, they were hugging me so tight that I thought they would squeeze all the air out of me. My mother used her right-hand to push my hair back and kiss my forehead which is quite embarrassing and made me blush.
They held me tightly and as my father told me : “ I’m proud of you, Daren. You’re the pride and joy of the Lancaster family. “ his masculinity deeply ingrained within his voice albeit a hint of sorrow could be heard in his voice. Looking up at him, I would give him a faint smile before saying: “ Dad there is something I want to talk to you about… I wanted to erm, learn Swordsmanship like you! I’m going to become big and strong to protect you and mommy.” Once more, he looked shocked as he began to chuckle before removing his arms from my mother and myself then he stood up. Looking down with a smug grin on his face as I thought to myself: “ Oh God, this doesn’t look right! “
He then sat on a chair whilst staring at me as he put his right hand’s index finger and thumb on his chin, he began to rub his chin as if massaging it. Probably thinking about the pros and cons right? He would then get up and stroll towards me before saying: “ Alright, you can train swordsmanship with me for a year until, I have to go back to my duties. I am not going to go easy on you; I’m going to train you like I do with the guards and you’ll be training every single day with minimal breaks. “ I stare at him with a dumbfound expression as I thought to myself: “ I would think he would go a little easier on his child and he has this ecstatic expression on his face like his prepared to show me hell! This isn’t normal! But… That is exactly what I was looking forward too, I have to become stronger. I finally get to test out some abilities. “ My dumbfound expression steadily changed into a small grin with my lips curving upwards.
On that day, we had so much fun as my mother and father shared many of their stories with me; to my surprise (or not) my father was actually an adventurer at one point who met my mother, who has healing magic. They partied together and plundered through several, various dungeons, with their friends but, unfortunately they died in combat leaving my mother and father by themselves. After, bonding for months they started to notice their feelings for each other and that’s how they got married; within one year of their marriage they decided to have a child which is me. It was quite interesting and they told me that being an adventurer isn’t something that’s easy or necessarily fun; you have to train hard and become wise through your journeys if you want to survive because, only the strongest survive. Other than that, my father and mother took me out to buy me some training clothes which were just leather clothing and a wooden sword which fit my hands perfectly. Apparently, they were getting ready to get me one regardless of whether I asked today or not so, it was just perfect. When we got home, I was ecstatic and excited for tomorrow where my training will begin but, I knew that I needed a good rest to regain as much energy as physically possible, so I went to sleep to have an early night.
I woke up to my father who was standing in the same standard training equipment that I was going to wear; he had a faint smile on his face as he leaned back on the door. I stood up straight away as my lips curled up again and I mentally prepared myself whilst changing into my equipment. Grabbing the wooden sword that was placed in its respective sheathe tying it to my side before following my father. In all truth, I am a tad bit nervous because, I’ve never held a sword for me to even know how to swing it properly but, I knew if I could activate my eye technique I maybe stood a chance.
We arrived at the courtyard which had several dummies placed at the top with a grassy field which was supposedly for sparring, I’m assuming. My father unsheathed his wooden-sword as he then said to me: “ Boy, you would want to prepare yourself. I’m going to show you how to co-ordinate your body and how to swing a sword. I’ll then proceed to teach you how to move when you are thrusting and slashing horizontally, vertically or diagonally and then we will finish off with how to counter attacks from their respective directions. We are going to take it slow today but, by no means does that mean you should take it easy. If I see you slacking off or not trying your hardest, I’m going to smack you with my wooden sword so be aware. “ his tone retaining it’s masculinity yet, all the immaturity or childishness that I’ve heard in his voice prior was gone and he was being serious. I gulped as I inhaled deeply before exhaling; following him towards the dummies.
“ Boy, this is how you lunge and position your body when you want to do it. “ before, he could possibly show the demonstration I prayed to myself this worked as I widened my eyes and shouted in my head “ Activate【Eyes of God】” praying that it would work; I suddenly felt my optic nerves have a burning session, as my stomach had a tugging sensation like a vacuum was pulling something out; it was a weird sensation as my eye's magic-circle started to respond according to the sensation, becoming more opaque and my eyes that were once hazel-brown are now sanguine-red and the funniest thing about it, was the experience happened in a mere second. I now observed my father’s posture as I felt my analytical, observation and comprehension abilities were enhanced tenfold. My father pushed his right-leg backwards, tilting his body forward and bringing his wooden sword to his side with both of his hand gripping the blade for maximum thrusting capability as he lunged at the dummy. Luckily for me this happened in less than three seconds and I instantly deactivated【Eyes of God】because of the immense drain it had on me.
I was hyperventilating because, I haven’t felt such weariness since, I was dying. I clutched my stomach as I felt that my ‘mana’ was being pulled from there; it was strange but, a tingling sensation. The phantom feeling was still there and it made one side of my lips curve up into a smirk. Suddenly, I gained a notification…
Knowledge Acquired: “ Stance and Technique for Thrusting “
Through the activation of “ Eyes of God “ you were capable of observing the proper stance and technique for thrusting; you are now capable of mimicking the technique without thinking too much as if second nature to you.
This was too awesome; I now had another childish and idiotic grin on my face as I drifted off in my own world thinking: “ If I’m capable of analysing everything, I’ll become the most powerful person! Hahaha, I am just too lucky! “ the thing that brought me back to reality was a smack on the head from a wooden sword as I glared upwards to see my dad looking down at me with a smirk on his face, spinning his wooden sword around with a single hand; I clutch the back of my head “ Ouch, Dad that hurts you know… “
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Vitality + 1
Through damaging your body, you was able to increase your body’s vitality therefore making it much firmer and stronger than before.
Wow… Did my dexterity just raise from getting hit? Is the world trying to turn me into a masochist; but maybe this is why my dad does this as punishment to make my body sturdier instead of just giving me a warning but, I would prefer to avoid something like that because, if I get hit too many times I might just lose consciousness. My father cleared his throat as he said : “ Now try to replicate the same motion and stance I just showed you. “ This made me grin because, I knew I could do it but, I had to make sure to keep calm and take this training serious because, I refuse to repeat the same mistakes I made in my previous life, I've been given another chance and I'm going to use it to the fullest extent.
Walking towards the dummy, I unsheathe my wooden sword holding it in front of me; my legs together and the sword clasped in my hands but, I noticed that it was heavy and the toll on my arms were shocking. Although, I may know how to use the sword but if it’s too heavy for me what’s the point of knowing how to use it, when you are just going to get fatigued from swinging it once. I knew now that no matter what I should never neglect training in anything whether it be magic, cooking, blacksmithing or swordsmanship, I must put my all into it. I closed my eyes as I went over the knowledge that my eye technique allowed me to obtain; pushing my right foot backwards, I would tilt my body clasping the wooden sword near my waist as I lunged at the dummy. My father had a proud grin on his face, “ Good, now I want you to repeat that 100 times; I don’t care if your arms feel like they are going to drop… You are going to do it and you’re going to engrave that movement into your body. We did have an early start, did we not? “ I opened my mouth in shock and nearly lost my grip on my weapon but, I realised quickly what would happen if I did drop it; holding it even tighter than before, I really don’t want to get hit but, 100 times?
He is my father and teacher, so I have no choice to listen to him; I close my mouth and press them into a hard thin-line, narrowing my eyes as I inhaled deeply trying to gain as much oxygen as possible before, performing what my father had told me. Lunging at the dummy non-stop made my breathing rough and sweat started forming on my forehead running down from my cheeks; the pain was nearly unbearable but I had to resist the urge to give up and continue moving forward. I did not get any notification telling me that my strength had increased which shocked me but, I guess it would be too easy to be strong if that was the case wouldn’t it?
My father and I continued training from the morning until the evening, the sun had set and we had already gone through all the different types of attacking methods (including countering); it was extremely exhausting especially since I had to use【Eyes of God】to mimic my father which I just barely made with my minuscule mana pool; then I had to practice each individual method except countering, which my father said he would do with me tomorrow in a miniature sparring match. Due to me using most of my mana and stamina - especially not being use to the feeling of pushing my mind and body to the limits, I was incomprehensibly fatigued and collapsed after my long day training. My father picked me up and carried me on his back with our wooden swords in his right-hand, carrying me home.
Throughout my training I ignored the notifications because, I wanted to focus and concentrate at the task at hand. *Ttring*
The sound of the notifications were now coming in as I began to read through them; I had nothing better to do since I currently couldn’t even move my body.
Knowledge Acquired: “ Stance and Technique for Slashing “
Through the activation of “ Eyes of God “ you were capable of observing the proper stance and technique for slashing vertically, horizontally and diagonally; you are now capable of mimicking the technique without thinking too much as if second nature to you.
Knowledge Acquired: “ Stance and Technique for Countering “
Through the activation of “ Eyes of God “ you were capable of observing the proper stance and technique for countering; you are now capable of mimicking the technique without thinking too much as if second nature to you.
(Although countering is dependent on several variables and can not be determined just on your skill to counter but, also determined on real battle experience and insight in the battle.)
Strength + 2
Through constant practice and straining your body to the very limits; you were able to increase your body’s physical strength and can now deal stronger blows and equip heavier swords than before ergo, decreasing the fatigue on using swords that you were able to use prior.
-Status-
[quart=Name, Title]Daran, None[/quart]
[quart=Level, Class]1, None[/quart]
[quart=Health Points, Mana]100, 200[/quart]
[quart=HP Regeneration, Mana Regeneration]0.1/s, 0.2/s[/quart]
[quart=Strength, Agility]3, 1[/quart]
[quart=Vitality, Dexterity]1, 2[/quart]
[quart=Intelligence, Wisdom]10, 10[/quart]
[quart=Stat Points, ]0, [/quart]