The sunlight shone through the window in my room hitting my eyes, I woke up feeling refreshed almost like having a new body. Last night I could still feel some discomfort coming from my abdomen where my core now sat, however, today upon waking up I felt nothing different. Unless I focused on it, I could not feel anything amiss with my body.
It was still fairly early, to wake myself up I sat down on my bed yet again and completed a few circulations of the basic cultivation technique that Silas had taught me. I closed my eyes to shut off my sense of vision so I could deeply concentrate on the mana particles I could feel.
I visualized the ambient mana around me, focusing on the energy within the mana, feeling it, and understanding how it was flowing. With each breath, I felt the cool and pleasant energy seep into my abdomen where I would integrate it into my core. This sensation was intoxicating as I could slowly feel my core grow in power and I knew that over time I would naturally reach the next stage in my cultivation.
After a few rounds of circulating, I went to the bathroom and washed up my face before running to the courtyard next to the manor. Uncle Darius was already there going through drills with his team of guards, being the leader he was naturally an integration stage mage whereas the team of guards ranged from acolytes of the saturation stage to the early crystallization stage. Uncle Darius’s face was stern and you could see the wrinkles on his forehead, he was soon to be forty-five yet was far from leaving his prime behind.
“Kane! Grab a sword and get in line. Not one of those wooden ones today.” I quickly ran to the sword rack and picked out a suitable sword for my height. Compared to the usual sword I would pick out this was much heavier and I needed way more focus to hold it straight in my hands.
When I got in line I noticed that the few crystallization stage acolytes would look at me differently and even the others with lesser constitutions might have snuck a few glances at me with their mana.
For about an hour we practiced our swings, we went through the different directions we could attack from along with the techniques to maximize the lethality of our strikes. After this, we would go on sparring, as I had just passed the formation stage I didn’t have anyone to spar with me still so Uncle Darius would join me and not hold back against me as usual.
My task was to try and land my sword on Uncle Darius, this was not easy as he never went easy on me. I would swing with all my might each attempt and get parried, I was not to stop trying to land an attack until Uncle would let me know that the current round was over. With the metal sword, I could feel that my attacks were slightly slower and less precise. If my attack was not up to standard then Uncle would let me know by letting out an attack of his own which I was forced to parry and reset my stance.
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After a few rounds, I was sitting on the floor and panting due to exhaustion. A layer of sweat was built up on my forehead and my training clothes had a damp feeling to them. “Everyone, line up!” Uncle Darius got everyone's attention and we all quickly lined up next to each other in the middle of the courtyard.
“We will be setting out to patrol the forest in fifteen minutes. Take a quick break, prepare your gear, and meet at the gate of the manor. Kane, you will be joining us starting today.” My eyes lit up after hearing what Uncle Darius had just let everyone know. I have only left the manor to attend my lectures at the local school for nobles and even then I was never allowed to leave the carriage during that journey.
“Kane, follow me.” Uncle started walking towards the guard house so I quickly went behind him and followed him with excitement while I still held onto my sword. We had walked into a room where there were metal armors held by racks and greatswords hung next to them. We walked a bit further where there was a pile of leather armor piled on top of each other and Uncle sorted through them quickly.
“Here, try this one. It should hopefully fit.” I got thrown one of the pale brown armors which had a few marks and scratches which showed it was used in a battle before. I quickly put down my sword, put the armor over my training clothes, and used the straps on the side to tighten it and make it fit my body where it was tight enough that it wouldn’t impede any of my movements.
The leather armor would stop basic slashes and scratches but it would only dull certain bites and heavy attacks to a certain extent. It was perfect for a more agile fighter who could dodge attacks or someone fighting basic monsters such as goblins or imps. In the Willowing Woods, it was a fairly common sight to see goblins, within the woods was a dungeon in which a higher-level monster, the Goblin King, had made his grounds, this was a great source of gold for adventurers and the noble families around it.
“From now on, this armor will be yours. You might want to get one of the maids to clean it. Along with that sword, you are to take care of these items and never lose them if you don’t want me to make you work for new ones. That sword is to stay with you at all times.”
“Thank you, Uncle, I’ll take care of this!” I picked up the sword and put it into the sheath which came on the side of the leather armor. Despite my height, I looked formidable. I thought that if I were to run into any monsters I would be able to deal with anything, coupled with my enhanced sense of mana I was ready to set out with the other guards on an expedition!