A/N: Surprise second release.

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(1696 Meters = 1 league)

        Mato woke up in the early than the sun and walked to his mirror, he looked at himself and saw himself and thought to himself of his youth. The days he spend adventuring as a successful adventurer. He had money, fame and even a small noble position in the eastern Kingdom of Lerk. Yet none of that made him happy, in the last twenty years of his life he’d found something that made him content with life.

After the short reflection on life he went to the training area and began assembling the equipment that they would use in the training. How many years had it been since he’d trained a sword trainee? He’d forgotten as it had nearly been ten years since he’d stopped accepting them. As the sun had slowly begun to rise he finally managed to get the old trainee equipment out of the back of the storage area. Behind him he could see the sun peaking at him now signaling time to wake up his new disciple.

        Walking through his home he felt a twinge of sadness as he remembered the students that came before Kaiden, his twelve disciples who under Mountain law had to spend three weeks in the forest clearing and culling it of monsters, there were always casualties. The risks of death always were outweighed by the risks of what would happen if the monster population spiraled out of control.

        Nearing Kaiden’s door he prepped himself and started slowly releasing small amounts of killing intent into the room.

        ‘If the boy has any talent then he should be able to feel killing intent’ Mato thought.

        Almost immediately inside the room he could hear Kaiden fall off the bed. Mato smiled as he opened the door and inside Kaiden stood with his back against the wall sweating and breathing heavily with a look of terror in his eyes. Mato was now not a friend but now a master, his face expressionless.

        “From now on, you will be up at dawn and will be at the training ground at this time, failure to do so will equate to you receiving that every morning until you do so. Understood?”, Mato asked.

        Kaiden couldn’t use his voice so just nodded his head furiously.

        “Good, you have five minutes to meet me at the courtyard. Hurry and get ready.” Mato told him. He then walked away from the room having got his point across.

---10 Minutes Earlier---

        Kaiden was sleeping peacefully in his small bed, although not super comfortable it was mildly soft enough to let him sleep soundly. As he laid there soundly he immediately started feeling uncomfortable and panic started setting in. Kaiden woke up with fear as he looked to his door and he felt panic, never before had be been so terrified. Kaiden jumped off the bed and backed himself into the wall. Normally he would have tried to escape as he was taught but this wasn’t something he could escape from.

        The door slid open and out side was Mato with no expression. He told kaiden what every morning would be like. the words ‘failure to do so will equate to you receiving that every morning until you do so’ stuck in his mind. Kaiden then began changing his clothes seeing how in less than a minute they were drenched in sweat.

-- Back to Now ---

        Mato stood in the center of the training field, to his left were the weapons while to his right was the armor. today would be the dar kaiden would begin training his strength, agility, and stamina. All of which were essential in cultivating the growth of any swordsman until the bottleneck of their race. The armor and weapons gathered were needlessly overweight as to build stamina and strength. The weapons were also professionally balanced in their production in to teach proper balance and dexterity on different weapons. All of which were crucial to a great swordsman.

        Kaiden came out from the hall and entered the training ground. He hurriedly ran over in front and stood in front of Mato.

        “Finally! Hurry up! Now what we are about to discuss will be part of you for the rest of your life. What we are going to do is extremely important to your future and that is decide your style and in turn decide your weapon and armor. I know you are already impartial to the sword so I have only brought out swords here. As for armor we will see.” Mato explained.

        Kaiden stood there as Mato gestured to a sword of Kaiden’s  size, there were two-handed, one-handed, short, long, and even weirdly shaped swords.

        “These swords are the most common throughout all the worlds, from the Demon world, Beast world and of course our world. Which sword have you used the most?” Mato asked.

        “The long sword and the short sword.” Kaiden responded.

        “I see, also from now on you will refer to me as master or else you will endure ten seconds of what you felt earlier. Understood?” Mato said seriously.

        “Understood, Master!” Kaiden said hurriedly, fearing that dreadful feeling.

        “Very good, for now use the longsword. Next before you can select your armor, explain to me the differences in each armor.” Mato said.

        “There are three categories of armor; heavy armor, half-armor and, light armor. Heavy armor is using armor to cover up most of the vital areas to protect yourself. the disadvantages are though of course mobility.” Kaiden explained.

        “Very good, now what weapons do most Heavy Armor users wield?” Mato asked.

        Kaiden didn’t know the answer to that, this was due to the fact this was more of a military study. “I don’t know, sir” Kaiden responded.

        “I see, continue with half-armor now.” Mato instructed.

        “Half-armor is using a combination of Heavy armor and light armor, using some metal armor in combination with leather or hide in light armor. This type of armor is good for a balance in mobility and in protection but lacks both at the same time.” Kaiden said.

        “Good you have a small understanding of armor, but your knowledge is lacking but that can’t be helped given your age.Now have you ever worn armor before?” Mato asked.

        “No master, not completely. In Setat we only some head gear and held shields in class.” Kaiden responded.

        “Setat? No wonder you haven’t worn armor. The [West Storm Kingdom] doesn’t train at school only military camps, which is why if war comes their citizens will become sheep. Know this Kaiden, in every kingdom bordering the forest, every man has worn full plate armor for at least three years and is a capable military force.”

        Kaiden couldn’t believe his ears! Full Armor for three years? That was equivalent to doing one full term of service! That meant every man was a veteran! the shock in his eyes made Mato chuckle.

        “Enough of that, now as to what armor means to you, now. I assume if you’re from Setat then you’ve learned the Iron-Sword and the Water-Sword styles, correct?” Mato asked.

        “Yes, Master.”

        “Good, I myself am a Water-Sword Style Dragon but this is not the style you will be learning.” Mato smiled devilishly.

        “Then I will be learning Iron-Sword? Master?” Kaiden asked.

        “Yes, you will be learning Iron-Sword but also my Water-Sword. I am also a master of Iron-Sword style. That means you will be my first complete disciple, from today forward  you will learn to master the two styles and in time your will become the first dual dragon!” Mato laughed with a wildness in his eyes.

        Kaiden was now starting to feel uneasy, becoming a dragon of one style was hard enough but two? Out of a hundred thousand people maybe one hundred could become dragons while twenty thousand could become fifth or sixth rank master swordsmen. Kaiden now began having a sad feeling as for his future.

        “Now you will choose between the half-armor and the full armor, light armor is not for us!” Mato said as he took the light armor and flung it off the courtyard.

        Kaiden immediately moved towards the half-armor but had a revelation. mastering the water-sword style would make him incredibly fast,while the iron sword style would make him more more balanced. Half-armor wouldn’t be good if he learned Iron-Sword style due to the positions and forms being more suited for Full-armor. While Water-Sword style and half-armor were a good pair it would not work if he was to use the Iron-Sword style. There was no right answer to this problem and selecting this armor would select his dominant style.

        ‘Looks like he noticed, picking armor would reflect the dominant style.” Mato smiled.

        Kaiden stood there, not knowing what to do, his mind was trying to find excuses until an idea dawned on him.

        “Master, is it possible to have a different type of armor?”

        Mato stood there some what surprised, the question of a new type of armor was the answer that took him several years of practice to figure out.

        “What kind of different armor?” Mato asked secretly praising the boys genius for solving this issue.

        “Is there some way to have the coverage of heavy armor but still maintain the balance of Half-Armor? Like having thinner armor to reduce weight to make it more easy to use Water-Sword and Iron-Sword styles? Or something? Master?”

        Mato couldn't help himself from smiling.

        ‘This boy will be great, so long as he survives.’ Mato said to himself.

        “Your answer is correct modifying armor to your needs can certainly be done but until then wear the full armor for training.” Mato instructed.

        “Yes, Master”, Kaiden said as he screamed at himself inside. Slowly he put on the leg greaves, chestplate, arm guards, bracers, shoulder plates and finally his helmet. Kaiden was fine wearing the armor for about five seconds until he noticed something was off. Normally wearing full armor could weigh as much as fifteen kilos but this seemed to weigh thirty!

        “Master, is it me or does this armor weigh a bit much?” Kaiden asked.

        “Nonsense! That is normal full-armor for one your age.” Mato said brushing aside Kaiden’s concerns while secretly sneering.

        ‘Oh my, he is sharp. shaping him is going to be a lot of fun.” Mato thought to himself.

        “Now follow me, were going to a run.” Mato said as he started jogging out of the training grounds and through the surrounding area. Kaiden after ten steps was already straining from the weight of the armor.

        They ran for almost ten minutes at a slow pace until Mato suddenly said, “Ok now that our warm up is done were going to bring it up a notch.”

        “Wait wha?” Kaiden asked with a tired expression but it was too late Mato was already five body lengths ahead of him.

        “If you don’t keep up, there will be consequences!” Mato yelled from ahead.

        Kaiden was starting to fall behind and did a small prayer.

        ‘Leo! If you still have gravity on me I will kick your ass!” Kaiden said as he panted. Suddenly his body felt lighter but not as much as he’d hoped.

        In his mind he heard Leo tell him, “That’s it, the Gravity is off and i have to say Krieg is watching you from here and it's weird. He’s smiling but anyway gravity is no longer casted but I only restricted you slightly so don’t hope for super stamina. See ya, I got work to do.”

        Slowly Kaiden was catching up to Mato but he could tell that to his Master this was nothing more than a stroll across the mountains. In total they ran for about twenty minutes but had only traveled a distance of a league when normally people could run three or four leagues before the fatigue that Kaiden was feeling. Slowly they returned to the home and Mato grabbed a drink of water from his well. Kaiden felt his legs going numb and his heart beating out of his chest.

        “Still alive Kaiden?” Mato asked smugly.

        “Kind…..Of…….Master.” Kaiden panted.

        “Good, from now on every day at the beginning and at the end of every training you will run that once while in full-armor. Now come with me to the courtyard we will begin your sword basics.”  Mato said as he led the way.

        ‘Yes…. Master” Kaiden said as he dragged his feet behind his master.

        Walking from the entrance of the home where the well was to the courtyard behind the house gave Kaiden some time to recover his strength although not much. Reaching the courtyard Kaiden could see Q’talo waiting to them.

        “Is it ready?” Mato asked.

        “Yes it is, when you’re ready I will activate it.” Q’talo said with a smile.

        “Wonderful.” Mato said as they reached the center of the courtyard. Kaiden could see Mato let out a devilish smirk before hiding it away.

        Kaiden stood there slightly worried before a thought crossed his mind.

        ‘If Master Mato’s training of the sword will make me physically exhausted then what will Master Q’talo do to me?’ Kaiden thought.

        “Now Kaiden we will review the basic form and theory of the Water-sword style. What is the first form?” Mato asked

        Kaiden shifted his balance towards his back as he explained, “the first form of water is [Formless], when a blade slashes water the water doesn’t resist the blade, the water just lets it by.”

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        “Wonderful, so today that is what you will be doing. You will be avoiding all attacks by this.” Mato said as Q’talo pulled an orb out of his robe.

        “This is a new invention, it will float and move at high speeds and fly at you to simulate an opponent's attacks.” Q’talo said as the orb suddenly flew at Kaiden.

        With barely a second of notice Kaiden was hit in the chest but luckily his armor had just saved him. From the impact of the orb it made him lose his breath as Mato chuckled.

        “I told you to avoid it, for today we will do ten minutes. Good Luck Kaiden.” Mato said as he went inside.

        Q’talo let the orb loose and watched from the side lines as Kaiden started running around frantically trying to avoid getting hit. However due to the run earlier it had exhausted him as his stamina ran out quickly and was having difficulty with dodging. The orb was constantly attacking him forcing him to focus his attention on it. The next ten minutes were difficult to say the least as Kaiden only managed to dodge one or two of every five attacks. At the end of it his body felt black and blue probably because it was.

        Mato came back out and saw Kaiden in such a sad state smiled.

        “How many could he dodge?” Mato asked Q’talo.

        “About one in three.” Q’talo said with a yawn. Watching Kaiden bored him since he wasn’t controlling the orb and had left it on a predicted pattern. Only Kaiden had failed to notice the pattern so he wasted energy jumping and let himself be hurt more than necessary.

        “Now go run!” Mato yelled as Kaiden got up and complained.

        “Master, Can I take a break before I go?”

        “Two Laps now.” Mato said with a stone gaze.

        “Eep! Sorry master I’ll go now!” Kaiden said as he ran for the door to continue his run.

        As Kaiden disappeared out the door Mato sighed which Q’talo noticed.

        “What is it?” Q’talo asked.

        “I was hoping his battle sense would be as good as his wit but I guess you can’t have it all.” Mato said.

        “Well that's why you’re his master.” Q’talo responded sarcastically.

        “True enough, I will prepare breakfast.” Mato said.

        “Sure, I have potions to brew and materials to procure.”  Q’talo said.

        The two went their separate ways in order to prepare for their student. Mato prepared a hearty meal with a mix of decoctions of herbs for improving stamina and strength.  While Q’talo prepared the tools that would be used for Kaiden’s magic lessons. In about an hour they were finished yet Kaiden had still not arrived from his second lap. Mato was beginning to worry as to what could be keeping his student but as he was about to head out Kaiden had finally reached the entrance of the house with little to no breath left.

        “About time!” Mato said.

        “Sorry Master!” Kaiden apologetically until he smelled food. Kaiden’s spirits immediately shot up.

        “Hurry let’s eat. The food will be cold if we don't eat soon.” Mato said as he led them into the dining area.

        As Mato opened the door they could see Q’talo had already started eating and looked up with a look of shamelessness. Mato just sighed and moved to sit down and eat followed by Kaiden. They ate in silence as Kaiden was most likely too tired to chew let alone speak. After they finished Mato dragged Kaiden to the courtyard again.

“Now then you will begin physical exercise, there is a sword on the left side of the storage area, bring it to the center and wait for me.” Mato instructed as he left out of the house area.

“Yes, Master.”

Kaiden saw the sword and waited for his master. As he waited for Mato to return he examined the sword. It was a heavy sword but not made for cutting purposes but more for just the sake of being heavy. As Kaiden was trying to lift the sword with his one hand, he found he was simply too weak so he had to settle with using two hands to grip it or use one hand to drag it along.

Suddenly there was a crash in front of him, behind him a boulder had flown over his head. Kaiden fell over from the sudden boulder appearing in front of him, its size was comparable to a small man of one meter.

"Next time Kaiden, stand in the EXACT center and you won't have that issue." Kaiden heard behind him. Mato was standing there with a scowl on his face.

"Yes master. I'll remember that next time." Kaiden said as he got himself off the ground and brushing the dust off him.

“Good now, Your next training is strength or more particular your upper body strength. Using that sword i want you to swing that sword on this stone until it has fallen apart. I guess it will take you a few hours. Also no breaks for longer than three minutes!” Mato said as he walked off and stood behind him.

Kaiden was running out of words to use as he was too exhausted to speak or think. He just lifted the sword and began striking the huge ‘stone’ in front of him. Using his strength he launched a vertical slash down on to it only to have the sword bounce off and vibrate in his arms. The vibrations reverberated throughout his arm then through his entire body until finally his entire feet.

“Try again, this time take a proper stance!” Mato told him from behind sounding unhappy.

“Yes Master!” Kaiden responded, following his masters stance he took a proper stance from the water style and struck again. This time the recoil vibrations were less and on the boulder he could see the sword had made it through the boulder only a few millimeters. The cutting through of the boulder could barely be called a scratch but it was a start. looking behind him he saw his master smile and wasn’t sure if what he did was right or not.

“Good now continue, I want this stone to be able to fit in my hand by supper.” Mato said before he walked off.

Kaiden looked back at the giant boulder in front of him only to sigh.

‘This is going to take forever.” Kaiden thought to himself.

Seven hours later the boulder that was in front of him was finally a bunch of rubble. Kaidens arms felt so heavy that they couldn’t lift them up at all. The fatigue if swinging a heavy sword constantly for the last several hours combined with the recoiling shockwaves each time make his arms hurt.

Finally finishing he called out to his master only to have his master give a disappointing look.

“Time to eat” He said.

Kaiden just followed his master and sat down and was about to begin stuffing his face until he was smacked behind his head.

“We may be warriors but we are ‘civilized’ warriors, mind your etiquette.” Mato said.

Kaiden Grudgingly nodded his head and ate slowly, chewed properly, and stayed clean as opposed to how badly he wanted to stuff his face. The food brought back some of his strength but in the end could not fully recover his strength. Kaiden had had enough for today and was ready to head off to bed. as he got up and head to his room on the south side Mato stopped him as he reached the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Mato asked.

“Uhmm to my room, Master. Isn’t today’s training over?” Kaiden asked back.

“Yes, but you haven’t completed your last run of the day. Finish that and come back, only one lap this time.” Mato said nonchalantly.

Kaiden’s good mood was just foiled by his master, having to run one more lap when it was already sundown was scary. Although he had no choice to complete his running he was beginning to hate his master. He walked out the other side of the door and began running his last lap of the day.

Inside the dining hall where Q’talo and Mato were still sitting finishing their meal. Q’talo slid something to Mato and smiled.

“What is this?”

“A new idea. Before we had this idea to make Kaiden into a Mystic swordsman, Magic Knight, or a Paladin even, but watching him train and analysing what he can do with magic A new idea came to me.”

“Oh? What kind of new idea?” Mato asked curiously.

“Let us make something never seen before, something that will shape the world, something that will make the history books remember for all of time. Let us make the first [Full Elemental Swordsman].”

“[Full Elemental Swordsman]? What do you mean by Full?” Mato asked curiously.

“I’m glad you asked, originally i wanted to teach him some earth magic and how to control his mana but then it dawned to me. If I can teach him the [Formation of Elements Theory] then with his arcane mana he could create any magic spell just by thinking of it. allowing him to have no opposing element in combat. What do you think?” Q’talo asked.

Mato sat there silently, thinking about what Q’talo was offering. To help train someone who could become legendary, the idea certainly appealed to him but there was a major issue in that.

“What if he became evil, if we trained him to be so powerful and in the end we weren’t able to stop him then any blood spilt by his hands would be on our hands as well. How can we grant so much power to one so young without knowing his future.” Mato asked seriously.

In the history of the Mountain, there have been those who became evil, or ended up being evil all along. through in the end it was the Dragon of the Mountain who dealt with the evil that they produced, although some sometimes got away.

“I already have a solution to that. In a few years Kaiden must undergo a Ritual of sorts to determine his purity of soul. We can use that to determine if he is worthy of our lessons.”, Q’talo offered.

“Why you need the purity of his soul is beyond me but what if he escapes? With our training a few years and he will become deadly. Although there is a slim chance there is still a possibility he could escape us. What then?” Mato said concerned.

Q’talo just smiled, “He can’t escape, nobody ever escapes a [Soul Contract].”

“[Soul contract]? Why do you have a soul contract with him?” Mato asked with a hint of concern.

“Simple, with that much power people’s hearts can become tainted with evil easily but the soul? The soul take true darkness to corrupt, people like [Iskall the Slaughterer], [Phenio the Crucifier], and [Mar the Blood Cat]. I have peaked into their souls and have found them black.” Q’talo said with a stern voice.

Mato sat there and thought about those names, people throughout history who became mass murderers, bandits, or assassins. All who had their names written down in infamy ever since. Men that anyone could agree had the blackest souls you could ever find.

“OK. We will train him in the methods of the [Full Elemental Swordsman] but not until he’s mastered the basics of both iron and water styles, as well as passing as a full first rank mage.” Mato said sternly.

“Hmm OK we have a deal.”

“When does he begin Mage training. I would like to look for more recruits and maybe find more sword trainees.”

“More sword trainees? Why sword trainees? I thought you were only interested in creating ‘dragons’.” Q’talo jested

“Well lets say training Kaiden today has given me a bigger outlook at this tree we call life. Everyone needs good roots and the idea of training children again has got me thinking. I want to train the next generation of warriors. Not select special men who have made it this far. But that can wait until next year.” Mato said with a hint of pride.

“Well thats true but teaching takes so much time. I’d rather eat drink and play, all while killing the forces of evil if i might.” Q’talo joked.

“Oh I miss those days. Hahaha” Mato laughed as well.

“Yes the good old days.” Q’talo sighed as he thought about his history with Wraithas.

“Oh yes so mage training for Kaiden?” Mato asked.

“Oh well i’m almost done creating a catalyst for him. I need maybe another week?” Q’talo said.

“Good so were on schedule, next week you will take his training week.” Mato checked with Q’talo.

“Yes, assuming his growth doesn’t exceed our expectations.” Q’talo responded.

“Well physically he won’t be exceeding my predictions, but as for his [Warrior’s Spirit]. I can’t tell, he has a lot of willpower and doesn’t complain he just focuses of the task at hand. Admirable for one at his age.” Mato praised.

“Then we'll adjust the plan if need be. That's enough for today I will prepare the herbal hot spring for Kaiden." Q'talo said as he got up from the table and walked to the back of the home.

Mato just nodded and began cleaning up until he thought to about what Q'talo had just said.

'Hot spring?' Mato realized.

Suddenly the silence of the house was shattered as he heard the sound of earth being separated. Mato rushed out the house to try and stop Q'talo from destroying his house. However by the time he reached the back of the house he'd been too late. Q'talo had already split the earth and created a large hole.

This hole was large and had some granite mixed into it at its base.

"Q'talo!!!" Mato roared.

Q'talo looked up from his work and just said, "What?"