The sun had just risen on the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink, while the fresh morning breeze brushed against the damp grass. In the middle of the forest, far from the curious eyes of the village, two figures stood facing each other.
Ronald stood tall, holding a wooden sword in his hand, his gaze stern as he watched Kael take a guarded stance.
"We'll start with something simple. Your job is to dodge every attack. Ready?"
Kael nodded, gritting his teeth as he tried to contain the energy boiling inside him.
Ronald didn't waste time. The first strike came from the left, quick as a whip. Kael sidestepped just in time, feeling the air slice past his face. But he lost control and stumbled slightly to the side.
Ronald didn't miss the opening, his next strike landed on Kael's side, making him bend over in pain.
"Right now, your body is like a stormy sea. You need to learn to control it. Remember, you're the one in charge."
"You… make it sound easy," Kael groaned.
"It's not," Ronald replied flatly.
Without warning, Ronald lunged forward. Kael took a step back, then another, trying to avoid a fast horizontal strike.
"!"
The next attack came instantly, and by instinct, Kael crossed his arms in front of his chest, blocking Ronald's kick. Strangely, he didn't feel any pain.
"Oh?" Ronald raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You just moved your mana, you know?"
"Kind of…"
Just before the hit, Kael had felt his arms become tougher, though he wasn't quite sure how he did it.
"It's a good start, but we're not done yet."
Ronald rushed forward again, his wooden weapon slicing through the air toward Kael's shoulder. Kael ducked, letting the strike pass overhead. He looked up just in time to see Ronald's foot rise for a spinning kick.
'Too fast!'
Or maybe not. The world seemed to slow down for a brief moment. Kael spun backward in a smooth motion, narrowly dodging the kick and landing in a controlled slide on the grass.
"Better," Ronald commented, already preparing another lightning, fast thrust.
"Let it flow, but be the one who decides where it goes."
Another strike.
Kael tried to dodge, focusing on moving the mana into his legs, but it didn't work. His foot sank into the soil, stopping him, and he took Ronald's blow to the face head, on.
"That's enough for now," Ronald said.
His words came as a relief to Kael, who collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, drenched in sweat, and still clutching his aching nose.
The training had gone on for hours, and for the first day, Ronald was more than satisfied. Kael had shown surprising talent, even managing to circulate a decent amount of mana, though raw and unstable. But everyone had to start somewhere, right?
"You did well," Ronald said with a faint smile.
Kael didn't seem to agree.
"Rolling on the ground and getting beat up, maybe."
Ronald chuckled. "If you'd been able to keep up with me already, I would've had a heart attack. Growth takes time. In terms of mana alone, you're already ahead of any boy your age. Now you just have to learn how to control it."
Kael nodded in understanding.
"By the way, how long are we staying in this forest?"
"I'd say at least a week."
"Really?" Kael asked, surprised.
The truth was, they'd left early that morning without telling anyone, and Kael feared the others might be worried about them.
"We don't have a choice. First, you need to learn to control yourself."
"True," Kael agreed.
"Second, I have no idea how to explain your new appearance."
"…Also true."
Both sighed.
When Kael saw his reflection for the first time, his mouth nearly hit the ground.
"But don't we have a bigger problem, like the fact I reached the Higher Novice stage overnight?"
Kael's concern was valid, but Ronald didn't seem too troubled by it.
"I've got a solution for that. But for now, let's move on to the next topic, what you learned from the book."
At the mention of it, Kael grew excited.
"Right. For now, I can access two martial arts techniques that use a sword, and two footwork techniques that go with them. At first, they seem separate, but once I improve in both, they'll complement each other perfectly."
"That's... actually pretty impressive," Ronald said, surprised.
Martial arts books, spell scrolls, and similar manuals weren't easy to come by. Most were held by noble houses or powerful associations. There were exceptions, of course, some people shared their knowledge, like Baron Romulus, who had allowed academy students to study the Beginner Swordsman manual.
Of course, that manual was not very advanced. The most powerful or personal ones were always kept under lock and key, because knowing them meant revealing your weak points to the enemy.
Kael continued explaining.
"The first martial art is called Crimson Sun Flame. It is a distinctly offensive style, designed to inflict rapid and devastating damage through controlled bursts of energy. Its true strength lies in speed, amplified by a footwork technique known as Fiery Steps, which allows for quick movements, sudden dashes, and continuous assaults without losing balance.
The second martial art, on the other hand, is called Moonshadow Mirage. In contrast to the first, it focuses on defense and evasion, using deceptive movements to confuse the opponent. Its complementary legwork technique, Spectral Steps, enables silent, seemingly unnatural shifts, making the practitioner appear to vanish and reappear at will."
Ronald remained silent as he envisioned the two styles and could see how they might complement each other later on.
"I bet you must start with the first art, and only after reaching a certain level of mastery can you begin learning the other, right?"
This time, it was Kael's turn to be surprised because Ronald had guessed correctly.
"That's true. How did you know?"
"Because of the principles behind them. The Crimson Sun Flame art is much more direct and intuitive compared to the Moonshadow Mirage, which seems more elusive and requires a deeper understanding of its principles."
Kael sighed in admiration. From the little he had explained, and without even reading the manual, Ronald seemed to already understand how his martial arts worked.
[The Crimson Sun Flame is a style designed for those who wish to dominate the battlefield through rapid, powerful, and continuous attacks. It uses the principle of localized mana accumulation in specific parts of the body , usually the arms and legs , and then releases it in brief explosions upon impact. This effect not only increases the power of the attacks but also destabilizes the opponent, breaking their rhythm.]
As described, it wasn't hard to understand how it worked. Once the stances and attack chains were learned, all one needed to do was add the mana burst, and the martial art would be mastered , which wouldn't be as simple for the second art.
[The Moonshadow Mirage is a dance between reality and appearance. It's not just about defense: it confuses, disorients, and plays with the opponent's mind. Those who practice it never confront the attack directly. Instead, they use the body's natural flow to deflect force, change the trajectory, and disappear from the opponent's line of sight. Mana is used to distort spatial perception: small reflections, trails, or double images project as echoes of the real movement.]
No matter how many times he read it and tried to study it, Kael just couldn't grasp it, especially the part about making something real appear illusory and vice versa.
Hearing his concerns, Ronald wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at Kael's impatience, who seemed eager to master everything at that very moment.
"Boy, you can't expect to learn an art just by reading about it. You need to live and experience it because it will never be the same as what was written by someone else. It will change and be rooted by your will and personality, so don't rush it."
Seeing Ronald smile weakly at him, Kael realized again just how immature and inexperienced he still was.
No matter how hard he tried to hide it, the fact that he couldn't sense mana had always been a weight on his mind, and, even though he didn't want to admit it, he felt jealous of his companions.
Then, however, something changed, and one night, he became a Higher Novice, a feat that in his situation went slightly to his head, but it was time to pull himself together.
'There are people out there who have dedicated their entire lives to becoming stronger, and they still strive to improve. In comparison, I've only started a day ago and already expect results.' Kael laughed at himself.
What he had said might have seemed too harsh, considering his youth, but it was a truth he had to accept if he truly wanted to grow.
"One step at a time."
At those words, Ronald smiled with satisfaction.
"Exactly, one step at a time, and you'll reach any goal, no matter how distant."
Ronald gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder and handed him the wooden sword he was holding.
"Now, show me what this martial art of yours can do."