Father time

A new day started, a day way sunnier than the days before and a surprisingly warm one at that, it was a day that the kids of the village cherished by going outside to play, Tom wanted to be a part of these kids but they didn't accept his father ideals so in result they didn't accept him, that a childish way of thinking but this was the thought process of the other villagers too

It's weird how stupidly stubborn can humankind act sometimes

…

"Why do you look this unhappy? You were the one that caused all this!"

Teras said with a mad expression on his face

"Well yeah, but why does it get to be YOU who brings me home? You broke my ribs! I hate you!"

Tom replied with an equally mad expression on his face

"HATE is a strong word kid, it kind of hurts me to hear it..."

Teras said with a sad expression, he tried to cheer up Tom but he failed

"Whatever... Why are you calling me "kid" anyway? You are at least 3 years older than me or something, we are both kids!" Tom said angrily, he didn't like that Teras treated him this way

"You are a kid-kid, I'm a teenager, that's a big difference you know, you will understand when you grow older!"

"Shut up! Don't try to sound wiser just because you were born like 3 years before me!"

"But those three years you haven't lived yet were filled with horrible things that kid mustn't experience, that's what makes you and me different kid, now pipe down! I don't want to hear your mumbling anymore" Teras said in a forceful tone, Tom remained silent for a little but he then started speaking again like the conversation never stopped

"Tell me one experience I haven't experienced..." Tom said as he blocked Teras's way

"The feel of blood on your hands..." Tom was a bit surprised by Teras's straightforwardness

"I actually have felt this before... When they murdered my mother she hugged me one more time and I was the only one hearing her last words and her last breath while her blood covered my whole body..."

That answer threw Teras off by a lot, he didn't know how to react to such an answer, confront him? Sympathize?

"Tell me another experience, and try making it harder this time!" Tom said as he started walking, Teras thought for a little and he then caught up to Tom to answer his request

"I have fought the Grand Jack!" Tom reacted strongly to that answer

"The Grand Jack? Tokkou? You mean you have fought him?" Tom asked with enthusiasm

"Oh did that spark your interest? Yeah, I have fought with him and won too, by throwing him out of bounce, why do you take so much interest in Tokkou?" Teras asked Tom confused

"Knocking him out of bounce is the most unmanly way to win, plus I'm surprised you are not excited about knowing such a huge person, Tokkou is the symbol of power for all the young adventurers of any gender, he was almost a ranker in his teenage years and currently the second stronger person on the world, we even study him in school, do you have no knowledge of that? Have you been living under a rock for the last 10 years?"

'Well I did something similar but he doesn't need to know... But I'm honestly surprised by the influence HE has all around the world, standing by his side seemed natural, it was like he was a casual person that simply poses great power, it's honestly mind-blowing learning all these facts about him' Teras thought surprised

"Oh, we arrived!"

Tom said after a while, it was an open area with cut-off trunks of trees lying around, Tom ran to the house but to his surprise, he saw nobody in

"I wonder where he is... He should be here..." Tom mumbled

Suddenly his father appeared from behind them attacking Teras with an axe, Teras dodged the attack and jumped away, but to his surprise, Tom's father used mana to close the distance and attack once again

'He is good'

Teras thought as he barely dodged the axe by using mana overload with his legs

"You are the one that hurt my son, aren't you? HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR HANDS ON MY SON BASTARD"

The man said as he charged at Teras once again, this time Teras was ready, he drew his sword and used it to stop the axe from chopping him

'His strength is unreal too! What the hell is up with this guy? I expected Tom's father to be a woodchopper, not a freaking madman!'

Teras thought as he tried to hold the man back

Teras then took a deep breath and mustered up his strength and fought back

With his sword, he cut the wooden handle of the axe disarming the man, and then with a quick combo Teras punched his face, and then rotated to kick the man away from him

"CALM DOWN DAD HE IS NOT AN ENEMY!" Tom yelled, he felt uneasy seeing them both fight

"Enyo told me everything! He attacked you and broke your ribs!" His father replied

"Yeah but I was the one that attacked him with an axe in the first place, Enyo also told me he couldn't control himself, please stop fighting!"

Tom yelled once again but this time he also got in between Teras and him

"Are you sure?" His father asked

"Yeah, I'm telling you! He is not a bad guy!"

A small silence followed

"I'm so sorry about the way I addressed you and for my attack! I can understand if you don't accept my apology!"

The man said as he slightly bowed his head to Teras

'Well... He is an odd one...' Teras thought as he placed his sword in its case

"It's okay, but honestly I'm surprised by your movement, you moved very fast and your strength was on par with mine! After doing all this training I was sure I could beat many people but you humbled me quickly and you were about to hit me back there too, you are quite skillful!"

Teras said as he bowed his head too

'If it wasn't for my explosion I would have gotten sliced...' Teras thought

"Oh thank you very much! You fought greatly too! And your dodge at the start surprised me! Are you a variable fire user by any chance?"

"Variable?" Teras asked confused

"Don't you know what it means? It's when you reach the golden level and higher most card users can develop special skills based on the card they chose, I assumed you used a skill of the 6th card"

His explanation was easy enough for Teras to understand

"Oh it's nothing like that, what I used was an explosion created by mana, Enyo calls it mana overload"

The man seemed very surprised by what he heard

"Amazing! I thought people died if they experience a mana overload but I guess your mana control has to be great, no wonder you were able to keep up with a former diamond-ranked adventurer!" The man said with a smile

"Whoa! No wonder I was driven to a corner this quick!"

When Teras said that Tom butted into the conversation

"What do you mean? You were the one that drove him back into a corner! Isn't that right Dad?"

The man chuckled while he patted Tom's head

"If the fight continued I would have probably killed your friend!"

Hearing these words come from a smiling man made Teras scared, it reminded him of this moment that he hated so much

The three of them then got inside the house and Teras was treated with some food as compensation for the attack he received, while they were there they talked about themselves

"I haven't told you my name yet, have I? I'm Droe, nice to meet you!"

"I'm Teras! Likewise!"

Teras said as he shook hands with the man

"How are you able to use a simple tool such as an axe this good as a weapon?"

Teras asked as he looked at the countless axes hung on the wall

"That's a normal answer from a silver-ranked adventurer, and I'm surprised Enyo hasn't taught you that yet or why you haven't come up with the trick yourself!"

Droe said as he laughed

"You are not answering my question by laughing..."

Teras said disappointed

"Wait, you weren't joking?"

"Yeah, I don't have the experience a diamond adventurer has, sorry for being inferior!"

Teras said ironically

"Whoa calm down there, you know they added a new rank, right? It's called platinum, this rank is in between gold and diamond, I would probably be there if I was active now"

…

"So what's the trick?" Teras asked after some time passed

"What trick?"

"The one that makes your ordinary weapons strong"

Droe finished what he was doing at the time and then sat across Teras and looked him dead in the eyes

"What will I gain if I teach you that?"

Teras thought about it for a little but the answer quickly came to his mind

"I will cut your trees for a week, how does that sound?"

'That's genius! I will train my mana vessels while also training the sword tactic and Enyo won't be able to tell me that I over-train!'

Teras thought as he used this question in his best interest

"Well, that's more than enough! Alright then, let's go out and let this old man teach you how we did it in my days!"

Droe said as he excitingly got up from his seat, Teras got up and went outside with Droe, and Tom followed too

"You see Teras, swords, and axes, in general, are just that... Tools, they are nothing without mana, mana is what makes every weapon strong, but it's not just that, the holder of the weapon has to know not only how to use the weapon but also how to use mana on them, because everyone can simply use a mana enhanced and pour all their mana mindlessly in there and let the special ability of the sword do everything but a mana enhanced weapon stands no chance against a rusty sword carried by a masterful swordsman, what me to demonstrate?"

Droe said as he picked up one of the axes that were laying outside his house

"So you figured that my sword is mana enhanced?" Teras asked with a smile of surprise on his face

"Of course I did, it's obvious just by looking at it" Droe said as he inspected his axe

"Now let us clash our weapons, TOM TAKE COVER!" Droe said, he then got ready for an attack

'I don't know what he is thinking but this axe will probably break at once if I use the sword's skill'

Teras thought as he too got ready for the attack

"GO!" Droe yelled

Teras enhanced his sword and attacked and Droe did the same, but once the weapons clashed there wasn't any clear advantage on anybody's side, Teras was quite confused about that

Suddenly, the axe started to crack and eventually broke to pieces

"Whoa! Your sword is very powerful!" Droe said as he inspected it "Its core is huge too, no wonder you won that clash!"

"Core?"

"Yeah! Every mana-enhanced tool has one, if mana enters this core the tool's ability activates"

"How do these cores exist in the first place?" Teras asked confused

"Interesting question! You see mana enhanced cores are basically created if the materials the tools created were mixed with the blood of a mana beast with a big mana core, beings like king slimes, dragons, sea serpents, chimeras, king yetis, or incredibly strong mana-mutated monsters like the ones that started appearing lately near the Royal Capital"

"I see... I killed a king slime once but I didn't know I could use its mana core for a weapon..."

Teras mumbled to himself

'How does a woodchopper teaches me more than an actual legend of this world? I swear Enyo is way too laid back...' Teras thought with a mad expression

"So want to know how to do it?" Droe asked, Teras nodded

"Well... It's easier than you think and to be honest, I don't know why YOU haven't thought of this yet since your mana control is this good, but the secret behind the technique is to store the mana in one place of the tool and when you are about to hit something release the mana like you are punching something, it's literally punching but with a blade"

"Eh?"

Teras was very disappointed at that answer, he honestly expected something more glorious when he saw the way Droe fought him off

"Guess I have to get on tree cutting huh?" Teras asked defeated

"You catch up quick!" Droe said as he gave Teras another axe of his

Teras's side hustle as a woodchopper began this instant

But he didn't mind since he asked for this, but was he really searching for a way to train or did he try to distract himself with other things? Things he didn't want to ever return to...