New Normal [Part 2]

Rena winced as she watched Lucius get thrown out of the ring again. Today was hand to hand combat. He was disallowed the use of his Forsaken Arts during training and was responsible for incorporating his movements with those skills on his own. None of the trainers were willing to put up with being in a match with those skills if they could avoid it.

Some trainers took out their dislike of Lucius' abilities on him while training him. Most did not even want to be in charge of teaching him at all, but were forced to do so by her father.

Lucius for the last few months had been training with unarmed combat and sword combat. He also had a random old man come to try and help him activate his mark. The old man was rather…odd. His name was apparently Wallace Carmichael and he was a relative of the Carmichael family, another powerful family equal in strength to the Petra family.

Wallace was…an odd duck to say the least. To Rena, he looked like your typical great-grandpa with a long white beard, balding head, and too many wrinkles to count. Yet despite his obvious age, he moved around like a young man.

He was also quite the accomplished mage, being a King Rank magician with Compatibilities with all four Elemental magics; fire, water, earth, and wind, as well as all four Transcendent magics; magma, ice, thunder, and metal.

He spent most of his life as a researcher and was absolutely obsessed with marks, especially strange and unknown ones like Lucius' mark.

"You okay?" Rena asked the boy who had landed on the ground next to her.

They were using the training room that she had used since she received special permission from her father.

"Eurgh…" Lucius groaned and wretched. However, he did not respond and simply got up from the ground.

Rena could tell he was starting to get a little mad because his extra canine teeth started to sharpen, and his eyes began to glow. As a half-beastman he could not 'shift' like a normal beastman could. He also wouldn't gain any crazy advantages like a normal beastman either, his senses would improve, but his body strength, agility, all pretty much stayed the same or only improved slightly.

A full-blooded beastman who shifted would double, triple, or in some cases quadruple all their physical abilities. Lucius had at best a chance to get a fifty percent improvement across the board.

Still, the boy got up, jumped back in the ring and resumed his sparring session. The trainer got into a low stance with one palm held out, and his other hand held back in a fist. Lucius matched his stance and waited for the trainer to make the first move.

She was barely able to see the trainer leap forward, leaving a cloud of dust where he was once standing. He almost instantly closed the gap between himself and Lucius, leading with a punch towards the boy's sternum.

Lucius then twisted and ducked, making the strike only catch air where he used to be. He used this opening to make an uppercut aimed at the trainer's elbow. It seemed he was worried about striking a more vital area like the chin or throat for some reason. Maybe there was a false opening or something? Rena was not quite sure.

The strike connected and resulted in a strange cracking sound. Unfortunately, the sound did not come from the trainer. Rather, it came from Lucius as the unarmed master had taken advantage of Lucius exposing himself for this uppercut by striking with his opposite hand. He landed a sharp jab right into the side of Lucius' ribcage.

Once again, the boy was flung backwards, though this time he managed to recover and roll into a crouched position. He was heaving and wincing at every breath as if he might have broken something.

"Ouch…that had to hurt." Rena mumbled. Which earned her a glare from Lucius.

The trainer grinned and leapt forward again, but even faster than before. This time he planted his foot solidly within Lucius' sternum which sent him flying out of the ring entirely once again. He again came to a stop right next to his crimson haired lady.

Rena smiled slyly and leaned down. "Nice one. I think you almost had him."

She had grown accustomed to teasing him and when in private, he would tease her back. Of course, he would never do it around anyone else for fear of being overheard, but Rena did not miss the opportunity to tease him no matter where they were. Whenever they were around other people, Lucius could do nothing about her remarks other than take it.

"Pft…whatever." He grumbled before spitting blood onto the ground.

A maid who specialized in Light magic came over to tend to his wounds. She was a friend of Rubellia's and had been Rena's personal maid for her entire life.

"[Lux: Advanced Heal]"

Golden light shone from her hand and formed a series of orbs that floated to various parts of Lucius' body. She made sure to heal the underlying injuries, but she left behind the bruises and scratches.

Rena did not understand, but Lucius had directly requested this. Something about reminders of his loss or something like that.

"Thank you so much Meriam." Lucius whispered in gratitude. It was about all he could do since he had been holding a majority of his breath so as not to hurt his broken ribs by simply breathing.

"Of course. It is a pleasure to assist another of my lady's servants." Meriam acknowledged in a monotone voice.

Rena smiled at her. Even though she showed little emotion on her face or through her voice, Meriam was a very kind and gentle soul. She was happy to learn that Meriam apparently knew about Lucius' existence for many years and had no issues working alongside him as another of Rena's retainers.

"Well…tomorrow you meet up with Lord Carmichael again! Shall we return to our quarters and rest, Lucius? You seem rather…tired." Rena said with a wide grin.

"Ugh…" the boy groaned. "Wally is back already…that old fogey is nuts I tell you…always poking and prodding me like I am some sort of caged animal."

All Rena could do was giggle. Even Miriam had a small smile tug at her lips…or at least as much as one could on her stone face. It was true, Lord Carmichael demanded that he be called 'Wally' instead. He had a great interest in Lucius and the fact that he had an unknown mark with inverse meanings.

Rena made it a habit to attend all of Lucius' training and education sessions because she thought it seemed fun. She particularly enjoyed the ones with Wally because he was so sweet and always brought her chocolate cookies as a present. Lucius only complained because he would only get his hands slapped with a ruler for not paying attention.

While Rena was busy teasing Lucius, a butler entered the room with a strange man in robes following him.

"Lady Rena." The butler declared. "…and Lucius…Lord Richard von Petra has requested that the Royal Academy of Arcadios send a representative to determine your magical Compatibilities, if any exist."

The robed man produced from his clothes a white orb about the size two adult fists. One could almost mistake it for a pearl that was the color of freshly fallen snow.

"Please Lady Rena von Petra…I invite you to touch the orb. Nothing else is needed from you."

Rena smiled because she had heard from her father last month that she was getting her compatibilities tested for magic. She had long given up on finding any weapon compatibilities. She had even secretly held Lucius' machete on the off chance she did have Forsaken Arts, but that resulted in nothing.

Rena eagerly walked up to the man and placed her right hand on the orb. Lucius stood directly to her diagonal, behind her, as required of his position.

A moment after making contact with the orb it quickly flashed several colors; a deep blue, a pale green, a dull gray, and finally a bright white.

"Congratulations. It seems you have Compatibilities in Water, Wind, Metal, and Light magics Lady Rena." The robed man said with a bow.

"Yay!" she shouted as she jumped up and down for joy. "Okay, okay… Your turn Lucius…what kind of awesome skills does my personal guard have?!"

The robed man rose from his bow and casually offered the orb to Lucius, who casually placed his right hand on it. For a moment nothing happened, then it began to yellow hue before fading into nothing and returning to its original state.

"It looks like the boy has Compatibility with one magic, Thunder Magic. Extremely rare for humans, but it appears you have beastman lineage? Still even for them it is rather rare. Congratulations."

"Oh my you are so cool Lucius!" Rena said excitedly, momentarily forgetting she was around company. Miriam and the butler gave her a raised brow, but said nothing.

Lucius of course shook his head at her, but smiled nonetheless. As for Rena she could not take the massive grin off of her face that she finally had skills to master. She was also a little sad since she would not be able to spend as much time watching Lucius train though, since she would likely receive tutelage from a personal instructor as well.