Chapter 20

5 Years Later

Five years have passed since Nathan was born. In these five years he couldn't do much, except eat sleep and play with his only friend, as his body was too weak and undeveloped to do anything else. Fortunately, no one came looking for him again as his identity was kept secret, and The Twilight Guardians seemed to have done a fantastic job at distracting The Church. Although sadly, there was no news about them either, making everyone feel worried.

Nathan was currently preparing himself for his first lesson about combat. During these five years, he also managed to level up twice, as some of the food he ate gave him EXP from time to time, but he was not allowed to eat food with high concentration of Spiritual Energy, as his body was too weak to withstand it.

[Name: Nathan Netherstar]

[Species: Wyrmling]

[Title: Crown Prince of Darkness]

[Level 3]

Energy Cultivation Technique: None

Soul Cultivation Technique: None

Divine Abilities: [Eighteen Gates of Hell](Locked)

[Stats]

HP: 70/70

Strength: 6

Agility: 4

Stamina: 7

Toughness: 3

[Skills: None]

[Passive Skills: Blessing of Darkness (Lv Max)]

Stat Points: 30

Skill Points: 9

[Items: Moon Rock Necklace]

[Soul Bound Items: Sigil of Authority(Crown Prince), Mark of Inheritance(???)]

After consulting with Grandpa Morwag, he also decided to not touch his Stat Points and Skill Points till he was five years old, just to be safe. He was too small to do anything after all and he was in no hurry for now. As per Grandpa Morwag's words: "Within the grand scheme of the Universe, a few years is but a single moment. Do not ruin your future due to haste."

"Nate! NATE! We're going to be late! Come on! Let's go!" Called out Sophie, Nathan's one and only friend who accompanied him all these years, as they were both five year olds. She had blond hair and topaz blue eyes which made her look very cute.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Don't pull me!"

"But this our first lesson! I'm so excited for it!" Sophie was as energetic as bee.

"I'm excited too. I've been waiting for this day for a long time."

Soon, they reached the training grounds, which were mostly empty as it was entirely reserved for Nathan and Sophie.

"You guys are early. Are you that excited for your first lesson?" Grandpa Morwag stood in the middle of the training ground with a sword in hand.

"YES! I couldn't sleep last night! My Mom forced me to bed but how could I sleep!?"

"Hoho. It seems little Sophie cannot wait to get started. What about you Nathan?" It was still hard for him to call his Prince by his first name, but since it was Nathan's wish, he complied.

"Same for me. I have waited too long for this." Nathan was also excited. This would be the first step on his journey.

"Very well. Since both of you have chosen a sword as your weapon it will make my job easier. Today I will teach you how to hold a sword properly, and how to make a decent swing.

The way of the sword is a path many take to the extreme. Some care for their swords more than they do for their family, while for some, the sword is their family. The more you understand the sword and the closer connection you have with it, the closer you are to becoming a Swordmaster. The moment a Swordmaster pulls their sword, Heaven and Earth would loose color and everything in its path shall be cut!"

"Your goal is to make ten consecutive proper swing while maintaining your form, and not loosing balance. For now, let me teach you the basics."

[Ding!]

[Quest: (First step of a Swordsman) Successfully make 10 proper swings.]

[Difficulty: Very Easy]

[Reward: Level +2, Stat Points +10, Skill Points +1]

'A quest? The system has quests! This great! It even gives additional Stat Points and Skill Points. How convenient.'

And so, they spent the rest of the day practicing making proper swings. They thought it would be easy, after all it was just ten swings. They were wrong…

"No no no, your feet are too much spread out, it would make it harder to adjust your form…"

"You're holding your sword wrong. It puts too much stress on your wrists."

"Your swing didn't have enough power behind it. Again!"

Nathan and Sophie wanted to start crying at this point. Their demon Grandpa was too strict. After a whole day of practice, their arms were numb and their legs were shaking, but to Grandpa's surprise, neither of them gave up.

At the end of the day, Nathan manged to make 5 proper consecutive swings, while Sophie managed 4.

"I was so close to the fifth one! I will definitely make all ten proper swings tomorrow!" Sophie was still as energetic as ever, albeit she could barely walk.

"I'm sure we will both finish this first lesson tomorrow, but I wonder what will our next lesson be?"

"Eh? It will definitely be harder for sure. Did you see Grandpa today!? He really turned into a demon as the other people said!"

"Haha, rest well Sophie. Let's surprise Grandpa tomorrow and learn everything as fast as we can." Nathan helped the limping Sophie get to her room, before he went to his room, which was next to hers.

"You too Nate!"

Nathan got to his room and immediately went to sleep.

The next day, after a lot of effort, and much more scolding from grandpa, they finally both managed to get to the goal of ten proper swings!

[Ding!]

[Quest: (First step of a Swordsman) Completed!]

[Stat Points +10, Skill Points +1]

[Congratulation! You have reached Level 4! Stat Points +10 Skill Points +3]

[Congratulation! You have reached Level 5! Stat Points +10 Skill Points +3]

[Evolution Menu available!]

'What's an evolution menu? Is it related to my weird species…?'

Grandpa noticed Nathan's weird behavior but he didn't say anything. The young Prince was bound to have many secrets.

"Grandpa look! We did it! What is our next lesson!? Quick! Tell us!" Sophie's over-energetic voice pulled Nathan out of his thoughts.

"Your next lesson will the most important lesson you will have to learn, it is also fairly simple so don't worry." Nathan and Sophie both gulped audibly the moment Grandpa finished talking. The terrifying light in his eyes spoke of a different story than what he said…

"The most important lesson for any fighter, is to learn how to stay on their feet at any time and any place. The moment you lose your balance and fall, you have already provided your opponent with many openings, but if you can't fight the enemy in front of you, the least you can do to ensure your safety is to stay on your feet." Grandpa motioned his fingers upward and two thin spikes emerged from the earth of the training ground. Two wooden planks appeared in front of him and flew over and perfectly balanced themselves on the tip of the spikes.

"Your lesson from now on will be simple. You will have to stay standing on the wooden platform for three hours before I declare your lesson finished."

'Huh… if it's just standing, then that shouldn't be too hard…' Sadly, Neither Nathan nor Sophie knew how wrong they were…

They jumped over to the wooden planks, but fell immediately the first few times, but that did little to stop them.

After a couple of tries, they finally managed to stay standing on the wooden plank without falling off. Grandpa nodded at their improvement as it was exactly as he expected.

"Good! Now that we are past the warm up, let's begin the real lesson." As if on cue, 6 men entered the training grounds, and split into two teams of three people.

"The goal is to maintain your balance while changing your stance. These men will be throwing rocks at you from different angles whenever they feel like it. As long as you finish this training, I will give you a reward…" Grandpa decided to add a little motivation for them in the end.

'We're screwed…' Were Nathan's last thoughts as he went through hellish torture for the rest of the entire day.

"Grandpa was really brutal with this lesson. My entire body hurts.~" Sophie whined as both her and Nathan's body were covered in bruises and black spots. They were currently leaning on each other as they limped along the corridor.

"They weren't pulling their punches either. The faster we learn, the less pain we'll have to go through…" Although the training was brutal, Nathan could clearly see it's importance, so he persisted.

"I don't know what would I have done if Nate wasn't here… seeing you try so hard makes me want to give my all too!" Sophie's topaz blue eyes suddenly lit up as she came up with a great way on how to pay back those evil men who threw rocks at her all day long!

"Oooh, Nate! I have a brilliant idea! How about we use our swords and deflect some of the stones back at those men! Let's teach them a lesson!"

Nathan thought for a moment and realized that her idea was not without merit, "Let's do it! We can train our sword skills and balance at the same time this way. Sophie, you're a genius!"

"Hehe~" Sophie was proud that her idea turned out to be so good.

After dropping off Sophie in her room, Nathan dragged his battered body to his room and sat on his bed, 'Now let's see what do we have here…'

[Evolution Menu]