From now on you will be my disciple!

Ping!

"Congratulations! A new Technique has been created!"

Marduk's eyes were brimming with anticipation as he calmly opened them to look at the blue screen in front of him.

'New Technique: Mana meditation obtained'

Description: Proficiency level 0(10,00%) Rank: High (initial stage)

'Your mind is like this mana, my friend. When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to use. But if you manage to settle it, the mana path becomes clearer.' While meditating you are now able to replenish your mana two times faster than usual, if your mana pool is full it will increase by 0,01% of the full amount of your MP per hour. The mana spent to activate a skill or a spell is reduced by 5%.

Although Marduk was happy for his first high rank skill, his expression remained serious as he was still figuring out how this "Fusion magic" worked. Indeed after a number of experiments, he had decided to focus on martial arts and leave fusion magic to a later date. Still, it was an incredible addition to his arsenal.

In order to increase his mana pool, a normal mage would either have to train his magic for hours and hours, thus straining his mind enormously, or consume a mana increase potion that would boost his mana capacity by 250 MP, but this meant spending a golden coin for potion (enough for a normal man to live comfortably for six months).

The technique Marduk "created" was one of the many a Fusion magic espert used to replenish his mana.

Marduk spent the next month exercising his footwork, meditating at least for four hours a day and attempting to devise some new techniques, but no matter how many times he tried shadowboxing or punching and kicking trees, he received no notification so he realized he had to find a teacher. The question was, how could he find a master of martial arts in this countryside town?

In the early days of his arrival to Mint he had used his deity's eyes on all the elders he was introduced to. The first of whom naturally was his grandfather Kayden, so he knew that the old man was really powerful, since the only information that popped out was his name and race.

Exactly one month later, while he was training in the forest behind the house, his eyes shining with a yellow light, a shiver ran down his spine: somebody was trying to sneak up on him from behind. When the source of his uneasiness was barely two meters away from his back, Marduk immediately activated BigBrain, sharpening all his senses and by using his feline's step, he planted an uppercut right at the stomach of the sneaky man. Or, at least, that was what he expected to happen, but when he saw the man's face, his title instantly activated, boosting his strength and agility thus surprising the attacker who was forced to receive the blow with a single hand, blocking and dispersing all the power behind it.

The old man stood still, an amused expression showing on his face, while he analyzed the blow in every detail.

An awkward silence descended upon them, while Kayden was lost in his thoughts.

When Mardok was just about to interrupt the silence, the old man suddenly exclaimed in a loud and excited voice "From now on you will be my disciple!"

The boy's grey eyes remained flat like a lake in the middle of a hot summer day while he calmly replied "Then show me that you are worthy of teaching me." The calm voice was clear and void of any arrogance.

The old man roared in a powerful laugh.

"You must be aware of your talent to be able to say such a thing without arrogance." he said while stroking his unkempt beard.

"Very well, I shall show you what I'm capable of."

Kayden then touched the hilt of his sword and all the trees in a radius of ten meters fell to the ground.

He expected the young boy's face to show surprise and admiration, but what the old man saw was really amazing, Marduk was just standing there with a serious expression. Kayden only needed that first glance to guess what was going on in the boy's head. After all, the eyes that were staring at him wore the same expression he was making while analyzing Marduk's punch.

"He saw everything that happened!!" He was amazed because his movements had been much too fast to be seen by an average human being, let alone a five years old child.

Of course Kayden could not be aware of Marduk's unique skill, that was now at the first level of proficiency. What Kayden used wasn't only a sword technique but also his aura, the same aura that only high ranked martial artists can use. 'If he can use the aura he is at least at the initial stage of the very high rank as a martial artist.'

"Alright, Old man, I accept you as my martial master." Marduk said as he snapped out of his thoughts. "Then call me Master." Kayden said teasingly, "Ok, Master." Marduk replied without a care in the world.

This was how the training arc started.

As a grandfather, Kayden was warm and enthusiastic like no other, but as a Master he was strict and cold. Indeed, the training he had planned for his five years old disciple would have made a seasoned soldier of the kingdom pale and run away. First of all he wasn't allowed to sleep in his room for the full duration of the half year of training, he was brought to a secluded but safe mountain, where he found the necessities to live for at least six months in a room enhanced with a spell to maintain the food edible. He was then left there alone for a first month, in which he was given a training regime to boost his endurance and resistance, as well as a lot of high grade health potions to master his body refining technique. Each morning Marduk ran in the mountains where the oxygen is thinner and then did his basic training (like push ups, burpees, etc…). At noon he would train his skill and techniques until lunch time when he would take a short break to refill his energies and stomach. In the afternoon he trained with weapons and with his meditation until dinner at 7 p.m., when he would again meditate to calm himself down and sleep until morning.

During this month he tried a lot of different weapons, like daggers, long swords, great swords, lances and many others, he soon discovered that, thanks to his talent in martial arts, he was really proficient with any type of white weapon. He therefore had no preferences, the only ones that really picked his interest were a couple of small axes perfectly balanced with each other, they were just right for double wielding and to be thrown if necessary. His interest was born by the long range the axes gave him which was a big plus considering his limited reach as a martial artist. So he focused on mainly training with the lance and those double axes. In the following months as Kayden dropped by to monitor his growth every now and then, he immediately realized the incredible talent of his disciple and soon started teaching his technique.

It only took six months of training under Kayden for Marduk to reach the initial stage of the medium rank. At this stage his master told him he could start fighting against magic beasts, and thus experience his first battle. Now his stats panel looked like this:

Marduk van Licht

Occupation: NONE (sealed)

Title: Battlemaniac

HP: 1200 MP: 25000

STR: 135 STA: 300 (150×2)

DEX: 210 (70×3) INT: 125 (50×2,5)

AGI: 120 DEF: 140(70×2)

Passive Skills:

Taunt: P lvl 0 (0,00%);

BigBrain: P lvl 0 (5,00%);

Active Skill:

NONE;

Unique Skill:

Deity's eyes: P lvl 1(64,0%) Radius: 10 m — 20m

Martial Techniques:

One million beatings: P lvl Max;

Your body is as hard as steel: Your stamina and defense is boosted by 100%, your pain resistance is boosted by 75%;

Feline's step: P lvl 7(78,6%) AGI boost: 30% — 70%, sound reduction: 15% — 35%;

Mana meditation: P lvl 3 (32,8%) mana boost 0,03%/h and mana cost reduced by 15%;

Seven winds technique: Proficiency level 5 (58,6%) Rank: high (final stage)

'Like the mighty Gods' king, wield the power of the seven winds'

A technique based on seven moves. The first three, a fist move, a palm move and a kick move are the easiest to learn as well as the weakest. Each of those moves forms a gust of wind (the damage is based on your strength stat), the shape taken by the wind changes based on the move performed: the first move takes the shape of a spear's head, the palm move that of a giant hand and the kick move that of a blade. The second three are a combination of the first three and each one takes the shape of an animal: an elephant, an eagle and last of all, a lion. To use the last move you need to max the Proficiency level, only then you will know the details of this move. While using this technique your AGI is boosted by 100%.

Move's damage:

1,5 X STR

3 X STR

5 X STR

10 X STR

15 X STR

25 X STR

???????