6-Discovering Battle Aura

It was found later on that Ralph didn't have any aptitude for attack magic. Though his skill with Healing magic could be surprisingly high, you might think all of his skill points allotted for magic were wholly invested in Healing magic.

Since the day that the tree that was taken great care of was being used as a practice dummy for magic spells, Ralph's awakening of using Healing magic was a positive side effect.

The afternoons were spent with Paul teaching swordplay. At the start Paul told them to do some light workout exercises to strengthen their bodies first.

What broke Paul's expectations was Ralph easily displayed superhuman strength, beyond anything he expected. Ralph lined up before a boulder of rock and he easily shattered it to pieces with a barefist punch.

"Don't tell me..." Paul gasped. "Ralph, do you already know how to coat yourself with Battle Aura?" Paul asked.

Ralph tilted his head not knowing what he meant, "Battle Aura?"

"That's right," Paul said. "I'm not really sure about the fine details... Battle Aura is something like every warrior has, it augments your physical abilities to the extreme... or that's what I was told..." Paul said unsure of himself.

These words are something he just borrowed from his former comrades in the Adventuring party he was part of. It was the words of a certain powerful swordsman in their party that was ranked Sword King. From what Paul could remember, only a really skilled fighter could coat themselves with Battle Aura. Based on this world's ranking system, it would be somewhere of the level of Advanced rank.

A Three-year-old at Advanced rank? Ha! Even if pigs started to fly, no hell anyone sane would believe that! Only people born with abnormalities like Blessed children or Cursed children would make it believable.

Paul didn't know the existence of Battle Aura very well and it's details. He's the kind of swordsman that learns things through instinct alone.

Paul was thinking about it deeply. "Guess I'll have to look somewhere for a wooden sword for you." he said patting Ralph's head. "As for you Rudy, you'll have to do it from the very beginning first."

It means just like Rudeus would get a special night course in magic lessons, Ralph would also get one in swordplay.

-*-*-*-

"Battle Aura, huh... Is it one of those kind of things?" Ralph was muttering by himself.

He imagined those things in a fictional character that screamed out of rage and gets a huge power up in the middle of the fight. An overwhelming surge of energy will erupt raising the person's battle power exponentially. Many tv shows he watched in his childhood have those mechanics.

Ralph closed his eyes and tried to recreate that feeling. When he crushed the boulder earlier with his fists, he didn't really think much about the process.

Then he felt something warm turning hot in the pit of his stomach. An invisible organ separate from the physical organ that he had. However this 'hot'-ness wasn't anything about temperature. It was like an unknown energy was generated inside his body.

"I think this is the feeling I get."

He focused on the heat as much as he could. When he imagined himself trying to gather his strength to deliver a punch, he could feel the hot energy flowing from the stomach towards his hands and create devastating damage.

"I think I'm kind of finally getting the hang of it." Ralph muttered.

Soon he tried doing it with his other parts of his body. From the head, fingers, hands, arms, torso, legs, feet, toes. A drop of sweat formed on Ralph's forehead.

Ralph realized there are different effects when he used them on different parts of his body. When he uses them on his limbs you get the typical strengthening. But then he tried imagining trying to sense his surroundings, he could vaguely feel the rough sensation in a meter radius. Ralph could also feel the small movements of ants on the ground and the direction of the breeze of the wind. Several information from his surrounding flowing to his mind.

"It was more tiring exercise than I thought." Ralph said.

He didn't mean physically but mentally. Ralph doesn't have to be conscious about Battle Aura when he uses it from day to day life since it's very simple. But doing it consciously required a bit of focus as it was more complicated, however the results from doing it like this was completely a league higher in comparison. Especially when he tried sharpening his senses.

"I think I'll just need to practice. Dad did say elite swordsmen would be able to use Battle Aura." Ralph said.

And so starting from then, with an addition with his everyday training routine, he would start practicing consciously using Battle Aura in his everyday life until he could fully master it.

-*-*-*-

Just like any other day Ralph woke up and continued his daily routine. But unlike the previous days, he's starting to use Battle Aura.

His body felt hot the entire time and the stamina spent was significantly higher than ever.

When he returned home he nearly fell asleep in his bath. His stamina recovered much longer than it usually did.

"Uwahh, this tiring exhaustion felt nostalgic." he said like an old man reminiscing about his past.

After that he proceeded to his Magic lessons from Roxy. Ralph already memorized the incantations so all that needed was practicing how to use Mana and manipulate them to form magic. But when the two brothers were trained side by side, it clearly shows the difference of talent between the two.

When afternoon came for sword practice, Paul handed him something a small wooden stick that seemed to fit his hands.

"Here you go, might as well start with practicing the basics."

"Woah, this looked really cool." Ralph's eyes were sparkling. Although it's only a wooden sword, it still tickles his inner childishness with his wild imagination. He sensed a weird look coming from Rudeus, so Ralph asked Paul, "Rudi didn't have one?"

"Oh right. Just like what I explained yesterday, Rudi has to do the basics of the basics first. And that is building up stamina." Paul said.

Ralph gave his brother a worrying look. Surprisingly Rudeus didn't seem jealous of him.

"Do your best, Rudi." Ralph gives him a thumbs up.

"Uh, yes. I'll do my best!"

Although neither knew the other was a reincarnation, both seem to have mutual understanding.

From that point thereon Paul started teaching Ralph, while Rudeus was tasked to do some running.

There are three styles of swordplay. The all-out offensive Sword God Style. The defensive and counterattacks from Water God Style. Anything goes, Random bullshit, North God Style.

During practices Ralph would continue to consciously use his Battle Aura to master it. He just knew of its existence the other day so he just started getting the hang of it. Now by learning swordplay, he could now start incorporating the two.

From what he could sense from Paul, that was exactly what he's doing when practicing in the yard.