Ninth Birthday

As soon as it was declared that Jien's shoulder was healed enough for him to start working with it lightly his mentors were even more excited than Jien's own family. Now they could really start ramping things up, in moderation of course. They understood that they couldn't force his shoulder, or they may cause a lasting internal injury. To avoid this they continued his combat training with his off hand while enforcing a strict but light routine for his newly healed shoulder.

They initially had him simply do stretches with his dominant arm to stretch the shoulder, making sure that he used it to get it back into working shape without over-stressing it. After a week of adding these simple stretches to his training regimen they started adding exercises including holding onto weighted objects, working to ensure that he built back up to holding his weapon without any detriment. This started with wielding a lightweight wooden weapon and over time upgrading to heavier variants of wood, eventually moving up to metal. At a certain point he was able to train normally with both arms. This was the moment that his mentors were most waiting for, and as soon as it was confirmed they capitalized on his regained health by raising the level of his training substantially.

As soon as Mark and Emily were able to confirm that Jien could train normally, they immediately added more weights to his training. The first increased the ankle weights to the point where Jien had trouble walking normally, then they added weights to his wrists and finally a weighted shirt, though on the lighter side. They informed him that he would now complete all training while wearing these items from start to finish to prepare him for the moment he would be forced to wear armor or carry supplies while on the battlefield. He was still young, and his body had a lot of room to grow. Mark and Emily were leaning into this to ensure that his body would grow tougher for the next stage in his life. They also needed him to know hardship since the battlefield wasn't a place for the weak willed.

Jien's day would start much like before with a jog around the manor, though with the weights on his body it was a much slower experience. Yet neither of his mentors let him rest, always pushing him to his utmost limits. After the jog, lasting from early morning until lunch to ensure that he would have excellent endurance going forward. After a hardy daily lunch, he would move on to fencing practice. The use of the weights was continually enforced, and the use of the magic restricting bracelets was soon added back to the equation for the entirety of the routine.

Jien was allowed to use all of his mana manipulation and arcane arts during the entirety of his training routine, but he was not allowed to remove the bracelets except for moments Mark and Emily permitted so that he could keep a hold of his level of control. Much like before they didn't want him to lose track of his control and accidentally put himself in a state of Mana Void.

After his fencing training he would go through the arcane art and mana manipulation training before being allowed to return back to the manor to rest and have dinner with his father. For the first week or two of this enhanced training routine Jien was barely able to stay upright after the training. Even after the weights were removed, he had almost fell asleep face first into his dinner more than once. Lord Losler looked at these occasions with a stoic stance, having Runa or some of the other staff of the manor help wake Jien up and get him to eat. Earl always felt an ache in his chest knowing that it was unfair to push a child this far, however he knew deep down that this was for the best. The world would devour Jien if he wasn't trained to the utmost and he had even held back, not forcing Jien to train before his unsealing rite while other nobles were training their children from the time they could walk on their own.

The first few weeks Jien's appetite had decreased, the training causing him to be too exhausted to eat properly. However, Lord Losler and Runa didn't allow him to walk away from his food, enforcing him to eat so that he could continue to train properly. After a while however, when Jien's body adjusted to the training his appetite seemed to increase many folds and Earl made sure that he was fed a balanced but filling meal, consistently lining Jien's side of the table with at least twice as much as he himself was eating.

The first period after starting the use of the weights Jien had to give up on his studies of the many books that were to be memorized using Personal Library. However, that soon changed as well, and he returned to his studies after eating his nighttime meal with his father. The pace of his studies remained fairly stable, though significantly slower than when he had been able to focus entirely on it. Still, he would often complete his study and note taking and use of Personal Library on a book per week basis. The slowest part was of course the memorization through the use of the spell. The lack of deep mana capacity always limited the amount of information he could absorb into the ethereal orb in the white landscape.

Despite these difficulties time continued to march forward and without Jien even realizing it his ninth birthday had come. His training had remained the same, the amount of weight he was forced to use in the physical aspect increased when he got used to it. The mana disrupting bracelets were likewise upgraded if Mark and Emily felt that Jien was getting the hang of control with the current ones, eventually leading them towards bracelets that were just a few steps before the manacles they had used on the criminals. His studies with the many books had also progressed well. He managed to get through the books that he had slated for the summarization approach and had started on the books he would record verbatim. This in itself began to take longer to complete a single book because the amount of information to record was greater, and while his mana capacity continued to improve as he walked the fine line in mana use, he still took several weeks to make it through the books he had been provided and had personally chosen.