Chapter five

"Keep your sword steady and put more "Oomph" into it."

Gray rose an eyebrow at the sheer stupidity of that sentence... Oomph? What the fuck man?

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he swung down again, this time paying attention to his grip. It went to the left, swaying slightly with every swing, so to compensate, he slackened his grip on his right hand and started leading with the left, using the right to keep the sword steady.

"Yeah! Like that, I'm not a half-bad teacher after all."

Looking over at Paul, Gray just stared at him for a while, making him a bit uncomfortable. The stare-down continued until the younger of the two sighed and started swinging again.

A hundred swings later, Gray released a breath of exhaustion as his shoulders slumped, he was tired, he was out of breath, and this idiot next to him was not helping.

"Good job Gray, take a break."

He was planning to, anyway, he didn't need to tell him twice. A hundred swings were the basic workout that Paul started with, and he would need to create a shell around his body soon, judging from what he was shown, a wooden sword could cut through rock if Touki was used correctly.

Even his mother had one, though considerably weaker than Paul's.

Walking closer to the house, he noticed the door opening and a red-haired woman in a maid outfit walking out. Her purple eyes landed on him and she started walking closer with a towel in her hands.

This was Lilia, a maid that his parents hired a month after he started training, apparently, she and Paul knew each other since they trained together in the water god style.

"Thank you, Lilia."

Grabbing the towel, he placed it over his head and took a deep breath, humming, he plunged the sword into the ground and started drying his hair.

"No need to thank me, master Gray, im just doing my job."

He didn't respond as he went to dry his neck, he was very sweaty.

"You're working hard as usual, aren't you, Gray, are you sure it's not too much?"

Smiling at the Blonde woman, he shook his head in denial, her belly was noticeably bigger now, and she was eating more to supply nutrients for the baby.

Honestly, her change in taste was so random at times that it was harder to keep up with her than keeping up with Paul's "Warm up".

___

It has been four months since he started training and he managed to produce Touki... It felt invigorating. It was like someone else was supplying him with all the energy he needed, and it wasn't far off, Mana was, in essence, power. And that power was now increasing his strength.

The door burst open and Paul rushed in, holding his sword and looking around wearily, Zenith was in the doorway, looking worried and she rushed to him and hugged him closely.

Gray looked around, slightly confused, what was the problem?

And then, he finally noticed it. The wood below him was no more, he was standing in a small crater and his whole room was a mess.

...Maybe forcefully creating a Touki was best done outside, but how would he know that?! There were no entries that something like this would happen. At least the walls still stood.

"Uh... What's wrong?"

Zenith just hugged him tighter and Paul let out a sigh while sheathing his sword. Turning around to face his son, the older male raised an eyebrow at the small crater Gray was standing in.

"...What happened?"

The said boy looked sheepish, as he scratched the back of his head. What had he gotten himself into?

"I- uh, I developed my Touki?"

The next second, in the arms of his now happy father, Gray wondered if something he did would ever make them unhappy.

"That's my boy!... Your training will be increased from tomorrow."

Oh, fuck all kinds of ducks.

Noticing his deadpan expression, Paul just laughed harder. That prick! He could swear that he enjoyed his own son's suffering!

"We still need to fix the room."

He tried to divert his attention but the grin on his face dashed his hopes, knowing that it was hopeless now, he just surrendered to his fate.

"I can fix the room, you need to start your training."

Yup. There it was. Knowing what was coming, the four-year-old sighed and went to pick up his sword.

___

"Well... This is easier than I thought it would be."

He basically doubled his swing count and he was just now started sweating...

Oh... He was still supplying mana to Touki for it to absorb all the strain his muscles would normally receive.

Stopping the supply, he started counting over and it didn't take for the speed of the swings to slow down.

He still managed considerably more than he would normally but he was still four.

When he stopped, the pain in his muscles made itself aware, demanding attention that they lacked while he was exercising.

With just a thought, the pain disappeared thanks to the elementary-level healing magic that he plagiarized from his mother by memorizing the chant lines.

He felt sorry, but it was too useful to not have, his training was doubled thanks to it and it was much more so when the "Spars" with paul got him a few bruises.

"Gray, help me water the plant's when you're done, will you?"

He was done.

Walking back to the house, he took the towel from where he left it and started wiping it down his face.

"Don't you want to take a bath first? You're all sweaty."

He just shrugged.

"Can I do it after watering the plants?"

His mother just gave him "The stare" which he met for only a second. He wasn't strong enough to face her yet. He doubted that he ever would be.

"Yes, mother."

He hung his head to not see her smile of satisfaction, she was surely pleased to have such an obedient son.