5 years old .

I'm 5 years old now.

On my birthday, my house held a small party.

This country didn't have the custom of celebrating birthdays every year. However, the norm was that after you reached a certain age, your family members would give you some gifts.

Those certain age points are 5, 10, and 15 years old. I know that they are not going to be available on my 10th and 15th birthday. I am trying to enjoy my best today with them.

Well, It's easy to understand this norm since you become an adult when you turn 15 years old.

To celebrate that, Paul gave me a pair of swords.

Two swords.

One is a real sword that's too heavy for a 5-year-old child. The other is a short wooden sword.

The real sword was forged and sharpened.

It's not meant for a child to use it.

"In a boy's heart, there must be a sword to protect the people important to him-----"

He was starting to give his long speech, which I ignored, obviously, and my mom came to my rescue soon after.

I received a book from Zenith.

"Because Rudeus seems to like books."

The book that was given to me is a plant encyclopedia.

I couldn't resist letting out a "Woah."

Even though I knew I would get it, I was still very happy about it. In this world, books are expensive. Even though there is a technique to make paper, there isn't any way to print on it, so most books are handwritten.

The encyclopedia is very thick, and there are also illustrations accompanying it to make it easy to understand.

I could tell it should have cost a lot for her, so I thanked her properly.

"Thanks, Mum. I always wanted this."

And I got hugged tightly after saying that.

I received a magic staff from Roxy.

A rod around 30 cm in height with a small ruby-coloured stone adorned in front of it. The overall appearance is very modest.

"I created this a few days ago. I forgot about it because Rudeus knew how to use magic from the very beginning. Usually, the teacher will make the staff personally allow students to use elementary rank magic. I'm sorry about it."

"Yes, Shishou, I will take good care of it."

Roxy shows a bitter expression after hearing what I said.

She doesn't have a good relationship with her master and doesn't like to hear about such things, such as me calling her master.

She also thinks I am going to surpass her eventually, so she doesn't want to be called as such.

Well, after all this, we had a small party, and things got lively with Paul showing some tricks.

...

The next day, I started my research once more.

The thing is, when drawing magic circles, we need a special kind of pen that uses magic crystal as its ink for the circle to function properly.

I had no access to either of them, so I made a new pen, which takes my mana as its ink to draw all the circles.

I have reached the desired effect with half of these circles.

The creation and use of magic items takes a lot of mana, so it is helping me deplete my mana reserves as well.

I have to try to place a curse on me and have the effect of that curse the same as I want. If I do that, I can use the battle aura properly.

But I still have a lot to do.

"Sigh."

On the second day, I started practising real sword techniques.

The primary training is to swing the sword and have a proper stance.

Examples include practising the form and striking the wooden dummies in the courtyard or having Dad as the opponent while learning footwork and shifting my body weight properly.

It is a pleasant feeling to start from the basics.

In this world, sword techniques are highly viewed.

Even in books, heroes are primarily seen using swords as weapons. Though they also used axes and maces, these people belonged to the rare parties.

Nobody uses a spear because the Supreme race uses tridents. Spears are weapons of evil demons, a common knowledge. Even the books have evil demons appearing there as an indiscriminate monster who kills off and devours both parties, regardless of friend or foe.

Because of such a background, the sword techniques are much more involved here than in the previous world.

If you become an expert, you can break boulders with a swing of the sword and even strike down opponents far off in the distance with a sword flash.

I have already talked about sword styles, so I am not going over it a second time. And I should have a proper foundation before I turn seven years old.

Currently, Paul is teaching me about all these things. Since I didn't understand it, I requested him to explain it...

"Bam on the ground and swoosh one time!! That sort of feeling."

"Like this!?"

"You silly fool! You're booming the ground and kablaming one time, right!! You must bam on the ground and swoosh one time! Do it more gently!"

That kind of feeling. I know I really have a long way to go before I lay a proper foundation for myself .