Chapter 4

After becoming the disciple of Rayes, Einar had been at his place for around two months. Spending every day training his body.

He was outside training by the side of the pond. He had been working on his alchemy all day, so he spent this afternoon working on the body.

Einar knew that his body still needed to improve a lot, but he also knew he was really strong for his age. He had a punching strength of around 250 kg. This was equal to around 3 adults from his old village. This was all thanks to his strict training program, and all the medicinal baths he had taken.

He had also spent the last two months thinking about what route he wanted to go concerning weapons and fighting style. Rayes had helped him a lot, by teaching what the pros and cons of the different weapons and fighting styles were.

He had been introduced to many different kinds of weapons and fighting styles, there was only one weapon he was interested in, which was the one-edged sword, called a katana. The katana was a dangerous blade because of the curve it had, and the way it was constructed.

He had not chosen a fighting style, otherwise known as a class. He had two that he was speculating on at the moment. It was either going to be a 'true swordsman' or a 'magic swordsman.'

The 'true swordsman' was someone who trained only in the sword and focused all of his energy on the sword. He would have a special connection to his sword, which would make it feel like it was an extension of his arm. A swordsman would build up both 'Aura' and 'Sword Intent' to get stronger. If a true swordsman came long enough into their class, they would be able to destroy mountains with only a swing with their blade.

A magic swordsman was basically the same, except they have to train their mana and magic as well. Which consumed the same amount of time, as it did to train your 'Aura' and 'Sword Intent.' That is why not many chose this class since it was one of the hardest to learn.

A reason why people do choose this class is that it has strengths that no one can match. If a magic swordsman at the peak wanted, he could feel countless nations, without them even being able to put up a fight.

The 'Aura' is something you get through training and fighting. It is something that shows the power of a person, and the more 'Aura' you have, the longer you can live and get stronger. It is very simple, but very hard to train if you don't have a teacher.

'Sword Intent' is only one form of 'Intent.' Mages have 'Intent' as well. For them, it is just called something else. For instance, a wind mage will have 'Wind Intent' while a fire mage will have 'Fire Intent.' The level of 'Intent' you have, shows how proficient you are in that particular field. The only way to further it is to train it.

A mage trains his 'Intent' by studying more spells in his element or perfecting one of the spells he has. A swordsman furthers his intent wither by killing opponents with his sword or to train it to perfection.

"Have you decided on your fighting style yet?" Rayes came out of the shed and looked with doting eyes at Einar. He was very proud of this disciple of his.

"No ... not yet! I want to be stronger, so the magic swordsman style is better, but it is also the hardest one to train ...!" Einar had been thinking about all of this for almost two months, he thought 'true swordsman would definitely be the save route.

"Did you just say the difficulty was a factor boy? Do you even know what you are saying?" This shocked Rayes, and honestly disappointed him a little. "You have already made it to the 'Novice Alchemist II,' it only took you two months! Your strength made it to the strength of three adults at the same time! Do you even know how difficult that normally would be?" Rayes could not help but look at his disciple with an annoyed look.

Einar was surprised by what he heard. He thought all of this was normal, he had just trained and trained like a maniac. His strength went up, he was happy, but he did not think it was that fast.

"You know kid, it took me a full year to just get to 'Novice alchemist I,' and I was looked at like a genius ..." Rayes looked at Einar with wide eyes "If I was a genius, then you must be a monster!"

"Thanks ... I think." Einar just looked at his teacher with a wry smile and started scratching his head. 'So I really am talented' as Einar thought so, he couldn't help but be a little happy.

"So please, Einar ... don't let difficulty stop you! I as you teacher, believe you can do whatever you want!" Rayes meant what he said, he was sure that Einar would grow up to be one of the strongest fighters that this world had ever seen.

"Thanks, Rayes!" Einar was touched. He had always been surrounded by people who loved him, but his family was never there with him. His father was always out fighting, and his mother died when he was young. Having someone like Rayes by his side, made him very happy.

Einar sat down on the ground now, thinking about what he should do. He had a new way of thinking, He would not think of the difficulty, but only the pros and cons. To be honest, for Einar, if the difficulty was not a con, then there was no reason to take the 'true swordsman' route anymore.

After a few minutes of thinking, Einar stood up and looked straight at Rayes "Teach me how to use magic!"

Rayes looked at his disciple with a smile "Good, good, that is how my disciple should be! I will teach you, but you have to learn how to gather mana first!" Rayes said with a proud look. "Mana is something you gather in your body and is the fuel for the spells we use as magicians!"

Einar looked at Rayes with an excited look and listened to everything he said. He wanted to learn so that he could get stronger.

"Now, sit down and close your eyes!" Rayes said this, and Einar sat down straight away. "All you need to do now is feel the flow of the world!" Rayes said this, as he turned around and walked into the shed.

"U-Uhm ... w-wait, what do you mean? fell the flow of the world?" Einar hurried up from the ground straight away, looked at Rayes with shocked eyes. Wasn't he going to train him?

"Good luck kid!" Rayes didn't turn around, but still had a smile on his face. Then he slammed the door.

Einar just stood there with a bewildered look. After a few seconds, he snapped out of it and sat down with closed eyes once again.

As he started to feel the world around him, some kind of energy started to flow. It felt like the wind when it touched him, and it went around him, just like the wind would. It felt quite refreshing as well, just like how it felt like when you drank directly from spring water.

After a while of feeling this energy called mana, Einar felt it start to enter his body. In the beginning, it felt amazing, but the more that entered his body, the less pleasing it got, and in the end, it started to be painful.

It felt like needles stabbing all over his skin, it got so painful, that he could not endure it anymore. He woke up from the pain and saw Rayes stand in front of him with a shocked expression. He looked down at himself and saw that his body was soaking wet from sweat, and he smelled like shit.

"You are truly a monster kid?" Rayes was looking at Einar in a daze,

"Huh?" Einar looked back at him with a questioning gaze.

"Do you even know how long you have been sitting there?" Rayes said with a resigned glance.

"No" Einar looked at him with a wry smile. 'What is the big deal, I just did what he said' Einar could not help but think that.

"You have been sitting there for two days now!! How can you sit there for two days on your first meditation!!??" Rayes yelled out the last part, he felt like he was going mad.

"Uhm ... uh, I don't know, it felt good for a while, then it started to hurt ... I just endured until I couldn't anymore!" He once again gave him a wry smile, he still did not feel like anything special happened.

"You don't even know why it is so amazing what you just did, do you?" Rayes looked at his disciple with a resigned look was again. "Come inside the shed, then I will tell you what I know about mana gathering"