Chapter 14: Sword and Wand

A golden loop of infinity, a lemniscate, formed within the spirit bodies of Mikaela and Lucien. It joined at the point of hand contact.

The loop which was now more visible had stabilized the ether within their bodies significantly through constant refinement and condensation. The excess energy was diffused into the air while the bare minimum was retained. This seemed endless as their body demanded more natural energy which was absorbed and later went through the processing. It formed an endless continuous cycle. 

Obviously, if they just stayed together, they would grow just fine. The only downside was they would be completely cut off from the world and fall into deep slumber.

'Very interesting. Too bad, I just came up with a better solution. Hehe~ but that does inspire me to improvise,' thought Bianca.

She walked to them and put the pendant around Lucien's neck and the bracelet on Mikaela's wrist.

The excess power moved toward the artifacts and was absorbed endlessly. This way there was a glimmer in their engravement; a lava-like glow and a golden shine.

As the strain on the loop was weakened, the children began to regain consciousness. The lemniscate itself sank even deeper into their spirit bodies becoming incorporeal and vanished from Bianca's sight.

"How do you feel?" asked Bianca. Her eyes had already returned to normal.

"Mom, did I fall asleep? I don't know, just fine I guess," responded Lucien.

Lucien felt refreshed but thought maybe it was because he had fallen asleep. 

"Auntie?! I was looking in the mirror then, I saw pretty lights, then I- I can't remember… What is everyone doing here, Auntie?" asked Mikaela. 

His confused expression left Bianca helpless on how to explain it.

"...You just zoned out a while and we were worried. Are you feeling okay, Kaela?" asked Bianca once more.

"Yes, Auntie. I feel like I can run around all day. Hehe! I am so energized!" said Mikaela. 

His voice was filled with vigor and energy. Mikaela stood up and flexed his body as if to show how 'energized' he was. 

Mikaela quickly realized Lucien was beside him.

"Lu! Want to play? I want to play. What do you want to play?" asked Mikaela a series of questions.

"Nothing," answered Lucien impassively.

"Come on! You want to, don't you? Let's play tag. Your it! Hahaha~" 

Mikaela gently tagged Lucien on the shoulder and ran out of the room. 

"Hello, mamma, papa! Bye, Mamma, papa!" said Mikaela in the passing.

…And he was gone.

They were all surprised at the innocent carefree attitude of Mikaela. His parents could almost not believe they had been so worried sick over such a healthy and energetic boy.

"Sweetheart, go play with him. Don't let him know what happened earlier. It's best, he doesn't know," said Bianca lovingly at Lucien.

Lucien nodded and inwardly sighed as he got up to run after Mikaela. 

"Huu! It is truly happening too fast," sighed Mitchell. 

As indecipherable as his words were, the adults in the room all knew what he meant. 

Mitchell especially felt most helpless in this situation. He had no idea how to contribute to helping his child and nephew. His signature smile and cheer were now gone. He had to resolve this problem. He had to equip himself to be more helpful and not just a burden.

"I will take in training Kaela. I bet he would love the idea of joining me in hunting," said Mitchell.

Anette had no quibble about this. She had to read through her family records to find the best training breathing technique and other weapon training manuals. She was a master in just one but that didn't mean she couldn't use others well enough. 

"I will monitor their conditions. Let Kaela visit me more often," said Bianca. 

She was especially good at analyzing problems and conditions. At least in the whole bunch, she was the only one with such a trait in their eyes.

"Then I will train him, dear." Merlin finished her sentence.

"Leave the sealing and core research to me. I should find it in a few months or years at most. It should be the best. I hope to receive your help in figuring out some general knowledge from your specializations," said Anette. 

"Yes." everyone in the room readily agreed.

…

On their fourth birthday, the family had their usual tradition of coming together for a family dinner and giving the children their presents. Lucien and Mikaela respectively got a wand and a wooded sword for presents.

The sword was shorter than most and made of light-colored wood. It was obvious that it had been curved by Mitchell. He even went extra and curved the 'H' abbreviation for Howell on the hilt of the sword.

The wand was head length. It fit perfectly into Lucien's hand and it was made of dark type wood. Its smooth, shiny luster made it especially odd. Touching the wand, Lucien realized in an instant that it was probably not made of ordinary wood. 

Both Lucien and Mikaela both knew what the presents were for. Over the months since that day, the attention they got from their parents had increased a lot. Many rules were made. In fact, an entire rule book was made. Lucien found some of the rules tedious but he would not complain since he hoped to be a good child. At the very least to his parents.

Mikaela was over the moon with some of the rules since they indicated that he and Lucien would spend most of the time together. Lucien thought of it as annoying but he would not complain either. He had recently picked up reading as a hobby given he never liked going outside the house. In Lucien's perspective, Mikaela's hobby was disturbing him daily which he had grown accustomed to, unfortunately.

Another change was their training. Mitchell would sometimes take them into the woods and teach them about hunting and had long walks without ever catching any prey. It would include reading the wind, positioning, tracking, setting traps, and stamina training. It was rather weird since they were the only hunting sessions Mitchell would not get any prey in sight. 

Lucien began spending more time with his father. Merlin would teach him general knowledge about magic. This included reading and writing practice which sometimes, Mikaela was forced to attend despite his opposition to it. Lucien solved this by provoking Mikaela into a competitive spirit of learning. Of course, he would always win. 

Lucien especially learned general knowledge about the uses of magic circles, grimoires, mana channeling, mana accumulation, and mana consumption. Most of which was just theory told by Merlin. Merlin initially didn't expect Lucien to understand all this so he would use relatable daily phenomena to try to relate. He was rather surprised when Lucien told him he was fine reading between the lines and the examples were just confusing. 

Merlin heaved a sigh of relief.