Age: 6
August 1st, 1254
And so the months passed. Mornings were spent mastering the fundamentals — Cedric slowly finding confidence in numbers, while I delved deeper into the mysteries of mana cores and elemental balances. Mrs. Rathyre, ever patient, always said magic was more about awareness than power. She wasn't wrong.
"I bet our instructor's some ex-adventurer," Cedric says, his voice buzzing with excitement.Today marks the start of our physical training—finally. After a year of tutoring under Mrs. Rathyre, it's strange to leave her lessons behind. We really did learn a lot, especially Cedric. He's mastered math and writing now, though he'd never admit he struggled at first.
"Maybe it will be a guard or knight?" That would make sense, especially after Father said he'd found someone 'special' for us.
"Well, we'll see in a few minutes I guess." We were told to wake up at 6:00 AM sharp and head to training grounds where we would meet our instructor. We walk down the path and finally after some minutes we arrive.
A giant of a man stands at the center of the grounds—bare-chested, wearing only pants. He's easily over seven feet tall, muscles piled on muscles, as if sculpted from stone. His hair is black, streaked with gray, and his rugged, coal-black eyes sweep over us like he's already disappointed. Scars crisscross his body like a map of battles survived and won.
"You're late." What do you mean we're late? We got here right on time.
"Uh, no sir. We got here at 6:00 AM sharp just like we w—." Just before Cedric could finish his sentence he was cut off by the hulking man.
"No, you're late. Fifteen laps around the training grounds, now." Yea no way I'm doing that. We weren't even late to this training.
"Now! Or I'll beat you so bad your parents won't recognize you." …Maybe we should run.
"Hey man you can't talk to us like that." Cedric. Shut up.
Before I could stop him. "Kid you're gonna have to listen to me cause both of your parents paid me to do even worse than that. Now get to running your twenty laps."
"Nice work, Cedric," I mutter under my breath as we start running. "You added to the punishment before we even started."
Grudgingly, and not wanting to increase our punishment, we begin to run around the training grounds.
By lap five we were already breathing heavy, and by lap ten we both threw up, we almost died completing lap twenty but atleast after all those laps we finished.
"Great, I have to train two noble brats who barely have any physical endurance. Whatever, at least I'm being paid good coin." Asshole.
"Alight, now that that's over. Give me fifty pushups, squats, and hold a three minute plank for the first part of today." Did he say only the first part of our training? You have to be kidding me he's gonna kill us before we can even awaken.
"Oh by the way, the names Garron Dordun, you can call me instructor Garron, ex Platinum rank adventurer and at the Crystalline core stage." No wonder the man's so built he's gone through countless fights and thousands of hours of training, and maybe even an earth or metal element.
"My job here is to train you two scrawny kids into Mage Academy level students, there will be three stages to my training. For three years we will completely focus on building your body: running, working out, anything we can to make you strong. Next we will focus on martial combat which is hand to hand fighting. And lastly armed combat if hand to hand isn't for you. Now, any questions?" Stupid old man we are too tired to even think and you know it.
"Good, didn't think you would." Damn you.
Me and Cedric take a few minutes to catch our breath and struggle heavily with the fifty pushups. Hardly able to stand up we robotically do our squats and lastly the plank that makes us once again throw up.
"Better than the last noble kids I trained, and your parents actually want me to train you for life and not coddle you." Yea still don't like you.
"Okay, the next portion of the training will be showing me what you know about fighting. Throwing a punch will be what we focus on today. Now Kade show me how you would throw a punch." I reluctantly get up from the nice forgiving ground and walk up to him.
I get into a stance, right foot lead and left foot back. Once set I bring my fists to chin height and quickly launch a punch, twisting my fist and driving through the air.
"Hmm, good for now. Cedric come up and show me." I wonder if he will do better than what I just showed?
Slowly, Cedric gets up and walks over to Garron. He gets into a stance similar to mine but he seems to be lighter on his feet, once he throws the punch the forms similar to mine but it's not so choppy, it's smooth.
"Oh, well that's not half bad kid. Maybe you have more talent for fighting than I thought. First let's talk about both of your stances, frankly they suck. Cedric's was slightly better since he wasn't so connected to the ground like you Kade." What does that have to do with anything? "This allows Cedric to be faster with his punch and make it easier for him to adjust his positioning for say if he needed to dodge. But still he needs to be a little lighter and you Kade, a lot. Second, both of you need to bend your knees slightly, don't stand so rigid and lock your knees out." Interesting, maybe Cedric has a bit of an edge in combat. For now. I'll make sure I'm not left behind in this training.
"Now I'll show both of you how a real man throws a punch." I watch as the giant gets into a stance and seems surprising light in his feet. "Watch carefully to what I do, but honestly you probably won't even see my punch, just the after effects." Yea right, you don't need to brag to a couple children. I narrow my focus, trying to catch every detail of his form. He shifts slightly—then vanishes. Or at least his arm does. One moment it's at his chin, the next it's just… gone. The air splits with a crack like thunder. Wind howls past us, and dust blasts backward in a sharp wave. In front of him, the mana infused stone wall shatters. Okay, maybe I should stop underestimating the guy before I do that in a real fight and die. Cedric has a sparkle in his eye from seeing such a powerful display of strength. Yes, the man had not even used magic, just his body to perform this punch.
"Hahaha, that look on your faces is exactly what I wanted. Maybe if you get to my level you can do that but either that would take a long time or both of you end up so naturally talented I'm surpassed in a few years." He laughs like it's all a joke, but it isn't, not to us. Even if we're stuck with low affinity ranks… we'll surpass you, old man. One day. No matter what.