Chapter 5: Lecture
My studies are going well...
4 months since Roxy started teaching me, I a have already fully mastered Intermediate rank Magic spells in all 4 schools of Attack Magic, and also Healing and Detoxification Magic.
And the training with Dad, it is still physical training. I could feel the layer of Mana on my body getting thicker when training. But compared to the progress with my Magic studies, it is on the speed of a snail.
Swordplay sure is tough. Even with 2 years of effort, I am still not qualified to hold a wooden sword. Magic is easier to learn for me.
After knowing about my ability to comprehend the lessons very fast, Roxy decided to give me nightly lectures at evenings. Not only she taught me Magic, but also History, Geography, Common sense, and etc.
I still have ways to go with those compared to Magic though. I'm not really enthusiastic about those subjects, but they are necessary to build my knowledge so I'll keep at it.
For example there are interesting things like there is a ferocious tribe of Demon Races, they are a tribe of Elite warriors like the Saiyans, they are called the Superd tribe... 400 years ago they rampaged in the middle of the war killing friend or foe alike. An unreasonable tribe that even slaughtered their fellow tribesman, women, and children.
According to Roxy, they had the characteristics of an Emerald Green hair and a red gem on their forehead. And a superstition that the closer is a person's hair color to green, the more viscous they are.
Also the person who led the Demon Race in the 4th Holy Grail... I mean Human-Demon War also had an Emerald green hair, Demon God Laplace.
And so the Superd tribe became the boogeyman for children to behave and sleep early at night.
Roxy: "I'm a demon myself, actually."
Rudeus: "Oh. You—you are?"
I mean, if she's a Demon then it's understandable that she's a genius at a very young age. Demons must have more magical talent than humans do. They wouldn't be called 'Demon' if it's not.
(A/N: Majin/Demon race, which could also mean Magic race.)
Roxy: "That's right. More formally put, I'm one of the Migurd, from the Biegoya Region of the Demon Continent. You must have noticed your parents' surprise when they first saw me, right, Rudy?"
Rudeus: "I thought you're a young genius to be a Magic Instructor."
Roxy: "...You won't get anything from me giving me compliments you know? And I'm not young, I'm a proper adult already."
What?
Is she the type of kid who says I'm a proper adult but totally not? Or just the common trope of a loli-baba?
Roxy: "The Migurd and Superd peoples are closely related, and I've heard we used to get treated much the same as they were."
Heeh...
So this is the fantasy world racism huh.
Rudeus: "That sounds tough."
And so our nightly lectures continues.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roughly another year went by. My magic lessons were proceeding apace. I could now use Advanced-tier spells from all different branches of magic.
All without using incantations, too, of course.
Compared to ordinary training, Advanced magic was like picking one's nose. By which I mean there were a lot of ranged attacks and they felt pretty awkward to use.
Some might be defensive, changing the terrain temporarily, and just simply a small scale nuke just with different Elemental effects.
One day I asked Roxy.
Rudeus: "Wouldn't it be better to call you master than just 'Roxy'?"
Roxy: "No, probably best not to. I'm sure you'll easily surpass me soon enough."
Roxy scrunched up her face awkwardly.
Rudeus: "True enough. But aren't the goals of a disciple to surpass their master's teachings? Aren't there any traditions in Mages for this kinds of things, Roxy?"
Roxy: "Well, it'd be weird for me. I'd never outlive the shame of having someone who's clearly better than me referring to me as 'Master'."
Is that so?
Rudeus: "Hmm... So Roxy is just insecure with your talent not being good as mine right?"
Roxy: "If I became that resentful of my own student's talents, there's no telling what I might blurt out."
Rudeus: "Like what sorta things?"
Roxy: "Stuff like how I'm just a filthy demon, or how you're just some country hick."
Rudeus: "Heh... Sounds like Roxy have it tough with your master."
When I said those words, Roxy scowled at me a little.
Roxy: "I'm just not comfortable having a master-pupil relationship with such an imbalance of talent!"
So scary...
Yeah, something must have happened with her master alright, that pretty much confirms it.
She was talented than her master, and Roxy surpassed his expectations and envied her.
I won't touch these topic again... I hit a sore spot huh...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have turned 5 years old...
Seriously I have grown up big.
I still remember the days when I still shit my pants and had my butt cleaned. Mom carrying me around to breastfeed me.
Now I'm a big boy.
Is this the feeling of a father seeing their child grow up? It might be weird saying this since I am talking about myself instead of my kid.
And so apparently this world celebrate Birthdays.
5th, 10th, and 25th Birthdays.
And when you turn 15 you became an adult.
So young...
I thought that my mother giving birth to me at 17, but it seems she could have married Dad a couple of years earlier and make a family.
Seriously you gotta love the middle ages.
Just the thought of it made me want to lose my V-card early. But I'm not really gonna do anything about it.
I have 0 experience with girls so if I don't change much in the following years, then becoming a real wizard is a reality.
Today as the celebration started, Dad gave me a real sword and a wooden sword used for practice.
Paul: "Son, a man must always carry a sword within his heart. In order to protect what's important to you, you–"
Dad started a long, rambling stream of advice that you might find annoying from a school Principal.
His spiel had a friendly and energetic air to it, but in the end, even Mom chided him for going on too long.
Mom gave me a book.
Zenith: "Because you love books so much."
It was a botanical encyclopedia.
Honestly I needed this. After what had happened with that Treant years ago, I guess I need to study more about plants not to make the same mistakes again.
Rudeus: "Thank you mom."
She cuddles at me lovingly, which is not bad...
I wonder if I grow up, she will still do this to me. That would be a bit embarrassing...
Roxy gifted me with a wand. It was a stick, roughly thirty centimeters long, set with a small red stone at the tip.
Roxy: "I crafted it yesterday... It completely slipped my mind, since you've been using magic this whole time. A master is supposed to create a rod or wand for a pupil who can use elementary magic. My apologies for forgetting."
I knew it...
Roxy is a clumsy type that makes mistakes at crucial moments like this.
Still she is an A-rank Adventurer who is famous throughout the Continent for conquering Labyrinths solo. So she must not be THAT clumsy... right?
Rudeus: "Thank you Roxy."
Afterwards the party kept going.
Still it has a nice feeling. I haven't celebrated my Birthday like this for more than a decade so it is a nostalgic feeling. And I have my parents with me too.
During my Birthdays I remember only working at my part time jobs thinking that doing a celebration is a waste of money. Instead I save money for my little sister's birthday.
++++++++++
The following day, I began actually training with the sword, focusing on practice swings and fundamental forms.
We had a wooden practice dummy in our yard that I used to practice my forms and my strikes. My father helped me with my footwork, my balance, and the like. It felt really good, getting into the real meat and potatoes of swordplay.
Knowing how to wield a sword was crucial in this world. Even the heroes who appeared in books mostly wielded swords.
Given that background, the art of the blade was far more advanced in this world than it was in my old one. A master swordsman could cleave a boulder in a single stroke, or unleash a flash of the blade to strike a distant foe.
Paul was an Advanced rank Swordsman so he could do the former fairly easily. And he even used a wooden sword to achieve that.
I wanted to know the principles behind it, so he demonstrated it several times while praising and encouraging me. He probably felt pretty good having his young, Advanced-magic-using son clapping and cheering for him.
I used my [Mana Sense] and I could feel that the layer of Mana covering in his body drawing power on his legs, to his hips, flowing to his arms, and then into the sword.
It is a one swift and fluid moving motion of incredible display of sword skill. And that was just the basic strike.
Paul: "Take a step forward, like hngh, and then fwam!"
Paul cheered for me while using some unknown language on this world to teach me.
Okay first.
Focus the layer of Mana covering from my feet throughout my entire legs, then to my hips, to the shoulders, to the arms, and finally the finishing blow into the sword.
Do it in one swift motion...
Rudeus: "Like this?"
I tried to do it and apply it physically and strike the boulder.
Hm... I think if I rate that strike, it should be 3/10...
A pretty good score for a beginner like me who had done nothing related about fighting in both lives. How much more the classic old school swordsmanship.
Paul: "That's it, keep it up and you'll get better."
I will say this now...
Dad sucked in teaching. He is not fit to be a teacher and his explanations are too vague.
I guess he was the type of guy who moved through instincts. Preferring to understand things through their body than his mind.
This was just conjecture on my part, but it seemed to me that, in this world, magic was woven into the art of swordplay. It was visibly different from the flashy magical effects created by spellcraft, and instead worked by improving one's physical prowess and strengthening the metal of the sword itself.
In this world there are three major schools of sword styles.
1st the all out offensive style, the aggressive Sword God Style.
2nd the defense focus parrying and countering, the refined Water God Style.
3rd the adaptation and tactics, the Battle IQ North God Style.
Dad mainly practiced the Sword God Style, but he uses all three of them. And apparently he is an Advanced rank in all three schools.
As with magic, swordsmanship was broken into the following levels of skill: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor, and God.
Paul: "You've got a knack for magic, Rudy, but it doesn't hurt to learn the sword as well. You want to be a magician who can fend off an attack from someone who can use Sword God Style."
Rudeus: "So, you're saying I'd be, like, a magic knight?"
Paul: "Hm? No, a mage knight is a swordsman who can also use magic. You're the opposite of that."
Rudeus: "Is that so?"
Not really sure what's the difference. In the end it just mean being capable at both fields right?
For a moment, Paul was lost in thought, an uneasy expression on his face.
Paul: "You don't like swordplay, do you?"
Rudeus: "Why do you say that? I think it's cool though... And as a boy, I think I like it more. It's just that I'm more talented in Magic."
That's right...
Coolness factor of the sword is a higher level than Magic in my opinion. But since I'm more talented with Magic, I guess that balances out.
Fighting in long range using Magic, and then when the enemy manage to get close use Swordsmanship.
But that will just made me Jack of All Trades. If I have to pick, I wanted to specialize as a Mage and then with Swordplay as a sub-class. Just like what Dad said.
Paul flushed with pride and nodded happily as he brought his wooden practice sword to bear.
Paul: "All right, then. Let's get to it. Come at me!"
He was a simple man. Still it's refreshing to have a fatherly bond like this for a former orphan.
Rudeus: "Yes Dad!"
And so I tried beating him using swordplay and manipulating the layer of Mana in my body, but as expected I was not even worth a drop of sweat.
Still the only way to improve it is constant practice.
+++++++++++
When I'm just toddling my first steps at swordplay, my Magical studies are getting more practical and technical.
The subject now is about Melded Magic.
Combining different Magic Spells of different schools to achieve the desired effect.
Roxy: "What would happen if you cast [Waterfall], [Heat Island], and [Icicle Field] in that order?"
Rudeus: "You'd create mist."
Roxy: "Correct. And how would you go about clearing up that mist?"
Rudeus: "Cast [Heat Island] again and heat up the ground."
Roxy: "Exactly. Now, please demonstrate, if you would."
By the way this was a walk in the park for me.
I've practiced casting different schools of magic at the same time when I'm still 3. Technically I'm already Avatar level when using them: Using 4 different Elements at the same time.
Roxy: "Pretty soon, however, I'll run out of things I can teach you. Your graduation is coming up very soon."
Rudeus: "Hmm... Graduation huh, I think I still have a long way to go though. I haven't even learned how to write a basic Magic Circle yet..."
Roxy looked at me somewhat in a questioning gaze.
Roxy: "Magic Circles... Why are you interested in it? You could just use Magic easily without incantations right?"
Rudeus: "Well that's true... But Roxy also say that to learn Summoning magic, I needed to learn how to draw a Magic Circle right? If I could also learn how to create Magic Items and Tools."
Hm?
Looking closely at her face, she have a bewildered look. But then she sighed accepting it.
Roxy: "Well, studying how to draw Magic Circles are expensive and needed a lot of materials. And I think you would need a small fortune to be proficient on that field."
Rudeus: "Really? Then it can't be helped then."
I guess I would need to wait for years till I can do that.
I would like to try creating things like the [Dokodemo Door] or a [4D Pocket] like Doraemon. Well those are super hard to make I guess, so maybe I would pass making that.
After Graduation, I guess I would focus on swordplay. Practicing magic and recreating some spells on my free time.
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