Under the bright sun, and a topless boy of 12 years old was doing strenuous exercises. Sweet tricked off of him and made the grass below him wet, making it look as if dew had formed on them.
The boy had bronze skin, that looked oiled due to all the sweat, black hair and sky blue eyes. He was somewhat handsome. But the most striking feature was the six pack that the body had.
"Alphonse, its time for lunch", said a tall bulky man who suddenly approached the boy.
The man also had black hair and blue eyes, but he had fair skin, his face was extremely masculine, he had a square jaw and bushy eyebrows. He also had a scar on his forehead.
"Just a minute uncle George," replied the boy named Alphonse.
George smiled as he looked at the sweaty boy, among all his nephews he was the most hardworking.
'Too bad he doesn't have the talent to be a Mage,' George thought as in melancholy.
George too did not have the talent to be Mage so he can empathize with the boy.
Just like Alphonse, George also trained day in and day out and became a Knight in order to prove himself to his(George's) father. All that hard work turned him into Third Order Knight, making him one of the strongest Knights in Alexy Empire.
Sadly George never obtained his father's recognition.
'The Skyslash family is a family of Ice mages,' is what his father would always say.
After George's father retired for his position of Family Leader, he assigned Alphonse's father Mycroft as the new Family Leader.
As per the rules of the family, the family leader can only have up to two wives and 4 children. But Alphonse can be said to be the Mycroft's fifth child.
Honestly many in the family doubt Alphonse's lineage. Many secretly gossip that Alphonse is just a baby that Mycroft adopted.
This is as 12 years ago Mycroft went to the frontlines of the war between the Alexy Empire and the Steven Empire for some unknown reason. He returned 3 mounts later with a baby, saying that it was his.
At first, all the Mycroft's brothers including George was furious at his blatant disregard for family rules and asked their father punish Mycroft.
Their father was also furious at Mycroft.
Mycroft asked for a private meeting with their father, to which their father agreed.
Meeting did not last long only a few minutes, but after the meeting, their father's attitude changed 180 degrees. He did not punish Mycroft and also asked everyone in the family to accept Alphonse as one of their own.
Although both the old and the current Family Leader asked the members of the Skyslash family to accept Alphonse, they all discreetly isolated him
When Alphonse turned 3 years he was tested to see if he had any talent to be a Mage but sadly he did not.
Mycroft did not seem happy or sad about this result, he appeared as if he had almost expected this result. He requested his younger brother George to train Alphonse in the path of Knighthood.
At first, George wanted to avoid such responsibility as he had never trained anyone else in his life before. But under the request of his father George reluctantly accepted.
Ever since than Alphonse had been living with George. At first, George was confused, although he was one of the strongest Knight in the Empire he did not know where to began to teach Alphonse.
Although he was a horrible teacher Alphonse was a good student and hardworking. So he quickly picked up the path of Knighthood.
George was surprised by the speed at which his nephew improved.
'Genius, I am a bloody Genius at teaching', he mistakenly thought it was his teaching ability that made Alphonse improv at such a terrifying rate.
Truth be told Alphonse was actually holding back, with his knowledge in cultivating the Martial Path in his previous life as Edward Hyde, he could easily pick up the path of Knighthood.
9 years passed by quickly and Alphonse learned basic reading, writing, etiquette, etc.
But most of his time was spent on training his body and in the way of the sword.
These 9 years the only person that he had interacted with was George.
"Uncle, do you think my body is ready to practice the
"After lunch, we will do a test to see if your body can withstand it, the last time we tested you almost reached the minimum requirement so this time your body should be tough enough"
*After lunch*
George placed one arm on Alphonse's shoulder and willed the mana in his body to flow into others body.
As the mana flowed into his body Alphonse felt immense pain all over his body but he had strong will power so he did not release a sound.
After the mana roamed around his body a few time it returned back into George's body.
"Congratulations kid, your body is ready, from now own you can officially walk the path of Knight," George said with a smile. He took a book and a sword from his storage pouch and gave it to Alphonse.
Alphonse expected the book which contained the
"The sword is a gift from me, don't reject it, from now own you are a true Knight and every Knight must have his own sword," George said and pride filled his voice towards the end.
"Does it have a name," Alphonse asked as he swung the sword and tested its weight.
"It's your right to name your sword," George said as he grinned.
"Alright then, from now onwards you will be called Thunder slayer," Alphonse said as he raised the long sword to the sky.
"Thunder slayer, good name, any reason why you named it as such," asked George as he rubbed his square jaw.
'Because the sword I used in my last life was also called Thunder slayer.'
"There is no particular reason, I just like that name," said Alphonse with a smile.
"Go to your room and practice the
"Yes, uncle," Alphonse said as he went to his room.
After Alphonse was out of sight.
'That kid is truly a monster', George thought as he rubbed his chin with a smile, 'I started training my body when I was 4 years old, but I was 19 years old when my body reached the minimum requirement to practice the
George looked at the sky and lamented, 'With his talent, he just might cross that barrier and become the first person in the Desolate continent to become an Ether Knight.'
Unaware of George's high expectation of him, Alphonse took and bath and went back to his room.
The room was fairly large and had a few pieces of furniture including a lamp, a table with some paper scattered on it, a chair and a sofa. Of course, there was also a large bed.
He closed his door and locked it.
'Finally, with this