In a tranquil place where Brandon's clunky armoured knights weren't distracting him with their clamouring and noisy personalities, he took the time to get a complete overview on his apprentices... Which made him quite amused.
One of them was ordinary. He had a neat Skill taught to him by someone special, but the bigger child was still nothing worth talking about. He was just an ordinary Sword Warrior even in attitude.
The other? He was someone who seemed like he was a 'ordinary' Unique Class holder on the surface level, yet was hiding great potential underneath that made Brandon's heart burn with expectations.
Though he had to say that Arthur was more likeable compared to Alex... It was to the point he could even see the silhouette of his past self being overlaid on the large child who trained swordsmanship. It made him a little stricter on him.
"Arthur." The young Warrior stopped in his tracks.
He wasn't sure what he had done wrong as he was sure he was infusing the right amount of elemental energies he could gather from the atmosphere into his backsword correctly. It became a routine for him to almost get lost in the feeling of his 'dance'.
When he swung his sword in accordance to what had been instructed, Arthur could feel himself getting lost in the feeling of immersing himself in the worldly External Energies he could sense with his Gaia Affinity. It made him feel a sense of joy.
Brandon was well aware of this situation, as he too would always feel joyful when practicing Elemental Swordsmanship until he mastered its power and contracted spirits to create elemental Spell Slots.
Now, as the master of such forces, he knew the truth of this sensation, and where it came from.
"Immersion into the 'World' of Gaia only makes you happy because you're being coddled by nature's embrace. As a grown adult, you need to become independent of it. Don't let it control you."
The large boy nodded his head to his teacher, who rolled his eyes as he saw Arthur doing it again.
"Alex." He called out to the skinny boy who was recently starting to grow some muscles thanks to the Grand Hero's hard work creating supplemental foods that had the magical properties to nurture.
He shook his head when he saw that Alex was sitting down thinking of how to combine magical traps he could create with his Runes rather than training his body. It made him understand how the youth became so lacking in strength in the first place... something he wanted to fix. There was a massive gap in his defences he hadn't thought of.
"Have you ever thought of what would happen if someone got past all your prepared traps?"
"...I'd just run awa-" He didn't even have a chance to finish his sentence as Brandon appeared before him in a literal blink of an eye. In that mini-second he used to close and open his eyes, his teacher got past all his prepared traps to grab his shoulder.
"And what if you can't do that?" He asked, giving Alex a meaningful look while tightening his grip.
A static burst of electricity suddenly repulsed Brandon's hand off of him, and surprised him as it seemed like the little magical prodigy didn't need any preparation time to apply Runes to himself.
"Let's train. Arthur!" He called out loudly, scaring the large boy out of his wits: "You join in too."
The two of them nodded their heads as they attacked him with seamless teamwork the moment they got close to each other. It was a testament to their friendship that in a maelstrom of chaotic combos... there seemed to be a line of reason in it.
A blinking light show attracted some of the knights in the distance who watched on in awe as the two youth tried their best to pressure a grown adult who had already mastered the arts of battle.
Still, Brandon effortlessly parried Arthur's blade with his palm while manhandling Alex by throwing him and tripping him up whenever possible. It was then he started to lecture them while fighting.
"Arthur, you might as well use an axe if you're going to use a blade like that." He sighed as Arthur was too inexperienced in using his blade against non-humanoid foes. What made him certain of it was the large child's reliance on gaudy moves.
"You don't need to stab my throat or decapitate my head, nor do you need to chop down my torso like a tree... or aim for my heart." This confused the young Warrior as he didn't understand why he spoke that. Weren't all those moves necessary?
Grabbing the back of Arthur's blade, he stopped their spar for a moment by neutralising Alex with a single-handed grapple that pinned the little prodigy's arm behind his back and chest on the floor. His hand traveled up the blade... to the tip.
"Veins are just a few millimetres under the skin of any Gaia Human, and organs are just three centimetres too. That's why, one inch is all you need to regardless of the species you fight." This was a perfect thought in concept but hard to apply.
Arthur didn't have the talent or the experience necessary to purge all of his wasted movements and also wasn't suited for such a fighting style that relied heavily on using one's head in the midst of battle. Even though he tried to guide him, it didn't seem possible to teach someone who let blood rush to his head whenever in the heat of battle.
After letting go of Alex so they could continue, he also saw a vast difference between them that couldn't be gapped with hard work alone. The large child just couldn't keep up with his friend whatsoever, something he found hard to mention.
The little prodigy purposely limited himself to match the 'rhythm' of his friend, who was constantly tripping over himself in their high speed battle due to thoughtlessly changing sword styles.
One of them was a master of using the right elements at the right time. Water Runes and Lightning Runes appeared on the young Arcanist's body whenever he was in a 'stance'. The former was used to boost flexibility while the latter was used to its high variations in terms of utility.
Water could be as solid as ice, as elusive as a thick mist, while also being comprehensive, which had naturally made it easier to grasp techniques which most would find hard to execute. This was paired with outstanding footwork and wrestling moves.
Switching to Lightning Runes in the middle of it also made it harder to grasp when he would throw a decisive strike, as the suddenness of thunderous attacks made him a lot harder to predict.
If this was everything, then he would only label the Fighter-like boy as a 'genius'. However, the way he clearly improved the more they fought made him become harder and harder to fight lazily over time.
The little prodigy seemed to be testing different fighting styles... while also understanding that magical properties mattered as much as honestly trained 'techniques' used to corner opponents.
He tested out what attacks could be blocked by using Earth Runes to boost his defence and what attacks would send him flying upon being hit. It was a crazy method of training he hadn't really expected Alex to do, as he hit real hard sometimes.
Wind Runes for dodging, Lightning Runes for sudden strikes, Fire Runes for the attacks he put his back into, Metal Runes to cut through Brandon's own defences, Blood Runes to regenerate, and Wood Runes to replenish stamina.
The last one was also drawn on Arthur a lot...
The complexity of Alex's fighting style only seemed to become higher with time as he was getting used to applying the right Rune on his body whenever he made certain actions. The different kinds of muscle tensing were used as mental triggers for his magic.
Though at a slower pace, Arthur also seemed to improve as time went on and days went past as they repeated this training routine everyday. He somewhat copied Alex but couldn't quite reach Alex's proficiency when it came to Gaia Affinities.
It was after many days of sparring did he grab Arthur and brought him to the side to talk to him.
"Change to Light Swordsmanship."
"I don't want to."
"Why not?!" Brandon felt a little outraged that Arthur was being too greedy in terms of the sword.
Mastering the various kinds of Elemental Swordsmanship just wasn't something the large youth would be able to do. This was something Brandon became more certain of over time.
"What's the point in it?"
"It matters to me."
"Why?"
"Because my sister is growing faster than me." This seemed to be an unexpected answer as the Grand Hero squinted in response. The man wasn't really able to connect swordsmanship and his sister's age at all. It was like comparing the sky and earth.
Arthur then explained something he had never told anyone else before, as it truly embarrassed him.
Even though his mind was simple, his heart was much more complex than anyone to imagine as he was the first to realise that he and his twin sister were growing apart the more they grew older.
It was something he hadn't quite expected to happen since he heard twins were always in sync.
Out of concern of growing apart from her, he decided to do a hobby he didn't like doing.
And that 'hobby' was...
"Comprehending the Gaia Affinity?" Brandon didn't know what to say to his absurdly cute apprentice.
He trained it just to get closer to his sister? Why is it Brandon felt a little embarrassed after hearing it?
"I want to have more to talk to her about." His sincere and honest words were so pure that it made his teacher become nostalgic of his own youth. Only a child could have such a kind passion.
It was indeed selfish, but cute at the same time.
"...How am I supposed to tell you off for that?" The Grand Hero finally gave up on persuading him.
"Yay! Does that mean you'll help me train?"
"Oh, don't you worry about that one bit. I'll help you out." He smiled with a demeanour that felt vaguely intimating to the large boy, before realising he made a mistake after his teacher continued: "So I'm increasing your training regime by a few folds~"
Arthur's face paled as he wasn't really that serious in wanting to do train his Innate Skill of Gaia Affinity. After all, he just wanted enough of a grasp to make small talk with his sister every afternoon.
Not that he had any say in it as Brandon was brimming with enthusiasm to teach this large child everything he knew... all from the way he dealt with various Class of foes to different tactics in battle.
The most prominent of them was 'swordsmanship'.
"Didn't I tell you not to swing it like an axe?" The demonic instructor of Arthur's spoke 'warmly'.
"I'm trying... I'm trying...!"
"I'm not asking that. What I'm trying to say is that you're too focused on 'cutting' too strongly."
"Then how am I supposed to fight?"
"By using your blade like a blade." He materialised a similar blade in his hand and did a demonstration.
Brandon swung the backsword nearly identical to Arthur's own in terms of type and design without the strength his apprentice always put into it, but his swordsmanship seemed 'strong' nevertheless.
It was a strange paradox. Rather than using the blade like a bat, he emphasised on the blade so much that the large boy finally gained some insight in what his teacher was trying to teach him.
Rather than completely dismissing his mastery of Light Swordsmanship, Arthur copied the moves he saw while controlling his Spirit Essence to become sharp using Light Mana. He didn't release any Internal Energy but still brought significant change.
Rather than putting his back into each strike, he instead exerted his very being when handling his sword. The blade was a part of him and he too was a 'sword' when wielding this weapon in his head.
Brandon nodded his head and stopped his demonstration as the boy got used to this style of swordsmanship. Then he looked over to see what Alex was doing, only to see him training by himself.
He felt like hugging these two cute apprentices of his as one was like an adorable nephew while the other was like a child who didn't know how to have fun. He wanted to bring Alex out of training for a minute and show him how beautiful the world was.
Still, his pride wouldn't let him put down his facade of a teacher and act like a father to this great duo.
It became the words that were left unsaid...