Leon had been steadily learning under the tutoring of master Logan, once he had understood the basics of this worlds written language, his progress had sped up considerably. In the year following he had become able to read the runes as easily as if it was his native language back on earth. The number system although looked complicated in runes was essentially the same as on earth which proved mathematics really was a universal language. His knowledge in this regard proved higher than even his tutor which left Master Logan with his eyes shining, he would never have dreamed he could learn such complex mathematical equations from a child of only 3.
This further confirmed his theory that Leon was a genius never before seen in this world, at the same time it also left him disheartened. He had worked his entire life studying to reach the point he was at, amassing all knowledge he could find, yet this child had it all come naturally to him.
Leon was surprised to learn that his brother, who had turned 10 just a few months prior had tested positive for the fire element. Kane was happy that Kyle had the same element as himself and with pride announced to his friends that he was sending him off to the Academy to train.
The Academy was a free service for the those living in Rion as the country was always wanting new spellcasters, whether it was for national defence or for the varying other uses a spellcaster had, it was always seen as an investment. this was a completely alien way of thinking for Leon, back on earth if you wanted to learn anything of a higher level the costs would always get in the way.
It didn't matter if you were a genius, if you didn't have the funds to be able to afford the education then there was nothing you could do. this often left the more intelligent but poorer students to waste away, while those disinterested towards studies or lacking the talent for it had access to something they didn't deserve.
Kane had regular updates from Master Logan and when he heard that Leon had completed what would take normal children 5 years of study in only 1, he was left with a blank face for a moment. When master Logan went on further to explain that Leon's mathematical knowledge even surpassed his own Kane didn't know what to think.
This was his son but even he was left a bit frightened by his capacity for learning and natural talents. it didn't stop him from taking advantage of his son's skills though. He decided he would bring him on some of the shorter distance trade routes he uses.
While on the longer trips he left Leon to help his mother run the store. This in itself was a great assistance to both Leon and his family, not as much pressure was on Lily and Leon was learning the concept of money in his new world. the currency was broken down into 4 forms, bronze, silver, gold and platinum coins, for every one hundred bronze coins it was worth one silver. The same principle worked going up to the higher value coins.
The store in the village generally used trade as a form of payment as the village was not wealthy in a monetary sense. What they did have in abundance was herbs, a particular herb that only grew in this part of Rion. This was Kane's main export which he would sell in the large towns and cities further afield. he would bring back goods and tools the village needed and trade for more herbs.
Leon spent his next few years learning what he could from his father's library and from any books his father brought back. while alternately helping his mother in the store and the occasional journey with his father. he was once more getting impatient, he had hit a wall due to his age again. Even though Master Logan had taught all of what a child needed to know, he could tell that Leon had lost interest in the more mundane aspects of learning.
Books regarding anything non-magical didn't take Leon long to read and didn't interest him much when he did. Master Logan started bringing basic alchemy guides in which mana was not needed for brewing, these sort of potions and brews mainly were of alcohol and some beauty treatment potions and lotions. Leon read these books and recipes over and over while waiting for his father to return.
Kane had gone to the city of Ashton that was a few hundred miles away, although as the closest city it still took a minimum of three weeks to travel just one way. his plan was to stay in the city for a few weeks so he could sell off his wares and accumulate supplies for his village. The village had its own agriculture growing vegetables as well as hunters to gather its food but some of the more commonplace things from Earth such as grain for bread, could not be grown in this region of the world and had to be imported.
The village was fairly simple in layout and materials, made from wood and stone with no buildings having a second level. The store that Leon's family owned was in the center of the village next to the village elders house, she was the one who had assisted with Leon's birth. There was another couple of simple houses across the other side of a dirt road that passed right through the center of the village. approximately 20 houses were spread out on all sides of the four buildings all with a timeworn track leading between them. there were no blacksmiths in the village which necessitated the need for Kane to bring fresh tools back to the village. on the northern side of the main road where the store was, behind all the houses were the fields for growing their food for daily life.
one mile south of the village was a copse of trees roughly 2 Square miles large, it was in this forest that the herb the villages harvested was found. it was a fast-growing herb that grew all year round, it was used in alchemy to make a lesser mana potion which could restore mana by 50% for anyone at the apprentice level, for disciples it still held a lot of use by restoring 20%. From after disciple onwards, it was essentially useless which is why no greater spellcasters had come to take monopoly over it.
Leon was going to ask his Father if he could bring him some alchemical tools and ingredients back from his next journey so he could start practising some of the techniques described in the books his master had given him. But the wait for his father continued. Lily was starting to worry as weeks passed and then months, he had never been gone this long so she feared for the worst. although he could handle the wild beasts and more common bandits, there was no telling if any other circumstances could take place.
Leon was out helping some of the villages collect herbs and carefully storing them in a special box provided by his father, it had a formation that kept herbs and plants fresher for longer. it was derived between an earth and water Spellcaster, it was a simple formation made at the apprentice level so that cost was not that high. After walking and collecting for a short while he found himself on the northern border of the forest. he picked a few more herbs and stood up to look towards the village when he saw a cart being pulled by two chestnut horses. His father had returned at last!
Leon closed his storage box and ran while carrying it back towards the village, as he got closer he could tell immediately that something was wrong. Large marks on the carriage indicated it had not been an easy trip, burnt sections looked ready to crumble and one corner on the top left part at the back was missing entirely. The two horses didn't look like the ones he left with, and his father was looking pale as he came back alone, the original driver was nowhere to be seen.
He made it back to his home and shouted for his mother.
"Mother! Father is back!! but he doesn't look well come quick!" Lily was instantly panicked and followed Leon back out of the building just as Kane was bringing the horses to a stop outside. He was a pale colour and struggled to get down from the cart until he was assisted by Lily, the villagers were gathering around out of interest and all had varying looks of concern on their faces. they knew that Kane made these trips for them and was feeling guilty he had been hurt because of it.
Once Lily had helped him inside Leon followed along and brought a chair over for his father to take a seat on when Lily finally asked
"What happened? You've been gone for so long! How did you end up so injured? I can sense it you know, you've made a breakthrough to rank 4 but it doesn't feel right somehow" with a hint of panic in her voice.
"Calm down I will answer just give me a moment to catch my breath! Leon get me a cup of water" Leon dashed off and returned with a fresh cup of water which his father finished in seconds.
"We were attacked a mile outside of Ashton. It was a perfect ambush spot so I should have seen it coming. Lyle, the driver was killed instantly by an earth bullet, there was nothing I could do! There was 5 of them, one of them was a rank three disciple, and it was him who killed Lyle. The rest where only rank one.
"I did my best fighting them off and managed to kill two of the rank ones but the horses were still killed in the crossfire and I took an ice shard in the shoulder and was burnt slightly on my back, " he paused here grimacing at the memory.
"I knew the rank 3 was just waiting for me to tire as well. So I had no choice, you know I had been on the verge of breaking through naturally Lily so I had to force it if I was going to survive.
"Although it worked and I made my breakthrough it was too unstable, I used the power while I had it and threw everything I had at them. I may have managed to kill them all with it but... My new core ended up cracking during the battle. In order to save the cargo, I managed to draw them off for a few hundred meters. It took me a while to stagger back to the cart and I was losing blood quickly. I could see dust in the distance as some of the city guards were rushing over. I guess my last spell may have been a bit bigger than I thought. they made it to me and I was able to tell them what had happened just as I passed out. When I woke up I was in Ashton chapel recovering. But. my path as a Spellcaster is now blocked... I won't advance passed rank 4, and worse still I only have the power of a rank three" he said while shaking his head.
"It took me 3 months to recover to the point I could travel again. At the very least I didn't fail this order and managed to bring everything back we needed to last for the next half year!" during the entire narrative Lily had been silent with tears slowly rolling down her cheeks, some she cried for losing Lyle. he had been a good man and friend of the family, but more so for the fact that her husband had suffered so much
"Did you recognise any of them, Kane?" she finally managed to say after clearing her throat. A dark expression came over Kane's face.
"Not the lower ranks, but the rank three? yeah. it was that bastard, Theo, from Ashton's mercenary guild. I've got a feeling somebody was making a play for the herbs and only the alchemist guild would be daring enough to hire someone for that." his face may have returned to looking calm but there was an anger in his eyes he was having a hard time suppressing.
"He was interested last time I was in Ashton asking questions about when my next journey was going to be, so this has been going on since last year at the very least." Leon was silent through all of what his father had said and chose this moment to speak up.
"Father is there no way at all to fix your mana core?" not understanding the severity of the situation.
"Unfortunately not Leon, once one is cracked mana can't be accumulated there anymore, and without that accumulation, there is no hope for repairing and definitely not for progression as it takes all of your previous cores to work together to form your next"
Leon was silent following this new information, he was sad that his father couldn't progress anymore but he was definitely not going to leave it at that either. while he was thinking his father called out to him.
"Leon, bring the horses and the cart around back, see if your uncle Jasper is around to help unload the merchandise into the back of the shop". Although not his actual uncle it was Jasper that always took him to the forest to pick herbs and teach him what he was looking for, he would also impart bits of hunting advice as Jasper was the man who led the hunting parties to gather fresh meat when stocks ran low. Leon left the store and did as his father had asked and soon had things packed away as he knew his father liked it.
Lily was still crying while looking at Kane, he reached out his hand and took hold of hers and reassured her he was fine.
"After a few more months of resting, I will be back to my usual self don't worry". Although it did comfort her slightly she knew that no matter what he said, the disappointment in his eyes at being brought to a halt as a spellcaster was something he would never get over.
For the next few weeks, Leon didn't mention anything about wanting to learn alchemy himself as his father was still recovering. once Kane was getting his usual colour back to his skin and was back in the store like he used to be Leon finally brought the subject up.
" Father, I haven't mentioned it till now because of everything that had happened but I was hoping I could learn some alchemy myself, I know I can't learn anything useful yet as I don't have any mana but Master Logan has given me some recipes for some basic things I wanted to try out. When you are out on your next trip could you bring me back some tools and ingredients I might need?"
Kane instantly had a dark look on his face as it made him think of the alchemy guild in Ashton who was most likely behind the attack on him. but he calmed himself down and turned to his son to see him looking hesitant and a little worried which is a look he had never seen on Leon's face before. instantly the anger was gone, he softened his expression while saying
"Of course son, but how about this instead? In a few months, it will be the autumn festival over in Keytown. It happens to fall on your birthday this year, so how about we all go as a family? your brother won't be able to join us unfortunately but I and your mother will be with you, we can buy what you need there."
Leon was happy to think he would be going somewhere new, he hadn't been to a festival in this world either as his father was usually away when Keytown was holding them.
"That would be great Father! is Keytown large? what's the festival like? how long does it take to get there?" Kane laughed and was happy to see his son was back to the usual child he always was, questions was something he had come to expect from Leon.
"It's about one and a half weeks travel from here and unlike some of the villages you have been to with me, this place is a lot bigger, they have a few thousand people who live there, there is also the ruins of an old castle not too far away from the town. As for the festival, well I will let that one be a surprise for you" he said while laughing once more.
Leon spent his next few months in his usual routine, reading, helping in the store and out gathering herbs. Jasper had also made him his own little hunting bow and tried teaching him archery. but that was a thing that took years of practice and in such a small amount of time, he showed next to no improvement at all. before he knew it his family was packing and gathering supplies to make the trip over to Keytown. thanks to the help of the villagers the cart had been repaired during this time, and Leon could be seen sat in the back next to some of the wares his father intended to sell at the festival, while his parents sat upfront. It was a bright day although the cold was starting to set in when his family finally set off on their journey. Leon was excited to see what differences there were between his two worlds when it came to a festival!