Currently, inside one of the largest cities in the planet called Exodius, inside a very particular inn, actually on the backyard.
There was a woman, and 2 kids. Along with them was an old man, and also strangely enough, no one seemed to notice them. This was actually because of the magic the old man casted.
6th Grade Magic Spells, Sound Conceal and Object Conceal.
The old man was actually the teacher of these three, he simultaneously teached two styles of swordsmanship as well as magic at the same time, he seemed to be a very impressive man.
"Huff, huff, Sir Godo? Are you going to teach me things other than swinging this sword in different manners? I feel like this is not helping much."
"You're a bit impatient Miss Folaei. Each and every master of battle that had and will have existed always begin from the most simple actions. You first have to get familiar with the greatsword. Observe it's weight, it's properties, it's speciality, the flow needed to use it.
You have to dig out anything and everything that you can from a simple weapon and a simple action that is performed while wielding it."
Godo said to Folaei with a very profound tone. Folaei could do nothing but nod at his words, as she didn't really know what she would do by herself anyway.
So she began to put her mind back into the greatsword that she was currently holding.
The old man then got up from the piece of log, then he went over to where the young girl was.
"Rai? Are you having any trouble?"
Rai, the girl was currently practising her magic. She was absorbing mana from her surrounding and converting it into her own. This was how mages advanced and became stronger. Lower Grade mages could only absorb weaker mana, and the higher and higher they advanced, they could absorb more and more kinds and levels of mana.
The core that Godo had made for her actually helped her in this, by hastening the rate and speed of conversion of the surrounding mana into hers, and by allowing her to absorb mana that was not enough for her to handle yet. So it gave her a slight boost.
"No Sir Godo, i am actually doing it very easily. The core is way more useful than i first thought!"
She exclaimed happily. Hearing this, Godo smiled,
"That's great. Don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions or having any troubles."
Then he proceeded to walk to the young boy who was currently practising his sword.
"And how about you Shuya? Having any troubles getting familiar with your Inner Power?"
Shuya halted swinging his sword, then he talked,
"Gramps, i feel like I'm ten times stronger than what i used to be. Also, i think I'm doing ok with controlling my Inner Power. Anyway Gramps. Can you teach me the technique now?"
Hearing this, Godo went silent for a moment, as he began to think about what he could teach Shuya, and whether he should instantly teach him how to perform the 'Five Step Assault' techniques. After coming to a conclusion,
"Not now Shuya, you first have to make sure you have your Inner Power under your complete control. Or else something bad may happen every time you try to use it."
Hearing this didn't really make Shuya feel any kind of way, he was kinda expecting it.
"But i can teach some ways to utilise your Inner Power."
"Woah Really!"
Now that made him excited, then he began to beg for the ways to utilise Inner Power.
"Ok ok calm down. Let me go take my sword real quick."
Godo then quickly ran to the building, then took the iron sword that was layed against the wall. Then he went back.
"Ok, now I'm going to show you some of the most basic moves you can learn right now."
As he said that, he started to get ready. Shuya did the same by standing on the side and observing closely, Folaei and Rai also stopped what they were doing to come and take a look.
Then Godo gripped his sword, and he raised it a bit to place emphasis on it. The others, looking closely at the sword, they began to notice a white strand of light, some kind of smoke or something. Whatever it was, it slowly began to appear.
"This is Inner Power."
Godo talked out loud, the others looked at it with complete awe. Then he continued.
"I'll call this, the level of 'Manifestation', the ability to make one's Inner Power visible outside of the body. You see, the colour of Inner Power is actually not white, it depends on the wielder, and with enough proficiency, you can change it to whatever colour you like."
The three continued to stare at it, they wondered what kinds of things these white strands of light fluttering around the sword could do. And just as they were wondering about it, Godo continued,
"There are many ways to use Inner Power at this level. One of the easiest is to cover yourself or your weapon. One of the hardest is to use it as a ranged weapon. Of course this doesn't apply to shooting an arrow.
This time, I will teach you the former, let's call it 'Coating'."
"Gramps! Can i ask you something?"
"Mm, go on."
"How would Coating benefit me? And what other things can we use Inner Power for?"
"What do you think, Miss Folaei?"
Folaei was unsure as to why Godo called her, but she proceeded to answer anyway,
"Um, well. Maybe it hardens the sword?"
"Partly correct. What about the second question?"
"Maybe using it to make another sword out of Inner Power?"
"Correct. That can also be done. What benefits it brings include things like hardening, sharpening, durability increasing and the most important one, it allows your weapon to gain a special property that rivals magic."
"!!!"
Rai, Folaei and Shuya were shocked to hear this. It was common knowledge that even if one person had perfect mastery say over a sword art, examples being The Royal Swordsmanship, The Claws Of Wilderness and even as common as The Elven Swordplay, none of them would be able to hold a candle to mages above the 15th Grade.
If the statement that Godo just said was true, that means physical arts now had a chance of being as popular as magic.
"Is that really true Sir Godo?"
Folaei asked with a hint of uncertainty.
"Of course, didn't you see me use something called 'Great Descent' a few days ago? That was actually one of the easier techniques, made possible using Inner Power."
Now Folaei was sure it was true. There was no way that a simple stab on the ground would be able to make that large of a hole. With Inner Power coming into play, that made absolute sense.
"Sir Godo! I beg you. Please activate my Inner Power as well."
"No need to beg Miss Folaei, here come and sit down. I'll quickly do it and you and Shuya will learn it together."
This made Folaei realise yet again that Godo had everything, always under control. Well she didn't mind, and she was glad that he was a very kind old man.
Then Godo did what he said, in the process Folaei realised how great it felt, and wondered if anything could feel this great. All her tensed up muscles and joints were, tensed down. This was truly a heavenly experience.
Anyway, after that happened, Godo began to teach the two, the level of 'Manifestation' of Inner Power. And Rai, different kinds of magical spells.
And just like that, 2 weeks passed.
A/N: Yeah sudden timeskip, not a long one though. Also sorry for updating late, we had exams. I'll try to do two more chapters in the following weeks of this month. Anyways.
Peace✌️.