"Do you want to rest in other rooms first while they are arranging your bedroom?" Kira asked Cairo that shook his head. "Training grounds?"
As usual, Cairo's mind was filled with training and Kira doesn't have a choice but to accompany him to one of the best training grounds in the Royal Palace
Along the way, they met several people that are fostered by the Royal Family and was given the best resources in the Kingdom. Those people naturally grew arrogant by thinking that they are the son of the heavens and a protagonist from a novel
They know Princess Kira, the only one that can stabilize the Kingdom's situation. All of these people want to be on the soon to be Queen's good side. Too bad for them that the General is trailing behind her and an unknown kid. No one of these talents dared to approach them
They might be geniuses but they still haven't reached their fullest potentials. The General's position is still far above them and is not someone that they can approach easily. And of course, the same was true for Kira
After some time, Cairo and the others reached a large area with different terrains. Some have sands that Cairo is used to, some areas have trees, some have huge bodies of water and etc.
This is one of the best training grounds in the Royal Palace. The top talents are there training their magical abilities but one look from the General was all it takes to have them stop what they were doing and it forced them to exit the training grounds
The General might act subservient in front of Kira but he still has the reputation of being fierce and he is not a merciful person. If the General is not someone that has a flexible mind that can see the big pictures, even he might show unfriendliness to Kira
"General, arrange for people to build a private training ground for Cairo inside the Royal Palace too. In the meantime, this one will be for him" Kira ordered as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world
The General that knew how much importance the Princess gave to the unknown kid can only answer with a "Yes, Princess"
"Come, let me help you" Kira waved her hand, both she and Cairo floated as they land in the sandy area that Cairo is used to
Kira controlled the sands again and they formed four humanoid shape sand dummies. With Kira regaining her full powers, this kind of things became easier
Cairo controlled some sands too and they floated around him. "[Sand Magic: Sand Guard!]" Cairo gathered more mana on his sand's head before holding out his hand and the sands attacked one of the sand dummies
The sand dummy threw a punch to the attack coming to it. Cairo's magic was successfully blocked before the kid spread his sands around his opponent
Cairo's sand covered the entirety of the monster's head and he clenches his fist "[Sand Magic: Sand Death!]"
The sands immediately tightened around the monster's head, if it was a human, its face would have surely been disfigured already
This magic is one of the skills that Cairo learned with the help of his past memories and it was quite brutal. Even Kira felt that it was not a magic that is appropriate for a kid but as long as Cairo won't recklessly kill anyone, it would be better if he can use magic that can kill his enemies so that he will retain his life when danger comes
With one of the sand dummies 'death,' the others made a move too and shot bullet size sands to Cairo
Cairo let go of his control on the sands in the opponent he just 'killed' and circulated his mana to his whole body
"[Blood Magic: Boiling Blood!]" Cairo's body received an explosive boost and the rune at the back of his right palm was activated too. Droplets of blood came out from it before Cairo uses them to make a blood gauntlet
With the help of the increase in speed, Cairo arrived at another sand dummy and threw a punch on its face. As Kira made sand dummies that are appropriate to be Cairo's opponent, another dummy died with its head bursting
As of now, there are only two remaining sand dummies left and they fired a ball of sand at Cairo
More blood came out from Cairo's rune and he hardened them before they clashed with the sand balls. The attacks from the two sides clashed and canceled out each other
For a faster speed, Cairo returned his blood gauntlet into its liquid form and made two thick threads of blood from them that entered the dummies' heads
Cairo breathed heavily after defeating four opponents just by himself. He still can't believe how much boost items can give to his power
He only uses the blood rune but it already enabled him to win in that fight. What more if he uses his other magic items?
However, Cairo knew that the power from those items are not his. He still wants the power of his own
Cairo looked at Kira with a complicated expression. The Princess immediately noticed that and asked him "What is it? You can say anything you want, don't be afraid"
Maybe because Kira is the person that treated him the best or because she's his sister in the past life, Cairo only contemplated for a bit before spilling the beans
"I want to study biology" Cairo said with a determined voice and to his shock, Kira nodded her head. "Okay, I'll have someone build a lab for you too"
The only reason why Kira doesn't want Cairo to study biology before was because of the place they were in. Where would Cairo get his test subjects in Blood Sand Town?
However, that is not a problem now. Mages using prisoners as their lab rats are too common in the Kingdom and are not something to look down upon. As long as the mage won't use innocent humans, it was fine
The only reason why mages are sometimes forced to use innocent humans is that they can't afford to buy prisoners. Since the prisoners are used as test subjects, their prices naturally became a bit high. But with Kira's position and authority, how can she not get enough prisoners for Cairo?
"Anything else?" Kira asked and Cairo shook his head. "Alright, I'll leave you here for now. General, assign a mage to be Cairo's temporary mentor today"
After that, Kira starts walking away to meet the 'headaches' or also known as the 'Nobles'
Cairo trained with his magic control with the sands on his own for a while before an old man entered the training grounds. "Your posture is wrong" the old man commented
Cairo stared at this person that has a head full of white hairs, waiting for his next words
"Us mages use our bodies to help us focus on controlling our magic. For example, I want the sands to move to my right, and to do that, I will also move my hand to the right"
"However, we sometimes forgot that the sands are not part of our bodies. They might not have minds but they certainly have their own characteristics"
"Sands are free and flexible. If you are moving them around, you also need to be free and flexible. Aside from that, sands can be fierce too, they can even swallow a whole Kingdom. Thus, at times, your body language must be fierce and aggressive too "
Cairo digested every single word from the old man and decided to try it. Cairo controlled a line of sand and moved it around him. This time, his body was calmer than before and he felt that the sands' movements were smoother than the rest of the times he controlled sands
"Now, use the aggressiveness of the sand to destroy this" the old man tapped his feet on the ground and a block of compact sands rose
Cairo movements turned a bit aggressive and he hits the wall but not even a scratch can be seen on it
"You must learn how to switch between different characteristics as natural as you, breathing oxygen. Once you learned that, only then will you be able to unleash your full power in sand magic"
Cairo controlled the sands again while keeping in mind the old man's words but it was still an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do
Even after a whole day of training, Cairo's improvements were still limited
This naturally made the geniuses that turned their focus into watching Cairo ridicule him in their minds. He was given the best training ground even though he's this 'mediocre', how can these arrogant talents not feel indignant about that?
When the sun almost set, Cairo's whole body is already screaming tiredness and his knees gave out. He was literally covered with sweat and the fatigue was too much for his little body to handle
"You should rest for now. You can continue training tomorrow" the old man commented before walking away