The path of a Warrior or a Mage was long and arduous. It required more than just hard work and effort. As much as they were important, what was more important was the experience in battles that would stimulate one to their limits. Once that limit is crossed, one would form a mana core and be able to call themselves a Knight or a Mage.
However, the number of people who could reach that stage was even lower than those who awakened.
But even before that, one had to go through an awakening ceremony. Once you turned twelve, you would go through a special ceremony to awaken your element in the following month of May. It was really easy to awaken an element, you just had to go to a High Church, and the priest would carry out the awakening ceremony. However, it did not mean that everyone could awaken.
The probability of someone awakening with an element was one in ten thousand. It usually depends on the parents, if they had an awakening, then it was highly likely that their children would awaken as well, but there was always a chance that they would not. Also, the element one awakened with was also highly dependent on the element of one's parents as most of the time it was inherited, but many a time it could be different too.
There were six different elements-Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light and Darkness.
None was above the other, and none was below; they were all equal, just had different uses. The power of an element depended on its user; the Fire element was not more powerful than the Water element, and the Light element did not necessarily purge away the Darkness. The power of an element depended upon the users of the said element and how much understanding they had in their elements.
Though there were rare elements, for example, Light and Darkness, there were many reasons for this.
Mana was ever-present, but it would sometimes co-exist with a particular type of mana. A place rich with fire mana would have more people with fire elements, those who lived in areas rich with water mana would more likely have a water element and so on.
Light and Darkness were rare because these mana's were not typically abundant in the atmosphere. But one could still awaken with them, but just very rare unless one went to a place inhabited by Dark Elves.
They always lived in areas filled with Darkness mana; hence the majority of the Dark Elves had Darkness as their element.
*SWOOSH*
Voice of air being split was heard in an empty training ground. A young boy of about twelve years old swung his sword as sweat dripped down his forehead.
Frontal slash, upward slash, horizontal slash, piercing strike and downward strike, one by one, he repeated these actions. Even though they were the most basic sword moves, he did them with total concentration. He would strive to improve every movement he made the next time, and his efforts were not without reward. His basic sword-arts were improving at a rapid pace.
Damon had never used a sword before, and his father had never allowed him to. According to him, unless Damon fully developed his body, it was not good to practice the sword as it may cause more harm than good. Damon had thought it was nothing but a joke and tried to practice in secret; the result was that he ended up with injuries due to the weight of a sword.
This was when he was ten years old.
"A good warrior needs to understand the limits of his body."
Rather than scolding him, Lawrence taught him the meaning behind his actions. Unless he had a strong enough body, he would not be able to practice the sword properly.
It had been half a year since Damon had started practicing his sword under his father, but he was never too serious, but now he had decided to put all his efforts into it. A possible war loomed over him while many people eyed his fief. He had to get strong, and developing his sword skills was just a part of the process.
He was wholeheartedly swinging his sword when he heard footsteps coming his way.
"What is it Dias," he spoke before turning around. Dias was the only one who would come here when he had asked everyone not to disturb him during the training.
"Baron Foxridge has sent all the food supplies you had asked, I made sure to double-check them, and they are the right amount," he answered while lowering his head.
"Good, make sure you store them properly. Did you pass my order to Philip, Barnard and Alad?" he asked another question within his swings.
"Yes, they have already started training their soldiers along with recruiting for new people who are willing to join the army," Dias replied, but then he asked a question that had been bugging him, "my Lord, why are we recruiting people at this moment?"
He could not understand the reason behind it.
Acheron Barony was a peaceful place. They had never fought with other nobles before, at least not in a war. Hence, Dias could not understand why they needed to raise an army so suddenly.
"Don't think much; I will tell you about it soon. Please make sure all the equipment provided to the soldiers is good and train them with utmost care. Things might get turbulent very soon."
Dias did not question much and carried the orders given to him with utmost care.
Damon kept swinging his sword practicing the basic sword arts taught to him. He had Acheron Sword Art, which was his family's inheritance, but he needed mana to use it; hence, he could not practice it yet along with other inheritance techniques. He planned to hone his basic skills before moving on to advanced sword styles.
As Damon repeated the basic sword arts skill, his movements became smoother and faster, while the power behind his attacks increased as he perfected his sword art. He was not just mindlessly swinging his sword or just following the basic sword arts; instead, he was asking himself questions as he did.
Why did he do the frontal slash like this? Why is the piercing strike done the way it is done? He corrected his movements whenever he saw a mistake or any deviation from the original course intended. Sounds of air being blown were heard as with each sword swing, and air would rampage about.
However, his arms and legs soon started to ache as they got tired after every swing. Each of his swings was faster and stronger than the previous one, making the energy expenditure even more. As he swung his sword a few more times, his limbs finally gave up, they could no longer bear the exhaustion, but Damon wanted to perform one more swing.
He could feel it, he knew this last swing would be the strongest and most perfect swing he had made so far, but unfortunately, his limbs did not listen to him.
Instead of stopping, he closed his eyes as he focused his mind on forcing his arms to make one more swing. As the mental battle against exhaustion got intense, he was on the verge of losing when a strong 'will' once again erupted from him.
"Ahhh!"
Damon shouted on top of his lungs as he made a swing straight towards the sky.
*WHOOM*
A powerful gust of wind followed behind his sword blowing away the dust in training grounds. Damon finally fell to the ground, with his breath being long and uneven.
He lay down while spreading his arms out, looking at the sky as a broad smile appeared on his face. He was happy; he had overcome his limit and set himself up for a higher level. But very soon, he felt something extraordinary, something magical.
Surrounding air moved and soon blew towards Damon before wrapping around him. That was when he felt it; a tiny thread of 'something' entered his body, followed by another and then another and many more. These threads went to every corner of his body, and he could feel the changes his body was going through.
His fatigue was disappearing, and he could feel his sore muscles healing back to full health.
'What is going on? How can I recover so fast?' he was amazed by the events that had just taken place. He tried to look for answers, but only one thing came to his mind: it was the only thing that could explain this phenomenon.
"Mana," he said outlaid.
Mana was the only thing that could possibly explain the events that just took place. He had never pushed his body to the limit before; hence this had never happened to him in any of his previous training.
Damon stood up, refreshed from his fatigue, filled with renewed vitality. He held his sword and took a stance; if what just happened was not a one-time thing and if he could use mana to train more vigorously, then he could make progress with his skills and strength at a breakneck speed.
He started swinging his sword again, each of his movements sharper, faster and stronger than the last. However, Damon frowned as he noticed a few more changes that had happened to his body.
'I am stronger? It is not much, it's too low to be even worth noticing if I don't concentrate on it, but my body had grown stronger than it was before,' he thought to himself, and once again, he came to the same conclusion.
Mana was making his body stronger, albeit very slowly.
Surprised and happy with the discovery, Damon swung his sword with even more focus. What he needed the most at the moment was strength, and he had to work hard if he wanted enough strength to protect himself and his fief.
Soon it was past noon, and once again, Damon heard footsteps coming his way.
"You should not lay on the ground like that," said Dias when he saw Damon laying on the ground, breathing heavily with his clothes drenched in sweat.
Damon did not speak but just lay there looking towards the blue sky, breathing heavily, too tired to talk. Once again, he felt threads of mana enter his body, taking away all the fatigue and soreness he had after the training, all while making his body stronger.
This had happened more than ten times now, and each time Damon could not help but be in awe and rejoice at the feeling it brought.
Once his body absorbed all the mana, he sat up and looked towards Dias.
"I am hungry," he said while placing a hand on his.
"I have already asked the chefs to prepare food for you. It would be best if you got washed and dressed. You have a guest waiting for you," informed Dias while Damon gave him a confused look.
"It is someone from the capital, and they have come with King's summons. You need to go to the capital to meet the King, every new hire of the noble family who becomes a Lord has to go meet the King before their position is made official," explained Dias.
Damon shook his head as he stood up and started walking towards his room.
He already knew about this, and he was waiting for the messenger to come. He had six months before he had to appear before the King, else it could be considered treason. The last thing he wanted was a King claiming him to be revolting against his authority.
'It aligns with my awakening and beginning of Aetas Magic Academy. The Magic Academy is located in the Capital of Aetas Kingdom, so I should meet the King before enrolment of the Magic Academy.'
He soon reached his room, where a maid was waiting for him.
"I will do it myself; you can leave," he said.
He had never had a maid change his clothes and bathe him since he was six years old, and he was not going to do it even after he was a Baron.
She politely bowed before leaving the room, and Damon removed his clothes as he made his way towards the bath.
'But it also means some people might try to stop me from meeting the King.'
He lay down in the hot water tub, thinking about people who might try hindering his path when he travelled to the capital.
But then he shook his head and closed his eyes, leaving his future worries for later.