In the lounge room, Adrian saw a pile of presents waiting to be opened by him.
Adrian went in to action and start opening one by one. The result disappoints him. Many of the gifts are useless to him.
"Ay… what is this? Is this what they should be giving to a child?" Adrian complains.
The gifts he received are clothes that is too big for him, some pieces of jewellery, books that he already graduated from, invitation to their territories, wooden figurines and money. The most useful of the bunch. He received 300 silvers in total.
In Etterra, the monetary system is the same for all. All of them are standardise by the will of the gods. The materials are dug out, shaped and then offered to the altar. If there is a shaped material that came out without a pattern means that material is not qualify to be circulated or the gods think beings of Etterra don't need any more coins to be circulated.
From lowest to highest that is, Copper, Silver, Gold and the most precious one of them is Platinum. The conversion is 100 Copper is 1 Silver, 1000 Silver is 1 Gold, and 10000 Gold is 1 Platinum.
The material that unable to become coins to be circulated will be saved for when Etterra's population increase or can be used as decorations.
A moment later Ralph came walking in.
"There you are young master. The master had told me about your request. I'm happy to help you with training" Ralph came in the room with a polite bow.
"Thank you Ralph, for the help. Say Ralph, is this normal for a noble to received such gifts? The most useful one I receive is money." Adrian complains to Ralph.
"Yes young master, nobles do receive those even if you are a child. It is to show that the one who is giving the gift is wealthy." Ralph felt pity for Adrian. A child shouldn't receiving stuff like those. It will develop a feeling of vanity in such a young age. Luckily, the young master is very smart.
"Sigh, very well. Help me take them to my room. I handle them later on. The clothes can be kept for a while, I will save the invitation and money for later use, I can read the books to Marylyn, the wooden figurines can make as a décor in my room, and the jewellery can be saved, I guess. I think of a way to use it later." Adrian gave his thoughts to Ralph.
"Alright, young master." Ralph nodded and help Adrian take the stuff to his room. Adrian changes his clothes after everything is settle.
"Okay Ralph, take me to the training ground." Adrian asks Ralph to guide him to the training ground because he never went there or saw it.
Following Ralph, he finally knows the reason why he never saw the training grounds it is located behind the mansion and it is huge it is 1km long, 600m wide. Along the way he saw some guards patrolling the back of the mansion.
"The reason you didn't see the large training ground before is because the back entrance must be heavily locked and guarded. Master Malcom, your father is responsible for guarding the east boarder facing the Amaranthine Empire. Beyond the personal training grounds is the barracks for soldiers then the boarders."
"Don't get me wrong, Twilight Kingdom is in an okay relationship with the Amaranthine Empire. We just need a tight security to prevent smuggling and everything will be fine." Ralph explains in detail.
Adrian got the hint and understands everything. The Amaranthine Empire is a non-human kingdom, so beautiful elves and beast child must be viewed as commodities by some humans. Adrian felt disgusted by that fact.
"As long as a smuggling didn't happen everything is fine huh? I get it, Ralph so no need for further explanation." Adrian asked Ralph to stop because he don't need any further details.
Arriving at the training grounds, Adrian already felt the 'heat' of either his excitement or the summer sun. Surveying around, he nodded in satisfaction. It is a good place for training for the next few years.
"Alright, I get started by warming up. Ralph, please fetch me; a wooden training sword, the standard ones are fine too if there is none for kids. A wooden staff that is 130cm long. A good bow along with 200 arrows. Lastly, some targets the more of them the better." Adrian requested the items for him to do the daily missions.
"I try to find the things you want young master. I think there are some spare equipment left by master from his younger days. Although he started training at 10 years old, those equipment should met the criteria. He lost interest in those other weapons after he fell in love by using the sword." Malcom reminiscing the past then go search for the equipment.
Adrian nodded. After Malcom left, he starts stretching. Finished stretching, he starts running. The sun is almost at its peak so it's about 11am. Running under the summer sun is extremely tiring, especially for a 5 year old but…
"Aria warn me if something gone wrong in my body. Make sure there is no accidents. I want to temper my body. Make me endure in the summer heat." Adrian ordered Aria.
[Responding. ARIA will always make sure Master's body is in optimal condition. Added commands for training following Master's will. Feature 'Bodily chemical manipulation' will be activated to assist Master breaking his current body limit.]
[Backlash: Large amount of calories will be needed after training ended.]
"Yeah, let's gooo!!!" Adrian cheer feeling happy gaining Aria support.
[Running: 3.2km/3km]
[Endurance: 10]
[Agility:7]
"Hah hah… wew. That is tiring but it felt good." Adrian stopped running
"So… hah hah… about the other exercise… hah hah… I'm free to do anything that is related to… hah hah… the parts right?" Adrian asked Aria while gasping for breath.
[Responding. Yes.]
"Good work young master, here is some water and a towel. I already set up the things you wanted but I can't find a suitable training sword for 5 year olds." Ralph says while bringing a big glass of water and a towel.
"That is fine. I do what I can with what we have for now. Can you order a training sword then? I want it to be at least 5kg in weight." Adrian spoke without feeling dejected.
"Of course, I will make an order after this." Ralph replied
Adrian nodded then proceed doing 15 Push ups, 15 Sit ups and 30 Side to side jumps. He do 3 sets each.
[Arm exercise: 45/30 times]
[Upper body exercise: 45/30 times]
[Lower body exercise: 90/30 times]
"DONE! On to the next." Adrian cheered and go grab a training sword.
[Strength: 8] [Agility: 8] [Endurance:11]
"Damn this sword is heavy… Screw it, I just do downward slashes" Adrian thought while holding the 15kg sword.
[Draw, slash and downward slash: 0/200 times]
[Strength: 11] [Endurance: 12]
Adrian didn't count on how many slashes he does because he is focusing on throwing the next slash wholeheartedly. He practiced 'Muyedobotongji' and 'Kenjutsu' in his past life and he also an elite marksman. Going through those practices he knows martial arts need discipline and patience.
Felling satisfied after swinging the sword he move on to spear training. He grabbed the wooden staff and…
"Aria, activate 'Battle simulation'."
[Responding. Activating 'Battle simulation'. Target: Dummy]
[Notice. 'Battle simulation' will only appear through Master's eyes. No one else can see it.]
[Warning. Master lack of mana. 'Real impact' cannot be activated. Target: Dummy will disable physics and show as a hologram.]
"That is fine. I want to try 'Real impact' when I have mana. I think have an excellent first test subject" Adrian thought while looking at Ralph.
"Analyse"
[Name: Ralph] [Age:43]
[Level: Half-Moon Stage]
[Strength: 124] [Agility: 201] [Endurance: 156]
[Intelligence: 211] [Mana: 3252]
[Affinity: Wind]
"Forget it, no way I'm being hit by him. Look at that agility. Although, I have 'Mana reading' but it is still too fast for me to react." Adrian thought how foolish he had been.
"Forget it, I think about this later for now the dummy will do" Adrian gets into stance with the wooden staff.
[Stab, pull and slash: 250/200 times]
[Agility:9] [Endurance: 13]
"I think I kind of like using a spear. Such a long range and intricate weapon. I put a little more focus on this later on." Adrian thought with a satisfied face
"Okay. Next." He grabs a bow and a quiver than get into stance.
'Swish' first arrow hits the bullseye on the target.
"Hehehe… I still got it. Pity these hands are too weak and small to make it spin but it will do." Adrian praising and cursing himself at the same time.
Ralph at the side could not believe it, a bullseye on the first shot.
[Pull, aim and strike: 200/200 times]
[Strength: 12]
All two hundred arrows spent; 2 targets full of arrows like 2 porcupines. 200 arrows fired, 0 miss and 0 arrow ricochet. Adrian fingers are bleeding through the wraps he applied on the 78th arrow before the string is pulled.
"So, I have to do this every day from now on, huh? This is exciting." Adrian Shows a big grin ignoring his bleeding fingers.
"Ralph training is finished. Prepare me an ice cold bath. I will have dinner with 3 servings after the bath please. Please make these after every training session." Adrian ordered Ralph.
"As you wish young master." Ralph bow feeling glad the young master had a serious drive to become stronger. He felt Adrian will be a powerful and wise heir to the Cross family.