A week had passed since the Winstons left, and not much has happened. I'm still waiting for my teacher that my mother arranged, so meanwhile i started to touch up on the basics of each of my affinities. Affinity is basically our ability to use nature's mana along with our own by determining which elements we're the closest to. In essence, it is mana and not mana at the same time. So in theory, I can learn the other elements as well but it'll be very difficult. For now I learnt about the basic abilities of each of the elements. The information about one basic spell for each element.
After 8 days, the 'teacher' arrived. He was old, wore a loose t-shirt, shorts and slippers. He looked, unique. He looked like any other normal old man you'd see on a farm lazing away. I really don't want to judge a book based on it's cover, but he makes it really hard. I then saw my mother coming with a smile on her face,
"Glad you could make it father"
'Huh? father? so this is my grandfather? now that i think about it, they look alike and also his dark silver hair similar to my mother'
"Tch, you're still stuck on all these formalities, so this is the brat" he said looking at me with a finger in his nose, I take it back, he looks like really unreliable.
Elicia - "Say hello to your grandfather son, his name is Leonard Whitehall"
"Hello sir, my name is Astarot Levathian, I'm 8 years old"
He looked at me for a good minute, and just ignored me? damn he is annoying, I would've thought he's useless but I could see his well built body and mana fluctuations a little and I could feel he was strong so I kept quiet. He looked at mom
"So where's that fool that you left the family for? still fantasizing about glory?"
Elicia - "Father, you know damn well I wouldn't stay there even if it wasn't for him considering how well you managed the family, all of them were stubborn idiots who were too stuck up on their own pride"
Woahhh, you go mom, I've rarely seen her this pissed off, and they bickered for a couple of minutes. Finally mom couldn't take it anymore
"Enough! Father I called you here so you could train my son"
"This brat? I've got no time to waste on spoilt brats. Besides he's got no respect for his elders"
Now I was pissed off, my viens on my forehead was pulsing and I snapped
"Listen here old man, I don't want to be called a spoiled brat by someone who's acted like nothing but entitled old coot with a huge stick up his ass"
There was silence for a good minute, and he burst out of laughing
"Hahaha not bad brat, I'll teach you. Call me grandpa from now on and don't you dare ask me to go easy on you"
"Whatever, old man"
I immediately felt danger, but before I could react I felt a fist on my head, and it hurt, real bad. I could feel a bump on my head, now I understand where my mom gets her skills from. I glared at the old man, not a least bit intimidated.
"Hoh? looks like you need some education, you've got no respect for elders" he said while he looked amused. I looked at my mother and she was smiling? Is she just going to keep quiet? Before I could even say anything, he just lifted me by the back of my neck and carried me like a sack before we disappeared from the mansion. I couldn't help but marvel at how quick we were travelling and his skillful use of wind magic.
We quickly reached a clearing in the Deus forest to the North of our territory. He dropped on the ground and sat on a tree while shouting
"Survive until tomorrow morning brat, if you don't then there's no point in teaching you. I'm leaving now and you're alone, no one's going to help you" and he vanished.
Fuckkkk, I don't where I am and I don't have weapons or anything necessary for my survival. I was soon brought out of my thoughts when I saw a wolf with green stripes on its black fur and read eyes.
'Shit, I need to run' I started backing off which was a mistake since it immediately pounced on me. It's claws were really sharp and even though I dodged it managed to slash my ribs and I felt immense pain. I could feel my adrenaline kicking in, I immediately picked up a nearby rock and waited for it to strike again, and when it did I evaded to my left while enhancing my arm with mana and smashed the rock on its face, the impact produced a shock wave and dust. The wolf was flung back and it's face was bleeding,
*growl*
It snarled and watched me vigilantly, I wanted to curse because it was really resilient. This time I dashed while coating my legs with mana and swung my mana coated fist against it's body, it was hit again but this time it felt different. It was harder and then I saw mana swirling around it, fuck a mana beast? damn it. It let out a roar filled with mana and by the looks of it a bit of wind attribute as well. I got some cuts on my skin and was flung back and hit a tree. I coughed up saliva and I could feel pain creeping up. I could feel the killing intent from it that made my body shiver.
'Not like this, not when I haven't even started my journey' I grit my teeth and gathered mana on my whole body and focused on feeling the wind element. I didn't want to use a fire in a forest and wind was easier to control since I was using it a bit with my swords. I remembered the basic spell and the way the wolf used it's mana, I mixed them both and fired a spell at it. it let out another roar, I didn't wait for the result and immediately dashed at it with another rock which was sharper this time and used all my mana to puncture it's neck as soon as our attacks dissipated. The wolf let out a whimper and died.
My back was covered in sweat and blood splattered all over clothes. I was breathing hard but I didn't want to stay here and attract other beasts because of the blood. I started walking in one direction while lost in my thoughts
'The wind wolves are just E-ranked beasts and I already had so much trouble with a single one. I'd be fucked if it was a pack, I really need to get stronger and experience if I want to survive'
After walking for a while, I found a small clearing and I decided to rest on a log while using some twigs make pointy spears. Even though they are weak, with mana they can be strong enough.
'I'll need to find some food like fruits and water. Also shelter, fuck there's so much to do'
The adrenaline wore off and the pain immediately came, but I gritted my teeth and endured it. If I gave up here, then there's no point in me wanting to become strong. Fuck that old man, I'll give him a piece of my mind for leaving me here without weapons.
General POV -
While Asta was preparing some self made weapons, on a tree not far from him, Leonard was watching the young kid with interest. He was using stealth so no one could sense him.
"Interesting, while he has absolutely no experience in fighting, he's smart and adapts very fast. And coming up with his own spell watching the beast, how talented. I now understand what Elicia meant when she said that my own family's young'uns won't be this good. She really wasn't bragging, this should be fun"
He muttered to himself. While Asta was unaware, he was being watched closely by his grandfather.
After making some pointy tools, Asta left searching for a water source, it didn't take him long to find one as it was nearby. He was on guard the whole time as Deus forest was a very dangerous place. He just quickly washed away his blood and drank some water and left. After that he found some fruits which he had read about in the books his mother made him read. He kept a few of them so he doesn't get dehydrated. Although there were a couple of animals here and there, there were no magic beasts.
Night came and Asta had collected quite a few weapons he made by sharpening the stones using mana. He realized he simply panicked too much as he had mana that's simply convenient to do a lot of things. He decided not to sleep and tried to spread mana around 20m of his log, to see if he could sense anything. And he sensed the little fluctuating mana in the plants, though very little he still felt it.
Suddenly he felt a wave of mana that was much higher than the others and he saw a goblin who was most probably stranded from it's group. Asta didn't give it a chance to take the initiative and immediately lunged it with a stone spear covered with mana. It couldn't even react to it when it fell to it's death. The night passed on this way and there were a couple more beasts, but nothing too dangerous.
The next morning Asta went and washed his face and arms of it's blood and came back to the clearing and immediately Leonard showed up
"Well atleast you aren't completely useless. Let's go, I'll give you a day's time to finish up everything and you'll be training with me afterwards"
Asta was beyond pissed because of all the stress mentally
"Damn you old man, couldn't you atleast give me a weapon"
Leonard just bonked his head and lifted him like a sack and left. Asta had a lot of things to finish up, like his businesses and future plans. He made sure to give all the details to William to follow and Dorothy was planning on tagging along to train herself as well, though she wasn't allowed to interfere.
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A/N -
A minor time skip for training so the MC gets stronger and some experience after which I'll slowly open up the world. I have to say, it's a pain in the ass to write a completely new world.