It's been a week or so since then. I've been training my sword skills a lot lately. I've moved up from 5 dummies to 10. I've broken about 5 wooden swords already, surprising even myself with how strong the technique has gotten. In the forest, all around me, broken dummies and wooden swords were all over. Whenever something broke, I just imagined more in.
"Now that I think about it, I should name this sword skill."
Thinking of a name, I can feel smoke coming from my ears, as the gears In my brain turn. "What about Cloud Chasing Destruction?... Yeah, that sounds good, for now."
After coming up with a name, I went back to training. In each of my movements, I implement sword attacks and magic skills, using a Whirl light spear, gravity magic, and some sharp icicles that tear through the thick bark of the trees. My sword technique leaves scars along the trees, too. Throughout the week, I learned how to use ice magic. It wasn't that hard, I just imagined the water turning to sharp icicles and shooting out as fast as my light spear. After all of that, I finished this day of training with some body workouts, doing some pull-ups from the thick branches of the trees, some crunches from the branches, some laps around the forest, and some push-ups.
It was starting to get cold, so I imagined a thick brown coat around me, similar to that other one I had. But it was still quite chilly, so I imagined that the coat had some type of body warmers in them, causing me to let out a relaxed sigh as I felt the effect of the warmers quickly. I decided to head home for the day, my body aching from the hard workout and training. As I walk, I let my mind run trial after trial, thinking of ways to improve my magic and swordsmanship even further. As I was busy thinking of mana control, swordsmanship, and more, I stopped moving.
"What if I circulate mana constantly? Instead of just doing it for a limited amount of time, I should be doing it all the time. Even when I'm sleeping, walking, or eating, I want to gather mana as easy as breathing!"
I wasted no time to try and execute my thoughts. I walked, and while making each step, I circulated mana in my veins, imagining that each breath was mana intake and that after each breath, the mana would rush through each vein in my body and transfer it to my heart and mana core. With each pump of my heart, mana rushed through my body evenly, technically giving me a mana body. And my core was constantly being flooded with mana from my consistent intake. But the real hard part was trying to keep all of this happening while doing things like walking, sleeping, or even eating.
I would trip over my own feet, stumble a bit, and even bump into things. Because the best way to gather mana is to close your eyes, it was tougher to do with my eyes open while moving my body and working on mana intake and circulation. It was like trying to move an arm that wasn't yours, but I pushed through, doing everything I could. I wanted this, and I knew that if I managed to complete this mana circulation technique of mine, it would set me apart from anyone else. Before I realized it, I was already at home, and I still had yet to manage to do the technique perfectly. I stop, sighing in defeat. But I knew this wasn't the end, I was going to keep trying until the end.
"Quinten, you're back? Look what I got us!" My mother said, a light-hearted tone in her voice.
My eyes widened as I turned my gaze to the table. It was like a feast, the sort of food you only see well-off people eating, not someone like us, who lives in a wooden and stone house, just by the outskirts of Ashwood. I sit down instantly, practically absorbing the premium food. I hear the laughs of both my grandmother and mother. I look up, seeing them eating so sophisticated, and then look at myself. Feeling embarrassed, I slow down, trying to eat at a pace that's not seen as barbaric.
They laugh, and I then hear my young-looking grandmother's voice, "It's alright, Quinten, eat as much as you want!"
"Yeah, eat up, son. Thanks to those silvers, we're going to be able to eat like this for a while," She says with a smile and pat on my back.
...
Aside from how my happy my mother seemed, when she didn't see me around, she looked quite sad. I found myself very curious, and wondering why on earth she would be sad. I got so curious, I went to find out. It's been 2 days since that little feast at home, and I decided to follow my mother to see just what's been up. Maybe I should stay in a child's place, but something's just bothering me a lot. My mother works 2 jobs; one is a server job at a small inn, and the other is a heavy-duty job where she has to carry heavy stuff. I watched her from afar a bit, I learned while training my senses that I could just increase my eyesight. I imagined myself with the sight of an eagle, and quickly, my eyes adjusted, seeing far away things closely.
I didn't want to watch for long, but I found myself clenching my fists and biting my lips in immense rage. A fat, pig-looking man with golden teeth was touching my mother, running his plump hands through her hair and trying to touch her face. 'How dare he.' I think with blood trickling down my bit lip.
"Hoho! You're looking as beautiful as ever, Cynthia! You should stop with all this work and come be one of my women! You don't have a husband, right?" The fat pig says.
In an uncomfortable tone, Cynthia says, "No, I don't..."
Baron Pawelinus chuckled, his belly moving with each laugh, "Come on then!" He says as he goes to grab her, "I'm tired of waiting every day!"
This happened nearly every day, but it seemed like today he was going a bit too far. My mother backed away, fear and disgust in her eyes. "No, thank you, Baron Pawelinus," She said.
His eye twitched, causing him to curse her in his mind, 'This bitch dares to defy me!?"
He grabs her by the hair, pulling her, causing my mother to scream. "You don't deny my word, you bitch!" Pawelinus said, his face red and full of rage.
"P-Please, stop Baron Pawelinus!" My mother pleaded.
Meanwhile, as I watched, my eyes went unfocused, a pool of hatred and rage mixing into wrath. That man's destruction was all I wanted, but I was also scared since he's a Baron. If I hurt him, he'll come back to haunt us. We don't have the backing or power to stop him or his men.
"I'm only 10. No matter how much I've trained, I can't hope to beat them with my power alone, not now, at least. Hm...well, he doesn't have to know it's me."
Instantly, my body was covered in black clothing, similar to that of a shinobi. My face was covered completely with a mask, leaving only my eyes open.
I followed the Baron; he had my mother with him and was going to do whatever to make her his woman. At the place where my mother's job was, there was a huge tent; that's where the Baron is and where my mother was taken.
I couldn't wait any longer. I imagine in a long-sword, a real one. Since the night was already coming upon us, I didn't have to wait longer. I went ahead, rushing forward to find that man. To be even more discreet, I imagined myself using a movement technique, perfect for quiet and quick steps.
I circulated my mana, engulfing my sword and my body in it, my steps as quiet as a mouse.
"I'll kill that bastard."