30 miles away from the village, there were ground-shaking sounds similar to an explosion. Beneath the rising dust blown by the wind were two silhouettes, one adorned a reddish orange aura while the other exuded a bluish silver aura. Their clash created shockwaves and their movements were fast that only trails of their auras emerged.
In but one moment as the dust cleared it was Ace, who had grown up and his younger step-brother Shaw who were sparring as part of their training. Chris then showed up standing between the two, and the two boys immediately halted their assault. "That's enough for today it is time for lunch boys." said Chris.
The three went back home together, where Ellie was waiting for them with a good hot meal for them and they enjoyed it. During the afternoon, as Shaw was resting, Ace went for a stroll carrying his new sword. "Seems that brother of yours is evolving quite well." engaged Ryuugetsu, Ace's sword spirit, "Well of course, after all he's 8 years old now so he can join in for some training am I right?" answered Ace.
"Yeah but still logically speaking he's still 5 years younger than you and yet he's capable of keeping up with you, though it's not as if you give it your all either." Continued Ryuugetsu. "Well Ryu, I guess he is what you call a natural-born genius, after all he also has an affinity with both fire and earth mana attributes."
As their conversation went on, they discussed on the fact of how a person with multiple attributes could combine their properties to produce new and original mana reactions and magic. "If I remember correctly we also discovered a Beast Will within his soul right?" exclaimed Ryu which was confirmed by Ace.
A beast will which was the remnants of the mana of a magical beast when it dies. It was considered a very rare happening since there is only a chance of it appearing only once in atleast every 50 years. As they continued their chatter Chris aborded Ace.
He ask that the two of them go at the edge of the village to discuss a subject Ace revealed recently. He wanted to go on a journey as an adventurer to further hone his sword skills and magic. At the time Chris was confused by the sudden request but seeing Ace who bowed down his head and with a fiery determination in his eyes, he agreed then they proceeded to also telling it to Ellie who even though reluctant accepted since she wanted to support him.
"It's time, tomorrow at noon we will have a duel and if you defeat me I'll let you go but if you lose you'll have to wait until you're 15." Said Chris. Ace nodded in agreement while also trying to figure out how he would defeat the retired former mercenary who was once known on the battlefield as "The Trickster Spellblade Master."