"Albeooooom" the call echoed through the house, shaking the roof above my head and waking me up.
'Ugh' I'd hoped to sleep in today.
Begrudgingly, I quickly got up and fled to the window, hoping to escape but suddenly a shadow fell on me and I sensed a figure looming above.
"when will you realize you can't escape your mother" the words reverberated through me with a chill. "Eeik" and I squealed.
"M-mom".
"what are you looking at me like that for. It's time for your training" She unhesitatingly swung her wooden sword at me and I used the window reel to propel myself upward, rolling in the air to escape the sharp slash of her wooden blade.
"Too predictable. Mother knows you well" the voice echoed from behind me in the air, the hairs on my neck rising in alarm as the blade of the wooden sword sharply aimed for my back.
I reacted instantly and used my momentum to twist my body away from the trajectory of the blade, barely escaping by a hairsbreadth as the blade sharply whissed by in my ears.
In that split second scenario, I grabbed Mom's hand and applied force and technique to disarm her. Then we both landed on our feet, kicking up snow while I thought to myself,
'what a way to be woken up on my eleventh birthday'
"You never seize to amaze me with your talent" said mom as she looked at her empty hand. "If only you'd be more serious with your training" she added and picked up another wooden sword.
"Says the woman who wakes up her son with a wooden sword, honestly" I said, not really thinking.
"Oh, so you're awake enough to complain" she assumed a stance "let's see you complain about this"
Vhoom!
and closed the distance instantly, her blade heavily aimed at my head,
Clank!
I raised my sword and blocked her, only for me to lose balance and have my view of the world turn upside down as my feet was swept from under me and I fell down.
Thud!
"You're wide open" mom observed and brought her foot down on me but I rolled out of the way, hitting the ground with my hand to create lift and got to my feet, jumping away.
"and not focused enough" she added and chased me by instantly closing the distance.
Clank, clank, clank…
I parried her blows and attempted to land a hit of my own which prompted her to jump back, affording me some space.
I took that opportunity to activate
[Reading] which enhanced my vision and perception of the world around me.
"You know, if you're going to go hard on me, you should allow me to wake up properly first" I yawned, saying the words as I kept her in sight.
Aurora like lights surrounded her and filled the air. Atmospheric magic power.
"By the way happy birthday Albeom" she smiled and I sensed the magic particles around her react.
'here she comes and she's serious now'
Whoosh! She closed the distance, her sword ready to burst through me with a thrust but with minimum movement I evaded her, leaving her wide open to my attack.
I swung my sword at her, and sensing that she couldn't block or evade she leaped backwards but I closed the distance immediately and launched another attack to which she parried and did a triple thrust.
I [read] her movements and evaded the thrusts, hitting her wooden sword away and holding my to her face.
"thanks for the wish but it's one, one now" I smiled at her.
"Very well. Best out of three then" she suggested.
"Do you mind if we joined too. Maybe we team up, us old folk versus the kids" Uncle Killian said as her approached with Lael.
-
In the end, it was a draw. Thus, ending our daily morning training.
Mom and uncle Killian both were experienced warriors who have fought in many battles against monster and humans. Their fighting styles reflects that and makes them more than our equal opponents despite us having more power on our side.
Lael on the other hand is a mystery compared to me. He wields an unknown power even to me and is a reliable partner. His presence and confidence which adds to his overwhelming aura make him quite an opponent to contend with.
The village always make the mistake of grouping us together but unlike me whose strength is my hidden magical abilities, Lael is a different case. His power isn't magical in nature, or breathing/battle techniques for that matter. It's something more raw, undefined and pure.
When I put him through a series of tests to understand it, I discovered he has a nigh infinite stamina with a greater potential to grow formidable strong.
Currently he surpasses me physically and that's saying something.
"hmm, why don't we give it a name so it becomes known since it's so unknown." He said to me with a sheepish smile. "I don't want to be a mystery see".
"Well, since you have infinite stamina pool and keeps growing stronger, I'd say you're kind of limitless but we don't want a cheap name like that so how about Pure attribute?" I replied immediately since I was already calling it that in my mind.
"Pure attribute. I like that" he said and puffed out his chest. "My name is Lael, bow before my almighty pure attribute" he mimicked a superhero pose with his spiky snow white hair dancing atop his handsome head.
"bwawawa. Not with that skinny body I won't"
"bwawawa…"
Uncle Killian and Lael wished me a happy birthday before saying bye to us and went home to Aunt Rhys and the twins.
That's right, three years ago, Aunt Rhys gave birth to the twins, Lily and Lyla. And both of them took after their mom this time.
As I watched Uncle Killian and Lael go, a ball of snow hit me in the face.
"not fair mom" I said and bent down to fetch snow of my own to throw.
"Assumptions kills, son"
"Dad" I looked up to find that it was Dad who threw the snow ball.
" and like I always say. Always be on guard-haha" mom also threw a snow ball at me and laughed. Initiating a snow ball fight as the roosters cried and the lampposts lights went off ushering in a brand new day.
-
"I've been thinking, why don't we start a school in the village" I said as we were having breakfast. Mom had gone all out to prepare my favorite, Rice porridge with milk and eggs and bacon.
"puuuuuu- a, ha. What now?" Dad spat out the food in his mouth and asked.
"I believe he said a school, dear" mom replied for me as I had food in my mouth.
"w-why?" he asked cleaning the mess he made.
"Because education is the key to success" I flashed him an innocent smile. "Reading, writing and basic arithmetic. The village can benefit from its residents being educated. This village is on the steady path to development and the next generation needs the proper knowledge on how to manage its resources to create the best environment and society for our people right". I added as I childishly attended to my breakfast.
"That's not a bad idea" Mom said as she pondered what I'd just said.
As for Dad…
"bad idea? I doubt Albeom can think up a bad idea at this point" He said "but the problem is the village already has too many eyes on it as it is. The baron of Greenfield will be here in a few days because of the waves we've been making with our many implementation suggested by Albeom. Starting a school is not a bad idea but right now we shouldn't attract too much attention".
"Well, it was just a thought" I said and continued with my food.
There was no point forcing the issue, it's not like I'm going anywhere. The school can be established at anytime.
The curious bit is that we've been making waves and with my suggestions. I wondered. How so.
The only notable things I've said and seen done in this village was the establishment of an animal farm which yielded us a supply of milk, meat and eggs.
The making of a village garden for a supply of crops and fruits. It was nothing grand. Just a small area of land that we grew crops used for daily cooking. The idea itself was nothing impressive as there were already farmers in this village but implementing it yielded us more crops that has enhanced our cooking. As an example, I don't know for this world at large but this village had no concept of pancakes until I taught mom who taught the ladies and it became popular.
I mean we eat rich but that's how food is supposed to be eaten right.
The next thing I did which can make waves would be the lampposts all around the village.
There are these magic crystals called dull stones. They basically are the most useless magic stones in this world because they do nothing. In fact, the only magical thing about them was the fact that these stones form as a result of magic. There are cloudy white in cloudy and smooth to the touch. If it's not observed well it can be mistaken for a moon stone which is actually a very rare and useful magic stone.
Anyways. Because of the high concentration of magic power in this area dull stones are a common find here. I mean they are everywhere.
After I was disappointedly told that the dull stones were useless I run a few experiments with them. Mainly analyzing it.
I discovered that the stone was as I was told useless but beyond that it was a unique stone.
It's magic pathways were muddled together which resulted in it being cloudy white in color. But as I restructured it's magic pathways allowing magic to freely circulate in it, the stone gained the property to give off bright lights.
This in itself might seem trivial but if you factor in the reality that this world relied on fire torches for light at night and in the dark it really made for quite the discovery.
After that, I run a few experiments on the stone and eventually came up with an item that automatically restructures the magical pathways of dulls stones place in it. Basically, a way to refine the stones without me.
I presented the item and the refined stones to Dad who presented them to granddad, who using runes, crafted a lamp and a way to incorporate a switch in controlling and manipulating the now bright stones as we were calling them.
Anyways, Dad and the elder council sat for a meeting and decided to install every home with one and constructed lampposts around the village to provide light in the night.
Word got out from the peddlers and travelers who come this way and our village began to get a lot of visitors since then.
The wizard association even sent wizards here because of this.
Aside from this particular discovery which might garner us attention, the other things I did, though minor are, creating snow boards to surf in the snow and games that are not of this world. I think, personally that the village has become livelier and a much more nicer place to stay.