'This really is...' Arden's body hair spiked, giving him a goose bump.
Glacies picked up a sword of his own and repeated himself.
"What are you waiting for? Pick it up." Glacies's voice was cold and intimidating.
'Damn it! I shouldn't have trusted Glacies that easily. Of course that weirdo Amethyst wouldn't keep his promise to let me live.. Glacies must be a Lackey of his.'
Arden was scared, his heart pounded as he was reminded of the Wolves that nearly killed him inside the tower.
A Green glow flashed inside his eyes but immediately stopped after he remembered his mother's words.
'Right. I shouldn't use that in front of others unless it's my only option.'
After Arden remembered his mother's words he swiftly grabbed the sword handed to him.
'I have to survive no matter what! For mother...for brother!'
Arden Vi Fiore gritted his teeth and steeled himself.
"Wow, I thought I'd have to attack you first for you to grab the sword! But even so, do you even know how to use it?"
Arden didn't answer Glacies's obvious provocations and kept his silence.
'In fact no. I do not know how to wield a sword, but even still, I am sure I can imitate my father, even if by a little bit. I always watched him train.'
'Hoo? He is at the very least holding the sword properly. Now then, let's see how you fare against this!' Glacies swung his sword in his excitement aiming to slash arden's sword.
'NOW!'
~Ting~
Arden used Glacies's force to redirect his sword, a technique otherwise known as... Parry.
'He deflected it properly, impressive for a beginner, but I can tell he is inexperienced, impressive.'
"I have got to say, I'm pretty surprised that you actually deflected my sword, but how is your offence?"
Arden did not miss the chance given to him and swung his sword.
Sadly, Glacies easily dodged his attacks without much effort.
"Slow, and weak. Untrained"
With swift movements Glacies swung his sword at Arden's torso aiming to down him, and damage Arden's confidence.
Arden blocked and was send flying and hit the wall.
"G-ah!" Arden spat blood.
"IS THIS HOW IT ENDS?!" Glacies Taunted "How would your family feel!? Are you going to let their sacrifices be in vain?" Glacies trash talked in order to stir Arden's heart.
'NEVER!'
Blue particles appeared around Arden and his wounds slowly started healing.
"I WILL NEVER BACK DOWN! NOT UNTIL I GET TO DAMIEN!"
Arden got back up by using his wooden sword as support.
"A goal! It's great that you have one! Always remember your goal in times of hardship! That will keep you going. Find your Brother, help him escape from the likes of Amethyst! I will train you to reach that goal!"
'W-whaaat? Is this guy serious? I almost used That power...' Arden was surprised to say the least. He was fighting for his life for one moment, and the other his enemy told him he'd train him. Thankfully he didn't pull out his trump card...
"Is there something wrong with your head? DO YOU THINK ITS RIGHT TO ATTACK A CHILD OUT OF NOWHERE JUST TO MAKE A POINT? HUH?! ARE YOU SERIOUS? ARE YOU DUMB!!?"
Arden snapped, his shock gave way to anger and ignited the blue aura around his body. His pulse quickened.
"I-I just thought this was the best action for your growth!" Glacies wanted to explain himself, but to no avail. Nothing could stop Arden's current anger.
Arden's flaring Blue aura started strengthening his body.
"Growth...? I'll show you growth."
He launched a barrage of sword swings, swinging at an unpredictable pattern.
As Glacies defended himself and kept dodging Arden's attacks, he was astonished by Arden's boost in power.
'What the? He is buffing himself with water magic, he is fighting like a beast!'
"Hey hey! Let's stop here for now alright!?"
"LIKE HELL IM STOPPING NOW! TAKE THIS!"
But as the bloodthirsty Arden was about to swing his sword with all his strength...
~Growl~
His stomach informed him about the need to eat.
'!'
Without missing a beat Glacies jumped and grabbed his saving line.
"Look! How about we grab some meat skewers? on me! so stop attacking me alright?!"
Arden, now still furious but a bit embarrassed, accepted Glacies's proposal.
He stopped releasing his aura and his fighting intent slowly died down.
"Fine, I'll let you go this time."
Arden dropped his sword and waited for Glacies to lead the way while holding his stomach.
'What is wrong with this kid? Not only did his body get stronger, his attacks also became sharper and fiercer. Damn, you can't even pull a prank on this generation... Taking everything literally.'
SFX" Yare Yare "SFX
"Let's go grab some lunch kiddo"
*
*
*
Glacies took Arden out to get some skewers, thankfully a nearby stall was already making some meat skewers.
"Hey Steve! I want to buy four meat skewers today."
Glacies got a few coins from his coin pouch and gave them to Steve.
"Four skewers coming right up! Is the kid new?" Steve was a big burly man, the type of man that other men would want to look like, peak human physique.
Arden was preoccupied looking at the sizzling meat skewers being prepared.
'Meat... Mmm.'
"Yes, and we are glad to have him, his name is Arden."
"Well, I'll throw in an extra skewer for free as a welcome present! Welcome to Pauperis district!"
"WOW AN EXTRA SKEWER!?"
'Wait, Pauperis?'
Arden was surprised, but not by much from such a minor revelation.
"Ah yes, Arden, I forgot to tell you, we are based in the Pauperis district, you were probably living in the Medius district, Medius is a bit better off than here but nothing compared to summus or Nobilis district."
Iudicium is split in four parts, Pauperis, Medius, Summus and Nobilis. Pauperis is the poorest region, followed by Medius and then Summus. While Nobilis is the land of nobles and Royals.
"As long as I'm fed, I will be alright."
"Your skewers are ready, here you go! Come again!"
Steve gave them perfectly cooked meat skewers, perfect meat to fat ratio and all the tasty juices dribbling down the skewer.
Finally, Arden took a bite.
'SOO GOOD! You won't find anything like this in Summus or Nobilis! I'm sure of it!'
Glacies thanked Steve and went with Arden to sit at a nearby park.
"Wow Glacies, this really is something! I've never had something this tasty before!"
'This Steve guy must have a lot of experience.'
"Yep, Steve has the best meat skewers. Anyway, I know I said I'd train you, but I can't train you all day everyday, I'm busy, so I'll let you get in the secret underground training room by yourself whenever you want to train extra."
"Great, I'm going to need to train a lot of I ever want to get to Damien."
'I have noticed something weird about myself, my spirit seems to have gotten, stronger? My demeanour has changed, and now that I have a clear goal, I want to train. not only my body and water magic. But my plant magic as well! But I can't let my trump card be found.'
Glacies pulled out a textbook and handed it over to Arden.
"You also need to study this, it will get you to understand what exactly the tower is, also about how to identify traps or secret rooms."
Arden flipped the pages and read
"The Tower's trials get harder to challenge the higher you get... Blah blah blah The trials are made by God's by imbuing their memories in the trial... Blah blah.. a floor always has a basic trial but sometimes you may have affinity to take an even harder trial for that floor, made by a different God, with harder challenges and better rewards... Yada Yada.. and how to identify traps. Fine, I will read it on my own."
"From now on every morning after class, I'll be teaching you water magic and swordsmanship. When you turn fifteen years of age, you shall challenge The Tower, until then, just focus on your training."
'Hmm, fifteen and up is the legal age that is allowed to enter the tower, it would be pointless to worry about it, for now, I'll have to focus on training.'
"Hey, Glacies. I will do some more training by myself today"
Glacies adjusted his glasses and smiled
"Alright Arden, I'll hand you a handbook about basic swordsmanship and basic water magic, do what you will on your own and I'll check your progress tomorrow."
Arden nodded
"Alright."
And so, after having their fill, they both went their own way, Arden back to the orphanage to train, and Glacies to take care of something he had to do.
-Underground secret training chamber
'Glacies may have given me those books, but the reason for coming here is not to train my water magic or my swordsmanship, But my Plant magic! I need to get more experience with my trump card. Sadly I don't know much about this magic type...'
Arden walked towards a wooden target used for swordsmanship
'Magic, visualisation is a big part in magic. By visualising what I want to happen and channelling the right type of magic I should be able to at least replicate what I did back then.'
Arden channelled his energy and his eyes turned Green
'VINES!'
Suddenly, vines grew from under Arden's feet and swiftly dug through the ground making their way towards the wooden dummy, eventually encompassing it and tightening around it.
"Well, if the dummy was alive it wouldn't be able to move... But what if the enemy dodged the vines? I need an attack magic as well."
Arden closed his eyes and thought, Vines, Plants, trees, all basic plants, how could he use them to attack?
"I got it!" Arden grabbed his sword
'I'll just make a bigger vine, or a pointy stick/log!'
Arden channelled his magic once more and swung his training sword.
'THORN VINE!'
A large thorny vine sprouted from Arden's hands, moved up along his sword and even more in order to reach the dummy a few metres away, and with a large clack sound, the dummy was hit.
"Hell yeah! Now take this! Wooden spear!"
Arden thrusted his sword forward and shot out a small pointy wooden pole , hitting the dummy and making it fall over in the process.
"Now let's see.." Arden walked to the dummy in order to inspect it
The dummy was grazed by the thorny vine, and had a small dent from the wooden spear.
'Damn, the damage is minimal. I get that from the thorny vine, but wooden spear? Well, I guess everyone starts somewhere, step by step, eventually I will get stronger.'
Arden meditated on his thoughts a bit
'I feel like I'm missing something. But what is it..'
As Arden was sitting over the wooden dummy, a bit of his sweat dripped on it, giving Arden a sudden enlightenment.
'Thats it! Water! Water let's plants grow! If I buff my plant magic with my water magic it will surely be stronger!'
Arden quickly picked up the dummy and got into position to shoot another wooden spear.
Arden gathered his Green Magic on his sword and then enhanced it with Blue Magic.
"WOODEN SPEAR!"
The wooden spear shot out faster and it appeared to also be a little bigger.
'Oh!'
The wooden spear pierced the dummy and brought it to the ground.
Arden was pleasantly surprised, but...
"Huff, huff, using two different attributes at the same time sure takes a lot of magic.."
Arden was using the wooden sword as support in order to not fall to the ground.
' I have to find a way to repair the dummy as well... I'll just recover my mana and fix it with plant magic. I guess I'll read the books Glacies gave me while I recover.'
*
*
*And so, Arden continued his training.
Day by day,
In the mournings, being trained by Glacies in swordsmanship and Blue magic , eating meat skewers by pre-afteenoon, as well as trying new ideas for his magic, training his Green magic and reading the books given by Glacies in the evening. Constantly depleting his mana and stamina in order to grow them both.
Never once wavering from his goal.
And so, four years passed in the blink of an eye.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARDEN!"