Zenith was an advanced-level magician, but Wood couldn't simply ask her to teach him advanced magic out of the blue. After all, he was still a five-year-old child.
He had already shown remarkable talent in swordsmanship, and if he were to excel in magic as well, he wouldn't just be considered a genius—he'd be a freak of nature.
Wood Greyrat's natural swordsmanship talent was actually quite average, contrary to what Lilia had described. He couldn't perform feats like surrounding his sword with an aura.
The swordsmanship and skills Wood had now were all accumulated from other worlds.
Wood had speculated whether, as twins, Rudy might share some of his traits.
As it turned out, Rudy, like Wood, couldn't use aura to enhance his body, but his magical power was far beyond that of ordinary people.
No, in fact, Rudy's magical power was even more absurd than Wood's.
Wood had meditated for two years to build up his current level of magic, yet when Rudy first sensed his magical power, it was already nearly on par with Wood's—maybe even close to surpassing it!
After discovering the talents of both Wood and Rudy, Paul and Zenith decided to nurture them properly.
Though Rudy lacked much aptitude for swordsmanship, he was still made to practice some basic sword skills. The reasoning was that if a mage ever lost their wand or was engaged in close combat, they'd be defenseless.
Likewise, even though Wood hadn't shown any extraordinary magic abilities, he was still required to learn basic spells to aid in battle.
Wood certainly had magic potential, but since he deliberately concealed it, Zenith assumed he had only average talent.
With one child excelling in swordsmanship and the other in magic, it wasn't long before Paul and Zenith began competing with each other over which was superior: swordsmanship or magic.
Naturally, this rivalry spilled over to Wood and Rudy, and the brothers were frequently forced to spar against each other.
Their duels usually ended in mixed results, though Rudy won more often.
This wasn't because Rudy was necessarily stronger than Wood; both brothers understood that upsetting Zenith had far worse consequences than displeasing Paul. Zenith was the real head of the household.
Time passed, and after about a year, both Paul and Zenith came to a startling realization.
Their two children were progressing too quickly. Though Paul was an advanced-level swordsman and Zenith an advanced-level magician, after just a year, they realized there was nothing more they could teach their children.
For Rudy's magic training, Zenith used her connections from her adventuring days to hire a blue-haired young girl named Roxy as his tutor.
Roxy was from the demon race, which made her appearance quite deceptive—though she looked like a young girl, her actual age far exceeded her appearance.
However, there was no denying her magical prowess. She was capable of using Saint-level water magic, making her a formidable mage.
Zenith had some reservations about Roxy's demonic heritage, but the tutor's fee was quite affordable, so she put those concerns aside.
For Wood's swordsmanship training, Paul wanted to enlist Ghislaine, a former member of his adventuring party "Black Wolf's Fang" and now a Sword King. Ghislaine's strength was more than sufficient to teach Wood.
However, Ghislaine replied that she was currently under the employment of the Boreas family and couldn't become Wood's tutor.
Still, she was intrigued by what Paul described as Wood's one-in-a-million swordsmanship talent. Ghislaine even suggested that if Wood were willing to come to the Boreas household, she could teach both him and the Boreas family's young lady, Eris.
Paul's full name was Paul Notos Greyrat, and the Boreas family was part of the main Greyrat family line.
In other words, Wood and the Boreas family were distant relatives, so staying with them for a while wouldn't be an issue.
Paul had fallen out with his family long ago and had no intention of reconciling, but thinking about Wood's future, he eventually wrote a letter to the Boreas family head.
The first tutor to arrive, however, was the magic instructor Zenith had hired—Roxy.
Rudy, ever the closet pervert, was immediately captivated by the beauty of the young demon girl.
Being the frugal woman that she was, Zenith reasoned that since Roxy's fee was the same whether she taught one child or two, she might as well have her teach Wood as well.
Zenith didn't think Wood would understand much of the advanced-level magic lessons, but there was no harm in him attending as a free bystander.
At first, Roxy assumed both Rudy and Wood were complete beginners and planned to start from the basics.
But when the two boys demonstrated their ability to cast intermediate and advanced-level spells without chanting, Roxy was left speechless.
In this world, magic was usually cast through long, complex incantations.
Yet both Wood and Rudy seemed to possess a natural affinity for chantless magic, and their ability to sense the flow of magic and its wavelengths was far beyond that of others.
Rudy's spell was an advanced-level water spell, powerful enough to blast through a tree so large it would take two adults to encircle it.
Meanwhile, Wood's spell was an intermediate healing magic that completely restored and regrew the very tree Rudy had just destroyed.
"Are you two really only six years old?"
Staring at the two boys, who were only a head shorter than her, Roxy was so shocked she nearly dropped her staff.
When Roxy had taken on this job, she had wondered why the family had specified that the magic tutor must be at least Saint-level.
Now she understood. Without a certain level of magical prowess, there was no way to teach these two boys.
In fact, if Roxy hadn't sensed from Wood and Rudy that they were indeed human, she might have suspected they were demon race members like her.
Their young appearances belied the immense power they held within.
What Roxy didn't know was that her suspicions weren't entirely wrong.
While Wood and Rudy's bodies were only six years old, their souls and minds were far from it.
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P/S: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 380+ at p@treon.com/Betek and change @ to a