The next day, Lucian approached his dad to ask if he could take him to the city library with Tetsu. Today, however, Galen was sitting outside with a strange expression on his face, a mix of concern, worry, and even a little anger. Lucian hesitated at first but approached him anyway.
"Is something going on, Dad? Why do you look so worried?" Lucian asked, a note of concern in his voice.
Galen suddenly snapped out of his dark expression and put on a quick smile, as if he hadn't been worried at all. "Huh... Worried? What would I be worried about? It's nothing. Dad just has a lot to do today, that's all." he said, trying to conceal his true feelings.
'He's definitely hiding something. Should I try to find out? No, it seems serious, and I'm still a kid, even if I ask, he probably won't tell me.' Lucian thought to himself. He decided not to pry further and instead asked the favor he'd come for.
"Dad, I actually want to visit the city library today."
"Oh... the library! I nearly forgot about that. Don't worry, we'll go there today."
"Actually, Dad, I want to go with Tetsu. Can you just drop us off at the library?" Lucian asked. Galen looked a little surprised but also intrigued.
"You mean the apprentice boy from the smithy? But he's still quite young too. Will the two of you be okay?" Galen asked with some concern, aware of the city's potential dangers.
"Don't worry, Dad. Tetsu knows his way around the library, and we're going to stay there until you come back to pick us up." Lucian reassured him.
Galen thought it over, still somewhat concerned, but he knew how much Lucian loved books, so he agreed.
"Fine, but remember, don't leave the library until I come back, okay?" Galen said with a smile.
"Don't worry, we won't!" Lucian replied with a huge smile, and seeing his son so happy made Galen feel content, too.
Afterward, Galen went to tell Lyra about taking Lucian to the library. She felt a bit uneasy about Lucian being around strangers, but when she learned that he would be with an older friend, her concern eased slightly. Still, she made Lucian promise not to do anything reckless. Once he made the promise, Lucian and Galen set off for the city.
When they arrived at the smithy, Lucian asked Galen to wait while he went inside. He found Tetsu finishing up his work.
"Tetsu, are you ready for today?" Lucian asked.
"Yeah, I'm just finishing up here. After this, we can head to the back." Tetsu replied as he put away his tools.
Once Tetsu was done, he followed Lucian to the training ground. Lucian was surprised to see that the tree from yesterday had been cut into logs. Noticing Lucian's curious look, Tetsu explained.
"Yesterday, the tree somehow fell down. Who knows how? It wasn't that old, and no animal could've done this without someone noticing it enter from outside. But it looked like there was some kind of blunt damage at the base." Tetsu said, his expression puzzled.
"Blunt damage, huh? Well, who knows what happened." Lucian replied, trying to hide his guilt.
"Actually...weren't you here yesterday?" Tetsu asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"DO YOU WANT TO SEE ME USE THE DAGGER OR NOT?" Lucian interrupted, raising his voice to brush off Tetsu's suspicions.
"Yeah, yeah! Please, show me!" Tetsu replied eagerly, quickly setting aside his doubts.
Lucian drew the dagger from its sheath, and Tetsu's face lit up as he watched Lucian hold it.
'This will be my first time properly channeling mana into a weapon. It felt easy last time, but I wasn't sure if it was me or the sword that did most of the work. Now I know the technique, I just need to apply it.' Lucian thought. Closing his eyes, he held the dagger with both hands, slowly injecting mana into it. Even with his eyes closed, he could sense the dagger's shape by visualizing the mana flowing inside it.
Tetsu watched in awe as he felt the waves of mana in the air. He saw the dagger glow bright blue before shifting to a darker blue.
After a moment, Lucian opened his eyes, feeling completely attuned to the dagger's weight, shape, and size as if it were part of him. 'So this is true channeling. It's amazing.' Lucian thought, smiling from ear to ear, impressed by his own talent.
Lucian then focused on a nearby training dummy, lowering his stance with his knees slightly bent. He gripped the dagger tightly with both hands, raising it above his head, and Tetsu watched, his eyes glued to the weapon.
Lucian suddenly took a step forward, swinging the dagger toward the dummy. As he swung, a powerful wave of dark blue mana burst from the dagger, cutting the dummy clean in half. As one half of the dummy fell to the ground, Tetsu stood with his jaw dropped, looking both shocked and amazed.
Meanwhile, Lucian, now even more confident in his abilities, felt the remaining mana in the dagger and knew he could have performed another attack immediately after the first.