In the meeting room of the Okanu Mansion, where usually only important meetings took place, Sasha, and Mandrick could be found indulging not in the physical sense, but rather in the parental one.
"As time passes it seems that Lutie finds a way to get cuter and cuter! I'm sure of it, in this world, no baby can compete with ours! So adorable!" Sasha commented with a wide smile, holding both sides of her face while she was busy gushing.
"Hahaha! You don't have to tell me, he had your face, and pinkish hair with lashes of purple, and purple eyes like mine. Though he doesn't have his extra arms yet, it's a matter of time." Mandrick responded with a smile matching his wife.
"Ohhh! And he's such a little sneaky one, he has your drive for adventure always trying to see more of the world, it's lovely!" Sasha was filled with pride with each word.
"His horns are a bit different from yours though, remind me of your old man, while his tail is more like your mother's. Your side of the family has a monopoly on our kid, I swear." Mandrick complained but he was still all smiles.
"Monopoly? He has your eyes and will have the extra arms, not to mention his teeth, and nails which completely mirror your father, then finally he has the eyebrows and lashes of your mother! It still pisses me off! At least my parents stayed away from such core traits!" Sasha retaliated tired of her husband's comments about Monopoly.
"Hahaha! Fine, I'll stop even though we both know he'll have your wings. Anyway, the girls are growing into their own as well, I didn't expect them to be following the steps of their elder siblings closely." Mandrick decided to give up on making that joke for now anymore.
"Our children are all amazing! But I'm still mad at those two, just because they are the eldest and went off to the Axiom Gustav Academy, it doesn't mean they can just not send us letters! They barely ever do! Unbelievable!" While Sasha was proud, she could not help but be mad at the same time as such a behavior was frustrating her.
"Give them some time, I'm sure they are busy and focused on their studies. How about we focus on how we'll soon have to take Lutie to his first introduction ball, not to mention the girls, and eventually they will have theirs in time." Mandrick brought up with a hint of excitement.
"Fair enough, you're probably right, I still remember when we went to Axiom Gus Academy. Never had time for anything, though, in the end, we both didn't make the cut, at least our little ones are doing better. Don't even talk about the ball! I've been dying for the time for their introduction balls to come!" Sasha responded also filled with excitement about the idea.
"Well at the time we messed around with the wrong person, but that's the past, we still got somewhere in the end. If we hadn't-" Mandrick was responding with a sigh before he was interrupted.
Knock Knock
"I guess our guest has arrived," Sasha commented.
"You may come in!" Mandrick answered loud enough to be heard from the other side of the door.
Coming in was a maid followed by a small floating woman behind her at a decent pace.
This woman had red hair, and freckles, and wore small little glasses, as well as a whitish dress. Then there was her face with a bit of roundness to it with a hint of soft yet sharp edges.
While her physique was thin matching her small body, and there was not much to be able to be seen when it came to muscles.
That and her leaf-like sandals carried a certain air about them, like waking up to a beautiful morning or watching that one sunset that just looked better than any other else.
Soon the maid presented her to them.
"Master, and Mistress, Magic Evershaper, or Ever-Mage, Liliane as requested has come."
"Perfect, we need to test the youngest child's affinities regarding the 6 great axioms. Aside from that, knowing his elemental affinities would also be good." Mandrick commented immediately getting straight to the point.
"Greetings Miss Liliane, I'm Sasha, and this is my husband Mandrick, as you probably already know. Apologies for his rash attitude, he's very excited about the prospect of having another Evershaper son." Sasha followed clarifying with a smile and stepping on Mandrick's foot under the meeting room table.
"Oh… Oh… Uh… I… Hehe… It's no problem… Re- really! I'm here for a reason, af- after all." Liliane stuttered her way through her sentences, blushing a bit as she looked at them, standing on the meeting table.
Both Sasha and Mamdrick could not help but look at each other before turning to her again.
"Relax Miss Liliane, we might be of the house of lust, but what matters here is that we are parents wanting to know more about our Kid, no trouble involved," Sasha spoke after eyeing the little lady up, and deducing what was going on.
"Look here, we know, you can get the job done and that's what matters. The rest is just semantics, you'll get paid and leave." Mandrick added with a raised eyebrow and a slight frown unsure of how troublesome the person they got might prove to be.
"I'll be ok… it's… It's not… It's not you… It's… It's… It's me! I I I I I I… Get very nervous." Liliane responded with a forced smile blushing from the misunderstanding.
"In that case, it's best if we just go. I know when I see a field worker. Sometimes all words do is slow us down." Mandrick replied seeing that despite all the timid talk, she held her head high, and a reputation like hers would not come from nothing.
"So hurried, but he's not wrong if you work better than you speak we better just get to it." Sasha nodded her head despite feeling the need to sigh at her husband's attitude somewhat, after all, it was not the most noble-like.
A small smile appeared on the small woman's face, and she nodded.
From there they all went to the room, where Evenica could be found hawking around the little one, and they went inside to find a bedded Lutious.
It had been 4 years since he was born to the world and a lot had been learned and discovered in that time.
Since his experiments allowed him to explore the various uses of mana on an internal level, with the various many ways he could use it to enhance his body, however, he never got anywhere close to the external uses of mana.
"This is our youngest son, Lutious, and he's the one we wanted you to check on. Sweetie say hi to Miss Liliane." Sasha smiled.
"I bet he's going to be a real piece of work. I can already tell." Mandrick was quite confident despite having no idea of how right he was.
"Good morning, Miss Liliane. Lutious Okanu Of Lust at your service, and a great pleasure to make your acquaintance." Lutious responded and stopped meditating to get up and greet her.
"The… Th-The pleasure issssss… Is… Is all mine." Liliane responded a bit surprised by the young child's manners.
"When did you teach him that?" Mandrick asked also surprised.
"So it wasn't you?" Sasha raised an eyebrow half amused half worried.
From there, they put the politeness of Lutious aside, and let Liliane work, and work she did.
Touching the head of the child, she took some readings like he was some sort of crystal ball, and as if by magic, when she began speaking again it was a completely different feeling, tone, and rhythm.
"This child is different from the usual… I can't sense his potential at all, not for the most part at least. His potential for martial arts is prodigious, but I can't sense any other in terms of axioms. His path however is that of Lust… and Healing?… There's something else, but I can't see it." Liliane began talking about the reading with a very confused tone, clearly never having experienced this.
No response came as Sasha and Mandrick looked at each other with a knowing look, there wasn't any surprise but they didn't stop her.
"Finally when it comes to elemental affinity, there's a three, Healing, Lust, and Fire," Liliane said and a frown appeared on her face as soon as she was done talking.
After that, they left and went back to the meeting to the meeting room, where after such a performance only trouble could wait for Liliane, so she braved for the worst.
"Great job, you're the first to get anything from him, I was beginning to worry there was nothing… But it just didn't make sense." Mandrick commented a wide smile finally appearing on his face.
"Such a pity he only has potential for the physical side of things it seems, otherwise you could train him yourself, we've been looking for a tutor," Sasha said looking at her.
"Actually! I can do it physically too, I'm not bad at martial arts! Please I would like a chance to train this child!" The answer that came from Liliane was not the expected at all, no timid response instead she was sure that she wanted to be his teacher.
If Mandrick and Sasha didn't know any better they would question this eagerness, but they saw it in the eyes of this woman and knew it was ok.
So from then on, Liliane became his teacher and started working with Lutious, teaching him about various subjects without any trouble.
Due to this he finally learned what was wrong with his externalization of mana, it was a matter of understanding how mana worked when casting a spell. Before Lutious believed that he could just send it out and let it accumulate in a part of his body, basic stuff like that.
This added to the fact he didn't know his elemental affinities, made it so he failed to cast any spells.
To do it correctly, he would have to maintain the mana connected to him while he casts the spells, only able to disconnect and throw it once it's complete.
Think of it this way, if to use their mana a person had to put their hand in water, they could not get that hand out until the spell was done.
Once he learned of that, Lutious immediately tried to cast a simple magic spell, named torch, a novice rank spell.
Controlling the mana on his body that surrounded him like a barrier of purple aura, he manipulated that aura to come to his hand, and then beyond that shaping a sphere of his mana that stood 15cm above his hand, and atop those 15cms, he ignited his mind.
After all this time, he finally cast his first magic spell.
Floating 15cm above his hand was a small but visible flame like a torch.
"Yes! Finally! This is great! I can do magic!" A wide smile appeared on Lutious' face as he found himself one step closer to his goals.
"….. You're such an odd case…. If what your parents said Is correct not even the church was able to fully reveal your status screen. You must have been born with a potent concealment ability… In part that makes you, interesting!" Liliane also smiled watching him from the side so focused on what he was doing she didn't even notice she was speaking outloud.
The interest Liliane had in him grew every day, as she taught him theory, and even trained physically, doing basic training routines with him every day.
From running long tracks, sprinting, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, jumping jacks, stretches static and dynamic, planking, hand-to-hand combat, and weight training.
At some point, he was asked to choose a weapon and he chose a battle scythe, a testament to his taste in stories back on earth.
In a flash, another year went by, and the new became the norm.
"It's time to train! Lutie! Let's go!" Liliane was full of excitement for another day of training, never in her life had she encountered a student like him.
Taking him to the court of the Okanu mansion like every other day, she stood in front of him, watching him with shiny eyes.
"Remember what I said, your stance, and footwork will be the core of everything, the way you stand and move says everything, cause those are what control the distance, and positioning. Weapons change the distance, but first, you have to understand it with your body." Liliane said with a smile.
(She gets so talkative wherever it's about this stuff…) Lutious thought to himself and took a boxing-like stance.
"Good! Every day we have to make sure you have this down. Honestly, you're the first student to have internalized the core basics from day one. Most of them ignore it, even when they have talent and brains, it takes a bit before they value it. I blame that on how young they are, but you're an exception! Hehehehe!" Liliane spoke with happiness dripping from her.
Her great excitement made everyone in the Okanu house start calling her the training pervert behind her back, as her love for it was a little too strong, there were times Lutious caught her drooling because he performed a move right.
(I still can't believe she gets off to this, she looked so innocent and nerdy at first, but then again she's a fairy, so she's probably really old even though she looks very young.) Lutious was also convinced she had unusual hobbies, but she was doing her job and had done nothing wrong so far.
"Now, a retread of your strikes, grappling, takedowns, defense, evasion, body condition, mana internal applications, and breathing, then we move on to weapon training, combat strategy, and finally personal style. Of course, magic will come after. Let's go!" Liliane began the lesson once more.
It was another full day, and she would push him to go above and beyond every day without fail, going as far as healing him so he could do more whenever he was falling short.
The intentions were not bad, but the pain was intense, and the tiredness never healed away, so he stayed weighed by it every day. Though he does get proper nights of sleep, it never felt enough.
"Perfect! Keep your breathing matching the flow of your mana, and movements to get the most out of each breath. If you manage to hit me once, I'll let you off early." Liliane said trying to push him even further.
Sweat beads dropped off the tattered Lutious, but he didn't move at all after her words, not out of tiredness, but rather unwillingness.
(No! I will go all in! I have goals and dreams far beyond it all, I can't afford to waste any opportunity to grow even one bit! This may feel like my whole body is on constant fire, but I want more!) In what might be the development of a masochist, the very idea of leaving training early was preposterous.
"… I see! This is why you're my favorite student! You put your all into this! I can tell! Then allow me to match it! We can go on until bedtime if you hit me directly!" Liliane changed up her offer upon realizing that this student truly had her kind of spirit, he was a training fiend as well.
Immediately he took her up on her offer, attacking with the wooden battle scythe that has been used for training so far.
Taking his battle stance with the weapon, one different from his empty hands, Lutious attacked with a feint, fully committed to it, his arms taking the right position for it.
Such a move didn't go unnoticed, as Liliane blocked with her little arm naturally no mana, as she commented. "Obvious footwork, even if your upper body is committed to the movement, if you can't lie with your lower body as well, anyone with some real experience under their belt will see through you."
This continued attack after attack, every blow blocked, while Liliane could have easily avoided these blows, especially at her size, that was not the point of the training.
(Ok, then! Watch me!) Lutious decided.
In an obvious feint, he went in again, and at the last second, he committed to it as the attack, coating his arms in mana to go in.
"Hahahaha, you got me! We'll go harder until it's dinner time!" Liliane was hit on her waist with the wooden scythe and immediately laughed it off.
It continued until, bedtime, and then Lutious began meditating again, it was an easy way to focus on his mana training.
At this point, he found out that magic spells were divided into ranks, and the higher the rank of magic spells one can cast, the higher ranking they are as an Ever-mage.
To cast higher ranking spells, one must train to raise their mana and also understand the more complex building of a spell at a higher ranking, so long as they have an elemental affinity for it.
Thus he meditated to train his mana further, the process of growing the limits was slow and arduous but as he did so every day, he would be fine.
The journey was just beginning, but it was starting to look bright as he took steps towards his goals, and one day he hoped to see it all, to be able to look back and be proud.
For that, no amount of work was too much, and his everyday life entered a new cycle but in the end, it was all still the same, just brought in a whole new package and he was happy with it.
(It's not just me, and Krias anymore… I have to get revenge on Beast, but I also need to make my new parents proud, after all, they were also there for me. I have a lot on my plate, and the best I can do is tackle it, one step at a time.) Lutious nodded motivating himself to go even harder in his training, as he had big pants to fill, and it would take a long journey to get there.