In a spacious room, built upon tough, long-lasting rock, an indoor training facility stood. On the side walls, various pieces of equipment were arranged: weights, swords, spears, maces, shields, and plenty of armor sets. All varying in weights, sizes, and styles.
Laid out in the center was a wide square of uniformly softened concrete, and standing motionless in the middle was the young Leo. With his eyes closed, Leo pondered his training.
'I would love to construct my aura right way, but first, I must prepare my mana. Mmm… For now, I'll focus on training my body.'
Resolute in his decision, Leo approached the right side wall, stopping in front of a rack displaying an assortment of swords: wooden swords, straight swords, great swords, single edged swords, and curved swords.
Before choosing his training partner, he lifted the various swords, analyzing their weight, center of balance, and grip.
'None of them resemble the swords I used.'
Disappointed by not finding his ideal sword, he settled on a plain and simple, yet familiar straight sword, one commonly used by soldiers. In his early battlefields, Leo often relied on scattered swords from fallen soldiers, making him adept with straight swords.
With sword in hand, he stepped onto the smooth concrete square. Stopping in the middle, he started to stretch, starting with his neck, then his arms, followed by his back, and ending with his legs.
'Before I start training and adapting my body to my fighting style, I need to get used to my younger body again. What's my slashing distance? From what angles I can slash? How long can I fight at full strength? And lastly, how much damage can my body endure before failing?'
With clear objectives in his mind, Leo started to swinging his sword into the air. Stepping forward with his left leg, He slashed downward, twisting his body to the left, then swung upwards. As the sword reached out to the ceiling, he rotated and slashed horizontally.
Without a break, Leo kept swinging his sword from different angles, using various techniques, and levels of strength. Unsatisfied, he picked up another sword from the rack. With a blade in each hand, he frantically slashed, stabbed and sliced the air while twisting, bending and rotating his body.
Over and over again, he repeated the process, and only until his body screamed with pain and trembled in weakness did Leo stop. Dropping both sword to the ground, Leo leaned against his knees, gasping heavy and rapidly, as beads of sweat dripped onto the concrete.
After catching his breath, he tidied up the room, returning the two sword back in their original place.
'This won't do. I need a bigger push.'
Not fulfilled with his simple limit testing, Leo wondered for a way to push himself further. Various intense training regimens surfaced in his mind, but none of them appealed to him. Discarding solo training as an option, he began searching for alternatives in his current setting.
With ideas coming and going, he was left with the most obvious and only option, fight someone stronger than him.
With his next task clear, Leo left the training room. As sunlight beamed overhead, he made his way back to the manor.
.
.
Pierre waited silently besides the entrance for his young master's return. The moment the door cracked open and light burst through the gaps, Pierre straightened at his master's arrival. Upon seeing Leo, Pierre bowed deeply.
"The bath has been prepared in advance, young master."
Having served the Reylhearts for years, Pierre has developed a keen understanding of their habits and routines. For such, he adapts his daily chronogram to fit his masters routines. Anticipating his master's need for a bath after training, he ordered the servants to prepare a comfortable, warm soak.
'Precise as always.'
Leo nodded in appreciation of Pierre's work but paused before heading inside.
"Tell the current security chief that he will be sparing with me tomorrow at noon in the common training grounds."
Pierre tried his best not look surprised by the order. It was not rare for the young Leo to spar with the knights, but he never requested for the chief of security for a spar. From Pierre's perspective, the only logical explanation was that his master had an epiphany in his training.
"Have you had a breakthrough in your swordsmanship, young master?"
Unable to contain his curiosity, Pierre asked. He immediately regretted it. Ashamed by not containing his thought to himself, for a butler must not be meddlesome, he internally vowed to restrain himself better in the future.
"You can say so."
Leo casually responded, not even bothered or concerned with Pierre's question.
"Then I will immediately pass on your order, young master."
Determined to not make further mistakes, Pierre quickly took his leave. Without a chance to ask why Pierre looked so shaken up, Leo strolled towards his bath.
.
.
Submerged in warm water, Leo relaxed himself, letting all his sore muscle loose, feeling the pain disperse away.
'Truly, a warm bath is the best thing after training.'
As coziness filled his senses, thoughts stared to form.
'With my spar tomorrow, I'll be able to see my younger body's full limits, so that's one thing settled. I also not have to worry about my aura construction, I just have to avoid using mana for the next week.'
To construct an aura, one must accumulate a decent amount of mana in their body. Once there's enough mana, they must cease using it for a week. This process allows mana to settle and prevents fluctuations, which can be dangerous during the transformation of mana to aura.
As the rightful heir of a knight family, Leo had being accumulating mana for as long as he could remember. Even in younger years, he had far exceeded than minimum mana required to start aura construction. However, under normal circumstances, it is always best to amass as much mana as possible before beginning the process.
Aura cultivation speed depends on the initial amount of aura, and that initial amount of aura is determined by how much mana was stored before the construction.
'I will construct my aura earlier this time, as such, there's no reason to keep amounting mana. With my experience, I can skip the most tedious step in aura cultivation.'
Despite solving two concerns, he was met with two more, both difficult and time-consuming to solve. He needed to figure out how to surpass his past self's strength.
'To be stronger this time, I need to be able to characterize my aura and craft a swordsmanship that complements it. But what type of aura do I want?'
Puzzled by such a complex question, he aimlessly gazed at the ceiling.
'… Fuck.'
Frustrate at not finding an answer after thinking for a while, he let a deep sight out.