For the last 4 weeks I had been learning and training with my father under "The way of the Zogarians". No matter how barbaric or tribal that name may seem, that is the name of the Empire my father is so proud of, which also just happens to be the empire we reside on. Currently, we live in Uladia, which is the town we reside in. The Uladian forest is named after it, Which I think is really cool.
While Zogaria is the largest empire on the continent created by the first Paladin and his party members, there are multiple kingdoms that do not belong to the empire, and other kingdoms that have created their own alliance and had come under one man to be king of their empire as a whole. While yes, they might not have the largest empire in the continent, but according to my father, from the battles with them, even though they might be outnumbered, they certainly aren't unmatched in both skill and recourses. Apparently, they have as strong if not stronger forces than our empire does, but due to us having larger numbers and more allies, we are able to continually push them back in the front lines, making them lose more and more land after every attack.
Of course, my patriarchist father does not want to believe that his country or empire is weak, so he had convinced himself with upmost determination that the reason the empire is winning is due to the training, recourses and care the empire gives to us on a daily basis. He even went as far as to forge battles and situations that would make the Zogarian empire look good while making the Elucrate empire seem as if they are inhuman creatures without an ounce of sympathy.
I truly sympathise with the Elucrate empire and believe that out of anyone, it is more likely that the Zogarian army would be the inhuman bastards "without a single ounce of empathy". While the Elucrate empire did not want to take over land, they did not just kneel to the emperor as if he was god. They wanted their freedom and when push came to shove, they decided on an alliance to fight back against an oppressor. All they wanted is freedom yet this sh*tty empire decided to slowly take it away from them.
Of course, I didn't tell my father that. He had already been brainwashed by the empire when he was in the army which means if I were to tell him any of the things I was thinking about, not only might he decide not to train me anymore, but he might get a little resentful or angry, thinking that the beasts did this or something.
Yes, I do not believe anyone on this continent, or at least in this city had half a brain. No matter how much I love my sister, she is very naive and stupid. They same can be said about my mother, grandmother, and while Gen would be the most intelligent person I know, to my standard she is not half bad. I find myself relating to the beasts more than the humans, and to be honest, I have no idea why.
While it might have been because of the way they treat me, or the way I feel free when I'm with them, I still feel a lot more comfortable around them than around any human. However, the most comfortable I feel is when I'm by myself.
Another thing I found out is how many languages there are. While I might be lucky to love in a continent where there are a minimum of 7 languages, not including beast tongue or other non human languages, other continents such as the elven continent, the dwarven continent, the mermen who live in the ocean and the many other islands that have many inhabitants, even country has 20 or more language's. One thing is that the elven continent only has 4 languages, that being the nature elf language, the Ice elf language and the dark elf language. The last language is actually the beast language, since every beast in that continent speaks the same language.
The demon continent is the weirdest one, or should I say, the one that surprised me the most. Demons only have one language, and seeing how they are usually portrayed, I'd think they would act like barbarians and be a little more divided, but apparently the real barbarians are humans! I don't have a single ounce of of willingness or reason to argue against that statement, because I think it is true.
With that out of the way, the so called "hellish" training my father had promised me seemed only to be hellish to those who have not trained for 48 hours straight. Juilam was much harsher on me than my father, and after 2 weeks, my grandmother. While after a good 72 hour training session with Juilam I would need to drop myself into a deep sleep to recover my mental and physical energy, I haven't slept a single time since the day I had started training with my father. Actually, today will be my first day sleeping since then, due to the fact that I had not needed to interact with anyone, therefore my social stamina is well, while I also haven't faced death enough times during the whole period. To be exact, I haven't faced death while training in these four weeks.
I'm at a point where I think the training is for my father rather than for me, due to the fact that since he had started training me, I had seen more improvements on his side than I had seen on mine.
One thing I did accomplish however, would be my better sword techniques, more efficient movements with limited wasted movement, and how to change from using sword techniques to magic since apparently there is a small time frame gap which my opponents can take advantage of in-between my attack with a sword and casting my spell. Of course, since I do not actually have to do any hand signs, nor do I have to chant, I am still much faster than most people who are under 40, unless they are prodigy's.
Overtime a magician gets so used to casting a spell that he/she can create runes and magic circles in their mind and cast them where ever they want. Their affinity for a element would become stronger, and their simple magic will become more efficient while also becoming more accurate. This makes people who had reached the wizard stage easily able to create intermediate spells like elemental weapons without chanting a single word.
Anyway, after taking my first nap in 4 weeks, I go back to the front yard just to see no one. I look around for a bit before deciding to jump back to my room and see if my father is downstairs or still asleep.
"Zack! Get your brother right now! You are going to be late to your first day! You still have to go through the entrance exam!" My father shouted.
Hearing those words, I remembered what day it was an a Blossoming smile appeared on my face. Truly a day where 'god' had blessed me! TRULY BENEVOLENT!
Today was the first day for my brother's academy days, so, today is going to be the only day I pray to god, because if there is one, I'm hoping he just accepts my prayer and allow them to succeed and get through the entrance exam. I would never forgive myself not not praying enough for them to get into the academy. Maybe they will recognize the divinity inside me and bless me even more!
Walking down the stairs, I just looked at both of them struggling to put their jackets on. Seeing this, I chucked slightly before moving towards the kitchen to make some food for myself, however, I had come to a realisation which made me grin.
"Dad~" I said the most angelic tone and expression I could give
"Yes?" My dad answered while putting his shoes on
"Can I come with you guys?~ Pretty please~" I asked with puppy eyes.
"NO!" both of the twins shouted at the same time.
"Oh come on, don't be so mean! I just wanna see my brothers succeed!" I replied angelically.
"I would let you, but any more and we will late" He said
"So if I am fast, you will let me go with you?"
"Yes" He sternly replied, before realising what he had done.
"Alright, all catch up with you guys in a bit. Go ahead without me" I nudged while walking upstairs slowly with a large grin forming on my face.
Eventually, they left the house and took the horseless carriage, an apparently better more efficient version of the carriage.
Seeing that they had already went, I started wearing my black trench coat, my black boots, black gloves, black pants and black shirt. A second later I jumped onto the rim of the window before dropping down and using 'air walk' in combination with gravity control to make my speed as fast as possible. Creating pockets of air and fire gave me extra speed, allowing me to reach the carriage that had left 20 minutes ago in less than 3 minutes.
Seeing the carriage, I decided to land a hundred meters in front and just wait until they take trhe turn so I can wave at them to pick me up.