Chapter 32 Legacy 3

While I was researching a topic about martial arts, I remember reading an article about a certain type of training method. In that training method, it was said that, in order to teach where to strike efficiently, masters would always beat their disciples down until they couldn't remain conscious and were unable to learn anything.

And while reading that, I wondered why they would go to such lengths just to learn a martial art. Was it really that important to get beaten hundreds or thousands of times by your own master?

However, when the exact thing was happening to me, I didn't have the luxury to question those people's morals.

"Son, are you ready to feel the lightning? Even if you are not, there is no turning back."

The moment Father said that, a sudden bolt of lightning attacked me and hit me on my chest. And there is nothing I can say to describe that feeling.

"Kugh-!"

With the sound of puking, I wasn't able to handle the pain and made a sound. In the first place, that attack was not made to be ignored. The reason why we are doing this training in this place is that I don't have the limitations of my body in this place.

I can get attacked again and again and again. The only thing that is limiting my development is my own mind.

However, who am I? I am Callius Augustride. There is no way I would bend my head over something this trivial.

"Son, are you feeling it? The essence of thunder? The feeling of getting struck by lightning?"

Father said while directing another thunderbolt at me.

"Arrrgh!"

Another thunderbolt struck at me, and again I wasn't able to hold my voice.

"Son, are you feeling it? DO YOU FEEL IT?"

Austin screamed and threw another thunderbolt at me.

"Kugh, Huf, Huf,"

Between those deep breaths, I was trying to understand the feeling I was getting each time I was struck by that lightning.

"AGAIN!" /CRACKLE/

"Cough-"

"AGAIN!"

"Hırrr."

Have you ever observed a person's facial expression while they are working out? The expression they are making while they are lifting a weight of 200kg deadlift, 100 kg of bench press, or any other heavy weighted exercise that would make them push their limits? Have you ever noticed the ugliness of the expression on the face of those heavy lifters?

If I wanted to describe the way my face looks right now, I would say it is like the faces of those people who are working out. And the sounds I was making were no exception to that.

Have you ever thought why an attacker would scream before they attack, in war or in a fight?

The reason is pretty simple. It is a psychological phenomenon. It was proven that, while screaming, a person might output more strength than they would normally, and their tenacity would also increase. It is related to the thing we call a 'fighting spirit.'

That was the reason why I would scream every time I got hit by the lightning Austin threw at me.

"58! AGAIN!" "AAH!"

"59! AGAIN! SON, DO YOU FEEL IT?" "Kugh-!"

"60! CALLIUS, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE LIGHTNING!" "ARGH!"

"61! AGAIN!"

.

.

"129! SON, DO YOU UNDERSTAND IT!"

At this point, I can't even remember how many times I got struck by the lightning Father threw at me anymore. I lost my sense of time. The only thing I was able to feel was the weird feeling of current flowing through my body every time I got attacked.

'Essence of lightning, what is it? The essence of thunder, what is it?'

I had been repeating the same question over and over again.

'Huh? Essence? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? What are those things?'

"130! AGAIN!"

"…"

'Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric?'

"131! CALLIUS! ANSWER ME!"

"…"

'Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric?'

"13- Cal-"

"…"

'Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Speed? Preciseness? Aggressiveness? Weightless? Energy? Electric? Essence? Thunder? Zeus? Augustride? Destruction? Huh? Destruction? Destruction?'

Words started being repeated in my head, again and again, and again and again.

I the sense of my touch in this world, I lost it. The sense of pain, I lost it. The sense of hearing, I lost it. The only thing that remained in my head was the words that kept ringing in my head.

'The essence of lightning? The way to control it? The magic of gods? The result of Augustride's magic? What is it? Essence? What the fuck is it? Wait! Why do I need to follow the rules made by a mere god? Why am I trying to change myself to fit the way of our household? Who decided I would need to learn the essence of gods magic? Why do I need to do that? I won't fit myself into the description, no, no. I will fit the description into my own. I will define my own lightning magic. I am not bound by the limits drawn by my ancestors or my father. In the first place, can I really realize the same thing as my father did? Can a human being think the same as another one? If that is the case, can we really prove it?'

At this point, I realized. The essence father was talking about. There was a saying on earth from a famous philosopher.

'The only thing that remains unchanged is the change itself.'

Yes, that's right. Everything in this universe, everything in our reality, is changing. Nature, the matter, everything is changing.

Then this brings us to a question. In what way does the universe change?

The answer is just one word.

'Entropy.' The way of destruction.

Nature is constantly changing. And it is changing in such a way that makes everything simple as possible. If you build a house, nature will destroy it. If you build a waterway to water your plants, they will eventually be destroyed by nature itself.

Everything you make against the order, nature will destroy it. It was always like that, even in the beginning, and I am the mage of the beginning. This is my identity.

At this point, I realized. Not the essence of our household's lightning magic.

No, there was no such thing in the first place. The essence of god's magic, the thing father meant by that, was not realizing the common point.

No, it was realizing your own description, your own definition of lightning magic. Your own way of using lightning.

At this moment, I understood. And the moment I understood that I felt it.

I felt lightning flowing in my body.

All the senses I lost started to appear one by one again and again.

However, this time it was different.

The way I felt thunder was different from the one before.

If in the beginning, it felt very painful, and it was like thunder was harming me. My body was rejecting it.

But right now, it was nothing like it. It felt smooth, a comfortable feeling of something flowing in my veins.

It was like I became one with the lightning itself.

***

While all of those were happening in the head of Callius, in the, meanwhile the leftover spirit of Austin was watching him as well.

Although it was like a recording and it would disappear after this training was finished, it still had the intelligence of Austin since he was a fraction of the original.

And the thing he observed, the thing his son achieved, managed to surprise even him.

'Wow, he managed to enter that state in just 130 attacks. Ah, dear. You said our son would be a genius, but you have never mentioned something this monstrous. I was the fastest one to grasp my own essence in our family, but even I managed to enter that state after the 1500th attack.'

He thought while observing the changes that were happening around Callius' projection.

/CRACKLE/ /CRACKLE/ /CRACKLE/

The lightning bolts surrounding Austin, all of them started getting attracted to Callius. It was like, the owner of the space itself was changing.

However, even in the midst of all these, Austin never stopped attacking.

He kept repeating the same attack.

If he was to measure the strength of the attack he had been using, he would say it was around the strength of the 4th-rank lightning bolt.

Yes, the attacks he threw at Callius were all at the level of 4th rank magic.

If the will of Callius wasn't that strong, or his ego wasn't that big, then he wouldn't be able to preserve this long.

Austin was sure that even he wouldn't be able to preserve his consciousness if he were in Austin's place.

However, the trust he had in his son wasn't that weak. So, he decided to use 4th-rank magic to educate his son, and from the looks of it, it was effective.

The stronger magic gets, the closer it gets to the truth itself. That was what he observed all those years as a magician, and that was the implementation of his observations.

/CRACKLE/ /CRACKLE/ /CRACKLE/

Suddenly the lightning strikes surrounding Callius' body started getting more frequent. And the hair of Callius started changing from black to the standard color of Augustride's Household.

From black to white.

And in the midst of all those lightning strikes, Callius opened his eyes.

Their eyes shone in the midst of all those thunder strikes, deep like an ocean itself, just like his father.

Eyes that were blue, hair that was white.

"145. Son, do you understand the essence of lightning?"

/CRACKLE/

Saying that, Austin threw another bolt of lightning at Callius.

"Yes, father. I finally managed to understand my own essence of lightning magic."

/CRACKLE/

Callius answered with his face devoid of any expression.

"It is destruction."

And grabbed the lightning bolt his father threw.

"Good, now we are finally starting the good part."

Austin answered with a smile, but his eyes were not smiling at all…