Chapter 24 - Weird Kid

"Why did you use moves that you didn't practice?" Laiex asked.

"Because I felt they were necessary at the beginning," Zaos replied.

"When you knocked down Tars, why didn't you keep attacking?" Laiex asked. "If you had caused enough damage, he would fall unconscious or at least give up."

"I couldn't see the point of that. I thought the goal here was to learn and get used to attacking and defending," Zaos said. "Winning or losing doesn't matter, or so I thought."

"You are correct, but even if it is a spar, you shouldn't get used to giving up," Laiex said. "Our family is one of the leaders on the battlefield, so giving up isn't an option. Honor the name you have by doing your best and everything possible. Until you fall unconscious."

Zaos could easily imagine what would happen if he fell unconscious on the battlefield. That certainly wasn't an option. In any case, commenting about that wasn't something he should do.

"Rest for the day and heal your wounds. Another sparring partner will come in three days," Laiex said, and then he left the residence.

Zaos sighed to calm down and relax. After that, he began to focus in order to use Heal. With just a single use, his arm stopped hurting, and the wound became just a small bruise. When Zaos opened his eyes, he saw his mother cleaning his face.

"You did well, Zaos," Lyra said with a smile on her face. "You could have given up sooner, though."

"That would be too lame," Zaos said. "You can rest now, mom. We still have some time before breakfast, and I want to practice for a while longer."

"Such a hard worker…" Lyra said and then sighed. "Well, I guess this much is fine since you won't get hurt again."

Zaos quickly went through the exercises he had to do in every training session. While he was doing that, he recalled the thing that happened during the fight. Thanks to his mental age, he could have won if he had focused on speed. However, he lost because he focused on making the most out of the situation and because his strength wasn't enough.

"I guess I need to increase the weight of my attacks," Zaos nodded to himself. "It looks like kids who train to become warriors have quite the spirit, so they won't be that easy. If I keep using the simple techniques that I learned, then I need to increase the strength in my arms."

That probably will increase his physical defense, too, so Zaos will hit two birds with a single stone. The real problem was: how could he increase his physical strength when he had the body of a four years old kid?

"I guess there is no fast way to solve that problem. If that is the case, then I can only force my attacks to become sharper and faster," Zaos concluded.

Zaos was impatient enough to increase his repetitions sooner than he should and more than his father told him to do. From that day onward, Zaos began to practice his only way of attacking 150 times in the morning and afternoon. When he noticed that his muscles were enduring too much strain, Zaos used Heal to solve the problem.

In the end, that left Zaos with a lot less mana to be used in his magic training, but that much was fine. The basics of any spell could be learned and practiced mentally without the use of mana.

Regardless, while Zaos didn't make much progress in any of those areas in the next few days, he still managed to spar with some kids and force them to admit defeat. Even when they were three years older, Zaos managed to defeat them by relying on his willpower alone. For several months, Zaos managed to stay undefeated, but he didn't feel anything about that. Moreover, he didn't level up Sorcery and Swordsmanship even a single time. So, there wasn't much feeling of progress. That only changed on a certain day when Zaos and Lyra found a familiar man waiting for them with Laiex and a blond boy who seemed to be around Zaos's age.

"Drian?" Lyra frowned slightly. "And that is…"

"Hello, Lyra," the unknown man said with a smile on his face. "It has been a while."

The boy and the man looked alike quite a lot, the same blond hair and those golden-like eyes… Zaos finally recalled that Drian was the man he saw his father talking with at the princess' birthday party. The boy was his son, the kid Zaos had seen that day as well. They belonged to another famous family who worked directly for the king, the Seres family.

"This is Drannor. He has got quite big, right?" Drian asked with a smile on his face.

"It is an honor to meet you, my lady," Drannor said while he bowed slightly.

"Thanks to his mother, he had been into etiquette these days," Drian forced a smile. "Who could have thought that someone like me would have a son who likes etiquette, the world is a weird place."

"... Enough talking," Laiex said, visibly annoyed. "We have a lot of work today, so time is of the essence. You two should prepare and use this chance to spar."

"Let's have a fair spar," Drannor said while smiling and then offered a handshake to Zaos."

"Sure," Zaos frowned after he accepted the handshake.

Zaos never had the chance to spar with someone of his age, but he could tell that Drannor wasn't like the other kids. Not only did he have an air of confidence around him, but he also had a different weapon than the others. It was a staff… while looking at the weapon, Zaos assumed his position. Drannor was holding it as if it were a spear, but it didn't have a tip, so it looked weird.

"Begin," Laiex said.