Chapter 17 Talent

While Philip was doing the push ups, Aion read his status screen. A new skill was always welcomed, and that one had some interesting effects…

When Philip finished the push ups, Aion readied himself again. It looked like he didn't take that defeat lightly… He sure was pissed. It was only a spar, so Aion wondered why he was so angry. It wasn't like they even were praised when they won. Still, it was clear that Aion damaged his pride and Philip wasn't willing to let that go unpunished.

On the second round, Philip charged faster while keeping his guard up. When Aion readied himself to attack the shield that was approaching, Philip increased his speed and then raised his sword. Aion jumped to the side and dodged the attack, the swing of the sword made a strong breeze cross the area… While the sword had no Blade, an strike like that on the head would…

"I used all of my strength before, but I didn't target the head, but their armor and shield…" Aion thought while frowning.

Philip recovered pretty fast and Aion decided to punish him a little. When he charged again, Philip was stopped with a barrage of thrusts aimed at his shield. This time, Aion went as far as targetting the same spot over and over again. Philip blocked the attacks, but eventually, his face was pale due to the pain.

"It is over…" Lexus said and then went to check Philip's arm. "You suffered a small fracture… You should rest for now. Ask your mother to heal the bones and use that chance to cool your head."

Philip with his head down nodded. In the end, Aion didn't have the chance to invite him to practice later. He wondered if he went too far… Still, with kids holding that kind of power, it would be better if they understand as soon as possible that acting impulsively might only cause problems.

On the next day, Aion was told to spar with Henri. At that point in time, the eldest of the half brothers looked like a smaller version of Lexus and he even had a certain air around him that made Aion frown. He wasn't a normal kid… Thanks to that, Aion wondered what he should do.

Before he could come up with an answer, Henri charged at Aion and began to thrust his sword at him. Aion user his spear to block those, but despite their speed, he also felt a lot of weight behind them to the point that he was forced to take a few steps backward. At the same time, Henri could protect his left side with the shield without showing a single opening and with that rain of thrusts, he couldn't attack the right side either.

Aion jumped backward to gain some distance and prepare to attack as well. Since he was using a weapons with two hands, his attacks would have more weight behind them. However, before he could do that, Henri charged even faster and then prevented that with a quick succession of attacks.

"Is he planning to make this a test endurance?" Aion thought.

Eventually, Aion was forced to run to the side because his back was approaching one of the plants and it would be a pity to damage the flower beds nearby. Still, Henri followed him and then his back approached the real wall of the residence.

"Oh boy… I am being pressured by a ten years old boy…" Aion thought.

That was rather embarasing, Aion thought that he could outsmart them, but Henri was using his speed to prevent him from doing anything troublesome. In the end, Aion was forced to use his status points that he gained upon level up to increase his speed. All of a sudden, the attacks of the target began to look like they had gotten slower…

Aion used that sudden boost to block one of the sword strikes and then hit Henri wrists with the butt of his spear. The attack had been powerful enough to make him drop his training sword.

"Forty push ups…" Lexus said.

Henri nodded while he was massing his wrists. It didn't seem like he made any mistake. Aion was just faster for a moment and found a short window of time to attack. Still, he felt bothered that he couldn't use his brain to win the first round…

"You can spar serious again in a mouth, it is better to stop here since you can wound each other seriously," Lexus said.

That was bit disappointing, but it couldn't be helped. In the end, the kids just nodded at their father and at the end of the training session, Aion went to talk with his half brothers again.

"Do you want to practice together after dinner?" Aion asked.

"Don't waste my time,' Philip replied.

"I am not interested," Henri replied.

Aion sighed… it sure was difficult to act like an adult in situations like that. Still, those kids were too young for him to give up on them. The fact that they lost some spars was also bothering them, perhaps things will improve once they cool their heads.

"I guess I will grab another weapon from the armor and train with it for a month," Aion thought.

Lexus left the house in the aftenoon and didn't return at night to have dinner, so he asked the battle tactics instructor to have access to the armory. In the end, the old man helped him with that, but Aion didn't know what kind of weapon he should choose next… using bows wouldn't be a good idea since they can't be useful for duels. He would rather train something that would be useful. In the end, he grabbed a pair of red gauntlets.

"Yet another great find, hehehe," Aion smirked.