Chapter 23

A man with red horns, similar to that of a goat, came into view. A sneer plastered on his face.

"Is this really all you can do? I expected more of the man inheriting the title of the War Valkyrie," He taunted. It would seem I have my own horns, as my head grew heavier, causing his derisive sneer to grow even wider.

"Back down now Pride, because as I am, as of this moment. You won't be able to fucking touch me" My voice rang out. Or at least I think it was my own. It sounded different. I just know it came from me. The rest of the scenes flew by far too quickly for me to perceive. That scene stuck with me though.

Eventually, I awoke from my slumber, and that scene which I felt should have stuck with me, once again slipped through my grasp. This wasn't the first time such a thing has happened. Over the past 3 months, the months that I should have been sharing with my dad, I had many dreams. None of which I could remember. My relentless training had continued, and I was both praised and scorned for my love of the sword. I had made leaps and bounds in terms of progress, even praised as a prodigy in the way of the Yeti family sword style. But in truth I believe I only came this far because unlike others who would find this troublesome, it was my reprieve. The same could be said with training in general, but a sword just felt better to me.

I had continued meeting with Freya on occasion. Mostly once every week or so. Those would be my rest days, but even still we turned it into private training. We sparred once, and it was a closer fight than I would care to admit. We were both still new to magic at the time, and the reality of me having less explosive power than the average was really setting in. However my versatility of having 4 categories in which I could manipulate magic gave me an edge.

There are only two ways to improve the power of your own magic, one is just simply keep on using it. The more efficient you become in the use of your magic, the less mana you will waste. That extra mana can then be used to add power to spells.

The other way is to purify your mana, this is done the fastest by meditating and searching for impurities, then removing them. However once again, using magic more and more slowly removes impurities.

Another way to become stronger is to increase your mana pool, by absorbing surrounding mana and mixing it with your own. Everyone's talent for either purification or mana expansion varies, and often people choose a specific path rather than wasting energy on doing both.

It really came down to the philosophy of "quantity or quality". Being able to fire off many weaker power spells, or fewer and stronger spells.

I feel like more people would choose the latter than the former right? Alas, talent once again comes into play. If you have poor talent in mana purification, it would be easier to expand your mana pool to become stronger quicker.

While you could purify your base amount of mana, then add more too it. Ambient mana is simply as impure as the unrefined mana in your pool, so mixing the two slightly defeats the purpose. The more mana you have the more you have to purify. Meaning those with poor talents in refining their mana often just don't.

So in a fight who would win? The one with better talent in purifying, or the one with better talent in expansion. The answer, there is no defined answer, as it comes down to who's quality or quantity is better. No one is born equal. People who fit the same talent category, still have varying degree of ability.

This lesson was drilled into my head every morning by my mother. It would appear while I had decent talent for expansion, my true talent lied in purification. Understandable really because of how much time I spent focusing on my own mana to gather it to form a mana pool.

I was 5 already, but we didn't really celebrate. We were both preoccupied on this looming sense of danger; and the over hanging question of "what happened at the capital". Although we were both gloomy, I kept Freya in the dark about what was happening, I didn't want to drag her in, this was my families problem, and if someone has done something to my family there is no way in hell I'm letting others settle it for me.

These are the first people to care for me, I've burned that sentiment into my heart and have come to realise I love these people as family. I would treat them as such, and repay the sacrifices they made by secluding themselves for - presumably - me and Ella.

But I have to wonder, what if I am to blame. That man was a Raijin, even if it was dark he may have seen my eyes. What if he escaped? There's no plausible way to escape, right? He was injured and exhausted. Unless he had help, there is no way it was possible...

These questions haunted me, yet even mother agreed there was no way he should be alive.

So... why has her assurance not calmed my worry in the slightest.