[9]

Entering the longest season each year, winter. The royal ruler was a little preoccupied with the start of winter until the snow began to gently fall onto the ever-warm plains. In addition to preparing food and clothing stores for the winter, security in winter will be stricter than in other seasons. This is because there are several species of human-eating wild animals that do not hibernate when winter arrives. And humans have to be cooped up more at home because of the four months of winter.

Every year, I always hear news that Aldrich sends out all the soldiers and knights evenly in every suburb and village. Of course Aldrich would not be leading all of them as that was the job of the team leaders of knights and warriors. If I may say, I quite like the formation of a team like that. Because it had been a long time since there had been a war, to make it easier to divide the tasks of soldiers and knights, of course, they used a team system.

Even so, the number of people in a team differed between warriors and knights. Maybe for convenience, in this world warriors and knights are defined quite differently. Soldiers are people who are specially trained in using weapons and self-defense. And they were more often than not taken from commoners who enlisted or from noble bloodlines, they naturally needed to pass a test first.

Whereas knights were people who were a bit special in their training. Most of them are aura users, even becoming great magicians. They are usually used as personal bodyguards because of their prowess. However, their numbers are fewer than soldiers, and they often mingle among the people when they are not on escort duty. They will attend if the king or queen has handed down an order to them.

And if I assume, the royal sniffer dog is among those knights..

I think this is my third visit to the palace training room. It's been two weeks since Freya promised her aura training for me, that's why I'm here. I looked at Freya who was walking from the entrance with a calm and indescribable expression. I knew it was winter, but when Freya entered the room, a chill seemed to press down on me even more.

"I admit you did not run away from your strange request at the time."

"I am a girl who keeps my word, mom."

"That's good."

By this time Freya had already entered the training altar. And just at that time a huge bright blue protective wall slowly started to surround us. I pulled back my smile a bit because this barrier was coming from Freya's magic aura.

"Are you comfortable in those clothes?" she asked.

"Honestly, I feel better wearing this outfit. It's very light."

Right now I'm not wearing a dress as usual. I asked Rasya to prepare me clothes with warm pants to wear to practice. And Rasya accidentally leaked it to me if this outfit was recommended by Freya herself.

"You look like someone, girl."

"I think I know who you mean."

Freya seemed to laugh lightly and looked back at me with a serious expression.

"I guess you already know the basics about magical aura since you requested this training. Is mom wrong?" she asked.

"No. That's right."

"Okay, then where should we start?"

I was a little surprised by Freya's attack that suddenly aimed at me when she had not finished her sentence. There was no body movement from Freya but at that time a blue fireball shot right in front of my eyes.

"Quite good for dodging quickly, kid."

I didn't create a barrier nor move my body to dodge. I didn't even try to pump up my aura flow to make my body a bit stronger. Because the fireball attack swerved past my right ear, just before it hit my face. The fireball was meant for Freya to see my surprised and frightened expression at the sudden attack. But sorry, it won't work on me.

"Can we start now, mom?"

Freya looked at me with an even expression before finally smiling gently at me.

"You don't have a chance to retreat anymore, do you?"

I replied with a smile and nodded confidently.

"Can you tell mom what elements of magic you know?" she asked.

Actually, for the magic elements themselves, there are a lot if you mention all of them. From those with easy and difficult names, they have their respective definitions and uses. But if only magic elements were in the natural category, then there were some that were well-known and frequently encountered.

"Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, plants, light, and maybe sound."

"You know that very well. Don't hesitate in answering a question, kid," Freya replied while chuckling softly.

"Then, can you show me what element you have?"

I stared at Freya silently. To be honest I was a bit confused about which magic element I wanted to show her first. When I was about to answer, Freya resumed her sentence.

"I know, you're trying to obey the rules of a magician, by not telling anyone your main element of magic. But right now mom will be your trainer, so just show it."

And to be honest I just heard about it?

I don't know why Freya said that. I chose to flow the aura waves to slightly surround my body. Waves of gentle golden yellow aura danced around me before turning into orange flames. Freya calmly didn't budge causing a spike of boulders to fly and hurtle towards me.

"Did you know that there are some magician who always carry small or large wands wherever they go?"

I made those rock attacks to test my training in attack speed. The flames that surrounded my body shot up and divided to continue attacking the rocks. Occasionally I threw my hand to bring out a blast of fire that made all the stones retreat instantly. I'm certainly dissatisfied with simple training like this, but isn't it strange that I'm too excited to be seen as a rookie here?

"They made those artifacts or staffs to make it easier to concentrate the flow of magic aura. Some people who are just starting out will do better with that thing."

"But if I'm telling the truth, I'm a bit surprised you can control aura so well like that."

I just smiled faintly in response to all of Freya's words. The stones were getting faster and smaller in size to look at and of course it affected my attacks.

"Did you train your magic aura without mom knowing, or were you that good in two weeks?"

Until finally from a distance I saw Freya seem to raise her hand. And a moment after that, three large boulders flew at me from different directions. I chuckled in satisfaction and dispelled the flames that surrounded me. The moment the three rocks got very close to me, a huge explosion occurred.

"Like mom said before, maybe I look like someone."

The stones bounced and shattered when they hit the surface of the altar. With the flames burning around the altar I stepped on.

"I'm a mom's child."

Freya didn't answer me. But shortly after that she laughed contentedly by making crescent moons in her eyes.

"Your nature is really like a copy of Aldrich huh!"

Is it true? I'm just saying what I have to say..

I chose not to deepen this conversation and asked Freya to teach me something else. I could tell Freya seemed to have very good experience training someone. I don't know maybe she was so great as a queen or indeed all this time she had been involved in training a knight. To be honest I was quite comfortable with his assertiveness in teaching but at times he looked as if he was worried about me. A mother is still a mother who is gentle to her child.

After the experiment just now, Freya asked me to continue collecting and making more and more star aura orbs in my body. She really didn't think that I could make my aura wave to be that gentle. However, there are still some criticisms that I got from her as my teacher. Actually I'm trying to store magic aura all over my body without creating aura stars. It's just that when I asked Freya about it, she just said that it was crazy.

"Your body will explode if you do that."

"But isn't that more efficient?"

"Sounds like it is, but if you can't control all your magic aura that you keep all over your body when you sleep or when you wake up, you can die."

I know, but in fact I'm still alive until now..

"Okay, I understand."

Right now I really don't know Freya's main magic element. But he often showed me the elements in the natural category. In this category, my firebending and earthbending training was quite the test. For example, when I have to be able to take advantage of my surroundings with my aura so that the attack power is proportional to the use of aura. At least use a little aura but can cause a very strong attack power.

"Don't use the fire element when it's raining."

"Isn't that pretty obvious, mom?"

"Haha of course, but if you use earth element when it's raining it will give you a quicksand skill if you train it in the right location."

"It would be very helpful if it could be done without looking at the location."

"Mom agrees with you."

A quicksand skill. Actually, regardless of the location or the formula for creating it, with magic of course it could happen. I can say that it can even happen in a place without water though.

Freya also showed some skills in the healing category. Healing skills were something important to master. Even so, healing skills were more difficult skills compared to attack skills. Not all aura users can do this skill. Even those who could wouldn't be as proficient as people who were destined to possess healing skills. Freya said that it was only obtained by people who got a divine blessing.

I don't know if I have to agree with that or not, but I agree that healing skills are difficult skills..

"Even though mother is said to be the strongest, your healing skills are still no match for the leader of the explorers in this kingdom. He is indeed old, but he was the one who taught mother the healing skill."

"Lead explorer?"

"That's right, there is a small guild called the explorer's guild. That guild does sound foreign because it's a guild that only stands on the eastern island of the continent."

"Hmm I see. I just heard about it."

"Haha next time I will bring and introduce you to him. I think if you practice healing skills with him, it will be better."

"Then I will wait until that day comes."

Some time ago I did try a bit of one of my mainstay healing skills. It's just that yes if I get ridicule from my system for not being able to do it. I just hope that the skill I can use in this world one day. The days continued to pass in the middle of winter that froze the air around. Even so I still train with Freya in the training room. And also occasionally Venus or Aldrich would come to see my practice.

"Yes! Beat your mother head-on in front of her eyes!" shouted Aldrich excitedly.

I kept attacking Freya who was also attacking me. Attacking while dodging and defending is the right exercise to train tactics and agility. I guess I'd rather have a time like this fighting Freya than learning a skill I already know so well. Although it does feel boring, repeated skill training will allow me to make combinations of magical auras that I've never tried before. An example is like today.

The training altar flooded with water slowly. The water didn't hurt anyone, but I think Freya was smart enough to keep creating eddies around her while attacking me and defending against my fire attacks in the air. The whirlwind finally stopped and turned into a domed earthen wall that protected Freya as I attempted to throw a huge flint impact at Freya. I put my feet in the wind so I could stand in the water which was already up to the waist of an adult. Maybe if it wasn't for the blue barrier that Freya had made before the fight started, this water would have tried to fill the training room.

"Honey, don't try to hide from your daughter," Aldrich teased from beyond his guard.

The top of the earthen dome cracked open and Freya jumped to stand on top of the dome that was standing in the pool of water.

"Just watch quietly, my love," Freya replied calmly.

Freya raised her right hand at me. And immediately after that stone thorns appeared from under the puddle I made. I jumped until I almost hit the tall blue protective roof. I had thought that Freya would not bring up the thorns all the way to the roof, but it turns out that Freya actually did it. I tried to run around with the help of the wind on the protective wall to avoid the thorns that were chasing me.

"You're wasting your magical aura for this water, my sweet," Freya snapped.

"I know."

I ran around and around until I arrived at the place where the first thorn appeared. I dashed out with a few windswords to break the stone spikes. This has happened to me before, at least it will work again this time. But at the last thorn, my windsword apparently couldn't penetrate the large thorn that was blocking Freya. Freya seemed to be smiling serenely behind the large thorns. I didn't take a step back and chose to hang onto that huge thorn.

"What is it? Why did you stop here?" asked Freya calmly.

Not responding, I jumped to the roof of the protective wall. And when my body was upside down with my feet touching the protective wall, I gave Freya my crooked smile. I could faintly see Freya's surprised expression when the puddle of water was suddenly smashed upwards. Before the water hit my body, I stretched out my right hand towards the water.

A bolt of lightning extended from my hand and spread into the pool of water. Water droplets that have not been perfectly lifted reflect the electrical energy that is distributed. Of course that would make this lightning strike fill the entire dome of the protective wall other than where I stood, which was the roof of the wall.

The water impact stopped right in the middle of the barrier, leaving empty areas above and below. From the first time I jumped up, I did use wind energy. But it doesn't really help without my Gravity Seal skill. And I'm sure Freya didn't expect that either. But I'm also sure that even someone like Freya won't work with a trivial skill like this.

As I thought..

From the surface of the floating water, Freya stepped onto the altar with a protective shield surrounding her body. The floating water was spinning making a vortex with a hole in the middle. I made it to look at Freya who was currently looking up and smiling warmly at me. I chuckled in satisfaction and decided to descend after dispelling the magic aura that was spreading out, with that the floating water disappeared. Freya came up to me and immediately embraced me while ruffling my hair.

"Hahaha how much did you put out your magic aura just now huh?" she asked.

I just chuckled to answer the question. As the protective wall that Freya had made disappeared, Aldrich came closer while clapping his hands.

"My daughter is absolutely amazing! You can make your mother cornered like before, good job," Aldrich praised.

"Oh? You like watching a show huh?" quipped Freya.

"I'm watching my daughter, honey."

This fight was fun for me. But somehow I feel a little irritated because the capacity usage of my aura is still very limited. If I say so, from the fight just now I was trying to conserve a bit of my magic aura for the final attack. Because in the training battle the previous day, I tried to waste my magic aura. I knew that it wouldn't be as efficient, but the damage it inflicted was quite strong. Compared to when I conserved magic aura, it did allow me to use many skills over a longer period of time, but the attack power wasn't strong enough.

If I had a lot of magic aura like before, it would be easier for me.. I shook my head slowly and turned to look at Aldrich and Freya who were chatting in front of me.

"Dad, where's Neil?"

"Neil? Hoho, you really can't stay away from your little brother, can you?" Aldrich teased.

I? I'm just asking?

"When you guys were practicing just now, your three friends came to the palace. So dad asked Venus to accompany them for a while."

"Then you just told us when you finished watching?" asked Freya surprised.

"Oh, I'm here to tell you guys."

In the middle of winter they still visit the palace?

I took a deep breath and nodded in understanding. In contrast to Freya who looked annoyed with Aldrich who just laughed not caring about his mistakes. Finally Aldrich told me to get ready and accompany Venus to meet the children of the Alston and Alberich families in the living room of the palace. Freya was a little worried about me for fear that I would tire but I told her not to worry about me.

When I finished preparing and arrived at the palace guest room, I could see a warm atmosphere surrounding the living room. When they all noticed my arrival, I could see their happy faces directed at me.

"Sis Val is taking too long!" protested Venus.

"Sorry, Neil, and all of you."

"It's okay princess! We have heard from the prince if you are currently focusing on training your magic aura," Regis replied happily.

"I just did."

I walked quietly and sat down on one of the chairs in the spacious living room. There was nobody other than the five of us here, as usual.

"Since you guys have come to the palace again, can you show me now?"

The two twins answered by nodding in unison. Before winter, apart from having them practice independently at home, I asked them to train magic aura. Even though it's not very good yet, it's good enough for Regis, who I'm a little late in teaching using aura. The child gave off a magical aura that I could tell was very coarse and even seemed very spaced out between the cream-colored beads.

In contrast to Reyna who seems to have become more adept at emitting aura waves even though it looks thin and not as soft as I asked for. And I was quite surprised when the bright pink magic aura seemed to turn into a grain of sand shaped like a butterfly. It was quite rough but looked beautiful as the butterfly sand swirled around Reyna's body.

"Very sweet, Reyna. Regis, there's no rush to soften it. You still have plenty of time."

"Okay, I understand, princess."

"Try to practice it calmly and carefully. I'll be keeping an eye on you here," I said to which they nodded in understanding.

"Neil, try to mentor them."

"Okay, your highness, princess," Venus teased.

"Ho? You're good at talking huh?"

Venus just replied to me with a light laugh. I could tell the kid did seem interested in magic training from the start. But that's all because he's just happy doing the tasks I give him, he's not really interested in magic. Even so, he is a child who quickly understands and really obeys my instructor. That is a compliment from me for him who is still very young among others.

I turned to look at William who was calmly walking towards me while carrying a rectangular box. I gave my questioning look as the boy handed the box to me. When I opened the box I could see that there were papers that were neatly rolled and tied.

"I think this will be of great help to the princess."

I chose to untie the rope and read the writing on the papers. I can say I was a bit unsuspecting that a William would give me something like this. This is a data set that I didn't ask for but is very important.

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