The Future

Leus' reaction was enthusiastic

"Warrior-Mage? That's cool"

Blaze nodded

"I know, right? It is"

While they were both talking, Viorica came outside again ...

First, she checked if everyone was okay, and after making sure of that, she glared daggers at Blaze

"Look at what you have done to the grass!!!" She shouted

Blaze and Leus simultaneously looked at the ground ...

Beneath them, the ground was, quite literally, devoid of life; they were standing in a circle with no grass at all, as all of it had been burned.

Seeing that, Blaze scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment

"Uhhh, it'll surely grow back"

Viorica kept glaring at him for a while, then she turned around and walked to Leus

"Leus, you've become so strong!"

Leus was surprised by her sudden change of tone and expression

"Ah, thanks Mom"

She hugged him and spoke with a beaming smile

"I'm very proud of you!"

Then she looked at the ground and glared at Blaze again ...

Leus inwardly chuckled

'Lucky me, she's only blaming Dad even though I'm the one who attacked'

Feeling sorry for Blaze, Leus tried to change the subject

"Dad, now what are we going to do?"

"Now I will sleep. You should rest too since you consumed most of your mana. And later, we need to test one last thing"

Leus nodded, and the three went back inside ...

Leus went to his room and started pondering over everything that happened so far ...

He laid down on the bed and started contemplating his future ...

'I've become much stronger'

'My mana regenerates faster and I feel that it became better'

'I remember that Beta said something about Mana Quality, this must be it ...'

'The difference between when I first trained with Dad and now is HUGE'

'I've achieved a lot ...'

'And now ...'

'What should I do next?'

Leus scratched his chin in thought

'I'm not really interested in training forever ...'

'My goals are simple; live a good life and keep my family happy'

'I think I should talk with Dad about it ...'

'And perhaps I'll go to Arno soon'

*Yawn*

'Eh, consuming all that Mana made me drowsy'

'Speaking of Mana, I'm glad with the size of my Mana Pool now'

'I don't think my Mana will normally deplete again ...'

'In a normal fight, if the opponent is strong enough that I have to consume this much Mana, then I should just run away'

He yawned again ...

'Well anyway, I want to rest now'

And so, he closed his eyes ...

After taking a nap, Leus got up and decided to spend time with Amethyst and Merlin

Amethyst was very excited

"Leus, Mom says you have become very strong now!"

Leus chuckled

"Well, not very, but yeah .. I've been training a lot"

Merlin added

"You're very smart too, Leus, you're really a genius"

He felt slightly embarrassed

"Ahh ... thank you. Let's play something"

In the evening, Blaze got up and the family had lunch, and after they ate, he took Leus to the garden ...

"The last thing is your defense. You should experience how your Domain works" Blaze said while walking away from Leus.

Leus nodded and unsheathed his sword ...

Simultaneously, Blaze held his wooden sword and took a stance.

He started moving forward and released his oppressive aura. Then a faint smile appeared on his face

'It doesn't affect him in the slightest now'

Leus took a defensive stance, and when Blaze was around 1 meter away from him, Leus' perception changed

'I can feel it ...'

'His movement, his sword, everything ... I can feel everything'

For a second, Leus closed his eyes ...

'Wow!'

'I can depend solely on my perception to detect him'

Even without seeing, Leus was able to sense the trajectory of every single attack coming towards him ...

He also realized something

'If an attack is too fast, I can sense it, however, I won't be able to react.'

For example, if someone was throwing a fast enough rock at him; he would be able to clearly sense the rock flying in his direction, but he wouldn't be fast enough to avoid it ...

Nevertheless, Leus' defense dramatically improved

Blaze noticed that

"You're able to block all the attacks that are physically possible for you to block, and with your increased speed, that's a lot of attacks"

He continued

"I can defeat you with my speed or strength, but not by using techniques, feints, or continuous attacks. None of such would work on you; you are able to block them"

"That's good ... but the range of my Domain is very small compared to yours"

Blaze shrugged

"Knights usually unlock Domain very late in this Realm, they don't evolve with it. You're an exception. But the stronger you become the bigger its radius will be."

That piqued Leus' interest

'So I have an advantage over my peers ...'

Blaze stopped attacking and spoke in a serious voice, interrupting Leus' thoughts

"You also don't have the full advantages of a Domain. You can't see my aura, right?"

Leus tilted his head in confusion

"Aura? No ... These things can be seen?"

Blaze nodded

"Yes, but it is a Realm-based advantage, once you reach Elite you'll be able to do it. However, this means that you currently won't be able to easily recognize the strength of your opponent."

Leus didn't like that ...

'Sounds troublesome'

Blaze continued

"But as you gain experience, your senses will sharpen, and your instincts will get better. Thus, you'll be able to feel how powerful your opponent might be.

But be careful, what you see isn't always correct; some Mages have spells to alter auras and outer appearance, while Darkness Knights/Mages have Abstracts and Skills that can entirely hide their existence.

So you must have a backup plan in case things don't go as expected"

' ... It seems that there are all sorts of abilities in this world'

'I still got a lot to learn'

As Leus was processing everything Blaze said so far, Blaze just stood there, giving Leus a blank stare ...

The silence persisted a bit too long, so Leus called

"Dad? Is everything okay"

Blaze took a deep breath

"Yeah ... I just got distracted"

'Sometimes, it's scary to see how fast he progresses.' Blaze thought to himself ...

He looked into Leus' eyes

"You've grown too fast .. do you have a plan?"

"Plan?"

"Yeah, is there something you want to achieve, Leus?"

Leus thought about it for a couple of seconds then replied

"Nothing specific"

Blaze felt very relieved to hear that

'Phew, at least he's not a power-hungry maniac'

That's something Blaze was worried about for a long time

'Seeing him train relentlessly at such a young age ...'

'I was worried that he wanted to become some sort of a monster or something'

Leus' voice brought Blaze back to reality

"I just want to have a good life and keep my family happy, you know?

I know that you risk your life for us, Mother pushes herself too much for us, Amethyst also does whatever she can to help Mom, and Merlin is still young"

Blaze chuckled

"Merlin is still young? YOU are still young, Leus. You don't have to worry about such things now"

Leus just smiled

"I'm capable"

Blaze couldn't refute that

"Indeed ..."

A heavy silence enveloped the atmosphere ...

After a couple of seconds, Leus broked the silence by asking

"What about you, Dad, do you have a plan?"

" ... Sort of"

Leus asked with interest

"What is it?"

Blaze looked in the distance and sighed ...

"Amethyst is about to be 10. If she wants to become a Mage, we might send her to an Academy when she's 12.

There's an Academy in the capital, and although it's not the best in the world, it's not bad, many Mages and Elites graduate from it. At least that's what I have heard."

"An academy? Can't I teach her? Or maybe Arno?"

Blaze snickered

"That man doesn't take any kid as an apprentice, you are a special case.

And no, you can't teach her, you are strong but not experienced. Children must be monitored while practicing magic, otherwise, they can cause serious damage to themselves"

'Oh yeah ... I think Sal said something like that too'

When Leus remembered that he nodded in agreement with Blaze's words ...

Blaze continued

"As for Merlin, he is a little clumsy, but if he's interested, I can train him with the sword when he's a bit older. Then if he wants to be a Mage as well we might need to relocate to the capital"

'There's certainly a lot on his mind'

Leus asked

"How much would it cost?"

"It depends. If the child is talented, they can reduce the fees to be as low as 2 gold coins per year. But there are the travel and living expenses too. Living in the capital isn't cheap.

And if the child isn't talented enough according to their standards, it can cost 5 gold coins or more.

I don't know exactly, but I know that it'll be costly"

Blaze paused for a bit then added

"But these things are for me to worry about, let's talk about you"

"Ah? Me?"

"Yes"

"Yes?"

"A little less than a month is left for the 2 years to be over, will you go to Arno?"

Leus replied with determination

"Yeah, I will"

"I see ... Then, there's nothing more for me to teach you now"

Hearing that made Leus feel a bit empty ...

'I enjoyed it a lot ...'

"It's been fun, thanks for everything"

Blaze patted Leus' head

"You got nothing to thank me for, it's my job"

Then he declared

"From tomorrow, I'll take you outside"

"Outside?"

"Yeah, you won't grow nor improve if you stay in the house, you need to have real experience now"

Leus agreed with that

'He's right, I don't think there's anything else that I can do here ...'

"I see ... Alright Dad, let's do it"

They spoke lightly for a while, then it started to get dark, so Blaze and Leus went back inside

That night, Blaze had a lot on his mind ...

'I need to give Leus as much experience and knowledge about the world as possible before he goes to Arno'

'After he does, he won't have enough time to learn from me'

'And then, there are other things to take care of ...'

As for Leus, he was very excited about the future ...

He didn't know what it held, be he was certain of one thing

'It won't be boring ...'