The Strongest Spellblade

“Time for your first lesson on Mana Sense,” Healer Castelle said while Squire Sabin listened in. “Mana is ultimately your will made manifest from energy that comes from your soul. If you go past your reserves you will get Mana burn where your reserves go into the negative. Which will massively decrease your Mana regeneration rate. In the worst case, you will be crippled for years and damage your soul and body. Don’t do that.” I nodded at this.

“As for Mana Sense, it is a foundational skill that you need to have if you want any control over raw Mana manipulation and spells. Different people develop this sense in different ways. How do you feel Mana?”

“Um like a soft breeze or pressure,” I said. Healer Castelle nodded at that, his white beard shaking slightly from the movement.

“That is the most common. Your skin covers your body and is the shell that separates your soul from the outside world. When Mana that is foreign to you hits your skin, your soul senses that and translates that to your skin. Now lay down on the table.” I climbed up on the table that had been set up and laid down. A thick piece of cloth was placed over my eyes and tied off, so it wouldn’t shift.

“I am going to point at various parts of your body and direct a stream of Mana at it. You will touch that point with one of your fingers. Be as precise as possible.” I felt something above my heart and brought up my right arm to point at the spot.

The feeling disappeared and it reappeared in another location on my knee. It felt fainter, but I could feel it. I sat up and touched my knee. “Good, lie back down,” Healer Castelle said. We kept up this up. If I couldn’t feel anything, Healer Castelle slowly increased the amount of Mana he used.

After an afternoon spent doing this, it was time for dinner. The following week we repeated the same exercise. “Is there anything I can be doing better?” I asked.

“No. Learning Mana Sense is tedious like other sensory skills.”

“Will I learn them?” I asked.

“In time, depending on what your mother has planned. But we need to build up your basics first and having a higher Perception stat helps level up these skills more quickly,” Squire Sabin said. He watched these training sessions closely. I had asked him why, and he said it was for safety reasons. It was very easy to take advantage someone that was training Mana Sense and he didn’t want any more accidents to occur.

“Any way I can train that stat?” I asked.

“That is what Squire Nox will be doing with you most likely. He has focused on a lot of esoteric skills in his life. His ability to sense things almost rivals the Supreme Warlady,” Squire Sabin replied.

“Less chatter, more focus on the task at hand,” Healer Castelle chastised us both. I shut my mouth and tried to detect where he was directing his Mana.

During other times we trained, I asked more questions about Mana. There were other higher tier sensory skills that were more focused, but they required specialized teachers. My mentors all agreed that I shouldn’t take more skills. I was pushing at the limit of what was safe with my Mind stat.

Healer Castelle kept using his skill two or three times daily to ensure my soul didn’t have issues. But he had brought up the concern that it might be masking problems with the number of skills I had. If my soul was under too much pressure from all the skills, that could be dangerous.

It was something that would have to wait until my mother returned to discuss the issue with Healer Castelle. I wasn’t sure what exactly was the problem, when he could keep using Stabilize Soul on me. I figured in time, my soul would adjust without an issue to having more skills.

My siblings also returned to the estate during this time. While my father checked up on me, I wasn’t invited to family dinners at the moment. I made everyone too uncomfortable due to the threat of my mother and the fear was still too fresh in their minds. It hurt a bit that I was being excluded, but that was the price I was paying for having such an amazing mother.

Each day of my training was mentally exhausting. While I had stopped getting headaches, it felt like it was a struggle to improve. My previous progress had been quick. Easy skills with my high Mind stat were quickly leveled.

Now there are several skills, physical skills, which I had less stats for, and harder mental skills in tier 2 that I was working on. Compared to anyone else my age or even older, I was making incredible progress. Even when my progress was compared to before when I had first unlocked my status, it was fast. I wanted to improve more quickly, but the main limitation were my stats.

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If I did level up and get stats, I would be able to level up my skills more easily from the high stats, but getting new skills, breakthroughs on my skills, or improving my stats through training would become much more difficult. That was the boost in power many people took, trying to get ahead. My tutors had all said the same thing.

A person would get a few levels, get a large boost for their skills, but then stall once more. After that they would then inevitably go get some more levels and repeat the process. Eventually their ability or skills wouldn’t be enough to keep climbing up in levels and they would stagnate. Squire Sabin admitted that was why he was struggling at the moment, trying to improve his skills for high level combat in the dungeon.

It made me wonder about my mother, since she came from a humble background. My guess was she just killed more monsters in the dungeon. When improving her skills slowed down, gaining levels slowed down, she would just kill some more and earn experience. It was the simplest but hardest answer at the same time.

The morning for more training came and I had a question for Squire Sabin. “Will I go into the dungeon with Squire Nox?” I asked.

“Already asking to fight monsters?” Sabin replied with his standard grin.

“Yes,” I answered, and he shrugged.

“Maybe. Each of us Squires came up with a training plan that your mother approved of with some minor adjustments. I wanted to take you to underground fighting pits. She reminded me why that might be a bad idea at your age,” Sabin said while rubbing the back of his head.

“Really? That sounds exciting,” I replied.

“They really are. It is all woosh, and bam! That’s how you really level up your skills. But other bad activities happen near fighting pits, like gambling. So, we are putting that off for now. For my training, your mother wanted you to do this kind of intense physical training they do at many training schools,” he explained.

“Well, next time then. But am I really making progress?” I asked and Squire Sabin just kept smiling at me.

“You are, but it is hard for you to tell, since I am matching you. That is the strength of having someone like me teach you. I am always just one step beyond your current skill level, forcing you to improve as quickly as possible.” He brought up the pain stick.

“Really, can’t you use something else?” I asked and he shook his head.

“Your mother insisted. No weapons, since I can get carried away. Just a pain stick. But that is what makes it great. You have to learn to dodge and block or else,” he replied and then lunged at me.

Fights didn’t have start or end times. They just occurred. That was why Sabin would just attack me, forcing me to react as quickly as possible. He said it was to prevent bad habits and a poor mindset for combat from developing. He might be right, but it was still frustrating. Everything about this training was frustrating. It was easier to just kill things.

I promised myself when my mother got back, I would ask her to go into the dungeon again. There was a sense of accomplishment that was hard to replace when I just trained like this, constantly sparring Squire Sabin. I still had all the cores in a pouch. Squire Jessica had left them for me, but I hadn’t turned them in. One could only do that officially at the Adventurers Guild.

It was just pocket change, but it was money I would have earned on my own. Well, I had Squire Jessica’s help, but I still earned it even with her watching over me.

There was something thrilling, primal, about killing monsters to get stronger. It was what my mother had done in the past. Following in her footsteps didn’t seem like a bad idea. I knew in my head that I should focus on leveling up tier one skills, but in my heart, I wanted to cut my way through the dungeon, earning experience and climbing up in level.

My mentors might say otherwise, but I knew what I wanted out of life. To be the best spell blade. It just felt frustrating having to constantly train like this. Sparring with someone who completely outclassed me. Studying things that were frustrating to learn.

As the three months were nearing their end, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Sabin had a lot of energy and an enthusiastic personality, but his training was mind numbing to the extreme.

When the estate was relayed by a communication’s enchantment a day ahead of time, informing my father of my mother’s return to the estate the next day. Some people left, everyone made sure the estate was perfect, and the morning of the following day everyone gathered outside to wait for Supreme Warlady Elena Burnstock.

Just like the previous times, the wait dragged on, but no one complained. To not greet her with everyone on her return would be incredibly rude. And one thing no one wanted to do was to offend my mother.

“Can’t we get permission to skip this,” I muttered after having to stand around for two hours. My father chuckled at that.

“And offend your mother, no Justin. While she might be your mother, she is a supreme legend, standing above all others. Or enough of them that it doesn’t really matter anymore. Regardless, it is proper etiquette to wait for someone of her stature, especially since she sent word ahead,” my father explained. I let out a sigh.

“But it is boring. I can’t disagree with that. Oh, there she is,” my father pointed at a blur in the distance. It was faster for my mother and her Squires to run than use another form of travel.

Once she reached the main approach to the mansion, she slowed down and approached at a brisk walk. The staff kneeled and the family bowed once again. But my mother had earned that respect by advancing her level through rivers of blood and mountains of corpses.

“Mother,” I greeted her with a smile and wave. I was happy to see her again. Despite our brief conversations, I knew she loved me. No one would go to all the trouble she had for some random kid.