Chapter 4: Getting used

The training ground of the palace was nothing more than a wide-open space filled with training dummies, weights, and wooden weapons. During summer the training could be considered bearable and doable, but when winter knocked on the door and the snow rapidly covered the ground, it became impossible to train the soldiers in such open field.

Right now, standing on these almost all white grounds, two silhouettes could be seen facing each other.

Luther stood facing his liege while leisurely holding a simple sword in his right hand, not even taking a serious fighting stance. He had no reason to fight seriously after all.  He was the young king's teacher, and, because of that, he knew the extent of his abilities better than anyone else in the world.

In simple words, the young king had talent but didn't put enough effort into making it bloom and achieving his full potential. This was the biggest regret in Luther's life, not being able to lead Henry to reaching this hidden potential.

"It's odd" – Luther thought, while looking at the young king awkwardly holding his sword – "It's been a long time since we sparred, but it's not enough time to get so rusted. He gives me the feeling of a novice warrior."

"He wasn't like that during the war." – Luther murmured, remembering the young king confidently dashing towards the massive barrier of barbarians.

At that time, he couldn't be considered exceptionally skilled, but he also couldn't be considered this bad.

"Maybe he developed some kind of trauma" – Luther pondered. - "If so, I need to grind it to dust before it develops even further."

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for a soldier to develop some kind o trauma while on the battlefield. Rather, it was quite common for first timers who never smelled the battlefield's cruel scent, like the young king. Even more so against those fearless and crazy for blood barbarians.

Contrary to Luther's chain of thoughts, Henry felt a bit displaced while feeling the cold and heavy sword in his hands. And, although he possessed the memories and the experience of the old Henry, he had never entered in a fight, much less held a sword.

"I don't know if this is the right posture, something feels odd" - He thought - "I need to familiarize with the feeling."

Fortunately, his inborn talent kicked in and calmed his racing mind down as his body relaxed and he finally found the right posture by following the memories in his head. The change of posture and mind didn't go unnoticed by Luther's old eyes.

"Indeed, the talent is still there" – Luther couldn't help but flash a satisfied smile as he thought.

"Come!"- Luther said, lifting his sword and inviting the young king.

Following his memories, Henry moved the strange energy that rested in his heart towards his legs and kicked the ground, sending all the snow under his feet away. He dashed towards Luther at an incredible speed, lifting his sword and slashing downwards.

Henry didn't even know where he got the guts to slash at a living human being like he did. He could only credit it to his ability to remain calm in face of everything.

Luther relaxedly fended off the attack, with the side of his sword and counterattacked with the sword's pommel, hitting Henry right in the nose. The young king immediately dropped to his knees, with blood oozing out of his nose and painting the snow in red.

Luther indifferently looked at the kneeling young man, not caring if he was a king or simple commoner.

"Predictable and full of openings" – Luther evaluated, swirling his sword, and pointing it back at Henry – "Rusty. Come again!"

Henry stood up and cleaned the blood with his hand, his eyes free from all distracting emotions.

"Although I have his memories, I can't replicate them completely" – Henry deeply pondered while looking at his sword – "I have to dive even deeper and take everything out."

The young king closed his eyes and focused on the memories and intentions of the original Henry. He was trying to absorb and integrate all insights and knowledge about fighting skills and about the body technique ingrained in his muscles.

Seeing this scene, Luther lowered his sword and stuck it in the snowy ground, waiting for his liege to end all preparations.

In his mind, Henry was assimilating everything, from battle experiences to the technique inherited by the Stahl Royal Family.

The name of the technique was known as "Imperial Sun God Technique", a technique that trained the muscles, bones, and organs by burning them constantly with Mana, increasing the user's affinity with fire.

The pain caused by the technique was so intense that some users went mad while others simply couldn't take it anymore and stopped training all together, with the old Henry being a clear example of that. He couldn't take the pain and stopped, remaining stuck with the same level of strength for almost three years.

Not minding the consequences, Henry took the Mana stored in his heart and circulated it through his body, following the Imperial Sun God Technique's flow. Immediately, an excruciating pain coursed through his body, seemingly burning each one of his cells. He could feel those cells being burned and healed at an incredible rate, becoming stronger.

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Henry could feel even his nerves burning, threatening to eat his sanity.

He tightly grasped the sword in his hand, trying to calm himself down by sheer willpower and bringing forth his inborn talent. Fortunately, he was able to get a hold of his consciousness and mind.

Henry opened his eyes together with a long and deep breath.

*Hufff*

Luther couldn't help but feel some sort of threat buried deep inside the young king's calm eyes. It was like a calm fire that, under certain circumnstances, could burn a whole empire to the ground.

Henry grasped the sword even tighter, with his body heating up rapidly and causing the snow around him to melt at an incredible speed, which allowed the soil underneath to finally breath again.

In front of his eyes, Luther could see a formless red aura faintly covering the young king's body. He was like a breathing god of fire.

"Let's try it again!" – Henry yelled and kicked the ground again, dashing even faster than before towards the old general.

"Much better" – Luther complimented with a smile as he rapidly picked up his sword from the ground. – "This will require more strength than I imagined."

The aura around the young king indicated a breakthrough to a new stage. In the end, the last battle against the barbarians was quite advantageous to the young king's path.

Not moving from his position, Luther raised his sword that shone with a bright blue aura as Henry attacked with a horizontal attack, causing the air to compress and burn. It was fast and precise.

Luther's defense was leisurely as ever, parrying Henry's attack with the side of the blade. However, not giving up, Henry rotated his sword, holding it in a reverse grip, and slashed upwards, aiming at the old man's chin, which he avoided by simply tilting his head backwards.

Luther could see the tip of the sword passing right in front of his eyes, followed by a feet coming right at his face, like a deadly scythe.

Somehow, Henry managed to throw the sword in the middle of the attack and do a front flip, aiming a powerful kick at the old man's face. Everything happened in the span of a single second.

Unfortunately, Henry was against one of the most powerful beings in the Stahl Kingdom, known as the North's Wall. A soldier that killed thousands of enemies during his long life. Meaning that such attack would never work.

"That was close!" – Luther murmured, holding Henry's thin ankles near his nose – "If you were a little faster, I would be down…Unfortunately -"

Luther didn't finish his sentence. Still holding the young king's ankle, he spun him around before throwing him back to his previous place. Henry managed to stabilize himself in the air and land safely on the ground.

"I think this is enough" – Luther declared the sparring's end, sticking the sword in the partially melted snow that was left after Henry's attack – "Unfortunately, you still need to consolidate your realm and the aura around you. As of now, you can't use it effectively and is just wasting your stamina and Mana."

"That aura is a way to maximize your strength and speed, but you just learned how to use it" – Luther calmly explained – "Give yourself some time and you will figure out the wonders of aura."

Hearing his advice, Henry was pulled out from that abnormally calm state and deactivated the technique, causing the red aura around him to disperse. Luckily, the pain he felt previously also went away when he interrupted the Imperial Sun God Technique, only leaving his body a bit sore all over.

However, it would still take a couple of tries until his body got strengthened and got used to the influx of Mana from the technique.

"Thanks to that guy's memories, I got the hang on how to use Mana" – Henry said, clenching his fists.

One of the most important issues weighing on his shoulders was how to utilize Mana, since it was a tool essential for his survival and without it, he would likely die in the next battle.

"The next thing is to plan a way out of this siege…"- Henry murmured and looked at the old general, who was also analyzing him.

"Call the others. We need a plan" – He commanded, turning around and going back to the castle.

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