“You should respect the sword, it doesn’t matter if you are only starting in this path, the more you respect it the more you can advance, and it’s not an easy path.”

  The first thing to come out of our instructor with the sword it’s to try and put some sense in a bunch of children, I know how right he is, but I doubt the others think the same thing. I still think that to put children in a test that could potentially end their lives it’s barbaric, especially when it’s not a necessity, they do it for honor and family traditions.

  “What should we do?” One of the older boys asks Master Julius.

  “The first group, the one with the older boys, form couples, every couple will compete against the other, I would be there watching over your matches and ready to give advice when I consider it necessary.” Master Nolan answers instead of instructor Julius.

  “The second group will continue their studies with the sword movements of the family, for today’s training we are going to focus only in the training of the sword, and I will be here to assist you, tomorrow those who choose the arch would have the opportunity to train under my supervision.” Master Rod continues the explanation.

  “For the final group, the one with the younger ones, they will start learning the correct form to grab the sword, your posture and breathing techniques that we use in the family.” Instructor Julius says it while looking at us, and appearing excited to make our lives a living hell.

  We were divided according to our age and I know it’s for the best, if they put me against the older ones without even knowing how to hold a sword I would be the first to protest. He begins the training and when it’s our turn he positions in front of us.

  “First of all I need you to show me the way you get in position with your sword, I need to see what we have to work on.”

  I hold the sword clumsily and get in position, he starts walking in circles looking at us, after some time looking at us he takes out a wooden stick and start hitting us.

  “That’s wrong” *Bang*

  “Correct it” *Bang*

  “You cannot breathe like that” *Bang*

  “Move your hand one inch higher in the handle.” *Bang*

  “Open more your legs.” *Bang*

  “The abdomen is wrong.” *Bang*

  “Your back is curve.” *Bang*

  “You are placing wrong the weight of your body.” *Bang*

  “I see you shaking.” *Bang*

  “Move your arm.” *Bang*

  “Bend the knee.” *Bang*

  “Not that much.” *Bang*

  “Exhale slower.” *Bang*

  “Your elbow is too low.” *Bang*

  With every mistake one of us make a hit is waiting, the only thing I want to do it’s scream ‘How can you treat that way the children in your care!’ but if I do it I’m pretty sure the instructor is just going to give me another hit.

  [Skill Level Up.]

  [Physical Pain Resistance Lv11]

  He hits us so much for hours that the moment he finish with us I succumb in my knees and tears are in the corner of my eyes.

  With all the pain I was feeling, I don’t even have the time to check the other kids training, I suppose they were put in a very hard training for the way everybody it’s in the ground.

  The only thing that I managed to do today was to increase my physical pain resistance, and I don’t know if that it’s good or not.

  I try to get up but my limbs shake from the effort and I cannot do it, everything in my body hurts.

  “You don’t have the right to treat us this way!” Liam screams at the top of his lungs to the instructors, and I already know what it’s about to come, if the older ones don’t say anything that means that they have the permission from the house to teach us in this way.

  The moment he speaks like that the three instructors release their power at the same time, the last time it was only Master Nolan and it takes us all in our knees, the three at the same time it’s in another level. I can’t even breathe, I can feel the pressure against every muscle and every bone in my body. If they continue with this I know that I’m going to die.

  “You really think that the way that you are right now, does any of you have any opportunity to pass the test and come out alive of the forest, I don’t think so. The moment you get in there you are dead, unless you become stronger.” Master Julius is the first to speak.

  “Has any of you ever think why your mothers have so many children at the same time and so often? Well that’s because they need to take special elixirs just to do that, and the reason behind that even when the elixirs are so expensive it’s that every ten years when we have the test more than twenty people get in there and only five or less come out.” Instructor Rod reveals something terrifying.

  “We already told you, we have the power in here, the Viscount has decided that way.” Nolan speaks looking directly to Liam’s eyes and I can see him shaking and judging by the liquid under him, he peed himself.

  When they see how their words get to us, they retract whatever they were doing to us, I can move again and the pain returns with it.

  I’ve been restraining myself to try some spells because of my pronunciation, but maybe a part of me has been complacent with my life, I remember my first two years of life in here and it wasn’t a single moment of rest, and after the attack of the intruder, even if I continue my training, I cannot say it was at same level.

  Thinking what awaits for me in five years, I’ll do everything I can in order to improve.

  Another piece of important information they give us, it’s something about what I been curious about for a long time, even when I asked Leonore about it, she refused to answer me, now I know why every wife of the Viscount gives birth to so many babies, there are thirty three children here.

  I know that this isn’t normal, so many kids, giving birth one after another, even if they use magic to recover, their bodies would reach a limit if they keep pushing themselves in this way.

  This remind me again how everybody in this family appears to put men over women in every aspect.

  “We will give you the rest of the day to recover, tomorrow the training continues.” Nolan says before departing accompanied with Julius and Rod.

  It takes me half an hour just to get on my feet, when I manage to walk I notice how everybody has already left, leaving me alone.

  I take the same path as my brothers to return to our house.

  “Little Miss…” The moment Leonore sees me there’s tears in her eyes.

  “I’m goin do ge a bath (I’m going to get a bath)”I don’t want to talk about how horrible today was, from getting assaulted by a boy to getting hit for not doing anything right.

  “I understand, I’ll tell the servants to prepare it.”

  The servants prepare the bath really quickly and I can rest for a little bit, be submerged in water pretending that everything it’s okay.

  I know that time is of the essence and I cannot procrastinate. I get up and come outside, in my room there’s food already, I haven’t eaten a single meal with my family since my birth, always eating by myself or with Leonore.

  After eating my food the servants think it’s a good thing to rest, tomorrow more training is waiting for me after all, but I know I cannot continue in this state, I don’t have the ability to move properly, how I’m supposed to repeat it again after a few hours of sleep.

  When the servants leave me alone, I start practicing my reciting, I need to try everything.

  Not every magus can perform healing magic, better known as holy magic, because the majority of people who can do it form part of the church. For some reason I notice how in this new life I am able to, when I try using it with silent chanting the spell was weak, and for something better I need to use words, after all words hold power.

  “Convaluiss a sananum (Convaluisset ad sanandum)” I want to cry, I cannot do it like this, and I know that if my pronunciation is incorrect the backlash could kill me.

  “Conaluisse a sannum”

  “Convaluiss a sanantum”

  “Convaluisse a sananu”

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  “Convaluissed a sanantum”

  “Convaluisset ad sanandum”

  For hours I practice my pronunciation, sometimes it gets better just to get worse in the next try, this process is a normal thing after many nights doing it. In the past month a few times I’ve been able to do it perfectly but I’m always afraid to channel mana in my words and fail.

  I cannot doubt in myself, I cannot control every little detail in my life and I know that’s not healthy for me.

  If by any chance I injure myself then I’ll cross that bridge when the moment comes.

  Getting in lotus position, I close my eyes to visualize and have a better control of the mana. Feeling how the ambient mana touch my skin, I inhale and with my breathe I attract it to me, the room illuminates with the golden lines that appear in my skin, I guide the mana for the mana network until it reach the mana core until it gets fill. With my hands I start doing hand signs to connect with the universe.

  “Convaluisset ad sanandum” This time when I pronounce the words I channel the mana in my core to them.

  [New skill acquired]

  [Spell casting Lv1]

  I direct the spell at me and the mana takes form with the help of my words and my hands, it surrounds me and I can feel how the pain start disappearing from my body, this effect it’s in another level compare with what I was doing with silent spell casting, and I know how Mr. Lud would be able to help me if he was still here in the family, but ever since he quit his position, the butler who’s in charge of those affairs hasn’t found a replacement.

  Mr. Lud left the house this year, after the hideous treatment received by all the family, the wives always demand some potions for them, and since the house didn’t have the money for the ingredients anymore, he couldn’t make them, which in turn only bring the anger of the wives. I found out the reason for them to have so many kids at the same time one after another, and that was the potions they used to drink like the instructors told us.

  I open my status page so I can see how much mana was consumed by the spell.

  Name: Dalia Davenport.

  Age: 5 years.

  Race: Human.

  Level: 56 [Exp: 668/1115]

  Health: 10

  Stamina: 5/20

  Intelligence: 60 + [100] = 130/160

  Agility: 10

  Strength: 5

  Luck: 30

  Available points: 531

  Skills: [Mana sense Lv45] [Mana manipulation Lv49] [Mana absorption Lv45] [Poisonous poop Lv15] [Poison resistance Lv15] [Body coordination Lv25] [Mental resistance Lv25] [Physical Pain Resistance Lv10] [Silent Spell Casting Lv35] [Amplified voice Lv5] [Running Lv1] [Spell casting Lv1]

  Title: [Youngest Magus alive: Bestow to the entity who manages to have a mana network and a mana core before everybody else of their own race, it gives you one hundred points in intelligence and a better mana control.]

  Magic Attributes: [Holy Magic] [Fire Magic] [Water Magic] [Earth Magic] [Air Magic]

  My Intelligence attribute that indicates my mana pool, got reduce by thirty points from their one hundred sixty maximum.

  I can perform my healing spell four more times with the mana I have, but if my mana gets below their ten percent it could be dangerous for my health. I resist the urge to invest status points in intelligence, even when I know how useful would it be to have a bigger mana pool for a simple reason, the more I push myself and the harder it gets for me, my stats would increase little by little in a natural way.

  I can do the spell three more times then.

  “Convaluisset ad sanandum”

  “Convaluisset ad sanandum”

  “Convaluisset ad sanandum”

  With every time I cast the spell, my body recovers a little bit, I cannot obtain a better result with a simple tier one spell, I’m incapable of tier two spells until I elevate my mana core to the next tier, and even if by some miracle my core was on the second tier, I don’t know other healing spells apart from the one I perform. In my past life I never had interest in them and the only reason I know the basic one it’s because everyone knows of it, and it’s the most frequently use by priests.

  Now that my mana pool it’s so low I cannot perform more spells, I can only hope that tomorrow be a better day, before falling sleep I activate my mental skill resistance to avoid another nightmare.

  ………..

  The next day when I’ve eaten my meal, gotten dressed up with another dress and with my hair done in a ponytail, I take the path to the training grounds. The moment I arrive everybody else is waiting there already.

  I can notice the surprise in their eyes when they see me and perceive how well and unaffected by the training of the previous day I am.

  “Why are you fine?” The first one break the silence is my brother Liam, I look him from head to toe and can see how bad he’s feeling right now.

  “I’m just ready for another training day, the same as all of you, I know that you should be stronger than me.” I select carefully my words and with them they cannot say something to their mothers or their servants, otherwise they would look weaker than the cursed child. They’re still children after all.

  “Of course I am stronger!” Liam fall into the trap easily.

  “Yes, I know it.” I respond back to him.

  “Me too!”

  “Yes, yesterday’s training was nothing”

  “They should do it more rigorous.”

  “The instructors are too gentle.”

  One after another start giving me the reason.

  “We are happy that all of you think that way, now we know how much you can handle.” Instructor Nolan interrupt them out of nowhere.

  At their words everyone start getting pale.

  “Now start running, we want you to run at least the double from yesterday.”

  “Yes!” The older boys don’t second guess their words and start running after accepting.

  I cannot be left behind and commence my training of the day.

  When it became unbearable I activate my physical pain resistance to push through my limits. They really commit to their word and make us run the double amount that we do in yesterday’s training.

  [Skill Level Up.]

  [Running Lv2]

  “Alright, stop.”

  “Aggghh!”

  “Finally.”

  “I think I was going to die.”

  All of us stop at the signal, the only ones who appear to be in a good condition are the older boys.

  “We hear you talking about how the training was too easy for you, and for today we make you run the double amount, you don’t need to worry, for tomorrow we would be prepare with better things.”

  “We didn’t really mean that…” I hear Liam whisper in a small voice against the instructors.

  “Ooohhh… really?” Instructor Nolan position himself in front of Liam and ask back at him.

  “Well…”

  “We already told you, who yields the real power in the training grounds are us.”

  “I am sorry sir.”

  “Let’s just move on Nolan, let’s not waste more time.” Master Julius interject between them.

  “I know… I know, I was having a little fun.”

  “How can you have fun with kids, this isn’t the proper behavior of a knight under the Viscount.”

  “Relax Rod, you should have some fun once in a while.”

  “Yeah, you’re always so uptight.” Master Julius joins in the conversation teasing his companion.

  Everyone can see how well their relationship seem to be in order to joke like that.

  “We should focus, everyone follow us.” Instructor Rod puts an end to the conversation and gives instructions to all the kids.

  We follow behind him and this time we can observe a lot of bows and arrows.

  “Today the new kids are practicing with the bow, Master Rod if you were kind enough to give your instructions.” Instructor Nolan says, giving the power to dictate the training.

  “Alright, I guess it’s time to work, everyone should know that the bow it’s not for everybody, if it’s not for you then focus in another weapon, your time is limited, the test is only five years away.”

  “Then what do we do if we don’t have the talent for the bow Master Rod?” Matthew asks the instructor.

  “I would send you with Master Julius to continue your training with the sword.”

  “And if we don’t have talent for the sword?” I ask something that has been in my mind.

  An awkward silence fill the area.

  “Then you are screwed.” Nolan finally answer my question.

  *Cough* *Cough* “I mean… maybe you could try fighting with another weapon but the house Davenport can’t help you with that.” Master Julius tries to alleviate some of the awkward atmosphere.

  “The only thing possible for you is to continue your preparation, now for those older than six years and already decided their future with the sword, grab one and follow Master Julius and Master Nolan, and for those who are new to the training, grab a bow with their arrows.” Master Rod gives his instructions.

  “As Rod said, everyone who already decided to practice with the sword follow us, and congratulations because you already discover that the real strength resides with the sword.” Master Julius says.

  The majority of the boys leave with the two masters, leaving my brothers and me with Master Rod.

  “Don’t be surprised for only been the three of you, in all the time I’ve been here, the boys always choose the sword, and it’s for the best, that’s what has suited them better, don’t feel pressure to choose the bow, this is only a tool that would permit you to survive, I don’t know if you are getting bored of this discourse but it’s the truth and you been so young we need to make sure that you understand it.”

  I know that I need more than just magic, if I had my mana core at the same level as in my last life things would be different, but my mana core is in the first tier and for me to advance it to the second tier, I need a low mana stone, in theory it’s not that difficult to obtain, but in the situation I’m now, it’s impossible, I don’t have any money, or connections that could give it to me. Maybe if I manage to collaborate with one of the servants they could buy it for me in the town, but I’m a pariah in this house. I cannot ask for it to Leonore or Aurora, unless I want them to become suspicious of me, everyone disregard the statements of the magus that try to kidnap me, but if I start looking for mana stones everything can be ruined for me.

  With a mana core in the first tier, entering the test and relying only in spells that would be my end, that’s why I need to at least be proficient with the sword or with the bow. Five years sounds like a lot of time but for what I need to advance it’s too little time, I envy all the other kids older than us, they would be more prepare than us, specially a boy named Leonard, he has fourteen years old, he missed the last test for one year and when he enter this time he will be nineteen years old.

  “If you don’t have any more questions, we should start, time doesn’t wait for anyone.”