In a tranquil place where Brandon's clunky armoured knights weren't distracting him with their clamouring and noisy personalities, he took the time to get a complete overview on his apprentices... Which made him quite amused.

One of them was ordinary. He had a unique Skill taught to him by someone special, but the bigger child was still nothing worth talking about. He was just an ordinary Sword Warrior even in attitude.

The other? He was someone who seemed like he was a 'ordinary' Unique Class holder on the surface level, yet was hiding great potential underneath that made his heart burn with expectations.

Though he had to say that Arthur was more likeable compared to Alex... It was to the point he could even see the silhouette of his past self being overlaid on the large child who trained elemental swordsmanship. It made him a little stricter on him.

"Arthur." The young Warrior stopped in his tracks.

He wasn't sure what he had done wrong, and was sure he was infusing the right amount of elemental energies he could gather from the atmosphere into his backsword correctly. It became a routine for him to almost get lost in the feeling of his 'dance'.

When he swung his sword in accordance to what had been instructed, Arthur could feel himself getting lost in the feeling of immersing himself. It felt in the worldly External Energies he could sense with his Gaia Affinity were trying to talk to him.

It made him feel a sense of joy.

Brandon was well aware of this situation, as he too would always feel joyful when practicing Elemental Swordsmanship. He'd even mastered its power and contracted spirits to create elemental Spell Slots.

Now, as the master of such forces, he knew the truth of this sensation, and where it came from.

"Immersion into the 'World' of Gaia only makes you happy because you're being coddled by nature's embrace. As a grown adult, you need to become independent of it. Don't let it control you."

The large boy nodded his head to his teacher, who rolled his eyes after seeing Arthur doing it again.

"Alex." He called out to the skinny boy, who was recently starting to grow some muscles thanks to the Grand Hero's hard work creating supplemental foods. It had magical properties of 'nurturing'.

He shook his head when he saw that Alex was sitting dow. The boy was probably thinking of how to combine magical traps he could create with his Runes. Funnily enough, exercising was tired to him.

It made him understand how the youth became so lacking in strength in the first place... something he wanted to fix immediately. There was a massive gap in his defences the boy hadn't yet thought of.

"Have you ever thought of what would happen if someone got past all your prepared traps?"

"...I'd just run awa-" He didn't even have a chance to finish his sentence. Brandon appeared before him in a literal blink of an eye. In that mini-second he used to close and open his eyes, his teacher got past all his prepared traps to grab his shoulder.

"And what if you can't do that?" He asked, giving Alex a meaningful look while tightening his grip.

A static burst of electricity suddenly repulsed Brandon's hand off of him. This was a big surprise.

It seemed like the little magical prodigy didn't need any preparation time to apply Runes to himself.

This was a 'passable' defence…

"Let's train. Arthur!" He called out loudly, scaring the large boy out of his wits: "You can join in too."

The two of them nodded their heads. They attacked him with seamless teamwork the moment they got close to each other. It was a testament to their friendship that in a maelstrom of chaotic combos... there seemed to be a line of reason in it.

A blinking light show attracted some of the knights in the distance, who watched on in awe. The two youths tried their best to pressure a grown adult, but he had already mastered the arts of battle.

It was an amazing barrage that worked well.

Any other of the Knights around them would have a hard time. They wouldn't have been able to fight.

Still, Brandon effortlessly parried Arthur's blade with his palm… while manhandling Alex by throwing him and tripping him up whenever possible. It was then he started to lecture them while fighting.

"Arthur, you might as well use an axe if you're going to use a blade like that." He sighed. Arthur was too inexperienced in using his blade against non-humanoid foes. What made him certain of it was the large child's reliance on gaudy moves.

"You don't need to stab my throat or decapitate my head, nor do you need to chop down my torso like a tree... or aim for my heart." This confused the young Warrior. It sounded like complete nonsense.

He didn't understand why Brandon spoke that…

Weren't all those moves necessary?

How could you fight without those moves?

It didn't make any sense…!

Grabbing the back of Arthur's blade, the heroic figure stopped their spar for a moment by neutralising Alex with a single-handed grapple. He pinned the prodigy's arm behind his back and chest put down the floor. He then shifted his eyes…

That hand traveled up the blade... to the tip.

"Veins are just a few millimetres under the skin of any Gaia Human, and organs are just three centimetres too. That's why, one inch is all you need to regardless of the species you fight." This was a perfect theory in concept, but hard to apply.

Arthur didn't have the talent or the experience necessary to purge all of his wasted movements.

He also wasn't suited for such a fighting style.

One that relied heavily on using one's head in the midst of battle rather than physical strength. Even though Brandon tried to guide him, it didn't seem possible to teach this to someone who let blood rush to his head whenever in the heat of battle.

After letting go of Alex so they could continue, he also saw a vast difference between them that couldn't be gapped with hard work alone. The large child just couldn't keep up with his friend in any way whatsoever. The man found it hard to mention.

The little prodigy purposely limited himself to match the 'rhythm' of his friend, who was constantly tripping over himself in their high speed battle due to thoughtlessly changing sword styles.

One of them was a master of using the right elements at the right time. Water Runes and Lightning Runes appeared on the young Arcanist's body whenever he was in a 'stance'. The Warrior was used to boost flexibility while the Arcanist was familiar with its high variations in terms of utility.

Water could be as solid as ice, as elusive as a thick mist, while also being comprehensive, which had naturally made it easier to grasp techniques which most would find hard to execute. This was paired with outstanding footwork and wrestling moves.

Switching to Lightning Runes in the middle of it also made it harder to grasp when he would throw a decisive strike, as the suddenness of thunderous attacks made him a lot harder to predict.

If this was everything, then he would only label the Fighter-like boy as a 'genius'. However, the way he clearly improved the more they fought made him become harder and harder to fight lazily over time.

The little prodigy seemed to be testing different fighting styles... while also understanding that magical properties mattered as much as honestly trained 'techniques' used to corner opponents.

He tested out what attacks could be blocked by using Earth Runes to boost his defence and what attacks would send him flying upon being hit. It was a crazy method of training he hadn't really expected Alex to do, as he hit real hard sometimes.

Wind Runes for dodging, Lightning Runes for sudden strikes, Fire Runes for the attacks he put his back into, Metal Runes to cut through Brandon's own defences, Blood Runes to regenerate, and Wood Runes to replenish stamina.

The last one was also drawn on Arthur a lot...

The complexity of Alex's fighting style only seemed to become higher with time. He was getting used to applying the right Rune on his body whenever he made certain actions. The different kinds of muscle tensing were used as mental triggers for his magic.

Though at a slower pace, Arthur also seemed to improve as time went on and days went past as they repeated this training routine everyday. He somewhat copied Alex but couldn't quite reach Alex's proficiency when it came to Gaia Affinities.

It was after many days of sparring did he grab Arthur and brought him to the side to talk to him.

There was something he couldn't hold back anymore. Someone HAD TO tell the young Warrior.

He had no choice but to say it outright:

"Change to Light Swordsmanship."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?!" Brandon felt a little outraged that Arthur was being too greedy in terms of the sword.

Mastering the various kinds of Elemental Swordsmanship just wasn't something the large youth would be able to do. This was something Brandon became more certain of over time.

"What's the point in it?"

"It matters to me."

"Why?"

"Because my sister is growing faster than me." This seemed to be an unexpected answer. The Grand Hero squinted in response. He wasn't really able to connect swordsmanship and the boy's sister at all.

It was like comparing the sky and earth.

Arthur then explained something he had never told anyone else before, as it truly embarrassed him.

Even though his mind was simple, his heart was much more complex than anyone to imagine.

He was the first to realise that he and his sister were growing apart the more they grew older.

It was something he hadn't quite expected to happen since he heard twins were always in sync.

Out of concern of growing apart from her, he decided to do a hobby he didn't like doing.

And that 'hobby' was...

"Comprehending the Gaia Affinity?" Brandon didn't know what to say to his absurdly cute apprentice.

He trained it just to get closer to his sister? Why is it Brandon felt a little embarrassed after hearing it?

"I want to have more to talk to her about." His sincere and honest words were so pure that it made his teacher become nostalgic of his own youth. Only a child could have such aspirations…

It was indeed selfish, but cute at the same time.

"...How am I supposed to tell you off for that?" The Grand Hero finally gave up on persuading him.

"Yay! Does that mean you'll help me train?"

"Oh, don't you worry about that one bit. I'll help you out." He smiled with a demeanour that felt vaguely intimating to the large boy, before realising he made a mistake after his teacher continued: "So I'm increasing your training regime by a few folds~"

Arthur's face paled white. He wasn't that serious in wanting to do train his Racial Ability of Gaia Affinity.

After all, he just wanted enough of a grasp to make small talk with his twin sister every afternoon.

Not that he had any say in it as Brandon was brimming with enthusiasm to teach this large child everything he knew... all from the way he dealt with various Class of foes to different tactics in battle.

The most prominent of them was 'swordsmanship'.

"Didn't I tell you not to swing it like an axe?" The demonic instructor of Arthur's spoke 'warmly'.

"I'm trying... I'm trying...!"

"I'm not asking that. What I'm trying to say is that you're too focused on 'cutting' too strongly."

"Then how am I supposed to fight?"

"By using your blade like a blade." He materialised a similar blade in his hand and did a demonstration.

Brandon swung the backsword, which was nearly identical to Arthur's own in terms of type and design, without the strength his apprentice always put into it, but the type of swordsmanship displayed somehow seemed 'strong' nevertheless.

It was a strange paradox. Rather than using the blade like a bat, he emphasised on the blade so much that the large boy finally gained some insight in what his teacher was trying to teach him.

Rather than completely dismissing his mastery of Light Swordsmanship, Arthur copied the moves he saw while controlling his Spirit Essence to become sharp using Light Mana. He didn't release any Internal Energy, but it brought a significant change.

Rather than putting his back into each strike, he instead exerted his very being when handling his sword. The blade was a part of him and he too was a 'sword' when wielding this weapon in his head.

Brandon nodded his head and stopped his demonstration. The boy got used to this style of swordsmanship. Then he looked over to see what Alex was doing, only to see him training by himself.

He felt like hugging these two cute students of his.

One was like an adorable nephew, while the other was like a child who didn't know how to have fun.

He wanted to bring Alex out of training for a minute and show him how beautiful the world was.

Still, his pride wouldn't let him put down his facade of a teacher and act like a father to this great duo.

It became the words that were left unsaid...