His mind was alert earlier than he was used to. Kenan felt he was up even before the earliest of risers in the village. Doco had received news from the scouts. They had located the bandit camp. Plans were already underway, the guard had decided to strike first instead of being a cornered dog. Tomorrow they would ride, the next day they were to raid. Kenan, to say the least, was anxious.

His stomach had a ball of nervousness, fear, excitement, and a billion tiny different other emotions all wrapped up into one. Because of this, Kenan was already in the training circle, running to clear his head. Way before the Sun itself roused.

A week had passed since he had first met Jorun and his family. In that short time he had grown incredibly close to them. Multiple times did Kenan save Jorun from his never ending mouth, but, in an odd way, he was happy to do so. On the other hand, he has yet to threaten any other for Geia's sake. Mr.Schmitz, or otherwise known as Sveige, had taken quite a liking to Kenan. Whenever they talked, instead of referring to him as “boy.” he would say “son.”. Similar story to Herne, Mrs. Schmitz. For whatever reason, she had taken on the responsibility of a mother for Kenan. Something he wasn’t quite sure how to respond to.

He had an even more focus on training. At first he wanted to save his sister, now he also wanted to protect the Schmitz. No matter the cost. He had thrown himself even harder into making his body and mind better. He was now at three times his body weight, he could control up to seven spheres of fire at once and he was inventing new tricks.

“Here even before your sergeant. Wow. It took me until I was nearly done to figure that out.” Kenan heard behind him. He tried to turn but couldn’t. Then he realized he had been running in place above the ground. The sun rising illuminated his face.. Kenan wasn’t aware just how spaced out he was.

“Can you let me down?” Kenan said. As soon as his feet touched the ground he stood front and center of Doco.

“At ease. You're not training today. Not really. It'll do no good. Besides, you need to get used to your regular body weight again. Also you need to sharpen your skills, magic, swordsmanship, and sword-magic.. Whenever you feel ready, go relax. It’s bad to have pent up nerves two days before a battle, it could make you sloppy. In fact, that's an order. If you're not done before noon, then you will leave, and go to the blacksmith's house. There you will relax, request food and drink, and tell them what you're about to do. Is this understood?”

Kenan wanted to ask a few questions, but he decided not to. He then nodded.

“Good. Take the dial down from three to one.” Doco said as floated away and staying on the other side of the fence.

Kenan did what he was told. Immediately he felt his muscles loosen. Everything seemed lighter and feather-like. He took a step and pushed off. The muscles in his legs had other ideas as he rocketed five yards forward. Doco started to laugh as Kenan went face first into mud.

Eventually he got his balance. Everything just seemed so light. He could jump on top of a house if he wanted to. Push a wagon full of cargo by himself, leap ten yards in one stride. It felt so great. Once he pulled out his blade, it was as easy as lifting his own arm.

He then began to practice his various skills. The first one, which he simply named Mana Blade. It changed his sword according to his magic. It made the blade twice as effective but had a continual drain on his mana. It didn’t need much practice, but he would have to figure out how to lessen the pull of power at a later date.

The next trick he practiced was Flame Strike. First he heated just the edge to an extreme, then he moved oxygen to flow alongside the blade and trapped it beside the edge. Then once everything was ready, Kenan struck the blade in the air, releasing the pent up heat and oxygen. A phantom arc swing made of fire traveled in the air before hitting a dummy, setting it ablaze.

Lastly, a new skill he only refined a few days ago. The idea had come from watching Sveige blacksmithing. The name of the ability had yet to be found. He set three pieces of charcoal out on the ground.

Two of them he lit up, not to an extreme heat, but enough. Then he lifted the two using a strong force of oxygen. He didn’t need to add mana for the fuel because the charcoal was enough. It resulted in him having more maneuverability over them. Two flaming balls revolved around Kenan's head, he sent them flying to the dummy. Battering it on the sides repeatedly. He still needed to get the mana flow down and fine tune the skill. The two pieces eventually burned to ash

The last piece he put in his hand. Set it aflame and levitated it. Then he concentrated heat inside of it. Making it go from black, to red, to a bright yellow. As it crumbled he used oxygen to force it together. When he felt the heat was enough, he chucked it.

There was a moment of silence between it flying in the air and hitting the dummy. On impact the charcoal was destroyed to dust instantly. For a fraction of a second a spinning ball of a fire was left. The it exploded. Resulting in a wave of fire that nearly set the barracks on fire if it wasn’t for Doco telekinetically patting the flames out. The shockwave knocked Kenan back about ten feet. Quickly he patted the flames on himself. [Yup, that still needs work.] While the explosion was big and powerful. Nearly half of his mana was gone.

“I think we will save that for the opening salvo.” Kenan said.

“Agreed.” Doco respond.

He had finished going over sword stances. Eventually he went to the Schmitz’s household. He had lunch and dinner with them. At supper he had broken the news about him leaving on the morrow.

They all had taken it a bit differently. Jorun was excited for him, and wanted every detail about once he got back. Mainly so he could write an epic ballad about it. Sveige acted proud, as if he was sending his son off to the army. Herne smothered him in warnings about not being a hero and returning safe or she would kill him. Geia reacted weirdly. At least for Kenan. She nearly cried at the news and once Kenan later asked her what's wrong, she blushed and ran off to her room.

Beyond that he meditated. Not diving into the sword or attacking his impurities. Just breathing, letting his mind let loose on all of its thoughts and worries. The ball in his gut disappeared. Instead, his heart cultivated an unwavering determination. Before he knew it, he was asleep.