Chapter 4 is here!

This chapter is pretty long and like the last two I had to cut it into two parts in order to not flood a post. :D

As for the questions regarding why Mano is Master Krieg's student even though "she doesn't accept disciples." All i can say is just because you teach someone the basic way of doing something doesn't mean you teach them the way that you would do it.

Anyways chapter 5 is coming soon!

Thanks fellas!

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-Chapter 4-

*Huff Huff* The sound of Mano training is the only sound that could be heard in the crisp morning air over the vanguard training dorm at Myst Training Hall.

Growing to an above average height of 137 cm, Mano has grown well these past years. Master Krieg took care of his hair and cut it into a cute style with 4 cm hair on top with a small fade to the side. He was taking on more of his fathers features now, most notably with his strong jawline and his above average physique. Mano hasn’t met many kids his age that were as tall as he. Though there were some among the vanguard wing and a few in swordsmanship and archery, they could be counted on two hands only. His looks have only grown with age. He adopted the best features from his parents, who were good looking by themselves, and rumor spread of the blue eyed prince that lived in the forest of Myst’s training grounds.

Mano was only eight years old however, and his training consumed his life. These rumors never reached his ears. Not that any of them would affect him, he was an honest child.

The scene of the child training came to a stop, and Mano stood up from his exercises smiling.

“Finally! I was able to complete the daily routine with 180 kg clothes on!” Mano had a satisfied expression on his face while he wiped the sweat off his brow.

“You’ve come a long way these past three years Mano. Being able to already wear 160 kg clothes during everyday activities. You show great potential, physical potential fitting of a vanguard practitioner.” Mano’s teacher Master Krieg nods with satisfaction.

“Freshen up and follow me into the cabin. It’s time to take your finals.” Master Krieg turned around on a heel and headed off toward the cabin entrance.

“Yes master!” Mano quickly stripped down and took a shower, revealing his toned chest and abdominal muscles. It didn’t look excessive though and he still had a small layer of baby fat still on his body. Master Krieg was smart and, with the help of the tea she often gave him, trained him in different flexibility exercises so that his training wouldn’t abnormally affect his growth. His triangular birthmark on his left shoulder seemed to have grown with him and a new triangle seemed to be forming at the bottom corner of the current triangle. At first Mano and his family were concerned about this mark left on his arm but after multiple doctor visits, It was concluded the mark wasn’t harmful to his health.

After cleaning up and donning his 160 kg clothes Mano headed into the cabin.

“Alright take a seat Mano.” Master Krieg was standing in front of a chalkboard stationed in front of a lone desk and chair. Mano complied quietly.

“Not only have you done well with your physical fitness endeavors, but you have also excelled in your academics. What I have in front of you is the final exam for the academic portion of Myst Training Hall. If you pass this test the only thing that you and I will be focusing on is your vanguard training.” Master Krieg’s eyes flashed a cold light and Mano felt a shiver run down his spine from her killing intent. He knew that if he didn’t pass this exam he would be given worse pain than what he has endured up till now.

While the rest of the students at Myst Training Hall were diligently training in their selected class and putting academics second. Mano was working his body to the core while studying the academics alone. This led to Mano taking the final exam for the school four years earlier than most. If he passed this exam right now, he would fully immerse himself in the vanguard lifestyle.

“Alright, this exam is normally supposed to be done in three hours. I’m giving you half that. Begin.” Krieg sat on the desk next to the chalkboard and started a clock.

Mano’s pencil moved like fire across the paper as he answered each of the questions as quickly as possible. He would pause now and again on particularly tough problems and nibble on his bottom lip in thought. Mano couldn’t see it but a rose cheeked Master Krieg was breathing heavily at the sight. She was merciless when it came to training and learning, but when all that was done she couldn’t help but be kind to the sweet child that was her student.

After about an hour Mano put his pencil down. A nervous expression on his face. “I’m done master.”

Lucky for her, Master Krieg already wiped the smile off her face. Her cool expression returning. “Alright. Your free for rest of the day while I get these scored and the results reflect in your records. Return back here before sundown. Make sure you don’t wander off to the other vanguard building though, I don’t want you to catch any of their bad habits.”

Mano almost thought he hadn’t heard her correctly. Other kids were often given free time in the day. That wasn’t the case for Mano, who was constantly training in order to reach Master Kriegs standards. But now that he has, he would finally have his own free period!

“Thank you Master!” Mano ran up to Master Krieg and gave her a hug. His head resting in her bosom. “I’ll be back before sundown!” Turning around happily he runs out of the front door of the cabin.

He couldn’t see it now but Master Krieg was rolling around the floor, screaming “Kya!” and “HE’S SO CUTE!”

Master Krieg takes her job very seriously and didn’t hold back in his instruction, but that last attack was too much. It was the same sort of feeling she got when she saw cute baby animals. At least he wasn’t there to see it.

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“Wow, now that I have my first free period I wonder what i should do?” Mano was wondering to himself while he was walking down the trail to Myst’s main road. “I know! I’ll go explore some of the other wings!” With his new goal in his head he happily made his way towards the other wings.

“Look at that guy!”

“Wow! He’s so cute!”

“Do you think he goes to our wing?”

“What class is he in?”

“He’s looking this way!”

“You think he has a girlfriend?”

“I wonder if he will let us watch him practice whatever it is he does.”

These were just some of the things the girls were whispering to each other as Mano was walking by. He was already hounded by girls wanting to know more about him as he made his way through each of the wings. Mano wasn’t used to all the attention he was getting but he definitely wanted more friends, so he treated all the girls kindly. Although shy at first, he honestly responded to all their questions. Not pushing them away when they wanted a hug although the closeness made him feel a little uncomfortable. Mano thoroughly captured many of the girls hearts with his innocent and outgoing attitude, garnering many glares from the boys. After spending about an hour at each wing, absorbing all the sights and differences, he was now at the final wing of his adventure.

The swordsmanship wing.

“Man this place is really big! I guess I should expect nothing less from the most popular profession in the school.” Mano was thoroughly impressed with the ornate building that housed the swordsmanship students.

“From what I heard our first year in the annual arena competition should be starting next year. I wonder if the students in my year are training for it now.”

What Mano was referring to was an annual tournament held to test the skills of the students. There were many competitions that tested the skills of the students such as archery competitions, feats of acrobatics, and even tracking competitions. All of these games were used to showcase the skills of each combat specialty, and It displayed new talent to the whole city. Scouts from mercenary companies and merchant groups often attended hoping to get first pick of the best newcomers when they graduated. While many of these patrons would attend every event, there was one event that all scouts and fans would attend.

The annual swordsmanship melee.

The melee was a single elimination tournament where one student would face off against another with blunted weapons. Fighting till a ring out or until one party is in no condition to fight, or admits defeat. A team of magicians specializing in healing were on standby for the inevitable injuries incurred during the tournament. A big reason the melee was so popular was due in part to the popularity and favor placed on the swordsmanship profession, but also because the vanguard also participated.

So far a vanguard has never come in first place in a melee, but that wasn’t the point. The melee was the perfect stage to showcase a future vanguards amazing defensive potential. A vanguard mainly won rounds by out lasting their opponents, wearing them down until they are unable to fight. Being a vanguard was tough and not many kids have a knack for it, so many drop out early on. Any vanguard practitioner that even lasted three rounds raised eyebrows and were almost guaranteed employment when they graduated.

Even though the first year you can participate is at nine years old, Mano wasn’t confident he’d do well. Many of the students would have been studying their art for four years by then, Mano wasn’t going to fool himself and think that he could do well with only one year of training ahead of him.

Putting those thoughts aside Mano was wandering the swordsmanship campus searching for the arena. This was the biggest campus so naturally the arena was located here as well.

“Hey there! Are you lost?” A sweet voice could be heard coming from behind him.

Mano turned to the sound of the voice to be greeted by a cute looking girl just about his height. She was tall but Mano could tell from the way she carried herself that she was older than he was, perhaps ten or eleven years old. A whole three years older than he was. She had short sand-colored hair that was fell lightly just above her shoulders cute slightly angled light brown eyes, one could tell in a couple years she’d be a sight for sore eyes.

“I’m Mano, eight years old from the vanguard wing. Nice to meet you!” Mano bowed to the girl addressing him. “I’m on my first free period since I’ve enrolled and, since the melee is next year, I wanted to check out how the swordsmanship wing’s training is going.” Mano showed a smile to the girl.

“Well your in luck! I’m actually heading to the arena now, I can lead you there if you like.” The girl said to Mano before stopping herself, “Oh, how rude of me, I’m Saria Rosewood. Eleven years old and part of the swordsmanship wing.” Saria began to lead Mano down through the school grounds toward the arena.

Needless to say they gathered a lot of attention, who was this dark haired prince being led around by the number one genius in swordsmanship and also number one beauty in the school Saria Rosewood?

“So this is really your first free period since being here for three years?” Saria asks curiously.

“Yeah actually, my master said I wasn’t ready to learn any vanguard basics so I’ve just been training my body and pursuing academics. In fact I just took my academic final.” Mano laughed in response.

“You’ve already taken your final?! I’ve always had problems with academics.” Saria shakes her head in mock shame. “I’m three years your senior and your already smarted than me.”

This kind of idle and good atmosphere only led to more boys declaring Mano as their sworn enemy. Like this the two finally made it to a large circular building that was the arena.

The arena was built during the founding of Myst academy and even though it was constantly used, it was in pristine condition. The center of the arena was a large open space that housed four separate platforms made of stone that could be lowered flush to the ground or moved together to create one large platform. Bordering this was the viewing area. In the front row viewing the platform surrounded by a crowd of eight year olds was where Mano and Saria sat, happily talking to each other while watching the training. On the platform they could make out two people facing each other with swords drawn. One was a stout dwarven child with a two-hand sword and the other was a boy with long blond hair and a smug look on his face, facing the dwarf with a rapier in hand.

“We got here just in time. Watch carefully Mano this is the number one sword student in your year, Charles. Though he’s arrogant, his skill is real. He will be a tough opponent if you face him this year. He can even take down many of the students in my class.” Saria informed Mano, who was already watching intently. Saria laughed and scooted a little closer to Mano, resting her weight up against him. There weren’t any romantic intentions however so Mano didn’t pay any mind.

Mano had a strange sense of being able to sense the presence and strength of others, he gained this ability after falling asleep in the bath one day for a whole night after pushing himself passed his limits everyday. Thats also when his birth mark grew the additional small triangle at the bottom of the big central one. Although for some reason he would always recover the fastest whenever he was in water he just chocked it up to Master Krieg tampering with the water. Because he never needed to use this sense he didn’t quite get a grasp of it yet, and it would activate on it’s own.

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Che-. This is so meaningless, how can this peasant hope to defeat me, Charles Roland, in a match? The kid with blond hair was thinking as he made his way up the stairs to the platform. There is no student as great as I in the school. Charles looked at the dwarf child in front of him in disdain.

The two were finally face to face with their weapons drawn. “Why don’t you just lay on the ground and accept defeat? I don’t want to waste my energy on trash like you.” Charles groupies snickered at the dwarf, looking down on him. The dwarf puffed up his chest, clearly angry.

“Charles, you watch your mouth. This time I will definitely rub that smug look off your face!” The dwarf spat back.

“Try if you must, it will only be in vain.” Charles arrogantly flicked his long blond hair, turning to the crowd.

There was a group of girls in the stands near Mano and Saria that cried out in glee at this. Charles was very popular among the girls and was quite the playboy. As a noble living in the inner ring of the city he had everything with money, future power, and looks. This added with his talent with the blade only added to his popularity. Looks wise he was nearly as good as Mano, the difference being Charles knew he was good looking and Mano didn’t. He had been by himself in class three years after all.

At this point he could see Saria heading down the stairs of the stands towards a seat. Not noticing Mano behind her.

“Hou? My beautiful Saria came to the arena just to see me? I will definitely give her a good show.” Charles smiles to himself.

Saria was the prettiest girl at Myst and also the best swordsman. Charles thought it only natural she become his. He was the strongest swordsman in his grade and had great potential. Charles always got what he wanted, and Saria would be his.

The battle was about to begin. Master Aaron was overseeing his class as normal and began the countdown.

“3...

2...

1...”

“Begin!” Master Aaron said with a booming voice.

The first one to make a move was the dwarf. Quickly closing the distance with his short stocky legs and blade hung low to the side he swiped upwards in a diagonal slash. Turning his hips to transfer the most power to his strike.

Charles saw this coming however and dodged the strike artfully. Bringing his rapier down quickly targeting the space between the dwarf’s neck and shoulder.

Narrowly blocking the slash with his two-hand sword the dwarf retreated back leaving a 5m gap between the two. Just now he was really close to losing the match. In Master Aaron’s class, any strike that would have been fatal with a real blade ended in a loss.

“Oh? You realized your stupid mistake of coming in close?” Charles laughed. “Impressive I didn’t know bugs like you were capable of higher thinking.” Charles berated the dwarf. “My turn to get on the offensive then! You won’t get away!”

Exerting a pressure on the dwarf stopped him in his tracks, unable to move. Charles pushed off the ground with the balls of his feet with great force, closing the distance in a second.

Within a breath Charles demanded of the boy, “Sit down dog!” and swiped at the boy six times faster than others could see. Two strikes on the neck and two to each knee brought the boy down writhing in pain, dropping his sword.

“Sleep!” In one moment Charles stomped on the young dwarfs head, knocking him out cold.

“That’s enough. It’s Charles’ win.” Master Aaron said with a sigh. He couldn’t deny Charles’ talent for the blade but he still disapproved how poorly he treated his peers.

“Thank you master!” Charles bowed quickly to Master Aaron and swiftly turned to see the girl he would make his.

Only she was now leaning on a boy who was happily talking to her about what he thought of the match, while she responded smiling.

“Man! That was amazing! Did you see how fast that Charles guy moved? It was almost hard to track with my eyes! It makes my blood boil with excitement just watching them!” Mano was extremely happy to have seen the fight take place.

Laughing at what Mano said Saria replied, “Hou? So you could see his movements, and clearly at that? Mano, are you sure you haven’t trained in combat yet?”

Their friendly exchange was interrupted by a loud voice.

“Hey! Get your hands off my girl!”

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