So. After a quick discussion with my new teacher, I learned a few things.

First, Miss Roxy was a genius. But not only was she a genius, she was a hardworking genius who knew everything from the ground up and could answer all my questions.

Like, why the hell <Splash Flow> suddenly erupted even after I used a magic circle to try and stabilize the incantation.

It turned out that I was mistaken on the purpose of the spell. Though, it should have been obvious from the name...

<Water Ball> was a spell that created a ball of water. That was its primary use. Launching it and moving it around were auxiliary functions.

<Splash Flow> on the other hand... There was another name for it too. <Water Cannon>.

The reason why it suddenly exploded when I added the magic circle instead of calming down was because <Splash Flow> was an attack spell. Like, that was its primary purpose. Gather a crap ton of water and then explode it.

I was right in thinking that it built off of <Water Ball>. The flow and everything was the same because it seemed like the base process of gathering water was the same. But there was an additional step at the very end that changed it from just gathering a ball of water to erupting into a high-pressured water bomb.

But of course, the book didn't say anything like that.

I couldn't blame it, really. It was my bad.

When I asked Miss Roxy about why intermediate-ranked spells were so powerful, she explained that they were mostly meant for combat. And that it was common sense for people to be careful when casting anything beyond elementary-ranked spells because it was dangerous.

Putting it in other words...

Elementary-ranked spells were basically like shooting a Nerf gun. The targeting, aiming, shooting... all of that was the same as the real thing. And you could hit and hurt people with it too, but it was mostly just for fun.

Starting from Intermediate-ranked spells and onwards though, you were handling a real gun. There was kickback, recoil, and a lot more energy to deal with. The same basic principles applied, but there was more 'weight' to the firing that you had to watch out for.

Well, Miss Roxy didn't explain it like that, but that was basically it.

The long and short of it was that it was a *really* good thing I didn't start off my magic experimenting with fire. That would have ended really, really, really poorly.

Anyway, the second thing I learned was that Miss Roxy got sidetracked really easily. We were supposed to go over the basics, but after I asked a few questions we delved into a really deep and esoteric discussion about the purpose of magic and its origins.

Somehow.

I didn't remember all of it since Miss Roxy started getting excited and sped up talking, but it was something like elves did it first, humans copied them, and the method got refined by all the races in the world after a while.

Oh, and apparently there were a bunch of different races too. Like actual races. Elves, Angels, Demons, Dragons, Humans, Beastkin, and Sea creatures.

Or something.

Miss Roxy talked too fast for me to catch everything.

...Though maybe that was because I asked her if it was possible that mana could be directly shaped into a spell instead of using incantations or magic circles as a medium and she started talking out loud to go through that hypothesis.

Well, a hypothesis to her.

I already knew that it was possible, but I didn't want to spill that just yet.

But anyway, our first morning lesson ended... kind of fruitfully?

I picked up some information on what went wrong in my spell along with some background info on magic and my new teacher.

Miss Roxy also seemed to get something out of the lesson since she holed herself up in her guest room and started writing out a bunch of notes.

And that was how my first lesson with Miss Roxy went. But immediately after that...

"So you want to learn swordsmanship, huh, Rudy?"

...It was time for sword lessons with my dad.

We were outside in the courtyard. My mom and Miss Lilia were watching from the side... probably to make sure Dad didn't go overboard and hurt me.

That was good. If I was alone, I had a feeling he'd probably forget...

I slowly nodded. "Yes. But, um... Are you sure you can teach me, Dad?"

At the time, I was super happy. The thought of being able to chop up a boulder with a stick was too cool to pass up. And since Dad could do that, it'd be great if I learned from him.

Except, now that I was standing out here with him, I was having second thoughts.

...Mostly because he really didn't have any plans on where to start.

My dad laughed. "Of course I can! The sword styles aren't that hard to pick up, you know? But... hm..." He frowned and rubbed his chin. "Rudy is still pretty small. We definitely won't be able to spar for a while... Not to mention your mom and Lilia will definitely beat me up if you get hurt."

My mom immediately chimed in and said, "You bet we will, Mister! And no bed for you if Rudy gets hurt!"

My dad scratched the back of his head. "Yeah... So no sparring. Hm... but there's no point in me watching you for just body work, and you already do that on your own."

Oh. Right.

Since I saw my dad training a lot, I used it as an excuse to start doing basic exercise by copying him. Mostly jogging, push-ups, sit-ups... etc.

Though you really couldn't do much of that when you were just a baby... and even now I couldn't do much of that.

"Well." My dad shrugged and said, "I guess you can just follow along with me and practice the forms. Let's see..." He looked around the place. "Hm. There's not really any good tree branch, so..." He waved at my mom and said, "Sorry, Zenith! I'm going to clip your tree a bit!"

"What?! But-"

Before my mom could finish saying anything, my dad drew his sword and cut off a thin branch. His sword flash a few more times, trimming off the leaves, and then he sheathed his sword. After that, picked up the branch and swung it around a bit. "Mm... Yeah, this should be light enough."

Off to the side, my mom slumped. "My tree..."

"There, there, Zenny. This is for young master's sake."

"R-Right. For Rudy. If it's for Rudy, it's... it's fine..."

...Note to self. Don't use trees in the courtyard as target practice. Mom worked really hard on raising them and she'll be super sad.

My dad walked back over and handed me the stick. "Here, Rudy. Let Dad know if it's too heavy, okay?"

"'Kay."

I grabbed the stick and swung it around a bit.

It wasn't too big. Probably only the width of an adult finger. But in my tiny hands it was the perfect size. It also made a nice *swish* sound when I swung it around.

My dad looked at me and said, "Think you can do it?"

"I think so."

"Great! Now, we'll start with the Sword God style. It's super fast and perfect for attacking. Let's see, the basic attack... what was it again?"

"...Dad?"

"Oh yeah! It's like this." He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and then lowered his body. "You kind of go hrrrgh and then-"

A silver flash. Dirt flying into the air. And suddenly my dad was on the other side of the courtyard.

My dad turned around and said, "Swoosh! Just like that!"

I blinked.

...So. Dad was definitely a genius at the sword. Now... how the heck did he do that...?

Let's see.

It looked kind of like a quick draw iaido thing. Holding the sword by his waist... the 'hrrrgh' thing was probably tensing up his muscles for explosive power. And the 'swoosh' was probably releasing that force and unwinding with a slash.

Easier said than done though.

"Your turn, Rudy!"

"O-Okay...?"

Squat. Hold the stick like a sword, step for-

"Bwa-ha!?"

Dirt, grass, the sky and ground spinning around and around. And before I knew it, I was staring at fluffy clouds floating past.

Laughter echoed. My dad. "Okay... Maybe we should start with even more basic stuff. How about swinging the sword around to get used to it?"

...Hoo boy. Let's hope I inherited some of his talent because *none* of that made any sense...