4. Training & Birthdays
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When mom got back the next day she immediately started training in magic. She did this because she says that 'since you are too young to learn martial arts I will teach you magic and other essentials.' then started to wake me up a sunrise every morning. 

She would start the day by taking me to the woods behind the inn. Then she would train me to control my magic. 

Originally I thought I would learn magic control and some spells by the time I turned five but it turns out mom had other plans as she began my training.

She would make me sit crosslegged in the forest then she would make a paper thin dome of water about five meters in diameter. Then she had me push all my magic power out but still keep it in the dome, if she found out I didn't push as hard as I could she would restart the time and if my magic at anytime went out of the dome she would restart the time. Currently she is keeping it at one minute. I would do this until I was drained of mana then rest and do it again till lunch time.

After lunch we would back out to the woods again. Once there she would teach me everything from basic life magic to advanced magic theory from the most respected magi in the History magic. She would also teach me reading, writing, advanced mathematics, history, culture, and oddly enough noble etiquette. 

The only exceptions where two days a week. Of the seven days five of them where training with mom, one was training with uncle Uca and one free day where I can play with other kids or read anything I want. 

Training with uncle Uca was interesting he would take me to go heal with him to learn light magic after mom said I had enough control, he also taught me anatomy and some more unsavory skills like stealth and how lie believably.

As I was spending time with him I was told he was the party's scout and information gatherer. However I started to notice that he knew more then any one person had any right to know, also I don't think it's only his ears that are listening for him. However he wouldn't tell me the truth till I proved to him that I could keep a secret and I doubt that will happen anytime soon. 

On my free day I started to like to spend them reading and learning to cook from dad and mom. Dad apparently wanted to learn more about cooking so we are learning together and it has become a tradition for me and dad to cook for us and the guests every free day. And I believe we are getting quite good at it. 

Apparently, when I turn five dad will. Start training me in Hand to hand combat as well as bladed weapons and bows. The only reason we haven't started is because I'm to young to start training physically.  

And like that three years passed me by.

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The day before my fifth birthday mom said I had a magic test and if I pass she will stop morning training with me so dad can train my other skills. 

I'm pretty good If I do say so myself. However mom wasn't kidding when she said 'test' because she wanted me to do my magic control exercise till I was out of magic power, and since I have been training my mana pool daily  and my current record is only till I had about three fourths of my mana. Which was just under 30 minutes. And she wants me to go till my mana pool is empty? 

As we head out back mom looks down on me with a gentle smile that means something that what is happening next is anything but gentle. 

Once she sets up the barrier of water and I get in my pose. 

She says "please begin." 

Then on que I push my magic power out of my body with all my might and manage to keep it in the dome of water. 

Then at the ten minute mark she smiles again, then says.

"I will now be shrinking the dome to four and a half meters." 

With no further warning the dome shrinks to exactly four and half meters. 

At twenty minutes I start to struggle to keep both the power and control at the same time. Then she adds insult to injury.

"I will now be shirking the dome to four meters in diameter." 

Without any more warning she shrinks the dome again. Gods this sucks, I can't believe I'm still hanging in there. This is so much harder then normal.

At the twenty five minute mark my mana is starting to run on fumes. I have about a twelfth of my full mana pool. 

Then as it hit the thirty five minute mark my mana is almost out. But I feel like my body is pushing out more mana then I ever had and then more but I have to keep going. 

Just as I think that my mana dissolved. Just fades away like an illusion, never to be seen again. My head feels like it's gonna burst from pain and I barely ragister that the water dome goes down and mom is now holding me in her arms. 

"Perfect, that is what it feels like to be completely depleted of mana. It's important to know when you are getting close and have a mental feel for it. However it is still painful and I'm sorry for forcing you to do it, but it was necessary and that feel for mana has saved my life and that of our party multiple times in the past so I had to make sure you could do it. Congratulations! I'm so proud of you!" 

She said all that while hugging me. 

After about thirty more minutes my mana was about half recovered and I was feeling much better. And with that I passed my test and have mastered  acolyte level magic and now can be considered a full magi and can be relied upon in combat. Although my rank as a magic user is magi my elements are not equal, with light being my weakest at high acolyte level and dark being at mid magi level, however my wind is my best by far being at low master magi level. If I keep going at this rate and get to grandmaster magi in wind I can start using the advanced version of wind, Sound magic.

The rest of the day was passed by resting and hanging out with dad and according to mom I wouldn't have training for the rest of today and tomorrow because I passed that test and because tomorrow is my fifth birthday. 

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The next morning I wake up at sunrise out of pure habit. Dragging myself out of bed and getting ready I hear a muffled conversation from down stairs.

When I reach the main dinning area of the inn, I see four more people then I was expecting. Three men and one woman. 

All four of them carrying bows however they each have other weapons other then bows as well. The woman was wearing full plate armor and had a claymore sitting beside her. One of the men had a rapier, while the others had a Staff and twin daggers respectively. 

Upon them noticing me coming down stairs, they turn and then the woman in plate with dirty blonde cropped hair, stands and faces me with a warm smile that is in deep contrast with her hight of over two meters and the large scar from the top right of her face to the bottom left that goes straight over her nose. 

"So you're the birthday girl!" 

She says with a happy tone. 

Then mom gestures to them and says 

"These people are some friends that we made from our adventuring days, the A-rank party Sliver Arrow. The tall one is Sophia or Soph as most call her. The man with the daggers is Ronald, the one with the rapier is Arnold and lastly is the magi of their team Stanford. They all happened to use bows when they formed a party way back when they where E-Rank."

I stare open mouthed, an A-Rank adventurer party is essentially the highest you can get without being so powerful kings would bow. A-Rank party's are so sot after that there are only about two or three A-Rank parties in a generation if we're lucky. These people most be ridiculously powerful. 

While I'm processing my parents and uncle Uca are giving me a look that says 'yeah, that's the reaction we expected.' 

Once I finish processing I ask mom a question.

"Why, would they be here of all places! I mean I know you guys are strong and all but an A-Rank party that crazy!" 

Hearing this Sophia turns to mom with a dumbfounded expiration. 

"You didn't tell her?" 

"Why would I? She doesn't need to know our rank." Mom states matter-of-factly with a shrug of her shoulders.

Wait, what rank are they? I thought they were B-rank or even possibly A-Rank but I never really asked.

"S-so, what rank was your party before you retired?" I ask almost fearing the answer.

Dad turns to me with a goofy grin on his face and says. 

"We where about a month out from the time requirement for S-Rank." 

At this point my jaw is firmly in the floor. That is insane! A Month out? Why would they leave and retire if they were that close to legends?

"Why did you quit!" 

I say in complete surprise.

"Well your dad and I got pregnant obviously." 

Oh, yeah that actually makes a lot of sense. Going out adventuring while pregnant and on missions that where equivalent to high A-Rank or even low S-Rank. That makes perfect sense.

 "Oh." 

That was all I could get out of my mouth at that. Then Sophia speaks again while hanging her head and shaking it in a 'what am I gonna do with you' gesture.

"They should have told you but I guess that they either forgot or never considered it important enough to mention. Anyway, back in topic. I heard you reached the magi rank?" 

Oh, yeah I guess I have. To have the magi rank you have to do a similar but a little easier exercise to the one mom tested me on yesterday. The ranks for magic users goes novice, acolyte, magi, master magi, grand master magi, and finally Sage. To asend to the next level you have to have adequate knowledge of spell craft at that level of mastery. You also need to be tested to have sufficient magic power, control, and mana pool. Since I passed the test yesterday day I'm now on the level of a magi. However I really shouldn't have gotten here so fast, at least if not for my spartan training and being a champion.

"Yeah, I passed the test yesterday!" 

And like that we spent the day talking and I asked about as many stories as I could about my parents as possible. They apparently have nicknames and are considering hidden powers in the Estal Kingdom we are currently in since they are so powerful. Apparently they are also one of the reasons the Argon  Empire hasn't attacked yeah, at least on the national level. According to uncle Uca, the Empire has been trying to take as much power out of the other nations as possible right now without starting a war. This would normally be where a normal champion would come in and try and stabilize the balance of power if the Empire got out of hand but since the Emperor is trying to reach God hood through less then ideal means. And that would definitely warrant a first champion.  

After that sudden realization my day was mostly peaceful, mostly being filled with more stories and dad and I wanting to cook for everyone. The Silver Arrow readily agreed to have us cook for them. We made oven gratin with fresh bread and dad apparently took out his hidden stash of good alcohol, so hidden in fact even mom didn't know about it and when he brought it out and started sharing mom started trying to interrogate him on the whereabouts of his stash but he wouldn't budge claiming 'this is for special occasions and I don't want people going through it.' he said triumphantly. Mom pouted about it for a while after muttering something about 'i guess that's a challenge." With a sinister smile on her face.

 I don't know how long dad can keep it hidden but I'm guessing they are going to be playing cat and mouse with his stash for a while. With that said it was a wonderful time and Sophia ended up being the over mothering type that has to keep the rest of party from getting themselves killed. She apparently is so known for mothering other adventurers that she earned the name of 'The Mother of The Guild.' but when Stanford told me through whispering In my ear he got knocked upside the head by said mothering adventurer. But according to them my parents party and Sliver Arrow met when Dad was first trying to woo mom and he snuck out to get a drink and vent to uncle Uca but ended up partying all night long with the three guys from sliver Arrow to the point where the quest they where supposed to take had to be marked as their party's first and only failure on record. Needless to say mom was not too happy about that and getting one of moms' famous lectures while hungover was not one of dad's best moments to say the least. However after soph and mom both lectured the crap out of the men of their respective party's they both ended up talking over lunch at the same inn and restaurant by complete coincidence and hit it off. Later finding out that the idiots of both party's ended up being said mysterious drinking buddies from their night partying after they saw each other again at the guild the following day.

It's a pretty good story if I do say so myself. And funny because said 'idiots' tried defending themselves again during the story only to by shut down by the combined glare of both women. All the while I laughed my butt off at the exchange. 

All n' all, pretty good birthday.

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