Chapter 18: Good News

Chapter 18: Good News

After Rain’s class ascension, if Ember had thought his father would put more pressure on him, then he would have been thoroughly mistaken. On the contrary, he had been going easier on him after finding out his swordsmanship had reached an adequate level.

The problem only came when his father wasn’t home. Now that his long leave had come to an end, he had to return to the northern plains, as monster activity seemed to be a constant dilemma there. Besides, Cliff had been neglecting his own advancement for three years. Before leaving, he had promised that he would return soon as a Silver Knight.

The problem for Ember was that, after his father was gone, his grandfather took over the duty of training him in swordsmanship. The old knight was one of the clan’s few silver-rankers. To anyone else, it would have been a delight to train under him. Ember wasn’t among them. The old fuck would beat him so brutally that he’d falter in his mana cultivation.

On top of that, his grandfather seemed to be in a foul mood at all times, regardless of how well or how poorly he performed.

There had been a few days when Ember returned with bad bruises on his limbs and back, mostly because those were the days he made intentional mistakes, thinking that the old man would leave him alone after sensing his disinterest. But who knew the old fuck had no merciful bones in his body?

It was so bad that his mother had gone to confront him. For someone of such small stature and power, she did not hesitate to speak to someone who was over a hundred levels beyond her.

But Timber Blackstone barely paid any attention to her. He only expressed one line to her: “I know how to teach my kids. Since Cliff hadn’t turned out too bad, Ember will do fine too.”

Now Ember could finally understand the bad blood between his father and grandfather. But then again, as far as he knew his father, he’d likely enjoyed this kind of training. Thankfully, Sir Cliff Blackstone had not let the generational trauma continue any further with his children.

On the days he was not present for training, his grandfather would leave it to Aunt Zephyr, who was at least better to talk to. Although she seemed to have inherited the same characteristics when it came to training kids, unlike her father, she wouldn’t just beat him for any mistakes he made in his form.

Still, all this gruesome physical training impeded his mana foundation, or he’d have already formed the 20th breath of mana.

“Em, are you listening to me! Ember!”

A familiar voice echoed in his ears as he finally opened his eyes to find his sister right under the branch of the ironwood tree he was sitting on.

[Mana accumulation (Copper): +8 → 9.]
[+90 EPs.]

This was due for some time now. Now he’d just have to push it to Max to get his desired skill.

“The Abyss blind me, I have been beating my lungs for two minutes now!”

“I heard you the first time,” he said, looking towards her. “What is it now?”

She suddenly froze, peering at his face. “What happened to your eyes?” she asked. “Is it grandfather again? No, he wouldn’t hit you there. And all the other bruises you have…”

Yes, although the old man was beyond unreasonable, he would not beat him so irresponsibly. His body was battered, with dozens of red and purple patches all over his form, the most severe being on his right eye, which had swollen like an eggplant.

“Ah,” Ember almost forgot about that, “they’re nothing.”

Merely the handiwork of a few eight-year-olds, would you believe it? Who could have thought the children would be vicious enough not only to band together but also to plan and ambush him on his way back from practice?

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Those kids had been envious of his skills since day one. But now that he was occupying more of his grandfather’s time, and that of many other instructors, not to mention the defeats they faced in sword duels, they had to do something to let out their frustration.

“It’s those kids again, aren’t they? Talon and his gang?” Rain saw through it right away. “How could they beat you like that? Did you tell the instructors?”

“You should have seen them,” Ember said, presenting a confident grin.

Despite his magnanimity, when they had blinded him with an ambush, Ember had struck back. Unfortunately, there were five of them, and his physical attributes were barely worth noting. He only managed to dislodge two of them with kicks and punches before Talon, their leader, pinned him to the ground with a Wand of Kinetic Push and struck mercilessly. Ember couldn’t even use Sprint Burst to free himself. He only managed to thrash his limbs blindly in protest until they were satisfied with battering him

“Anyway, why are you calling me?”

“Well, you have missed lunch, and there are a few guests came to deliver a message. They are waiting for you.”