The Path 011 (Patreon)

[Two Years Later]

"It's time to wake up, Young Master~!" exclaimed the familiar voice of Ryza, followed by a loud 'fwoop' as the covers were unceremoniously pulled from William's body.

Though his first instinct was to curse, William ultimately sat up and took a moment to stretch his arms overhead before scooting out of his oversized bed and into the pair of pants one of his Maids was holding for him. Ever since Leshien had talked to his mother, he enjoyed much greater freedom. Consequently, the Maids in charge of his care took things to the next level whenever they attended him.

Once William came of age, he could only keep a handful of Maids in his direct service. Those chosen would receive much greater pay and enjoy a privileged status. Thus, while they never quarreled before him, there was constant competition between the Maids in William's service. It was kind of fucked up, but William had no intention of making a fuss about it since a lot of the Maids in his service simply viewed him as an easy meal ticket.

Spreading his arms, William felt a little like a racecar as a team of Maids worked together to dress him seamlessly. When they were finished, they smoothly transitioned to form two lines, folding their hands over their laps and bowing their heads respectfully as he passed, making his way to the nearby bathroom to relieve himself and perform his morning routine.

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Arriving at the training hall, William found Leshien sitting cross-legged a meter off the ground, their eyes closed and a bluish-white aura flickering around their body like a flame. One notable difference was that they had entrusted their soot-black cloak and bone-white mantle to the estate for repairs. In its place, they wore a form-fitting black vest that exposed their navel and shoulders, a skin-tight garment reminiscent of spats, a series of belts around their waist, and a pair of matching black shin and arm guards with leaf-themed runes engraved in their surface.

"You've arrived..." muttered Leshien, opening their glowing blue eyes to meet William's gaze from across the hall. In response, the latter smiled, raised his hand, and offered a cheeky "I hope I didn't make you wait too long" as he made his way over.

Shrugging, Leshien responded, "It is my curse to wait," before getting out of their meditative posture and standing on the ground. 

'I know that feeling...' thought William, approaching his temporary Master with a smile even though he knew the next four to six hours would be hell.

Waiting until William was roughly three meters away, Leshien extended their right hand, causing a shimmering black mass to surge from the pores in their palm, spreading across the former's body like a resistance training harness. This was still a relatively new form of training, so even though he had prepared himself for it, William ended up involuntarily scrunching into a ball and falling to the ground as the resistance was much greater than it had been the previous few days.

Channeling his Mana through his body, William slowly uncurled his limbs and rose to his feet. It took him nearly a full minute to adjust to the new output, but that was ostensibly a triumph as Leshien nodded approvingly and stated, "Well done. Learning to fine-tune the flow of one's Mana and Aura is the minimum requirement for the Third Grade. If you can preserve that state for the remainder of your morning training, I will petition to have you recognized as a Practioner with the Warrior's College."

"As if I would settle for the 'minimum,'" responded William, punching his right fist into the palm of his left hand and grinning as he asked, "What do I need to do to earn 'your' recognition?"

Adopting a faint smile of their own, Leshien spread their arms as if to say 'come at me,' a sentiment verified when they added, "Move me," in a plain, challenging monotone.

Wasting no time, William attempted to dropkick the white-haired Elf, who was now less than half a head taller than him. Members of House Oirthear were 'very' early bloomers thanks to their diet and routines. Thus, despite his youthful age of eight, William was pushing 140cm and had a physique comparable to an Olympic hopeful.

Blocking William's dropkick with their left palm, Leshien followed up with a sweep of their right hand, generating a wave of bluish-white energy that slammed into the former and sent him smashing into the ceiling.

'Fucking move...!' William shouted internally, causing his body to comply as he plummeted to the ground and nearly landed face-first into the dirt floor. Unfortunately, while Leshien was impressed by his quick recovery, that didn't prevent them from sending another irresistible wave of Aura slamming into him, this time sending him tumbling and skipping backward until he crashed into the wall on the far side of the hall.

"Emission," stated Leshien, retracting their hand and standing relaxedly with both behind their back as they explained, "Five hundred years ago, this was the standard for someone entering the Third Grade. The Martial Path has become increasingly inclusive since then, so the standards were lowered to make things fair for members of different species and those of the fairer sex...

Falling out of the crater his body had created in the wall, William forced himself to stand with a bit of help from his Innate ability. Lucky for him, Leshien rarely attacked while they were lecturing him, so he had at least a few seconds to recover as they slowly materialized a glossy, ebon-black shortsword and explained, "Personally, I fail to grasp why the 'weakness' of a particular group is allowed to influence the universal metric for power. If anything, the bar should constantly be being raised..."

Grabbing one of the training spears behind him, William exhaled a plume of bluish-white mist, the result of channeling Mana through his body to rapidly heal his wounds. Then, meeting Leshien's gaze, he gave himself a single order, 'Move her...!' before his body rushed forward, empowered by his suggestion.

Though Leshien and pretty much everyone referred to them with gender-neutral pronouns, they were, at the very least, biologically female. William knew such sentiments mattered very little in a fantasy setting, but the day he learned the person routinely kicking his ass was a girl, he became even more determined to achieve his goal. Not because he believed he 'should' triumph over her but because Z and possibly Dave would tease him if they learned he got his ass handed to him by a loli baba and never got even...

Charging toward Leshien, William reached behind his back with his free left hand, grasping a trio of throwing knives before throwing them forward fast enough to produce loud whistling sounds. Leshien casually deflected them with such speed that she produced a series of afterimages, but that wasn't enough to deter William as he flourished his spear, spinning it in his hand before slicing downward with as much force as he could muster.

Noticing that William didn't channel Mana or Aura into his attack, Leshien was unsurprised when his spear shattered the moment it connected with her sword. In the same motion, he used the fragmented handle to stab at her solar plexus. Were it just that, Leshien wouldn't have been impressed, but as the handle drew near, a solidified bluish-white haze extended from the fragmented end, turning it into a stake.

"Well, you're just full of surprises," mused Leshien, kicking out with her left foot faster than William could execute his stabbing lunge. She intended to send him reeling back a second time, but when her foot came into contact with his chest, it was like she was kicking against a solid wall.

'Hmmm...?'

As she had put a fair amount of strength into her kick, Leshien nearly ended up propelling herself away from William. At the very last moment, however, she produced a tail-like tendril from her lower back, anchoring her to her position and allowing her to change the trajectory of William's blow with a swift knee strike. Its new trajectory put it on a beeline for the underside of his jaw, but before it could find purchase, she changed the trajectory a second time with her left, following it up by slapping William twice in the face, once on each cheek.

'Oh, come on!' exclaimed William, grimacing as he felt the act of Leshien slapping him with her foot, sending him flying, and nearly dislocating his jaw were completely uncalled for. Even worse, when he bounced back to his feet, he found her sitting cross-legged, propped up by her improvised anchor and staring back at him with a curious look.

"What did you do...?" asked Leshien, referring to the moment William's body felt immovable.

Shrugging, William took a moment to clear a bloody clot from his left nostril with a forceful snort before responding, "I just clenched my teeth and resisted with everything I had. In hindsight, I should have just let you kick me away..."

Shaking her head, Leshien asserted, "It was a good attempt. I certainly didn't expect you to utilize Emission, much less Manifestation. If I had the reaction speed and experience of a conventional Third-Grade Practitioner, you would have triumphed. Everything that followed my inability to repel you was a kind of muscle memory. I apologize if I wounded your pride by kicking you in the face."

"Eh...at least you were barefoot..." replied William, having already moved past the incident to consider his next plan of attack. The only card he had left was utilizing Dominate on Leshien or their surroundings, but exposing himself for what would ultimately be a hollow victory was senseless.

Seeing William stare back at her with a determined look, Leshien couldn't help smiling. Teaching him wasn't exactly the most fulfilling experience in her life, but she had come to enjoy it. He was constantly innovating and improving without direct prompting or guidance, so while his skill and raw power remained around the Third Grade, he reminded her of someone on the cusp of becoming a Master and creating their own style.

Demonstrating this point, William moved over to the weapon rack and grabbed a pair of spiked clubs nearly as long as he was tall. A normal eight-year-old would struggle to wield even one, but William casually wielded one in each hand, the muscles of his chest, arms, and shoulders flexing through the fabric of his tunic as he cracked a smile and charged at her without hesitation.

"I WILL get you to move...!" shouted William, twisting his body with both clubs trailing behind him, slamming them into the black buckler Leshien materialized to receive and ultimately parry them. One of their unspoken rules was that if she removed one of her feet from the ground, she had to keep it off. Thus, as she had already removed both, she relied on the tail-like tendril she had created to hold her position. Unfortunately for William, this didn't give him an advantage...

After repelling William's attack, leaving his side exposed, Leshien lurched forward like the tip of a scorpion's tail, peppering his ribs with a series of bicycle kicks. He managed to spin around and attempt a backhand swipe with the club in his right hand, but she simply kicked it toward the ceiling, knocking it out of his hand by precisely striking the club's center of mass with the ball of her right foot.

Bereft one of his weapons, William finished his spin and thrust forward with the second club, aiming for the center of Leshien's chest. Instead of following through, however, he released his hold on the handle, allowing her to send it spinning into the air while he opened his palm and emitted a burst of Aura like an air cannon.

Leaving William completely speechless, Leshien counteracted his sneak attack by puffing out her cheeks and releasing a loud 'pa' from her mouth, shattering his Aura burst with a smaller, more condensed projectile. In the time that he was stunned, she then lunched forward, pepping his chest with two swift but heavy blows that made him feel like she had drummed directly on his lungs.

'Oh, come on...' thought William, crumpling on the spot due to the Aura-infused attack permeating through his body in a phenomenon known as Resonance. Leshien had held back tremendously, but he still ended up losing control of his faculties for a moment, causing him to contract into a tiny ball as she casually caught the two maces and mused, "You're not the only one with a few tricks up your sleeve~" while staring down at him with an increasingly annoying but appreciative smile...

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(A/N: This is probably the last chapter for today as a game I've been waiting on for a while happened to release last night. I won't be binging it like MHW and Palworld, but I want to get in at least a few hours before I call it a night. As for the name of the game, it's Granblue Fantasy: Relink.)