9 (Ch 9)Forgotten Blade

Faith's gaze never left the weapon in his hands. At a first glance it would seem like a simple sword unlike any other, but two things about it made very clear to Faith that this weapon was 'special'. The first being that out of all the practice weapons this was the only onewithout counter parts, the second being the almost perfect condition it was in despite being a practice weapon.

Its hilt was inverted like that of a normal sabre only it came down on both sides at a diagonal angle. Its blade was double sided but across the entirety of it was small serrations coming down in the angle of the weapon of the hilt. They were just big enough to cause lasting effects but also just small enough to not affect the swords ability to parry.

The length of the blade puzzled Faith the most though. It was too short to be a long sword, but to long to to be a broad sword. It was also nearly a perfect average of the twos width, yet for some reason it felt light and free.

Faith kept swinging it around to get a feel for the weapon but this time the shadows weren't blasting out like before. Though the shadows did seem to be extremely happy that Faith was using the weapon they had chosen for him.

'This is strange though. The blade doesn't seem standard issue but a custom order of a battle experienced fighter, so why is it here. There shouldn't be custom blades in a pratice hall, Right?'

Faith wondered to himself. He also seemed to get strange types of shadow sense when he swung the blade, like it was trying to guide him. Strange indeed. Faith only now turned around to find everyone in the room staring at him in a mix of amazement and shock. It made Faith feel extremely awkward so he couldn't help but blush and lower his head in embarrassment.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHA, oh by the gods it seems we've got a little demon king in the making don't we" - Ervis laughed

He broke the silence but no one laughed, they just stared at him awkwardly. Alzeor was the first to break the awkward silence, joining his elven friend with a laugh, literally oozing with pride.

"hahaha It seems we have indeed, though to be honest I never thought my son would pick out a forgotten blade on his first try. You never cease to amaze me, little one" - his father chuckled

Faith was worried since Eshir hadn't said anything but when he saw her face, it became clear why. Faith had know Eshir long enough to read her expression as 'Oh yes my little Faith is just that amazing, bow down maggots'.

'Forgotten blade? The heck is that? And why did it seem to scare everyone stiff when I picked it out. I seriously need to go to the library more often, or I'll be out of the loop when it matters'

Faith thought, shivering over the images of him being the only one in his potential group of friends to be ignorant. It was a fate that chilled him to the bone.

"Umm.. Dad whats a forgotten blade" - Faith asked trying to not sound like a idiot.

Alzeor looked at his son and almost let out another bout of laughter. He didn't even have a concept of what forgotten blades were, yet he picked one out. Walking over to his son, Alzeor patted him on the shoulder with a proud expression.

"you see little one, when someone great creates and then wields a weapon only for its true forms of use to be lost to time, we dub that a forgotten blade. Most Races have at least 3 or 4 of them in their practice halls, not for use, but out of respect for the one who created it" - he said with the same father son talk expression.

Alzeor couldn't tell why but every time he taught his son another piece of his vast knowledge he felt at peace with the world, like he truly had given his son the only thing he felt worthy of him. Land and riches were things that the dragon race as a whole had in troves, but the older a dragon got, the more distant the need for those things was. The craving for knowledge however never left dragons no matter how old or pure they were, it was simply a part of them to want to understand more. To be curious.

"is it a.. bad thing? That I want to use this one?" - Faith asked

'If Its forgotten then I cant even learn it, how the fuck do you expect me to use this'

He thought questioning his shadows. They seemed to actually be ready with a reply to this query though, immediately projecting words into his mind.

'We can teach you, like that 'one' taught us'

Faith was little taken aback by this. The shadows were going to teach him, how? And also who was this 'one' that they kept referring to? Was he the one who created this blade, he had to be, right?.

"No its not a bad thing. The sword may be unique but it still shares the basic characteristics of most swords, especially sabres and long swords. If you put in enough effort, your work will be rewarded same as all the other weapons on that wall" - his father replied, ripping him out of his thoughts

Faith felt relief wash over him after his father's reassuring words. Thats right picking a weapon, a tool for combat, was only the first step to combat. If he applied himself he could shine, then All those heirs would want to befriend him because of his hard working nature, right?.

"Thanks dad, I'll make sure to do my best and make you proud" - Faith replied with his sincerest smile

"Oh my little one, you already make me the proudest father on the face of this planet" - Alzeor said with a smile, inwardly grinning

'SEE YOU STUPID WITCH, MY BOY WANTS TO MAKE ME PROUD. ME. TRY TO TOP THAT YOU BLOOD LUSTING TYRANT'

Eshir didn't even see Alzeor's grin as she was too enraptured by her adorable little Faith's attempts to impress his parents. It was just so precious.

"yes, yes we all get it you love your son, now scoot. Time between a master and pupil isn't to be interrupted by parents, unless you want to dig mine out of the grave and have a tea party" - Ervis said with a chuckle, but still all to serious

This earned him a angered gaze from Alzeor and what bordered on one of the scariest things he'd ever seen from Eshir. That damn smile she had as she thought of fun ways to chop his corpse into pieces wasn't something Ervis was ever going to get used to. Alas he had taken a liking to Faith and intended to teach him as best he could, so he'd have to deal with it a lot.

It was actually hard for Ervis to understand how Faith had been produced by a dragon with more pride then intelligence and that monster in a sheeps clothing. If he had inherited anything from his parents, it wasn't their personalities.

Begrudging both of Faith's parents bid their leave, promising to spend and celebrate his birthday once he was done, though Eshir seriously considered just killing all the heirs that would attend the party so she could spend more time with Faith.

Faith himself didn't have much hope in his skills or talent with a sword, apart from his shadow sense maybe. He knew absolutely nothing about it in his previous life apart from seeing it on Tv and the only thing he could rely on was his above average strength and motor functions to pick up the slack. Well that and the natural battle instincts he seemed to have inherited from Eshir and Alzeor.

Dragons and demons were both races that lived and thrived in combat so his bloodline being what It was gave him confidence he would at least have some potential. In truth he had felt those instincts kicking in the second he entered the room, thirsty for battle. Faith had made sure that using his shadows would be off limit during training as it would defeat the purpose, he couldn't use them as a fall back anymore.

Ervis himself was a little nervous as he brought Faith to one of the training mats. The mana one possessed naturally increased their physical strength with time. The main difference between those who took up the sword and those who only used magic was simply that one honed their body to better handle extra enhancement which would consume their mana, while the other simply replied on the passive enhancement, using their mana for spells.

The reason doing both was harder then it sounded was because these two uses of magic were fundamentally different. Active enhancement required ones body to be able to hold and bare the weight of the internal force their mana would have on them, while spells would force the user to exert their mana on the world itself, bonding their mana with the worlds to produce effects and take control of a tiny bit of natures power.

The strain on ones body was too high for someone to practice both so they were split. Mages however could still use very short bursts of enhancement, and knights could channel elemental energy into their strikes. There were some rare cases like Eshir who's body could had such high affinity for both exterior and interior use of mana that she could withstand the strain but in general using both was impossible.

There was also the need to have an innate high mana capacity because otherwise you'd run out before you could finish a fight. Mana capacity wasn't a set thing generally though. When you were born some would have more and some would have less due to their disposition but like a muscle it could be pushed to the brink, then if you rested properly and didn't go too far your mana would come back in increased volume.

However like always their was a set maximum that your body just fundamentally couldn't go over. You could make your mana purer to be more cost effective after you reached it but even that had it limits. All this combined why was Ervis was as scared as he was excited to teach Faith.

First of all the boy was a dragon the only exception to the rule of limits, their mana capacity and physical strength would simply grow with age. Though they couldn't use their element until they underwent their trial which would normally happen during puberty, but faith was again an exemption to this rule. He had been using magic since he was two weeks old. The only reason this was even possible for a two week old was because of how natural it was to dragon like him.

Not only that but dragons possessed much greater physical strength then elves as a base which meant that even though he was four he would still pose a challenge to some elves. Of course Ervis was a master of his blade as well as extremely gifted in mana barely falling short of Eshir in his use of it.

But Faith was also Eshir's son which probably gave him the same if not even more affinity towards using both magic and enhancement together. Faith had never actually used enhancement magic but his shadow training had passively made his mana expand and purify slowly seeping into his bones, muscles and skin that were already tough on account of him being a dragon.

The result was at four years old, even though he wasn't aware of it, Faith's passive physical strength could go tow to tow with Egrade knight's or physical class adventurer's enhancement strength. Genes were a scary thing indeed it would seem.

"Alright now before we begin I'd like to inform you of a few things. Today will purely be me teaching you the basics of combat through 10 different forms. I will drill them into your head till you practice them even in your sleep and once they've seeped into your very bones, I'll show you how to apply them properly. I also should mention that as I've officially taken you as my disciple you will only call me master from now on, understood?" - Ervis asked, peering into the now seated Faith

"Understood master, I will do my best to meet your expectations" - Faith said clutching his Forgotten blade in hand.

Ervis simply let out a chuckle at his words as he saw images of his grandson and grand daughter overlapped with Faith. They couldn't be more different in personality.

'My son was an angel and yet his children are entitled brats who for some reason believe they deserve to be my pupils just because we share blood. They whine and whine about how gifted they are at magic and swordsmanship but they are never willing to put In the effort to improve past what talent can get them. Meanwhile this boy who is literally the son of a devil is more talented then both of them combined thrice over yet he pursues the path of challenging himself, not getting a ego like most would if born with his gifts. I can understand why spirits leave their children to Rot now, you really can't judge a book by its cover these days can ya'

Meanwhile.

'FIRST I WILL LEARN THE BLADE, THEN I WILL BECOME THE MOST POPULAR DEMON EVER, THIS IS PURE GENIUS'

Faith thought to himself, on his demon boy quest for best