Progression

It was a new day. The sweet chirpings of the birds heralded the arrival of the sun, whose radiance dispersed the darkness that reigned supreme the night before, like a veil over a window that welcomes sunshine for a fresh start for a new day.

On such a morning, one could see an adorable boy, barely five years old, sleeping away blissfully with the rhythmic movement of the chest. The beams from the Sun lighting up the perfect face that was already showing signs of boyhood.

*creak...*

"Wake up Rey, it's morning already your mother is nearly finished with the breakfast"

"Mmmm..... just two more minutes dad, I will get up quickly..." The boy, now known as Reynolds groaned, still feeling sleepy.

"Ok son... but it will be just two more minutes, no more than that, we still have to do breakfast." Raymond complied seeing his son's sleepiness.

"Okaaaayyyy~"

...................

It was 6:45 am, the Hamsworth couple was sitting at the dining table waiting for their son to come down.

"Did you go to wake him up?" Darlene asked, slightly concerned about her son.

"Don't worry dear, I have told him to come down, he will be here any moment now..... there you go! he is here."

"Good morning mom! good morning dad!"

Having freshened up, Reynolds came downstairs and greeted his parents.

"Good morning sweetheart!" "Good morning son!" they greeted him back.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Darlene asked.

"Yeah! it was good!"

"Hahaha! that's right! young people should sleep well! how else are they gonna grow strong?!" Raymond burst out in laughter, flexing his biceps to prove his point.

" That's right darling, you should sleep plenty and eat plenty so that you can grow healthy!"

"Hey mom! that rhymed!"

"Oh my~ it did? hehe!"

"Hahaha!"

Such was the breakfast of the Hamsworth household, shrouded in laughter and happiness

.................

[Reynold's POV]

*burp!*

"Haaaahh! that ham was really beacon! mom IS the best cook! how else can she make something so simple so delicious!"

I am out, walking around the village taking in the natural air. The village is a moderately big one with somewhere between 60 - 80 villagers. The primary occupation of the people is agriculture but there are hunters too, in fact, dad is one of them. the village gets its water for irrigation from a lake, fed by a waterfall, that is quite some way out in the forest.

"Heeeeeyyyyy....! Reynolds, wait up!

hey! I said wait up!"

"Hmm? ah, Illyod, what's up?"

This right here is Illyod, I have known him since I was like, two?

I once visited their home with mom. that's when we met..... well, I met. I don't think he remembers that considering how young he was. after that we met a couple of times and quickly became friends.

"don't you 'whats up' me! you told me you would teach me swimming, you still haven't done that!"

" aah.... yes, yes I remember. So, why don't we go right now, I don't have anything to do anyway."

"Really! yay! let's go! let's go!"

........................

We are currently right in from of the lake from where the village gets its water.

I will use this location to teach him how to swim.

"hehe, we are here! now let's get to work!"

"hai, hai but before that, I gotta say I am a strict teacher so, I will not go easy on you!"

"aye aye! captain!" Illyod screams before wading into the lake

"Careful! dint go too deep!"

and like that our training or rather, his training started in full force.

It has been half an hour since he started his training and I gotta say, he is doing quite well for a beginner, he can already stay afloat and swing his limbs for twenty seconds before tiring out. That's progression.

Now speaking of progression, I too have progressed quite a bit in these last 5 years. I was able to relatively strengthen my body when I was still a toddler by doing some light exercises and formed my mana core when I was 2.

I really had to put in a lot of effort to mask the explosion that occurs when one forms his mana core. I didn't want anyone to know that I had formed my mana core, that would hinder my plans and fortunately, I am able to hide the fact to this date.

I immediately started practising mana rotation that Sylvia taught to Arthur and am quickly progressing with my mana core.

Speaking of Arthur, he should be in Elenoir right now, learning from Virion and assimilating Sylvia's beast will. He is getting stronger in his own way so I didn't slack off either. I want to help him when things will get worse. After all, he will be a major help if I want to beat Agrona. I don't want to rely on the Indrath clan of the Asuras. They are too untrustworthy.

All the future stuff aside, there's one thing I noticed and this might come off as bragging but, I tried attempting the Mirage walk that Arthur mastered during his stay in Epheotus. Though I wouldn't say I did it on my first try, but I didn't struggle with it as much either. It was one of the reasons I was able to hide the fact that I can manipulate mana, even when my mana core broke through to the solid orange state.