Ilika woke up at the crack of dawn, a first for him. He was usually the type of kid who liked to sleep as long as he wanted, even ignoring breakfast. However, for the first time in his life, he woke up early.
Solely because today would be the day he would finally be taught swordsmanship, from an actual swordsman nonetheless. One he lost to, fairly quickly at that. Although he was still mad about his loss, his wish finally being granted was more important.
For years, he had begged his parents to get him an instructor for swordsmanship, but his parents were more inclined to teach him numbers. His father, especially, wanted him to become a merchant, and thus didn't enroll him in any academy for magic. Ilika instead, was homeschooled, by a multitude of instructors who taught him all kinds of things.
Language, Math's, History, and a lot of other subjects that a merchant would find useful in the current world. His interest with the sword was thrown aside by his parents. Although he possessed a sizeable mana pool, his parents did not want to see him follow in the footsteps of his uncle.
If Ilika was obsessed with magic instead, his parents would have gladly offered tens of Alapir for a proper magic instructor, and even sent him off to a prestigious magic academy, but unfortunately, the sword was looked down upon by the continent.
Many thought it to be the trait of the Barbarians in the other land, those that wished to deal with matters through violence. Nobles, and other high ranking people hated it, considering them to be a lower breed.
Almost no noble wished for their children to learn the sword, save for the Barons, and sometimes Viscounts. For them, learning it was a necessity, since most of the time, their children would be knights, or chiefs in the army.
Not everyone could be a mage, an accomplished, competent mage. Magic was revered, but the soldiers and others were often people who could only use little magic, like many on the continent.
The nobility tried hard to make sure only they knew it, but sometimes, special individual appeared who just harnessed it easily. They were more numerous in the the lands of the Beast God.
Beast God gave his blessing for mana to many people, caring not for nobility or rank, He was someone who didn't care for that, and let people with talent blossom. Sometimes, knowledge of spells and magic would appear in the minds of the talented, gifted to them by Beast God.
Dragon God did this as well, but he had a far stricter criteria, Similarly, he did not care for nobility or royalty, and gave his blessing to any kinds of people, only, few individuals met his strict requirements.
To Ilika's dismay, Beast God had not blessed him with the opportunity to learn Magic by himself. Still, Ilika was heavily inspired by his uncle, a warrior who used both his body and magic, a respected member of the Beastly Aris. The tales of his uncle being part of the invasions, and managing to return was a legendary tale.
The sight of his uncle, covered in wounds but holding his head high as he returned from a successful invasion was the first ever vivid memory in his mind, and he had become fascinated by it.
He didn't want to be a war mage, one hiding back as he slung spells from a safe distance. He wanted to get in the brawl, he wanted to wield wind and blade, just like his uncle.
To summon a storm with one swing of his sword! To Command the wind itself! To create an earthquake with one stomp! He wanted to do that! He wanted to become a Magic Swordsman, not a boring mage!
He wanted to be a brave general! One of the mighty Beastly Aris! He would earn the rightful place among the Beastly Aris, with enough accomplishments that Beast God had no choice but to bless him! He'd be a mighty soldier! One spoken of in legends!
He'd be the one to finally conquer the land of the Barbarians, The Hero that defeated the Black Fortress, a feat only accomplished by Dragon God! He'd be the Hero that conquered Vakuma!
Ilika stormed out of Ian's home, with a bright glow in his eyes, his mind full of fantasy.
'But first!'
His legendary journey would begin with learning the sword!