The Morning light hit Carson right in the eye he thought "ugh why do I even have to do this and here why not at the farm" But he said nothing woke up rubbed his eyes the old man was no where to be found Carson knew nothing can happen to him telling from the previous day so he went to take a bath near the river.
Just as he reached the river and dipped in it he saw fishes inside many different types of fishes a thought emerged "there are more than enough fishes here if I become a fish farmer I can make a livin" That silly thought quitely came during the bath and also left then Carson went to the tent to find the old man there with a big boar there already cooking it.
He said "hey boi ready for a fresh meal? "
Carson said "fresh? That looks more and more bloody to me"
The old man chucked then cooked the food in the mean time he also said Carson to meditate Carson sat there and started to meditate the old man would put some threads of mana and Carson could quickly catch them now.
The old man said "good kid now you will start to gather mana from your surroundings the whole world is made up of mana ever being has some mana in them you just have to find it in you and in them and everything"
Carson said " So how do I do it gather mana? "
The old man said "you see these mountains ,rivers these beasts and even the plants here are the thing needed to make a forest just like a man's or woman's just forget it just like a person's life is made up of memories just like that mana is made up of factors now what I wish for you to do is close your eyes and feel the mana around you then slowly one bye one absorb it they will look like no no they will feel like tiny sand particles don't forget they are free and around you"
Just as the old man was giving his lecture Carson long ago felt into this state and now was starting to gather mana the old man continues to ramble for about an hour by the time meat is coocked he then eats the meat and gives Carson some then they start with the sword training.
Carson deep down was curious why this old rambling man was so nice to him and treats him like his grandson or something.
The old man taught his the basics of sword movements and stuff it wasn't nothing special it was basic fundamental he made Carson set up a hae scarecrow and made him hit it with a wooden stick and said Carson to control his strength he tried but failed again and again everytime he did it he hit it it would scramble days passed by the end of 1st month he still couldn't do it then he stopped the training and now told Carson to hit the tree just a swing with full force.
Carson was confused to see he hit the tree with just a basic swing and was astonished to see that left a mark in astonishment he looked at Alferd in disbelief.
Alferd said "haha surprised? Well when you controlled your power that would also tense your muscles when you swing in air the sword you also wxert force and slolwy your grip and some inner muscle have gotten stronger now we will train your body and a sword technique. It's my families sword technique so learn it properly kid"he said in a pround tone.
Just like that 2 years passed Alferd taught Carson many things related to sword and magic although Carson can't do magic he can still use Mana blast of pure raw mana.
In the last two years Carson also learned Alferds family sword technique it was "The noisy crow sword" Carson didn't like the name at all and similar to its name this sword fighting techniques consists of parrying and only striking on openings it had 8 forms out of it Carson only learned 2 yet and the rest Alferd wrote in a book.
Alferd then said " My boi Carson today is the day of your test get out of this forest on your own I won't help you if you go out within a month from this forest I will use some of my connections and get you inside the academy and remember right now focus on the current goals not on academy or any other questions" With that he jumped from the clip Carson went quickly ran and saw that he was now flying air and deduced probably wind magic.
Carson was alone in the forest now he went to the tent and searched up and was relived to see a steel sword he put it around his waist and got ready he tried to remember from where they entered the forest.
Carson thought "Umm i think this way no that way ugh I really can't remember I think Old guy while coming here made some marks on the trees I guess I just need to find that mark on a tree the rest should be easy " With that he started running to all the nearby trees checking them one hour passed two hours passed three hours passed nothing then Carson returned to the tent and as he was resting he saw a wolf approach.
Carson instinctively shouted "Old guy a wolf is coming take him out" Then realised it's a test now he is gone.
He then stands up its his first real time combat experience he heads towards the wolf and slashed at it the wolf dodged easily this continues for a while then he realised "wolfs hunts in pack this one might be trapping me here till it's friends come".
Then Carson just in a test tries to run the wolf suddenly got aggressive and lunged towards Carson but it was forgetting one thing Carson isn't just some normal human he is a beastfolk and a tiger at that very strong agile and more of all a predeator Carson quickly gripped his sword at full strength and did a clean slash it was so powerfull that the wolf was cut in two halves it's internal organs now like slime coming out of its body along with lots of blood and it's eyes lifeless and dull now Carson was a little disturbed as it was his first time he killed a beast earlier he used to catch rabbits at his tribe but this wolf was totally different from a rabbit and more of all Carson easily killed it.
Carson said "these damned mountains and that damned old guy are gonna kill me for sure" He didn't waste a minute more and started running towards the forest he go his wooden bottle full with water and a pouch full of berries sword on his waist the red haired boy runs thinking that his 12 th birthday is approaching next month February 19th and he just can't die yet.
{Hey this is my first novel please tell how you feel about this and give me any suggestions if you have any}