Six months went by since I started practicing with magic and the sword. I was three now, and my size had grown significantly. My mana had grown a decent bit and was now capable of forming a water ball the same size as me, without fainting from mana exhaustion. My daily routine consisted of training with the sword for two hours right after waking up, then taking an hour-long break before practicing spells for another two hours. I ate lunch, and moved onto practice with reading and writing for another two hours. After that, I usually spent my time reading through the novice level grimoires my father had given to me.
One day after practicing with the sword, my father had pulled me aside and told me to sit down with him in the living room. "Here you go sweaty." Mother handed the two of us a wooden plate of food while father began to speak, "I think today is a good day to tell you about the different tiers of magic and swordsmanship. As you know now, magic is classified into different difficulties, the same goes for sword skills. These levels go from Novice, to Advanced, then Knight, after that it goes to Veteran, Saint, Lord, and finally Overlord. Currently, you're still a novice. But with the progression you're making I'm sure an Advanced level spell wouldn't be too hard for you. With that being said, today I'm going to teach you a spell which is classified as Advanced tier." Admittedly I had gotten pretty excited. I was always interested in magic, but now I'm learning that I have a talent for it. "Finish up eating, and I'll meet you outside." Father had finished eating rather quickly and began towards the door. I took bigger bites and started eating more hastily. After finishing my plate, I walked outside the door. Father had been sitting on a bench in the front porch. When I walked outside, he sat up and grabbed a white and green grimoire. "Come with me," He began walking towards the gate which led outside the house's gate. I began to follow shortly behind him. Now that I think about it, I had never left the gates which surrounded the house, so this was uncharted territory for me. As we walked past the gate, I took a look beyond my house. We lived in a small town which stretched far. Most of the land in between each residency was used as farmland. The landscape was mostly flat, with lush, green grass blowing in the wind. The sun shined down on the orange plants which covered farmland. It was warm, yet the wind was still prominent. Father and I continued walking for some time until he stopped in the middle of an open field. "Alright, I'm going to demonstrate to you this spell. I'll only do it once, so make sure to pay attention and memorize the entire incantation." He opened the grimoire and set it a few pages beyond its first. He stuck his arm up in the air and began a chant, "With these words I call upon the power of nature. Set forth my offering and grant me power enough to blow all away. Tornado!" As he said those last words, a gust of wind picked up from all around him. Just beyond his hand, a swirl of wind formed, creating a small tornado. "Alright kiddo, when this happens you must stay calm!" The wind around us was fast and rough. He dropped his arm so it was now facing the open field, rather than the sky. "Now, in order to properly release this spell, you must put less focus on the mana and more focus on expelling it. Your sixth sense for mana will help you with this, so all you need to do is visualize the release of mana and everything should work out!" He then shot out the tornado from his hand which blew away large amounts of grass and dirt. After a few seconds his mana dissipated, and so did the tornado. Okay, now it was my turn. I took a few steps forward as father handed me the grimoire. "Hmm… okay I got it now! With these words I call upon the power of nature. Set forth my offering and grant me power enough to blow, all away. Tornado!" I poured all my mana into my hand and began imagining it swirling around into a spiral. The wind began to pick up on cue. My body felt a large gust of cold wind concentrate just beyond my hand as a small tornado was picking up speed. "Good, good! Now stay calm and try to shoot it out!" I could barely hear my fathers words over all the wind covering my body. The tornado began growing in size and strength. "W-wow now! Stay calm and don't use any more mana!" "Huh!? Gyah!" My body was frozen. I was trying to release the tornado but the more I tried the more mana ended up getting fed into it. "Stay calm son!" My father was pushing his way past the wind, trying to get to me. He reached out his arm, and set it onto my shoulder. His hand brought heat to my shoulder and snapped me out of my panic. I furrowed my eyebrows and began focusing more on the release of mana rather than the output. And surely enough, I was able to send out the tornado, which slowly lessened in size, until completely losing all form. "Phew! You made me a bit nervous there kid. But all's well that ends well, I guess." His face was covered in a giant grin, his eyes were shining with delight as he looked at me. "Congratulations, you are now an Advanced level mage." He picked me up and threw me above him, grabbing me before I fell back down. "Yippee! My son is a genius!" We had both begun laughing.
By the time we made it back home, the sun was nearing its departure over the horizon. "Take a bath and rest well. You've done good Kil." He had given me the nickname Kil as a way to shorten my actual name. I kind of like it to be honest. It sort of reminded me of a hero. Heh, yeah, Legendary Hero, Kil. That had a nice ring to it. I took a long bath and ate dinner, before going to bed. The next day my parents told me I was no longer required to practice reading and writing. My skills for arithmetic have always been exceptional. But now, my skills were on par with someone triple my age.
Not long after I reached the rank of Advanced, my age had also grown. It seemed to have taken no time at all until I was four years old. My daily routine consisted of a lot more training, instead of studying. My mana pool grew exponentially, I could now shoot water balls the size of my father with relative ease, and was capable of forming a stable tornado on command. My incantations were strong but I possessed the ability to conjure spells without any incantations or hand signs. "Hrm… Hoof!" Thud! My father was brining inside a giant box, which seemed to be heavy. He set it down and began unwrapping its contents. Inside of it was a shiny silver table. Its rim was made of silver, and its core was reflective. "We finally got a nice one ey?" Said my mother from the living room. My father lifted it up and began walking towards the bathroom, "Yeah, it looks nice but the thing was on sale so I got it for cheap." He walked inside the bathroom, I followed behind him out of curiosity. "Father? Why are you bringing the table into the bathroom?" "Haha! No you're mistaken Kil. This is a mirror. We use it to look at our reflection and help freshen up our appearance." He sat it down, just behind the sink. "Uh… father, can you help me?" I raised my arms up asking to be lifted onto the bathroom countertop. He smiled and helped me up. "Wow! Is this my reflection?!" For the first time, I could see myself. I had dark brown hair with a red sheen shining down. My hair lay just past my shoulders. My body was thin yet slightly chiseled. I had light brown eyes which almost seemed too big for my body. "Is this the first time you've seen yourself in a mirror? I'm surprised you haven't tried looking at yourself while taking a bath or something." He was right. I had never seen myself before, even when taking a bath. Usually, I was always preoccupied with cleaning myself, rather than checking out my reflection.
The months continued to pass by, and so did my magic. I could use Advanced tier fire spells with little difficulty, and Advanced tier wind spells without an incantation. My skills with the sword had been steadily improving as well. Father had taught me novice level sword techniques and began giving me Advanced tier swordsmanship lessons. By the time I turned five, life inside the house began to seem a bit cramped. Mother caught wind of this and permitted me to leave the house whenever I had down time.