To become a sharp blade means to go through countless bouts of tempering.
Those were the words that stuck the most with Philip over the past 6 years of his life, ever since Tolvir uttered those sentences Philip couldn’t help but always remembered those words and sometimes even mumbled them to himself.
He didn’t know why he was so fixated in such a basic phrase that could be heard from almost anyone who had read a book or even was just a ordinary blacksmith, it seemed just common sense that those words meant what they said without anything hidden in them, but Philip was continuously focusing on them as if there was a certain hidden meaning to them, Philip himself didn’t know, he tried to think and think about what was making him focus to such a extend but in end he couldn’t figure it out no matter how much he thought, be it because of his lack of knowledge or lack of experience, ultimately this phrase simply became a mantra within Philips mind that encouraged him to pursue the strength called “Aura” as he trained.
Within the first 4 months Tolvir taught Philip everyday regarding the proper way of using Aura, Tolvir even taught Philip how to write and read using the common tongue of the continent, the reason for this was because Tolvir wouldn’t be able to stay with Philip for too long, having him write down key points of Aura cultivation was important if he ever forgot as Tolvir would only stay as long as his body needed to recover and within those first 4 months a significant amount of healing had already been done, if Tolvir wanted to he could have easily left after spending those 4 months but he still continued to stay another 2 months making it half a year just so he could teach and impart everything regarding the basics to Philip and make his foundation as stable as possible, it was the least he could do for the boy who saved his life.
Luckily for Tolvir, Philip was decently talented when it came to learning on how to use Aura, the most he struggled with was by learning how to write and read but even then he got it down after a month, and at the end of the second month Philip was finally capable of circulating his Aura without a problem needing less and less time to complete the task, if before he needed a entire day to circulate his Aura once now he only needed a hour to make a full circulation without a mistake which increased his efficiency significantly.
He also learned how to perform Aura bandaging by himself, patching up his Aura Ring to perform a stable Aura circulation everyday forced him to learn on how to do it everyday whether he liked it or not, it became a daily routine for Philip to wake up and then check the state of his Aura Ring which would soon be followed by patching up those small decayed bits of Aura Bandages which didn’t even take a hour.
Tolvir was very satisfied by Philips progress, even though he was only teaching him the very basics of Aura everyday which could be quite repetitive and boring, Philip still continued to learn eagerly and with great motivation, making teaching even enjoyable to Tolvir who had never taught anyone other then Philip before.
There was once a time that Tolvir felt curious about the motive or goal of his unofficial disciple, after having been teaching for 3 months, Tolvir came to known Philip a bit more and what his personality was like.
Philip was generally very laid back and hardworking, he was also honest to a fault and not a very good liar, or rather he avoided lying in the first place as Philip himself knew that he was bad at it too, causing him to generally be quiet, keeping to himself.
Philip never talked very much, though that didn’t mean he couldn’t talk, he simply didn’t talk about anything that didn’t interest him, but when it came to Tolvir’s lessons the kid was always very curious and open, non-stop asking questions about anything he didn’t understand and even making his own theories which surprisingly sparked quite a bit of debate between unofficial disciple and teacher.
Of course ultimately the teacher would always be the winner in each debate since he simply had way too much experience then Philip, but Philip was never dissatisfied with losing, loss in general never made Philip discouraged.
-Philip, what do you want out of life ? Why do you want to learn how to use Aura ?
This was the question Tolvir asked after getting to know Philip for a bit, Tolvir would have never guessed that he would ever ask anyone something like that since most of the time the answer would be very self evident no matter who it was.
Power, money, woman.
Those were the 3 common reason why people pursued strength or knowledge, he himself wasn’t excluded from this as what he wanted from pursuing strength was power and acknowledge, not only from his clansmen and his master but also from the neighboring authorities.
Tolvirs grand dream in the end was to unite all the clans, schools and sects nearby under one banner to create a humongous kingdom for himself, a monarchy that could span for generations on end, such was his wild ambition and what kept him going forward.
He had met others who had similar ideas as him, and some who pursued strength not for themselves but for the sake of others who couldn’t.
Which is why he wanted to know, what was Philips purpose or ultimate goal in the end ?
Since he was even willing to risk his own life, saving Tolvir from the goblin Shaman just to learn on how to use Aura, there must be something that makes him willing to go so far as to stake his life.
Philip opened his eyes, having just finished his circulation made his slightly muddled headed as he wasn’t entirely used to it just yet, but nonetheless he had still heard what Tolvir had just asked, Philip didn’t need think too much either to answer such question and simply replied.
-I am not sure myself, previously before I met mister Tolvir, I didn’t really think a lot about what I wanted to do after growing up, it was only after I saw you walking by did I feel something and wanted to go see, after watching you fight against the goblin shaman and noticing your Aura I became enthralled and wanted to know more about that glow and how to use it, how I was going to use it or for what I never really thought about it and even now, I don’t know, I just know that I want to and that I need to pursue it more.
After hearing that Tolvir simply didn’t know what kind of face to make anymore, knowing Philip he understood that he wasn’t making anything up or trying to avoid the subject, Philip was simply speaking his mind which still slightly baffled Tolvir to some extend making him ponder shifting within his seat.
-So the whole reason why you followed me and helped in the first place is because you followed your gut the whole time ? Kid I knew you were strange but now you just seem like a crazy person to me…not that I mind hehehe..
Tolvir laughed, Philip didn’t understand why he was laughing but he smiled as well keeping the atmosphere.
And just like that another month passed making it the fourth month already.
Tolvir at that point could have left, he had already taught Philip most of the basics regarding Aura and even written the rest into a small notebook for Philip to continue studying, Tolvir even considered gifting Philip his clan emblem just so he could eventually come to his clan and show them his emblem so he could further his studies and become a part of his clan, but after all this planning and consideration Tolvir still ended up become hesitant, not because he was stingy or anything but simply because he already started to value Philip way too much and considered what he was doing too little to really thank him.
That is when it hit him.
-Wait…why even leave him here ? Can’t I just bring him with me to the clan ?!
That was the brilliant idea Tolvir had thought of after thinking for half a day already, for some people it would have most likely been the first thought to come to mind, but the reason it took Tolvir so long to make this decision was because of one thing that stopped him to take Philip along with him.
Philips cracked Aura Ring.
In the back of Tolvirs mind, he lamented about the fact that Philip had a cracked Aura ring, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was cracked, Tolvir would have long since without any hesitation taken the boy along with him to his clan and make him stand before his master to groom properly, but after seeing those cracks Tolvir always subconsciously thought that Philip wouldn’t be able to become anything amazing, underestimating him even when he didn’t directly think so.
It was only after teaching for 4 months and being a teacher for the first time did Tolvir realize how truly driven and hard working Philip was, after 4 months he had already reached a commendable level for his age close to reaching rank 1 squire which was abnormal but not unusual as Tolvir himself only needed half a month to reach this state while Philip needed 4 months and the average person needed 1 to 2 years.
In short it was a great accomplishment, the only thing that was holding him back were those cracks, if it weren’t for those cracks draining his Aura mid circulation Philip would have probably only needed 1 to 2 months to reach rank 1 squire.
-No, I can’t think like, I need to change my mind, if my master was here right now, he would have probably immediately taken Philip even with those cracks, who knows maybe master can also cure Philip and heal those cracks permanently, while I haven’t heard about anything that can heal cracks on Aura Rings, master must know something !
Tolvir concluded, resolving his decision he immediately stood up, without any hesitation he left the village chiefs house and sprinted towards where Philip and his family lived.
Having recuperating for 4 months now his body was already for the most degree healed up, the burn marks gone and his flesh stabilized from shock he could already move like he previously could swift as the wind.
Philip at the time was at home together with his family.
That day Philip had a day off from “taking care of Tolvir” and was in the middle of doing what he usually did before Tolvir came to teach him to use Aura.
Tending to the fields.
But this time it was a whole lot different from before, ever since Philip started to train himself and learn to use Aura his body had undergone a massive change for the past 4 months, even though he was only 10 years old he was already just as strong as a adult, and had even more stamina then a ordinary adult being able to do 3 peoples worth of work with minimal need for a break.
His family of course had noticed the change Philip had undergone over the past 4 months, Philip hadn’t clearly stated what happened neither did his family ask him how he became like that because they to some degree already had their suspicion since Philip spend almost all his time for the past 4 months taking care of Tolvir who the village adored as a powerful Aura user.
They simply assumed that Philip must have picked up some tricks from Tolvir by taking care of him and even though they were right, Philip had learned far more then a few mere tricks, being able to temporarily empower himself by covering his body with Aura, the work he was doing was not only just work anymore but also training to improve his control over his Aura so he could finally breakthrough his mortal shell and become a rank 1 Squire.
No one other then his family knew that he had changed, and his family generally didn’t gossip too much either, they kept their family matters to themselves even his siblings who were also just as young as him kept their mouths shut as they all understood that Philips change could affect the entire village and maybe even bring jealousy onto their family.
Life out in the frontier was hard, just like the goblins that previously wanted to invaded the village there were a lot of other dangers from which people had died every year, anything one could use to protect themselves was already very coveted by everyone like swords and spears, furthermore the village wasn’t quite united after all even though the people here lived together for a long time, it didn’t mean they saw each other as fellow kin, it was only because of circumstance that they were here, because the taxes in the frontier were low almost close to nothing people lived here even with the danger just so they wouldn’t pay more taxes.
Philip liked his village, it was dangerous sure, but it was still his home a place where he and his family lived who he loved very much, Philips family consisted of 7 people, his father and mother and his siblings.
Philip had 4 siblings he was the second oldest in his family the eldest child being his elder sister who was only 1 year older then him, bellow him were his two younger sisters who were twins and 8 years old, and then finally the youngest in the family and his only brother who had just turned 6 years old and just started to help around the house.
His parents were both farmers, his father especially liked to farm coming from a family of farmers who farmed 4 generations, Philip had heard that he had 2 uncles and 1 aunt somewhere and that the reason his father came to this village was to farm in peace without worrying about taxes in a sense Philips father was already living his dream working everyday with a content heart just like Philip even if Philip didn’t like farming too much, his mother on the underhand didn’t come to this village like his father did, his mother was actually a native of this village whose family lived for 3 generations, by trade Philips mother was actually seamstress but after meeting his father she also became a farmer while also being responsible of sewing the clothes of the children while sometimes working commission for the villagers to sew some clothes.
It was very simple really, nobody in the family was exceptional or anything, they all had their own thoughts and opinions, hopes and dreams but over all everyone was on the same page and Philip liked that, even though Philip knew that he couldn’t stay forever he still wanted to stay as much as could and support his family.
-Excuse me ! Hello ! Philip !
Tolvir shouted, having finally reached his residence Tolvir could see Philip standing across the field working on the farm, his loud shouting pulled not only the attention of Philip but also his family who were just like him outside.
Luckily, it was only them who could hear Tolvir as the other villagers were a bit far away separated by the vast field.
Philip looked at Tolvir with surprise, he wasn’t sure what was going on but he could at least tell that Tolvir wanted to tell him something, Philip wanted to go over but before he acted he momentarily stopped and glanced back at him family especially his father and mother who quickly nodded at him and told him he could go ahead their expressions not changing a bit.
Philips siblings on the other hand were not as calm, they were actually excited about seeing Tolvir who rarely ever came out of the village chiefs house, Philips mother noticed their excitement and quickly tried to handle the situation by shooing them back into the house and dragging them inside, the siblings moaned and wailed but in the end they couldn’t go against their mother and slowly went inside.
Only his father was left on the fields, he gave Philip a slight glance before nodding at him and going back to his work, Philip also just simply nodded and went towards Tolvir who stood with a smile on his face as he watched Philip come to him.
-Ehm…was I interrupting something ? It seemed like your family had quite the impression of me..
Tolvir started, but Philip simply waved it off and said.
-No, its nothing of that sort, they just aren’t used to outsiders especially not to the savior of our village, its normal that they are nervous..
-I see…
Of course Tolvir could have guessed that much its just that he simply wanted to make small talk before talking about something serious to loosen the atmosphere.
Philip could also to some degree guess that Tolvir wasn’t actually here to talk about his family, there must have something important happened for him to come personally which why he waited patiently for Tolvir start.
-(ahem) well Philip I thought about it for a long time and after thinking about it some more I finally decided…Philip how about you come with me to my clan and official become a clansman ?
Philips eyes went wide for a second, he didn’t expect for Tolvir to make such a offer all of sudden, but he quickly calmed down and seriously thought about it with his eyebrows furrowed, he glanced back at his father still working on the fields and then towards his house where his siblings were peeping out of the window observing them.
He looked back at Tolvir who was patiently waiting for his reply with utmost seriousness before saying.
-I am sorry mister Tolvir, but I can’t come with you…
A Place Of Legends 