Chapter 36 - Calling (2)

Currently, Wesley was standing in the swordsmanship classroom, overseeing about a dozen blue-robed students as they struck training posts with various techniques. Each of the students wore armor with numerous springs at its joints, and their movements were extremely slow, almost crawling.

Wesley stood facing the backs of these students with his hands clasped behind his back. On the outside, the red-robed Wesley was overseeing the training of these students, but on the inside, his mind was racing with thoughts about mana.

Where does mana come from? Why is it able to stimulate and manipulate the elements? Can it be destroyed? Can it be created? Wesley’s mind buzzed with questions. In fact, the more he thought about mana, the more he realized how little he knew about it, and the more questions arose.

Wesley couldn’t help but sigh at how complex this seemingly simple thing truly was. Most likely, he would need to spend a lifetime studying it, and even then, he wouldn’t be able to understand it all. However, regardless of how pointless and bleak this seemed, Wesley felt like he had found something.

Most people spend their entire lives without finding their calling. Some even start to believe that life is nothing more than a pointless existence with no end goal. They spend their days working, eating, and sleeping, convincing themselves that life really is pointless. However, deep in their hearts, they feel that something is amiss.

It is inconceivable that one is born only to die. If existence is truly pointless, then how and why must we exist? This extremely complex question arises subconsciously in everyone's life, causing them to be disillusioned by this so-called 'pointless' existence.

Wesley himself had wondered about this question many times. As a prince, Wesley could spend the remainder of his life sitting in a chair without worry or need. Yet, he always felt there was more—there had to be. He always wanted more than simply existing.

This is why Wesley spent so much time and effort training. It gave him a sense of longing for what he might find at the end of the path. He felt like he could discover something there—whether it was a purpose or a quick death. Now, this path on which he remained was at a crossroads. One option was to continue on the beaten path, following in the footsteps of his master and countless others. The other was to take the foggy and thorny road, which might not lead anywhere.

Wesley didn't even need to think about it. Perhaps this was his purpose, his calling. Of course, he was going to follow it, and perhaps he'd find something. The prospect filled him with joy and satisfaction. Not only had he found a potential purpose in this seemingly pointless existence, but he also felt that whatever lay at the end of this path was beyond imagination.

"Senior."

While Wesley was lost in his thoughts, he lost track of his surroundings. But a clear, firm voice brimming with respect pulled him back to reality. Wesley immediately looked over at the source of the voice, only to see a golden-haired youth standing in front of him.

"Eltier, what's the matter?"

This was the youth who had challenged Wesley a month ago. After their spar, Eltier had avoided Wesley, either due to pride or shame. However, after a short while, he started warming up to Wesley and even began interacting with him more.

"Senior, can we spar a little before class ends?"

This had become a common occurrence for Wesley. Eltier would approach him almost daily for a spar, and Wesley would try to weasel out of it. But whether it was Eltier's insistence or the second elder's nosiness, Wesley would always be pulled in.

Hearing Eltier's words, Wesley couldn't help but curl his lips into a frown and said,

"Eltier, I have to oversee the other students' training. Let's do it some other time."

"But senior, I want to try out a new technique."

"Why don't we do it tomorrow?"

"Haha, senior, tomorrow is the weekend. I won’t be seeing you."

"Then how about..."

"Senior please, I think you'll like this technique."

Wesley couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This Eltier, although haughty and proud, was extremely hard to turn down, aside from being very insistent, he sometimes guilts Wesley to spar with him, he simply had no conscience and would resort to any means to achieve his goal. Wesley saw the potential for a horrible politician slumbering deep within him.

"Fine, show me this technique."

Eltier was immediately gladdened as he unsheathed his foil while Wesley unholstered his replica dark sword. Eltier seeing that was ready to start, Wesley let out a helpless sigh and spoke:

"Begin."

Without another word, Eltier immediately lunged towards Wesley with the tip of his foil streaking menacingly towards Wesley's chest. Over this last month, Eltier has sparred with Wesley dozens of times, and each time Wesley would effortlessly block his attacks, since Wesley could always block his sword, Eltier wa not going to be lenient so he aimed for the center of Wesley's chest.

Seeing the foil travel towards him in a straight line, Wesley couldn’t help but sigh. This fencing was simply to monotonous, always going in a straight line, unless the person was immobile or blind, this sort of attack will never find its target.

As soon as the foil's tip was within a feet of Wesley's chest, Wesley brought up the hilt of his replica dark sword to where it was aiming towards. This was Wesley's method of choice when dealing with Eltier's fencing.

Wesley was currently looking at Eltier's sword hand rather than his sword. Because Eltier's lunge was extremely fast, it was almost hard to follow, so Wesley opted to look at the sword hand to extrapolate Eltier's target that block. While Wesley was looking at Eltier's hand, Eltier slightly jerked his hand to the right then returned to it's original position.

By jerking his hand slightly, eltier managed to change the foil's trejectory causing Eltier's foil which was about to hit Wesley's hilt curved slightly to the right, enough to bypass the hilt that was obstructing its path and heading straight for Wesley's chest.

Wesley was instantly startled. Eltier's extremely simple fencing suddenly took another form that is far more complex and deadly than its original form. Fortunately for Wesley, he has always been focused on Eltier's sword hand, so he was able to notice the change, but if he was instead looking at the foil, he would have only seen the foil curve outwards then inwards as if it were avoiding his sword.

Wesley's eyes instantly sharpened. He was passively planning to stop the foil with his hilt but now that the foil has passed his hilt, he couldn’t afford to be passive anymore. Wesley immediately swiped his sword to his left colliding against the body of Eltier's foil was instantly thrown off target by the collision and was heading towards Wesley left side.

Unfortunately, the distance between Wesley's body and his hilt was less than half a foot, so Wesley couldn’t avoid the foil's tip from scratching his shoulder as he parried it to the outside of his body. This caused a wound to appear on Wesley's left shoulder, and although it was not deep, blood started oozing from it.

Seeing the wound on Wesley's shoulder, Eltier dropped his foil and stared slack jawed. He has never injured someone before, so seeing his sword draw blood for the first time was not a minor thing.

Wesley couldn’t help but sigh as he saw Eltier's terrified face. The first time he has killed a person was when he was seven; Rale took him outside the castle and told him to kill two thieves he had captured. At that time, Wesley was unwilling to take a life, and his heart ached after he did it, but since then, the number of people Wesley has killed has long reached the hundreds. Wesley himself developed a callousness to the value of life itself, and although he wouldn’t kill for no reason, he has no qualms about killing if he had to.

As for Eltier, he has most likely never killed someone and it seems that he also never drawn blood. Wesley felt some sympathy for him, he believed that the earlier one experienced death, the less the shock would be, as for Eltier, the older he gets, the more society views on life will become ingrained in his mind, and the greater his shock when he kills for the first time.

Rale has told Wesley that the greater the conflict between one's beliefs and their actions, the greater the shock they will receive, so it is better to have someone experience killing when they are young rather than when he's older. Wesley immediately walked towards Eltier and spoke in a concerned voice:

"Eltier, what is the matter?"

Wesley knew what the matter was, but he simply wanted Eltier to wake up from his daze and express his feelings. Eltier immediately looked away from Wesley's shoulder and focused on his face that was smiling at him amiably causing his eyes to be misty. He spoke in a soft voice that was filled with grief:

"Senior, I injured you, you almost died."

Wesley was surprised at this Eltier's kind nature. From first glance, this haughty youth with his extreme pride and sharp tongue seemed anything but kind, but right now, he simply seemed like a different person. Wesley shook his head and laughed loudly as he spoke:

"Haha, this is just a shallow scratch. If I died from such a thing, wouldn’t I be useless senior. Hahaa."

Wesley immediately picked up the foil that was lifelessly laying on the floor and spoke as he handed it back to Eltier.

"Don’t worry over such a small thing, and tell me about that technique you just used."

Eltier's face turned a shade better from his pale countenance as he recalled that his technique was effective against Wesley to some extent. He immediately spoke in an excited voice:

"Senior. You said that the weakness of my style is that it travels in a straight line, but my style has a technique that doesn’t travel in a straight line called Fencing Viper. Only..."

At this point Eltier started thinking about how his sword was still swiped away by Wesley. He did indeed manage to reach past Wesley's sword, but that was because Wesley was only waiting passively. If Wesley wanted to dodge or attack him, then the results would be very different. Seeing the look on Eltier's face, Wesley laughed and spoke:

"Haha, that is indeed a good technique. Next time, wait a little longer before you perform to give your opponent less time and space to react. Now get back to practice."

Eltier nodded his head repeatedly and immediately ran back to practice against the training post. Wesley simply stood there, staring at the practicing Eltier with a look of deep thoughtfulness. Wesley was wondering about what would happen if one mixed in a sword technique with a mage's attack.

At the moment when Wesley faced Eltier's sword, he was surprised at how fast it was, but he wondered what would happen if Eltier also practiced Wind magic. Wind mages have the ability to control and manipulate air currents making them extremely fast.

Combine their speed with the naturally fast speed of Eltier's sword and it would become unfathomable. However, Wesley knew that aside from him, no mage would bother learning swordsmanship since it is simply too weak compared to magic.

Wesley immediately put the matter to rest and started thinking about mana. He really enjoyed his pondering about mana, and although he knew that this only brought more questions than answers, Wesley was still tremendously excited.

The more questions he faced regarding the nature of mana, the more he wanted to find the answers and the more excited he got.