Kian Goldmaul POV

  It had been a week since the sparring doll was changed.

  Like Helmut promised, we were fighting it every single day using only physical strength.

  I had learned more magic from my father—still non-lethal magic, and only simple techniques that could assist me in daily life.

  When I asked why I couldn’t learn defensive magic, he simply said it was against the law to teach that to anyone below twelve years old. As for offensive magic, that restriction was even more obvious—no one outside the military or military academy was permitted to teach it and not to civlians.

  My father and I were currently at the same location where he usually taught me magic.

  He had just finished explaining practical ways to use magic beyond its casual applications—for example, using air currents to boost arrows, wood magic to block small projectiles, and other utility-focused techniques.

  I could now use 0.0008 Veythar points to achieve what previously required a full point.

  I still needed to become even more efficient—using even less Veythar—for some other high-energy-consumption magic that I would learn later at the academy.

  “By the way, Dad, I have a question.”

  “Hm? What is it?”

  “Can I—and how do I—use two separate magics at the same time?” I asked.

  After hearing my question, he shook his head. “No. You cannot use two separate magics at the same time, and this isn’t a learning problem.”

  I tilted my head. “If so, then why can’t I?”

  He pointed at my heart. “It’s your core—that’s the issue. It’s an extremely outdated core, but it’s the one that evolved naturally in human bodies. As for the cores that came after it, they existed for too short of a time before being upgraded, so the human body never had to evolve to create them innately.”

  “Your core has a massive limitation: it only allows the use of one magic at a time. No more.”

  “You said cores get upgrades. If so, what level is the ‘new core’ that’s currently in use, and what’s it called?”

  “Oh, that,” my father said. “Its broad name is the Knight Core. This core has reached the peak second only to horn cores, though horn cores operate differently. Anyway, the Knight Core will not be swapped out any time soon and maybe never, and so it’s very likely that future humans might evolve to get this core naturally.”

  “How do you get a Knight Core?” I asked.

  “It’s through surgery that first- or second-tier soldiers undergo after gaining enough merits. Mostly first-tier soldiers.”

  “For someone to be eligible for the surgery, they first need to be at least eighteen years old, and their magic and fighting foundation must be solid enough. Although the core itself is easy to create, there are a limited number of people who can actually perform the surgery.”

  “There are multiple surgeries they undergo when getting the core to maximize their power. And there is a lifespan-extension surgery that the families of the knight would go through, which will increase their lifespan to three hundred years.”

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  “Alright, now let’s stop talking about that and get to the main stuff for today,” he said after finishing the explanation.

  “You will be fighting me—attacking me, to be exact.”

  “In this fight, you will only be allowed to use your bow and magic and nothing else. For myself, I will stay standing in one spot—no moving, dodging, or anything of that sort. I will merely be using the same magic that you currently know and nothing else.” He explained.

  “The game is simple: you have five minutes to hit me once or make me move, dodge, or use magic that you currently don’t know.”

  “Attack me however you want. Don’t worry about me—it’s currently impossible for you to harm me.” He said this while smug.

  After hearing that, I nodded.

  Not like I was worried about actually harming you. If I actually was already capable of that, it would mean the magic level of this world is too low. But from my past experience, it couldn’t be any further from the truth.

  I walked back to twenty meters and prepared my bow, verifying it was in good shape before putting the quiver on my back.

  My father suddenly spoke in my mind using telepathy magic.

  “You can start now. The moment you shoot your arrow, the timer starts.”

  I withdrew an arrow from the quiver, and before setting it on the bowstring, I used wood magic to create a small piece of wood and insert it into the arrow.

  I put the arrow on the bowstring and used fire magic on it.

  Somehow, even without a flame, the invisible fire still used the wood as fuel.

  I aimed the arrow at my father and shot it. Immediately after releasing it, I sped it up using air magic.

  My father casually manifested a water ball ten meters in front of him along the arrow’s path. He easily slowed the arrow, making it fall seven meters away from him.

  But I already knew he could block it, so I was already running toward a different direction while shortening the twenty-meter distance to fifteen meters.

  It would be better if I got closer, but I wouldn’t be able to boost the arrow using air magic, making it easier to block.

  I shot another arrow like the first one, but this time I didn’t just use air magic to hasten its speed.

  While doing that, I continued to use air magic while predicting its path with The Fool’s Line to make its trajectory chaotic and less predictable, hoping this might actually reach him this time.

  Before I even started using air magic to make its path chaotic, my father had already set up a water ball in its path. But after noticing my plan, he stopped supporting the ball, making it fall.

  After that, as the arrow was only five meters away from him, he used air magic at the same time as me, doubling the side force to make the arrow miss him and go by his side.

  “Not bad,” he said.

  After I shot that arrow, I had already shot an ordinary arrow right after it, after moving slightly to my right. And another arrow from the left side.

  My father responded to the first arrow with another water ball, making it fall. And as he stopped supporting the water ball, the second arrow got close—only five meters away—as I boosted its speed. But my father simply used air magic to make it divert from its path, missing him entirely.

  After that happened, I immediately used flash magic to blind him temporarily while at the same time shooting another arrow from only one meter away from a different direction. I had already started running after shooting that third arrow in the previous combo. Before releasing the arrow, I had already used air magic while letting go of the bowstring, hopefully boosting it.

  But somehow, my father still was able to stop it easily using a water ball in its path.

  Huh?! He was able to know its path or at least predict it? How?

  “How did you do that?!” I asked, yelling so he could hear me.

  “I heard it. It’s even quite loud for me,” he said, smiling.

  After that, I fought him for another three minutes without landing a single hit or making him move the slightest.

  I stretched my arms as they ached from the repetitive drawing.

  My father nodded at me as he healed me.

  “We will be doing this after every lesson for you to improve your thinking and planning. You’re already good, but it won’t hurt if you get even better.” he said.

  I nodded as the ache stopped.

  “Well then, lets go home.”

  Chapter End