I opened the door and looked up at the family, before I could do anything, Elder Virion spoke up smugly. "So, this is the brat who is named after me."
I smiled and stopped in front of them. It was time to be a little mature. I knew how Arthur spoke in these times, I can do it as well, I think.
I bowed toward them all. "It's an honor to be in the presence of the royal family of the Kingdom of Elenoir. My name is Virion Leywin, but people call me Veer, and I'm pleased that you are willing to take me in for the time being." I stood up and the four of them were all smiling.
"Haha." They all laughed. "It seems you're a lot like your brother." King Eralith stepped up. "We are happy to have you here, Veer. There is no need for you to be so formal, we couldn't be happier to have Arthur's little brother living with us."
"Thank you, King Eralith." I smiled and turned to Elder Virion. "Thank you, for helping me with my Beast Will, Elder Virion."
He tilted his head and gave me a shrug. "Your brother needed my help, and I was more than glad to train another Leywin." He paused and then went. "Especially one who is a tri elemental and has a Beast Will."
"Well, thank you again." I turned to the beautiful Queen Eralith in her golden and teal dress. I bowed to her. "Queen Eralith, it's an honor to meet you as well, and I thank you." I know King Eralith said not to be formal, but I felt like I had to bow.
"Virion, we are happy to have you here, like my husband said." She smiled at me. "We hope that your training goes well."
"Thank you." I turned to the smiling Princess, who was looking down on me. "Princess Tessia, it's an honor to finally meet you. My brother spoke very highly about a beautiful elven girl he was friends with." I bowed to her with a smile on my face, knowing that she was going to blush.
"Oh." I looked up and her face was red. "It's good to meet you Veer." She scratched her chin. "Did Arthur really call me beautiful?!"
"Tessia, can you escort Virion to his room." Elder Virion spoke up. "Then to the training grounds, I want to see what he can do." He turned around and started to walk away, just like that. He wanted to start training already, I arrived like five minutes ago.
"Come on, Veer." Tessia motioned and I followed her inside. King and Queen Eralith were speaking to a guard outside and didn't follow us in. "I'm happy you're here Veer, I'm excited to get to know Arthur's little brother."
"I'm excited to get to know the girl Arthur spoke about daily." I continued to play with the Princess's mind. "He did say that he almost didn't come home because he didn't want to be separated from you."
Her face was still red. "Oh really!" She exclaimed. "D-did he really call me beautiful?" I nodded my head with a smile on my face. Tessia got a lot happier. "I hope that we can be friends as well, Veer."
"Me too." I needed to get close with Tessia, because I was planning on going on dungeon raids with her when the war began. "What was my brother like when he was here?"
"Art, was very mature for his age, but we always had a blast." She smiled. "You seem to be just like him though, mature in a way."
"I may be like Arthur in maturity, but when it comes to his strength with mana, I'm not even close to him." I looked down at the ground as we passed a bunch of elven maids. It was going to take me some time getting used to them, they just stood there and watched me. I knew it was because I was human, but it felt weird.
"No one is close to Arthur when it comes to his strength." She sighed. "He is on a whole different level from anyone his age." Tessia turned to me. "Please, don't call me Princess Tessia, you can call me Tess like he did, okay, Veer." Well, that's a relief.
"Oh, okay, Tess." She smiled as we walked on.
"What core stage are you at?" We stopped in front of a door. "Just throw your stuff in, Grandfather is wait for us."
"Okay." I opened the door and threw my bags in. "I'm at solid orange." I said as the door closed and Tess snapped her head at me.
"You say, you are not as strong as Art, but being at that stage at the age of four, is, is unbelievable." Her face told me she spoke the truth, it looked completely taken aback by surprise.
"My mana manipulation is above par, it's incorporating my mana into fighting where I have trouble. I also lack the sword skills Arthur possesses." Was Elder Virion going to go hard on me, because Arthur was my brother. He taught Arthur at the same age, and Arthur was way, way better than me.
"I see, I'm sure your still strong, Veer." Tessia hit my shoulder. "Just prepare yourself, our training is going to be rough." Our training? Oh, I guess she was being trained by Elder Virion as well.
Tessia was a wind and plant elemental conjurer; I knew that she wasn't weak. "Did you and Arthur train together?"
"We did every day, just like we will, Veer." She placed an arm around my shoulder, how was she so comfortable with me already. "We will be sparring a lot, so be ready, because I'm not going to take it easy on you."
"Oh alright, I'll do the same then." I said as she took back her arm. "I'm thankful that you are willing to help with my training."
"You're helping with mine as well, Veer." I guess that's true. "Grandfather won't be here every day, so when he isn't, I'll be responsible for our training. However, by that time you will know what to do."
"Okay." I answered.
"You're really a tri elemental?" I nodded my head. "That's amazing, I wish I had powers like Arthur and you."
"I'm sure you're powerful. You are a plant deviant, correct?" Tessie was nicer than I expected, she also wasn't as shy as I thought she was going to be. Most likely because I was younger than her and I'm Arthur's younger brother.
As we exited the house or palace, I don't know what it was considered, something came flying at my face and whacked me right on the forehead. I fell to my knees and rubbed the location that I got hit at.
Tessia bent down and picked up what looked like a knife, but it was merely a toy. "Grandfather!" She shouted as Elder Virion walked out from the shadows. "Was this really necessary?"
"Hmm." Elder Virion was standing maybe five yards from us, as Tessia helped me back up to my feet. I could feel that it left a mark on me. "I see you don't have your brother's reaction time." He placed his hand on his chin and examined me. "Tessia, do you mind sparring with Virion."
"Grandfather you shouldn't have thrown that without warning!" She exclaimed. "Are you okay, Veer?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little caught off guard." I answered honestly.
"Come on you two, get in position to spar." Elder Virion backed up. "No weapons, anything else goes."
Tessia smiled at me. "I'm still not taking it easy on you." I nodded my head, acknowledging I understood. We separated and I could feel Elder Virion's gaze tracking me, still examining my every movement.
Tessia pointed her hand at me, and two plant vines grew, I quickly reinforced myself with mana and as the vines got close to me, I pushed fire out of my body, like a heat wave. The vines were destroyed, and I launched myself toward Tessia.
Three more vines appeared as I was within ten yards of her, one shot at my leg and I quickly picked it up, making it shoot right past me. Then another vine shot at my chest, and I took a step to the side, grabbed the vine, and then froze it using "Absolute Zero."
The third vine came from the front, at my chest, whereas the first one circled back around and came for me from behind. Using wind mana, I pushed myself off of the ground, so the vines wouldn't touch me. While in the air two wind like balls collided with my chest and sent me flying in the air. I used wind magic again to land on my feet. If I didn't reinforce my chest with mana, it would have knocked the wind out of me.
I conjured two fire balls and added a little wind to them and shot them at Tessia. As they were traveling, I launched myself at her. Vines grew up from the ground and blocked the fire, I quickly shot through the smoke that formed and swung a fist at Tessia.
Before I reached her, a vine grabbed my ankle and held me in place. Tessia countered me with a right jab at the face, but I quickly fell to the ground, grabbed the vine, froze it, spun around and shattered it. Tessia's momentum after the failed punch moved her in front of me. We were now five yards apart, making eye contact.
"I guess you're not taking it easy." I smiled at Tessia, and she grew two more vines from the ground at me. I pushed off the ground using wind magic and shot fire at the vines approaching me.
Balls of wind came at me again, while I was in the air, knowing that it was coming I raised my hands and pushed wind out of them, sending me back to the ground. Tessia pointed her hand at me getting ready to shoot another spell, I quickly clapped my hands together, and an icy mist formed all around me, hiding me from Tessia.
I felt the wind mana hiss pass me, as I sat in the mist, waiting to attack. A vine came for me from both sides, I launched myself at Tessia before they reached me. Her eyes went wide as I appeared with my fist covered with fire.
A vine grew, and I quickly brought my fist down and burned it. However, I was met with a fist coalesced with wind mana right at my face, but Tessia stopped before it hit me. I fell to my butt, looking up at Tessia who was smiling.
"I knew you were strong." I sent a smile back up to her. I felt like shit, because I lost to Tessia, but I wasn't using a sword. I need to work on my conjuring skills, because I can't survive in this world if I don't.
Tessia reached her hand down. "You were very impressive, Veer, you almost had me actually." I grabbed her soft hand, and she pulled me up to my feet. Elder Virion walked over and started to clap his hands.
"Not bad for a four year old." He stopped and eyed me even more. "But you didn't use water or sound magic, is there a reason for that?"
"I wanted to try something new, but I probably shouldn't of." I scratched my chin. "I also don't use sound magic that much, because I find it hard to perform in a middle of a fight."
"Wait! You didn't even fight me with your water element, isn't that the mana attribute of your Beast Will?" She paused and then went on. "What beast was it again?" Tessia exclaimed looking at me.
"I usually incorporate water into my sword style, so I felt off using it." I looked at the ground. "The Beast Will I got from Arthur was a S Class Sea Serpent, so it goes well with my water magic."
"Have you been having any pain since you bonded with the will?" Elder Virion asked me, and I shook my head no. "That's good we can get ahead of it. Mana is building up inside of you, and eventually your core won't be able to handle it. You need someone to take on a little of the burden, which is what Tessia, and I will do."
"Alright." I nodded my head.
"I should say this though, your instincts might be lacking compared to Arthur's, but I can tell your very skilled at adapting to the battle situation." He sat down on the ground and patted the ground next to him. "Tessia join us, since you're going to be the one to do it." I sat down next to him, and Tessia sat down behind me.
"I'm ready." Tessia said, as she placed a hand on my back. I still had no clue what was going on.
"For someone to bond with a Beast Will they need to take in the mana they receive from it, but the Beast will try to fight for control over your mana core. I'm sure you felt it inside of you already." I nodded my head; it was the slithering feeling I was getting while absorbing mana. "You need someone of the same element of the beast to help you form a complete bond, since the Sea Serpent has affinity for water, you need someone with water magic to effectively help you. Sadly, neither Tessia nor I have affinity for water magic, but her plant magic should be enough to help you out."
"Wait. How though if she doesn't have affinity for water magic?" I was confused now.
Tessia spoke up for Elder Virion. "Because I need water and earth magic to perform my plant magic, so I have control over water mana, I'm just not classified as a water mage." Oh, that made sense, so she just didn't have water spells, but had control over water mana. That's sort of like my blood magic, before it worked, and I destroyed Sebastian's arm.
"I understand, since Tessia needs water mana to perform plant magic. She can help with my assimilation process." I turned back to Tessia who was still holding a hand on my back, and she was smiling.
"I want you to start meditating Virion, and welcome the Sea Serpent's power. Tessia will reinforce you with mana to help you fight against it." I nodded my head and Elder Virion motioned for us to start.
I closed my eyes and started to open up to the Sea Serpent, I felt its anger in lack of control. The urge that I felt before from it rose up again, this time I knew what the urge was. It was the urge to kill, the urge for blood and revenge. It built up inside of me, but with the help from Tessia I was able to contain it.
The power though was tremendous, it was good I asked Sylvie to find it, otherwise she would have just eaten it.
In the darkness my mind had me in at the moment, an image appeared, it was the Sea Serpent. It was at least twenty feet in height, I don't know how long, it looked down at me with its teeth out, the scales on it were navy blue. It ran shivers down my spine, but I continued to fight for control.
Seeing the beast up close though, scared the living hell out of me.
Elder Virion spoke up. "Seems like you two can go on without me, don't push it today, Virion." I heard him walk away.
"Let's go for thirty minutes, then call it quits." Tessia said and we continued on.
As I fought against the urge to kill coming off of the Sea Serpent's Will, I considered what would happen if I let that urge into my body. Would I conquer my fear of killing? Would it mean I could protect my family? If I need to offer up part of my core for that urge to stay, should I? No, I can't, there are too many things that could go wrong.
I need to get stronger, if I lost to Tessia in a fight, that means that I am not even close to where I need to be. My ice magic has gotten a lot better, same with my control over wind, but I just can't overwhelm anyone like Tessia did to me with her plant magic.
I wonder how long this was going to take, hopefully with Elder Virion's knowledge I can unlock the power of the Sea Serpent as soon as possible.