"Now, First Order Knight Training is a bit special compared to what you did before. Previously, you learned how to use the three basic weapons of a Knight in a fight, but now you will learn to maintain them." Misery explained as he tossed an empty bottle at Kiran, who was struggling to get up after having stupidly tried to pass his Buddha Lineage Energy through the pathways that his Merlin Lineage Energy passed through.
Basically, you can think of it as Kiran trying to pass heat Energy (Buddha bloodline) through a circuit (pathways for Knight activation) instead of electric Energy (Merlin bloodline).
After being struck by another of Misery's empty bottles, he finally got back up and was able to listen to his Uncle properly.
"Back at home, we called this weapon maintenance section 'git gud'." Misery reminisced casually.
"What is the stupidest thing a Knight can do?" He suddenly asked cryptically.
Kiran pondered for a bit and gave an intelligent answer. "Not be prepared?"
Misery nodded. "Exactly! A Knight is only at 50% of their power if they are unarmed, unarmored and unmounted. There is a reason why this profession is big on preparation."
"Knights get assigned Squires once they reach Second Order and above, but they are provided and trained by the Lineage. Apprentice Knights and First Order Knights are to take care of their own weapons and equipment, especially the latter."
"Apprentice Knights do not have so many expectations. The trainers will most likely prepare what they need before their daily training, so they are fine. First Order Knights can now fight competently and have activated their Knight Energy, so they are now superhuman in a sense."
"As such, the trainers leave them to their devices in terms of prep. Most of the training done in this stage is theory. You will be taught how to ride a horse, how to maintain your armor and weapons, and finally, how to use your newly unlocked Knight Energy."
Misery paused here and made sure Kiran was listening before continuing.
"I don't have time to explain this to you bit by bit. Just as well, you have unlocked Tier 2 Control and even have Tier 3 Void of Perfection. Good, that means your mind is stable enough for an information transfer."
Misery touched his own forehead as white light glowed around his body. "By the power of Merlin, I command thee: Knowledge Transfer!"
He then pulled his finger back which contained a blob of sticky blue light which he tossed at Kiran, striking his nephew on the forehead and entering his body.
As Kiran stood there in a stupid daze, digesting the information, Misery couldn't help but become melancholic.
"This spell was taught to me by Nana… sigh."
He took a deep swig of his rum and recalled his own training, way back then.
.............
Nicholas Spencley was panting hard, running up a steep slope with a large boulder on his back. The fellow was only around 6 years old at the time, so to see such a cute young boy subjected to such brutality would infuriate any onlooker.
Yet, when they turned to the source of this atrocity, it was unknown whether they would fall to their knees with hearts in their eyes or clamp their legs to hide their raging boners.
A slender, yet voluptuous woman was hovering in the air as if the atmosphere was her chair, wearing a long robe of light purple that tightly hugged her curvaceous body. She had long, flowing purple hair and deep, piercing red eyes that seemed to see through all.
A tome hovered before her, which glowed with purplish magic, the pages slowly flipping as she parsed through it. In the meantime, young Nicholas continued to suffer as he did since his task should impossible for a boy his age.
"Urghh… Nana, I can't go on…" He whimpered as his face down to his abdomen were red as a lobster from exertion.
"Of course you can, you little brat. You have the genes of myself and Cu, so you cannot fool me. No lunch for you until you reach the mountain top." The beautiful woman said casually as she flipped her tome once more.
Hearing this, and knowing that she meant it, Nicholas could only grit his teeth and continue on. Luckily, he had a firm foundation as a Second Order Mage, and he was currently arduously maintaining some buff spells which allowed him to come this far.
His age mates were still Apprentice Mages learning the tricks of the trade, but he was already learning about how to maintain continuous spells under duress, eventually making them almost second nature… a passive.
This was something not even 4th Order Mages could do easily, yet this lad was forced to learn it. What a brutal life!
However, there was a determined light in the eyes of young Nicholas even as he sweated and panted, not dropping the boulder or pausing for even a second, not even when he whined or begged.
On that note, no matter how he whined, begged or pleaded, his beloved Nana would only give a perfunctory snort to let him know that his complaints were duly noted, and ignored.
After all, with a harsh trainer like her, it was a pipe dream to expect leniency. She was, after all, the most powerful Magus in the world that was still alive in their Lineage, Scathach!
Misery's great-grandmother was a legend in the world, yet she had long since cut herself off mortal things and gone into hiding to preserve her life and surpass the progenitor, opening her own field of magic.
Partly due to passion, partly due to worry.
If the top 3 Lineages were to learn she was still alive, they would do everything to stomp her. She was too powerful and dangerous to be left alive, so seclusion was her best bet.
Until the birth of a certain brat directly from her line with Cu, that is. The moment, Scathach saw baby Nicholas, she instantly fell in love because he was just like Cu in her eyes.
Not to mention his relativelz high bloodline purity at 42% stunned her. She decided to take his training on herself and secluded both herself and her great-grandson, aiming to make him the greatest Magus and warrior ever.
When Nicholas eventually reached the top, he dropped the boulder powerfully and roared with glee, feeling exuberant.
Scathach simply watched him bellow in victory, a soft look in her eyes as she smiled gently.
.........…..
Misery sighed. "Oh Nana, what would you do if you saw this brat? Make him do pushups with a house on his back? Make him run 500km while limiting the amount of breaths he was allowed to take? Or make him swim up from the bottom of the ocean with a submarine tied to his leg?"
Kiran and Sublime did not hear Misery's murmuring, otherwise they would shiver in fear.
Just what the hell had their Uncle gone through?!
Kiran eventually digested all the information on weapon theory and maintenance that Misery sent. Now, more than just a lad who could cut or pierce foes, he could also make sure his weapons were clean, sharp and free of rust.
There was also armor maintenance, how to properly wear armor himself, how to maintain its cleanliness and general function, as well as some makeshift ways to maintain sharp drops in durability.
Kiran had previously never been a horse lover, but now he knew different breeds of horses, how to differentiate between them, how to tame a wild horse on the fly and how to groom such a creature.
He also learned how to make a saddle, rope, sheathe, arrows and leather for storage.
"Memory transfer is a 3rd Order Spell developed by my Nana. Without it, you would have spent upwards of two years learning all that perfectly." Misery boasted with pride.
Kiran and Sublime showed a suitable level of awe that appeased Misery, making the fellow chuckle. "So you've learned the first half of the 1st Order Knight training. It's time for the second half."
Kiran became serious as he listened.
"As I told you, Knights and Magi are different, but similar. One focuses on the mind, the other, the body. Magi don't use fancy things like external mana, but rather power spells through bloodline Energy. Knights, also do the same."
"When you circulated your Energy and activated the First Order power, you boosted your base 'stats' to a superhuman level. Going by real world level, the average human has about 5 points in all stats. At First Order, you have about 15 in all physical stats."
"But that is just the by-product. What you actually gained was the ability to activate various Knight Skills and Knight Energy to boost your battle prowess."
"Knight Energy is just a filtered version of your Bloodline Energy passed through the same route I showed you. Doing this drains Bloodline Energy per second, but the effect is that you burst with Knight Energy, looking like some super powered warrior from a cartoon."
"Knight Energy has various uses. It boosts your stats passively again, and with enough training, you can even boost stats actively, it can defend you like a pseudo-shield from spiritual and magical attacks especially… to an extent of course, and it can regenerate your wounds and injuries superfast."
"Ah, but as you can imagine, its consumption is rapid. It takes years and years of training and live combat to optimize the consumption, increase the duration and find clever ways to utilize Knight Energy, so it's more of an unrefined thing."
"However, at the end of the day, this is a bloodline we inherited, and our progenitor has seen through all these issues. As such, he 'coded' various skills into the bloodline that Knights can access as long as they know how."
"At the First Order, the five basic skills are Charge, Throw, Shield, Recover and Block."
"Charge allows you to envelop yourself and your mount in concentrated Knight Energy that increases your collective speed and power for the duration."
"Throw allows you to toss your weapon and shield, be it sword, axe or lance, and have it pierce/slice/bash the foe and magically return to your arm thanks to Knight Energy."
"Shield allows you to create a single direction magical shield made of Knight Energy that blocks magical, physical and spiritual attacks to varying degrees for a single person."
"Recover uses Knight Energy to rapidly regenerate wounds and recover your stamina by 25% of your total. This is fixed by the progenitor himself."
"Finally, Block allows you to envelop your shield in Knight Energy, greatly increasing its defensive ability against a single strike."
Misery paused here as he took a deep swig of his rum. "As you can guess, the progenitor has done two things. He has simplified the work for you, allowing you to use skills right off the bat to familiarize yourself with combat, your power and your bloodline."
"He has also left you the ability to manipulate the Energy yourself, allowing you to manually use these same skills if you know how, as well as create your own."
Misery tossed the empty bottle aside and burped lightly. "That is how both I and my Nana could create spells. Magi have a similar system, just that we called the Energy Mana."
"Of course, don't even try and think about creating your own skills, brat. That is something you can only start doing far later. Right now, you're gonna spar with Little Princess using your bloodline skills only."
Misery pointed to Sublime. "She is gonna bombard you with spells and you will only use the five basic skills to fight back, and your goal will be to close the distance between the two of you."
"You don't need me to tell you how to use them, they're bloodline skills, so they're instinctual. Just think of them and voila, they'll activate."
Sublime created a distance between herself and a surprised Kiran who did not like the idea of fighting this crafty loli.
"Enough gawking. Start!" Misery commanded with a smirk.
