After the gobklin hunt in the forest, we still were not allowed to go to school. While a gobklin camp had been subjugated, the forest still had to be checked for any other gobklins. Guards patrolled the forest for anymore signs of gobklins. There were none.

School was boring. There was nothing unique about it yet, except for that first day where I went to the Spirit Realm. Since I was young, I wasn't even supposed to go to the library. I tried talking to Lufis about what the gobkling had said, but he had never heard of the word "Preado" and had no books mentioning it. It ended up being one giant dead end. I had never heard of preado. It could be a type of crab for all I know. I didn't know what I was supposed too do besides wait. And train.

The only thing I learned was when I was talking to Lufis about the status system. The conversation went something like the following:

Me: "Lufis?"

Lufis:"Mhhmn?"*reading book*

Me: "Do you know why there is a status menu?"

Lufis: "No, no one knows why or even has any universal definition for it. However there are some things we do know about status."

Me: "Like what?"

Lufis: "Each person has their own status window or whatever you want to call it. Also there are only 99 levels, each progressively harder to reach. The maximum stat for a human is 999, though it can be relative. Such stats as wisdom, charisma, luck, and very rarely intellect do not apply to this. These stats depend on the person and are subject to change. All living things have a status. Other races can have higher or lower maximum stats too."

Me: "Wow, thanks, I had no idea."

Lufis: "That's normal."

Me: "Ouch. I was just saying thanks."

Lufis: "And I was just reading till you asked a stupid question."

Me: "Hey, I just didn't know!"

Lufis: *reading book*

Eventually school was out for summer break. And I was now five years old, one step closer to adulthood.

"Nathaniel!!! Time to wake up son!"

I opened my eyes to see my father, Arthur Armis, standing next to my bed. He looked like he was ready to go somewhere.

"What?" I said as I sat up, rubbing my bleary eyes.

"I know that it is your first day of summer break, but me and Mikel have put something together for you and Lufis. Lets go after you have eaten and got dressed." Arthur said excitedly.

My dad led me to the clearing that was between me and Lufis' houses. Mikel and Lufis were already there.

"There are you Nathaniel! You ready to get started?" Mikel asked me as I walked toward them.

"Start what?"

"Did Arthur not tell you! Training!"

The first part of the training was purely physical. Mikel led me and Lufis through different body exercises and stretches. It was easier for me since I was already exercising, but that isn't saying much. Mikel worked us till our young bodies starting checking the clock for nap time. One plus of it all was some of the exercises he showed us looked like they would be useful in combat. Lufis actually did really well despite the fact that he reads tons of books. In fact, he was on par with me despite my previous workouts. I also achieved a dream of mine when I successfully learned front and back flips. They always looked so cool.

The second part of the training was dealing with xetral. My dad showed us how to use xetral efficiently and to strengthen ourselves. Previously, I had surrounded my body with a layer of xetral. My dad showed us how to physically enhance ourselves with xetral. Instead of coating yourself with xetral, you instead focused it within. It consisted of a slow process of surrounding your muscles with xetral to strengthen them. The first several times I hurt myself. By not enforcing your muscles correctly, xetral could build up. After a month, me and Lufis could do it pretty easily. It was easier since I have the body of a five year old. My father called this technique fulcio.

This two part training went throughout the entire summer. Me and Lufis trained with Mikel in the morning, and with Arthur in the afternoon. I won't go into too much detail as much of it was very repetitive, which allowed us to better and naturally grasp the motions and exercises. Fulcio was a hard xetral ability to learn, but because of the morning training it was easier to feel the muscles which were worn out.

School soon started up again and training was officially shelved. I continued doing the motions Mikel had shown us for beginning swordsmanship in the last week before school. The motions consisted of exercises that prepare the body for sword fighting. Foot work was a major part of the motions. It created natural reflexes which could maybe save my life in a difficult situation in the future.

School was boring. In class we were learning how to read, which just made me want to pull my hair out as I was treated like an idiot. I could see a similar internal struggle reflecting in Lufis' contorted face as the teacher asked the class to slowly repeat a word and then the letters in said word.

It was funny to watch.

Since I was too young, I wasn't allowed to go to the library. Lufis managed to pull it off on the first day of school, but even he hasn't been able to access its tomes.

On regards to the <etheric blade> scroll, not much progress has been made. My understanding of xetral and retah is not good enough. To control the xetral needed to form a proper <etheric blade>, I need to have more knowledge than my current guess work. If I actually learned some new stuff in school, this wouldn't be as much of a problem as it is. That aside, I can still configure my weak version which utilizes the natural shape of my hand.

One thing that I did look forward too was holidays. Eventually there should be a holiday that celebrates culture. And when that happens, I plan to be there to take all that knowledge. Cause the only things I really know are from the history book I read part of.

School went progressively mundane. All the students were pretty well behaved, much better than one would expect from a young age group. No students severely misbehaved, so no free stupidity to watch there.

However a lot of that changed during the long events that unfolded around the national holiday, Rolanosh day.