Chapter 18: Good News
After Rain’s class ascension, if Ember had thought his father would put more pressure on him, then he would have been thoroughly mistaken. On the contrary, he had been going easier on him after finding out his swordsmanship had reached an adequate level.
The problem only came when his father wasn’t home. Now that his long leave had come to an end, he had to return to the northern plains, as monster activity seemed to be a constant dilemma there. Besides, Cliff had been neglecting his own advancement for three years. Before leaving, he had promised that he would return soon as a Silver Knight.
The problem for Ember was that, after his father was gone, his grandfather took over the duty of training him in swordsmanship. The old knight was one of the clan's few silver-rankers. To anyone else, it would have been a delight to train under him. Ember wasn’t among them. The old fuck would beat him so brutally that he’d falter in his mana cultivation.
On top of that, his grandfather seemed to be in a foul mood at all times, regardless of how well or how poorly he performed.
There had been a few days when Ember returned with bad bruises on his limbs and back, mostly because those were the days he made intentional mistakes, thinking that the old man would leave him alone after sensing his disinterest. But who knew the old fuck had no merciful bones in his body?
It was so bad that his mother had gone to confront him. For someone of such small stature and power, she did not hesitate to speak to someone who was over a hundred levels beyond her.
But Timber Blackstone barely paid any attention to her. He only expressed one line to her: “I know how to teach my kids. Since Cliff hadn’t turned out too bad, Ember will do fine too.”
Now Ember could finally understand the bad blood between his father and grandfather. But then again, as far as he knew his father, he’d likely enjoyed this kind of training. Thankfully, Sir Cliff Blackstone had not let the generational trauma continue any further with his children.
On the days he was not present for training, his grandfather would leave it to Aunt Zephyr, who was at least better to talk to. Although she seemed to have inherited the same characteristics when it came to training kids, unlike her father, she wouldn’t just beat him for any mistakes he made in his form.