Thus, I began my study of magic and swordsmanship under Teacher Roy, starting with physical training. Every day, I had to run around the castle walls, at least 10km daily, even though I was just a little over two years old.
But my soul was already twenty-three. I had experience with jogging during middle and high school physical education classes. You have to admit, a child's body is the most malleable. The first day I finished the run, my whole body ached, but after sleeping, I felt almost nothing the next day.
If this were my first long-distance run in high school, the day after, I felt like my entire lower legs weren't mine; the soreness made normal walking impossible. This is probably also related to the Intermediate Healing Spell (ExHealing) my teacher cast on my body after I finished running, right?
Of course, magic training wasn't neglected either: Intermediate Water Magic Surge Flow, Intermediate Earth Magic Earth Wall, Intermediate Wind Magic Vacuum Wave, Intermediate Fire Magic Fire Sever, and so on. Naturally, I also persisted in my own research: using Wind Magic to create faster wind speed above my body and slower wind speed below it to make myself fly.
However, this kind of maneuver requires some initial velocity. Currently, there's no good method, but I have already tested the feasibility of the operation on paper airplanes I stacked myself. At least it proved that the physical principles of this world and Earth are universal. Bernoulli's Principle, Newton's Three Laws, the Law of Universal Gravitation, etc., are all applicable. This way, there shouldn't be any major issues.
Although I attended three years of university before reincarnating, I still remember the physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics knowledge from high school. Now that I have reincarnated without a cheat skill, this knowledge is my biggest advantage.
Whether I can apply this knowledge practically is my greatest reliance for surviving in this world where alien race (foreign races), magic, and swords exist. At least, in my memory, Rudeus never applied this knowledge practically; he only liked using Earth Magic to sculpt little figures. What a waste.
When I was four, Teacher Roy took me to his official workplace, the headquarters of the Magic Corps. You might think his job was teaching me? That would be wrong. Being my teacher was merely a task assigned to him by my father, Xerxes Prodia Greyrat, through the authority of the City Lord. His actual post was still the First Corps Commander of the Magic Corps.
Although we had to pass through the Outer City, it didn't matter. My father sent many knights to accompany and guard us. My family seems to have a very poor reputation among the commoners. It seems many heinous things happened in the past, causing civilians to steer far away whenever they saw a carriage bearing our family crest. Occasionally, there were people staring at the carriage with malicious eyes. Such people were undoubtedly those carrying weapons. No wonder my parents never took me shopping in the Outer City, and I needed so many knights for protection when going out.
This is truly awkward. I am clearly a kind young man, yet I am treated like a great villain. It's truly unfair. However, this is the negative side effect of my status. I comforted myself by thinking that the commoners hated the crest above my head, not me as a person. Thinking this way made it easier to bear.
Faced with such malice, there was no way I could say something foolish like wanting to get off the carriage and look around. I don't want to be stabbed by a stranger on the street. Upon arriving at the Magic Corps headquarters, my teacher introduced me to his subordinates. As expected of those trained by my teacher, every single mage was different from the mages in my imagination. You could say they had the feeling of a formal military unit.
As the Lord's son, I might one day become someone this corps is sworn to serve.
I received a very warm welcome at the headquarters. I also put on a show, speaking like the old school leaders on the podium, delivering some seemingly morale-boosting platitudes. Perhaps it was due to my age; although I felt I spoke poorly, every member of the mage corps below looked at me as if they had seen a ghost.
They probably didn't expect a four-year-old child like me to utter such formal words of encouragement. Then, they fooled themselves by thinking, 'As expected of the young master of the Prodia Family, his insight is indeed different.'
When I saw their expressions, I realized my mistake. After all, I should be acting like a four-year-old child, not a twenty-three-year-old young man. If I appear too mature, and the fact that my soul transmigrated is discovered, it would be over. I decisively ended my speech. My teacher then stepped onto the platform and stated the true purpose of our visit: conferring upon me the title of Apprentice Knight.
Although an Apprentice Knight normally requires being a Knight Trainee and studying at the Knight Training School to achieve this, who cares when I am the Lord's child? By pulling some strings, being granted the title of Apprentice Knight at the age of four wasn't too much of a violation.
This way, I could officially wear a weapon in the Asura Kingdom. Although carrying a weapon in the commoner districts without a knight title wouldn't get you arrested—there are too many Adventurers like that—in the strictly managed noble districts, wandering the streets armed would definitely be against the law and lead to imprisonment.