"We can use this too. Ryuji, you got your snacks?" Andrew asked as he dropped a bottle of spices into the cart he held.
Behind him, a kid with a full head of messy, white hair ran behind him. The boy's appearance was rather odd, but it simply added to his cuteness.
Hair that perfectly contrasted the skin and yellow eyes like his father. He was a chubby kid and even as he childishly ran towards his father, his aura was just different from a regular child.
Not that Andrew looked so regular himself as he had scars reaching towards his neck and scratches all across his hands.
Walking along his son, Andrew put his hand on his head and messed around with his hair.
"Ryuji, do you want hair like your pops?" Andrew asked with a proud smile. He clearly held his locs in high regard.
"I tried, but my hands always caught cramps fast." Ryuji replied.
"I asked Jhená to do mine, but I can do it when we get home since she'll be cooking."
"Thanks dad!" Ryuji said as he watched the carriages pass by on the streets.
Andrew peeped his son's interest and lifted him up, sitting him on his shoulder as he spoke.
"We can come back fo ride the trolley and other things. We should actually get out the house more, but-"
"Nah, I'm good, but dad…" Ryuji interrupted.
"Yeah…?"
"I wanna start working out with you in the morning."
"What? Now why would you wanna start doing that so early?" Andrew questioned.
"Well…I want a physique like yours…"
Seeing Ryuji be so timid and embarrassed as he avoided eye contact, Andrew felt…completed, in a sense.
"Really? You want a physique like mine? I guess I can get something started for you. Might have to switch up your diet and I'll have to make a new schedule for you!"
"I just wanna get big! Dad, you look like a mini Hulk"
"Huh? I just look like I normally do?"
"You look really intimidating sometimes…"
The two rambled all the way back home. Once everything was sat down and put away, Andrew immediately prepared to do Ryuji's hair.
"You finally gonna twist it down, huh?" Jhena asked as she walked from the hallway and into the kitchen. She grabbed a bag with a variety of different nuts and salted berries and sat next to Andrew on the couch.
As he parted Ryuji's hair, he looked in her direction.
"Baby, you're not gonna cook the salmon?" He asked in a slightly pleading tone.
"I didn't plan on using it today. I was going to do a boar roast with a big salad and maybe some sliders, but I would've needed your help." She replied eating a berry from the bag.
"I guess we did just decide this out of nowhere, but can you do something small? Pleeeeease~?" Jhene put her hand over his mouth with a frown, but sighed.
"Fine, but I don't even know if we have things to make 'something small'. Let's seeeeee…."
"Yuji, want a cold cut platter?"
"Yeah that sounds good!"
"Alright, a platter it is!" Jhene said as she got everything out.
"Baby!"
"What now?"
"I looove you~"
"Yeah, yeah…"
Ryuji peeked at his father, watching him snicker while his mother was blushing to her ears. Sitting down on the floor a small smile appeared on his face.
That warm feeling you got as a kid when the whole family was around and just smiling and laughing began to seep up in his heart.
It was quite a old and nostalgic feeling.
He wiped his eyes as he felt them getting watered and simply focused on the time he had now.
"Getting sleepy bud?" Andrew asked.
"Dad, why does my name sound so much different from you and mom's?"
"Well all names sound different if they aren't the same."
"No, I mean it sounds like it came from a different culture or something." Ryuji sighed as he wished he could just say it sounded Japanese, but they wouldn't even know what that was.
"Haaa, it was a long time ago, but we met a weird swordsman when we were adventurers. I didn't know where he was going or who he was, but he suddenly stopped me and said something about the 'aura of a Ryu'."
"He said 'You two carry the aura of Ryu!' THEN, you asked him what it meant after being smug, because it sounded cool." Jhene intervened as she walked over to the couch with a big tray in her hand.
Andrew grumbled, but continued, "He said we were the Ryuji and the name just sounded cool as hell at the time. When you came around, you can say that we were being pretty prideful." He cackled with Jhena mimicking.
Through her laughter she tried to continue as she sat the tray down.
"We named you Ryuji, because you're half of two Dragons!" She said slightly laughing, slightly cringing.
"Well, I really like the name." Ryuji nodded as he kind of liked his new name. It reminded him of his favorite protagonist in his past life.
"Did you guys ever find out that guy's name or occupation? He had to be strong right?" Ryuji asked as he reached for the platter, but failed.
"Hmm, not really. I only said he was a swordsman, because he carried a really weird looking sword. He didn't give off that type of aura, but his whole demeanor was just different. He was definitely strong." Andrew reminisced as he zoned out for a second.
"So you guys are strong too? Being told that by someone that's strong must mean you're strong too?" Ryuji asked as he ate the lettuce wrap his mother put together for him.
"Yup, we were the strongest!" Andrew answered.
"In our prime, people would treat us like royalty!" He added.
Jhena budded in, nudging his arm with a strange look. "We were strong, but we wanted to settle down. Get out of all the spotlight." She lulled.
"I'd rather just be rich without the fame too. In the books with those strong and powerful people, I just know they couldn't live a relaxed life. I just want to be strong enough to protect my family and smart enough to know my way around things."
Jhena and Andrew were stunned from the level of maturity Ryuji had just displayed. At 4 years old, no child they ever came across even though about stuff like that.
Andrew peeked at Jhena with a slightly defeated expression. Tapping Ryuji's shoulder, he agreed with him.
"Keep living with that mindset. You'll accomplish all your goals. Heh, I did." Andrew said, muttering the last part of his statement.
It was inevitable. Their son was simply too unique for them to believe he wasn't destined for something great. This moment had confirmed it. All they could do now, was take his uniqueness and allow him to grow.
"Oh mom, I'm going to start training with dad in the mornings!"
"Huuuuuh, what training?! You're only 4 years old, what training could you do?!" Jhena blurted.
"No, listen! He'll mainly be focusing on mental training. The physical training is going to be more on his stamina, it's not like I'm going to just start handing him weights and stuff! Besides, you can't get strong without a mana core." Andrew said as he coiled, Ryuji's hair.
"What're you trying to do? Just wait until he's 10 like a regular person! Do you know how much strain you could put on him during this process?" Worries filled Jhena's head as she thought about how doing this could be bad for his growth period.
"Mom, it's fine. I'm the son of two strong people I can handle a bit of hard work, hmph!" Ryuji huffed as he nodded to himself.
Afterall, the request for early training was more selfish on his end since he did want to be strong to protect his family as a man, but also because knights and mages were super cool to him!
"Heh, if you get so strong, you won't have a choice, but to be famous. Did you know that?" Andrew teased as he bit the wrap Jhena fed him.
"I'll wear a mask!"
"Everyone would recognize your hair though." Jhena tuned.
"I'll wear a hooded cloak, then!"
"Your physique's going to be pretty huge. How you gonna hide that?"
"Uhh…armor? Yeah."
...
And so, that night had passed. Well, many nights if I'm being honest here. After that day, my father had woken me up with a sub-sandwich being tossed at me.
I remember that day because of three main factors.
1. Looking at myself in the mirror that morning after getting my locs done, I could only feel good about the fact that their longer and thicker in this life than my last.
2. The sub had to be the single most delicious sandwich I've had in both this life and my last. I had no clue I could eat so much at this age.
3. My training routine was simply the most boring, but induring thing I've had to do for the last two years.
Every morning around dawn, we got up and would go to the backyard. It wasn't too big of a yard, but it wasn't small. It was bigger than any I had in my old life.
My training was simple. I was told to sprint around the backyard in circles till I was exausted. Afterwards, I would do an exercise similar to Russian Twists till I felt my core go numb with a strong burn and then it's back to sprints.
Of course, I had breaks. Usually I'd only be doing this training for an hour with some snacks and water in between. After the hour was up I was told to sit in meditation for 30 minutes which was usually followed by an hour or two nap.
According to my dad, I might be able to have a Mana Core by 9 years old! I was excited and felt that I was finally getting into what truly makes this world different from my own!
Mana and Mana Cores.