The Hidden Valley...
Morning sunlight filtered through the towering trees as Kieran finished carrying two wooden buckets of water back to the cottage.
"You're getting faster."
Crystal smiled as she accepted one of the buckets.
Kieran puffed out his chest proudly.
"I beat my time from yesterday."
"Oh?"
"By six breaths!"
Crystal chuckled.
"Impressive."
Kael, lying lazily beneath the ancient oak, opened one eye.
"He's counting breaths now?"
"Who counts time like that?"
Kieran grinned.
"You said counting heartbeats during training was useful."
"I improved it."
Kael snorted.
"Fair enough."
---
After breakfast...
Crystal led Kieran to a clearing he had never visited before.
Unlike the other training grounds...
This one was simple.
An open field surrounded by ancient trees.
At its center stood dozens of wooden swords planted upright in the earth.
Some were short.
Some were long.
Some curved.
Others were broad and heavy.
Kieran's eyes widened.
"So many swords..."
Crystal walked toward them.
"A sword is more than a weapon."
"It is an extension of its wielder."
She picked up a plain wooden sword.
"No jewels."
"No decorations."
"No special materials."
Just a simple practice blade.
She handed it to Kieran.
"This one."
He accepted it with both hands.
"It's light."
"It should be."
"For now."
---
Crystal walked several steps away and picked up another wooden sword.
"Today..."
"We begin learning the sword."
Kieran's excitement immediately faded into confusion.
"Are we learning sword techniques?"
Crystal smiled.
"No."
"We're learning how to hold a sword."
"...That's all?"
Kael burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"I had the same reaction centuries ago."
Crystal ignored him.
"You'd be surprised how many people spend decades mastering techniques while never learning how to properly hold their weapon."
---
She demonstrated.
Her stance was relaxed.
Her grip neither tight nor loose.
Every movement was natural.
"The sword is not your master."
"It is not your servant."
"It is your companion."
"If you grip too tightly..."
"You restrict it."
"If you grip too loosely..."
"You abandon it."
Kieran copied her stance.
Immediately...
Crystal tapped his wrist with her wooden sword.
"Ow!"
"Too stiff."
He adjusted.
Tap.
"Too loose."
Again.
Tap.
"Your shoulders."
Again.
Tap.
"Your breathing."
Again.
Tap.
"Your feet."
By lunchtime...
Kieran had been corrected over a hundred times.
He hadn't swung the sword once.
---
Later that afternoon...
Kieran finally couldn't hold back his curiosity.
"Mama..."
"When do I learn to attack?"
Crystal looked at him calmly.
"When you no longer think the sword exists to attack."
"Huh?"
Kael laughed so hard he nearly rolled off the rock he was lying on.
"I remember hearing that!"
"I didn't understand it either."
Crystal smiled knowingly.
"A sword has many purposes."
"It can attack."
"It can defend."
"It can threaten."
"It can inspire."
"It can lead."
"It can save."
She looked directly into Kieran's eyes.
"But if the only thing you see..."
"...is a weapon..."
"You'll never become a true swordsman."
---
Days turned into weeks.
Every morning followed the same routine.
Carry water.
Gather herbs.
Cook.
Train.
Read.
Meditate.
Train again.
Crystal rarely praised him.
She corrected every mistake.
Patiently.
Relentlessly.
Sometimes she would have him stand in the same stance for hours.
Other days...
She made him walk the entire valley with the wooden sword balanced across his palms.
If it fell...
He started over.
Kieran complained often.
But he never quit.
---
One afternoon...
As they rested beneath the oak...
Kael tossed an apple into the air.
"Kieran."
"Catch."
Without thinking...
Kieran reached for the sword instead of the fruit.
He smoothly drew the wooden blade.
Tap.
The apple landed perfectly on the flat of the sword.
Balanced.
Not a single bruise marked its skin.
Kael blinked.
"...Lucky."
Kieran smiled sheepishly.
"I wasn't trying to do that."
Crystal, however, remained silent.
She had noticed something.
For the first time...
Kieran had moved without hesitation.
Without overthinking.
His body had simply responded.
---
That evening...
Crystal stood alone before the waterfall.
"The Principles..."
She whispered.
"They're changing the way he learns."
He wasn't memorizing movements.
He was understanding them.
Every lesson became part of him naturally.
It was unlike any disciple she had ever trained.
---
Far away...
Within the Gardenia Empire...
The royal training grounds echoed with the clash of wooden blades.
A young girl with crimson-gold hair darted across the arena like a streak of flame.
"Again!"
Alya shouted.
Her instructor smiled helplessly.
"You've already won twenty-three times."
"Twenty-four sounds better."
Nearby...
A quiet boy sat beneath a pavilion with several thick books spread before him.
Instead of training...
Ethan studied maps of the Melika Realm.
One of the palace scholars approached.
"Your Highness."
"Shouldn't you be practicing swordsmanship?"
Ethan smiled gently without looking up.
"I am."
The scholar looked around in confusion.
"I don't see a sword."
Ethan tapped one of the maps.
"If I understand where battles are won..."
"I'll know where to draw my sword."
The scholar froze.
Then smiled.
"As expected of the Second Prince."
Far away, beneath the same sky...
Three children.
Three different lives.
Each unknowingly taking their first steps toward a destiny that would one day bring them together.
And in the Hidden Valley...
A wooden sword rested quietly in Kieran's hands.
Simple.
Plain.
Yet, for the first time...
It no longer felt like a piece of wood.
It felt like the beginning of a lifelong companion.
End of Chapter 41