195 Eric's Journey
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Eric woke up like any other day. However, today was quite special, his friend, Blake, was coming to his house today. Since he meet Blake several years ago that he had always thought of him as someone quite interesting. Blake was always very serious, his face often never changed expression, and he seemed devoid of emotions most of the time. At first, Eric couldn’t help but think of Blake as a scary kid. But slowly, he learned more about him and got to know him better. He learned about his family, who were all nice and honest people, and then he saw him interacting more and more with them and then Erika. He quickly realized Erika was something like “his weakness”. She was someone that always caught him off guard.
He learned that the intimidating Blake could also smile and laugh. He slowly grew more fond of him. Even though they ended fighting for a year, they reconciled after some time, and became friends once more. He learned how mature Blake was for his age, and continued to find even more interesting and intriguing things about him. Over time, and without realizing, he saw Blake as a good friend. And Blake too, saw Eric as a friend, someone valuable to him. Eric was good friends with Chris, and quickly reconciled with Blake, but always thought of Blake as higher. As if he was the older brother of the three, even though he was their same age.
Blake ultimately did something on his own accord and decided to give him powers and magic he never thought he could develop. Not even his uncles who were great alchemists and medics had ever taught him anything like Blake did. He often wondered if Blake was even a human to begin with, his powers were shrouded with mystery… But there was something on him that made him someone very reliable, an aura of someone greater. An innate leader that guided others and helped them grow stronger and even discover their own capabilities. For Blake, there was nobody that was untalented. Everybody had potential, they simple had to find it and, over time, make it grow.
Eric was always a gentle-natured child, often bullied by others because he used glasses and had poor vision. When Chris came to his life, he quickly protected him from bullies, and even as he grew up and continued to be rather bullied by children, Chris and Blake were always there, and even Erika. Eric had always thought of himself as somebody weak that always relied on others for his own survival, it made him feel bad and even weaker than he truly was. It made him think he was someone useless. His spirit was developing very slowly, and he had no Skills yet as he had yet to receive Blessings by slaying monsters… But then Blake decided to teach him his abilities, and Eric quickly realized that he also had his own strength.
Blake quickly went from an older brother figure to… someone even greater than that for Eric, something similar to a master, a teacher, someone that taught him how to be stronger and also how to comprehend magic and the power Blake called “Ki”. Using all he had, he quickly learned everything Blake taught him. He awakened his Ki and practiced Ki Manipulation Technique every day alongside Mana Manipulation Technique. Without realizing it, he felt his Mana and Ki grow exponentially, even without receiving Blessings. He learned how to create Magic Circles and conjure spells that were often only taught to those that attended Magic Academies, and he even learned new spells that went in tandem with his own Spirit.
When he showed what he had developed to his parents, they couldn’t help but grow happier. They wanted to meet Blake as well, and Eric wanted to request Blake to also show them how to use Magic. In that, Blake found a new business opportunity. However, if he showed it to everybody the nobles might cause a fuss that a child was spreading the ways of using magic circles to mere commoners, so he decided to limit it to his own friends. Eric was happy when Blake accepted, as he offered him various valuable things such as ingredients, recipes, and other items that his uncles sold. Blake was quickly convinced with that; Eric knew very well his friend was someone that loved money and material goods.
After bathing and eating breakfast Eric decided to calm his mind and nervousness by reading a few books he had. They were all medicine books containing information about a great assortment of plants of all types, these books were passed down by his family of medics and alchemists for generations, and were very valuable, he was going to let Blake read such family treasure because he was his best friend. But he himself was still hallway through the second book, and as he read and reread more, he memorized more and more knowledge about all sorts of plants and recipes for potions and other alchemy items. He knew that his friend in the future would want to become an Adventure, and he was willing to grow stronger himself to walk by his side. Even if he wasn’t the best at magic nor combat like Erika and Chris, he was going to use his knowledge to make up for it.
Eric had yet to know what his parents thought about him becoming an Adventurer, but he was willing to try everything he could to convince them. It was his dream to explore the world at the side of Blake, Chris, and Erika after all, even if his duty would be to take the medicine shop after his uncles grew older, he wanted to have an adventure he would never forget.
“Eric! Your friend is here!”
Suddenly, he heard his aunt call him from his small room. Eric jumped off his seat nervously, almost falling into the floor, and quickly crawling back up.
“A-Alright!”
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