After moving in, Benedicte stopped studying Magic under her previous tutor. Mordred replaced him, reviewing her foundations and continuing her magical education.
It seemed that her previous tutor had underestimated Benedicte's potential, possibly by comparing her to himself, because he had not yet begun teaching her Intermediate rank Magic.
Apart from that, Benedicte had hardly learned any Fire Magic apart from the most basic Fireball and was never taught how to send out her spells. This seemed to be out of safety concerns because she was just a 4-5 year old child.
Mordred felt that Benedicte was fairly responsible for a child, or just too timid to go against his warnings, so he taught her those as well.
He then had her learn her first Intermediate ranked spell, and it was Stone Cannon.
"From now on, the spell that you should practice the most is Stone Cannon. It's the most effective attacking spell in direct combat. It's because if you can learn to increase its speed enough, even high ranking swordsmen won't be able to dodge it. Practice it a lot."
"Mmm. Okay."
Even the simple Elementary rank Water Ball cast with a staff has enough firepower to blow someone's head off, but in this world, all Advanced rank swordsmen can cut down spells, and even Intermediate ranked ones can. Because of this, ordinary spells are useless against swordsmen.
In fact, regardless of how powerful a spell was, it could still be cut down just the same.
But if a spell was faster than a swordsman could react, then he would obviously be hit.
That's why Stone Cannon, and in Mordred's case Railgun, were the most effective offensive spells against a single opponent.
Inside the dungeon of the Court Magician's tower, there was a King-rank Magic Circle Anti-Magic Barrier set up that could be used as a target for a safe practice of spells. Mordred did not use it much because he worried that his spells would break the barrier, but it was just right for Benedicte to practice.
Apart from making sure Benedicte becomes a master gunner, he also tried to make her a multi-caster.
He recalled that Rudeus was the only person in the entire world who could cast Melded Magic by casting two different spells simultaneously. Even Sylphy still had to cast them in succession and could not dual-cast.
Dual-casting was something that Mordred had learned, and he could even do triple-casting by relying on Mana Burst released through his mouth to cast the third spell.
Therefore, he hoped that Benedicte might also learn it if she trained it when she was young. He included in Benedicte's schedule a repeated practice of attempting dual-casting.
He saw that she had a preference for Water magic, so the focus was on the spell Quagmire - Melded Magic of Earth and Water Magic, which she could utilize well as a support-type Magician.
Another priority that was out of the norm was trying to teach her Disturb Magic, not only so she could shut down literally almost every other Magician in the world, but also so he could use her for his own practice of resisting Disturb Magic.
Throughout all this, Mordred imparted to Benedicte his own understanding of Magic. Because of his unique perspective as a light novel reader and ex-gamer from modern Earth, there was certainly no better Magic teacher in this world at this moment than him!
But he only taught her Magic. When it came to reading, writing, mathematics and so on, he had her begin studying under a different tutor.
***
Following the moment Benedicte came into the tower, eventually a full year passed.
Before this, Mordred had already indirectly told Benedicte to exhaust her Magic Power every day. He didn't explain to her that her Mana Pool would grow, just stressing that it's important.
In the current time, Benedicte was still instructed to empty her Magic Power every day, and her Mana Pool steadily grew.
Because Mordred was teaching Benedicte, his own studies were slightly affected, but it didn't make any significant difference on his improvements in strength.
For things like training his body or growing his Mana Pool, which he had to do every day and which was the most crucial, there was actually only so much of it that he could do in a day and doing more wouldn't be helpful.
He had slightly less time in a day for his scholarly studies of Magic Circles and for the practice of his swordsmanship technique, but he saw it as entirely worth it if he could raise an Emperor-ranked Silent Magician who could use Disturb Magic and Melded Magic to assist him.
He would rather not drag Benedicte into high-level fights if she had no Battle Aura, since it might just make her his weakness, but it would be nice if she still had those skills.
In relation to Benedicte's improvements, Mordred began to spend more time studying how to use Magic Circles to enchant items and create Magic Tools. His goal was to one day equip Julius and Benedicte, and his future army or Knights of the Round Table, with the most deadly weapons in this world!
As for Mordred's own training, after a year, his Magic Power had grown once again, both his capacity and output.
It is only that he felt himself reaching a bottleneck, as his improvements at this point greatly slowed down.
In the beginning, his Mana grew very rapidly, before beginning to grow at a steady pace.
At the present time, he felt that he might be reaching or has already reached Mordred's genetic potential. It's possible that he could only grow his Mana Reserves slightly each year from now on.
It was something regretful, but he felt that the amount of Mana that he'll have in the end should still be at the God-rank level or hopefully above it.
If he had reached Mordred's limit at around 7 years old and still had 3 more years to grow his Mana thanks to training since birth, it should be considered a good result. He did not waste his reincarnation or his potential.
He might end up inferior to Rudeus in Mana Capacity but should surpass him in output, which was the most important!
While experiencing this slow-down in the growth of his Mana Reserves, Mordred had instead doubled the amount of his swordsmanship classes.
On the days when he wasn't going out, which he did less these days, he would have two swordsmanship lessons each day, in the morning and in the evening. During one of the sessions he would practice Water God Style and his comprehensive swordsmanship technique, whereas during the other lesson he would be focused on the offensive Sword God Style with elements of North God Style.
A person usually required at least 3-4 years of training in the fundamentals to reach the Intermediate rank in their first swordsmanship school if they were talented, but Mordred had already reached this level with both the Water God Style and Sword God Style.
It was not plain vanity to call himself Intermediate ranked in two sword styles after only 2 years but a true result of the talent of a clone/son of the King of Knights, Mordred's relentless training and Hector's superb teaching.
In addition, Mordred might have only been 5 years old when he began, but he had the mind of an adult, allowing him to focus far better than a child, analyze his mistakes and correct them while still possessing the natural instincts for combat that prevented him from overthinking things. As a result, his progress was extremely rapid.
What complimented this well was his experience of being an ex hardcore MMORPG raider.
During previously life, he had poor coordination and reflexes, and was terrible at sports. He was the kid that was always picked last for a soccer team during PE, and he did not care about improving or doing well because it just wasn't something he was good at.
This didn't affect him as much in gaming, but he still could not be considered the most consistent or best player.
Despite that, his talent laid in another area - strategizing. He was the guy that actually thought of what was happening in a fight, analyzed things, developed strategies afterwards and assigned people for various jobs they'd be best at.
In the present life, he developed many skills, techniques, moves thanks to that already.
He had a body brimming with talent for sports and was also blessed with combat Instincts. Paired with his strategizing mind, it made the perfect combination!
He didn't just improve physically, but developed winning strategies that he could use in different situations.
And even though Mordred was Intermediate ranked in Sword and Water God Style, when using Mana Reinforcement, he had true Saint rank level strength. If he used Mana Burst, which he had gotten much better at, he might be able to contend with a Sword King!
It seemed that until he became 10 years old, while his Mana Reserves were still growing, he would experience the fastest rate of growth in his strength. Mordred felt that the day when he could defeat Hector was not that far, but being a true God rank might be a more distant goal.
In between the two swordsmanship sessions, he would additionally train his body inside his private gym, training muscles and movements that he felt his sword training didn't quite touch.
In regard to awakening true Battle Aura, he had not succeeded yet.
It might seem that because he somewhat has an outsider's body, there's a chance that he's simply incompatible with Battle Aura. Instead, he has Reinforcement Magecraft. But that didn't appear to be the case.
Inspecting his body using Mana Sense, he could notice Magic Power building up in his muscles and body.
Having Battle Aura subconsciously increase your strength above a human's limit is the sign of an Intermediate rank warrior.
Following that point, a person needs to continue training until they can use their Battle Aura consciously, although the great majority of people fail.
Mordred viewed his situation similar to how he could grow his Mana Reserves as a child - although he had Mordred's traits and talents, he still had a body born in this world in a sense and was subjected to its laws.
It was a relief because it seemed that certain techniques of this world could only be performed using Battle Aura. For example, Mordred failed in learning [Longsword of Light] using Mana Reinforcement. When using Mana Burst, he could swing his sword very fast, but it was no Longsword of Light.
What would be the effect if he could use both Battle Aura and Mana Reinforcement? He had no idea.
…
After Mordred's 7th birthday, Sofia said that it's about time for him to give King ranked magic a try.
On the next day, Mordred, Sofia and Julius left the city.
They came to the same field as in the past.
Sofia said, "Well, I let you freely read any books that are in my tower. You have already learned the Incantations for the King ranked Magic, right, boy?"
Mordred smiled. "Yes, I've memorized them all."
There were books on Saint and King-ranked Magic in the Court Magician's tower. Mordred naturally went through them and memorized the Incantations to heart.
If he wanted to, he could have even already cast those spells during one of his trips with Julius, but he simply had no need for King rank Magic yet, while Saint and King ranked spells simply cover too large of an area and cause too much destruction.
As for Emperor ranked Magic and Saint-rank healing Magic, the kingdom apparently also had information on those, but Mordred had no access to it. Books on this topic were not in the Court Magician's tower but were a state secret.
"Well then, then go ahead. I suppose, begin with Lightning. Use it to wet the ground and chase away any random passerby before your Fire Magic."
Mordred started with casting Water Magic's only King ranked spell - Lightning.
Lightning is an enhanced version of Saint rank Cumulonimbus, except after forming a storm, it condenses all energy from the created thunderclouds to strike down a targeted area with a thick pillar of lightning.
The beginning was the same as Cumulonimbus, and after that all he needed was to continue the chant and guide his Magic Power alongside the natural pathways it wanted to take. As expected, after speaking out the exceedingly long incantation, Mordred succeeded on the first try.
Bang!
With a loud crashing sound, a pillar of thunder like the punishment from Zeus himself had struck an area that he aimed at, creating a garden-pool sized crater.
After learning Lightning, Mordred used a King Rank spell of Earth Magic - Dust Devil.
[Dust Devil] was also simply an enhanced version of Sandstorm, with even harder and sharper sand and with stronger winds, and with sand tornados rampaging about.
Because of the previously cast Lightning, after Mordred cast Dust Devil, the entire plain and surrounding forests became covered in mud.
That's when Mordred cast King rank Fire Magic - Inferno.
Just like Dust Devil, [Inferno] was a stronger version of Saint rank Flashover. It covered a wide area in intense flames and maintained it by continuously combusting, so even if the fire was extinguished with Water Magic, it would start up once again.
Following that, Sofia cast a heavy Cumulonimbus to extinguish any remaining flames.
As the thunderclouds remained in the sky afterward, Mordred finally cast Wind Magic's King Rank spell [Hurricane], blowing away the dark clouds.
Being a step-up from Violent Storm, Hurricane also involved creating a strong blast of wind over a wide area, but instead of a singular powerful wave of wind, it summoned and maintained a powerful hurricane that continuously assaulted an area with powerful winds that could uproot trees and demolish houses.
At that point, Mordred had learned all King ranked spells of the four attack types! Lightning, Dust Devil, Inferno and Hurricane.
At the end of it, Sofia let out a sigh. She said, "You've really cast all of them today without running out of Magic Power... I should say, as expected of a Miko."
For a King rank Magician, just being able to cast a single King rank spell once with the assistance of staff was the norm; it was something incredible. She herself could only do it fully once, yet was considered the most powerful Magician in the kingdom.
She had already expected it, but with today's feat, Mordred had already surpassed all known Magicians of this world!
***
***
***
Name: Mordred Kingdragon
Titles/nicknames: 16th Prince of Kingdragon, Magic prodigy, Miko
Age: 7
Strength: D- | early Saint rank strength
Endurance: C | King rank resilience
Agility: C (D) | King rank reflexes and sword speed, with Saint rank running speed (200 km/h)
Mana: B* | peak Emperor
…
Fire, Water, Wind and Earth Magic: King rank
Healing and Detoxification Magic: Advanced rank
Divine and Barrier Magic: Elementary rank (chantless), Intermediate rank (Magic Circles)
Summoning Magic (beasts): Elementary rank
Enchantment Magic (creating Magic Tools): Elementary-Intermediate rank
Water and Sword God Style: Intermediate rank
North God Style: Elementary rank
[Instinct B]
[Mana Burst C]
[Magic Resistance C]
[Riding E-]