It didn't take long for Lance to get fed and dressed. He returned to the training room and found that his dad had removed the cape from his outfit. Now only donning the vest from the suit along with his tie. Losing the cape also made his black gloves more obvious.
"Welcome back." Tyrus dusted off his gloves as he turned to face Lance. "Come here. We need to go over the basics. First off. Open your status page."
The five-year-old squinted his eyes a little bit. What did his page have to do with learning to fight? He strained mentally to open the opaque screen that covered his vision.
[Name: Lance Duval] [Species: Celestial Dragon] [Age: 5]
[Hp: 20/20] [Stamina: 40/40 ]
[Level: 1] [Exp: 13/1000]
[Power: 2] [Speed: 2] [Body: 2] [Will: 2] [Brains: 2] [Instinct: 2] [Personality: 2] [Luck: 2]
[Character Sheet] [Skills] [Abilities] [Techniques]
"Now. I'm guessing all your stats are around two. Am I right?" Lance nodded to show his father was right. "Alright. That's what I expected. Over the next few years, your statistics are expected to naturally increase to a score of five in all categories. The figure is the average for most people. We." His father had to pause for a moment. Shaking some anger off. "Are not average people."
Taking a deep breath, Tyrus grabbed a wooden staff he had prepared. "Our first lessons will be about speed and your ability to dodge." With no pause between his sentences. Tyrus pushed the staff at his son's forehead. Giving Lance's head a vigorous tap.
Lance got a notification in his vision. You have taken 2 damage from Wooden Staff.
"Ow! What the heck? Could you please explain why it's necessary for me to learn how to dodge? Can't I just take all the attacks?"
That made his father chuckle. "Maybe you want to get yourself sent to an early grave." Tyrus' eyes looked down into his son's eyes. "Lance. It's important we get all your skills up. I will not be able to teach you our family's coveted axe-fighting style.
Lance fell quiet as Tyrus said that. "And that means I won't get the family axe?" He only got a silent nod back from his father. That steeled the boy a bit. This encouraged the young celestial dragon to nod his head in agreement. "Ok. But you better hand it over when it's time." He sniffled as he rubbed his forehead. Trying to make the pain go away.
Seeing a weakness to exploit. Tyrus held the staff with both hands at the bottom. Then, he executed an overhead swing. He brought the stick down onto the top of his son's head. With a loud thwack.
Lance began crying as he held the top of his head as a welt formed on it. [You have taken 4 damage from Wooden Staff.]
Tyrus sighed as he looked down at his son. He thought to himself as he watched Lance curled over in pain. This was going to be a long training session.
Several hours later, the door to the training room opened. Tyrus walked out behind his son. His son was covered in welts and bruises. Lance felt pain throughout his entire body. His father had called a nurse at some point. It was a good thing he did, or Lance would have passed out several times over.
Lance's right eye was swollen, preventing him from seeing out of it. The rest of his face was covered in purple bruises. It wasn't all downsides for Lance. As he left the training hall, a notification appeared in his vision.
Congratulations. You've gained 1 Body point. Continue your training. And achieve your dreams.]
That one point on his body increased his maximum health by ten. Bringing him up to 30 max HP. But it didn't increase his current HP. Leaving him at 5 still.
Lance opened the door to his living room. His mom, Abigail, and Mary were sitting next to each other in the living room, having a conversation. The conversation was cut short as the women looked to the door opening and all of them went white in the face as they saw the state of Lance's face as he walked in.
"Lance!" Lily jumped up and ran over to her son. She encircled him tightly with her arms. "Oh my god! What happened to you? Was this all from training?" As she pushed his head into her shoulder, she looked up at his father. His father then walked into the house and hung his cape on a coat rack.
"I'm fine, Mom, really." Lance tried to pull himself out of the hug so he could look her in the eye to reassure her.
"The boy has a long way to go. But he took too much damage today. He'll need a full day to recover. I hope you can handle watching him for the day without losing track of him." Lily narrowed her eyes at him. He didn't spare looking back at her. Which made her even more enraged.
"Yes…yes, I can." Lily snarled, baring her teeth as she spoke.
Tyrus took off his gloves and set them on a side table by the door. Tyrus walked off to his study. "Good. Abigail. Please prepare my dinner. I will take it in the study."
Hearing the command, Abigail stood to her feet. "Yes, Sir." Hearing that his will would be followed, he walked back deep into the house. And finding his way to the room he'd spend the rest of the night in.
Lily lifted Lance in her arms and walked off to his room. As she walked him to his bed, she propped up the pillows to help elevate his head before laying him down. "Don't worry, baby. He won't be able to hurt you tomorrow. We're going to spend all day hanging out and having a good time." She tried to scratch his head. But he flinched as she hit a spot that was hit by the staff.
Right then, Lily knew. If she ever found her son this badly hurt again. She'd kill her husband. Consequences be damned.