Just like that, summer arrived, and Kleos was about to turn 4, but he did not, in fact, remember that. All that was on his mind was how much he had grown.
Standing next to the wall, which had many markings and dates, he straightened his back while Adam placed his straightened hand on Kleos's head. Then taking a pencil, he marked the spot where his hand had been as Kleos stepped under and looked back at the wall. He was now 9 centimeters short of a meter.
I can't wait to grow a little; I want to use a bow so badly. This sword training is making me sadder and sadder every day. I barely have any talent in that. Though my mana has increased tremendously, I can now keep 7 clones active for almost two hours. And my battle IQ has also increased. Though I have yet to manage to land a hit on Adam, who is standing a whole 80 centimeters above me. Who does he think he is, huh? Just you wait, my crazy pops is taller than you, meaning I'll also be taller than you; just you wait.
"Eyy, good job, buddy. You've gotten so much taller now. I bet you can even use a bow now, well, not a longbow, but a shortbow should be somewhat manageable."
"That would be very nice. And thanks to you my strength has also developed, and I'm a lot more flexible now. I think I'll be able to draw a bow properly now."
"But I do want you to know, while you clearly show talent in the bow, I don't really know how to teach you. I've barely ever used one myself. So, I have made a request with the village hunter."
"Wait, that old man? Who has been doing the rounds with us lately?" asked Kleos.
"Yeah, exactly him. As you saw yesterday, he killed a yellow core with just a single arrow. Piercing the guy's heart in one go. So, in my opinion, he's the best person here to ask about the bow."
"Is that what I will be doing starting today?"
"Well, the thing is from today onwards, instead of patrolling with me at night. You'll be with him. But that's not the only thing that's changing. We'll be starting your studies from today onwards."
"What do you mean? You know I can do math and read, which came as a surprise to you for whatever reason. But what else do I have to do?"
"History, my child, history. You don't know crap about the continent or also your mana studies. Over the past months, I've taught you how to use your sword and how to synergize it with all your other abilities. But you know like 4 spells. You need diversity. And you also need to learn about monsters and how to progress your mana heart. I haven't mentioned anything, but your growth has stunted, hasn't it?"
"Y-yeah, it has. I've learned how to use it more efficiently, but my mana reserves have been stunted over the past month or so."
"Think back, what did I make you do that stunted that?"
"I haven't been meditating since then."
"That's not it; contrary to what books teach, meditating doesn't actually increase the capacity of the mana heart. It just helps the body contain more mana. The capacity of the mana heart is something else. It is the density of mana, which is contained in your heart specifically."
"Wait, meditating just saturates my body? Not my heart? But I always make sure to run the mana through my heart."
"Well, that's because you make the mana yours by running it through the mana heart. But in reality, the way to increase the density of mana in your heart is as effective as it is simple. You must absorb the mana of mana hearts that beasts drop." Said Adam as he stared at the dumbfounded face of Kleos and then continued.
"Since about a month ago, I also made you stop absorbing mana hearts of beasts. Because there is simply a danger that the mana in your heart will become too dense, and it will explode, killing you. That is the downside to being a child mage. So, I had to force you to slow down your growth."
Now Kleos's face was terrified; he hadn't realized that he had come close to exploding.
"But what about my powers to heal? Wouldn't that increase my limit or something? Repair the heart as it is exploding so it doesn't explode or something. Also, how do I know when to stop? I wasn't able to tell at all. How were you able to tell?"
"Whoa now, slow down; one question at a time. So, I do believe that your self-healing property, which is insanely good even for a half-demon, should have helped your mana heart be stronger, but it still can't stop an explosion, well, this specific one. Since if this explosion were to begin, you would have no saving, like the previous children in history."
"OK, whatever. Now how am I supposed to tell when to stop?"
"Well, the fun thing with that is that you can't. And neither can I; I'm just speculating and guessing. I might be stunting your growth, but I also may be saving you from death. And I definitely don't want another one of my kids to di…"
Realizing what he had just said, Adam's eyes widened, and he turned around and said.
"Anyway, I don't want you to test this limit, since the only way you can know how much your heart can stretch is by finding out when it'll explode."