The next few days passed quietly.
Kai still hadn't returned to the training grounds, he wasn't avoiding it of course but because he had something else to focus on.
Early mornings, before anyone woke up.
Kai would step outside, the air was still cold even in summer. The northern winds never truly left this place. He would stand alone in the courtyard, barefoot.
"Breathe in...breathe out."
He started simple, stretching and doing basic movements trying to wake his body up.
Then--
Push-ups.
One.
Two.
Three--
His arms trembled quickly. By the tenth--
He collapsed.
"I wont push myself too hard, I'm still only six so I have lot of my life."
Kai lay there on the ground for a moment, staring at the sky. His breathing was heavy, but unlike before the fatigue didn't last long. Within minutes, his body began to recover.
"This body...hmmmm, there's something about it that I'm not familiar with."
That wasn't something he expected.
He continued with his physical training.
Slow but steady.
Days passed.
He still could only manage around ten push-ups at most before tiring out, but something inside of him was improving.
He started running, short distances.
The air was cold but it didn't affect him at all.
"...it seems like cold was not the problem all along," he realized.
"It's ice."
But that didn't mean he gave up on magic.
At night inside his room, he still practiced his magic but this time while practicing he focused the magic only on his finger tips.
The pain was there but not too much. He would only need to treat his fingertips not his whole palm like before.
"Good."
He spent only the mornings for his physical training, and the rest in reading books and spending time with his mother.
Kai was living happily.
On the seventh day--Kai returned to the training ground.
But he didn't go there to train, but to observe.
Children stood in formation again. Damien was there, same instructions, same process and Kai stood at the edge watching.
One of the boys noticed.
"He's here again."
Some were laughing but Kai ignored them. His eyes were focused elsewhere, he was observing their training.
Then someone else noticed him.
Damien.
He was watching Kai the moment he entered the training ground and he noticed something different about Kai.
That was the first thought that crossed his mind upon seeing kai.
"Continue and focus on your training."
Damien spoke to the children who were training.
The children continued on with their training, and Kai stepped back a little enough to not be seen by the others and match his movements exactly to what the others performed.
Frost formed in his hand, pain followed gradually but this time it was less than before.
Kai was shocked. He was excited.
"So physical training did help huhh?"
He thought that physical training must have been the reason for this. He carefully controlled his ice magic, but suddenly it stopped casting midway.
"ehhhh?" Kai was confused.
Damien was observing this whole time, he saw everything.
"hmmm?"
The other children didn't noticed Kai, only Damien did.
After the training session ended--
"Kai."
A voice called out.
Kai stopped and turned slightly.
Damien stood behind him, he had a calm and smily expression.
"Have you been practicing?"
Kai hesitated for a second.
"Ummm...yes."
"You know right that you shouldn't."
Kai looked at him.
"I know...but"
"If lady mara were to know she would be worried."
"I know that...but please don't tell her."
"Alright." Damien looked at him quietly.
"But show me what you have been training by yourself this whole time."
Kai didn't hesitate this time, he had high hope that things were finally getting better for him.
He raised his hand, focused and tries to push himself harder this time.
He drew out mana from his core and cast out basic frost spell.
The basic frost spell was the foundation of all ice magic, but it isn't meant for attacking. The user gathered mana from their core and guided it slowly into their palm, letting it condense into cold energy. If done correctly, a thin layer of frost would form. It looked simple but the difficulty wasn't in creating it, it was in maintaining it. Too much force and it would shatter; too little, and it would fade.
So in simple words--gather mana, condense it and form frost and without control it would collapse instantly.
That's why it is the very first magic technique that was taught at the Glacius household, since it was the very foundation to further master other high level magic.
Kai cast a frost spell, but it was stronger and held on longer this time. He let out a smile.
But suddenly, his skin burned again and this time the pain was more intense than usual. The frost shattered instantly.
"Agh--!" Kai shouted in pain.
Damien immediately grabbed Kai from his hands and brought him to the infirmary.
In the infirmary--
Kai sat quietly, his hands were wrapped in bandages. The burning sensation slowly faded away.
Damien stayed there beside Kai, he wasn't disappointed instead he looked at kai and said--
"I saw you used that same spell before but this didn't happen right?."
Kai was as confused.
"...yes I did it but I felt just a little sensation at that time. "
"...hmmm" Damien wasn't surprised since he already knew of Kai's situation.
"But you did better than any other children who were training this whole time, its a sad thing that you have to face such situation."
Kai nodded.
"But..." kai tried explaining but Damien interrupted.
"It's ok, for now just rest and recover and don't think too much just focus on what you were doing this whole time."
"Okay." Kai accepted his words, a sad look to his face.
"If only...I don't have this stupid curse or whatever it is."
Damien left.
He smiled bitterly.
"I see...now that I've seen it with my own eyes so it was true all along huh."
Damien's mind was filled with thoughts as he walked away.
But on the other side, Kai was even more determined to push himself further to break his curse.
Inside the main mansion--
Stood Lucien Glacius, in his main office sitting in his chair.
"So that's what had happened." Lucien spoke in a cold and calm tone.
"Yes...that's the report."
One of the servants responded.
"Inform him, tell him to meet me tomorrow after the training session."
"Yes my lord I shall inform him." Then the servant left.
"My son Kai..."