~ Martial ~
'Exercise' continued, becoming harder as time pass by. Less in the hopes to create muscles at this early age, and more to train the body for the motions, gain stamina and discipline. That didn't meant some degree of strength wasn't acquired during that time, but as someone who haven't hit puberty yet it was understandable for you not to go so well.
Which was a surprise when you finished your exercises without complain and with such determination, always pushing yourself that little bit more than before.
Thinking you were ready, both parents came to you one day.
"Jaune dear, what do you want to be when you grow bigger?"
They had of course talked about their jobs, but also told a fair bit of other professions around them. Teacher, doctor, engineer, baker, cook, and so on and so forth. Now that they had gained more money now they could all live comfortably while taking less risky jobs, and all members of the family could enjoy an easier life. Thus they were slightly surprised when their daughters still wanted to become huntresses themselves, not only the four that would soon enter combat school, but the younger three too.
So they were only mildly surprised with your answer.
"I want to become a hero!" You told the two of them.
They looked at each other and Jacques laughed nervously. "I might have told him the tales of my family from the past."
"Jaune dear", continued her mother, "to be a hero is to live a dangerous life. To always put yourself in danger for others, not expecting anything in return, sometimes even earning the scorn of people you try to save."
"I know", you said seriously surprising the two, "still, it's something I can do, so why not try it? I don't think it's wrong to want to help people."
A few moments passed, before you were hugged by both your parents. "Oh Jaune, our brave boy. We will make sure you can reach your dreams, but it will be a hard, grueling and demanding path. You might end up hating us for helping you, do you still want that?"
"I could never hate you two! Or my sisters! We're family, right? That's not what family does."
"Of course, you're right Jaune. Well then, we will train you. Are you prepared?"
"Yes! I'm gonna be an ally of justice!"
(+3 Martial)
~~O~~
~ Learning ~
Your general education went swinmingly. Either because you had more patience or a better work ethic, but it was easier for you to sit around and read and learn about the world. You can't be called a prodigy, but you are hard working and make sure to pay attention to what is being taught.
"Very good Jaune", said Olivia while 'teaching you', or rather helping your father teach you, "you earned a gold star!"
"Really?" You ask with good cheer, "what do I get when I ear a lot of them?"
"You earn a platinum star."
"Oh... okay then!"
(+2 Learning)
~~O~~
~ Piety ~
This time you are training the aura conditioning techniques your parents taught you, and you can feel your 'od', your aura slowly and surely grow in leaps and bounds. Small scrapes are healed almost instantly, you can fall from high heights and not get injured and knives bounce off your skin, even if the pain of the cut remains.
"His aura is that of a junior preparatory combat school student", said your mother to your father one of those days.
"Gods, he's only six Scathach. How come his aura can grow so quickly?"
"I don't know Jacques, and that makes me both proud and scared at the same time. On one hand he will be very strong in the future, on the other someone displaying such potential will be a target in the future for unsavory types."
"I know what you mean, but that's why we are training him. To make sure he will be safe in the future."
"It's just, I know he will be great in the future but I can't shake the feeling that his life will be an unhappy one."
"Then we stay with him for as long as we can, and give him as much happiness as possible so he have good memories if the worst comes to worst."
(+4 Piety)
~~O~~
While you focused on certain aspects of your education, that didn't meant you ignored the rest, they were simply more muted compared with the rest. Still some progress was made even if it was a slow year overall.
(+1 Diplomacy, +2 Stewardship, +1 Intrigue)
~~O~~
Magecraft training proceed at a good pace since you effectively train twice in the day, and know the mistakes of dream you do, making sure not to repeat them. The only discipline that still eludes you is Reinforcement. You figured out who to infuse things with aura now, and they act more or less like the Reinforcement in the dreams, which you call Reinforcement Infusion, and you still try the normal aura reinforcement of the awaken world which you call Reinforcement Protection. It's one more thing to train, not to count the combination of the two of them, but you percevere hoping to get it right.
Progress is made, but nothing that could be considered impressive. You think more time needs to be spent on the spells to make them trully better though. Not much luck on alteration though, both on the awaken world and the dream world.
(Reinforcement spells improved! Structural Analysis Improved! Projection Improved!)
~~O~~
"Alright Jaune, you block like this and you counter like so." Said your father while showing the motions.
It wasn't like you didn't try your best, or that your motions were wrong or that he was teaching badly. It was simply that the training weapons in your hand didn't felt comfortable, like how you can wear a set of clothes or another, but you have your outfit that you like and feel comfortable wearing every day.
"Come on Jaune, you can do better."
Still you persevere. After all your father is teaching you, something that the old man had to be begged to do, and lately he's so sick he can barely move anymore.
"Good work Jaune! Your footwork is good enough for now, but try to keep both sword and shield up. Don't want to create bad habits, do we?"
You nod, and go back to training. After all later your father promised to treat you to spaghetti, and his is quite good.
(+1 Martial)
~~O~~
"Shirou, what is your dream for the future?" Asked the old man to you while looking at the moon. It was a full moon and you two were sitting outside.
"I don't know to be honest", you reply in the dream, and you have to agree with dream you. "What about you? Do you have a dream for the future?"
He let out a chuckle before shaking his head. "I'm too old to have a 'dream for the future' anymore. But when I was your age, I wanted to be a hero of justice."
"Really?" Dream you asks excited, "then why didn't you become one?"
"I committed too many mistakes along the way", he said with a sad smile, "I lost so much, so many people, in the end I lost myself. I realized that my ideal was foolish and could never be achieved. When I realized myself, I couldn't reach my dream anymore and I didn't want to look for it again because it was already too late."
You stared at the old man for a while before looking back at the moon. "You're a dummy, but it can't be helped. If you're too old to become an ally of justice, then I will become one myself in your place."
The old man looked surprised at your words, before smiling himself. "That would be nice."
That would be the last night you saw the old man, your father, in the dream world.
~~O~~
You were still a bit sad at never seeing your father in the dream world again, and you asked your parents in the awaken world what it meant when someone goes to 'heaven'. They taught you that day of life and death, and you finally understood what that very first dream you had so many years ago that you can still remember to this day, and the fact that the old man, your father Kiritsugu, was dead and would never return.
You were still thinking on that when your Emeralda asked you to go play with her on the backyard. You shook your sadness and put on a smile for your sister's sake, and went to play with her. She didn't need to bother with your dream self since you were there for her, after all.
As you two played, for a while, the ground shook and from it a creature that vaguely looked like an animal arose. It had pitch black fur, bones protruding around it's back along a white bone mask. Even at a such young age you knew what it was.
Grimm.
Mini Turn Event!
AN: Welcome to your first E-rank luck event!