After having used earth magic to create a hole underneath to crawl through, Sam walked along the outside of the wooden wall that protects his home village of Applewood. It wasn't exactly the most original name, but seeing as apples were the main crop of the village it made sense.

"I like that I can pretty much come and go as I please, but these people are way too relaxed. I'm almost six years old and I'm able to wander as I please. And it's not just me, I've seen so many kids doing the same thing."

Being commoners their education pretty much stopped after they learned to read and write, and basic arithmetic. Because of this there was a small school house where the children received this basic education after they turned six. Though the parents could choose to educate their children themselves, they only had to have them take a test to prove the child actually learned sufficiently. The rest of their education was essentially finding a master to teach them a skill.

For Sam since he reincarnated into this world already knowing how to read and write, and knew more math and science than anyone in the village he wasn't worried. In fact he had already taken the test and passed with a perfect score. Since Miss Kathy had told his parents about him going after books they took it upon themselves to teach him. Sam found their efforts a bit condescending, but it wasn't their fault since he knew it would draw far too much attention if he could suddenly read and write perfectly. What annoyed him the most was that his handwriting was still the same, yet it looked like it fit with his physical age.

As for finding a master, his parents were a bit at a loss since they had no idea which energy he would be able to use. Considering he could do both and had little information about aura, Sam tried to get his father to teach him about it. John however felt it pointless to teach him aura yet, but instead had been teaching him swordsmanship. Because of the world he came from, learning swordsmanship was relatively new to him. Though they did teach basic swordsmanship as part of his former military training, Sam could count on one hand how many times he used it since training.

"I mean, yeah I can handle myself, but aren't they worried about the safety of the other kids? Are there no pedophiles in this world? And what about the wild beasts in the forest? My parents were literally hired to protect this village from them."

Applewood village was a small village in the western portion of the Marris Kingdom. Eight years ago the local lord put out a request for adventurers to come to Applewood and protect it from the monsters and magic beasts in the area. The village was new, with promise of big growth. Since the nearby mountains were known for their rare and powerful magic beasts and monsters, the offer included weekly pay on top of what they would earn from selling their kills, and there would be no competition from other adventurers. For the six people in the at the time B ranked party it was an easy decision.

John and Sarah's party didn't have a name, for what reason Sam didn't know. Even his small team in his past life had a name, the Gate Breakers, as they were the ones that opened up every world for invasion. Regardless, the base pay was too low for even a B ranked party, but the other benefits had the potential to drive the pay well over what an A rank party would be offered. On top of everything, even their housing was included. Almost two years later Sarah was pregnant with Sam, and they decided that Applewood would be their home. The rest of the party members agreed, and settled down themselves. The village had grown a great deal since they arrived, but not nearly as much as they were led to believe it would. The only positive for them was that there was still no Adventurer Guild lodge, which also meant no competition when it came to hunting beasts.

He stopped at one of the edges of the orchard, right under one of the trees. With a flick of his wrist sent a small wind blade up and cut one of the apples free, and it fell right into his hands.

"Well it works out for me I guess. I mean, it would be so difficult to train in secret if Miss Kathy was just hovering around watching me like a hawk."

He then took a bite of the apple and continued on his way to train. In the nearly three years since Sam established his first circle he had reached the second circle, and the second level of his aura which formed a second core. Unlike with establishing a second circle, growing his aura was much more difficult.

For starters he couldn't absorb aura like he did mana. Aura was something the body produced naturally, and now with his cores it just produced there. Without any books to guide him, Sam had to experiment with his aura to learn about it. This meant when his second core formed suddenly he was completely amazed and confused.

Thankfully it's usage was very similar to the internal energy from his previous world, he just couldn't meditate and circulate the Aura through his body to grow his strength. At this point he had come to the conclusion that it was more like a muscle in that he had to actually use it to grow stronger. He could notice a gradual increase in his core's capacity and strength, but it was obvious when he reached the next level. Once at the second level not only was there a sudden spike in his power, but his core now had a much smaller second core orbiting it.

Sam finally arrived at his training spot and took position behind a fallen tree as he used his aura to sharpen his senses. Doing this he could detect anything in a twenty foot radius. It didn't consume a great deal of aura, but considering it was over a period of time it did provide beneficial training for his core.

It wasn't that he really wanted to train and get stronger, but he felt he didn't have much of a choice. Unlike his previous world, the law of the jungle strongly applied here. With the growth and development of his previous world, one didn't necessarily need to be strong to survive. It was a world where who you knew and who you were could be just as, if not more important. Even though he suspected that to a degree applied in this world, being powerful was more important here than there. The existence of adventurers like his parents were proof of this. Nearly every day his parents came home with fresh meat from a monster or magic beast they killed that day on patrol. If not for them those beasts would be able to pick off nearly anyone in the village, with very few of the villagers being strong enough to even try and fight back.

However if this was like his old world, he could have had access to the new world of magic engineering. Thanks to his mothers book, he had come to understand that in this world magic tools had taken the place of technology. Combined with his knowledge of engineering in his previous life he was confident that he could take things to a whole new level for this world.

The problem he faced though was his commoner status. He was almost six years old and his formal education was already complete. Sam didn't care about his status, yes he was confident that the nobles received a much more thorough education, but he was smart enough that he was confident that he could teach himself, all he needed was reference material. Then came the next problem. In this small village there wasn't even a bookstore or library. In fact there were few luxury items at all. The closest thing they had to luxury items were the confectionery treats from the village bakery, and the tavern. There was a merchant caravan that came every month that brought new and unique items, but the only books they ever had were novels of the romance and adventure genres.

No, if Sam were to broaden his horizons of this world he would need to leave for a bigger city. And to do that he would need money, and the easiest way he could see to earn money would be to become an adventurer himself. And to be successful enough at that he needed to get stronger, leading him right back where he was now, training.

After a few minutes he sensed something with his aura, a few small beasts had entered his range. He could have used mana to enhance his senses as well, but it wasn't as efficient. It costs more mana to reach the same results of enhancement as aura. He waited a few more seconds to allow the beasts to get closer before switching to mana and preparing his spell.

A squirrel the size of a house cat jumped out from another nearby tree, heading straight for one of the apple trees. However it was knocked down mid air by a golf ball sized fireball before it could even get close to the apples. The squirrel hit the ground before quickly scurrying away as fast as it could.

Sam repeated this for the next hour using different elemental spells. He used the pests that normally would eat the apples from the trees to aid in controlling the strength of his spells as well as target practice. Since gaining better control of his mana output he didn't kill any of the beasts, only hitting them hard enough to scare them off. It wasn't that he was against killing them, he just didn't want to answer the questions that would arise if he brought them home, and hated the idea of killing an animal only to throw the meat away.

"You'd think they would have learned not to come here by now. Guess they really are stupid," Sam thought out loud as he got up from his position.

He walked up to one of the trees and knocked down another apple for a snack before walking off to his next step in his training regiment. Considering his training was saving more apples than he took, he considered the one or two apples a day more like payment for a job well done.

Most of his past life was spent at war away from earth. As a result of this most of their food was heavily processed to last the long journey to them, and the fresh foods only lasted maybe a week after their supplies were replenished. Fresh fruits especially became a favorite of his, and in the early part of his career he would often trade with other soldiers for their portions. As he racked up achievements he would sometimes be given extra portions from the officers as a sort of congratulations. It might have seemed like a cheap way to congratulate someone, most others would have requested alcohol or extra leave at one of the colony outposts, but for him it was enough.

Sam left the orchard and continued a bit deeper into the woods with a wooden sword slid through his belt. The sword was a gift from his father after he began teaching him. It put Sam somewhat at ease to be armed, since he still felt uneasy around him, and often felt a mixture of fear and anger while they were sparring.

After a little bit he arrived at the lumber mill, and walked up to an old log with some notches cut in it. Even though all the lumber for the village went through here, because there wasn't any construction happening there wasn't anyone around. Looking at the log he took a deep breath as he drew his wooden sword and held it out in front of himself in the ready position. He then began channeling aura into it, giving it a faint blue glow with matching wisps that looked like blue smoke rising from it, before he began swinging it at the log.

Thwack thwack

He struck the log again and again, occasionally knocking chips off the log free. After nearly ten minutes of this Sam fell backward onto his butt before laying on his back.

"Curse this weak body. I still have aura to spare, but my body just can't keep up." Sam sighed. "I need help. Aura and Mana might both be similar to the internal energy from my past life, but they are still different. I'm confident that's the key. If I can learn aura better then maybe my body will be able to hold out longer." He then lifted his head and glared at the log. "Then I'd be able to cut you in half."

In his past life one of his close quarters combat instructors had demonstrated how effective internal energy could be used in combat, by using it on a pipe and cutting a roll of straw in half. It was a one time demonstration, but it always left a lasting impression. Even though he was a child again, he was still a man at heart, and what man wouldn't want to recreate something like that that they thought was so cool.

"The real problem is getting help. I'm confident my father could at least explain it properly. Despite being a commoner he seems to be rather intelligent, especially with combat. He's been able to teach in an easy to understand manner so far, so I can't imagine he would have much trouble teaching me how to use aura as well. But if this world is anything like my previous one, if it gets out that I can use both or even that I can use either at this age, it will definitely lead to problems."

After catching his breath he repeated this cycle of striking then resting for a few more times before calling it quits for the day, and walked back home.

It took almost an hour to walk back to his house. As he approached from the back he saw the laundry Miss Kathy had washed and hung out to dry near the side of the house. At this point, due to Sam leaving the house to train, Miss Kathy essentially was more of a housekeeper than the nanny she was hired as.

He walked past the oak tree in the backyard with a target with several holes in it attached. John didn't only teach Sam swordsmanship, he believed even if a man specialized in one weapon, he should also be competent in many others. To this end he had also taught archery, hand to hand combat, and how to handle several other weapons. Even though John could use multiple weapons, he was humble enough to turn to those more competent than himself from time to time.

Aside from John who wielded a sword and shield, their party included two mages, an archer, a spearman, and a heavy swordsman. Since the archer and spearman were more proficient than him, John had asked them to help teach Sam from time to time. For Sam this logic actually held a comfortable familiarity for him, as in his past life he was also trained in the operation of a multitude of weapons.

As he got closer to the house he could hear talking coming from inside. He couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like his parents were home. Sam looked up to the sky.

"Hmm, it seems to be way too early for them to be home yet. What's going on?" He asked himself.

Aside from the clock tower on the village government building, there was really no way for commoners to tell the time aside from roughly gaging the position of the sun. There were things similar to grandfather clocks, but they were an expensive item primarily only nobles could afford. Large pocket watches also existed, however they cost even more than the grandfather clocks, so they were only owned by the more high ranking of nobles.

Slowly he opened the back door, hoping to get a chance to hear what they were saying. Entering the kitchen he quietly moved closer.

"Of course, that won't be a problem at all," Kathy replied.

"What wouldn't be a problem?" Sam wondered "and why the hell am I sneaking into my own home? I could just ask and I'm sure they would tell me. I doubt it's some state secret."

"Sam?" John, looking into the kitchen from the main part of the house.

"Oh hey," he said with an awkward smile as he casually walked closer. "What are you doing home so early?"

John tousled his son's hair when he got close enough. It still made Sam uncomfortable, but he managed to not flinch this time.

"Your mother wasn't feeling well so we decided to call it a day early," he said, gesturing to his wife sitting in a chair beside Kathy.

"Well I'll be going now," Kathy announced as she stood up. "Bye Sam, I'll see you in a few days."

"Why a few days?" Sam asked.

"We stopped by the temple and it was suggested that I take some time off to rest. So we decided to give Miss Kathy tomorrow off too," Sarah replied.

"And to help take it easy, I'll be taking tomorrow off as well," John added.

"You two are a third of this village's main defense. How can you just take a day off so arbitrarily like that?" Sam wondered.

"And since we're having a day all to ourselves," Sarah paused for effect with a big smile on her face. "Why don't we go on a picnic."