Ep.08 The Way to Grip the Sword
Maybe I'd been taking my own talents too lightly. "Whoa, this actually works?" How should I put it? Just looking at Reinhardt's sword made my body move on its own. I read the sword right in front of me and reproduced it perfectly with my body. Like mechanically stamping out Reinhardt as a textbook teaching aid.
"You bastard...! Dodge this too!!!"
The sword gripped in Reinhardt's hand slashed a single line through the air. A secret technique of the Sword Demon that couldn't be learned in the game.
Crazy old man. Isn't he getting too worked up?
He was probably holding back, but if it hit, I'd be bedridden for at least a week. No way was I lying down again so soon after finally recovering.
"This is fun. So much fun."
Heavenly Martial Body supports you.
I could see it. More than just seeing it—my body moved automatically. I can do it. I can too.
Parrying alone wouldn't satisfy me. Stealing as much as I could—that was the real secret to growth.
Dividing countless strikes into that single line and compressing them?
I'd grasped the theory. Of course, perfectly replicating it with my current body was impossible... but not entirely out of reach.
Whiiirrr!!!
Instead of aura, I channeled mana and slowly swung the sword. There was only one way for an imperfect me to block a perfect technique: aim for the exact endpoint of Reinhardt's swing.
Crrrrrack!!!
I heard my arm straining, but I ignored it and swung anyway. That's what all my daily training was for.
"Hup!"
With a short breath, I twisted my waist. The key was segmenting and compressing the strikes. I knocked Reinhardt's sword aside.
Kaboom!!!
A deafening roar hit, along with pain like my arm was ripping off.
"Ah, damn..."
Amid the thick cloud of dust, Reinhardt's short mutter rang out. Had he finally realized what he'd done to a mere student? Well, unlike his worries, I wasn't badly hurt—but I couldn't miss this chance.
"Ten minutes, right? I lasted that long?"
To heighten the drama, I wiped the blood from my mouth and stepped out of the dust. The grizzled old man with his fierce looks slowly revealed himself. Reinhardt's eyes went wide the moment he saw me.
"Pass.......... Passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Glad to hear it."
I stretched my sore body with a smile. It had been a bit risky, but the outcome was perfect.
"You deflected it. My sword."
"Well.... After clashing blades a few times with you, sir, I kinda got the hang of it."
"I heard you're in the magic department?"
"Yes. I'm a mage, for now."
In truth, neither magic nor sword could fully define me. I'd chosen magic only because of the Vergilius family's circle meditation method and Lilia's existence.
"Forget that crap and learn the sword."
"I'll learn swordsmanship too."
"Hey now. You can only pick one. I don't know how great your magic is, but it can't compare to your sword talent."
Reinhardt's eyes gleamed.
"Why not drop out of the academy right now? Follow me and learn the sword."
"Ah."
Ah, that was unexpected. Did I have to drop out too?
"I want to graduate from the academy."
"Listen to me! We can go file the withdrawal papers together right—"
As Reinhardt grabbed my wrist to drag me off,
"Cut the nonsense, Reinhardt."
"...How'd the old witch know to show up?"
The door to the training room swung open, and a familiar figure entered my view.
"Chairman!"
"Dante. Thanks again."
"Pardon?"
Again? Was she talking about the Formless One?
"More importantly, Reinhardt. It looked like you were about to take my student."
"Yeah. He's got nothing left to learn here. Just train under me."
"Don't talk rubbish. As long as he wants to stay, I'm not letting him go."
A faint pink circle of light rose behind Hinissila. It was a warning from an 8th-circle archmage beyond mortal limits.
"Tch. Still can't control your temper in your old age."
"Who're you calling old?"
Reinhardt gripped his sword hilt, murder in his eyes. Surely this wasn't causing a rift between Hinissila and Reinhardt that didn't exist in the original story, right? Over me? No thanks. I had no desire to pit humanity's heroes against each other.
"I'll learn both sword and magic."
I spoke up to break the tense atmosphere. Ideally, mastering one to the Star Manifestation realm would be great, but realistically, that was near impossible. So I'd absorb whatever I could—sword, magic, holy arts, anything.
"It won't be easy."
"I know, Chairman."
"Hmph! Hinissila, is his magic really that good?"
"Good enough. He's one of the best in history."
"Tch... The world's gone mad, spawning freaks like this."
Hinissila and Reinhardt both lowered their guards. The mood lightened. It was about me from the start, so I could just do what I wanted.
"Fine, whatever. Either way, I'm taking him as my disciple. I can just stay at the academy."
"Huh? I'm the chairman—who said you could?"
"There aren't many like me, you know? I can teach basic swordsmanship to the average kids."
With the Sword Saint's whereabouts unknown, Reinhardt was arguably the empire's top swordsman. Him teaching at the academy? No reason to refuse. Other academies would beg for it.
"...True. Fine. But repair costs come out of your salary."
"Do what you want with that salary. I don't even want your money."
"Unpaid? Welcome aboard, Professor Reinhardt."
*******
Becoming Reinhardt's disciple didn't change much. If anything, it just added sword training after physical conditioning.
"Like this?"
I swung the wooden sword along the prescribed path. Perfectly accurate, without a millimeter of error. Even I could see it was the ideal sword motion.
"Incredible... So this is talent?"
"Pardon?"
"Swinging a sword precisely is hard even after ten years of practice."
Humans swing swords. Effort improves it, but it only approaches perfection—never reaches it.
"You move like it's drawn in a book."
"I did exactly as you showed."
"That's what's weird. Can you do this too?"
Reinhardt demonstrated the technique from our earlier bout. The strikes were divided into even more fragments, compressed at higher density. This must be its true form.
"This one's tough."
"Definitely."
No matter my talent, splitting it that finely wasn't easy. But.
"What the...?"
Since I'd seen and understood it once before, I could imitate it closer to the original now. Plus, my recent personal training with Reinhardt had honed my swing.
Whoooosh.
The sword split into ten motions, then compressed into one swing. Even divided, it looked like a single fluid move. This was the secret technique's foundation.
"You can even mimic this?"
"I saw it once before. Not perfect, but I can imitate it."
"Ha, haha... What a monster."
Reinhardt laughed in disbelief and took the wooden sword from my hand.
"At this pace, no need for basics."
It had only been two days since I started learning the sword. In that short time, I'd mastered what Reinhardt called the fundamentals. Learning by seeing once and internalizing it made further basics pointless.
"Then I'll teach you aura cultivation properly."
"Ah."
Finally. Time to learn aura, the hallmark of true warriors.
I've been subbing mana for it—exhausting.
Normally, no one uses mana and aura together. Why? Operating two energies in one body is insanely hard.
But I could.
"Sit."
"Yes."
I sat cross-legged.
Crackle.
Reinhardt's rough palm pressed against my back. Years of sword grip had callused it thick.
"Unlike the Sword Saint, I'm crude."
Crude, but honest. If the Sword Saint was flashy and sharp, the Sword Demon was just fast and strong.
Hummm.
Reinhardt's aura flowed in slowly. It clashed with my internal mana, but no matter. My torrent circles thrived on conflict.
Carve the aura path beside the heart's mana circle.
A separate path from the mana circuits.
"Feel it. Engrave it. This is my path—and now yours too."
The moment Reinhardt's path etched into my body, the game's ideal of wielding sword and magic together became reality. The moment a magic swordsman was born at the academy.