The True Essence of the Vision Swordsmanship
Aura. The supernatural power used by knights. Even talented squires required a considerable amount of time to comprehend it. After all, it was a force that didn’t exist inside the human body to begin with. Generating it through nothing but breathing, then sensing it, was an utterly absurd demand. Humans couldn’t even feel the blood flowing through their own veins, let alone something like this. If one somehow succeeded in sensing the existence of Aura, the next step was to freely manipulate it at will. That was as difficult as deliberately controlling one’s own heartbeat or redirecting the flow of blood. Only after overcoming all these hurdles did a squire finally become an Aura User.
Actually, even becoming an Aura User is ridiculously hard…
The breathing technique required to generate Aura, the talent to sense and move it, and an environment where one could train for weeks or even months without any other responsibilities. Acquiring all of that wasn’t easy at all. It was no wonder that even after searching through every knight in the family, the number of Aura Experts barely reached the single digits.
And yet here I was—someone who had only just stepped into the realm of Aura—already standing at the Expert stage.
It’s completely insane.
If the Count hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes and had only heard about it from others, he never would have believed it. He only accepted the truth because I was his son and he had watched me ascend to the Expert realm himself.
“Looking at you now, it seems I have nothing to teach you about Aura.”
The Count gazed down at me as he spoke. Indeed, there was nothing he could advise a genius who had managed to transfer Aura outside his body on the very first day. My total Aura volume was still a little lacking, but that was merely a matter of time.
Deciding to set the topic of Aura aside, the Count took down a wooden sword that hung on the wall.
“Then I shall teach you swordsmanship.”
“Oh! Finally!”
The family’s secret sword arts. At the mention of learning them, I stared at the Count with eyes full of anticipation.
Feeling my gaze, he grinned and swung the sword in an instant. A rush of wind pressure blasted forward, swallowing my vision.
I blinked, still processing what I had seen, when the Count’s voice snapped me back to attention.
“—And that concludes the demonstration.”
Having displayed every secret technique never revealed to anyone outside the Meyer family’s direct bloodline, the Count sheathed his sword and looked at me.
“Well? Can you replicate it?”
“…I can replicate it.”
I picked up the wooden sword beside me and copied the secret techniques the Count had shown, move for move. One upward flick that scraped the ground. One leaping overhead strike that slammed downward. A seemingly meaningless thrust and slash.
“What kind of secret swordsmanship is this?”
By definition, a secret technique should be a finishing move capable of defeating an enemy in one strike, an unavoidable attack that works on first sight, or some minute manipulation of fingers and toes. But nothing the Count had shown fit any of those categories.
It’s not even the kind of strongest sword art an elementary schooler would come up with…
There was no way attacks that ruined your own posture like that could ever work. Yet contrary to my thoughts, the Count grinned and revealed the true secret behind the vision arts.
“In truth, the outward appearance isn’t all that important. The most crucial element of the vision swordsmanship is the Aura manipulation method.”
“Aura manipulation method…?”
“Correct. It’s about infusing Aura into the sword techniques. I’ll show you.”
The Count sent me back a good distance and recreated the same movements from earlier. Unlike the wild, clumsy swings he had shown before, these Aura-infused vision techniques truly deserved to be called profound arts.
Earth Dragon Flash
The first form, which had looked like it was simply scooping up dirt, now flipped the very earth and fired soil at the enemy like cannonballs.
Lion’s Dance
The foolish technique of leaping forward and swinging the sword now carried the majestic dignity of the king of beasts, tearing enemies apart in an instant.
Nameless Slash
The nameless profound art displayed a horrifying power that could sever anything it touched.
Having unleashed three profound arts in rapid succession, the Count wiped away his sweat and looked at me.
“How about it? Can you replicate them?”
For some reason, the Count looked even larger than before as he asked. In that moment, I fell completely in love with the sword.
And so, five years passed since I first began learning it.
My morning routine was extremely simple. I usually trained with the Count. When he was away from the territory, I would spar with Sir Leon or swing my sword alone.
One thing I realized while learning Aura was that avoiding strength training simply because growth could plateau was foolish. This otherworld was a game-like fantasy, and true to that genre, it was filled with items that didn’t exist in reality. Among them, potions were my absolute favorite.
By destroying my muscles and then drinking a potion, I could trigger super-recovery.
“Nine hundred ninety-eight, nine hundred ninety-nine, one thousand…!”
After completing my daily thousand swings, I checked my heated body and immediately went looking for Sir Leon. With the Count away, autonomous training was over and it was time for our spar.
I left the direct-lineage training hall and headed to the drill ground, where I spotted Sir Leon instructing soldiers and knights.
“Sir Leon.”
“Ah, Young Master. You’ve arrived?”
Sir Leon, who had been diligently teaching the knights, immediately handed the session over to a senior knight the moment he heard my voice and approached me. We moved to my private training ground where no one else’s eyes could reach.
Once there, Sir Leon noticed the sweat stains on the floor and spoke.
“Have you finished your morning training?”
“Yes.”
“I see. I was just getting properly warmed up myself.”
Sir Leon drew his sword at once. He couldn’t point a real blade at the family’s direct heir, so it was still a wooden sword—but to someone of his caliber, even a wooden sword was a deadly weapon.
I gripped the wooden sword that now felt like an extension of my arm and faced him.
“Same rules as always.”
“No Aura—understood.”
The moment our conversation ended, our blades met. Sir Leon’s face always carried a smile when he received my attacks. I hated that smile. I wanted to shatter it and force him to reveal his true skill.
“Hup—!”
“Haha, Young Master. Too clumsy. Far too clumsy!”
I had never beaten Sir Leon. If I used Aura or the vision sword techniques it might be different, but both were sealed for this spar. Without Aura or secret arts, all that remained was my trained body and accumulated swordsmanship.
Naturally, there was no chance a boy who had trained for merely five years could defeat him. He was the head senior knight, leader of the Meyer Knight Order, and a genius who had honed his body and blade for decades.
“Thrust coming!”
At Sir Leon’s warning, a sharp wooden blade shot toward my throat. I knew how to counter a thrust. I had practiced it thousands upon thousands of times. The fruit of that effort shone through as I managed to deflect a strike whose tip was nearly invisible.
But that was the end of it. I couldn’t advance further. Before I knew it, his wooden sword had stopped right before my nose.
“I win again.”
The instant I parried and counterattacked, Sir Leon had used a counter to my counter. I knew the technique to counter that as well, but it wasn’t yet muscle memory, so I was a beat too slow. That was why I lost.
With clear regret on my face, I sheathed my sword and glared at him.
“…If I were just a little bigger, I would’ve won.”
“Perhaps you would have. But Young Master, remember this.”
The enemy will not wait for you.
“Assumptions like ‘if I were taller,’ ‘if I were stronger,’ or ‘if I had trained more’ are all meaningless.”
If the opponent is faster, predict their movements. If their strength is greater, defeat them with technique instead of power. If their technique is superior, prevent them from using it. The weak do not always lose to the strong. Above all, knights are those who train relentlessly to claim the position of the strong.
“The blood you shed on the battlefield decreases by the sweat you spill today. Continue to strive, Young Master.”
“…Yeah. I know.”
“—That said, you are by no means weak, Young Master. In fact, you’re quite strong.”
“Strong? When I’ve never beaten you once?”
Sir Leon burst into hearty laughter. After laughing loudly for a moment, he suddenly stopped and began stroking his chin.
“Hmm. Indeed, losing all the time could develop into a bad habit.”
Sir Leon looked down at me, his eyes sparkling. It was the expression he made whenever he was pondering something while watching me. I had privately named it “gay mode.”
Sir Leon in full gay mode asked me,
“Young Master, would you perhaps be interested in sparring with the other knights?”
Among knights, the topic of greatest interest was martial prowess. Who was stronger? Who fought better? How could one fight even better? And—in the Meyer family, once known as a sword clan, even the direct heir could not escape that scrutiny.
Just how strong is Young Master Kyle?
This question constantly circled among the knights. Stories about me only ever spread as rumors because no one had ever confirmed anything directly. Even when they asked Leon—the only knight who regularly interacted with me—he would simply grin and say one thing.
He is the future Sword Saint.
It was such an absurd claim that most knights assumed Leon was just flattering me to gain the Count’s favor. Of course, a few who knew Leon better refuted that, which only caused the curiosity about the extent of my talent and skill to grow with each passing day.
And finally—I revealed myself before them.
“This is Young Master Kyle. As you all know… he has come today to evaluate our knight order’s abilities.”
“…To evaluate our abilities?”
“He says he will spar with us directly.”
The knights immediately understood what Leon’s words implied. Kyle assessing the knight order also meant the knight order would finally be able to assess Kyle. They would at last discover just how brilliant the gem the Count and Leon had kept hidden really was.
The knights clenched and unclenched their fists in anticipation, glancing back and forth between Leon and me. Leon looked at them and grinned.
“Victor? Would you like to go first?”
“Yes sir! Understood!”
A fifteen-year-old apprentice knight thrust his hand into the air. He had lived as a squire dreaming of knighthood for seven years now. He had trained with the sword two years longer than me and was five years older. Among teenage boys, a five-year age gap was a massive wall. It was a physical difference that couldn’t be overcome without exceptional talent.
Victor, who had stepped forward, gripped his sword and stood before me.
“The rules are simple. Do not use Aura. Do not inflict serious injury on your opponent.”
“Got it.”
“Understood.”
Having heard the conditions, Victor was certain of his victory. No Aura? Then only trained bodies and swordsmanship remained. And this young master’s physique looked less than half his own. No matter how hard a ten-year-old trained, he was still just a child. As for surpassing him in swordsmanship—Victor shook his head at the very idea. He himself had trained for over seven years. There was no chance a ten-year-old young master had been swinging a sword since age three, so his experience was unquestionably inferior.
This is my chance. A chance to impress the seniors…
“Then—begin!”
At Leon’s command, Victor thrust his sword. A cheap move aimed at the opponent’s opening from the very start. It was the kind of surprise attack that would fell any beginner, so as the blade flew toward me, I showed no reaction at all.
As expected. How many real spars could this young master have experienced?
That was what Victor thought—right up until he realized he was staring at the sky.
“…Huh?”
BOOM!
The delayed impact of the world flipping upside down crashed over him. Without even understanding what had hit him, Victor fainted on the spot.
“Anyone else?”
Having incapacitated Victor in a single exchange, I twirled my wooden sword and stepped forward. At that sight, the eyes of countless knights began to shine simultaneously.