Chapter 15. Sword and Magic

[Seraphim's POV.]

Next day after my 5th birthday I practiced swinging a real sword by cutting at stalagmite-like ice statues I made.

Paul watched me from the side, as well as Zenith.

Even if I got hurt, there was always healing magic; perhaps another important reason why Paul allowed me to play with a real sword a bit, even though Zenith scolded him for that.

I remember that in the novel sword training was always just about sparring with a wooden sword, which is what I did with Paul so far, but I knew that practicing edge alignment was also very crucial for a swordsman.

Edge alignment is aligning the edge of the blade in line with the motion of the strike for the most optimal cut.

It doesn't matter how sharp a blade is or how strong you strike; if the blade is not at the same angle as your strike, the strike won't be very effective. If you fail your edge alignment during a real fight, the sword will not kill or KEAL (Keep Everyone Alive), but it will likely bounce off or even bend.

It was something that cannot be practiced just by swinging or sparring using a wooden sword, only by slashing things like water bottles or pool noodles, or real flesh.

Unfortunately, there were no pool noodles, water bottles or even tatami mats in this world.

That's why I chose ice as a target for practice. I made it rather soft and not too cold, so it would just shatter instead of rebounding my sword.

It was not an ideal training target in regards to giving me feedback on my edge alignment, but it was rather safe to strike and better than most of my other currently available options like wood.

It was a very pleasant feeling to slash apart ice with a real steel sword. It was fun.

Before this I would only practice sword strikes while striking the air or the wooden dummy with a sword-shaped object, or by having Paul or Lilia as my sparring opponent while I tried to put what I learned into practice.

In this world, sword techniques are highly viewed.

Even in books heroes are primarily seen using swords as weapons.

In contrast, magicians mostly provide magical support from the backline.

There are warriors who also use axes and maces, but these people belong to the minority.

Spears are not used.

The reason for this is because of Sperds.

Spears are seens as weapons of the evil demons, it's a common belief.

Because of such a background, swords are the main armament of war here more so than were back on Earth.

I found it a bit interesting.

It basically meant that people here don't use polearms, which are often objectively superior weapons in most situations when no magical elements are involved, and especially in war, simply because of superstitions.

Swords are very popular in this world, but not necessarily because they are better than other weapons.

However, even though I was aware of this, it didn't make me pick up a spear.

There were many reasons.

Firstly, this world was filled with swords, sword techniques and expert swordsmen who could be my teachers, but there was a great lack of spears and spear techniques.

Even if a spear or a halberd somehow turned out to be a superior weapon, I would need to develop most of the techniques for it myself and would have no teacher until I meet Ruijerd.

Swordsmanship should be my foundation no matter what.

Secondly, I was constantly thinking on how I can mix magic with close combat, and a two-handed polearm didn't seem like a suitable weapon so far.

A sword seemed much better.

A sword could be used with both hands, but it could also be used with a single hand, not so much the spear.

Because a staff only increases magical 'stamina', I don't need to use it with my abnormally huge mana reserves during crucial and intensive fights. It could be useful during sieges, but I would never run out of mana in a one on one fight.

Basically, there was no point in me being like Gandalf, holding a sword in one hand and a staff in the other, which would be very cumbersome and ineffective.

Instead, I can have the option to free one of my hands for better spellcasting.

Depending on the kind of sword I pick up, I can use a sword in my main hand, which I can switch to using two-handed or one-handed as needed, or put aside altogether.

I had a wish to blend the use of magic and the sword into one, ideally becoming a magic swordsman, but I quickly realized that it was practically almost impossible for the current me.

Because of the rules of this world, the difficulty of combining the two for the best effect was very high.

It is possible to use both, being a hybrid of a swordsman and a mage, but merging magic and swordsmanship into one was another matter altogether.

First come the limitations and rules of the magic system.

Basically, Incantation-style magic is all about preparing a spell and then releasing it.

Even when casting silently, it's still the same.

It has a very rigid system.

There are minor exceptions, but for practical attack magic it's almost always like this: you prepare a spell, then release it.

Like loading a gun, then shooting out a bullet.

By casting a spell silently you can make the gun bigger and increase the speed of a bullet. You can change the shape of the bullet as well, even make it rotate and fill it with magma…

But you can't change the core way of how it works: preparation and release.

You cannot make a single-use gun shoot out bullets continuously without ever reloading or shooting out a spear-like bullet that extends into infinity. Once a bullet leaves the barrel, it's let loose and you need a new single-use gun.

In other words, a spell is a single-use only, then you need to re-cast a new one.

Plus, a projectile is only shot out after it receives a final shape, so continuously channeling a magic attack is often not possible.

You cannot make the bullet bend its trajectory using your mind after it leaves the barrel either.

For example, Fireball is only about preparing a fireball and then shooting it out. Preparation and release.

A spell can be modified to an extent, but only within certain boundaries.

A Fireball cannot be somehow combined with a sword or give a flamethrower-like effect of continuous release, but creating candle-like flame or heating up your sword as long as the fire does not leave your hand is possible.

It has to be mentioned that new spell-creation is an uncertain field.

In this world it is nearly impossible to simply shape mana to create new legitimate spells. Something like the Fireball was not just made up by someone; it is much more complicated than that.

From what I understood from the novel and from Roxy's words, Incantation magic is the Elves' spirit magic adapted for human use. Casting a spell is akin to invoking a contract with a spirit; it's a work of nature/GOD.

To create a completely new spell with no foundation seems to require power and knowledge of magic basically on the level of a God. It isn't something that can be overcome with imagination; it isn't Harry Potter.

This should be the reason why Rudeus through two lifetimes and Orsted through tens of thousands of years of regressing didn't create a single true new spell. Creating new spells in the novel only seemed possible through the use of Magic Circles.

Even if magic has limitless potential, the system of Incantations itself and Magicians do have limits and rules.

I tried various things, but I can only work within the limits of the magic system so far.

Among other things, a wind magic spell like Wind Slice can't be used to increase the sharpness of a weapon or its speed. Its function is only to shoot out a wind blade, that's it.

Preparation and release.

The best that could be done is using Wind magic to cause wind-pressure shockwaves that flung me in one direction.

I was also able to use a blast of wind to accelerate the speed of a single sword strike or a single move.

It was a jet-like propulsion, similar to Mana Burst from the Fate universe.

However, it required a minor preparation time and was limited to accelerating my body or a body part in a single direction without too much finesse.

It worked so far to increase my raw striking power, but I felt that the pure speed and bodily power of a swordsman might outrank it eventually, making it just a gimmick.

I tried releasing blasts of Wind magic from my feet for propulsion while running like in some anime, but it was impossible for me to release any magic from my feet directly.

When I tried to add a little Fire magic into the shockwaves for a better effect instead, as expected, this kind of shockwave only hurt myself.

In general, Incantation-school Magic is mostly just about casting and sending out spells. There are a few exceptions that can be channeled, but they are for the most part low-ranked or not very useful in combat.

Because of this principle, as well as the other limitations of the magic system, I greatly struggled in mixing magic with swordsmanship in a way that they complement each other.

The most common and reasonable way to mix the two in this world is using one or the other when the situation calls for it, having great versitility. Or using magic for attack and the sword for defense.

Like Moore or the first Water God.

That alone was very good, but of course not ideal.

Knowing the limitations, I kept experimenting.

In particular, some of my moves like Zero Gravity Field or High Gravity Field were different. I could use these at the same time while wielding a sword, supplementing my swordsmanship skills by weakening my enemy using magic.

I could also use Voice Magic to a certain degree.

So far I only succeeded in including a shockwave into my shout, like for traditional Howling Magic. It was another trick that I could use whilst wielding my sword.

There was also the self Healing Magic which was a nice advantage.

But what remained true was that a sword seemed to be the best weapon for me so far.

My main hand would hold a sword, while my off-hand would be empty, ready to cast magic, or alternatively holding a magic tool like a gun or a Magic Stone-equipped shield in the future.

That's how I imagined myself at one point.

If my physical body and Battle Aura were not good enough, then I would supplement it with a magical armor suit like Rudeus.

For now, I continued experimenting with magic and kept improving my swordsmanship.

But apart from just being able to skilfully swing the sword, the key to becoming a strong swordsman was of course the ability to use Battle Aura.

Without Battle Aura a person can only be an ordinary sword-wielding human, like a swordsman from Earth.

I remembered it from the original show.

By using Battle Aura to coat your body, a swordsman can enhance his body's strength, speed, reflexes, defense and other aspects. He can even coat your sword in it and slash boulders in half, like Paul did in the past.

Paul himself knew almost nothing about it though. He only knew that as you keep training hard, you grow stronger and one day you'll be able to do awesome things, as long as you have some talent for the sword.

That was basically it. He couldn't explain it.

He was able to achieve superhuman feats, but it came naturally to him.

As I questioned him about it, for him it was simply exercising his strength.

Lilia, as someone who had not even reached the level to consciously manifest Battle Aura like Paul, similarly only knew the basics and wasn't overly knowledgeable in the matter.

Fortunately, thanks to reading the novel I knew a bit of the theory behind the power of the swordsmen.

By continuously training the body, a warrior at one point intuitively awakens Battle Aura, as long as they had a talent for it.

In the novel Badigadi said something like this: "Battle Aura is basically mana that's spread through the body and compressed hard against it."

But even though I knew this, it didn't help.

I tried to compress mana against my body in various ways ever since I was an infant, but it never did anything.

In the original Rudeus had also tried doing it after the Demon King's explanation and failed.

Badigadi then commented that he had no talent for Battle Aura.

And in the original Rudeus did indeed not have talent for manifesting Battle Aura. Because of this, no matter how hard he trained his body or his swordsmanship skills, he could never surpass the Intermediate rank; his limit was being an athletic and skilled mortal swordsman.

However, I didn't feel depressed because of my failure.

It didn't yet mean that I was also hopeless.

After thinking things through, I felt that just trying to compress mana against your body… simply had no chance of working out anyway!

And it's because mana itself has no inherent attribute, as Roxy had once told me. It does nothing, unless manipulated properly.

On one hand, it's a bit silly to expect that simply applying mana to your body will suddenly make you physically stronger.

It's like applying the same mana to your body and expecting that it would get healed instead.

No. You need a special type of 'mana' for it - mana that comes from a healing spell.

Similarly, even though Badigadi said that Battle Aura is mana that's compressed against the body and makes it stronger, it doesn't mean that compressing mana against your skin would make you a Battle Aura user.

You probably need a special type of mana for it, mana with a special attribute.

And this special mana should be what's commonly called 'Battle Aura'.

In other words, Badigadi should not be lying.

The use of Battle Aura is to compress it against your body, but it is not how you gain it.

It was the difference between manifesting and developing Battle Aura.

And so far the only known way to develop Battle Aura was through physical training.

Only once someone builds-up Battle Aura, can they use it. That's when Badigadi's tip could be used.

If magicians could simply apply mana to their bodies to become physically stronger and faster, what would be the point of strength training and why none of them can do it?

Also why was the Demon God Laplace unable to use Battle Aura despite his top-tier talent in magic and mana control that had no equal?

Strength training builds up and strengthens Battle Aura, it should be like this.

Whilst Battle Aura is a special type of 'mana' or 'magic power' that you need to have talent to develop and use.

I used this logic and I was about 80% sure I was correct.

The details were hazy in my mind, but I could somewhat recall that Badigadi should have also mentioned that Battle Aura is earned from physical training. He was also flabbergasted as to why Rudeus trained his mortal body without utilizing Battle Aura, even though he was such a genius and powerhouse, which means you probably need to train physical with Battle Aura active to strenghten it.

But as for whether I had talent for Battle Aura or not, I simply couldn't know.

It's said that out of 100 people, about 5 can take up combat.

It should mean that about 5% of the population would have some kind of talent for developing Battle Aura to a degree.

5% isn't a huge percentage, but I still nurtured a seed of hope in my heart.

My parents are both rare talents with rather good genes. They are one among hundreds or thousands.

Paul was said to be very talented while young, but Zenith's sister in the novel was also a knight of a certain rank, so it isn't like Zenith's side of the family has no swordsmanship talent at all.

I estimate that there should be at least a 50/50 chance that I inherited some kind of swordsmanship talent.

At least I hoped so.

In truth, the situation was not very optimistic that I could become a God of the Sword. Even if I had talent for Battle Aura, there was a good chance it was rather average, maybe above average.

I had no choice but to do what I can and see where it gets me.

Perhaps by training from a young age I could develop my potential further.

If I end up disappointed, then so be it. I'll take magic and aim to reach the peak with that alone.

But whoever put me in this world…

If I was also nerfed to have no talent for Battle Aura like Rudeus, then it would just be too boring.

…

In this world, there are 3 mainstream swordsmanship styles: Sword-God Style, Water-God Style and North-God Style.

- Sword God style is focused on offense and on overwhelming the opponent with superior speed and skill.

It's about making the first move and slaying the enemy with the first strike, about being faster and stronger.

If you fail in landing the first strike, continue attacking until you do.

It's a style most often used by Adventurer, as offense is obviously the basis behind killing monsters.

- The second style is the defensive Water-God style.

It contains many parrying techniques and counters.

You rarely take initiative and instead respond to your opponent's first attack, countering his offense and delivering him a killing blow this way.

When you reach the Saint rank, you can counter any kind of attack, including magic and projectiles.

It's a popular style for people like the palace knights, bodyguards or nobles, where the goal is to protect someone or yourself.

It was a style primarily used by Lilia as a guardsmaid.

- The third one is the North-God style.

Rather than a sword style, it could be viewed more as a fighting philosophy.

It isn't limited to only swords and doesn't contain special sword techniques.

It's all about adapting to the situation and your surroundings, using tricks and feints to win the fight using any means necessary.

The North-God style training also included some mundane methods of handling wounds and being able to battle when afflicted with disabilities. Therefore, it is popular among mercenaries and adventurers.

For me, I remember that the North God style had a special technique that allowed you to re-distribute Battle Aura according to your needs. For example, you could increase your speed at the cost of your strength, if you needed to.

Altogether, these 3 styles are called the 3 Major Styles, and there are people in this world who use all 3 styles.

However, a swordsman who hopes to become an expert in every style and swing the sword until death is extremely rare.

Most accomplished swordsmen have a speciality and only master a single style in their life while perhaps only picking up the most useful things from the other styles.

If you want to quickly become strong in the beginning, it is common to just start off with the strong points of each style.

Paul primarily uses the Sword-God style, but he's also capable of using the Water-God and the North-God style.

Just to add on, accomplishments in the three swordsmanship styles are also ranked, the same as for the magic users.

The ranks are: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor and God.

You usually call a swordsman a 'Water-King' or a 'Water-Saint' for the Water God Style. Or a 'Sword-King' and a 'Sword-Saint' for the Sword-God Style.

For a magician, you need to add that it's ranked. For example: a 'Water Saint-ranked Magician', which is Roxy's title.

Paul held the Advanced rank in all three sword styles, which is quite rare.

…

Paul was teaching me only two swordsmanship styles: the Sword-God style and the Water-God style.

He was against teaching me the North God style.

I feel it was because he first wanted me to train with the orthodox styles to develop my techniques and not pick up bad habits from the North God Style.

After all, the North God style was more of a free-style fighting method than a swordsmanship style.

It didn't question him about it.

I felt it made sense. Plus, I wasn't in need of learning the North God style just yet.

After I've been striking the soft ice statues with my short steel sword for a while, Paul laughed. "With that little sword you look like a Hobbit!"

"..." I ignored him as I looked at the mass of shattered ice in front of me.

"Okay, that's enough playing. Pick up the wooden sword," he then told me. "And attack me, like usual."

I felt that sparring with someone who was twice my size wasn't the best training method, but I didn't complain.

"Yes!"

***

***

***

(AN: A rather long rant on the magic system here and the limitations. It's to reply to the people who comment that the MC has a limited mindset because he doesn't simply create new spells. Yes, I have a limit on my imagination, but we also have to work with the limitations of the magic system here and the rules of the world; that's why it isn't possible to simply create a new spell without solid reasons behind it. (Incantation) Magic in this world has certain rules. And yes, Magic might be omnipotent (especially when basing it on Magic Circles), but realizing its potential is not easy.)

(I'm still open to suggestions for realistic and logical modifications to existing spells that could be useful and are in line with the world. But even the original author barely managed to make up any useful modified spells apart from the gun-based Stone Cannon, so mind it's a bit hard.)

(Examples are: a Laser Beam - created from the Saint-rank fire spell Flashover. Or a waterjet Water Slice - a pressurized water blade with tiny grains of sand in it to create the sharpest blade that can cut through anything (google 'waterjet the sharpest blade'). These two have practical limitations, but are at least realistic and have good logic behind them. )

(PS: I did not include here all of the limitations of magic or all that the MC can do with magic or the sword, just some examples of it.)

(AN2: It's an extra/early release. The next chapter is planned for Friday as scheduled; it will be a long one.)

(NOTE: All this is just my personal interpretation of the magic system, so I admit there could be mistakes. I just try to explore what we know about magic using gathered information, logic and a bit of imagination. I could be wrong about things.)