Chapter 4: Swordsman

It's been a rollercoaster the past two months. I have made quite a few discoveries. First and most important I found the answer to how to make my spells fly forward, I figured it out by mistake but thinking back it's actually pretty obvious, how was I so dumb… So— Magic basically works like a gun, the physical form of the spell is the bullet, but just a bullet won't do anything, to make the bullet fly forward there has to be a force behind it, in a gun it's gunpowder and in magic it's mana, forcing a burst of mana towards the physical form of the spell allows it to gain momentum and hurl forward. That was really the only logical explanation I could think of. From this I finally understood why people needed incantations.

Incantations creates the spell without needing the user to focus on the imagery of the spell, which in terms free the mind of the mage to do whatever he or she want, and in casting a spell that would be to give the spell momentum using a burst of raw mana. With incantations the mage wouldn't have to focus on two things at once which makes the process much easier, at least that is the theory I came up with. Maybe no one actually tried using no incantations and pushing the spell at the same time, after all the textbook of magic never said anything about casting without incantations, it's a rare skill to even be able to do it in the first place.

Second thing I discovered from my 'training' sessions was that there's a cap or a limit you might say on the size of a spell, you can't just infinitely enlarge a fireball to the point where I basically turns into the sun. Not that I tried to do that with 'Fireball' I was scared of burning the mansion down, I did try it with 'Waterball' though, it stopped growing when it reached the size of a basketball, so I'd say there probably a limit on the size of a fireball as well. This can only be done within a certain time frame after casting the spell, any extra mana applied after would just not affect the spell at all, so the timing of enlarging the spell has to be accurate.

Changing the size of the spell would not affect any other aspect of the spell, it seems the change of size won't affect things like the acceleration and the weight of the spell. There wasn't really a trick to how to make the spell bigger, but the timing was important, if the timing was off it may just waste your mana.

Third, I now understand the importance of an activation, since I started using incantation less magic, fatigue piles up really quickly due of the need to multitask, it isn't really a problem now just because I don't have to fight anything, but I'm sure that if I was in an life or death situation using an incantation would be much safer to do.

Fourth and the last thing I found during the two whole months of grinding. Spells can be easily manipulated, for example, spell stacking, that's one of the skills I learned during this time. It's not really hard to understand, by spellstacking you can create effects which are unable to be produced with one singular spell, like mist or steam. 

There's lots of things on my mind right now. I have been looking through the textbook hoping to find something related to spell stacking three times, but up till now I have had no luck. I'm sure triple stacking can be used but I just can't get a grasp on how to do it.

Lots of things can be done now, but still, fundamentals are important. I should just focus on the basics for now, I need to build up my magical potential before I start going off into the world of theories and experiments.

I have really only three goals in mind now, perfecting silent casting, maxing out my mana pool and learning up to calamity level spells. The last one would take some time, so I would start off with it, but first, I need to break through my first barrier stopping me.

Elementary magic.

Up till now, I haven't even tried using elementary level magic yet. It shouldn't be hard, right? It's only elementary level, my mana reserves now should be more than enough to cast a hundred elementary spells.

I flipped the textbook over, to page 67, 'Elementary level: Hydro Break…'

"Shatter the walls holding thy in, may the divine water cleanse this dim place, Water— Hydro Break." I chant.

I feel a strong wave of energy, mana, coarse through my body, from my heart to my legs to my arms. The mana flowing now was way stronger than any spell I casted before, it was like a pressured forceful push instead of the normal gentle push. I feel a strong force expelled from my hand, mana gathers in front of my palm, creating an orb of water, the water throbbed around as it got larger and larger. 

After a few seconds, the size of the orb stopped increasing, it was around the size of my body now. 

//

"My, my, Gryne really likes that book, huh?" Mother said with a small smile on her face, she glanced at me through the slit of the half closed door, I realised that she was looking at me from the aura she was exerting. 

I carried the textbook around everywhere around the house, surprisingly both my parents and the maids around the house didn't seem to be bothered at all, maybe the younger maids did at the start but they probably got used to the view. I kept the textbook tucked under my armpits at all times, but I made sure not to read it in front of anyone, at least not read it out loud in front of anyone. Not that I wanted to keep all this a secret but I was kind of scared that this is a bad omen or something— I don't want to be executed. Back in the Old'n times in the other world, people burn the ones they consider witches, it's really a dumb thing but who knows if that also exists in this world. I gotta protect myself for now.

Considering there is a textbook on magic, like a straight up guide to how to use magic, it probably isn't a bad omen. But still I have to be safe with it, who knows what would happen if people found out a little 2 year old kid can use magic.

With that I decided that I wouldn't use magic in front of anyone around, not my family, not the maids of the mansion. Whenever I practice magic I would lock the door before, hopefully it doesn't seem like I'm doing something dirty. As it was casting magic inside might be dangerous so I alway aimed my spells out the window, so there's a chance that I would get caught red handed anyways. It wasn't really a choice I could make, if I cast it inside I might end up burning the mansion down— I don't want that.

//

I faced the window, the large orb of water hovering in front of my palm, I should shoot it forward so I don't get the floor wet. I pushed another gush of mana out of my palm. The spell sped forward at an alarming speed, I haven't seen a spell go this fast before, maybe because this is an elementary level spell. 

Shit. The windows might be too small to let the orb go through.

The orb of water launched forward with impressive force. The orb explodes, it shatters the windows and blows a large hole into the wall. 

My secret training has officially come to an end—

I stood there dumbstruck by what I just did, I spaced out—

I stared blankly at the hole in the wall, dripping with water… A hole that big— It doesn't take a genius to see that it's blown out by magic.

My secret has officially been blown…

Right now, father isn't home.

I hear footsteps scurry up the stairs— Click. Click. Click. Click. The footsteps quickly approached…

I still wasn't sure what to do.

The door opens with a slight creak— Bang. The door was slammed hard against the wall, an elven woman huffing and puffing looked around, scanning the room for me.

"Gryne! Are you alright?" The lady rushed towards me, still huffing and puffing her warm breath bellows onto my face, she was clearly pretty worried. Last time she had this expression was when I fell head first onto the floor, that was almost a whole year ago come to think of it.

"Was there a monster somewhere?" Mother's expression quickly went from worrisome to alarmed, then her face relaxed, she muttered under her breath, "Not in these parts of Feris…"

Her attention quickly came back to me after the brief thought of a monster attack. She looked around the room again, her eyes bolting from the hole in the wall dripping with water to the wet floor where a singular textbook laid amidst the rubble. Her eyes were fixed onto the textbook and the page it was opened to.

Then Mother looked back and forth between me the opened textbook and the hole in the wall, she squatted down in front of me, her breath was now calmed no longer huffing. She looked me dead in the eyes. I couldn't tell from her aura if she was happy, sad, or mad at what I did, it was all over the place, her aura jumped around, throbbing.

There was silence for a few seconds, I didn't know how to react, I mean I did something wrong, I should probably apologise, that would be the best way to stay out of trouble.

Mother's mouth curled up into a warm smile, it wasn't like the normal calm little smile she does, it couldn't be counted as a grin either, her teeth weren't showing that much.

It was really scary, I didn't know what the facial expression meant, I wanted to look away, I tried my hardest to keep my gaze locked with Mother's. Right now I need to break the silence quickly, and apologise sincerely. This was the simplest way to stay out of bigger troubles.

I opened my mouth to try and apologise, I follow Mother's eyes to show extra sincerity, "I'm—" 

My voice was cut off quickly by a soft shove, I fell down on my back. "Honey. Did you read the words of the book out loud and follow the postures shown?" Mother's large boobs pressed against my chest as she leaned in, her eyes glowing with subtle excitement, even now she was clearly holding a lot in.

"Yes…" I hesitantly answered, one thing I knew for sure right now, lying won't do me any favor when I'm in this position. "I'm So—"

I was cut off again, mother's eyes shined, it wasn't just glowing, it was like a ray of sunlight. Mother sat up, her hands clasped together, "I knew it! My boy is a genius! I'll go find you a magic tutor as soon as possible." She curled her hands into small fists and she hopped around like a mad woman. 

Well, mother sure was having the time of her life, does that mean my apology is accepted? I thought as a hand grabbed onto my shoulder, I turned around. 

Looking at me, mother said "Wait, I didn't even teach you how to read yet— Did you, Lily?" 

I look at the door, there stands Lily, "No I haven't, Mistress." She answered confidently without a single stutter in her sentence. 

If I was put in a pressured situation like that I would certainly have been stuttering and hitting 'um's here and there.

"My son's a genius! LIly. We are going into the city to tell Julian about this. We have to hire the best tutor in town right away! Oh my, he's going to be the best mage out there in the future, I know it!"

"Yes Mistress." Lily calmly stated.

Mother was clearly thrilled about this development. All the sudden I feel her eyes glance back at me, "Hmm, how about you join Claire in the back to learn swordplay. Maybe you would have talent in that also."

Hmm, swordplay huh? It was something I had little to no experience with. Even before when I studied martial arts, I focused more towards hand to hand combat instead of weapons play. It would be an interesting turn of events if I focused on swordplay from now onwards. If I had the choice I would choose magic 100 percent of the time, but who knows this might be fun.

The sword

Claire was now 5 years old, she had beautiful looks just like Mother, from her hair to her eyes to her body, it was like a direct copy and paste. Another thing she inherited was mother's brain— she was an airhead to say the least. 

I walked out the door— A strong gust of wind bellows against my face as the clanking of wooden swords blast into my eardrums. I was shook, I haven't ever seen power like this. It wasn't like a sword fight in my past world, it was different— way different.

The banging of swords, the shifting of the wrist, the movement, the footwork… It's beautiful. My eyes could barely catch up with the speed of the fight, the movements were smooth yet powerful.

Clank—

The clashing sound was deafening, louder than any before. 

I see something coming down from above— 

I slowly opened a slit of my eyes, a wooden sword was stabbed in the dirt inches away from me. If I had been a little closer, the injury could've been pretty bad, maybe I could've died there.

Someone approached me, it was an unfamiliar face, she wasn't one of the maids of the mansion, I am sure of it. If she really was, I would've remembered her face.

"I'm sorry sir," a gruff voice spoke out loud, the voice was gruff but it didn't sound like a man's voice, the voice continued, "I don't think we have met before young sir, my name is Iris, I'm young Claire's sword instructor."

I looked up at Iris. Her skin was fairly dark, no actually it's really dark, I thought. As my gaze traced up her body, analysing it, I noticed that her muscles were defined and there were little scars here and there. I continued tracing up her tall body— Damn! Her tits are huge also.

As I looked towards her face, I realised my thoughts might have leaked out of my mouth. Iris had long silver hair tied up in a high ponytail above her head, a long braid tucked behind her 45 degree elf ears and sharp red eyes which were fixated on me. Her left brow was tilted up, she had a questioning expression on her face. 

Wait— elf ears? Could she be? A dark elf? This was the first time I saw someone who wasn't a human or an elf, I mean she counts as an elf also but still. This means there's other races outside of elves and humans, maybe there are beastmen, I really wanna meet one of them.

"Hey Iris, do you think Gryne right here can join in on your classes with Claire?" A voice spoke from behind me, interrupting my thoughts, the voice was Mother's. 

I was sure there wasn't anyone behind me, just now, I couldn't sense any form of aura… Did mother conceal her aura? Just the thought of that was chilling. According to what I have read from the textbook, concealing aura is one of the hardest tasks even for the strongest of mages.

"Yes, Mistress, if you request it." Iris replied.

"Iris… You shouldn't be so formal. It makes it seem like we aren't close friends." Mother said with puffed up cheeks. 

I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"We start tomorrow morning." Iris said before walking away towards the back gate of the mansion.

"That woman." Mother muttered under her breath, her face still pouty. 

 New waifu unlocked I guess.

The sword II

I was shaken awake early in the morning the next day, the sun wasn't even up yet. Aghhh— Just let me sleep for a bit more.

I headed down to the backyard, still not fully awake yet. I see a singular figure waiting there, it was like seeing the final boss in an open world rpg, Iris' tall figure makes her look even more like it. 

Clank. Clank. I felt something roll towards me and hit my boots. I looked down, it was a wooden sword. 

"Pick it up and show me what you can do." A stern voice echoed in the empty yard.

I bent down clasping my tiny hands around the wooden sword, it was surprisingly light, I thought to myself as I lifted the sword in front of me.

I look up again—

"Huh?" 

Iris was gone.

A strong gust of wind blasted onto my right cheek. I roll my eyes towards the wind, checking on what's happening— Iris—

Her wooden blade approached at a dangerous speed, instinctively I shifted my body placing my sword in front to block the incoming attack. 

Clank. Our swords clashed, blasting wind all around, blowing my hair back. The force from Iris' sword launched me skidding back along the grass and dirt. 

"I'm gonna get a fat blister after this." I muttered under my breath as I took a few seconds to take a deep breath in.

I was about 20 meters away from Iris now. I should be safe for a li— 

She's gone again. 

I scanned around the yard trying to locate her. Swoosh— I felt a gust of wind blow onto my back, I turned around to try block the incoming strike.

Shit— A feint. A strong strike pushed against the left side of my stomach. 

I went tumbling, flying away towards the mansion's back door. 

I tried to stand up, but the strike got me winded, I breathed heavily as I stood back up. Huff huff huff. Again there was a light tap on my shoulder, the thing that tapped me was something hard and warm, I'm sure it isn't a hand. I looked towards my shoulder, I saw the tip of a piece of wood. I turn my head. 

Iris was standing there, her blade on my shoulder. She stood there, her expression shifted from aggressive to calm, a warm smile spread across her face as she let down her blade, stabbing the wooden sword into the blades of grass and soil below.

"You did better than I expected." Iris said with a soft tone, she approached me, bending down she held up her finger, poking at the left side of my stomach where her strike landed.

Owowow. I fell down to my knees from the pain. 

By now, it was dawn.

I feel hands on my bottom, heaving me up into the air. 

"Let's get you to Ava so she can treat you." Iris softly said as she carried me back inside the mansion.

Once we went in, Mother quickly used her magic to treat my injuries. Thank god we were only sparring with wooden swords I thought, if that was an actual sword I would've been dead a thousand times over.

After mother finished using her healing magic, the pain dispersed. I looked around the living room, there wasn't a sign of Iris… I probably don't have the potential to be a swordsman, I got beaten in only two strikes. Not gonna lie I felt kind of disappointed, I was hoping that I had the potential to do so like I have in magic, I guess it can't go my way every time.

//

Next morning I was shaken awake once again, I groaned as I opened a slit in my eyes. A figure loomed over me, her hair tickling my face as it brushed by. I was sure it wasn't Mother, she would never wake up this early in the morning.

"Gryneee— Wake up, Master Iris told me that we would be playing together today." The figure above said.

Master Iris? Mother would never call her that, whenever mother talks about Iris she becomes like a drunk. 

I opened my eyes wide— the sunlight shone off the figure's golden blonde hair, in the shadow the figure seemed small, her purplish blue eyes blinked at me innocently as she continued to shake me. 

That's right… Mother isn't the only one that looks like mother in this house—

My older sister— Claire.

As my blurred vision cleared up, I could clearly see the figure's small frame. There was now no doubt that it's Claire.

"Stop being lazy Gryneeee. Wake up alreadyyyy. Master Iris would get mad." Claire's said, dragging along a tone of slight annoyance.

Wait a damn minute, Iris is telling me to wake up? Does that mean… I get to become a swordsman. I fling myself out of bed and instantly started preparing myself. Claire was shocked, I guess she wouldn't expect me to have this type of reaction.

//

Me and Claire walked down the stairs to the living area, down there two figures already stood, one of them was Iris and the other was mother, she was wearing a cloak and was holding a suitcase. Seems like they are talking about something, as we got closer to where they stand I was able to hear part of their conversation.

"I have to go into the city today, so I won't be back until sunset. Take care of Gryne for me, don't let him get injured like last time." Mother said.

"Yes. Mistress, you won't have to worry, I won't be pushing him too hard today." Iris once again replied with a stern tone.

"Sigh… Iris, I told you, you don't have to talk to me like I'm your superior, stop being so formal." 

Mother then came over to me, bending down. She patted my head softly, "Mama would be away for a bit, I need to go into the city to post a notice for your home tutoring. Make sure you listen to Iris and Lily." 

After a few rubs she stands back up and heads towards the direction of the front door.

Bam— The door was slammed shut.

"So then, shall we start?" Iris said as she headed the opposite direction towards the backyard.

"Yes!" Claire said promptly.

I was hesitant so didn't answer, but I followed along anyways.

We went outside, standing in the middle of the backyard, I held a wooden sword in my hands, next to me Claire and Iris were doing practice swings.

"Gryne, go like this— Hngh" Claire slashed her sword downwards creating a strong blast of wind.

I followed her movements, I held my sword high in the air before I swung it down with all the force I could muster. Clank— The sword hit the floor weakly, there wasn't any sort of power in the swing, it was pathetic.

"Aghhhh. You are doing it wrong, do it like this— Fuah." Claire does another downward slash, this one even more powerful than the last one.

I tried to follow along again— Clank. The swing was still weak but at least it was better than last time. 

We kept on going for the reminder of the morning until lunch. During the session Iris would sometimes come over to correct my form and give me advice, it was what they call in the other world— Practical learning. This was as practical as it could get.

"Well done, Gryne. You are getting the hang of this really quickly, at this pace you would be able to catch up to your sister in no time." Iris said, her expression doesn't really show it, but I could sense that she is proud.

Maybe I do have some talent... I beamed with excitement as I ate lunch, anticipating the extra session in the afternoon Iris is giving me to teach me the physics and history behind swordplay.

//

Well… That wasn't what I expected, but I did get to learn a fair few new things about swordplay.

First, knowing how to wield a weapon is pretty useful in this world, after all there are quite a few monsters running around. To my understanding most heroic figures wielded swords, both in light novels and in this world, one of the figures Iris used as an example is Arthur Rein, the blessed, the one chosen by the world, the king's guard. I don't know much about this Arthur guy, but he seems pretty cool, someone I would imagine myself as in my dreams. So back to the topic, swords and weapons, swords are one of the majorly used weapons, along with axes, spears, and bows, no one really used daggers except for assassins.

Given the background on swords, this art looks to be way more developed compared to where I once came from. It's said that even an intermediate level swordsman can stab his or her sword deep into a boulder.

That leads to the second thing from Iris' lesson, classes, there are seven classes for swordplay and any other weapon. It's simple enough to understand, it was just like magic, although the names of the classes differ slightly. There's beginner, elementary, intermediate, advanced, imperial, master, and divine, really only one class is different, switched from calamity to master. Iris is an advanced class swordswoman, it's pretty neat to have someone like her teaching me swordplay.

Iris was an advanced classed Thief and Sword Saint style swordsman. A sword style, something taught in what they called schools of combat, a school of combat is basically how the person is taught to fight, a simple example is the Knight school and the Knight style, they focus on defence and counters instead of rushing in. All schools and styles have their ups and downs, some give up defence fully and rush the enemy whilst others do the complete opposite. 

There are six main styles when we talk about swordplay: The Glacial style, created long time ago by people of the north, focuses on offense and hit the vital points of the enemies; The Knights style, the most commonly used style in the human continents, it focuses on shielding and parrying attacks before countering, this was a defensive style; The Demon style, created by the original Demon king during the Great War, it's mostly seen as the most random style, there are crazy techniques like throwing your sword and stuff like that; The Thief style, one of Iris' specialty, mostly used by adventurers it's simple and focuses on speedy attacks, although the power is lacking it makes up with speed, it's a lot like fencing now that I think about it; The Rampage style, the most aggressive style out of the six, focuses on breaking the enemy's defences with raw force instead of getting past it, was originally a Greatsword style but was later re-modelled; Lastly, the Sword Saint style, the most balanced, developed and refined style out of every one, it's also the hardest style to master in terms of difficulty to advance from class to class, Claire was learning the style and I was also going to, after I finish my beginner's course of course.