That weekend, I didn’t feel like studying alone, so I called my friends together.
The children sat around in the library’s small conference room, studying different subjects, chattering about various things every couple of hours.
I struggled to memorize the shapes, meanings, and pronunciations of magic words with Marianne’s help.
“Opza, Ob, Op…”
“No, why isn’t this working? Verdure and Greenery Ritual. Jenny, can’t you do it either?”
“Verdure and Greenery Ritual… It works?”
I was frustrated. It wasn’t easy to change sounds I couldn’t distinguish by ear into words. I couldn’t even understand half of the thousand words well enough to pronounce them. I couldn’t help but sigh, wondering how I could recite something I didn’t understand.
“…Can’t I just memorize that it’s the Verdure and Greenery Ritual? I know the shape.”
“You can do that up to the Second Circle, but not from the Third Circle onwards. If you activate it without the Activation Word, Mana can backflow.”
“The Freezing Magic Formula didn’t do that before, though.”
“That’s the First Circle. Is Michael a ten-year-old Child?”
“…”
Marianne seemed to be enjoying herself too much, which made me frown, but there was nothing I could do since the Professor had ordered it. I sighed deeply and practiced pronouncing Op, Ob, Op, repeatedly, practicing the pronunciation that the Children said was the closest.
I couldn’t understand how my tongue was supposed to touch the back of my palate and narrow the gap according to the emphasis, then blow air out. Memorizing Hidden Weapon and spitting them out would be easier than this. I regretted not being able to use Sound Transmission (Martial arts that adjust Energy Wave to transmit sound directly to the opponent’s ear) to cast magic.
Weren’t this and that the same in that they bent and used Mana in a certain wave? I firmly remembered to ask Douglas about it later.
Barely suppressing the urge to grumble, I was practicing the next word and the word after that when Ivan, who had pushed his studying aside, asked me.
“How’s your private tutoring going these days?”
“Um. Yes, it’s pretty good.”
The lessons with Professor Maelo Sanson were gradually turning into a form closer to independent study.
Maelo Sanson wanted me to experience Monster firsthand, but most of the Monsters that could be brought to the capital were weaklings. However, the Yuil Mountains were too far and dangerous to go during the semester. Maelo Sanson and I couldn’t abandon our other classes and leave, so we postponed it.
However, it was a great help to me just to have a transcendent Peak Martial artists watch and examine each Move as it continued, and to have him throw out questions. Maelo Sanson saw what I didn’t see, and knew what I knew more deeply.
I was satisfied enough just with the fact that the process of connecting the swordplay of the Righteous Sword was smoother by changing the order of the fourth and ninth swordplay.
“…’It’s good,’ and that’s it?”
“…Yes. Because it’s going well.”
I nodded, not knowing how to explain it, and Damian shrugged, chuckling.
“No, it’s only been less than a month since the semester started. I just wanted to hear something like, ‘How could you become a Sword Master as soon as you started private tutoring?'”
“Ah, you never know. I think Michael could do it.”
“Ah. I’ve become a Sword Master.”
It was just yesterday. But I didn’t show much joy.
It was only natural. In my previous life, I was also a Transcendent Peak, Sword Master.
It was just that I didn’t have enough Internal Energy to create Sword energy, but I had been using Sword energy for the last five years until my last breath in my previous life. That’s why I had been steadily Breathing and regulating energy to increase the amount of Internal Energy in order to regain my Peak as quickly as possible.
To use aura, I allowed the Middle Dantian to be more freely open than in my previous life. Being able to draw energy from outside the body and use it immediately without storing it in the Dantian was a great advantage. I had just understood why Maelo Sanson said that a Dantian was not necessary.
The aura used according to Sierren’s laws here was a power drawn from nature as much as could be controlled.
As someone who used Duality, I could still only use as much aura as my Internal Energy, but this was also a problem that could be solved with more training and more time. I wasn’t too worried.
My goal was always Hwagyeong (a high level of martial arts). All the paths before becoming a Transcendent Peak, that is, a Sword Master, were paths I had experienced. I didn’t feel any regret or difficulty, so I didn’t value them much.
The Children who were looking back at me all widened their eyes and gaped. Seeing them act like this over something so trivial only made me feel embarrassed.
“Huh?”
“You’re a Sword Master now? Now? So, you just became one?”
“…Um. It’s not like I just became one…”
“No, when? And you’re just revealing it like this?”
“Crazy, wow, no, really, wow…”
“No, how did you do it…? Didn’t Wesley Kiadris say he was a top-tier Sword Expert at sixteen? But Michael, a Sword Master at fifteen?”
Only then did I realize.
I often forgot my age. It was because everyone welcomed me with smiling faces and treated me with respect, so I felt comfortable. After my eye level rose to some extent and surpassed Damian’s height, there were many times when I didn’t realize that I was in a young body.
“Wow… You haven’t told anyone about this yet, have you?”
“…Yes. I didn’t even think about telling anyone… Professor Douglas Mustang knows.”
I had only found what I had lost, but wasn’t I being treated like a great person? I had just been quietly thinking that Maelo Sanson would know when he saw it next week.
Benjamin asked for my hand to receive my energy, but I didn’t give it to him.
Benjamin was skilled enough to reach the top tier of Sword Expert soon. He was a talented guy with outstanding skills compared to his age. A genius like Benjamin shouldn’t follow my snail-like pace.
“When, since when?”
“Yesterday, I gained a new enlightenment while researching Internal energy cultivation method. I thought it was about to happen, so I tried to create Sword energy… and that’s when it happened.”
“Did you use that Breathing and regulating energy or Internal Energy thing? The transparent golem from before?”
“To be exact, I learned how to use Internal Energy and aura together, but. Yes, it’s similar.”
It took quite a long time for the Children to calm down and sit down. I answered all the questions that my excited friends asked me.
“So, can other people use that Breathing and regulating energy now?”
“Hmm, what I gained was a different kind of enlightenment… Professor Mustang and Mage Boulder are doing something about it right now.”
“What are they doing?”
“I heard they’re in the process of… popularizing it? I decided to use two distinctly different energies together from the beginning, and Professor Mustang and Mage Boulder are constantly looking for a way to apply the Mind method to ordinary Knights as well.”
“Ah… When will that be done?”
“The goal is to have it done by the middle of next semester. They said they’re going to make something before I graduate.”
Benjamin looked wronged and repeatedly asked me to let him know first when it was completed, so I said I would. Shayden chuckled and praised me for being amazing, saying he thought it would take another year, so I easily replied that it was nothing special and had my chair stolen.
There was a brief commotion.
The library librarian came in and pointed out that we shouldn’t make a fuss, and only after she left could we sit down and behave as we had before. But the atmosphere was no longer conducive to studying, and everyone put their books aside and was busy asking what they were curious about.
After answering all the questions, some of the Children let out hollow laughs. I laughed along, but they told me not to laugh, which made me laugh even more.
“So, what Michael is doing now is creating a new swordplay with Professor Maelo Sanson, and researching a new Mana Cultivation Method with Professor Douglas Mustang, and that’s how he became a Sword Master.”
“…That’s true, but.”
“Then what about Professor Wilton Roberts? You’re not building a new country, are you?”
“That’s not it.”
I knew it was a joke and answered easily. I didn’t have anything to say to the Children who were pressing me to tell them what I was doing.
I could easily talk about what I was doing with the other two Professors, but I hesitated to tell the Children in detail about what I was doing with Wilton. It wasn’t that I had been told to keep it a secret, but I knew they would worry if I told these fragile Children that I was taking poison and detoxifying it every week.
However, simply hiding it wouldn’t do. I chose what I could say and put it into words.
“With him… I’m taking outdoor classes these days.”
“Outdoor classes?”
“Yes, well… I’m learning little by little about the Nobility Almanac Management and Inspection Department. He said there will be a time when I’ll need it someday.”
“Ah…”
I somehow became conscious of Jenny’s gaze. The Child who met my eyes smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. Jenny, who had been quiet, suddenly asked.
“Michael isn’t going to go completely that way, is he?”
“Yes, I don’t think so. First of all… Learning stealth is good, but secretly watching someone… I don’t think that’s something that suits me.”
“Michael is very noticeable, too. He doesn’t fit in with that. He’s so sparkly and pretty. Even if he’s hiding, everyone will look at him and wonder if he’s some kind of fairy, or if a Spirit popped out from somewhere, right?”
“Um.”
After that, there was another unexpected string of compliments about my appearance, so I closed my ears.
❖ ❖ ❖
The last week of February passed without incident.
In magic class, I learned about the types of magic that can be used in each Circle and the classification of Formula.
Maelo Sanson bought me a large cake to celebrate my becoming a Sword Master. I couldn’t eat it all by myself, so I called my other friends and shared it.
Wilton Roberts asked me once again if I had any intention of joining the Nobility Almanac Management and Inspection Department. I politely refused.
Blanc Cooper said that I should be grateful for Shinui’s power for making my wish come true. I thanked the two Professors and Mage Boulder again, and also thanked the First God.
And on Friday morning.
I struggled to suppress the surging feeling in my chest as I greeted the thick envelope with the golden seal placed on top of my family’s letters. The scale mark was ornately decorated. It was the seal of the Second Prince, Rubel, among the imperial seals.