Chapter 147

“I haven’t done anything yet!” Eugene exclaimed as he got in, preempting Nick’s question.He pouted, not appreciating having his fun disrupted. “Good,” he finally conceded. “I just finished reviewing the book. It doesn’t address your situation specifically, but the theory should be sound.”

Eugene put on a show of thinking about it while removing his uniform, making Nick roll his eyes. “Come on, let’s go to the training yard,” he urged, grabbing his father and dragging him out as he went.

Given that he wasn’t being resisted—something Eugene could have easily done—Nick interpreted that as consent. It wasn’t as though there was an ethics board he’d need to explain his practices to.

Elena followed them sedately, watching with an amused smile.

“Alright, alright, no need to pull my sleeve,” Eugene laughed, escaping Nick’s grip. “I’m still not entirely clear on what you want me to do differently from my usual training. Could you explain a bit more?”

Once they finally arrived at the training yard, Nick halted, regarding his father with a critical eye. “I’m sure you haven’t been slacking in your swordsmanship training. That’s not what this is about. My hypothesis is that you have created an imbalance in your path. Given that your class has two separate components, you need to bring them both to the same level of mastery. In your case, your fire magic has advanced beyond your swordsmanship, as evidenced by the ease with which you’ve mastered fire healing, something you have admitted once eluded you.”

Eugene rubbed his chin. “I suppose that's true. I have concentrated more on powerful wide-area skills and enhancing my survival abilities. There aren’t many of those that a swordsman can develop without investing ridiculous amounts of time.”

Nick tilted his head. “What do you mean? Are there actual swordsmanship skills that can heal you?”

“Eeeh, usually I’d say it’s a pipe dream, but I've seen Master Xavier heal from a poisoned arrow without a potion. When I asked him how he did it, he told me that swords don’t get poisoned, so I’m not really sure what it involves.”

Nick took that in for a moment.

It would take a very powerful and dedicated man to develop such a niche application of mana, but Nick had seen weirder things in this world.

“While that's very interesting, I don’t think it’s something you should pursue right now. It likely needs someone already at Prestige to develop. We should concentrate on what is currently available to you. There may not be low-hanging fruits left, but I'm sure you still have some secondary skills you haven’t utilized in a while.”

Eugene didn’t seem convinced, and Nick was preparing to try again, but Elena intervened before he could. “We should probably take this from the top. What are the key abilities of a swordsman? If there is anything among those that you haven’t developed to the same level as your fire skills, that would likely be a good place to start.”

Snapping his fingers, Nick grinned widely. “Yes! Let’s go through that and compare it with your current skill set. That should clarify if I’m right. In fact, we should probably start with a complete list of your abilities and then compare it to the template.”

He knew it was a big ask. Nick himself wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing everything he could do, but this was the only way he could think to cut down on wasted time. Otherwise, they’d have to attempt training every sword-based skill Eugene had and see if advancing any of them provided him with extra Exp.

Fortunately, Eugene wasn’t as reserved as Nick and nodded after a moment of hesitation. “Alright, that sounds like the most efficient approach. I have four relevant traits: , , , and . I got the first two after the class ceremony, the third during my training with Master Xander, and the last a few years into my captaincy.”

That was very interesting. The first two were self-explanatory, but the third one was not. “What does do?” Chapters fırst released on novelhall.com

Instead of answering directly, Eugene drew a wooden practice sword from the nearby rack and assumed a stance. Nick was initially confused about what he was trying to demonstrate, but when Eugene moved, extending his sword arm as if to thrust at an enemy, it clicked for him.

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For an instant, his senses could not distinguish between the man and the sword. It was as if their presence had merged into one, and the resulting explosion of force at the tip felt like an inevitability, as if an unstoppable object had passed through the space they occupied.

“Is that what your Master’s technique is about?” he asked. “That’s what you sent Devon to learn?”

Eugene smiled, “Yes. I’m not nearly as skilled with it as Master is, but it makes every sword technique better, in a sense.”

It took them a moment to return to their previous position before the demonstration. “Now, my fire skills are extensive. As you mentioned earlier, I have , which I recently advanced to Proficient. Additionally, there are all the offensive skills, like , , , , , and , which are all at Expert. I have a dozen more at Proficient and several utility skills at Intermediate. Those are just the skills related to fire.”

That was an impressive list, especially given that it was only half of the whole.

“As for the sword skills, I have all the classic ones like and at Expert level, as well as a few techniques learned from my Master, including , , and at Proficient level. Additionally, I have some martial skills that aren’t strictly related to swordsmanship, such as , while the remainder are at Intermediate tier.”

The list continued for some time, and by the end, Nick had a good idea of what his father’s build was like. It was impressive that he had so many Expert-level skills, which was widely regarded as the highest level one could achieve below Prestige. However, one thing stood out to him.

“You have roughly equal amounts of Expert and Proficient skills with the sword and fire, but their quality is very different.” Nick said, earning a nod from his mother. “I believe this already proves my argument and helps expand it further. We should still review the swordsman build as we discussed earlier, but I’m pretty sure I have what I need.”

“I would agree. If I hadn’t known about your theory, I would have called this a very balanced build, and I’m impressed by just how many skills you managed to get to Expert,” Elena said, earning a pleased grin from her husband. “But now that I’m looking for an inconsistency, it's pretty glaring.” That wiped the smile off Eugene’s face.

Before the conversation could diverge again, Nick took the reins back. “Alright, so about that template. I think we can all agree that Dad has the basics covered. Skills like and are probably the first things any swordsman learns, and getting them to Expert level is a significant achievement.”

“Why do I feel like there is a but incoming,” Eugene grumbled good-naturedly.

“Because there is,” Nick smiled to soften the blow. “I’m guessing you wouldn’t call someone a master swordsman if he only had those skills at Expert, right?”

Eugene made a sound of realization. “They would be a dangerous enemy, but I see what you mean. A Master is someone who has taken their sword style to the limit, not just the basic skills.” He tilted his head to the side and tapped his sword against his shin. “I always thought of my style as requiring the fire component; most of my fire skills actually use the sword, after all. But if those are considered two different things, I can see how you would think my swordsman build is lacking. I don’t have any unique skills at the same level.”

Nick nodded, pleased that they both understood his point. “This isn’t a dig at you, Dad. You are very powerful, and I’m willing to bet you could still achieve Prestige this way. You’d just need to kill more monsters to accumulate the experience. However, bridging the gap between the two sides is probably the quickest route to reach that point without leaving Floria for another expedition.”

“Mmh, yes. Master Xander always told me to never forget my sword. I thought it was just another way he was being mysterious and annoying me, but I can see now that I haven't been as balanced as I thought. I should probably start with the skills he taught me,” Eugene said, even as he began to slowly swing his practice sword with a pensive look.

“I believe you should start with , actually.” Elena interrupted before he could get going. “Mother always said that was the fundamental difference between real martial masters and those who simply killed monsters for a living.”

Eugene sighed before turning to face Nick. “Do you know what is?” he asked, stepping closer to one of the straw dummies that Devon had often used for practice.

Nick shook his head. He had several theories, but that didn’t mean he could claim to know for sure.

His attention was soon drawn to the sword in Eugene’s hands as more and more power began coalescing into it. The intensity of the energy was such that Nick was sure it would explode at any moment, so he summoned a around himself and his mother to protect them. To his surprise, however, the wooden sword remained intact. In fact, the fluctuation of mana stabilized, giving the blade a silvery-blue sheen.

When Eugene swung it gently, with no more force than Nick would use to swat at Talbot when he got in his face during his sleep, it passed through the dummy without any resistance.

Its upper portion fell to the side after a moment, and Nick had to stop himself from gaping. Where the blunt wooden sword had passed, a perfectly smooth cut remained.

“What the hell was that?”

His parents chuckled at his stunned look before Eugene gestured for Elena to take it. “That is . It is one of the foundational martial skills that anyone who wishes to be called a Master should know. Now, I’m not an expert in this, but I believe it is considered a unique method through which martial classes express their intent using a specific type of mana, similar to what an affinity does.”

“Well, I guess we've found what you need to train more,” Nick said, keeping his gaze fixed on the wooden sword. He doubted he would ever develop such a skill on his own, as evidenced by his struggle with the Stalking Gait. However, just seeing it in action was sparking ideas for him. It was an entirely new direction he had never encountered before, and it made him wonder if he might be able to apply the principle to magic.

There wasn’t much Nick could do to help his father any further. He had some ideas, sure, but his knowledge and understanding of martial skills were limited, and there came a point where only hard work could yield results.

Eugene had agreed to spend the next month focusing his efforts on . If, as Nick suspected, he would receive a significant amount of Exp when it advanced from Proficient to Expert, his theory would be proven correct once and for all.

For that to happen, however, Eugene needed to put in the necessary hours. The gap between the two ranks was substantial, and while he wasn’t starting from scratch, it would still typically require years to bridge that distance.

Nick had still spent the rest of the previous evening watching him train at Eugene’s request, trying to glean something to improve his training, but he had been hindered by the dull nature of how was practiced.

Meditation, internal circulation, and occasionally striking targets to see if the willpower has been harnessed correctly.

Nick didn’t mind spending so much time with his family, even though he made it clear that he needed the next day off.