"I see," I whispered, pushing myself up from the sand. My joints ached, but my mind was already redrawing the tactical map of the fight.
"Still, you're pretty good, kid," Boran said, resting his massive wooden blade on his shoulder. He looked genuinely impressed, his orange eyes losing some of their predatory edge. "How many days have you been training with the sword? Your foundation is surprisingly solid."
"Two" I said, holding up two fingers in a victory sign.
"Two months?" Boran whistled. "Man, you really are a genius. Whoever your previous instructor was must have been one hell of a drill sergeant."
I shook my head, a small, mischievous smile playing on my lips. "Nuh-uh. I meant two days. Yesterday and today."
"Haha... I see. So, two day—wait—what?! What did you say?!" Boran's voice cracked as he stepped toward me. "Two days?! Since you first picked up a blade?!"
"Yes," I replied, enjoying the look of pure, unadulterated shock on a SSS-rank adventurer's face.
Boran spun around to look at Vivi, his face pale. "Vivi, that doesn't match up. If our guess is right and he has that, then his magic talents are explained, but this swordplay... it doesn't fit the profile."
Vivi's expression was grave. She wasn't laughing anymore. She looked at me as if she were seeing a ghost. "I know it's insane, Boran. But what if this kid... what if he possesses both that and that?"
"Hmm... That's not completely impossible" Boran said in a thoughtful expression
I guess they already got a hunch about what traits I have.
But i doubt they have the correct guess. Maybe they have gotten my Magic trait right but not my martial arts trait.
"Umm.. Do you mind explaining this 'that' you're talking about instead of acting all suspicious" I said pretending to be annoyed.
"You're still not at the age to know about it, Tyler" Vivi said, her black eyes unreadable.
"Alright, Now I am curious. Vivi, Give him another weapon" Boran said to Vivi.
Vivi complied with his request and manifested A wooden spear, perfectly weighted and sized for my small frame, from her Rune Storage.
"Take it, Tyler" She threw it towards me. "And take your stance."
I caught the spear, the smooth wood feeling alien in my palms. As expected, I thought. They suspect I have the [Weapon Master] trait.
It was a logical error on their part. To them, my skill with the sword looked like an innate talent for all weapons. They didn't know that my "two days" of sword training were actually backed by two years of grueling Kendo practice from my life as Nick.
But I couldn't exactly explain that I was a reincarnated adult from another dimension, could I?
I tried to recall and imitate every spear-wielding character I had ever seen in movies or anime. I planted my feet and gripped the shaft, trying to mimic a professional stance. But without the 'muscle memory' of Nick's past life to guide me like what happened during swordsmanship, the pose felt hollow.
"Weird..." Boran muttered, circling me. "That looks like you're trying to imitate some amateur spearman you saw in a back-alley brawl. Where's the spirit you showed us when you were holding the sword?"
As expected, He can tell the flaws.
"That was a sword and its a spear. Do you expect me hold a spear, thinking of it as a Sword with a smaller grip and shorter blade ? I only know the sword" I said in sarcastic tone
Dammit. Me and my damn habit of talking back sarcastically while replying to obvious questions. I gotta change this habit of mine. It might get in unwanted messy trouble one day.
"Huu... You sure know how to talk back, kid. It seems our assumption was wrong after all. We gotta wait for Four years to find out" Boran let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Well, alright," Boran said, the orange fire in his eyes returning with a new intensity. "Enough chit-chat. The best way to learn combat isn't through theories —it's through blood and bruises. Put down the toothpick and pick up your sword, kid. The real lesson starts now. Kid Come at me!"
I dropped the spear and snatched up my practice sword. The weight felt "right" again. If they wanted to see my limits, I was happy to show them—provided I could survive the next hour.
For the next hour, the Thirteenth Field was a symphony of clashing wood and heavy breathing. Boran didn't hold back; he pushed my physical limits until my muscles screamed, forcing me to use every ounce of my [Genius of Martial Arts] just to stay standing.
But the physical torture was only the prologue.
immediately After that, Vivi started training me in the art of magic for two hours straight.
She helped me improve and optimize the spells that i could already use and taught a basic curse spell, Sick. A spell that could obviously make a person feel sick.
The target of the spell was obviously myself. This was also a way to increase curse resistance. Although, mana doesn't harm its user, its a different story if the user allows it.
I also learned the Basic Null spell, Remove Gravity by removing the effect of gravity from a small stone and made it levitate in the air, for just a few seconds though.
To use spirit magic, one must make a contract with a spirit. Vivi instructed me to focus on other attributes first.
For space magic, I learned Minor Teleportation by teleporting a small stone from one hand to another.
As for the Time attribute, I learned nothing. Nothing.
Because, In this era time spells do not exist. From what I have learned, during the ancient era which is about two thousand years ago when humanity was not united and Regulus Nation did not exist, there were a few time spells. But for some reason Those Magic Spells were lost with time.
And the current mage society treats the time element kind of like a taboo.
It's not that people hate the time element or something. It's just that they don't research on it and just neglect it.
Even in the game, I never saw any time spells. So, there really are no time spells.
Or maybe there are but are not publicly known. It's a possible assumption.
Whatever, i will find out about it, one day eventually.