After speaking, the Sword God looked around the hall.
The disciples exchanged glances.
The Sword Saints who had just been shouting for Noah to kneel suddenly found the floor very interesting.
They absolutely wanted to teach this ignorant brat a lesson, but sending a Sword Saint to beat up an eight-year-old Intermediate swordsman was…
a little embarrassing.
Gal obviously understood that too.
His gaze eventually settled on the two smallest figures nearby.
Nina was ten years old and already an Advanced swordsman, two years older than Noah and, on paper, one full rank above him.
Jino was six, two years younger than Noah.
He was close enough in age to count as a peer, and his public rating matched Noah’s: Intermediate.
He was the perfect person to test Noah’s level.
“Jino.
You go.”
“Huh?
Ah…
yes.”
Jino visibly froze when his uncle called his name.
He blinked twice before recovering and answering.
He looked at the boy standing before him.
Noah’s earlier arrogant words sounded exactly like all the challengers who’d come here without ever witnessing the Sword God’s true swordsmanship—frogs at the bottom of a well.
Jino had grown up in the main dojo and seen countless loudmouths effortlessly defeated by his uncle.
In his mind, Gal simply didn’t want to bully a child.
So Jino decided to take this seriously and teach the ridiculous newcomer a lesson in Gal’s place.
“This guy’s the youngest one here.” Gal deliberately pointed out Jino’s age.
“See?
Two years younger than you.
He’s still young and naive, but his swordsmanship talent isn’t bad.
Same as you—Intermediate.
Kid, confident you can beat him?”
The implication couldn’t have been clearer.
Someone younger than you is already an Intermediate swordsman.
Don’t talk big and then lose to a little kid.
“Of course.”
Noah answered immediately, with the calm confidence of someone stating an obvious fact.
In this world, swordsmen generally advanced in one of two ways.
The first was the master-disciple title system.
There was no standardized examination.
Your master judged your skill and declared your rank.
The second was practical combat.
Beat a swordsman of a given rank, and naturally you could claim that rank yourself.
Noah’s official rating was only Intermediate.
The system’s evaluation was much more accurate.
He’d trained hard for years, and he still had several cards hidden up his sleeve.
On paper, this was Intermediate versus Intermediate.
An even match.
In reality, it was Advanced versus Intermediate.
Advantage: Noah.
The real question was how much he should hold back.
He didn’t want to humiliate everyone so badly that making friends afterward became impossible.
How was he supposed to harvest talents if everybody hated him?
Besides, everything he’d done today was merely going with the flow—with a tiny bit of acting added on top.
This was all part of his strategy.
‘Just as planned.jpg.’
At the end of the day, the Holy Land of Swords respected strength.
Gal’s lips curled upward when he saw Noah’s attitude.
The moment Gal chose an opponent, a Sword Saint had already begun clearing the floor.
The students who had been sparring stopped.
Several who had only recently advanced from the outer dojos immediately recognized Noah.
“Hey, that’s Noah.”
“He already made it into the main dojo?
How old is he?”
“Well, he is Master Marcus’s son.
If he’s here, that means he’s Intermediate already, right…?”
The training hall, which had hardly been quiet to begin with, immediately became louder as most people learned who Noah was.
“All right.
Both of you, come to the center,” said the Sword Saint who had cleared the area.
Noah and Jino stood at the same time and walked onto the floor.
As Jino rose, Nina gave her cousin a look that clearly said, ‘Take this seriously.’
Jino was reasonably strong, but childish and naive, with a habit of approaching everything halfheartedly.
Even after learning Noah was Uncle Marcus’s son, Nina still wanted the newcomer to suffer a little.
Jino saw her expression and nodded.
The two boys entered the open center of the training hall, surrounded by a ring of spectators.
The Sword Saint who had cleared the floor tossed each of them a wooden sword.
Catching his weapon, Noah couldn’t help feeling a powerful sense of déjà vu.
It reminded him of the episode he’d watched the night before his career as an “ace pilot” ended in a crash: Eris taking on the future Sword God and future Sword Emperor one after another.
Was he about to receive the same treatment?
‘Come to think of it, Eris beat Jino by rushing him before he was ready.
Absolutely no honor.
Straight-up sneak attack.’
Noah had no intention of doing that.
This was the future Sword God, a walking treasure chest of talent traits.
Why would Noah deliberately farm negative affection?
Still, Jino had been completely overwhelmed by Eris’s killing intent in the original.
He hadn’t even managed to surrender before getting smashed unconscious.
Noah’s thoughts flashed by as he took his place opposite Jino.
“By the way, can you use the Longsword of Silence?”
Before the Sword Saint could signal the start, Noah tightened his grip around the wooden sword and tested its balance.
“Uh…
that’s an Advanced technique,” Jino answered after a moment of confusion.
His unspoken thought was obvious: ‘If I could use the Longsword of Silence, would I still be an Intermediate swordsman?’
Technically, the Longsword of Silence was taught at Advanced rank, though knowing it didn’t automatically make someone Advanced thanks to the Holy Land of Swords’ wonderfully subjective title system.
Most masters still required their students to learn the signature technique of a rank before awarding the title.
Longsword of Silence corresponded to Advanced.
Longsword of Light corresponded to Sword Saint.
“Good.”
Noah smiled.
The Sword Saint in the center indicated that they should salute.
Unlike his provocative behavior before Gal, Noah’s etiquette toward his opponent was flawless.
“Noah Emiya.”
“Jino Britts.”
The Sword Saint raised his hand.
Then dropped it.
“Begin!”
Jino started to assume his opening stance.
“HAAH!”
Noah moved first.
His right foot slammed forward.
His movement was fiercer and more explosive than anything he’d shown while training in the outer dojo.
Despite Noah’s roar, the wooden sword itself made no sound as it cut through the air.
It moved so quickly that the sound of displaced air had not yet reached Jino’s ears before the blade had already arrived.
Longsword of Silence—one of the Sword God Style’s core techniques.
A sword accelerated beyond the speed of sound, striking its victim before they even heard it coming.
Jino heard only the explosive shout.
A figure rushed him like a wild beast, its shadow swallowing his vision.
His reflexes screamed at him to step sideways, but years of combat instinct told him something else.
That first strike was going through his neck.
He didn’t have time to surrender.
He didn’t even have time to raise his sword.
The roar, combined with the killing intent Noah simulated, shook his mind so violently that for an instant Jino truly believed he was about to be killed.
He fainted on the spot.
Noah’s wooden blade stopped beside Jino’s neck.
Jino had already collapsed backward.
Only then did the wind dragged along by Noah’s charge catch up, lifting the light-brown hair over Jino’s forehead.
Silence.
Every spectator stared speechlessly.
Then the hall exploded.
“What?!”
“Was that the Longsword of Silence?!”
“I was eighteen before I learned that!
Do you know how many years I trained?!”
“Didn’t they say he was Intermediate?
He said Intermediate, right?!”
“Forget that!
Jino wasn’t even hit by the wooden sword!”
The scene was too absurd to process.
The duel had barely started.
No—it hadn’t been a duel at all.
It was a one-sided collapse.
Voices erupted from every direction.
Noah suddenly realized he might have overdone it.
He’d originally planned to imitate Eris and scare Jino into surrendering.
In the original story, Jino had been caught off guard by Eris’s sudden attack, overwhelmed by her killing intent, and knocked unconscious before he could respond.
Noah’s mental version had been simple.
Shout first to seize the initiative.
Use speed and presence to create a momentary opening.
Bring out the Longsword of Silence, then stop the blade before it actually hit.
Nobody gets hurt.
He proves he’s capable of an Advanced technique.
Nobody can accuse him of hiding his true strength to bully a weaker opponent.
Then they naturally move on to an Advanced opponent.
Everybody wins.
The problem was that Noah had forgotten something.
To activate his [Hunting ★★★] talent, he’d spent years accompanying older disciples on hunts across the snowy plains.
He had genuinely spilled blood and fought wild beasts.
The first time he’d seen blood, he hadn’t panicked like the others expected.
His face had merely gone slightly pale, something that had surprised Marcus and the other disciples at the time.
The killing intent born from repeatedly fighting beasts wasn’t something an eight-year-old should possess.
More importantly…
Jino was only six.
[Your presence shattered the immature mental defenses of ‘Future Sword God’ Jino Britts and shocked the entire hall.]
[Fate Power Rating +1.]
[Fate Power Rating: 3.]
[The System greatly approves of your performance.]
[Acquired: Killing Intent: Nascent.]
‘Huh?’