More than half a month had passed since the day Noah entered the main dojo and left everyone with an unforgettable first impression.
After only a week, he discovered his injuries were healing even faster than expected.
The effects of [Savage Physique ★★★]—Stamina Recovery +10% and its drawback of rapidly consuming nutrition—combined in this situation to produce something close to accelerated healing.
Marcus had stayed for five days to look after him.
Once Noah could move around on his own, his father returned directly to the outer dojos.
Marcus genuinely had a lot of work to handle.
Before leaving, he repeatedly warned Noah to mind his injuries and, more importantly, never disrespect the Sword God again.
Noah was Gal’s disciple now.
There were rules he could no longer ignore.
He also ordered Noah to get along properly with the other disciples.
If Noah caused another disaster, Marcus swore he’d personally step in and beat some sense into him.
As for whether Marcus truly blamed his son for causing trouble…
Noah looked at the +2 increase in his father’s affection and immediately understood.
The old man was all bark.
Inside, he was probably delighted.
Forget the fact that Noah had somehow become the Sword God’s second direct disciple.
Marcus had also discovered that his son’s real strength was far beyond his peers: only eight years old, already at Advanced rank, and stronger than the children of both his friend and his superior.
That was one hell of a face-saving moment.
Behind Noah’s back, Marcus was probably grinning from ear to ear.
[Marcus Emiya]
[Swordsman Rank: Sword Emperor]
[Affection: 82]
[Extracted Talents: Heart Toward the Sword ★★★★; Savage Physique ★★★]
Of course, Marcus’s satisfaction couldn’t compare to Noah’s own.
He opened the system panel.
Over the past several days, he’d gradually sorted through everything he’d gained that day and now understood most of it.
First came the reward he’d obtained by defeating Jino with killing intent.
[Killing Intent: Nascent]
This ability let him collect, refine, and accumulate killing intent, then use it to amplify his presence.
Strictly speaking, it was less a technique than a buff-type ability.
“Presence” could also be understood as the pressure or aura a person released.
Its strength was closely tied to the user’s actual power.
When Noah faced Gal, for example, the Sword God hadn’t needed to move.
His mere presence had created a terrifying pressure that made Noah’s instincts scream at him not to advance.
Noah had done something similar to Jino.
His killing intent alone triggered such an intense stress response that the six-year-old briefly hallucinated his own death.
Still…
Noah couldn’t help thinking the ability was a little underwhelming.
‘If only it could clear fodder like Conqueror’s Haki.’
Next came:
[Battle Aura Coating: Hardening]
Battle aura was fundamentally a physical reinforcement technique based on mana.
The user layered their mana over every part of the body, covering muscle, bone, nerves, and flesh in an invisible magical armor and stabilizing it there.
It could coat the body or a weapon, greatly enhancing attack and defense.
Battle aura was also one of the standard measures of a warrior’s strength.
Around Advanced rank, most warriors could already use it to protect their bodies.
Free control generally began around Saint rank or above.
This was one major reason warriors were usually stronger than magicians at the same rank.
Battle aura directly enhanced close-combat speed and power, while magicians normally needed time to chant.
One was fast.
One was slow.
The difference in attack speed was enormous.
Even learning chantless magic only removed a magician’s weakness.
It didn’t magically erase the warrior’s advantage.
Within the Holy Land of Swords, most swordsmen cared about one thing when it came to battle aura: how much they could release at once.
That determined both the durability of their protection and the destructive power of their attacks.
Endurance received far less attention.
In intense combat, projected battle aura was consumed rapidly.
Swordsmen in particular were a speed-specialized subset of warriors.
If one slash killed the opponent, who cared about a prolonged fight?
Swordsmen rarely fought battles of attrition.
For them, battle aura was normally an instinct that developed alongside the body after years of physical training: train → sense → coat.
Battle Aura Coating: Hardening, however, used a particular method of layering and twisting battle aura to increase its density.
In simple terms, Noah could spend less battle aura to obtain the same toughness someone else needed more aura to achieve.
Which meant if Noah wanted to be harder, he could be harder.
If he wanted to last longer, he could last longer too.
Also, despite what Noah had once assumed, Eris could actually use magic in the original story.
And in one worldline, the prodigy Aisha even became a magic swordswoman who trained in both systems.
Noah’s own inability to cast magic came partly from the Holy Land of Swords having no environment or teachers for magicians, but there was another reason.
Deep down, Noah had always assumed someone without magical talent simply couldn’t use magic.
Only later had he begun realizing that assumption itself might be part of the problem.
Perhaps this was simply the price of walking the path of the sword.
Regardless, Battle Aura Coating: Hardening was an enormous practical improvement and potentially a god-tier skill in the late game.
Then there was:
[Prototype – Ten Thousand Swings: Tsubame Gaeshi]
Noah still couldn’t understand this reward.
It had only one hint.
[One thought reaches the divine; sudden enlightenment follows.]
Even shouting “Use!” inside his head accomplished nothing.
The system remained as responsive as an NPC standing behind bulletproof glass.
Judging from the words, perhaps he needed to complete ten thousand swings.
He’d have to wait until he healed.
Right now he could get out of bed and even perform simple rehabilitation movements, such as slow empty swings, but that didn’t mean his body could handle a technique like Tsubame Gaeshi that demanded both explosive speed and power.
Noah looked down at his abdomen.
The bruise left by Gal’s blunt strike spread from below his stomach around toward his waist.
It still felt heavy and sore.
‘Old bastard really didn’t hold back much.’
Then Noah looked at the talent he’d drawn after becoming Gal’s disciple.
[Battle Aura Flow ★★★★]
[Effect: Greatly improves precision in battle aura control.
Once activated, the Host’s control over internal battle aura will become increasingly refined.
Through training, the distance battle aura may extend beyond the body can be increased.
Daily control exercises and practical combat may improve proficiency.]
[Warning: Mental burden +10%.]
‘Old man, your talent is excellent.’
That was the Shared Talent he’d obtained from establishing the master-disciple bond.
Noah checked his complete status.
[Host Stage: Childhood – Lightly Injured (8 years old)]
[Fate Power Rating: 8]
[Profession: Swordsman (Magician talent not unlocked)]
[Sword God Style: Advanced]
[Water God Style: Uninitiated]
[North God Style: Beginner]
[Human Legend: 2%]
[Human Legend Bonus: Damage against humans +2%]
[Titles: Sword God’s Disciple; Public Enemy of the Holy Land of Swords]
[Acquired Talent Traits:]
[Heart Toward the Sword ★★★★ (Active)]
[Savage Physique ★★★ (Active)]
[Flash of Insight ★★★ (Active)]
[Hunting ★★★ (Active)]
[Mind’s Eye ★★★ (Active)]
[Arm Strength ★★ (Active)]
[…]
[Battle Aura Flow ★★★★ (Pending Activation)]
[…]
This trip had practically been a giveaway event.
Looking back through the system notices, Noah realized the Path of Legend had required both a Fate Power Rating of five and contact with a God-rank combatant.
Legend, as Noah understood it, was basically the reputation system from games in his previous life.
Different races were like different servers with separate reputation tracks.
Damage against humans +2%?
Wasn’t that basically an Anti-Human trait?
Yep.
The System was absolutely a Type-Moon fan.
As for why his Human Legend had risen to two percent instead of one, the answer lay in his two titles.
[Sword God’s Disciple]
[Effect: Human Legend correction +0.5%.]
[Acquisition Condition: Become the Sword God’s disciple.]
[Public Enemy of the Holy Land of Swords]
[Effect: Human Legend correction +0.5%.
Members of the Holy Land of Swords are more likely to display hostility toward you.]
[Acquisition Condition: Become an object of hostility for more than one-third of the core Holy Land of Swords population.]
Aside from disciples who had known Noah before and a few people who simply didn’t care, his reputation really was terrible.
Once he’d recovered enough to walk, Noah wandered around the core dojo and could roughly categorize why people disliked him.
First: the stubborn illiterate faction.
They naturally looked down on literate people.
Reading dulled the sword, or so they believed.
Noah’s habit of touching books was practically a moral failing.
Second: the honorable-combat faction.
They disliked Noah’s roundabout fighting style and thought it contradicted the Sword God Style’s straightforward aggression.
In their hearts, they didn’t acknowledge him.
Third: the delusional-upstart faction.
The Holy Land of Swords worshipped strength and ranked people through competition.
Everyone wanted to become the Sword God’s disciple.
Naturally, some dreamed of defeating Noah and catching Gal’s attention.
Even when Noah went to the dining hall, he could feel unfriendly eyes tracking him.
Small circles had formed around the shared idea of excluding him.
In school terms, it was bullying.
Noah hadn’t expected Eris’s experience of being ostracized in the original to somehow land on his head instead.
‘Is bullying another sacred tradition of the Holy Land of Swords?’
You’re the Sword God’s disciple?
The Sword Emperor’s son?
You might become a Sword King or Sword Emperor someday?
If we keep bullying this brat, he might eventually kill us?
So what?
Backing down because the other person is stronger or has status?
That’s weakling logic.
As the ancient saying definitely did not go:
‘If bullying is worth life and death, why avoid it merely because the target is strong or weak?!’
This is our sacred inheritance!
The Will of Bullying!
…Sorry, wrong anime.
Noah believed he could eventually get along wonderfully with his senior and junior disciples.
He would persuade them with reason.
Physics was a branch of reason, after all.
Still, he suspected the largest source of resentment came from one final faction.
Recently, whenever Noah practiced empty swings, Mind’s Eye kept alerting him that someone nearby was watching.
At first, he’d thought some villainous peasant wanted to harm him.
Then, during one sudden turn, he caught a fleeting glimpse of dark-blue hair.
Everything clicked.
Oh.
The Holy Land of Swords was full of hot-blooded teenage boys and girls with nowhere to spend their energy.
Repressed teenage boys and girls.
He’d injured the princess-like girl half of them considered a goddess.
Of course they resented him.
Noah calculated the time.
She should be coming again soon.
It was time to deal with that too.