It was early in the morning and Asher, who had just arrived at the training ground, spotted the twins who were also waiting for Nathan to arrive. The training ground was a huge room covered in white tiles and with a transparent rooftop. Nathan arrived shortly after.
He was wearing a white shirt and pants which did not hide his large muscles. His sharp red eyes and his height of 6ft8 made him very imposing to anyone who saw him. Amelia, who was a mage, did not attend this session as she would not be learning sword art.
The twins were going to learn basic martial arts and breathing techniques that would help them when they went through their awakening. So only Asher would learn from Nathan for the two weeks and the twins would only come for Nathan to correct their mistakes.
"Brats, get ready because my training is not soft at all," Nathan laughed as he channeled his mana to make a barrier that prevented anyone from noticing what was happening inside it. This was his extra measure for safety because he was going to teach them the method that had been passed down through the Greville family for generations.
The method Nathan was going to teach the twins helped mages, but it helped sword users the most. Only after their awakening would their path be decided. If a person had a larger mana pool and fewer mana veins, they would choose the path of a mage. If a person had more mana veins and less mana pool, they would train their body more to increase their weapon mastery. Although several other reasons also made people choose many different paths.
Seeing that the twins were excited about their first class, Nathan looked at them and said,
"This edgy brother of yours will demonstrate the basic martial art technique for you two." Nathan jokingly said, he turned and looked at Asher.
The twin looked towards Asher, Lucas was the most excited to learn from Asher as he already took him as his role model.
"Okay," Asher did not reject his demands and started doing various moves. He started with the basic posture and slowly moved his legs and hands. The coordination and form were truly enchanting. The twins watched him, impressed by his beautiful demonstration. Even Nathan was praising Asher in his mind.
'This brat learned this in a day, I wonder how much time will these two take?' Nathan pondered.
"Right, so you watched it, now try to move as he did," Nathan spoke as Asher stopped.
"What?" The twins looked at each other and then looked back at Nathan. They only watched it once and half of the time they were busy admiring Asher so they missed what he was doing.
"Yeah, you heard it right," Nathan's aura was domineering, so the twins quietly started doing as he asked them to. Lucas and Livia tried to copy what they remembered from seeing Asher, but unlike Asher, they looked so bad that Nathan had to stop them and tell them to start again.
"No, stretch your leg more. Don't break your posture, maintain your breathing. Feel your body more and stop relying on your eyes for everything," Nathan kept correcting them many times before they got their posture and form right. He told them to keep practicing until they were comfortable in that form before moving on to the next steps.
"Now let's start with you," Nathan grinned as he looked at Asher.
"Do you want to spar with me first so that I can see your weak points?" Nathan asked Asher.
"I have no issues," he replied with an indifferent face.
"Tsk, let's see how long you can remain this calm in front of me!" Nathan said as he picked up a wooden sword, which was not his main weapon, a greatsword.
"Now pick a sword,"
Asher did not pick a real sword like Nathan, he also picked a wooden sword. He swung it around to get the feel of its weight and took a stance toward Nathan.
"So you want me to attack first? That's quite cheeky of you, brat, but I don't mind," Nathan said as he prepared to hold back during the duel. He knew that even his normal strike could take Asher's life, so he was careful as he charged toward him.
Nathan kept one hand behind his back and only attacked with the sword in his right hand. Asher carefully dodged Nathan's strikes by backstepping. He knew that blocking the attack would be pointless, so he decided to dodge it until he couldn't.
'Let's see what you are hiding' Nathan was determined to clear his doubts regarding Asher.
Asher stopped after going back six steps and quickly backtracked to his right and immediately attacked Nathan, who moved his sword in an unorthodox manner and successfully canceled Asher's strike.
"Hmm, what was that?" Asher thought as he calmly watched Nathan's move. Even he couldn't see through Nathan's strike. Nathan had canceled his momentum before moving his sword at an awkward angle, but the momentum was still there.
Nathan started attacking Asher more vigorously. He wasn't going easy on him at all. It seemed he was trying to confirm something with the way he was attacking. Asher knew what Nathan wanted to see, but he wouldn't show it to him so soon.
*slash**slash**slash**thud*
Asher dodged three of Nathan's strikes, but the last one was not dodgeable, so he decided to counter it. The sword's force pushed him back and broke his stance.
"What happened? Is this all you have?" Nathan mocked him as he kept striking him. He decreased the force behind his attacks so Asher could counter them. Asher was keeping his killing intent locked in, but Nathan's ruthless attacks were not helping him at all. It was enough time for him to show what Nathan wanted to see. He knew that Nathan was suspicious of him and wouldn't let him leave until he got what he wanted.
"If you want to see it that much, I will show you," Asher thought as he immediately took a big leap away from Nathan. He channeled his mana into his legs and pushed himself away from Nathan, who stopped to see what Asher would do next. A small notification popped up in front of him and disappeared quickly.
Asher stopped and let his hands go, breaking his previous stance and changing the way he was breathing. His eyes were now sharp, and his hand kept the sword pointed toward the ground. He started walking towards Nathan, who was waiting to see Asher's next move. Asher immediately charged towards Nathan at a high speed, but Nathan's eyes could see his slow movements easily.
At the exact moment Asher's sword was about to touch Nathan's sword, he immediately shifted his weight and used his left leg to turn and attack Nathan from the left side. His attack was immediately followed by various side steps and relentless attacks on Nathan's vitals. Nathan could see the movement of Asher, but he couldn't predict it. Although his sword arts were better than Asher's, he could counter it. He noticed that Asher's attack not only forced him to counter it, as he always aimed for his vitals, but his grip was getting pressured. Although this small pressure could not affect Nathan, he suddenly stopped and looked at Asher, who stopped as well.
"Where did you learn this sword art?" Nathan eyes turned serious as he used his pressure on Asher so he couldn't lie.
"I created it," Asher looked Nathan in the eye, and his indifferent attitude did not change. Although his breathing was fast from the duel earlier, he was fine.
"How? Don't lie to me. This sword art cannot be created by a mere 14-year-old who hasn't even held a sword for more than a month in his life." Nathan stood near Asher and looked down, his red eyes meeting Asher's. The atmosphere grew so cold that the twins, who were far away from the two of them, felt scared. Asher didn't budge, as he hadn't lied about it. Although he didn't show it fully, this art was indeed created by him.
"If you don't want to believe me then don't. I have nothing to prove to anyone," Asher said as he turned to leave the training grounds.
"Did he really create it himself?" Nathan muttered to himself. He was sure nobody could learn this much from one month of sword practice, but he then remembered that Asher had broken even his record of awakening.
"Maybe he really did it," Nathan thought.
"Wait, brat. Although I still doubt it but If you have created that art of yours, you might be more suitable for the title of the Sword God," Nathan admitted that Asher might one day surpass him.
Asher turned and looked at Nathan.
"Although your sword seems to target a human rather than a monster," Nathan knew from the moment he countered Asher's art.
"Don't know. Never seen somebody fight a monster. Maybe that's why," Asher lied to Nathan, but his expressionless face couldn't give him away. After all, he couldn't say the truth, that he had killed more humans than beasts in his previous life.
"Although your sword art is good, it's still lacking. Maybe you can find some inspiration from my sword art," Nathan said while thinking, and continued,
"Brat, if you want to learn my sword, I will teach you, but remember the training I will put you through will make every fiber of your being scream to quit. Can you handle it?" Nathan knew what his sword art could do, so he decided to warn Asher.
"Don't underestimate me too much," Asher said, as he looked at Nathan. His cold gaze met Nathan, who laughed, seeing the unwavering attitude of Asher.
"Mind you, young boy, but even both your father and your late uncle failed to learn it from me," Nathan told him.
"But seeing you, I feel like you can inherit my sword, and maybe you could even improve it further," Nathan told him.