Chapter 7- No Affinity? The Sword Way It Is!
Edward's face froze as he blinked a few times with a confused look.
"Eh? What did you say just now?"
Sali looked quite sad as she repeated her words. "You have no Element Affinity. You can't use magic."
"..."
'Wait, what? How is that possible? The system said that I have a magic stat and even my Skill Zombiemancer requires mana to activate. Hmm, is this some kind of error?'
"Are you sure?" Edward asked after a while.
"Yes. You did go through many tests to determine whether you could use mana or not and they all ended up with… failure."
'Hmm, There are only two possibilities then. Either the system is mistaken and I can't use mana or when I acquired this body, I also gained the ability to use mana along with it. I'm more inclined toward the latter one.' Edward rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he analyzed the information he had.
"How is mana learned usually?"
"Well, it depends on many factors such as age, talent and the kind of training the user is going through. So, even with talent, a poor child who doesn't have enough money to afford to enter a room that has concentrated mana levels, they could only have a very slow start compared to a talentless yet rich child would have."
"What does the person have to do to acquire the ability to use mana?"
"Very simple, actually. They simply have to assimilate their core with the mana around them. The moment your body absorbs mana for the first time is the moment when you become able to use it."
"I see."
'They didn't mention this part in the original story so I will only assume it was filled in by the god that sent me here. Hmm… Things are starting to get clearer. I think I know what I should do.' Nodding his head as he took a deep breath, Edward looked up.
"So, I'm basically unable to get stronger?"
"No! You can still learn many other things that could be useful in protecting yourself. For example, you can learn how to use the sword. Not everyone can use mana, in fact, only a minority are actually allowed to have this blessing. Most of them come from prestigious families while once every a few years, one of the commoners would be able to gain it and rise up from the masses."
'If I recall correctly, the protagonist of this story was one such case. He was quite talented. A prodigy, in a sense.' He thought as he recalled bits and pieces of the story.
"Learning swordsmanship seems cool too!"
"Fufufufu! I commend your spirit! I'm sure you can become a splendid swordsman if you train hard. Just imagining my little brother holding a sword. It really suits you!" Sali encouraged Edward with a proud look on her face.
Then, she picked up the storage object she carried with her and seemingly rummaged through it for a moment. Then, from within, two wooden swords emerged.
'Why does she even have two wooden swords? Wait, perhaps, she thought I would one day ask her to train me?' Raising an eyebrow at the small detail he noticed, Edward could only feel a warm sensation in his heart. However, that feeling soon turned into pain.
'You are lucky to have such a great sister, Asher.' He thought.
Edward also had a big sister in his previous life. However, their relationship was far from good. In fact, she was one of the reasons Edward chose to completely detach himself from society and live his life in solitude, doing what he loved.
'Ugh, there is no point in remembering the past. The present and the future are what matters. They all can go to hell for all I care.' Shaking those thoughts away, Edward focused on Sali again.
"Grab that sword." She said.
After he picked it up, Sali continued.
"Now, hold it like this." Taking a certain posture with the other wooden sword in her hand, she instructed Edward to do the same.
"No, that's not how you do it. Straighten your posture. You need to maximize the power that you use to slash with the sword. It requires every inch of your body to execute a successful sword attack."
"Uh, like this?" He asked as he moved his body slightly.
"No."
Approaching him, Sali grabbed his arm and his shoulder before she started adjusting him correctly. Although the feeling of her warm hands was good, Edward didn't want to anger her since she seemed so serious and focused.
"Good. Stay like that. Remember that posture."
"Understood."
"Now, I want you to do one full vertical slash."
"Hup!" Focusing on the sword, Edward moved his arms and slashed down with the sword.
"No. That wasn't a full swing! You have to use your feet when doing it too. All the energy coming from your legs can't go to waste." Sali said with a strict tone.
"Yes!"
After that, for the next few hours, Edward had to swing the sword again and again and again continuously. Each time, he would make a mistake and Sali would point it out ruthlessly without any hesitation. In contrast to her usual warm and friendly aura, her training mode was quite scary and unforgiving.
However, Edward found that to be a perfect attitude to approach training with as not only did it help Edward improve quite fast but he also felt quite satisfied whenever she complimented him for doing something right.
Eventually, when Edward was nearing the point of exhaustion, something happened.
[Your training has triggered a skill: Swordsmanship.]
[Swordsmanship (Level 1): You have learned the basics of how to use a sword. Using a sword, your strength and speed increase by 2%. The more you level up, the more the bonus increases. This skill doesn't require mana to activate.]
'Oh! I learned a skill from training. That's great. I guess my profession did increase.' Looking at the notification with a satisfied expression, he wiped the sweat accumulating on his face. At the moment, he was resting after continuously swinging the sword for the past 2 hours.
"How was I?" He asked Sali.
"As I thought, my little brother is quite talented with the sword. You have our mother's genes in you. She was crazy talented with the sword herself." Sali said with a happy smile.
"Really?"
"Yeah. She was one of the strongest people I have seen wielding a sword." Saying the last part, Sali looked down with a slightly nostalgic expression.
Edward felt his heart ache a little too which was quite weird considering the fact that he never met that woman before.
'Maybe it's this body reacting to the mention of Asher's mother. A part of Asher is still intact and didn't completely vanish. He must've loved his mother a lot too.' Just the mere fact that Asher's feelings were still intact was more than enough proof of how much he cherished his mother. That also indicates how strong the blow must've been when she died.
Even though Edward owned this body now, he still could understand why some parts of it would still belong to Asher. Especially strong feelings like love or hate, are kept intact because they transcend mere feelings and reach a stage where it's a part of one's soul.
'Don't worry, I will respect that part of you. You can feel happiness or pain. I will carry that burden with me. It's the least I could do for taking over your body.'