Genius

"Ughhhhhh!!!"

I crashed into the blood covered ground.

"Ughh!"

"Cassian?!"

My father looked back to find me bleeding in a crater caused by my fall.

"What did you do?! y-y-your chest!"

My father held me up as I regained my consciousness.

"*Cough* i'm okay, it hit me before I could reach the sword but I managed to break the chain!"

"NO NO NO!! I told you not to mess with it! Look at your chest!"

I had a deep claw mark on my chest

"Such deep wounds! You almost died, what were you thinking?!" my father shouted as he poured a healing potion over the wounds.

"I just took a risk"

"Status Tab!"

A panel with my information appeared:

NAME:Alistair Cassian Fellsword(John Avery)

MAGIC:4th-Circle (Enlightenment Required to progress)

SWORDSMANSHIP:Expert(Enlightenment required to progress).

DEMONIC ARTS:1st-Ring (Capped).

STATS(Capped):

Physique-999

Energy-999

PASSIVES:

[Nameless God's Physique(1%)]

I tapped on the [Nameless God's Physique].

[Nameless God's Physique. The ???????? And ??????? Body Of A G? Of ?????????. Awakening currently at 1%]

'Interesting!'

My father shook me as if to snap me out of a hallucination.

"Cassian, Cassian! Snap out of it!"

"Yes, Father, what's going on?"

"Follow me out of here. That demon's too dangerous!"

I followed my father out as he carried the ancestor's body.

.

.

BACK IN THE OFFICE.

My father placed the well preserved corpse of our ancestor on the table.

"You did good, my son but don't risk your life like that ever again."

"Yes, father."

"Though we've gotten him out, we still can't give him the proper burial he deserves."

"Huh? Why not?" I wondered.

"He belongs buried among the founders but for that we need to regain our status."

"I'm sorry I couldn't get the sword, father."

"It's okay."

"I might be able to devour the demon if I can find the Ancestor's journal."

My father looked through the ancestor's torn blue robe pockets and found 3 things inside.

"A Book, a Ring, and a letter? You can have these, Cassian, you brought him down after all."

"Thank you father, this might be a big help!"

"You can go now, I'll preserve the ancestor's body in a crystal coffin until we can retrieve the sword."

"By the way, father, are you recovering well?"

"I'm almost there, I'd say a month and I'll be back to the Pseudo-Sword Sainte Rank."

"Alright, i'll try my best to figure something out while your recover,"

I returned to my room with the ancestor's belongings.

[Side-Quest [Past Glory's Return] Completed!]

[Rewards Will Be Stored Due To Cap!]

[Main-Quest Changed!]

[A 2nd Main-Quest [Way Of The Ancestors] Created!]

[Main-Quest]-[Way of The Ancestors]:Master the way of your forgotten ancestors and return your family to their rightful place!.

Reward:+50 to every stat,+Demon-Devouring Skill.

"I was going to do that anyways."

I placed the items in front of me and stored them into the inventory.

"Let's read through the descriptions."

[B-Rank [Ancient Ring]:Serves As A Key For Something.]

[Letter To ?????????:A Letter with the following written inside: 'it might be today or tomorrow or a hundred years in the future! But we will reclaim our birthright from your dark hands!']

[SS-Rank [A Record Of Cassian Fellsword& And The Ancient Arts]: A book recording the arts, life and ways of Cassian Fellsword.]

"The ring is vague so i'll leave it for now, nothing comes to mind from the letter either, so i'll just read the book and see what I can learn from it."

I retrieved the book and began reading through it.

4 HOURS LATER.

I was halfway through the book when a man and woman suddenly pushed the door open.

"Who do you think you are to barge into my room?" I asked with a cold expression.

The blonde haired man had blue mage robes on and a rectangular iron necklace with 8-circles lit on it and the brown haired woman had on light iron armor and a ring with golden inscriptions that showed her qualification as a sword master. She had on leather armor along with 2 swords hanging from her waist.

The woman spoke first.

"Excuse us, Young Master but we've been here a month and a half and we can't delay your appraisal any longer!"

"So you're the appraisers sent by the king?"

"Yes, i'm Sword-Master Gwen Fald, and this is 8th-Circle mage Jacob Corner. We'd like to immediately start the assessment!"

"I agree with gwen, we've been gone from our positions for too long and we can't delay any longer!"

I decided to get it over with.

"*Sigh* i'm only halfway through this book but I've made you wait too long. Follow me."

I left the room and they followed behind me, they whispered behind me but I could still hear them.

"Is he really only 16?! How does he tower over me, a grown man, at that age?"

"Not only that but he has wide shoulders, a thick back, and a large chest, not to mention that his legs aren't lacking and are balanced with his upper body! He's not only blessed with genius talent but an incredible body for the sword as well!." the sword-master said.

I ignored them and after a short walk we reached the training area in the backyard.

"Let us begin, who's first?"

"I'll go first."

The mage entered the hay circle.

"Alright, how do you want to do this?"

"This way," he handed me a scroll.

"Read through that and memorize it, then I'll transfer my knowledge of it to you so you can use it without the months of required learning."

I read through the scroll.

"No need. Galvum Sovan Gilkag Savant Galk Ji-" I verbally chanted to not reveal my ability to cast chantless magic,

"As expected of a genius!" he exclaimed.

Five giant orbs of mana appeared in front of me but I was unable to spout the sixth word due to my lack of Mana.

The mage's eyes widened, his eyebrows flew up, and a cold sweat covered him. Using his fingers he seemed to be counting the orbs of mana.

"What? How is this possible?! They said you were 3rd circle at best which is already insane but you're already a 5th circle at only 16 years of age? This is unprecedented!"

"Is that it?" I asked

The mage calmed himself and snapped out of his shock.

"Oh, no. there is still another test! You just have to completely release all of your Mana into this orb and then retrieve it, that's it!."

The mage handed me a black orb.

"Sounds easy enough but shouldn't you be testing something more practical?" I questioned.

"These are the current standards. Please proceed," he replied.

"Alright."

I poured every bit of energy in the [Energy Storage] into the orb and numbers began appearing on it. The mage began going crazy as well.

"179! 280! 506! It's still going! 800! 999!"

The numbers suddenly stopped at 999.

"Huh?! Is the orb broken? Your Mana is almost higher than a 6th circle mage!"

I just wanted to get back to reading.

"Is the test void then?"

"Oh! Uhh no. The last number was 999 so we'll just go with that. One second and your pendant will be ready."

The mage began casting several high-level spells while muttering chants.

"Here you go. I must say that your talent is rather unbelievable! The king will surely faint upon hearing of this!"

The mage handed me a rectangular necklace with 5-Stars lit on its surface.

"A 16-year-old 5th-Circle mage with nearly the mana of a 7th-Circle Mage is truly unprecedented! Thank you for allowing me the honor of appraising you!" he said with a joyous expression.

I put on the necklace as the mage bowed and left the hay circle.

"My turn, young master!" the swordswoman jumped into the hay circle with two swords in brandished.

"I only have two simple tests for you, one is for your Aura and the other is a spar. Which one would you like to start with?"

"Let's get the Aura test done with."

"Take this then."

The brunette woman tossed me a strange iron sword with 10 thick horizontal black lines from the blade's base to the blade's tip.

"Oh, a testing sword? This reminds me of something. Can I ask you a question, sword master?"

"Go ahead."

"Was there an incident about 6 months ago, where a young man broke a testing sword with his Aura?" I questioned.

"There was, but how do you know that? It was kept under wraps."

Her answer revealed to me that the novel's main character had already surpassed me a year ago. His cheat was even greater than I imagined.

I ignored her question.

"Let's start then."

I released my Aura into the sword and one by one the black lines turned a dark red.

"3 lines, 5 lines, 7 lines, 8 lines! 9 lines! 10 Lines?! It still hasn't stopped!"

"You didn't think I'd fall behind my cousin, did you?"

The sword combusted and my Aura was released into the air in the shape of a silver flame. Immediately, I retracted it into my body.

"It broke! This is the third time in our kingdom's entire history, and Sword Energy on a 16-year-old? My god!"

"Let's start with the second test immediately."

"Oh, sorry. I was distracted. We'll do a 5-minute spar, if you land 10 hits on me or manage to push me out of this hay circle you win." she replied.

She tossed me a wooden sword and took one for herself as we faced each other in the circle.

"Start!"

In an instant, she leaped at me and swung down with her sword. I instantly took a blocking stance.

"You have a heavy sword, Sword-Master," I said nonchalantly.

"Not heavy enough it seems, you're not even budging."

When her meteor-like sword reached my guard it was stopped completely. Brute strength was my specialty after all.

"I've been told I have a strong body."

"I'm ashamed to say that I, a Sword Master can't overpower you with physical strength. Aura is a different matter though!"

Her bright blue Aura was unleashed and I was pushed away a short distance.

"I guess i'll start getting serious."

I dashed forward and swung at her from every direction, her Aura was too much to get through but I felt a strange sense of calmness, precision, and reflex that could find pinpoint openings in her defense.

"3."

"How incredible! I'm blocking but you're finding even the smallest openings!"

She sped up and began closing all tiny openings without giving way.

"5 hits, I have to use my Aura now or I won't get through."

I sped up my attacks and unleashed my Aura to fully cover my body and my wooden sword.

"6. 7. 8!"

"Ngh! Your Aura is incredibly pure, I've landed nearly 50 strikes on you but you've endured them without blinking!"

She suddenly increased her Aura to the limit in an effort to completely block me but I simply dodged back and dashed forward piercing through and striking past her guard in an instant.

"9 and 10!!"

"Hahaha young master, you've really mastered the basics to an incredible degree! Your senses and reflexes are amazingly sharp too!"

"Thank you. Does this mean I've passed?"

"Perfectly so! You're an official Swordsman-Rank swordsman! This is the proof."

She handed me a black ring with the words Swordsman inscribed on it in bright silver and then she brought out a rectangular black card, engraved something on it, and then handed it to the mage who did the same.

"This is your identity and status card, it contains your most important information, from family to ranks to exact stats and the sort, all you have to do now is drip some blood on it and it'll be linked to you."

…