Four Years Old

(Timeskip 1 year; Rudeus age 4)

Rudeus' life continued in this way until he turned four, when his parents decided to get him a magic tutor. Zenith had already imparted to her son everything she knew about magic. Rudy was able to achieve both Beginner and Intermediate level in three types of magic – Fire, Water and Healing.

Although Zenith herself only achieved Beginner rank in Fire and Water magic, she still knew enough about the Intermediate level to teach the basics of it. Not to mention she had the corresponding tomes to guide Rudeus' curriculum as well.

What shocked them the most, however, were two aspects of Rudy's spell casting abilities.

Firstly, Rudeus has an absolutely massive mana pool that has grown a thousand fold since he cast his first Water Ball spell.

And secondly, he was able to cast spells without an incantation.

When Rudeus revealed this achievement to Zenith, she had been beyond surprised. Though Paul and Lilia were also pleasantly shocked, their astonishment could not compare to Zenith's who had a deeper knowledge of magic than them.

Instant and silent spell casting. That was the pinnacle of magic all mages strived for yet could never achieve. Yet, it was achieved by a five year old boy who simply wanted to find a way to incorporate magic in his swordsmanship.

Zenith herself had tried silent spell casting from Rudeus' explanations on how he achieved it, but no matter what, her mind could not wrap around how he managed to do it. As a result, she was not able to replicate the feat.

These three aspects: 1) intermediate level in three types of magic; 2) a massive mana capacity; and 3) silent spell casting; was what drove the Greyrats to find a magic tutor for Rudeus.

As for Rudeus' swordsmanship? Technique wise, he was freakishly already at Intermediate level for all three swordsmanship styles.

Paul still couldn't believe how quickly Rudeus learned swordsmanship. It was to the point that he didn't even feel like his pride was damaged from the sheer prodigious talent his son possessed.

For Paul, who took maybe ten years to achieve Advanced rank in all three sword styles, Rudeus being able to reach two-thirds of the way in just a year was beyond comprehension.

Rudeus had the ability to imitate the Beginner rank techniques of the three sword styles after seeing it just once. Although he needed a few more times for Intermediate rank techniques it still blew Paul's mind thinking about it.

However, even though Rudeus was able to learn Intermediate rank techniques, Paul decided that his son still needed to firm up his foundations before progressing further. Just being able to replicate techniques while standing still wasn't enough. He also needed to have the ability to use them in battle. Combat ability was the true measure of a swordsman.

Even then, the boy took to swordsmanship like a fish to water. Executing techniques was like second nature to him, even causing Paul to at times wonder if there had been such a genius throughout Central Continent's history.

'I guess this is what they call a monstrous talent…' Paul surmised ruefully. He got over his bitterness quickly, replacing it with immense pride and joy for his son's genius. The next Sword God, Paul had labelled Rudeus, though at this moment, it was still just a proud father's fantasy.

Rudeus' physical strength was also rapidly improving due to two factors. One of which was the dedicated physical training Paul and Rudeus put himself through. Rudeus did exercises that seemed foreign to Paul, like laying face first on the ground before pushing himself up and down repeatedly over a period of time, or grabbing on to a tree branch with his hands and pulling himself up repeatedly.

Though it may have looked strange to the native inhabitants of this world, its results spoke for itself.

The other reason for his rapid improvement in bodily strength was because of an aspect of martial techniques he called Mana Reinforcement.

When he witnessed Paul cutting apart boulders, he asked how that was possible. He pressed that it was impossible for muscles alone to reach the extent of inhuman might needed to break boulders with a wooden sword.

Paul wracked his brain for a bit but could only roughly explain what he was doing. But what little he could remember was somewhat enlightening for Rudeus, even though he had to fill in the blanks with his own understanding and assumptions.

Rudeus could guess that mana was not something used only by mages, but also being used by martial fighters subconsciously. But the way they used mana was to enhance the physical capabilities of their bodies. Likely, it was a form of mana manipulation, where instead of emitting mana externally in order to cast spells; one circulated and layered mana on their body instead to enhance physical strength, speed and durability.

All swordsmen and fighters including Paul used this mana enhancement either consciously or unconsciously. Most individuals understood it as an inner strength that came out when they were fighting. Most individuals who fought with swords, especially at the highest levels, were also muscle brained idiots it seemed. Like Paul.

After learning of this technique, mana training became even more important in Rudeus' eyes.

His parents thought he was able to increase his mana capacity solely because he expended his mana by casting spells repeatedly every day.

That was largely correct. But the growth of his mana pool could also be attributed to him training in Mana Reinforcement as often as him expending his mana on spells.

This two pronged approach to training both his body and his magic resulted in his mana capacity skyrocketing.

But if Rudeus had to choose which one he preferred, he would definitely say swordsmanship was his one true love. Being able do magic was of course a surreal experience. Summoning fire and ice out of thin air just by moving his mana was an incomparable feeling.

However he simply enjoyed the sheer physicality of swordsmanship even more. Being able to run around, drilling the three sword styles' respective footwork, swinging his sword and actually be able to grasp the tangible growth of his strength... it lit within him a fire and passion for something he hadn't felt since he was playing soccer, before he became paralysed from the waist down.

So even though magic was, for lack of a better word, magical, it was still secondary compared to the tactility and instinctive essence of swordsmanship that was like second nature to him.

Although Rudeus had learned a majority of what Paul could teach him regarding the three swords styles technique wise, he still needed time for his body to grow and mature in order to make complete use of the full extent of his skills. Battle Aura could only do so much when his limbs were still short and doughy, and other things like core strength or back muscles were also important in martial techniques.

Additionally, he still needed to build battle experience with Paul by sparring with him.

Paul had this to say after the first few times sparring with Rudeus:

"His spatial awareness is incredible. It's like he has eyes at the back of his head."

Spatial awareness referred to the ability to understand where one's body was in relation to other people/objects. Its role in fights was primarily in measuring distance and reacting to external stimuli from one's blind spots by relying on subconscious measurements and intuition.

This skill was something he had excelled in and honed when he was playing competitive soccer, where it was crucial to be constantly aware of the coordinates of not just your teammates but also your opponents on the field.

By mastering spatial awareness, a player could dominate the field and perform miraculous plays. Similarly, a swordsman who can master spatial awareness and had complete understanding of the distance between themselves and their opponent could dominate the battlefield.

It wasn't a skill that could be learned from young, or at least not to the level of a master. Rudeus, in this sense, was simply talented in this area and was lucky enough to have received training to hone it in his past life.

Of course, even with all of these factors that build up his swordsmanship, he still couldn't defeat Paul in a spar.

One reason was that Paul's skills could not be underestimated. He was an experienced, veteran adventurer for a reason. His advanced level in the Sword God, Water God and North God swordmanship styles did more than just represent his skill in three different sword styles. Instead, it was when he weaved those three styles together to form a singular fighting style that made Paul as strong as he was.

While Rudeus knew of the grades above Advanced in swordsmanship, and though he had never met a Saint ranked swordsman before, he imagined that Paul could be considered roughly at that level when he used all three styles together.

The Sword God style focused on speed and aggression, widely considered the strongest. Their philosophy was akin to "A second strike is not necessary". The Sword God style was incidentally Paul's favourite.

The Water God style specialises in defensive techniques such as parrying and counters. It is strong against the Sword god style as it focuses on defence. They subscribed to the philosophy that making the first move was something only fools did.

The North God style's on the other hand focused on adaptability and survival. Rather than a series of techniques, it more closely resembled a philosophy on approaching danger. This was Paul's least liked sword style since it relies on a lot of tricks and non-sword fighting techniques that did not suit the straightforward man.

For Rudeus, he found the Sword God style to most suit his personality on the field. Aggressive and blunt but also precise when he needed to be. But off the field, North God style was the philosophy he agreed most with.

Why? Because pro soccer players were people who followed the philosophy of winning being the most important thing regardless of their methods! Flopping to the ground and crying in pain after being barely touched was their specialty. Even if they received criticism for being actors worthy of awards, what was important was gaining every small advantage whenever possible.

Plus, North God style was the only swordsmanship style that did not necessarily dictate a sword as its primary weapon. While Rudeus was fond of brandishing a sword, he was also curious on other forms of weaponry. Spearmanship, Archery or even barehanded martial arts. North God Style seemed to be a school that incorporated all of them.

However, Rudeus also held a vast ambition. He intended to master all that he could in all three sword styles, before promptly discarding them to form his own sword school!

The Magic Sword Style!

Or perhaps something with a God in its name, but that will take a while before he can earn a similar title to the respective Gods of the existing three styles.

The Magic Sword Style was exactly like what it sounded. Incorporation of magic into swordsmanship. Practitioners of this style would be known as Magic Swordsman... or Sorceror Knights!

Ah just thinking about it made Rudeus excited. Although there already existed a group of people who called themselves Magic Swordsmen, they would not be able to replicate how Rudeus incorporated magic with martial techniques since they lacked the ability to cast spells without incantations.

In that sense, they weren't true Magic Swordsmen!

In order to establish this new school of swordsmanship, Rudeus was already starting to think up potential techniques that incorporated his silently cast spells.

For example creating a launch pad from the dirt under his feet to increase his jump height and then using wind magic to double as a jet engine that propelled his body towards his enemy.

Or layering his sword in fire while simultaneously wielding a whip made of water in his other hand.

Due to the near endless versatility of spell craft added on to a swordsmanship that incorporated all three existing sword schools, his magic sword style would undoubtedly become the greatest and most recognised in the world!

But that was for future Rudeus to figure out. Current Rudeus still had to learn the Advanced magic spells and catch up to his already developing Advanced Swordsmanship.

The second reason why Rudeus still couldn't match up with Paul was because the man had over a decade more experience with sword fighting than Rudy. Skills and expertise earned through blood, sweat and tears, in the heat of battle and tirelessly acquired on the training ground.

He has fought hundreds of battles with his sword, so compared to Rudy who only just started learning the sword, it was like comparing a child learning his alphabets and an adult who has already finished High School.

While Rudeus was undoubtedly talented in moving his body and in swordsmanship, he just couldn't compare to the massive reserve of battle experience Paul had behind every single one of his movements. Rudeus was a pro athlete in his previous life, not a martial artist after all.

Another reason was that he never pushed the Mana Reinforcement technique to the absolute limits of his body.

Rudeus knew he had a very large mana capacity, or at least that is what Zenith had told him. This mana capacity was also the same fuel used for Mana Reinforcement. The last time he pumped in more mana than normal the wooden sword that he swung shattered in mid swing.

When he thought about how his body might shatter like that wooden sword should he use too much power in his Mana Reinforcement, he felt it more prudent to be more conservative with his usage of Mana reinforcement.

Even if both Zenith and I can use healing magic, it would be foolish to ignore the dangers and take on unnecessary risks - Was his mentality towards experimenting with Mana Reinforcement.

As a result, every fight between Paul and Rudy so far resulted in a loss for the child. His dad sometimes bragged, but other times he would console and reassure Rudeus, reaffirming his talent.