A static feeling woke me up as what felt like an electric current advanced throughout my body from my heart.
As I opened my eyes I was met with a familiar robotic voice.
[I woke you up as instructed Host.]
"Yeah, goodjob"
I rolled off my bed and using the bed frame as support I stood up trying to shake off the numb sensation.
I looked at the mirror opposite of the bed assessing my current appearance.
I had short black hair that covered my forehead like a fringe, and ruby red eyes that reflected the sunlight that peered through the window. My muscles were a bit bulkier than I would have preferred but not bulky enough to be considered huge just enough to fill my clothes.
"Since we're training I should probably wear something loose.."
Even though this was a more mediaeval setting with castles and monarchy and the other things you'd expect of older European culture it had a few modern things. Like they used magic to create a plumbing system that was probably better than the one in modern times. They also had things similar to TVs that used a combination of light magic and sound magic, but they were only available to the high class people, though the Ruena duchy refused to install one as they found no need for it. And arguably the most important thing in this world had clothes like hoodies, sweats, and other loose clothing. If I'm remembering correctly, the Ruena duchy was actually one of the main importers of baggier clothing like that since the northern climates were very snowy and cold.
I looked through the drawers in my room and took out a pair of black sweats, and a baggy white crewneck. I changed into them and then put on a pair of shoes that resembled black and white sneakers but were made of slightly different material.
"System, how much time do I have left until I have to meet my father?"
[8 minutes Host]
I walked through my door looking around. I hadn't realised before but besides breakfast and dinner time I hadn't noticed anybody else in the halls. And even when I did there were very few people.
Realising there was nobody I could ask for directions I activated draconic eyes.
I looked around the now black and white world for a collection of blood red aura. As soon as I turned to look behind me I was met with the sight of a large ball of red energy in the distance,
I immediately began walking towards it making sure to keep the skill active so I didn't lose track of it. And I was eventually met with a door. As soon as I opened that door I was hit with a gust of cold wind.
I deactivated my eyes and saw my father looking at me with two wooden swords in his hand.
"You're a few minutes early." He said with a slight smirk.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Far from, it means more training can be done."
"Yeah…" I replied while letting out a nervous chuckle.
My father looked at me with a brow raised.
"Take off your shirt for a moment."
I did as instructed and tossed my crewneck onto the polished stone ground of the training field.
To describe the training field it was a large stone floor with four walls on each side, each wall containing different ranged weapons.
On one wall there were weapons that specialised in mid-range and on another there were weapons that specialised in close range.
Within my father's eyes a dormant red glow was made visible as he looked at me.
"Perfection…" He mumbled under his breath.
"Hm?"
"Once you get higher up with the blood affinity you can see the flow of blood in another person, which I'm doing right now. And what I see is that your body is basically perfect for a swordsman. Even if we don't mention your muscles that are emphasised in the exact areas one would need to wield a sword, even the way your blood pumps through your body would make swordsmanship much more efficient."
"Oh..damn"
I knew everything he was saying due to the system's descriptions but to hear it out of somebody else's mouth it was kind of embarrassing.
Before I could form an actual eloquent response a wooden sword came flying my way.
And as if by instinct I immediately reached for the grip of the sword swinging it down diagonally towards my right. The tip of the practice sword was now pointed towards the floor as my eyes were pointed towards my fathers.
\With my left hand I reached up to my lips in order to check something.
'I was right..'
On my face was a smile, one of the very few smiles that I had shown in this world.
I soon collected myself and the smile crept into a normal monotone position.
"It's alright to smile son…though I will say I didn't expect to see you reach for the grip immediately."
My father also had a smile on his face as he looked at me.
I had to angle my neck to look up at my father who stood at a similar stature to Min who was around 195 centimetres. But even to me that smile was painfully obvious.
"So how are we going to practise?"
"I've found that experience is the best way to get better at something." He said as his smile went from one of joy to one full of a sinister feeling.
"Don't tell me.."
Under my father formed a glowing red circle with symbols inside of it.
'Is that a debuff circle?'
Before I could ask him he had disappeared from his spot and appeared in front of me with his sword swinging downward.
In response I used my own sword, placing it in between me and his sword.
As our swords connected I had only one thought.
'I'm gonna get my ass kicked today..'
I pushed my sword off of his causing me to jump back.
He pointed his sword at me.
"To get anything out of this you must use everything you've got Rohan."
'He's right..here it goes I guess.'
I held my sword in front of me and took a deep breath in. I could feel it, even more than before the fact that my mind and body were in harmony. As soon as this sword, as wooden as it may be, was in my hands my primary thought had been about swinging it. It's as if I lived through and for the sword.
I blinked once and then pushed myself off the ground towards my father. In a single step I had leapt the 3 metres that had separated us and swung my sword towards his neck vertically from left to right.
All he did was move back just to the point where my sword wasn't even able to graze him.
As soon as my foot touched the ground I stabbed the tip of my sword towards his chest only for it to be parried by his. And as my sword slid against his he took a step forward and brought his sword to my neck.
"You fight with enthusiasm Rohan, much of it in fact."
I used my right foot to push myself a few metres to the left escaping the wooden blade that had been against my neck.
I looked at his form, he had his legs shoulder width apart, with his left hand behind his back and his right hand elegantly grasping his sword's grip. His sword was held in front of him in a diagonal angle pointing towards his left shoulder.
Even though the form looked careless at a glance, there were little to no openings.
In a last ditch effort I activated draconic eyes in order to see his movements more clearly.
"..."
There were too many, there were hundreds if not thousands of possible actions. Each outline was essentially the same thickness as well so I didn't even know which was more probable.
'Looking for future outcomes is pointless.'
I closed my eyes and when I opened it again all that was left was my father's present outline without any of the possible outcomes blocking the way.
I had gotten rid of them since they didn't hold any value to the immediate situation.
"Your eyes have changed again..they resemble those of reptiles."
I looked at my father's outline that was filled with a red glow differentiating it from the black and white world around us.
"Consider it a racial trait I guess?"
As soon as I said that, the grip on my father's sword got noticeably tighter.
In response I stepped towards him with a downward diagonal swing to the right which he pushed his sword up a bit forward to block.
I slid my sword off his and swung towards his hip.
In response he took a small step back causing my sword to narrowly miss.
He then leaned towards me and swung his sword upward with a slight slant to the right aiming towards my neck.
With my sword and body leaning towards the ground due to my previous swing I couldn't use my sword to block, causing me to jump back in order to avoid the swing.
As I jumped back my balance was thrown off as an obstacle was felt on the back of my left calf causing me to fall back.
As I fell I felt the point of my father's wooden sword against my chest causing me to fall on my back.
From the ground I looked up at my father who had his wooden sword pointed towards me.
He moved his sword to his left hand, holding it in reverse grip by his side.
He reached his right hand out to me.
"It was good for your first time Rohan."
I grabbed his hand, getting pulled up back to my feet.
"What happened?"
I had absolutely no clue what made me fall in that short moment.
Responding to my question he tapped the back of my calf with his right foot.
"So you stopped your swing mid-way and tripped me?"
"Correct." He said while nodding.
While it sounds simple, what he did would require a precise amount of control. Even as a newbie I can tell that.
The swing he was doing required him to rotate his hip towards the right, but to trip me he'd have to not only stop the rotation but also rotate the opposite direction.
And then as I was falling he would've had to rotate his hip so he'd be centred and then move his sword towards my heart.
'I guess it makes sense considering those at the 10th rune move at speeds faster than light.'
Even with the debuff he was probably at the speed of a 2nd rune.
I let out a sigh as I thought about the enemies I'd face in the future.
'The highest rune rating was like the 23rd rune if I remember correctly.'
And that was only when fighting against creatures that used runes.
After the runes came antagonists that used a new power system all together, like spirits used essence instead of mana so they had their own system of measurement.
And the final battle in the game took place over multiple multiverses. I still don't know how that entirely happened. Like the game went from normal ish people that can destroy large landmasses, like the man in front of me to beings that can disintegrate universes.
Thinking about all of the future troubles I let out another sigh.
"Continuous sighing? Is there a problem?"
"No, of course not. I was just thinking about ways to get stronger." I shook my head with a smile.
"Oh…well don't worry about that too much as I have taken it upon myself to create a training routine."
'I don't think I like the sound of that..'
"It's rather simple as well, you'll be training with me three times a week, and for two days a week you'll be going into the forest to hunt monsters."
"Oh that doesn't sound too ba-monsters?"
"Yes…though you will have to learn to control your unique aura as well."
"My aura?"
"Yeah, your aura it's seeping out, it's the reason why the wing of the estate that your room is in, is rather empty."
'System is my aura not turned off?'
[Not entirely host.]
'Well…turn it off'
I don't really want to be avoided by the people that are meant to help me.
[Understood.]
Suddenly I felt like I was under a waterfall as a heavy pressure was spread through my body for a moment.
After the sensation ended I looked up at my father who had a brow raised.
"Interesting...you already know how to control your aura to such a fine degree. Is it the draconic part or the spirit part of you?"
"In all honesty I don't have enough information to really know."
"That makes sense.." He nodded
"Anyways father, what was that about hunting monsters?"
"There are some remnant monsters in the forest, they all avoid the town as the presence of me and the knights are here." My father boasted as he rested the wooden sword on his shoulders.
'Is the cold-hearted duke…bragging?.'
Rather than a knight he's more like a lumberjack in a way I guess.
"Oh? Are they weak?"
"Mhm, the strongest of them are only around the level of 4th rune mages."
'...I asked if they were weak, not if they could kill me.'
Looking directly at his eyes I questioned his sanity.
'I'm sure if the worst comes to worst. Somebody will be there to make sure I don't die.'
"When is the first hunt?"
"Tomorrow morning, for now we'll continue sparring."
And boy did we continue sparring, we continued until time came for lunch.
And during lunch my father couldn't stop ranting about how much of a 'genius' I was to my mother who smiled from ear to ear.
After the meal I left the dining hall and looked around to much more servants than there were before.
'Guess hiding the aura really did help.'
I smiled and nodded my head to the servants, soon my eyes met a familiar servant.
'The maid…why was she unaffected by my aura?'
The maid looked at me with a smile.
"Do you need anything young lord?"
"No- actually yes. Why didn't you avoid me?"
She smiled and responded, "Young lord, why would I avoid the thing I wished for, for so long. You are a gift of joy to everybody in the duchy. Also I'm not weak enough to be scared by the aura of somebody so young."
'Ohh…so it was one of those stories…'
I had wondered how the duke and duchess's changes weren't noticed in the game.
'So the entire duchy had been wanting an heir..'
I mean, who wouldn't wanna see the face of the man who saved them raise a child happily. My father hadn't simply been a ruler to them, but a role model in itself, and judging by this woman's appearance and mana levels she was most likely old enough to have been my father's caretaker as well. Meaning the demon not only took advantage of the desire of my parents, but even those that followed them.
"Anything else young lord?"
"What's your name?"
"Mareline, young lord."
"Well..Mareline tell my parents I won't be at dinner tonight."
She looked at my eyes and nodded with a smile.
"Of course young lord…good luck."
I nodded back and walked to the training area.
As I walked my desire to grow stronger only grew further.
'They all had stories..'
Besides Aureus, besides Estelle, besides my parents, every named and unnamed character had a story, had a reasoning, had a wish and a goal. And I was sent here to do god knows what, but all I do know is i'm not letting this world end, this is the burden I had accepted when I came into this world, and this is the burden I will learn to carry alongside Aureus, for the sake of not letting these limitless stories end so morbidly.
I picked up a wooden sword as I thought back to the eyes of the nurses and doctors compared to the eyes I had seen here. Unlike the eyes that looked at me only with pity as I laid on my deathbed these eyes carried something else.
"They had expectations…"
So, there I stood, there I practised different movements, there I swung in countless directions, for countless hours until the sun set and until it began to rise, until the calluses began to form on my palms, until my regeneration could barely stop my muscles from tearing, until I knocked out while standing with a sword still in hand.
Cause I'll be damned if I let these people down.