Zeha focused his gaze. He sprinted quickly toward the grandma and swung his sword. She easily avoided the strike without any effort. Zeha kept attacking, but she dodged every blow without moving from her spot.
"Ukh!" Zeha was starting to get frustrated. While he struggled to land a hit, the grandma evaded each strike as if it were nothing.
Zeha increased the speed of his attacks, but it still wasn't enough to pressure her.
"Is this all you've got?" The grandma struck Zeha in the stomach with her sword, sending him flying back a fair distance. He barely managed to stop himself from rolling across the floor.
His stomach throbbed painfully. It was clear from his expression that he was holding back the pain.
"Your attack is far too weak. You wouldn't even be able to kill a deer with a strike like that," she said.
"Even if you can't use magic, you can channel mana into your sword," she continued.
Zeha looked surprised. "Channel mana? Is that even possible?"
"Of course. It's the basic requirement before mastering the Magic Sword technique. The concepts are similar, even if they're not exactly the same."
Zeha paused, staring intently at his wooden sword. "How do I do that?"
"It may sound simple, but not everyone can grasp it right away. You must focus on feeling your mana and channel it into the entire blade of your sword." The grandma demonstrated by infusing mana into her sword.
The once plain wooden blade now emitted a faint blue mist that wrapped around it.
Zeha's eyes widened in shock. "A Mana Sword?"
The grandma smiled proudly. "That's right. A Mana Sword."
One of the fundamentals before mastering the Magic Sword technique is the Mana Sword. It must be mastered properly to control mana effectively when using magic. A sword imbued with mana becomes three times stronger.
"Attack me again once you've mastered the Mana Sword," she said.
Meanwhile, Zeha was already trying to apply what she had told him. Closing his eyes, he began to focus on the flow of his mana. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Though imperfect, he could feel his mana spreading through his body. It felt cold and strange. The grandma observing from the outside, immediately understood what was happening within him.
"Channel my mana… slowly…" Zeha murmured inwardly, as he tried to carefully guide his mana from his body into his sword through his hands.
"Oh?" The grandma was slightly surprised and impressed. She hadn't expected Zeha to do it so quickly. Channeling mana required precise control, and many failed on their first attempt, but Zeha managed it on the first try.
Though it wasn't perfect.
"Ugh!" Zeha winced in pain. The mana he was channeling grew hotter the longer it flowed. What had been a stable stream began to accelerate.
"Don't try to force the mana's flow! If you can't control it, let it move naturally. Forcing it will make your body explode!" she shouted.
"Urgh!" Zeha gritted his teeth through the pain. The sword in his hands released faint blue mist, mana wrapping the blade, even if only slightly.
He had successfully performed the Mana Sword technique on his first attempt, though with great difficulty. His breathing was ragged, and sweat covered his face. Opening his eyes, he looked at his sword and smiled widely when he realized he had succeeded.
"Grandma! I did it!" he shouted excitedly, swinging his sword wildly in the air.
The grandma couldn't hide her proud smile. "You're incredible. You're the first student to master the Mana Sword technique this quickly."
The praise only made Zeha happier.
"Wait, no. You're the second. I had one other student who could do it on the first try," she corrected a moment later.
Zeha froze, looking both surprised and curious.
"How many students do you have?" he asked, walking closer.
"Hm? Let's see…" She touched her chin thoughtfully, adopting a serious expression. After a few seconds, she answered, "About twelve, I think."
Zeha's eyes widened. "Twelve?! Seriously?!"
The grandma smirked arrogantly. "Dear, do you know about the ten strongest Swordsman Mages in the Empire?"
"Oh… I've heard of them, but I've never seen them in person, except for a few," Zeha replied.
"They're all my students."
Zeha's whole body froze. His jaw dropped, and his eyes went round in shock. He simply couldn't believe it.
"Impossible!" he exclaimed. The grandma's proud smile grew even more smug, her nose almost seeming to stretch and sharpen.
"Grandma, do you have some sort of psychological issue? Your delusions are really—"
Before he could finish, she smacked him on the head in annoyance. "Insolent brat!"
Zeha rubbed the sore spot. Even though the hit wasn't that hard, it still stung. He still didn't believe her claim, especially since she looked more like a beggar than someone who trained the Empire's top Swordsman Mages.
"What's that look for?" she asked, as if she could read his thoughts. Zeha only chuckled awkwardly.
"Tsk. I can tell you're doubting me," she said, giving him a sharp glare.
Again, Zeha only gave a silly laugh. He honestly didn't know how to respond.
"Out of my twelve students, one stands above the rest. You could say he's even stronger than the top ten Swordsman Mages," she continued, drawing Zeha's full attention again.
"Then why isn't he in the top ten list?" Zeha asked curiously.
"Before get ranking, the Swordsman Mages are tested through a competition, correct?"
"Oh, yes."
"If he had participated, he would've taken first place. But he didn't join."
Zeha was shocked. "Why not?"
"No idea. When I asked, he said the competition was a waste of time. He claimed he wasn't interested in fighting, even though he was incredibly gifted," she said, letting out a long sigh.
Zeha felt uneasy hearing this. He disliked the kind of person she described, someone who wasted their talent.
For Zeha, battles between Swordsman Mages were something he dreamed of. The fact that he couldn't use magic at all left him feeling hopeless. He envied those who could grow their magical abilities without limit, especially this "student" she mentioned, who treated such talent as nothing.
"Do you know Giant Ellsworth?" the grandma asked after a pause, breaking Zeha's train of thought.
"Oh, of course. Isn't he the first rank?"
"That's right. He's incredibly strong. As the rumors say, he possesses both earth and wind magic. Teaching him was difficult, he was wild and stubborn," she recalled.
Zeha's eyes sparkled with excitement. He leaned in, eager for more stories. "What about the others?"
"Hm…" She thought for a moment before continuing, "There was one student who was a true genius. I was always impressed by his creations. If I recall, his name was Wendy Cornelis. He was just as troublesome as Giant, but even more annoying."
"Ooh!" Zeha was growing even more excited.
"Maybe it's because they were from the same generation. They were both incredibly irritating."
"When I was at the academy, I heard a rumor that the Magic Tower was destroyed by seniors from the 8th generation. Is that true?" Zeha asked, curious.
The grandma winced at the memory. Back when she was a professor at Callister Academy, she had caught the two culprits, Giant and Wendy—red-handed. They had been dueling in the open because they couldn't get a training room for their unsanctioned fight. The battle became so intense that it brought down the Magic Tower.
Wendy claimed the tower collapsed because he dodged one of Giant's spells, which then hit the tower and caused an explosion.
As their supervisor, the grandma was beyond frustrated, even depressed, by her monstrous students, especially since the two of them argued afterward instead of apologizing.
Zeha burst out laughing at the mental image, unable to hold it in.
"But I never expected you to be a former professor there," Zeha said once his laughter subsided.
"I retired about six years ago. No wonder you don't know me," she replied. "Still, I can continue teaching privately even after retirement."
"That's true!"
"Ahem! Enough chatter, get back to practicing your Mana Sword!"
"Yes, Master!"