Maybe it's because of the influence of Servant Emiya's soul, or maybe it's Shirou's own talent, but he learned to use his inner power much faster than Paul expected.
"You felt your inner power after only a week?"
Hearing about Shirou's progress, Paul was a little surprised.
Even though he had already mentally prepared himself for Shirou's talent, thinking that his son would definitely be an unbelievably amazing swordsman, Paul still felt a lot of pressure when Shirou showed such extraordinary ability.
Before being a father, Paul was a Swordsman, and his pride as a Swordsman would never allow himself to be easily surpassed by a child. So, he felt obvious pressure for a while, and sometimes you could even tell that he was clearly competing with Shirou.
Of course, Paul's competitive spirit didn't affect the quality of his sword training with Shirou.
After all, he thought of Shirou as his own child, and he wouldn't do anything that didn't match what a father should do.
So, after Shirou began to sense his inner power, Paul had him start basic sword training.
In this world, swordsmanship is highly valued.
The heroes in the books basically all use swords. Sometimes there are people who use axes or hammers, but they are in the minority. Most strong people are Swordsmans.
No one uses spears, because there is a race called the Speard people who did a lot of bad things with a demon king named Laplace. They even indiscriminately killed old people and children in battle, making them a world-renowned and terrifying demon race.
In legends, the Speard people are known for their green hair, the gem on their forehead, and their favorite weapon, the trident.
So, for humans, spears are like weapons of the devil, and they don't use them easily.
Because of this, the sword has become the most common and powerful weapon for humans, and many different styles have developed over time.
There are three main swordsmanship styles in this world.
The first is the Sword God Style, which is a highly aggressive style that believes that attacking is the best defense. It values speed and aims to hit the target first.
It focuses on striking first and killing with one blow. If you can't defeat the opponent, you keep using hit-and-run tactics until you win. It also has a strongest technique called the Light Speed Slash, which can supposedly achieve light speed slashes when mastered.
The second is the Water God Style, which is the complete opposite of the Sword God Style. It is a defensive swordsmanship focused on deflecting attacks and counterattacking. Its main technique is parrying.
Because it focuses on defense, it has few offensive moves. But if you reach a high level, you can supposedly counter all attacks, even magic and ranged weapons. It is a swordsmanship that court knights and nobles, who focus on defense, learn.
The third is the North God Style, which is more like strategy than swordsmanship. It doesn't have any special moves, but its selling point is being able to adapt to any situation.
"The North God Style sounds good when you say it's about adapting, but it's really just about doing sneaky things," Paul said with a strange look. "For example, hiding dust bombs in your hand during a fight, putting poison on your blade, or attacking the opponent's weak spots with dirty tricks. It doesn't even matter if the weapon is a sword. You can use daggers, crossbows, or hidden weapons to attack the enemy. Swordsman don't like it, but in the world of adventurers, the North God Style is quite useful."
"That does sound a bit bad."
Shirou could understand why the North God Style wasn't popular. In a way, Servant Emiya's fighting style was basically the North God Style.
After all, Servant Emiya would use any means necessary to win. He could even target the enemy's weaknesses and project different types of weapons to defeat them.
He used weapons including swords, spears, bows, and even defensive shields. It's hard to describe him as a pure Swordsman.
"So, which style should I learn?"
Shirou asked curiously. Of course, he knew that the style he would learn depended on what Paul knew, not on what he wanted to learn.
After all, Paul couldn't teach him skills that he didn't know himself.
However, to Shirou's surprise, Paul suddenly looked confident and said with a smile, "You can choose whatever you want!"
"Really? You can use all three styles of swordsmanship, Paul?"
"Yes, and I'm at the advanced level in all three styles!"
"That's amazing?"
Shirou already knew about the ranking system in this world. All professions are ranked using the same system: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor, and God.
When you reach the Saint level, you can be called a [Saint] of your special skill. For example, a Saint-level Swordsman in the Sword God Style can be called a [Sword Saint], and a Saint-level Swordsman in the North God Style can be called a [North Saint]. The same goes for mages, except that they add the word "level" at the end, making it [Saint-Level of x].
Usually, God-level people are the founders of their style, and their successors will become the leaders of their style, making them the strongest people in the world.
Paul isn't a Saint level, but he has reached the advanced level in all three styles, which is basically the same as being a Sword Saint.
"Hehe, what do you think? Your old man is pretty good, right?!"
Paul was finally able to show off to Shirou, and he was very happy. His face was practically beaming.
Shirou could only say in a tone like he was praising a child, "Yeah, you're really amazing, Paul."
Since Paul was an expert in all three styles of swordsmanship, Shirou had no limitations when learning swordsmanship. He could choose any of the three styles to study.
Normally, Shirou would naturally choose the North God Style and continue down Servant Emiya's path, becoming an unrestricted combat master who used projection skills to create different weapons during battle and attack the opponent's weaknesses.
However, because of the battle that took place on that snowy night, Shirou realized Servant Emiya's weakness: he lacked a way to absolutely guarantee victory.
Although he broke through the Holy Grail War overnight using Servant Emiya's power, he couldn't find any way to deal with Servant Gilgamesh, especially the terrifying weapon in Gilgamesh's hand called Ea.
Ea couldn't be copied, and its power far exceeded the scope of ordinary noble phantasms.
Shirou had to use all the weapons in Unlimited Blade Works, trying to surpass that one perfect original by stacking countless copies!
However, when the quality of a single weapon reaches an unimaginable level, it can never be surpassed, even by creating an infinite number of copies.
Countless copies stacked together are still just countless copies, and they can't become the real thing. In the end, he suffered a miserable defeat.
So, after getting a second chance at life, Shirou was determined to create his own original.
To do this, he wouldn't follow Servant Emiya's old path. Although he would still use Servant Emiya's power and Unlimited Blade Works, he also had to create something that surpassed Unlimited Blade Works: not countless copies, but a single, unique original!
This body is made of swords, lives by the sword, and dies by the sword.
So, he said without hesitation, "I want to learn the Sword God Style!"