Chapter 168: Weapon Aura, Swordmaster
A torrent of knowledge flooded his mind.
Sword styles, stances, footwork, the science of edge and angle, counters, timing.
It wasn’t just theoretical knowledge.
It was intuitive, as if he had trained for decades. It took him almost an hour to sort through everything and fully absorb it.
When he opened his eyes again, they gleamed with a faint light.
"That... was even better than I expected," he whispered. "I understand it now. If I can get my elemental affinity beyond level 5, I can create [Elemental Sword Aura]."
His fingers twitched slightly, eager to test the concept.
[Aura] was a technique only usable by Master or higher ranked Awakeners with warrior-type class.
It was a method to coat a weapon in mana, enhancing its power dramatically.
It wasn’t easy to master. It took years of training, and even then, it only worked with one specific type of weapon.
The mana coating had to be stable, shaped perfectly, and harmonized with the weapon’s dimensions and material.
But Isaac felt none of those restrictions anymore.
His body remembered movements his mind had just absorbed. It felt like muscle memory that had always been there.
Without wasting time, he carefully slipped out of the bed. Emily was still asleep, her hair a messy halo around her head.
He smiled faintly, pulled a blanket gently around her shoulders, and tiptoed toward the bathroom.
Inside, he summoned a sword from his spatial ring.
It was a standard military-grade iron blade with no special properties, good enough for his current test.
He took a breath.
Aura formed instantly.
White light wrapped around the blade’s edge. It was faint but dense, like a sheet of compressed fog.
It clung perfectly to the weapon, making it look ethereal.
He could feel the strength pouring through the handle into his wrist. It was steady and alive.
He turned the shower on.
Water poured down in dozens of steady streams.
He swung his sword several hundred times in an instant—his speed making it look like he had only swung once—and turned off the shower again immediately.
There was no burst of sound. No shockwave. Not even a shift in wind pressure.
But every droplet had been sliced cleanly in half. Not once had his blade missed its mark.
More impressively, none of the droplets had been cut more than once. That level of restraint, of deliberate action, was beyond what Level 50 human Champions could manage.
He stared at the blade in his hand and let out a quiet breath.
He hadn’t just become skilled.
He had become something close to a Swordmaster.
The [SSS-rank Innate Understanding of Sword], the sheer strength and speed from his stats, and his newfound Sword Aura... they had all fused together into something terrifyingly effective.
Now, all he needed was to push his elemental affinity above level five.
Then, he’d unlock [Elemental Sword Aura]—the next step.
It wasn’t just a stronger version of normal Weapon Aura.
It was a transformation.
The sword would become a manifestation of his element, an extension of his magic and will.
That was what he was aiming for.
After a quick shower, he dried off and sent a thought to the system.
’System, share the Coins Emily received from her Daily Quest yesterday.’
A prompt appeared immediately.
+2 Silver Coin, +122 Bronze Coin
Total Coins in Possession: 1 Gold Coin, 204 Silver Coins, 244 Bronze Coins
The growth was steady.
With the way coins were accumulating, he didn’t need to push too hard for more right now.
What mattered more was recruiting his third SSS-rank Lord Subject. And he already had someone in mind.
’I need to speak with Celia soon,’ he thought. ’I can’t approach the topic directly, though. She will never accept my deal if I do that. I’ll need to find the right opening.’
For now, he had another task—farming.
He left the house quietly, making sure Emily was still asleep before closing the door behind him.
The early morning air was crisp, and a soft golden light crept across the edges of the farm. The crops were swaying gently.
To his surprise, Professor Catherine was already outside, sitting on the porch with a cup of tea in hand.
She looked relaxed, legs crossed, gaze on the horizon.
"Good morning," he greeted.
"Morning," she replied with a calm smile.
Something about her felt different today.
He couldn’t quite place what it was, but it was subtle. Maybe it was the way she held herself, or the lightness in her expression.
Without commenting, he made his way to the fields and began checking his crops. The Vitality Grains were ready for harvest.
Professor Catherine stood and walked over, joining him as he worked.
"I received news from the main base," she said, plucking a weed from the edge of the field. "Tyr’s rank-up materials will arrive in a few hours."
"I’ll tell him to come back after delivering the grains to the shop."
He swung his hoe and harvest everything instantly.
Then, he took out Vitality Grain seeds to plant them when she continued.
"Have you thought about what you want to do with the Life Energy Potions?"
"I have," he said, glancing at her. "I want to use it to recruit more people for... my faction."
He waited to see her reaction.
Would she be displeased?
The Masters of the Sanctum might not like it.
Starting a new faction, even a small one, could be seen as a challenge to the existing hierarchy.
But she only smiled.
"Alright," she said. "I’ll spread the word. Nothing direct, of course. Spreading a few rumors in the right places should be enough. It will bring you high-rank Awakeners. You can pick who you want among them, and give the Life Energy potions to those you wish to pull into your fold."
"That’d be a huge help," Isaac said sincerely.
"Of course," she replied, crossing her arms.
One hand supported her chest while the other tapped thoughtfully on her cheek.
Then she tilted her head and added, "But since I’m helping you, I’ll need my payment too."
He arched a brow. "What do you need?"
"I want one of Isaac’s ’naturally’ produced potions," she said with a smile. "The thick, sweet kind."
The way she spoke made it clear what type of ’natural’ potion of his she was talking about.
"Life Energy potions don’t have high viscosity. At least make logical jokes." Isaac didn’t even flinch, used to her teasing by now.
She leaned in slightly. "I didn’t mean Life Energy though."
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, turning back to his crops.
She laughed lightly. "Alright, alright. I’ll be serious."
A few minutes passed in relative silence before she spoke again.
"The grains Selene told you to grow arrived. Are you going to plant them here, or buy more land?"
Isaac paused mid-motion. He had been waiting for them to arrive.
Those grains would sell nicely among the high rank adventurers.