“Pathetic.”
Theo’s face was a deep shade of gray as he sat at the head of the table.
It was the result of disappointnt in my youngest son.
Knox had assured him at a previous al.
that he could beat his twin brothers.
But he hadn’t been able to keep his word. The youngest, despite his pleas, had failed to keep his word.
Theo couldn’t hide his disappointnt.
He’d hoped for a change in deanor…….
In the end, was this for the best?
“Allen and Harts. They’re good enough, but they’re not jade stones. The first…… pales in comparison to Garen.’
Garen was his first son, the most gifted of all, even in the genius-infested House of Reinhafer.
Next to Theo, he dared to be called the most skilled with a sword.
If all else fails, he is the one who will wield both the family and Clan swords. One of the geniuses of the century.
Anyway.
Theo believes that even his brilliant first son has fallen short of his expectations.
How could he expect the twins to be anything less?
“Allen and Harts are of equal skill. And when it cos to swordsmanship and innate talent, it’s hard to compare them to other geniuses.
Because.
Theo von Reinhafer was fooled by the youngest’s determination.
He saw hope in those determined eyes that he could defeat his brothers, and he was confronted with a cold belligerence that burned in his hardened heart.
Theo thought.
If Knox was truly awakened, he might one day grow up to learn his own arcane swordsmanship, the Supre Black Sword.
He was the son of the patriarch of House Rinehafer, not soone else. Overnight enlightennt, or a breakthrough, was a surprisingly common occurrence.
But in the end, he couldn’t help but click his tongue at the miserable state of his youngest.
The Supre Black Sword.
What the hell was that?
To lay all things underfoot, to crush them into overwhelming nothingness.
Isn’t that what a Black Sword is for, to bring an opponent to their knees?
All that defensiveness. And the blue bruises that can’t be washed away.
There’s no point in going any further.
With that, Theo was about to stand up.
Hmph.
Suddenly, a strange air current began to flow through the octagonal smoke field.
Theo’s movents paused for a mont. It was an instinctive sensation.
“You’re… different.”
Rodwell said out of the blue, looking at him.
Theo considered for a mont, then gave a small nod.
“Perhaps he has sothing up his sleeve.”
Worth keeping an eye on.
With that thought, he sat back down.
As he suspected, the battle was just beginning.
If anyone knew that better, it was Knox himself.
* * *
[Genius and prodigy live in different tis].
A phrase that has now beco an idiom, perhaps a reflection on the limits of innate talent. It’s also a tribute to those who are gifted.
I honestly don’t know how great it is, or how much power geniuses have.
But if this unfamiliar sensation I’m feeling right now is a ti that only geniuses live in. I have no reason not to capitalize on this mont.
‘Fortunately, my health stats have risen just as I expected, though I wish they had risen a little faster…… This is Inner Lunatic, after all, with its extre difficulty.’
You might be wondering why your health stats are up now. But it’s surprisingly simple.
Inner Lunatic, like many gas, gives the protagonist room to grow in the worst of situations.
It’s ant to be dramatic.
The sa was true here.
Health stats. This is programd to increase by 0.1 imdiately, only once, when you’re pushed to the limit. It’s programd to go up 0.1 imdiately.
I had already anticipated that this fight would expose my current limitations to my twin brothers, pushing to the very edge of my limits.
It’s no wonder they have such a huge disparity in stats to begin with.
‘That said, it does feel a little weird…….’
An unknown feeling of exaltation. I could feel it filling my entire body as the skill activated. It was not sothing to be taken lightly.
This was a scene that had only been captured in scripts and short videos in the past.
I’ve had countless experiences using [Genius Hour] while playing Inner Lunatic, but this was the first ti I’d ever seen it co to life before my eyes.
Since the ga beca a reality, I felt my heart pounding the loudest.
I’ve said it before. I’m a gar through and through.
So even in this mont, where even the smallest mistake was unacceptable, I found myself thinking.
“This is fun. This.”
“What the…!”
Allen, sensing the change in my montum, stumbled backwards.
But he’s still just a kid who’s not quite there yet.
He’s only a year older than Knox. He doesn’t realize how strong he is now, or how strong I am.
They say you only see what you know.
Any other peak adept would recognize how phenonal the energy I’m exuding right now is.
At the very least, I’ve managed to more than triple my health stat in one fell swoop with the triggering of a skill, which, in layman’s terms, ans I’m up to around 12 health, which is more than Allen’s 8.
The implications of this are clear.
Now, the unlucky twin is no match for .
Also, Allen would be defeated by .
I smirked, but my mind was spinning.
‘Even so, I can’t let my guard down. The skill only lasts for five minutes at most. I have to do sothing in that ti.
The next mont, I thought, “Five minutes.
Five minutes. Can I win against both Allen in front of and Harts afterward while the Ti of Genius lasts?
Absolutely not. There’s simply not enough ti.
Then… there’s only one thing to do.
“I’ve been putting up with you all this ti, but I’m getting bored, brothers.”
[Talent ‘Master of Acting’ activates].
I borrowed the power of the trait and said, looking at Allen and Hearts alternately.
“Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible, both of you.”
A stifling silence hung in the hall at those words.
Even the vassal presiding over the duel paused, as if unable to comprehend. Only the lingering silence reflected the gravity of the situation.
I slowly shifted my gaze to Knox’s father, Patriarch Theo.
As expected, I had succeeded in getting his attention.
The reason I had provoked Knox’s twin brothers in the first place. It was to get Theo to pay attention to his youngest son.
The plan works.
Normally, he wouldn’t watch such a lowly tournant. But the fact that he’s watching now ans he sees sothing in , a quirk, a possibility, after all.
I cleared my throat and turned to Theo.
“Father.”
[There are four minutes and forty-eight seconds left in the ‘Hour of Genius’].
I paused to catch my breath.
“Please allow to fight alongside my two brothers.”
* * *
Talia was stunned, recalling Nox’s words.
So… is Nox saying he’s going to take on both brothers at the sa ti?
Her head was spinning. She was only fourteen years old. It was perfectly natural to question Knox’s judgnt.
“To attack them all at once, that’s a disgrace to a knight. You’re no match for , so I’ll take care of you all at once. That’s what it ans.
That’s why no knight in Dalian would ever say such a thing.
In that sense, Knox was the worst kind of knight.
It’s a behavior that could easily lead to mocking the efforts of others. It’s rash, and if you lose there, you have a lot to lose.
It’s more than just being made fun of.
“What the hell were you thinking…….”
At that mont, Talia looked into a pair of lavender eyes.
The faint gleam from Knox’s unwavering eyes, and the Patriarch’s at the end of that gaze. She saw Theo’s cold face.
The subtle tension between them made Talia swallow hard.
Then she heard Theo’s stern voice.
“I grant you permission to fight two against one.”
“My lord.”
Rodwell’s voice ca from his seat beside Theo. He was concerned for Knox’s safety.
He’d heard he’d been training hard lately, but…
After all, he is the worst blight on House Rineharbour.
If he struck out here and now, and caused a scar that couldn’t be washed away, he might have to live with it for the rest of his life.
“Father!”
“That!”
The backlash from the two brothers was just as bad.
But Theo’s expression didn’t change.
Rodwell and the twins could say no more.
In Rineharbour Street, the word of the soon-to-be Lord is as good as the word of the Emperor. As such, there was no one who could challenge his words.
“Then I will change the rules.”
The vassal imdiately changed the rules at Theo’s words.
Two against one. It was an unprecedented battle.
No one had ever fought like this for the right to enter Eldain in the history of the House.
But Knox is not fazed at all.
How this is possible is beyond .
The weakest Knox von Reinhafer.
A family disgrace.
No matter how much he’s trained over the past month, he’s still just running around the training grounds every day. He has never practiced swordsmanship properly.
He had even offered to teach himself to use a sword, but to no avail.
He rejected the vassal’s offer, saying.
[It’s my job, I’ll take care of it, and… I don’t know what I’m going to do with this frail body to hold a sword].
He wasn’t wrong.
Knox was naturally weak, and physical training was essential to improving that.
But if you ask if that alone is enough to win a sword fight, I would say no.
Unless your natural talent is overwhelming, it won’t be easy.
And even then, it would be impossible without overwhelming talent, not just exceptional, but overwhelming. This was sothing the vassal was well aware of.
‘I, too, felt the wall of talent and stopped learning the sword in depth.
It can’t be helped.
So people are born with overwhelming talent simply because they are descended from a family.
So are simply gifted. It doesn’t matter if you’re a commoner or a noble.
The vassal rembered the ti when he had laid down his sword and decided to go no further. It was a shaful decision for a knight, but it was also the sweetest.
He didn’t have to be broken anymore.
He knew it well. Talent cos in the form of a blessing to so and the height of absurdity to others.
To break people down and build them back up again.
That was talent.
But what of Knox?
The skill with which he parried the sword earlier.
It was not that of a man who believed in his gift.
It was not that of a man who blindly believed in his talent. It was sothing he could not comprehend.
Cha-ang! Cha-ang!
Allen and Harts. Sparks flew from the tips of their swords.
But Knox is not fazed at all. He is smiling.
How could the youngest, the sickly, the disgrace of the family, have such a look on his face?
Could it be that, until now, he had rely… not allowed his talents to blossom?
The vassal had now forgotten about diating the battle and could only watch, completely srized by the young boy’s swordsmanship.
* * *
[‘Ti of Genius’ has 1:32 seconds left in its duration].
* * * [The effect of ‘Genius of Sword and Martial Arts’ will increase the proficiency of ‘Dark House Subordinate Swordsmanship’].
As the system ssage informs , the more I swing the sword. I can read the trajectory of my brothers’ attacks.
Gradually, my sword beca smoother and smoother, and I soon began to master the sword techniques they used.
The truth is.
A knight’s swordsmanship is very often passed down as a secret art, and it is not polite to copy another’s sword.
But my circumstances are not such that I can afford such things.
I simply survive, and I do my best to do so.
That’s all there is to it.
Chaing!
I parry two flying swords at the exact sa ti.
He doesn’t deflect them, but overwhelms them, sending them both stumbling backwards. The sound of the ground dragging is heard.
The two brothers look at each other, swallowing hard.
But it was a fool’s errand. The very thing to avoid in battle.
” “You shouldn’t have been distracted.”
Nothing is heard during Genius Hour.
Or, more accurately, what I do hear cos in very slowly, so it’s not easy to codify the language.
It’s different when I’m talking. As long as I speak slowly and repeatedly, I can make sure the enemy hears .
So I said. Don’t you dare look away from .
“Haa…….”
I gradually put pressure on the sword.
Holding the sword with one hand instead of both, I slice through the gap between the brothers, who hesitate and back away.
While the twins panicked, I had already drawn the entire sword path in my head.
I didn’t need to understand much, it was just the realm of talent.
It ant my talent calibration was working properly.
My wrists tensed, and I lightly rotated my body halfway around my left foot. The sword in his right hand began to dance.
It was a wooden sword, but its sharpness had already surpassed that of the wood.
The sword then moves into a bottom thrust, a top slash, and a vertical thrust. All of which I had learned from my brothers earlier in the day.
Pow! Pow! Pow!
The sound of my longsword pounding into my opponent’s body echoes through the silence of the arena.
My sword was finally reaching my two brothers.
“This… can’t… be…!”
“Jen… Zhang…!” [1]
My heart pounds at the faint voices that intermittently reach my ears. However, my sword still does not stop.
It simply continues to fire at the two enemies in front of .
Scoop! Scoop!
The brothers’ collars are slashed.
As they gasp and block my blade, their gazes are filled with bewildernt.
How could Knox. How could the family na be changed like this.
Such questions must be running through their minds.
But by the ti they realize it, it’s too late, don’t they know?
I thought with a smile.
‘Now they’ll know, even if they don’t want to know.’
[The duration of the ‘genius hour’ has run out].
Just like that.
After a few monts, my ears, which had been deafened by the end of the genius hour, began to hear the sounds around properly again.
I look at the two brothers lying on the ground breathing bubbles, and sheath my sword.
Then I walked forward.
At the end of my path is the vassal who presides over the tournant.
I speak calmly, trying to calm my racing heart.
“I assu the match is over?”
“… Of course, the winner is…… Master Knox von Reinhafer!”
The vassal shouted as if he had finally co to his senses.
It was the mont when the duel was safely concluded.
And it was then that I ca face to face with a pair of clear, lavender eyes that swept across the back of my head.
The man I now call father.
Patriarch Theo von Reinhafer stood there, looking at curiously.
I smirked.
Yes, he is. You want to take advantage of now.
But if you’re going to use .
I will use this family, too.
And, at the end of the day.
I will build my power elsewhere, and when the House is destroyed, I will seek my mories!
…It’s a bit shallow, but it’s my goal.
I bowed lightly and walked to my room, avoiding Patriarch’s gaze.
For so reason, none of the servants were talking about as much as before.
Not surprising, since Knox, the family disgrace, had won against the twins.
I felt dizzy, disempowered, and out of sorts.
Then, the mont.
Talia von Steiner, the girl in the fierce catch, quickly jumped to her feet and started running.
I’m not sure why, but… I need to talk to Knox now.
The thought raced through Talia’s mind.
“We have to catch him!”
“Young Miss!”
This ti it was her maid, Emma, who was dying.
Next Chapter
[1] : “젠… 장…!” – no idea on this one
Reviews
All reviews (0)