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Colorance looked at the Young Master, Locke, who was quietly holding his sword in a ready stance.

'It’s awkward.'

The awkward way the Young Master held his wooden sword was like a third-rate mercenary.

At the young age of 14, he hadn't entered the Academy yet and hadn’t tutored under a proper swordsmanship instructor, so it was a position that didn't suit the young Locke.

“Attack me. I will not counterattack or use mana.”

“I was already about to...”

Swoosh!

“... even if you didn’t tell me!”

Locke lifted his foot and slammed it into Colorance's face.

'Foot?'

He thought the Young Master would use the sword, but a swift kick approached instead.

Colorance erased his embarrassment and raised his sword to defend himself.

- Pow!

‘…It’s solid. What kicking technique is that?'

As he rotated his body, the momentum behind his legs was transferred to his feet, allowing him to exert more power.

-Swiish!

Locke’s feet were covered in sand.

'Sand!'

It was true he was an outcast, but if there was anything else, Locke was an outcast with knowledge from the future.

He learned and adapted his own way of survival after ten years on numerous battlefields.

‘Ugh! What is this...! I heard the Young Master hadn't learned anything.'

The sand didn't fluster him.

But feeling his energy, Colorance was taken aback.

‘…Spirit Break?'

Though his eyes were tightly closed, Colorance was an excellent swordsman.

He instantly pulled mana into his body to remove the sand blinding him, but according to the rules of 'no countering' and 'no mana,' he had to let it fade.

Instead, he opened his other senses.

-Clack!

As soon as he blocked the sword coming at his head, it fell back briefly before cutting through the wind toward Colorance again.

-Clack, clack, clack! Clackkk!

'It's not only rough but also violent... Why did the Young Master learn this swordsmanship?'

Aside from the Spirit Break, he wondered how he knew the Rajan sword techniques of mercenaries.

'My eyes are slowly clearing up.'

His eyes, though still sore from the sand, returned to normal.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw nothing other than Locke's wooden sword.

"Haha."

Shaaaaaagh!

As soon as Colorance regained his vision, he moved to deflect Locke's wooden sword.

-Crashhh!

“…Huh?"

However, his wooden sword broke too quickly when they collided.

Whoong~!

As if struck by steel, strong vibrations ran up his hands, and a tingling sensation crept down his back.

“Killing a pig!”

-Baang!

“Gasp!”

The wooden sword struck Colorance in the face, and he fell flat on the ground.

<The King of Heroes applauds, saying, ‘Nice shot!’>

Colorance experienced his first defeat in his entire life.

***

Crumple.

Colorance crumpled up a piece of paper and shoved it up his nose.

Despite experiencing defeat, his face was set in surprise rather than anger or shame.

He didn’t correctly fight, and only his nose was bleeding, so Colorance quickly shook it off.

He said.

“I didn’t expect there to be a noble’s child who has mastered the Spirit Break.”

“…Spirit Break?”

"Yes. Didn't you know, sir?"

“Ahem! I just practiced according to the book...”

“You learned it according to a book but didn’t even know the name… well. That could happen.”

Colorance seemed to notice I wanted to hide something.

“Spirit Break… in other words, soul breaker. Could it be that it’s a forbidden martial art that can break the soul?”

“Of course not. There are many myths about why it’s called Spirit Break. Among them are two plausible thoughts: one is that it is difficult to learn, to the point it will break your soul, and the other is that it is strong enough to break a soul.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s a martial art practiced by the natives of a few regions, and they say it uses a type of physical strength different from mana. There are many ways to learn it, including books, but I didn't know you were capable.”

'Is that why I didn't know?'

While living as a mercenary, I had never seen the kind of mana-free martial arts that I saw in the hero's memories.

But there was such a martial art in this world too. However, it was so difficult to learn that no one bothered.

'Above all, I didn't have a reason to go to the bookstore.'

He explained it was a martial arts book that could be easily obtained on the market, but what kind of money would a mercenary have to waste on a book?

Several mercenaries were illiterate, and books were expensive, so who wouldn’t prefer a nice glass of ale or fresh meat?

Even if they wanted to learn, they wouldn't have the time in their third-class life where they lived hand to mouth.

“Spirit Break… good. It's a martial art you can learn because it doesn’t require mana. Since you can’t use mana, should I say that you must learn it?”

“What does that mean?”

“I think you know a bit about mana, too, sir. Usually, the power of mana is often used in the form of borrowing the energy of nature. Bringing the energy of nature into the body is called Breathing; the part that stores the energy is the Heart, and converting the energy of nature into a power the body can use is called the Training Method.”

“I know that part.”

“The important thing here is the Heart and Training Method. A Mana Rejecting Body means you can’t use these two things.”

The way to bring the energy of nature into your body was extremely simple: just by breathing, the mana floating in the air entered the body.

However, you would have to transfer it to your heart to convert the mana into something usable.

“To store mana in the body and convert it into power, we use the Training Method. To put it simply, the mana heart, that is, the mana that dwells in the heart moves to the blood and spreads throughout the body. But Spirit Break is different.”

"Different, how?"

“You might know, Young Master, but those who have mastered mana cannot learn Spirit Break. The mana that moves through blood brings the energy of nature, but the Spirit Break is focused on absorbing nature. It has the same nature as mana but is completely different, so if you learn them together, it might kill you.”

"Hmm...”

“The Mana Rejecting Body means you cannot store mana in your heart. The majority of the cases are because the veins are too hard.”

“For the majority? How can I be sure that my veins are too hard?”

“Didn’t you just finish some exercise? You can't store mana in your heart because it’s ridiculously weak. If someone with a weak heart moves like you, it puts incredible strain on the body.”

“…Hmm."

This was the first time I had heard a proper explanation for the Mana Rejecting Body, so my head was spinning.

“When the blood vessels are tight, blood flow slows down. You can properly send mana to the heart, but it is impossible for the heart to activate mana throughout the body. If the mana flow is too weak, the veins may become blocked and burst. That is the Mana Rejecting Body.”

"Then… are you saying Spirit Break is different?”

“Spirit Break isn’t in the blood but flows in the vein itself. To put it simply, the stronger the veins, the stronger the force.”

It wasn't sadness that choked me now, but joy.

Hearing I could learn something, the feelings of defeat and self-blame burdening me turned into joy.

It was a talent I had from the beginning, not one I acquired from the memory of a hero.

“There was once a law saying nobility should not master Spirit Break. It was treated as heresy because only mana was for the great lineage. However, no one could ignore the power of Spirit Break.”

“No one could ignore it? Are you saying it doesn’t fall behind mana?"

“Of course. If you achieve a certain level, you can obtain power comparable to the 'Arch of Mana.' Didn't you feel it to some extent? Didn't you handle the power of the earth and the wind?”

“…I did?"

"Oh my. You didn't notice.”

I knew I would receive power from the earth if I used the Golden Power, but wind?

“The power of the wind was contained in that kick. It was so weak that you couldn't feel it, but I definitely could.”

The power of the wind... There was one ability that suddenly came to mind.

'Was it the 「Wind Step」?'

There was no other ability related to the wind that I possessed.

To be honest, I hadn't been able to check what kind of ability it was yet in full, so I didn't exactly what it did.

“Let’s start the class now.”

“…Hasn't it already been two hours?"

"Haha. You're not a kid. Didn't I tell you? I said you were having emperorship and swordsmanship at the same time. Since you don't have etiquette class today, I have 6 hours of your time.”

<The King of Heroes glares at him, asking what kind of bizarre nonsense he’s talking about, and if a 14-year-old boy is not a kid, who is?>

“Furthermore, some tutors said they were quitting because of your genius. I guess you will spend more time with me. Haha."

“…”

“As I said before, Spirit Break is hard to master to the point where your soul may break. May you reincarnate in paradise."

"What does that mean?”

“It’s something I learned in the East. I heard it is a wish for luck.”

<The King of Heroes says that’s a lie and that it actually means to die and go to a good place.>

<The King of Heroes explains that this man is telling the chosen one to die, then wishing them luck.>

<The King of Heroes says please don't die and eats popcorn while pretending to shed tears.>

‘Damn...’

***

I expected a difficult class, but today wasn't as harsh as I thought.

This was because I just kept correcting my posture for 6 hours.

“Hehehehe. Spirit Break. To think a punk… no, the Young Master learned that legendarily hard martial art... Hehe, I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”

‘…’

It was time to rest and try to sleep after finishing the non-stop rush of classes.

-Ring!

[Your fate has changed by 0.221%.]

[This is a huge rate of change.]

[You have acquired 3 Hero Cards.]

[You have acquired 1 C-Grade Hero Card.]

[You have acquired 1 B-Grade Hero Card.]

[You have acquired 1 A-Grade Hero Card.]

“Hmm...”

I was kind of expecting it.

I showed off my talent so much that several tutors raised white flags, and today's incident must have reached Duke Eisen's ears.

In addition, in the case of Camelson, the Vice-Captain of the knights, it must have had a greater effect because he was on my older brother’s side.

“C-Grade…? In other words. Could it be that?”

If fate changed by 0.001%, it was just an ordinary hero card; if it changed by 0.01%, it was a C-Grade hero; if it changed by 0.05%, it was a B-Grade hero; and if it changed by 0.1%, it was an A-Grade hero.

<The King of Heroes says, for reference, that up to S-Grade cards can be obtained through fate changes, but EX-Grade is almost impossible.>

'Almost means it's possible.'

<The King of Heroes says it's only possible if your fate changes reeeeeeeally big.>

<The King of Heroes says it's so hard to get it that it’s not possible even if you stick your head into the ground and do a major bow.>

'If I can get a good ability, I'll have to try it.'

It was probably because I had lived as a mercenary anyway, but whether I bowed my back or bowed my head, my pride didn't hurt.

'I don’t think I’ll have much time to sleep tonight.'

I sighed and tapped [Hero Draw].