Perhaps the youngest brat thought that it was his last hope so he walked out on his own and followed Jaiden to his private training hall. When they arrived at the training hall, Aiden looked at him curiously.

“Why here…?” 

“Take the sword.” 

“Yes?” 

Aiden tilted his head at him. He was wondering why he was suddenly asked to take the wooden sword with an iron core that Jaiden threw at him. 

“Swing it.” 

Aiden hesitated as he looked at Jaiden in puzzlement. He couldn’t understand why Jaiden suddenly threw the smallest wooden sword in his own private training hall to him. He couldn’t help but feel flustered. After all, he was suddenly asked to come to this training hall to swing a sword. 

“Quick.” 

A frown formed on Aiden’s brows as Jaiden urged him to swing the sword. However, he still followed what his brother asked him to do. But when he swung his sword, Jaiden couldn’t help but frown at him. 

“Don’t do it roughly. Do it properly. Swing it like you mean it.” 

When Aiden heard his brother’s words, he adjusted his posture properly as he swung his sword out. It seemed like there was nothing else that he could do but follow what his brother told him to do. 

Although he was just six years old, his posture and movements as he wielded the sword showed that he had already mastered the basic swordsmanship. 

When Jaiden saw this, he couldn’t help but murmur quietly. 

“What about the voices?” 

“It got worse.” 

Jaiden nodded as Aiden spoke tearfully. 

“From now on, I’m going to show you a sword technique. Make sure to follow what I do.” 

Aiden looked at Jaiden quietly. All he could do was look at him tearfully. Then, Jaiden slowly breathed out as he slowly swung his sword.

He was now going to show him the true form of the Lion Sword Technique that he had learned during the beta test. 

He slowly moved the sword as he showed the White Lion Sword Technique. A swordsmanship that could only be accessed and learned by the head of family. It was a far-fetched sword art that he couldn’t dare to imitate the essence of but at the very least, he could still imitate its form. 

When Aiden saw his movements, the light in his eyes began to change. He looked at the swordsmanship Jaiden was showing him as he began to mutter something under his breath. His eyes slowly turned blank as he followed and imitated the White Lion Sword Technique that Jaiden was showing him. 

“Is this the assimilation phenomenon?”

Jaiden looked at Aiden and guessed that his thoughts were right. After all, Aiden looked like something was assimilated in him. Even though he stopped the White Lion Sword Technique at the first half, Aiden was still continuing the sword technique. He was even able to show the second half of the technique without copying Jaiden’s movements. 

“It seems like I was right. This is the spirit of the divine beast that signed a contract with the first  head.”

The soul of the fallen King of the White Lions was waiting for another soul that was worthy enough for him to bond with just like the first family head. And that soul was now being assimilated into Aiden’s body as he reproduced the swordsmanship of the first head of the family. 

Perhaps, the soul was so advanced and high quality that it escaped the spells placed in the mansion. And since it had been waiting for quite a long time, it seemed like the soul had already started to fade. Being a faded soul meant that it was hard to be detected even if the opponent was a master level being, so it was not caught by the current head of the family. 

And right now, this soul was completely being assimilated with Aiden thanks to the White Lion Sword Technique. Aiden’s genius talents and the White Lion King’s assimilated soul made Jaiden feel that he was now seeing the perfect form of the White Lion Sword Technique…

“A talented punk that has no luck.”

He sighed as he watched Aiden move while being assimilated with the soul. All Jaiden could do now was to swing his sword.

When he saw Aiden’s incredible talent, he knew that he couldn’t compare himself with him. Even the thought of being jealous only briefly crossed his head.

However, he knew that the others would have been different. In this family, or perhaps the entire continent, those who were close to the genius level must be extremely jealous of someone with real talent. If the dunces could feel jealous of someone with talent then the others would definitely feel infinitely more jealous of someone like Aiden. He could easily guess that the frustration and jealousy for a real genius had driven Aiden towards his death. 

However, Jaiden was different. He already knew that this body had no talent at all. Regardless of talent, as long as he could still imagine and dream of his real body from the real world then he would be fine. 

“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”

But he still swung his sword to remove the remaining jealousy whenever he raised his head and saw Aiden from afar. Basic Swordsmanship was the perfect sword art for getting rid of useless thoughts. It was just a simple repetition of sword movements to create a perfect line but the more simple his action was, the more perfect his posture felt. 

The plenty of experiences that he had in his past life, especially his experience of watching the swordsmanship of the master level people melted into his sword.

‘Like this?’

Jaiden recalled the swordsmanship of one of the masters that fought with him in the battlefield. As he continued to swing his sword, he unconsciously examined and re-examined the master’s movements as well as his movements.

In fact, even monstrously talented individuals like Aiden still needed to swing their swords countless times before the movements could be imprinted on their bodies. Even a genius needed to do something like that so there was no other way but to do the same. 

However, the fact that he was training with Basic Swordsmanship while being able to catch up with Aiden’s speed was something surprising. 

He was simply imprinting his swordsmanship on his body. And unlike the imprinting of the White Lion Sword Technique, a technique that was a league beyond the Lion Sword Technique in terms of difficulty, the imprinting of Basic Swordsmanship in his body was extremely easy for him. 

“Hoo… Are you done?”

“…Yes.”

“There are no ghosts, right?”

Aiden nodded at his words. Jaiden smirked when he saw his figure before asking him again.

“Are you going to continue to train?”

“I think I should.”

“Then come here to train.”

Aiden’s eyes widened when he heard Jaiden’s words.

“Can I do that?”

“Yeah. But you’ll have to receive some training from me.”

“Training?”

Aiden tilted his head at him. Aiden looked like he was asking him what he was going to teach him. He was looking at Jaiden innocently but Jaiden was only barely able to contain his urge to punch him. Then, he opened his mouth…

“It’s simple. All you need to do is have a simple fight with me.”

“Yes? But…”

“Your private training hall is being used by the knights anyway.”

Originally, it would be impossible for knights to use the descendant’s private training hall. But the fact that he was the youngest who was always stuck in his room and did not have any connections gave the knights the gall to do something so daring with the Leonhardt family’s private training hall. 

“You’re feeling better, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, grab your sword.”

Jaiden laughed wickedly as he gave him that order. 

“I’ll only need a few days. In just those few days, I will change that fragile personality of yours down to your very bones.”

“Wha… What do you mean…?”

Aiden’s eyes were filled with fear as he looked at Jaiden. However, he still rushed forward after he got into position. Jaiden looked at him in a daze as he reflexively blocked his sword attacks.

Even though he was reborn, his experiences of being rolled and fucked over in the battlefield still remained in his head. And even though he just forced his way through, he was still someone who climbed the 5th stage. So playing with a rookie genius was still something that he could easily do. He pushed Aiden back with his unexpected dirty tricks, surprise attacks and killing that had been strengthened by his hands-on experience. 

“Heok… heok…”

“Is this all you’ve got? Maybe this is the reason why your mother died?”

“Kghk! Hyung-nim!”

“That’s pathetic. Your mother will be crying even in the afterlife.”

He deliberately spoke harshly and provoked the exhausted boy in front of him to make him stand up once again. He knew that what this brat needed right now was a venomous tongue. Right now, his sole job was to throw away that fragile personality that was gnawing on Aiden’s talents. This was something necessary even if he turned into monster as a result. 

‘He will be a monster by then anyway.’

When countless monsters came in here like rabid dogs, they were forced to become cruel just to survive. He would rather let him bear poison from the very beginning so he could become stronger quickly. 

“Come at me then.”

He moved forward with Jaiden’s provocation but in the end, he was still caught by the heavily experienced Jaiden. Jaiden had hundreds of moves that he had learned on the battlefield so he would not be hit at the same place. At the very least, Jaiden wanted to grill him and roll him until next year, before he left the mansion.

In fact, Jaiden’s skills were still much better than Aiden’s skills. But he knew that eventually his expertise would not be enough.

In the end, Jaiden stretched himself as he spoke to the boy. 

“Come here every morning at seven. It will be self-training in the mornings and there will be mock battles like this in the afternoons.”

Jaiden went back to his room without hearing his answer.

The next day, when he came to the training hall, his youngest brother was already there. It seemed like he came earlier than him to train. 

“You came early?”

“…Yes.”

“Then, shall we begin our training?”

Jaiden practiced his Basic Swordsmanship with a refreshing smile on his face. Aiden also began training the first half of the Lion Sword Technique. 

From time to time, Aiden would approach him and ask him if his posture was correct or not. Jaiden would then show him the correct posture and movements of the Lion Sword Technique from beginning to end before going back to his Basic Swordsmanship. 

And in the afternoon, it’s battle time. Jaiden was not a big fan of showing mercy to him… No, he had a satisfying time training his brother. He even allowed him to experience things that he could only experience in real life.

He also did the same thing the next day. 

Then, Aiden asked him about something that he was curious about. 

“Hyung-nim, why aren’t you training in the Lion Sword Technique?”

His eyes were wide open as he asked him curiously. After all, he only saw Jaiden training in Basic Swordsmanship every day. 

Jaiden just smiled bitterly as he answered him.

“It doesn’t suit me.”

“Yes?”

Aiden tilted his head in confusion. It seemed like he couldn’t understand his words. 

“The Lion Sword Technique does not suit me.”

Aiden couldn’t help but be shocked. He couldn’t believe what Jaiden had just said. For someone like Aiden, the Basic Swordsmanship was just something basic. However, for others, it could be a difficult and high-leveled technique. However, he still couldn’t understand this fact since he was still young.

“I may be a dunce but the Lion Sword Technique is a technique that did not suit me in the first place. That’s why I’m training in Basic Swordsmanship.”

“Impossible. Looking at hyung-nim’s swordsmanship…”

Aiden mumbled the end of his words as he looked at Jaiden’s sword. His neat and tidy moves were so smooth that Aiden had made it into his current goal. Even the lion that was right next to him told him that his swordsmanship was not bad at all.

However, it was something that was only alright for his age. In the end, the limits that had been set by his talents were already made clear. However, the lion couldn’t tell this to Aiden since he still was not aware that Jaiden’s increasing proficiency was bound to decrease over time. 

“Well, that’s what it is. Anyway, I’m just doing this training since I’m not suited for the Lion Sword Technique so don’t pay it any mind.” 

“…Yes.” 

When Aiden answered him reluctantly as if he still did not understand his words, Jaiden spoke up and deliberately provoked him to change the subject.

“By the way, do you think you can win today?” 

“I must win today!” 

Jaiden grinned wolfishly while he swung his sword. He found Aiden to be a bit cute with his fists clenched tightly as he burned his determination to win today. 

“I’m looking forward to it.” 

With that said, Jaiden went back to his Basic Swordsmanship training. Aiden also picked up his sword again. The two of them began their repetitive training. 

Just like that, their simple and repetitive routine of doing self training in the mornings while fighting against each other in the afternoons continued on.

The days became a month. And a month became two months.

Two months after Jaiden and Aiden started their training, it seemed like others had already believed that he had recovered to some extent. He did not know if it was based on the head’s judgment or not but they were now allowed to continue having their personal private education in the morning, something that had been stopped before. 

Because of this, their self training and battle were pushed back to the afternoon and evening respectively. Right now, they were working on a fairly tight schedule. Nevertheless, Jaiden and Aiden still perfectly maintained their schedule without wasting any time and effort. 

And just like that weeks and months passed by in a flash.

***

TL’s corner!

I will be using technique, skill and swords(weapon)manship interchangeably for the skills that they use.

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