Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 4

“Well, to be more exact, I just like the spear. Haha. When I was young, I went to a dueling tournament hosted by the royal family… The winner back then had used a spear. That knight looked pretty cool in your father’s eyes.”

My father smiled widely.

“Of course, if anyone could learn the spear for just that reason then your father wouldn’t have been able to form six mana cores.”

Mana cores. A type of concentrated magic power that determines a warrior’s “class.”

Mana gathers within one’s body naturally through breathing and training. The mana core is what collects the mana in one place.

One can perform physical feats that breakthrough human limits via the mana core. As the number of cores increases, the number of limits one can break through grows.

If one mana core enables you to barely avoid an arrow flying at you from a far distance, then four cores would allow you to survive a rain of arrows.

And my father is someone who has six of these mana cores and is qualified as a hexa-class user.

If I had not died in my previous life, I may have even been able to reach that level myself.

“Just so you know, your father has six of these mana cores. Hahaha!” my father explained very proudly while laughing.

He continued, “They are a bit different from the ‘magic circles’ of a mage. While a ‘circle’ is used for circulating and refining mana, a ‘core’ is used for concentrating it. You can learn this in more detail a bit later. For now, you need to learn the spear.”

My father then demonstrated stabbing with a spear.

Point focus.

It looked merely like a spear being thrust forward, but…

Ka-boom.

The air distorted.

I could see it happen clearly.

“Stabbing is a basic spear skill. It may look like a simple movement, but you’ll need to practice it countless times in order to perfect it so that you can stab at the perfect depth using the right amount of strength.”

“Yes, Father.”

“The air distorted like this because the stab had been perfect. When you apply the perfect amount of force to your stab, the mana inside of you will react and instantly contort the area where you stabbed,” my father said, wearing an incredibly proud smile on his face.

“This is actually a skill that I developed myself. I just wanted to brag about it. Hahaha.”

If my mother had seen him, she would have told him he looked like an idiot, but I respected him.

Creating a new skill on par with sword skills and spear skills that had been established and polished by numerous warriors in the past is truly a difficult feat.

“That skill just now requires a high level of mastery to release mana at the same time as the stab.”

My father spun the spear once in the air and set it down. He then pointed at my spear.

“Okay. It’s time for you to try stabbing with it.”

I grabbed my spear and got into stance.

“Relax and get prepared. Empty your mind of any thoughts and thrust your spear. If you are unable to do that then your spear could be blocked.”

The spear—a weapon that did not leave much of an impression on me in my past life.

After I awakened my talent with the sword, I had treated it as a backup weapon option.

However, once I began treating the spear as my father had taught me, I could start to feel a difference.

“Concentrate, Dane.”

I focused.

I could feel something welling up in my body.

* * *

Arken thought his son was quite special.

‘Was it after seven years of wielding the spear that I got enlightened?’

Arken looked back at his own experience as a supposed “genius.”

How long will his youngest take?

He wasn’t really sure, but it would surely take a while to get familiar with the spear.

‘But his stance is really quite solid.’

Actually, whether it is spearmanship or swordsmanship, the fundamentals of both are built on the stance. From there, one can make slashing or stabbing movements.

But somehow his youngest had already established a perfect stance.

Almost like someone who has been training consistently for a while.

But rather than doubt that fact, Arken simply attributed it to his son having more talent than he had expected.

Woosh, woosh!

However, that was not an accurate assessment of Dane.

“…How.”

Arken inhaled deeply.

How long does it take to create a skill? That is, how long does it take to challenge established theories and create and perfect a practical skill, oneself?

One year? Five years? Or maybe ten years?

Arken had taken seven years to create the skill that concentrates mana at the tip of the spear for an instant explosive effect.

However…

Voooom!

Why is the tip of his youngest, Dane’s, spear shaking?

It was not as much as he, himself, can do, but the air was distorting.

That was the phenomenon that occurs when mana focused to a point explodes.

“…in the world.”

After some deliberation, Arken picked one question out of dozens that came to mind.

“How did you do that just now?”

This was the first time Dane had wielded a spear.

Not only was Dane’s stance perfect, but Dane was able to mimic the skill his father had made himself.

Is this even possible?

I gathered mana in one place, and the moment I thrust the spear, I imbued it into the tip of the spear. I calculated the moment my spear would reach the target and released the flow of mana at that point.”

It was a perfect response.

But, on the other hand, it was absolutely absurd.

Seven years.

It had taken him seven years to theorize and prepare the skill.

And yet, the moment his son held a spear for the first time in his life, he had perfected it?

And it was not even by pure luck—Dane had grasped the theory behind it, too?

“Huh…”

Arken saw his youngest looking at him proudly with a look indicating Dane was craving praise and burst out into laughter.

“Hahaha…”

But then he was shocked by another realization.

‘Wait a moment. Our youngest son utilized mana just now?’

Dane said a moment ago that he had ‘gathered’ mana, ‘imbued it’, and then ‘released’ it.

“…Dane. Did you just tell me you used magic?”

Despite never having been taught, Dane had come to his own understanding of something and, in his own words, claimed to have wielded mana.

Arken swallowed dryly.

And then proceeded to be dumbfounded by his son’s follow-up response.

“Yes. I formed a mana core. Although it’s just one for now.”

Arken came to a realization that the future master of Dragon Tail had appeared.

“…Does that mean our son is going to become a mage spearman assassin summoner?”

* * *

Reaper Scans

[Translator – Kyuri]

[Proofreader – Alissa]

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* * *

After my “wahhh” and “ahbbb” days had passed, ever since my first birthday when my talent was flamboyantly displayed, I actually did not have much of a chance to be bored.

Because my family members took turns imparting theories of their specialties onto me.

It was the moment I started absorbing my father’s interesting pet theories about spearmanship when this took place.

“Stabbing and slashing with a spear is along the same vein as doing so with a sword. However, there is a clear difference, Dane. And that’s distance. Unless there is a sword as big as a spear, the spear will have an advantage when fighting someone wielding a sword.”

“Because the contact point of a spear is small, it can strike effectively without needing much strength. And even though they’re not really quite the same, javelins are also very effective.”

Skills that can attack and block attacks differently from how one would do so with a sword.

I would not say it is more interesting than the sword, but I can say there are enough points to learn.

However, my father did not teach me how to wield mana as a warrior.

I am not sure whether it was because he thought it would be too difficult for me to understand or if he simply thought I was not at that level yet.

What is more important is that I already know how and that it was not all that difficult for me to take in mana and form a mana core even with this child’s body.

“Hoo. Ha. Hoo. Ha.”

There is nothing easier than walking a path one has already walked before.

The only hindrance is this imperfect body of a child.

Forming a mana core is simple.

You absorb mana from breathing. Then you take the mana, refine it within your body, and form it into a core.

The reason so few people could form a core and be called a ‘warrior’ is that each person’s affinity and sense for magic varies greatly.

Luckily, Dane Sogres’ affinity for magic is impressive.

No, rather, calling it impressive is actually lacking.

The moment I first used ‘mana breathing’ to absorb mana into this body, I came to a realization.

That my body as Argrik from my previous life could not even hold a candle to how mind-boggling this current body is.

An affinity so incredible that you can feel every single particle of mana vividly and distinguish the taste of individual magic breathed in.

Thanks to it, I was able to form a mana core at the young age of three.

Ka-boom!

And as a result, I was able to reproduce my father’s skill, as humorous as that seems, even though this was my first time holding a spear.

“You formed a mana core? You, Dane?”

“Yes.”

After looking stupefied for a while, my father finally asked, “Since when? And how did you form it? Why didn’t you say anything?”

My father is a thoughtful man.

And on the battlefield, he is a rather calm man.

That such a person is showing signs of uncontrollable excitement while asking me questions gave me confirmation that I had unprecedented talent.

“Did your mother teach you, somehow? Or Arabella? Clare?”

None of them did.

While their theories on magic did help me a bit, forming a mana core was solely the result of the combination of Dane Sogres’ affinity for magic and Argrik’s previous life experience.

In the end, I had only one response I could give.

“I was lucky to form it. I read how to form a mana core in a book and followed along…”

Of course, this seemed to have given my father an even greater shock.

“Huh. Ha. Ha. Formed a mana core after reading about it in a book… a true genius has really been born into our family.”

“Dane. It’s clear you can become an excellent warrior. That’s what I think. From what I know of, no one has been able to form a mana core by this age. Rather, mostly they are unable to even understand the principle behind it.”

My father had a serious look on his face and continued speaking.

“I had a feeling during your first birthday, but since I’ve seen it for myself, I can see that walking only the one path of a spearman… would probably be too much of a waste of your talent, Dane.”

I thought likewise.

The sword will always be close to my heart, but I also do not wish to miss out on the chance to learn other specialties.

The empire’s greatest spearman for my father.

The empire’s greatest (former) assassin for my mother.

A genius mage for my eldest sister.

A genius summoner for the younger of my older sisters.

With such an amazing, perfect setting with four geniuses available, what I must do is to learn as much as I can.

Of course, my father put the nail in the coffin with an even more serious look than from before.

“However, spearmen are the best compared to assassins, mages, and summoners. Yeah, that’s how it is.”

Why did I have a feeling I would have the same question posed to me three more times?

After saying that so suddenly, my father looked at my short spear and said, “Seems this spear will now need a name.”

“A name?”

“That’s right. All weapons need a name. When the wielder of the weapon is ready, giving the weapon a name and treating it with affection will make the weapon respond more strongly.”

My father was more of a romantic than he appeared.

After destroying countless weapons on numerous battlefields, I had never once thought to give one a name.

“Sleep early today. You’ll be tired from the celebration all day tomorrow. If you sleep too late you may be nodding off tomorrow.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Then, I’ll see you later at the front of the castle. Don’t arrive too late. Our guests will be arriving then.”

I thought seriously about the name.

It was the day before my seventh birthday.