Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as the weakest Sword God

I closed my eyes to focus on the heat.

I found it easy to fall into a meditative state, I had learned to silence my thoughts and focus entirely on the feeling of living with my body.

But meditation wasn't exactly what I did, sitting on that porch, on that tenth day.

The forest below me, Nina practicing sword strokes, the wall at my back...

It hit me like a bolt of lightning, fallen from the sky.

I could feel the inside of my hands.

It wasn't skin or air covering my body, it was deeper than I should have been able to feel, deeper than the nervous system could touch, I could feel an inner core, I could make out the structure of the bones in my palm.

It was strange, but not unpleasant.

Questions gnawed at my mind, what was this? Was it my touki?...

I opened my eyes and raised both hands.

I could feel the connection between the bones in my fingers, I could feel the pulse of the veins in my wrists, it was all there, right beneath me, my flesh and my blood... IT WAS ME.

But that wasn't what I focused on.

There was another layer, beyond the physical, more than I could see, I closed my eyes again.

It was invisible, maybe it wasn't even there, not in a sense of "real" or "unreal", but something completely different, magical, I shouldn't have been able to feel it, but I did.

In my old world, I wouldn't have felt anything at all, but here, I could feel it, here, it was a part of me, as sure as all the flesh and blood in my body...

It was the electricity, the thing that pulsed through my bones, surging when I needed it most, it was the thing that blocked out the world.

It enveloped my skin and my fingers, flowing outward, pulsing, from the very core of my body.

Even though I couldn't see it, it heated me, an electromagnetic wave coiling around itself and forming a barrier.

Or maybe a better description: it formed an aura... my touki, just above my skin, penetrating my body completely.

I was protected.

With a blink, I realized I could no longer feel the pain in my shoulder.

I stood up from the wooden bench.

"Nina" I called out to her

She turned to look at me and her sword fell from a ready position.

"What? Are you restless?" she said with a mocking smile

I ignored the comment, those long days had tested my patience, and I was sure she derived some sort of perverse joy from seeing me unable to practice.

"I'm ready to train again," I said sounding serious... I think.

She raised an eyebrow at this.

"I don't think so, Gino, wasn't it this morning that your father said it would take a couple more days?" she said

"I...I just discovered something, I'm fine now" I mumbled.

I put a hand on my injured shoulder, slowly turning my arm and raising it above my head, it felt perfect like nothing had happened.

I was only half focused on the conversation, the feeling in my hands, on my skin, all over my body, was too distracting, I stood on my toes, stretching my ankles as I balanced on the balls of my feet, it felt like a weight had just been lifted off me, like I had been under a huge burden, only to leave it behind.

"I need to try it, do you want to train?" the words came out of my mouth.

She looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, sure, now I'm curious," she said.

It took me only a moment to pull out a wooden training sword from inside. Nina hadn't brought a wooden sword of her own, so I grabbed another one for her.

I tossed the training sword to her, and she left the sheathed steel one lying in the snow.

"...your dad isn't going to yell at me, right? Are you fully healed?" she muttered.

"Yes," I replied dryly.

I was watching her, she was still hesitating, looking at me uneasily, her posture was totally wrong.

Where was that iron column I had seen the last ten days?!

I wanted to experience that, I wanted to fight my father again too.

She moved her sword under my gaze, before raising her sword.

I was ready.

"Gino, is everything okay?" Nina's voice echoed in the courtyard.

"Yes," I replied.

The world froze.

I was watching her, watching the movements of her legs, the trembling of her heels as she slowly lowered her weight, ready to pounce on me. I could see the flow of energy through her body, I could see the intent behind her sword.

I took a step forward.

For the second time in ten days, my world lit up.

I rested my sword at the base of my neck.

"…"

I looked up. She was still taller than me, maybe a few centimeters. She hadn't moved her sword at all, she had barely changed her stance. I reached her before the energy in her body had a chance to flow.

Her eyes met mine.

After a second, her lips curved upwards.

I'm not sure how to describe the emotion on her face though, it didn't look like happiness, maybe at first glance, it could have been mistaken for a smile, but it wasn't, it looked like she was in pain.

Even though she was smiling and her eyes were wrinkled, it looked like someone had just cut her with a sword.

I was sure I hadn't hurt her.

My sword was made of wood and hadn't even touched her skin, I stopped my attack just before I reached her neck, even then, the sword was floating right above her.

So... why did she look like that?...

It wasn't anger at me hitting her, I knew what that looked like, it always made her storm off, and then the next day she was fine again, it wasn't frustration or anger at me, I'd seen all of that.

I walked away and dropped my sword.

The energy, my touki, coursed through my body, I could feel it everywhere in my body, in my blood, and in my bones, it coiled around my skin and protected me.

Maybe it was always there, but when I sat on that porch and fought my father, I finally learned to see it.

I could never unsee it, that energy would stay with me for the rest of my life.

In my flesh and blood, it was a part of me.

I looked at Nina, she was shaking, I think it was the adrenaline, or maybe the euphoria of that fight, Nina's fake smile was still there, that indescribable emotion was still clear on her face.

That was the day I truly became a sword saint, the day I learned to see and use my touki, it was also a day I could have learned something important about people, but I missed the chance.

I had the opportunity to approach her, ask her a question, and offer some kind of comfort as a friend.

Instead, for the second time in ten days, I couldn't help but laugh.

I felt amazing.

-Nina POV-

Her cousin was a sword saint.

That was the first thought in her head when she felt the sword against her throat.

Nina Fario learned an important lesson at that moment.

She was eleven years old, beyond the mountains, in the far north, where the three magical kingdoms had no reach.

Not that age mattered in that place.

This was the holy land of the sword, there nothing else was important but skill.

Nina had never known a different culture, she was of the blood of the Sword God and she dedicated herself to her training like a fish in water, swimming against the current towards mastery, from the moment she first held a sword.

All the teachers agreed that she was meant to be there, she was a prodigy.

But the girl remained kind and humble throughout her childhood when others might have become ill-tempered rebels.

Despite all the praise, she never developed an ego.

After all, she had to face the crushing reality of Gino Britzs every day.

That reality kept her grounded, it was a stabilizing force in her life, something she could never escape.

She couldn't remember the first time she met Gino, no matter how far back she looked, he was there, his father was a direct disciple of her father and his mother, her aunt.

Their families were bound by blood and sword.

Nina was a friendly girl, and despite her great ability, she was down to earth and reliable, other children could bring their problems to her, she surrounded herself with friends, and in the training dojos, she was a leader.

She poured her heart out to her close friends, without holding anything back.

The boy was her opposite, he was... different, from the other children, he was less of an equal and more of an object to be avoided.

When a child saw Gino Britzs running through the city on one of his morning runs, he would lower his head and look away.

This doesn't mean that Gino was violent or a bully, the problem was deeper, and it was a question of understanding.

The other children did not understand Gino.

Nina didn't think he would notice, she never talked about it, she never expressed that she liked him, and she decided to wait until they were both adults.

He would disappear into the woods on random days, without warning, he would wander off and she would have to follow his footprints for hours to find him.

Those footprints always led to some hidden, snowy clearing, he always swung his sword in silence, that silence always surrounded him.

She was his only friend and she was proud of it.

Even though she might not fully understand Gino, she did understand what he loved, he loved swords and so did she, more than anything else, and that made her happy.

Gino Britzs is her cousin, her friend, and the person she loves, he was different from her, and maybe, from everyone, but that wasn't what made him scary.

"Good job Gino" her voice came out of her mouth.

He was a few steps away from her, in the empty training yard behind her house.

Gino was three years younger than her and had already completely surpassed her.

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Readers when I do seven deep chapters with all my brain power: ZZZZZZZZZ

Readers, when I write pedophilia and a bland plot: REAL SHIT!!

Still, would you help me by giving me power stones and COMMENTING!!, what did you think of the chapter.

The truth is I like making good chapters but I guess that's not what you like, huh?