Leon Greyrat: The Second Son - Mushoku Tensei OC

Chapter 24 - Harvest Festival

— Leon Greyrat —

"Come on, brother. Let the mana flow through you, enhancing your strength with each strike. Don't control it, just guide it," I lectured.

A wooden sword whistled toward my face, but compared to the Water God, it looked like nothing more than a baby swinging a stick.

Needless to say, I parried it effortlessly, and with my brother leaving his side open, I gave him some punishment for being so vulnerable.

Thwack!

"Ouch!" Rudy exclaimed as he falls onto the ground.

"Haa...That's enough," I said.

As Rudy began to cast healing magic on himself, I silently contemplated what I had noticed lately whenever I sparred with my brother.

With me becoming a Water Saint, I could now sense mana, and by extension, touki as well.

Ghislaine's was sharp and refined, almost to the point where it was hard to see, though that was probably just the difference in our abilities.

Master did say that at a certain difference in strength, one's touki becomes beyond one's understanding, whatever that meant.

Eris' touki, however, was very... loose.

Unrefined and amateur, at least compared to me.

But lately, she was starting to use touki with some of her strikes, which meant that she was now an Advanced-rank swordswoman, or at least very close to it.

And Rudy... I couldn't feel his at all.

When one reached the Intermediate rank, like the few knights I saw training in the courtyard from time to time, they should begin having some touki radiate off their body, even if it's uncontrolled.

In fact, even a Beginner-rank swordsman showed flashes of touki here and there.

Rudy, however... seemed to have none at all.

"Dammit... What do you think the problem is, Leon?" he asked me.

"...You said you don't feel anything at all, right?" I asked.

"What? Don't start talking like Father now," he teased. "But no, I don't. Am I doing something wrong?"

I shook my head. "No."

While lacking in power, Rudy's technique was quite good, even being on par with Eris as long as you didn't take the raw combat instincts and talent into account.

And considering that he had been training for so long... yeah, I was pretty confident about this.

"Rudy... I don't think you have any touki. Or at least, if you do, you can't use it," I stated my hypothesis.

"No touki, huh?" he said despondently. "I guess I can't be a swordsman, then."

"I didn't say that," I interjected. "I've noticed Sylphy has the same problem, but it's still good for you two to learn swordsmanship to defend yourself and train combat instincts, even if you can barely reach the Intermediate rank. But perhaps... yeah, I think you should start focusing on the Water God and North God instead. Is that alright, Big Sis?"

Looking over to Ghislaine, she nodded in response. "Mmm. Rudeus is not suited for the Sword God Style."

Ouch.

"And it wouldn't do any good for Eris to only fight against Sword God techniques. Unfortunately, Leon is too far ahead to be her sparring partner, but with Rudeus learning the other styles, it would broaden her abilities as well," she continued.