Mia's academy was closed for the day, so she got home early. As soon as she opened the door to their family's iron workshop, she saw her chuuni brother standing on a blade and flying wildly around the courtyard, laughing out loud.
"Bro, what are you doing?"
Matthews brought the blade to a stop in midair, then struck a handsome pose. He pretended to hold a fan and waft it with one hand, then said smugly to his sister, "There are three million swordsmen on the continent. Every one of them lowers their eyes when they see me!"
Watching her obnoxious chuuni brother, Mia sighed inwardly. Aside from being stingy and chuuni, her brother was pretty much fine in every other way.
"Hey, hey—Bam!"
Mia rolled her eyes at her brother, who had landed face-first.
Matthews awkwardly got to his feet and rubbed his head.
"Um, that was a mistake."
"As long as you're having fun."
"Seriously, your brother just ran out of Battle Qi. I'd actually pulled it off before you got here!"
Mia felt a little helpless. When her parents had taught her, they'd always wanted her to become an elegant mage. Now that she was with her unreliable brother, she'd somehow learned to make snarky remarks and roll her eyes. It was exhausting just thinking about it. These days, she felt like her brother was the child.
"I gave Winter that gold coin card."
Matthews nodded, then got up and picked up the blade that had fallen nearby. He'd wanted to try out what it felt like to be a sword immortal. Just imagine it: in a world where warriors were all rough, burly men, he could be as elegant as a sword immortal. What a refined existence that would be.
Besides, being able to fly meant great mobility. In this world, flight was a privilege enjoyed only by wind mages and humans in the Saint Realm.
Unfortunately, this way of flying on a sword wasn't suited to him right now. He'd chosen to wield a two-handed weapon. A sword wasn't suited to being held in a reverse grip, and a double-edged blade would cut his arm, so he'd chosen a saber instead.
His only ranged attack for now was the metal bullets fired by his Electromagnetic Cannon.
He still couldn't control a weapon once it flew away to attack at a distance. The moment any iron object left his hand, it was beyond his control.
"Hey, sis, why are you back?"
As Mia headed inside, she replied, "We're on break. It lasts a month and a half."
"Oh, in that case, perfect. I'm training with the saber for a while, so you can train with me!"
"Uh, no thanks. Aren't I already a mage?"
Matthews understood what Mia was thinking. From what he'd learned, her parents had both been mages, so naturally she didn't want to become a miserable warrior.
Matthews decided to correct her way of thinking and followed her inside. Mia poured a glass of water for her brother, then poured one for herself and sat down beside him.
"I don't want to become one of those stinky warriors!"
Matthews took a sip, set the glass on the table, and said, "No. Even though you're a mage now, you still need to train."
"Mages who don't exercise still end up with the bodies of level-three or level-four warriors, thanks to the nourishment of magic elements. But a mage's weakness is their body, so you need to learn a few basic close-combat techniques too."
"But those techniques aren't much use against someone at the same level!"
Matthews looked at how reluctant she was and realized that if he insisted, his sister would probably train. But she'd likely grow resentful, and they'd just be wasting time.
"Fine. If you don't want to train, then don't."
The next morning, Matthews took his sister and prepared to leave the city.
"Bro, where are we going?"
"Out of the city. The Imperial Capital isn't a good place for us to test out moves."
The siblings packed a few simple supplies and some food, then set off in a random direction.
There was a small river by a mountain peak three days' journey from the Imperial Capital. Matthews had already checked and found fish there, so they'd be able to get food easily. He brought his sister there and stopped.
That day, after Matthews finished practicing his two-handed saber techniques, he heard Mia call, "Bro, come eat!"
He'd been practicing his saber all morning, so he went over to join her.
His sister had made fish soup that day. Matthews ate it with steamed rice, but found the meal a little bland.
"Let's get some stuff to barbecue tomorrow."
Mia nodded. "Yeah, we've been eating fish for the last few days. I'm getting tired of it too."
"Mm..."
Mia noticed that her brother had just been talking about food, but now he was staring off into space. She asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. That's a snake-type magical beast."
Mia looked in the direction he pointed and saw a blue-green snake nearby. "Should we chase it off?"
"Forget it. It's just a young magical beast."
As he spoke, Matthews tossed it a fish. The little creature warily watched the fish come toward it. It didn't eat it right away, just stared at them.
After a while, Matthews sensed it sniff the fish before carrying it off in its mouth and disappearing into the river.
That afternoon, Matthews took his sister to the edge of the woods. Mia saw lightning flickering around his left arm and asked, "Bro, what are you going to do?"
"Stay behind me. This is my first time testing out this move."
After speaking, Matthews raised his left arm. He controlled the lightning-attribute Battle Qi in his body, speeding it up as it circled the device around his arm. The lightning elements began moving rapidly, cutting through the special device on his arm, which had been made with lodestone.
"Electromagnetic Cannon."
As soon as Matthews spoke, a flash of lightning shot from the direction of his fist. An oval piece of iron flew out at incredible speed. The bolt of lightning smashed through several trees along its path before finally striking a boulder.
"Wow, that was so cool!"
"Bro, that was really cool!"
Mia had seen her brother's left arm crackle with lightning, then a bolt flash from his fist and pierce the trees in its path. She had no idea how he'd done it, but her brother's move had looked incredibly cool.
Watching his sister jumping and shouting, Matthews thought that she'd been making fun of him for acting chuuni and showing off earlier, but now she'd been won over all the same.
Matthews continued testing it a few more times, then found that its power still fell short of what he'd hoped for.
"Come on, let's go take a look."
Matthews walked up to the boulder and saw that the bullet he'd fired had pierced it, then splattered across a second boulder like mud.
"Ah, looks like the bullet still isn't sturdy enough."
"Bro, it was already amazing."
Seeing his sister try to comfort him, Matthews knew she hadn't seen many powerful fighters in action. He remembered that, in the original story, the level-six warrior from Wushan Town, where the protagonist was born, could shatter a boulder with a single slap.
His Electromagnetic Cannon probably wasn't even as powerful as that. It hadn't even smashed the boulder.
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