In the courtyard, Zenith was tending the flowers and plants, carefully looking after her favorite tree.
His mother loved plants, and a serene smile rested on her face. She was clearly in a good mood.
In the yard, Paul was diligently practicing his swordsmanship.
Standing opposite him was a child.
The Greyrat family's second son, Luo Ge.
Now three years old, he had handsome, delicate features, unlike his older brother Rudeus's feminine air.
With his eyes always slightly narrowed, Luo Ge struck others as sunny and handsome.
"Luo Ge, I'll start teaching you swordsmanship today." Paul stood before Luo Ge, his face full of excitement and anticipation.
Beside them, Zenith immediately grew unhappy. "Honey, isn't this a little too early? Shouldn't he be at least five before he starts learning swordsmanship?"
"That's for other people's children. My children are geniuses. Isn't it perfectly normal to have higher expectations for a genius?"
With that, he looked down at Luo Ge. "One last thing... Luo Ge, do you want to learn?"
"Yes!"
Luo Ge nodded.
Just as he was about to start learning swordsmanship from Paul, someone spoke up timidly. "Father... may I join you?"
Luo Ge turned to look. It was Rudeus, standing in the doorway.
For some reason, although this fellow was always bouncing all over the house, he refused to set foot outside, not even to come out into the yard.
"Of course! You can join us too, Rudeus!" Paul readily agreed.
Yet Rudeus still did not step over the threshold.
Luo Ge sensed something was off.
Could this guy have some psychological trauma about leaving the house?
Was he socially anxious in his previous life?
Fortunately, although Rudeus was afraid, everyone's encouragement finally gave him the courage to enter the yard.
Still, Luo Ge could just make out his nervous expression and his inner fear of the outside world.
This kid probably had quite a story in his previous life.
Luo Ge thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Paul could hardly wait to show off in front of his two children. "Rudeus, Luo Ge, watch closely! Daddy's about to show you what a real swordsman is!"
"Haaah-!"
With a loud shout from Paul.
He effortlessly cleaved the large stone in the middle of the yard in two with a single stroke.
After several seconds of silence, Luo Ge and Rudeus clapped in unison, cooperating with an unspoken understanding.
"Wow! Daddy, you're amazing!"
"So amazing..."
With both children admiring him so much, Paul immediately looked as though he were floating on air, clearly feeling very pleased with himself.
He put on a serious face, trying his best to maintain his fatherly dignity as he addressed the two children. "Did you see that clearly?"
"Basically, you just step forward with a whoosh like this, then swing your sword down, and you can cut through stone."
"Rudeus, since you're the older brother, you demonstrate it first."
But what happened next...
Rudeus's performance left Paul sorely disappointed.
Not only did he fail to display the same talent he had for magic, but he was downright clumsy.
This idiot son of mine!!!
Paul's blood pressure soared as he watched. He pressed a hand to his forehead. "Your movements are completely wrong! Slow, far too slow! You're so limp that you're not putting any strength into it at all!"
Rudeus demonstrated again, and Paul shook his head. "Wrong, still wrong. You're moving faster, but there's still a problem with how you're swinging the sword."
After watching Rudeus trip and fall, Paul shook his head, then turned an expectant gaze toward his second son, Luo Ge.
The main account was already ruined. Now it was all up to this alt.
"Luo Ge, can you do it?"
But Luo Ge shook his head, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Father, may I make a small, selfish request?"
Paul was puzzled, but he nodded in agreement.
He had not expected Luo Ge's next words to give him such a shock.
"Father, could I go straight to sparring with you?"
Paul froze for a moment, but quickly accepted it. "This is your very first time learning swordsmanship. Are you really sure? Don't you need to get a proper grasp of the techniques?"
"Mm..."
"I'm quite sure."
Luo Ge's eyes remained slightly narrowed.
"Hahaha, I won't go easy on you! Don't start crying if you get beaten black and blue." Paul laughed smugly.
Zenith immediately bristled beside him. "If you dare hurt a single hair on Luo Ge's head, you'll never hear the end of it!"
"All right, all right, I was only joking."
"He's our precious son. Of course I'll go easy on him for our first match." Paul backed down instantly.
"Luo Ge, are you really going to be all right?" Rudeus was a little nervous too.
"It should be fine."
Luo Ge took a deep breath, stood opposite Paul, and assumed a stance.
Since this was a father-son match, neither used a real sword. Instead, they used wooden swords.
Across from him, Paul was already getting impatient. As he warmed up, he lectured, "Luo Ge, your father is a genius who's proficient in the Sword God Style, Water God Style, and North God Style, and has reached the advanced rank in all three."
"Is that so?"
"Then I'll have to get a proper taste of your prowess, Father." In a very rare occurrence, Luo Ge opened his narrowed eyes a sliver.
"All right, let's begin. You don't need to hold back."
"Hm? Do you really not need me to hold back?" Luo Ge accepted the wooden sword Rudeus handed him, his expression briefly hesitant.
Paul laughed outright. "You don't think you can hurt me, do you? You're only a three-year-old child."
"Even if I gave you a one-handed handicap, you couldn't scratch me."
Acting on his intuition as a reincarnator, Rudeus warned him from the sidelines. "Father, you absolutely mustn't let your guard down!"
As the person who knew Luo Ge best in this world, having shared a bed and pillow with him for three years, Rudeus knew very well that Luo Ge was not the sort to act recklessly without thinking.
On the contrary, he was very levelheaded.
This was definitely not a momentary impulse.
Although he had no idea what trump card Luo Ge held, he was already starting to worry about Paul.
But Paul waved a hand, cutting Rudeus off with a look of inexplicable confidence. "It's fine."
"If we were competing in magic, I'd never be a match for you two geniuses."
"But if it's just swordsmanship..." He patted his chest. "I'm the absolute authority in this family. After all, your father was once a genius swordsman."
In Paul's view, although both his sons were magical geniuses, swordsmanship and magic were two completely different paths.
Rudeus's earlier failure had already proved that.
His second son, Luo Ge, was also overestimating himself, wanting to challenge him on his very first sword lesson.
He would have to show some of his real skill, or he would surely be underestimated.
He concentrated fully and assumed his stance. "Now, let's begin!"
At the same time, as Luo Ge held a sword for the first time.
For some reason, he felt an unparalleled affinity with it-as though the sword was the true object of his soul in this life.
In an instant, Luo Ge seemed to become a different person.
From anyone else's perspective, Paul across from him was merely an ordinary swordsman who had assumed a stance.
But the world in Luo Ge's eyes was different from what others saw.
After activating the Transparent World, he could clearly sense the changes throughout the entire world. Before Paul, standing in front of him, attacked, there would be a brief but distinct change in his internal organs.
He saw the flow of blood and mana, the degree of muscle contraction, and the movement of bones, allowing him to predict all of Paul's subsequent movements in advance.
In that very instant, he seized upon... an opening!