Peerless Ethereal Sword Sovereign

Head Start

"Searching for corresponding Sub-class... Sub-class found.

Congratulation, you are an Ethereal Martial Sword Novice!"

I internally rejoiced at the idea that my description lead to an actual class and that I wouldn't have to fall back on my second option. Then the Sub-class description popped up in front of me and I pulled all my focus on it. If I failed to grasp my Sub-class I would be fighting with a fraction of my true potential and would surely die.

[Ethereal Martial Sword Novice: (Unique)

A Sub-class using both Mana and Qi equally. Qi is used to reinforce and quicken the body while Mana makes the blade deadlier. Sword enlightenment will come with practice and meditation on the sword.

Energy: Mana 5:5 Qi

Soul-bonded Sword: none

Element: none

+ skill 'Sword Enlightenment' Lv 1

+ skill 'Mana Manipulation' Lv 1

+ skill 'Qi Manipulation' Lv 1]

Not all but many skills were ranked by levels from 1 to 5, each level increasing its positive effects while decreasing the negative ones. To increase the level of a skill one had to 'grasp the foundations of the next level', in other words grinding was only half the work needed. Understanding of the skill and its use, applications and negations were to be found and thoroughly examined before the level may rise and the higher the level the more difficult and subtle the search became.

Sword Enlightenment was new to me but I guesses it was what I had asked for when I said 'mastery will gradually be comprehended and grasped' which meant that I would learn swor plays and passes as I comprehended the way of the sword. In my previous life, many people had been stuck at level 3 of their sword skill because they lacked the intelligence and wisdom to understand their own skills. Me, I was stuck at level 2. I had absolutely no talent for battle, the day I had killed my first humanoid monster I had realized that swords killed and had stopped using it to do so. I probably had the best survival instinct among all the Heroes and it was screaming to me to pick up my sword and fight again but I was also the most cowardly and retracted in manual work in the fields to survive.

But now it was different. Now, after dying, five years of conditioning myself and several weeks of intensive training in a Kendo Dojo I had grasped the truth about wielding a weapon: they were not meant to kill but to make you a greater threat than you already were by becoming an extension of your body. They also made you a more important target.

To wield a weapon, be it your fist, a blade or a gun, means to aspire to kill and be killed.

This new reality had been engraved into me in the last five years which is why when the voice spoke in my ear once more I was only lightly surprised.

"By understanding that a sword is a tool of death, skill Sword Enlightenment has risen by 1"

"By understanding that a sword is a tool to extend one's potential, skill Sword Enlightenment has risen by 1"

"Congratulation, you are the first to obtain a Sub-class related Skill Level up to 2, as such you obtain 50 Heroic Points"

"Congratulation, you are the first to obtain a Sub-class related Skill Level up to 3, as such you obtain 75 Heroic Points"

As for Mana and Qi Manipulation, I had never developed any relate skills in my first life so my understanding of them was meager making me unsurprised that no further skill level up happened. I would miss the Heroic Points but that was a small disappointment compared to what happened next. As I was standing there in the street a flow of theoretical knowledge entered my brain and settled. it was the effect of the skill up: new ways of wielding my sword, any type of sword in fact, had made themselves known to me. Following that came knowledge about Mana, a mysterious energy emitted by all sentient beings that could manipulate the elements of nature, and Qi, a turbulent energy found into all physical beings that could manipulate the auras and bodies of their wielders.

I knew I would have to practice Mana and Qi Manipulation soon in order to level them up too as when an overlapping or completing set of skills, such as those primarily given in a Sub-class, all pass to another level then the title or Sub-class from which it originated will upgrade along with it. As such there are the Novice, Adept, Veteran, Expert and Master ranks of the Sub-classes. My Sub-class was at Novice level like all of the starting Heroes and would augment once I had fulfilled all the prerequisites.

The difference between a novice and Adept was the same as day and night: an Adept was twice as strong in the sub-class' s related skills as a Novice while a Veteran was four time more powerful than a Novice and so on. If I wanted to be n top then I needed to get a Rank up.

"Congratulation, as the first Hero of your world to obtain a Dual Sub-class you have obtained the tittle 'Pioneer', the skill 'Dual Mind' at Lv 1 and 200 Heroic Points!"

That declaration took me by surprise and for a moment I stayed frozen, then it slowly dawned on me. A title. I had just gotten a freaking Tittle! And not any title, I had gotten the Pioneer tittle, one that only a few people had ever received but that, according to rumors, allowed better adaptation to unexpected situations by raising one's Intelligence and Wisdom by an unknown amount of points. I wouldn't be able to know how much until the Status function of the System was bought and, if that pissed me off it did not stop me from equipping it right now.

"Equip Tittle 'Pioneer'" I told the system. There were no apparent changes but I knew it was done when a clear chime rung in my ear to announce that the action was finished.