Reincarnation Of A Swordsman: The Omni Mage

The two young men stared at each other with surprise for a moment before Kyle took the initiative to break the silence.

"You never told me you're from Frulia."

"Frulia's my hometown. I'm just as shocked that you're from here too," Nate replied.

Kyle scratched the back of his head with a grin. "Welp, what a coincidence. Honestly, I thought you'd forgotten about me after all this time."

"Forgotten about you?" Nate shook his head with a playful smile. "I thought it was the other way around. You've been too busy at the academy to even think about me, haven't you?"

Kyle smiled wryly. "It's not like that. Things have just been... hectic, you know? There's barely anytime for me to find time for anything else."

"I get it," Nate said with a knowing chuckle. "Same here. The academy keeps you running around like crazy, doesn't it?"

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The two laughed, easing into the comfortable rhythm of their conversation. After a moment, Kyle decided to ask.

"But what are you doing here, anyway? Don't tell me you got injured?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Nate replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I just forgot to stock up on potions before coming back to the village. My dad told me I could get some here, so here I am."

"Got it," Kyle said with a nod as he stood. "Let me take your order then."

Nate told Kyle all that he wanted and Kyle quickly gathered the requested items, packing them neatly.

"That'll be 50 silver coins per bottle. You're getting 10 energy recovery potions and 10 health recovery potions, so that's 10 gold coins in total."

Nate placed the payment on Kyle's hand, and Kyle handed him the carefully packed potions. Nate stored them in his space ring with ease before flashing a grin.

"Alright, I'll be heading out. I want to hit the forest before it gets late."

"Wait!" Kyle called out, stopping Nate just as he reached the door.

Nate turned and raised an eyebrow. "Any problem?"

"Are you heading out with the rest of the villagers?" Kyle asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Nate replied. "They've already left. I'll be going alone."

Kyle nodded, considering his words carefully. "In that case, mind if I join you? The others wouldn't let me tag along."

Nate laughed before teasingly replying:

"Kyle, it won't be safe for you. Besides, you'd only slow me down."

Kyle felt a flicker of irritation but quickly masked it with a smile. "Just try me. If I can't keep up, I'll head back on my own. Deal?"

Nate hesitated for a moment, weighing his options before nodding. "Alright, you can come. Just don't regret it later."

Kyle beamed with excitement before turning to Grace, who was already deep in her cultivation. Before he could ask for her permission, she had already raised her hand and motioned for him to go. "Stay safe, okay?"

"Will do. Thank you!" Kyle said before following Nate out the door.

***

The walk to the forest's edge was short. As they arrived, Nate smirked and reached into his space ring, pulling out a sleek longsword. The blade gleamed in the sunlight, its sharp edges catching every ray.

"Nice sword you've got there," Kyle remarked.

Nate smirked, giving the blade a casual twirl. "I know, right? It's an intermediate weapon. Try to keep up, okay?"

Kyle's grin deepened as he pulled out the [Aurora Fang] from his inventory. The katana's blade shimmered as he unsheathed it, the enchantment leaving a faint firefrost trail in the air. The sunlight danced off its surface, making it look almost otherworldly.

Kyle returned Nate's smirk with one of his own. "I'll make sure you eat those words."

Nate's eyes widened the moment he saw Kyle unsheathe his katana. As a forge master he was, he easily recognized the sword. He instinctively took a step closer, stammering as he spoke.

"Is... is that an advanced-tier weapon?"

Kyle smiled, casually holding the katana up for Nate to admire. "Yup. Isn't it lovely?"

Nate blinked, momentarily at a loss for words before blurting out, "How did you even get that? You're a first-year, aren't you?"

Kyle shrugged nonchalantly. "A friend of mine made it, a fellow first-year. I just killed a Corrupted Tier-4 mana beast and gave him the core to upgrade my former katana."

Nate stared at Kyle in disbelief. "That's not possible. How can a first-year create an advanced weapon when I can't even create one? And a Corrupted Tier-4 mana beast? How the hell did you manage to kill something like that?"

Kyle chuckled, appreciating Nate's reaction. "I'll admit, it was a team effort, but honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal. And as for the weapon, my friend's a genius. You might know him, actually, since he's from Frulia too. His name's Orion."

Nate's eyes narrowed as he muttered to himself, "Orion... Orion..." Recognition dawned on his face, and he snapped his fingers. "Oh! Jack's son!"

Kyle tilted his head, recalling the name faintly. "Yeah, I think that's him. His dad's a pretty famous forge master, right?"

"Damn right," Nate said with a low whistle. "That boy is a monster. Back in school, he barely showed up to class, and even when he did, he'd get perfect scores on every single test. Heck, I remember hearing stories about him lecturing the teachers when they made mistakes."

Kyle laughed, the mental image of a younger Orion scolding his teachers fitting the arrogant genius perfectly. "That definitely sounds like him."

Nate nodded, his tone filled with awe. "You have no idea. Even as his senior, I heard tales about him all the time. Everyone did. They said his intelligence was off the charts, and he'd mastered complex topics by the time most of us were still struggling with the basics. Honestly, I'm not surprised he could pull off something like this now that he's at the academy."

Kyle grinned. "Yeah, Orion's impressive, no doubt."

Nate then returned back to his first question. "Besides, I need an explanation on how you killed a Tier-4 mana beast. Which team effort was that? Help from an instructor? A battalion of mages?"

Kyle laughed lightly at Nate's assumption.

"Nope. It was just me, four other first years and my beast companion."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You're joking, right?" Nate asked. "The tiers of mana beasts corresponds to a mage's power level. A Tier-1 beast is equivalent to an initial Beginner mage, anywhere from Tier 1 to Tier 3. A Tier-2 beast matches a middle Beginner mage, Tier 4 to Tier 6, and so on. A Tier-4 mana beast is on par with an initial Intermediate mage. Even I'm not sure I could take one down without a serious fight. And you're telling me you six handled a Corrupted one?"

Kyle smirked before closing the topic. "Hey, believe what you want. I'm just telling you what happened."

Nate sighed, running a hand through his hair as he studied Kyle. "I have no choice but to believe you, no matter how impossible you sound. Let's just get moving before I lose my mind."

"Lead the way," Kyle said cheerfully, adjusting the grip on his katana.

With a resigned shake of his head, Nate turned and stepped into the forest and Kyle followed him closely behind.