Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as the weakest Sword God

An image formed in my mind, growing a little clearer each time I swung the sword at my father.

It was the image of every blood cell and muscle fiber laid out in perfect detail, as I moved, I felt them all vibrate in unison.

I stepped forward, slashing, but was deflected.

I stepped to the side, slashing again, but was blocked.

My body collapsed, my weight disappearing as I fell to the ground and I swung my sword, trying to cut his legs from below.

My father found my sword easily as if he was reading my mind.

I slid the steel over his blade, the grinding of metal echoing in the courtyard, and I let all my strength go into my legs, pushing him towards him.

My sword came very close but disappeared and only cut through the air.

I breathed heavily being alone and my father looked at me

"...okay Gino, that's enough for now," my father said with a smile and I immediately fell to the ground from exhaustion.

My knees hit the snow and I couldn't help but collapse completely.

At this point I was having trouble breathing, the muscles in my entire body were so starved for air that I couldn't breathe enough or fast enough.

My father knew how to push me to the limit.

We had only been training in the yard for ten minutes this morning but I was already completely exhausted.

"Get up Gino," my father said

His voice reached me and somehow, my body obeyed, my muscles burning and I was surprised to find that I still had enough strength to stand.

My vision blurred and blood rushed to my head, but I kept my eyes locked on him.

"...hmmm maybe we need to work on your stamina, but that's a task for another day," he said

I could only nod, I didn't have enough energy to respond with words.

"Your overall ability has increased a lot, along with the strength of your body. It's clear that your duel with that outsider was good for your growth," my father said as he looked at me as if he were evaluating me.

I looked down from his gaze. The snow on the ground had turned into mud and slush. I inhaled and exhaled, my heart still pounding.

"I think it would be fair to call you a sword saint... yes... you just need to make a long sword of light and you'll be a full-fledged saint" my father said

... really? ...

When I looked at him, I saw nothing but pride.

"Thank you, Father," I replied with a smile.

I bowed to him, it was more to hide my expression than anything else, the smile on my face was embarrassingly large.

I had managed to wipe the sweat off my face, but my cheeks were hot.

At this, my father chuckled (a real smile) and turned around.

"I recommend you run for more than an hour a day," he said as he walked back to the house, the tone of his voice was unfamiliar to me, I don't think he had ever said "I recommend you" to me before.

It was always an order.

"But you should talk to Nina about your touki, that will be the secret to becoming stronger from now on," he added.

"Oh, Gino! Holy rank how amazing!" My mother clapped due to her obvious youth, she was a woman in her early twenties with marked features but always cheerful in front of me.

My father in comparison simply nodded, he was much older than her. —Yes, he has shown powerful growth in the past few years—he said

—Powerful growth is an understatement Tim, when was the last time you saw a child of his age reach that rank?!, not even little Nina has achieved it!—my mother snapped.

At this my father gave him a look and turned to look at me, I had been silent, simply eating the roast meat my mother had cooked, from an animal native to this world.

—Yes... but the fact that you are young and skilled does not mean that you should be carried away by ego—my father said simply

He looked at me with narrowed eyes, as if it was a problem when I lived in the same house as him.

Every time I saw my father brandish his sword, I was reminded of the abyss that still separated us...

-Don't worry Father, I would never do that, I have you as an example to follow- I replied

He allowed himself to smile and leaned back in his chair, although he has never been very expressive, I had managed to learn a little about him over the years, at least I know that he likes compliments.

In these last few years, as I grew older, I managed to master a special technique: the long sword of silence.

The air crackled behind the tip of my sword.

Nina teased me for a whole week, and then I finally understood, saying that I had never smiled so much in my life, she was probably right.

Every morning, as the sun rose, I would go out for a run alone for hours.

I had drawn a small circuit around the sacred land of the sword and also the big city and I saw daily some familiar people and faces: merchants setting up their stalls, shop owners sweeping the doors of their shops, several people already heading to the market.

In the end, I would return home where my father would be waiting for me, supervising me for a short time before I left to teach at his dojo and to the central dojo.

He is an emperor of the sword, a master of his art, I had considered him for years a man worthy of praise and he still was.

Not like Paul, the guy was nice but he was shit at the same time.

Feeling the wooden sword in my hands, I raised it over my head before swinging it down.

My practice swings had gotten faster over the past few months, my father must have thought the same as he nodded to himself out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't let your thoughts stray" he said

I growled in response to confirm, before taking a deep breath, pushing all distractions aside.

I inhaled, let it out, inhaled again, and swung the training sword.

I wondered what his name was...the name of the man I killed in the dojo...

I stopped swinging the sword, the wooden blade falling to my waist as I let out a sigh.

"What's wrong Gino?" my father asked.

He crossed his arms, I had only started practicing swings a few minutes ago.

"...sorry, I'm a little distracted today" I replied

"It's okay, it's normal to have bad days, but it's a bad habit to stop training, even on those days" Dad replied and I bowed my head in agreement.

"...I know"

he looked me in the eyes at this

"What's distracting you?" he said

I hesitated before speaking as it was a stupid thought.

"do you remember the man I dueled a year ago?" I asked

my father narrowed his eyes as he looked at me

"Yes" he replied dryly

"Did we know his name?...who was he?..." I muttered

my father raised an eyebrow at this

"Why would that be important?" He asked

"I think about him a lot, about that duel... about how I killed him..." I muttered

"Well, you shouldn't worry, he wasn't important in the grand scheme of things, in your life, you will end up with many men stronger than him and you shouldn't let any of them overwhelm you, you are a swordsman Gino" my father said in a monotone voice.

He's right... it's obvious...

I already knew that this world is like this, you kill or you die, it's that simple.

I knew what was waiting for me since I came to this world when I became Gino Britzs, and if I wanted to be the strongest of all then I must not let a guy like that overwhelm my thoughts...

But still...

"Thanks, Dad," I said with a bow.

"It's okay, keep training," he said as he took his sword, and so the two of us continued training.

....

The air was warm on my skin.

"I don't think it's about my body anymore.." I thought out loud

"I think it's more a matter of mindset...or also some kind of mental energy, or something like that..." I muttered

Nina was in front of me

"But...doesn't it get stronger the more you train your body?" she asked with a frown as she looked at the wooden sword in her hand

"Yes, but that's just the first step I said with a smile"

It had been about two months since my father named me a sword saint, I couldn't make the long sword of light yet but I was within the physical capabilities of one.

Nina on the other hand seemed to be at some kind of bottleneck.

Since she became an advanced swordsman her progress hadn't been much, which has caused a gap in strength between us in just a few months, the three-year gap had finally closed.

"Are you ready to start over?" I asked her with a half smile.

We had been training all day in an area of ​​the forest which I had self-proclaimed as mine.

She nodded, knowing as well as I did that talking about them would do no good.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied and Immediately a flurry of snow fell to the ground and then she was in front of me.

Her wooden sword came towards my head but was blocked.

My sword rose and she pushed it back with a crack that echoed in the clearing.

She moved from another direction, stepping forward with the momentum she had gained in an instant, attacking twice more in quick succession.

Again, I blocked both. I did so without moving anything but my sword, my eyes following her, despite her best attempts to break the line of sight.

The air shifted again, once again, the sword came for me.

This time I allowed myself to take a step back and she only cut through the air, I saw the compression in her eyes, she had overstepped, there was only an inch but I took advantage of the opening.

It was as if my body jumped with electricity, energy rapidly rising from my toes, crackling in my blood.

I lunged forward, following her, she jumped desperate to escape the reach of my sword.

My legs buckled and the light in the world around us dimmed, the air between Nina and I suddenly shattered.

I was on top of her, my longsword of silence was about to crash into her skull, I saw the moment it registered, the moment she jammed her sword between her and my sword.

My poor Nina went rolling through the snow.

She soon stood up, but from her frown I could see that I had beaten her up.

I walked over to her.

I looked at Nina and she sat on the ground with a groan of pain, a sigh left my chest and I sat beside her breathless.

She frowned as she looked at me, her clothes were wet from rolling around in the snow.

"Damn it! I almost had you!" she protested

I just laughed at this, it felt good.

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