Sers is standing a few meters away, waiting for me. We both finish some exercises; we can’t have a proper training session with a cold body.

  “Ready, Sers?” He doesn’t say anything. His gaze is fixed on me, without moving a single muscle.

  “Maki, show me the meaning of genius. I won’t use any body-enhancement skills or affinity magic. How about training using only weapon mastery and movement skills?” I nod and prepare my mind for what’s coming. I’ll try to win at all costs.

  I need to make the first move. Without thinking too much, I use my movement skill. With my mana reserves, it shouldn’t be a problem to use it until the end of the match.

  I can see Sers’s smile. Without fear of direct confrontation, he charges straight at me. Damn it, I forgot that Sers is a maniac for close combat.

  His axe comes down vertically, trying to end this in a single blow. I use my movement skill to dodge at the last moment. Sers’s attacks don’t stop for even a second. He doesn’t manage to land any hits, but he doesn’t let me find my rhythm either.

  A diagonal strike aimed at my left arm comes at full power. I dodge at the last moment and manage to create some distance.

  His axe carries tremendous power in every strike. At times, he uses that same force to chain into the next attack. He hasn’t mastered that technique yet; he still has a long way to go. I’ll take that as an advantage.

  I slowly close in, carefully measuring the range of his strikes. It’s his only way to attack and retreat. After a few seconds, I have a rough sense of the distance in my head, and my plan begins.

  Sers keeps trying to use each strike as the start of the next one, which makes him lose balance many times. I take advantage of that to hit him whenever he slips. Just quick, agile strikes. They don’t have the power to defeat him in one blow, but the damage accumulates. When the collar detects enough accumulated damage, it will activate.

  A few minutes pass, and my brother understands my plan. He switches to a more defensive stance, using his large axe to block many of my attack paths. If this continues, I’ll lose. I’ll end up running out of mana or exhausting myself.

  With no other idea in mind, I decide to trust my sword skill. Those who don’t risk don’t win.

  I leap straight into his territory, as close to his body as possible. At this distance, he has to retreat to properly use his axe.

  Sers tries to create distance. He needs it to swing his axe correctly. I don’t give him the time and start striking every visible weak point: neck, legs, abdomen, arm, slowly wearing him down.

  In a desperate move, Sers decides to swing his axe for a direct exchange. He’ll take several hits in exchange for one full-power blow.

  I fail to block it in time, and it hits my left arm. I feel pain as if I’d taken the cut directly. Without the collar, my arm would be nothing more than a piece of hanging flesh. My right arm still works, and I use every fiber of my body to strike him with full force. I manage to land a hit on his face, and his collar finally activates.

  If that blow had landed on my chest, I would have lost. The same if I’d let him hit me again. That strike was everything.

  “It’s my victory, Sers.” I can’t stop myself from grinning from ear to ear. My brother’s face, though showing disappointment, also carries a bit of pride for me. “If you’d been able to use all your abilities, you would have defeated me as soon as we started, and activating your collar with that last hit was also fortunate.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Don’t try to cheer me up, Maki. I’m not sad about losing, I’m just a bit disappointed in myself, that’s all.” He lets out a long sigh, and his infectious smile immediately returns. “You have sword mastery worthy of a prodigy, Maki. An adaptability and combat reading that someone your age shouldn’t have. You carry the blood of a born fighter.”

  “Sers, Maki is right.” Ritmo appears behind us, clapping. “Your movements perfectly reflect how you were able to measure the timing and distance of Sers’s attacks after observing him for a moment. It looks as if you’ve been fighting for more than fifteen years.”

  “Thank you, brothers. Personally, I still feel there’s a long road ahead of me. It’s nice to hear your opinions.” I open my heart to them a little. Today is the last day of their vacation, and I hope to see them again in the future.

  Both look at me with question marks over their heads, then look at each other and smile.

  We head back to the house and wait for our family to have lunch together. We talk about their future plans, joke about Sers, and encourage Ritmo.

  I’m going to miss lunches like this. I’ll engrave this memory in my heart and mind; it will be one of the sparks that keeps my desire to grow strong alive.

  We sit in the garden to wait for the coachman. He shouldn’t take long to arrive.

  Celes POV

  “What are you planning to focus on this year, Sers? Do you want to improve your magic or your Imra?” I’m curious about my son. He can be a bit relaxed and confident, but he never neglects his duties; he always trains diligently.

  “Until this morning, I planned to focus on both, but after losing to Maki, I need to strengthen my strengths before my weaknesses.” His answer feels like a bucket of cold water poured over me.

  He lost to Maki? That should be impossible… Maki only awakened a week ago, and Sers surpasses him in experience. Did I hear that wrong? Yes, that must be it.

  “Maki, did you defeat Sers?” My husband must have heard wrong too, to ask that.

  “Yes, but with some restrictions. We only fought using weapon mastery and movement skills, and even then, Sers held back at the end. He only used them at Rank I.”

  Maki answers as if that were normal. IT ISN’T. No matter the restrictions, Sers is already an Emerald Rank. If we classify them numerically, a Rank 1 (Amethyst) shouldn’t defeat a Rank 2 (Emerald), no matter what restrictions are used.

  “That’s impressive, son. You’ve inherited your father’s fighting intuition.” My husband starts laughing. What is this fool doing? Sers doesn’t look sad about losing, that’s good. I’ll let him laugh for now.

  “Maki, it’s impressive to defeat someone a rank above you. Now that I think about it, have we explained ranks to you?” My mother-in-law thinks very similarly to me; she always tries to read the situation and steer the conversation when needed.

  “No, I’ve only read a bit in a book and supplemented that with your conversations. I know the first is Basic Amethyst Rank, the second is Emerald Rank, and the third is Sapphire. After that, I don’t know.” Maki answers after finishing chewing.

  “The rank is basic until you manage to raise a skill to Rank 2. When you get your first Rank 2 skill, you’ll become an Advanced Amethyst Rank.” I let him absorb the information and continue my explanation.

  “The fourth rank is Ruby, the fifth is Diamond, and the last known one is Obsidian. These last three ranks aren’t only divided into basic and advanced; there’s also an intermediate rank. You must meet certain requirements in skills or laws to climb the steps between ranks.”

  I feel a bit sad explaining this to my son right now. This information is necessary and basic; we should have explained it after his awakening. It’s unfortunate not to have enough time to share family moments.

  “I understand, Mother. Now the types of ranks are clear to me. Thank you.” Maki smiles sweetly as he thanks me, looking me in the eyes.

  This boy will be a heartbreaker in the future. If he keeps growing this fast, he won’t just be strong, but also quite handsome. He inherited the best genes from his father and me.

  “It looks like the coachman has arrived.” My husband’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, and I see the man waving from a distance.

  Maki POV

  The coachman greets us and sits down to wait.

  We begin saying goodbye to my brothers. My mother starts to cry softly while my father hugs each of them tightly.

  My grandmother’s voice, giving her final advice, also sounds a bit strained, though she manages to hold back her tears until the very end.

  “Train hard this year. When you see me again, I’ll be a different person.” My brothers look at me, and both smile.

  “I’m going back to a prestigious school to train hard. I’ll be even stronger by the end of the year, Maki.” Sers takes my words with good humor.

  “I hope that’s true. I don’t want to come back in the future and still see you at Amethyst Rank, Maki.” Ritmo understands the joke in my words and decides to play along.

  “See you in a year or two, brothers. Take care.” They keep walking and only raise a hand one last time. I’m going to miss them a lot. I make an internal promise: the next time I see them again, they’ll be surprised by everything I’ve achieved.