Blade Over Magic

Cracked The Code

Xander couldn’t help but gulp at the result of his random bout of practice as he searched his memories fervently, looking for something, anything to explain what had just happened.

But he found nothing.

There was no ’Channeling magic into a weapon is bad unless one does this’. Everything pointed to channeling as subpar and only viable for ind8viduals with weak magical talent.

Xander subconsciously glanced back at the knights training in the field, but it seemed as though none of them paid him any heed after he went away.

Sighing, he looked at the newly formed scar in the ground, then he looked at his sword which was slightly trembling in his arms due to him performing swings with his weaker body.

With a sigh, he stabbed the sword into the ground and let go. Ignoring the feeling of sudden loss, he began to think.

’Something is not right here.’ He brought his hand to his chin, a telltale sign that he was thinking.

He closed his eyes and reviewed everything he knew when it came to magic.

’When casting Magic, one needs to do three things. Chanting, visualization, and manifesting. Chanting helps one to visualize the spell, then they manifest their mana in accordance to the visualization, the result being a complete spell. Granted, those at high levels can cast without Chanting, skipping a step.

Anyway. Fundamentally, casting requires one to take the mana in their body, shape it, and perform an action outside of their body. This doesn’t include healing magic. So where does channeling come in?’ He frowned.

’I can’t recall their being any spells specifically tailored for channeling. There are spells adapted to suit it. Like the gust spell i tried earlier being used to increase the speed of a swing. But that isn’t really a spell meant for channeling, just changing the properties of an already existing spell. Are there no true channeling spells out there?’ He shook his head.

’That doesn’t matter right now. Hmm. What caused this.’ He closed his eyes and recalled the scene from start to finish.

He picked up his sword and began to practice slowly so he could get used to his body. When he did, his movements and strikes became more precise. Then, when he tried to move his Mana, it flowed far easier than when he had tried to cast a spell normally, and when it was released through his sword, the resulting damage was exponential.

’Wait... wait wait wait. Hold on.’ Xander suddenly felt like he was on the verge of an Eureka.

’When you cast, you chant, visualize, and manifest. But is there a specific process for channeling? Moreover, it’s called channeling, but those knights were only coating their weapons in their magic, providing only external augmentations. But that slash is released... My mana went IN the sword before erupting out, having been channeled through.’ He snapped his fingers.

’Casting appears to be a strictly mental process. The caster only has to chant, think about the spell, and then control their mana to form the spell. In that case, could channeling be the... ’chanting’ of the body? Where instead of chanting by speaking, I ’chant’ by moving my body appropriately? Which is why my Mana moved with such ease?’ Xander’s eyes snapped open, and without hesitation, he pulled his sword from the ground.

His muscles groaned in protest, but he didn’t care. He just needed to test his hypothesis.

Taking a breath to steady himself, he started moving again.

Once more, his movements were clean and precise. His footwork was like that of a dance, and soon enough, he was moving like a trained swordsman again.

And again, he felt it.

This time, he didn’t try to move his mana into his sword, but he simply circulated it through his body.

When he did, he gasped.

The circulation was smooth and faced no interruption. Mana circulation, one of the most basic techniques in mana control, something the previous Xander had been unable to do, was occurring like Xander was simply breathing.

He was also elated when felt felt his body grow a bit lighter from it, and his sword became a bit easier to swing.

’Mana circulation exists both to replenish mana faster by pulling in the atmospheric mana into the body, like a vacuum, while also augmenting the body. Before, it would have needed to wait for my mana to replenish naturally before I could perform more tests with it. But with this...’ He performed a swing from side to side and listened to the sword cut through the air sharply, his smile huge.

He then tried something else.

He moved some of his mana into the blade again, but instead of letting it fire out in an arc like before, he let it stay in the blade, and he made it focus on one of the edges.

Instantly, he felt the wind resistance reduce significantly, and if one looked, they’d see that the blunt edge of the practice sword had a faint sheen along it.

’Incredible.’ Xander marveled. He continued swinging the sword, swapping between different sword forms and experimenting more and more with the weapon as well as his own Mana.

By the time he stopped, he was well and truly tapped out of energy, and he could barely raise his arms. But despite this, there was a smile on his face.

’Maybe... My situation in this world isn’t hopeless after all.’

***

Xander sunk into the bathtub and exhaled, the warm water feeling blissful over his sore muscles.

While this world was certainly lacking in technology, it more than made up for it in terms of magic. He didn’t need to bother anyone to boil water for him. All he needed to do was activate a rune and the water came out warm.

’For an illegitimate son, they sure treat me well.’ Xander hummed. Usually, illegitimate children were treated like trash, looked down on by all. At least, that’s how it went according to the stories he read.

But while he was looked down on by his peers and legitimate siblings, saying he was treated badly would be pushing it.

Sure, he couldn’t eat dinners with the official family, and he wasn’t made privy to many important matters, but no one ever went out of their way to bully him, and the servants still respected him, even if it wasn’t to the same degree as the official members of the family. Heck, he still received an allowance of a few gold coins every month, so he was already more well off than most people.

’I think it has to do with the Lowell family being very honorable. So they still decided to take responsibility of me. I probably wouldn’t be so lucky in another place.’ He hummed

’This is a good thing, in a way. It means that I’ll be under far less scrutiny, and no one will question me if I don’t show up for long periods. Not that the original Xander showed his face often either.’ He sat straight up and started to clean himself.

When he was done, he stepped out and put on fresh clothes before sitting on his bed, his expression contemplative.

’Alright, let’s think. What do I need to do now?’ He mused.

’Schools and Academies and beginning their new sessions next month. So I have about a month to get things done. First and foremost, I need to increase this body’s strength as much as possible. It’s still to weak, and I can barely use a weapon for long before I get too tired.

Second, I need to increase my knowledge about magic. If I get sent to a military school, I will lose access to the family library. I must learn as many spells as I can, and then adapt their usage to fit my style of combat.

Third, I need a proper sword for myself. This practice sword is barely adequate, and I cannot guarantee that I will be provided an adequate sword when I’m sent to the military school. I will have to pool some of my funds and maybe ask one of the family blacksmiths. Or maybe get a servant to go into the city and contact a blacksmith there.’ With those thoughts in mind, Xander nodded to himself.

At that moment, he received a knock on his door.

”Lord Xander, your dinner is ready.” A meek voice called from behind the door.

Xander blinked, the he hid the sword under his pillows before saying.

”Come in.” As soon as he gave the order, the door was pushed open, and a female servant stepped in while pushing a tray with food.

”Good evening Lord Xander.’ She curtsied before she started to list the names of everything on the tray.

’Verdant Oxtail stew... Granage Rice... Lux apples...’ Xander listened as she introduced him to the different platters, and he remembered that this was indeed another world. As such, the foods and animals were bound to be completely different from what he was used to on earth.

When she finished, she left the room, and Xander immediately dug in.

While he had memories of how most of these dishes tasted, the memories weren’t truly his. So realistically, he was trying all of this for the first time.

With a sigh, he started eating, and...

’Holy!!’ His eyes went wide.

The food was.... exquisite.

Flavors he couldn’t even begin to described exploded in his mouth, and all of them were borderline euphoric.

He ate with gusto, and that’s when he noticed something shocking.

His sore muscles and diminished mana pool... started to get rejuvenated. That’s when he recalled another key piece of information.

’Food containing reach mana inside has the ability to replenish one’s mana pool as well as promote healing in the body. This...’ He swallowed his last bite and mumbled.

”This is a cheat code...”

The biggest issue with strengthening his body was time. His muscles would take time to heal after being torn. But if he could eat like this immediately after each workout session and heal his muscles faster, the speed at which he could build up his strength would skyrocket.

He stared at all the food, then he stood up and opened the door. The servant who stood patiently turned to him with some surprise.

”Lord Xander. Are you already done eating?” She asked curiously.

”No. I wanted to tell you that there is no need to wait for me. I am going to eat quite slowly, so instead of waiting, just go back now. I will return the tray myself when I finish or call another servant.” Hearing this, the woman was clearly taken aback, but seeing his firm expression, she knew not to question him

Instead, she simply bowed and walked away briskly.

As soon as she left, Xander closed the door, went to the center of the room, and took off his shirt.

Immediately, he dropped down and started exercising.

Push-ups, sit up, jumping Jacks, planks, the full thing.

He kept at it until he simply couldn’t go on anymore, thoroughly exhausting his body.

Then he dragged himself to the bed, ate, replenished his energy, then grabbed his sword from the bed and started practicing sword forms with Mana.

He kept at it until he couldn’t lift his arms anymore and his mana pool was utterly drained.

Then he ate again, replenished his energy and mana pool, then started exercising once more.

He did this several times until there wasn’t a lick of food on any of the plates, and Xander sat on the bed while staring at his arms in shock.

Usually, one would need to exercise for months before they saw big changes.

But in just one night, while the changes were huge, Xander could still see them. His lanky arms gained just a small bit of bulk. His muscles becoming just a bit more pronounced, his stamina becoming just a bit better, his endurance becoming just a little higher.

Was the increase massive? No. But in such a short period...

Xander stared at the now empty tray for a few seconds, then he nodded.

He wiped the sweat off his body, put is shirt back on, then dragged the tray out of the room. There, he saw a passing servant and called them.

”Hey, take this and bring more food. Alright?” The servant, confused but unwilling to question orders took the tray and went along.

Not long later, they returned with another tray of food, and Xander told them the same thing he told the female servant from before. Then he locked himself inside his room and repeated the process.

Exercise, eat, practice swordplay and mana control, eat, rinse and repeat.

He did this two more times until it was very late and servants had to return to their quarters.

After another bath, he collapsed in his bed, mentally exhausted but hopeful for the future, and he fell asleep almost instantly.