You have created a special skill by a special act.

By using a sword in a certain way, you have created the skill [Swordsmanship].

Swordsmanship (Passive) – Level 1 – Exp 0.0%

A sword is not a tool, but an extension of oneself.

Passively increases DEX by 1%

Increase Damage while Yielding a Sword by 10%

As I entered the parfait shop, I was nearly overwhelmed by the amount of people that were in the store. Only because I had been to a similarly crowded crepe shop with Katase and Murayama did I manage to keep my calm. The store was completely full, with all the tables already taken and several more either waiting for seats to empty or leaving disappointed that they couldn't find any seats. In fact, the staff were being forced to politely ask the waiting customers to leave so as to not crowd the premise and to come back a bit later when it was not the rush hour.

It was the time when just about every school in the region let up, which resulted in the entirety of the shops current customers to be students. There were several Kuoh Gakuen students too, a couple of whom saw me and decided to ignore me over dignifying me with a reaction. I suppose being an infamous pervert meant that the majority of the student body recognized me, albeit in a negative way.

It wasn't difficult finding Kiryuu amongst the students due to her Kuoh Gakuen uniform, along with her twin braided brown hair and her distinctive spectacles. Frankly speaking, she was plain looking compared to most of the girls that went to my school. It was almost as if it was part of the entrance exam to be a looker. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that she's not pretty, rather, she had an aesthetic that was definitely pleasing to the eye. She was just not comparable to most of the students of Kuoh Gakuen, which was filled with beauties and bombshells to the brim. Not comparing to them wasn't much of a disappointment. I wonder if she heard my current thoughts, would she kill me or agree with me?

I halted my train of thought as I walked up to the table that she was sitting at, which was surprisingly one of the window tables. She must have been really lucky to get one of those tables. Due to her seating arrangement, she had already seen me enter the store, so I addressed her as I sat down opposite her, "You found a really good table. Must've been really lucky. I hope you didn't wait for long."

"Well, you're not late, if that's what you're asking," said Kiryuu as she glared at me, "but since I knew the reputation of this place, I had to arrive early to find this sit. You're lucky that I actually managed to save a seat for you."

"In that case, let me apologize by treating you to the most expensive item on the menu as an extra." I said, internally glad that I had made a run back home to grab some more money. At the rate at which I'm blowing through my allowance, I'll run out well before the month ended.

"Don't come crying to me when I bankrupt you," said Kiryuu as she opened the menu. While glancing over the items in order to decide what else she was going to have, she asked me a question. "What got into you so suddenly that made you challenge Kiba Yuuto of all people? Not only that, you challenged him to a kendo spar, something that he is famous for."

"Was it that out of character for me?" I replied with a question of my own, but her pointed glare was enough of an answer. "Oh fine, I was just testing out a hunch."

"And? Did you confirm it?" she asked, to which I shrugged non-committedly.

"Well, I didn't exactly confirm it, but did go a long while in doing so," I replied, even though it was mostly a lie. After all, the reason behind my sudden spar with Kiba was to see if he actually knew about the occult, along with a surprising urge to show off, not that the latter went anywhere. But my reason behind meeting him was to get more information, which I was yet to receive, so there was some truth behind my statement.

Our conversation paused for a while as Kiryuu and I placed our orders to one of the waitresses before Kiryuu continued, "I have to say, I almost thought that you were becoming smarter with how you have been concealing your – for the lack of a better word – lust. But with the stunt you pulled today, I can safely say that you're still the same old idiotic Issei. You just learned to not wear your heart on your sleeve."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," I scoffed, but stopped short when Kiryuu just narrowed her eyes at me.

"Do I have to reiterate that you challenged the most talented kendo user in our school, who is also bloody popular, in a kendo spar? And all because you had a hunch," she spat out as she shook her head, "You're just lucky that your reputation is so low at the school that it can't go any lower. What exactly was the hunch anyway?"

"Ahaha. I… I was just wondering… if he really is the perfect guy that girls make him out to be. I mean guy like that must have some way of letting off steam… and I thought that he might do so through the spars…" I trailed off at the end, trying and completely failing in coming up with an excuse. Kiryuu gave me a suspicious look before, luckily for me, deciding to drop the subject.

"You really are just an idiot," she muttered to herself, but just loud enough for me to hear.

The awkward silence continued until our desserts arrived, after which the two of us enjoyed the delicious parfait as we engaged in small talk. Once we were done, I paid the bills before bidding goodbye to Kiryuu, who returned home. As I looked on at her retreating back, I had the feeling that we were going to become good friends in the future.

As I looked up at the sky, I saw the sun getting closer to the horizon, but there was still some time left for me to kill before it got dark. I decided that it was time for me to have a look at the new skill that I learned today. It was surprising really when the message popped up telling me that I had learned the art of sword play. I mean, it wasn't like I actually knew how to use a sword, I just swung it willy-nilly in my fight with Kiba. I don't think that could be interpreted as swordsmanship. But it made me wonder what I could truly do with the skill.

I walked to the park where Saika and I trained as it was one of the quietest place in the neighborhood. Not many people actually walk through the park at this time of day. It wasn't a popular spot for couples, as there were more popular spots such as the amusement park and restaurants for them to visit and salarymen don't really go to the park after a grueling day at the office. The only time the park was actually busy, if it could be called busy, was in the morning when the neighboring people went for a morning jog. Frankly, the town of Kuoh was a relatively green city with more than one spot where people could be one with the nature. The riverside was especially popular in that regard.

Once I reached the fountain, I looked around for people just in case before picking up a foot and a half long broken branch from the ground. After feeling the weight of it in my hand, I gave it a few test swings with a one-handed grip. Nodding at the feeling, I took a stance I had seen many times in movies and manga, before closing my eyes and imagining an opponent in front of me. When I was happy with it, I opened my eyes and activated [Mana Channeling] at the same time, before lunging for my imaginary opponent with the makeshift weapon in hand.

The next 30 minutes helped in confirming some of my suspicions regarding the skill. The first and most obvious one was that just about any weapon that could be used as a blade worked, as established by the use of a branch instead of a sword to activate the skill. How do I know that I activated the skill? It gained experience throughout the half an hour, so I must have been doing something right. I assume that I could use a wooden sword, a real one, or just about anything that is remotely sword shaped.

The second thing I learned was actually the result of some experimentation. As I was using [Mana Channeling] to augment my physical strength, it made me wonder what would happen if I poured some mana into the makeshift sword. Unsurprisingly, it failed miserably as the branch disintegrated into ashes after glowing blue for a split second. I tried with a couple more branches just in case, but all of them produced them the same result. However, it made me start thinking if the method of using mana might be different. Even if this experimentation resulted in failure, it was the first time that I could visualize the mana from the blue glow that the branches displayed before they were destroyed.

So I decided to try another method. This time, instead of pouring mana into the branch, I tried to encase it in mana. It took a few tries, but soon I was looking at a tree branch covered in a thin sheen of mana, a pale blue glow emitting from it. Further investigating revealed that the shape of the mana surrounding it could be molded freely. I managed to produce both single and double edged swords in shapes that I could imagine, from simple straight edge or multiple curved edges. I even managed to turn the sword shaped branch into an axe, which made me wonder about the applications that it could have. The sharpness wasn't anything to sneeze at either as it cut through an entire tree as if it was made from butter. I had to get away from the place in case somebody came back and saw me standing beside a tree that was cut down in a park. It did leave a skill creation message that provided some intriguing information.

You have created a special skill by a special act.

By encasing an object with mana you created a blade. You have created the skill [Mana Blade].

Mana Blade (Active) – Level 1 – 5.61%

Encasing objects with mana, you can create mana blade. The length and shape of the blade is up to your imagination. Changing the shape or the length of the blade costs 1/4th of the mana required to create a new blade.

Time Active – 5 minutes

MP cost – 50

The research had left me nearly exhausted as the skill was pretty mana intensive. If not for the fact that I could reshape the blade at 1/4th the mana cost, I would have run out of mana ages ago. It was definitely something that would come in handy later on. I mean, think about it. If I could change the shape of the blade mid swing, it would certainly throw off my opponent. The fact that I could change the length of the blade was also pretty interesting, as I could make it look like I was swinging a short blade but then increase its length to fool my adversary. Obviously, there were things that I still needed to test out, mainly how long it would take for the reshaping to actually happen, as it would be useless if the changing of the shape happened after the swing ended instead of during it. Timing would be the most important aspect when using it.

Another thing that I had to test out was with what things could I get the skill to proc. Since the wording of the skill description was pretty ambiguous I had to assume that there could be plenty of things that worked with it, but at the same time, it could only be limited to sword shaped objects. So many possibilities, but so little mana to actually test them out. I really needed to invest in more mana, cause having skills that I couldn't really use was pretty shitty. I also needed to level up some more to increase both my pitiful mana and health reserves. As I neared my home while I contemplated on my future targets, my cellphone rang, notifying me that I had received a message. Opening it, I realized that it was from Kiba.

Buchou has agreed to answer some of your questions. Log in to the school chat board and you should be able to visit the OCR section as a member.

Well, then. It seems that Kiba came through with his promise. It was time for me to finally get some answers.

Author's Note: I'm back! I wonder how many more times I will be doing that in the future? Jokes aside, I have to say that this chapter took way longer than I had anticipated. I kept writing and deleting parts of the chapter because it wasn't really working for me for a long time. Then I decided to take a break and started machine translating a Japanese Web Novel. After surprising myself with how well I can translate using a software without actually being able to read the words, I came back and finished this chapter. Hopefully, I can actually get some flow going to my writing to make the chapter's a little less far apart than they currently are.

In other news, I got into one of the universities that I was aiming for. So now, I'm a first year English student. And at this point, I have to stop hiding behind the protective wall of "English is my second language". I have studied English my entire life, even if it is my second language, so any mistake you see is either because I was too lazy to edit it or because I just autocorrected it in my brain and failed to notice that it was wrong. When you find these mistakes, and it's when, not if, do point it out to me.

Also, don't forget to leave a review. If you are a new reader and liked the story, make sure to follow and favorite it. I'll be seeing you guys again soon. Hopefully sooner than this time. Cheerios.