About ten minutes later, Morris and Bruce finally came out, but their expressions were very strange. From time to time, the two of them exchanged glances, their eyes sweeping toward Shade behind them.

　　“What’s wrong, what’s wrong? He... he can’t become a swordsman?” The most anxious was Jill; these two children were the hope of the whole village...

Chapter 004 Heading to the Academy

　　“Oh, Shade, it’s okay. Even if you can’t become a swordsman, I’ll still protect you.” Gaia kindly comforted him. The two of them had been together since birth; although they often bickered, they were still the best of friends.

　　“Oh, no, no, no!” Morris said “no” three times in a row. Clearly, things were not as they thought. He forcefully suppressed his excitement, patted Shade’s head, and continued, “This... this child is... is the most talented in battle aura I’ve ever seen! I... I can’t even measure his talent level!”

　　Wow! That one sentence stunned everyone. They all looked at little Shade in amazement, unable to believe that this quiet little fellow had achieved so much. Even the strongest swordsman teacher in town couldn’t determine his battle aura level. Didn’t this mean that as long as little Shade worked hard, he would definitely surpass Morris and become the strongest swordsman in town?

　　It was simply unbelievable. In the eyes of Jill and the mayor, Gaia was already a genius among geniuses. With their limited thinking, they never considered that these children could surpass intermediate mages and intermediate swordsmen. However... little Shade had done it!

　　“Although talent doesn’t decide everything, if he trains diligently, he’ll definitely surpass me!” Morris was also filled with excitement. He had actually witnessed the birth of a swordsman prodigy with his own eyes!

　　What you think in your heart and what the strongest swordsman teacher in town says out loud are two completely different things. Jill’s eyes, already red, brimmed with tears again. He hugged Shade tightly and stammered, “You... you are all... all the pride of our village... the pride of our village!”

　　“Uncle Jill, I will definitely train hard and become a powerful swordsman. Then the village won’t have to worry about monster attacks anymore.” Shade said firmly. This was actually his small wish. When he was little, he often saw his father come home injured, and whenever monsters attacked, his father always had to guard the village at all times. The sensible Shade saw all this and gradually formed a simple wish in his heart—to share his father’s burden and bring blessings to the villagers.

　　“If only your father, El, could know...” Uncle Jill was so emotional that he almost said something he shouldn’t, and hurriedly stopped himself.

　　“The Nick Swordsman Academy will definitely make an exception to admit Shade! And Shade is very likely to become an outstanding student. Ah, you know, the outstanding students there can become intermediate swordsmen upon graduation.” Morris said with some emotion.

　　“Let’s take the children to rest first. The Nick Academy’s spring enrollment is in half a month. It takes about eleven days to get from here to Nick City. We’ll set off early tomorrow morning. If we miss the time, it won’t be good.” Bruce said. After so many years, the town had finally produced two geniuses, especially the child whose talent level even Morris couldn’t measure.

　　Thinking of this, Bruce suddenly felt like he had forgotten something, but couldn’t recall exactly what. After a long while, he still couldn’t figure it out, so he just shook his head and brushed off the strange thought.

　　The mayor arranged places for the children to stay, but the three of them were so excited that they couldn’t sleep. So the little tyrant Gaia started bickering with Shade again. But this time, Shade was clearly more confident and retorted without backing down.

　　“See, who’s the boss now?” Lying on the bed, Shade couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Wasn’t it worth being happy to become a stronger swordsman? At this moment, he couldn’t wait to tell his parents.

　　“Hmph, what’s the use of good talent? You’re still no match for me.” Gaia was unconvinced and brought up a very practical point. Although Shade was a year older than Gaia, he still wasn’t a match for the little tyrant Gaia.

　　“Hmph!” Shade had nothing to say in response, so he just snorted coldly, turned over, and closed his eyes to sleep.

　　Seeing that his opponent was no longer arguing, Gaia couldn’t make a fuss by himself, so he chatted with Neil for a bit, then pulled the covers over his head and went to sleep. Excited as he was, he was indeed tired—after all, he’d been running all night yesterday.

　　……

　　A new day arrived. Gaia was not in the habit of sleeping in and got up very early, only to find that Shade was up even earlier than him. His young heart couldn’t help but compare, and he muttered a few words.

　　“Aren’t we going to say goodbye to the villagers?” When Gaia and Shade heard that they were leaving immediately, they both called out at the same time.

　　“No... no need... The mayor said to go straight to Nick City. If we’re late, we’ll have to wait until next year... Gaia, the mayor asked me to tell you that you must achieve something, or he won’t let you come back to the village. Shade, you too. Your father hopes you’ll become a powerful swordsman before coming back to visit him...” As Jill spoke, his eyes kept darting around, as if he was deliberately hiding something.