NoGift

ARGENT gazed down at the completed sword in her hand. The blade was 32 inches long, made up of a strong metal. It was shaped like a katana - a Japanese sword. Because she didn't really like the big and bulky shape of Western swords. On its hilt were three crystals. Each crystals have different functions. The one at the top increases the sword's sharpness. The one at the middle makes the sword almost weightless. And finally, the one at the bottom enables the blade of the sword to shrink up to dagger length so that it would be easier for her to carry it anywhere. Unlike the first two crystals, she needed to touch the third one for its effect to show.

Tempering and forging the sword was not really that hard because of the magic tool she bought while they were still in Albion. Having these tools were really convenient. She only needed to understand how to use those things before she could proceed. But that was basically nothing considering her learning speed.

Since coming to this world, Argent already discovered that all the elements in the Earth where she originally came from could also be found here. So when she decided to learn swordsmanship, she wanted to make a sword made using nanotechnology. But building a device from scratch just to make that would take too much time that she didn't have now. In the end, she decided against it and chose to make a sword using another method. But in the future, she would surely make a sword using nanotechnology.

Argent touched the third crystal and the sword immediately shrunk to dagger size. She immediately put it on a simple black scabbard.

"Wow. That was awesome. Did you make that yourself?" a familiar voice suddenly said behind her.

She looked back and saw a plain faced maid. "I told you not to enter my room."

This maid was Viper. He has been living in this mansion for two weeks now using the identity of one of the maids. But only during at night and the weekends. Because during the day, he comes to school using whatever identity was available. He has been pestering her non-stop ever since.

Viper pouted. "But how could I talk to you if I don't go to your room?" He took the sword turned dagger from Argent's hand and examined it. "I didn't know you could do Alchemy. Where did you learn it?"

Alchemy, in this world, was the process of turning one material into another by using one's Mana. Oftentimes, the products of Alchemy were magical tools and magical weapons.

"I don't. Have you forgotten, I'm a NoGift. I couldn't use Mana." Argent took back the dagger. "This is just a simple weapon."

Viper looked like he didn't believe her. "But you're so special. Even without Mana, I'm certain you could do Alchemy," he said, full of conviction.

She shook her head and just ignored his nonsense. "When will you go? Don't you have people you have to kill?" she asked, completely changing the subject.

"Are you telling me to go?" Viper asked looking at her like an abandoned puppy.

"Yes, actually."

Viper suddenly kneeled down and hugged her waist. "How could you be so heartless to your sweetheart?" he said with fake tears.

Argent's face blackened. She was highly tempted to stab him with the dagger. Then the door to her room suddenly opened and Aurum walked in. Her sister's amber eyes immediately narrowed when she saw Viper hugging Argent.

"What are you doing?" Aurum asked, glaring at Viper.

"Tch. The big annoyance is here," Viper said but not too loudly so Aurum didn't hear him.

"Let me go and get up," Argent ordered.

Viper reluctantly let go of her and get up. "Good night, young master," he said and walked towards the door because he knew he could no longer spend time with Argent as long as that irritating sister of his was here. Never mind, he'd just sneak in later and watch Argent sleep. As he always does for the past two weeks. Before going out, he didn't forget to sneer at Aurum - the annoying brat.

Aurum frowned. These past two weeks she often saw this maid following around her brother. She's even starting to catch up to Ruby on Aurum's list of people that should stay away from her brother. She walked towards Argent. "I think Uncle Jax should fire that maid."

"Ignore her." Because it wouldn't solve the problem even if Jaxon did fire her. The one he would be firing would be the original maid and Viper could just use another identity to enter the mansion. She pulled Aurum to sit on the bed. "How was your advanced Mana class?" she asked instead, diverting her sister's attention.

Which succeeded because of how enthusiastically Aurum answered. "It was great, Brother. I'm starting to learn a lot of things. I think by the end of the school year, I could remove the bracelet and maintain my Gift at E level." That's probably not much for others but for Aurum, it certainly was. Considering how much she couldn't even control her Gift before. "The teacher assigned to me was also very good. She could explain everything to me so clearly so I'm not really having a hard time."

"That's good. How about the other students, are they good to you?" Argent really hasn't gotten a good look at the other students at the advanced Mana class. Because everytime she came to fetch Aurum after their class ended, almost all of them already left.

"Yes, they are. Since I'm the youngest, they're spoiling me too much." Aurum didn't hate that feeling. In fact, she quite liked it. But it's still the best when her brother was spoiling her. "I just hate that Finn was also there."

"Is he causing trouble for you?"

"Not really. You know how he is, always acting like a fake prince. He won't dare cause trouble for fear of ruining his perfect image," Aurum said rolling her eyes. "He's just an eyesore, that's all."

The corner of Argent's mouth twitched because of what Aurum said. She raised her hand and pat her sister's head. "Then just don't look at him."

Aurum nodded. "How about you, Brother? How's your sword training?"

Argent sighed. "I'm still on the exercising phase."

"Maybe you should just ask Uncle Jax to get a swordmaster to teach you. They might be more reliable than that teacher at the academy. One of the students at the advanced Mana class told me that that teacher is just a good for nothing deadbeat."

If Argent didn't learn who Hattori really was, she might take Aurum's suggestion into consideration. But now that she knew how he's some sort of legendary swordsman, she just became more excited to learn from him. "No, I think I'll stick with this one. We should really not judge a book by it's cover. We don't know what kind of surprise its content might bring us."

She just hoped that Hattori could finally find her ready and start teaching her.

----------

Another week passed and Argent was still doing the exercises Hattori told her to do. Aside from attending class, her days were filled with finalizing her business plan and doing those exercises. If she could, she wouldn't attend those boring classes because she already learned all the things the teachers were teaching. So she decided that after the academy's quarterly exam - which was pretty near - she would take another exam to skip grades.

The only good thing that probably happened this week was that Viper was finally gone. He received some kind of message asking him to go back to their assassin group's headquarters. So no one has been hounding her every move since then. Which was just the way she liked it.

Another afternoon, Argent was doing one of the exercises when the door of the gym opened and Hattori came in. She stopped and looked at the legendary swordsman. He still looked like a bum who hasn't taken a bath for days. He lazilly walked towards her.

"I'm surprise you haven't given up yet," Hattori said once he reached the boy. He admitted that he just offhandedly told him to do the exercises first before he could teach him. Because he expected that he would give up sooner or later. Especially when he found out the kid was a high ranking aristocrat from Albion. From his experience, aristocrats tend to despise any sort of suffering. No matter where country they're from. He didn't expect for this little lord to persist until now.

"I don't have a reason to," Argent simply said. "So if the reason why you're still not teaching me anything because you're just waiting for me to give up, then you're just wasting your time. And mine. I suggest that you're the one who do the giving up. Because I certainly won't."

Hattori suddenly howled in laughter. What an interesting kid! "Then tell me first why you want to learn the art of the sword?"

"Because I want to learn how to properly defend myself. As you probably already know, I'm a NoGift. In this world full of people with extraordinary abilities, I'm just a weak chicken. But I don't want to remain weak. If there's a room for development, then I'll gladly grab it. You probably won't believe me, but in the near future, I will be one of the most prominent person in this world. Many will surely try to kill me. I couldn't just possibly let them succeed. So I need this. I need you to teach me."

Hattori was silenced for a few seconds before bursting into laughter again. This was probably the first time that someone told him that they would be a very prominent person in the future. And the one who said that was just a seven year old kid. But the way he said it, as if he's just stating a fact, really got to him. For the first time Hattori was tempted to accept an apprentice. To pass down everything that he knew. He never really accepted one because he never found someone deserving. But now, looking at this boy, he found himself wanting to make him his apprentice. And so, he did.

"Okay, but you have to call me 'Master' first," Hattori finally said.

Argent tilted her head as if in contemplation. But then, at the end, she still agreed. After all, if Hattori really taught her swordsmanship, then he would really be her master. "Master."

Hattori grinned. "Good." He took out a wooden sword from his space ring and gave it to Argent. "My sword style is known as the Sui-Ryu style. It means to move like water and to strike like a dragon. It has twelve core techniques under it. We will start with the most basic one, are you ready?"

"Yes, Master."

And so, Argent's sword training finally began.