One by one, the blades of every student started glowing—each in a different color.

But my blade remained as it is. It was not glowing at all.

It was just as before; like a normal sword. I looked around and saw that the other students were now swinging their blade in the air and testing it out.

What went wrong? I didn't know.

I concentrated again, this time with my eyes closed. I again visualized my mana flowing through my hands, entering the sword from its handle and then channeling it into the blade.

I felt the energy passing from my body to the sword, still, the connection Ryfin explained was nowhere to be found. I was not able to feel the sword as a part of myself but only as a sword.

I opened my eyes and saw that the blade was still not glowing. Something was wrong, I don't know what.

As I was trying, again and again, Ryfin noticed me. I mean, it is easy to find a dull and dark blade among the bright and shining ones.

Without saying anything he walked up to me and stopped at a distance of three to five steps.

? 'Tch! Now I'll have to deal with him too.'

Ryfin was the only one who somewhat knew the extent of what I could do—how powerful I was. And I am the one at fault here, I was the fool who got riled up and showed him a glimpse of my speed, elemental magic, and a bit of that side of mine.

Though I threatened him and told him to not leak the info about me to anyone, I still felt insecure. This guy was unpredictable; I didn't know what he was capable of.

Most of all, he was not in loli_pop's novel so I knew absolutely nothing about him.

For now, he did nothing suspicious but I never knew what he was up to, which was the scary part.

"Is something wrong perhaps?" he asked, standing in front of me and pointing at my sword.

'Guess I'll play along for now.'

"Yeah, I think I'm doing it the wrong way. I am focusing my mana and trying to pass it into the sword but I don't know why, it's not working," I replied as I offered my sword to him.

"Let me see. Maybe the sword could be broken the possibility of that is close to none," he mumbled, taking the sword in his hands.

He lightly held the sword, pointing it beside me as he looked at the blade. Then he clenched the handle slightly and in an instant, a golden light covered the sword's blade.

It was quick, compared to any of the student present here.

The light had an outline of gold but its center was shining in a bright white and it was brighter than any of the students' swords.

"No, as I said. There's nothing wrong with the sword; it works like it should. Then…what's wrong, is perhaps in you," he said, pointing the sword at my face; the bright light blinding my eyes.

I shielded my face with my right palm but then the sword's glow stopped and it went back to normal. Then Ryfin descended the sword.

"In Me?"

"Yes, in you. Are you properly trying to pass your mana—Ah leave it," he weighed in, bringing his face close to mine. "I know you can't get it wrong. After all, from what I saw that day, you seemed to be an expert in magic."

Well, now he is over-exaggerating. I am no expert; just happened to know a few cheats, the privileges of being an author you can say.

"Finally getting real?" I appealed.

Jokes aside, he was now openly admitting the fact that he knows about me.

'He has some balls to do it right in front of my face though.'

"What are you talking about?" he refused and stepped back. "I am just saying that you are not wrong in the channeling your mana part, rather there's something wrong with your mana."

"With my mana? What do you mean?"

"You see, how the sword combines with your mana directly depends on what kind of mana you have. What do you think, why does everybody present here have a different color of light on their blade? It's because the color of that light defines the color of your mana itself."

"Can you derive a little more?"

This was interesting. Can't leave the chance to know things that weren't mentioned in the novel—it's a fucking cash grab.

"Let me then. The color of your blade after passing your mana through it defines the color of your mana. And the color of your mana can depend on various factors such as the size of your mana pool, its density, how much you use it, and some other properties.

As for what connection it has with your problem? Well, it can be that, now note that this is just an assumption on my side, but it can be possible that the properties of your mana are a bit…different. I don't know if it's a good or bad sign but it's a sign indeed.

Due to your mana being different from normal, this sword is not able to let it flow through. It's like your mana and the sword are blocking each other out. It won't work properly, like fitting a big rod in a small hole or a small rod in a big hole."

So, that was a big explanation. I can't believe there was not even a trace of this info in the novel. Wow, I'm amazed!

"I see. Does this mean I can't use this combining mana with sword arts technique?" I inquired.

"It seems like it, no. And it's not 'combining mana with sword arts technique, the name of this technique; it's called Magiken arts," he stated.

Magiken arts huh? Well, that's a familiar name. This was in the novel but as I said, only the name. Not how the technique works and everything.