The genius

Swish

The cold wind was blowing. Two people were walking as fast as they could.

Actually, the person in front was the one walking faster. The second one was just trying to keep up with her.

"Wait a bit. Can't you walk slowly?"

Jaden was trying to not fall behind Aliana. They had even run downstairs before reaching the path that led them out of the mansion.

"Why are you even rushing now?"

Aliana maintained her silence. They were about to reach the carriage waiting outside the gates of the Brimstone residence.

The faint figure of it was visible due to the lights that illuminated the gate.

'Why not just use those lights inside?'

Jaden didn't know that the lights ran on special stones, called mana stones. They were costly and inefficient if used to illuminate a hallway.

With silence surrounding them and their footsteps barely breaking it, Jaden and Aliana continued to walk. The carriage came into proper view now.

A white carriage with a red rose carved on the door. And the golden lining it had on most of the parts made it look more gorgeous.

"Greetings, My La-"

As a knight of the Rosenstein family was greeting Aliana, she walked past him and quickly got into the carriage.

There were eight people there. 7 knights escorting Aliana and 1 coachman.

"There is no time to waste. Let's get going."

Aliana said this to the coachman through the small window available on the inside of the carriage.

"Understood."

Coachman began to get ready to leave.

"Jaden."

Aliana looked out of the door of the carriage, which she was about to close. She gently waved her hand, asking Jaden to come closer.

"What is it?"

Jaden walked close to the carriage. As he was approaching, a hand came out of the carriage and pulled Jaden closer.

"Listen here."

Leaning her body forward, Aliana whispered into Jaden's ears. He flinched at those words.

"Go to your family's training grounds as soon as I leave."

As she said those words, Aliana let Jaden go and shut the door of the carriage.

"See you tomorrow, Jaden."

Everyone looked at Aliana with a confused face. They never remembered her being close to Jaden.

Thunk

She shut the window of the carriage. And they began to move away. Jaden watched them leave and turned around to go back in.

Sigh

He was more than relieved that Aliana had left.

-See you tomorrow, Jaden.

Remembering Aliana's words, he wasn't feeling a thing anymore.

'I will just go back.'

His gaze slowly shifted from the ground to the huge building. He looked at their residence.

'Huge. Did I ever describe this place in the novel?'

Jaden had, let alone describing this place, never even mentioned anything about it.

Jaden sighed as he slowly looked up at the building. It was his first time being near such a beautiful building.

'Where are the training grounds now?'

He had no idea where the training grounds were situated. How many hours has it been since he woke up there?

Not too much time had passed by, but Jaden felt like it did. Maybe because Aliana's behaviour was too absurd.

Thunk

Jaden's ears caught on to a sound. Looking up close, he notices Julianne, who was closing the window.

"Maybe I should ask her..."

He muttered to himself as he started following the path back to the dining room. The dining room was on the first floor.

The residence had three floors in total, including the ground floor. He had no idea where the said room existed. Above all...

"Ugh..."

He was already tired from running after Aliana. He walked while wobbling lightly, just to shudder at the sudden voice.

"Stop pushing yourself."

He found Julianne coming downstairs. Most likely, she was going back to her room.

"Rudia, escort him to his room."

Luckily, she didn't ask him any questions about the wound on his forehead's disappearance. It was healed, and no marks or bruises were left.

"Yes, madam."

Rudia let Jaden rest his shoulder on hers and slowly walked towards his room.

"Are you fine now?"

Rudia spoke in a whisper.

"A bit better."

Jaden tried to glance at Julianne to notice that she was still looking at them.

"Did you tell her about me losing memories?"

He was worried and nervous.

"Of course not."

Rudia thought that it would be better for Jaden to tell her himself or hide it until he got back his memories.

"Good."

He felt a bit of comfort upon hearing that. It was an important thing to keep it hidden from Julianne.

"Speaking of which, can you tell me the way to the training grounds?"

Rudia flinched upon hearing that question. The person asking that was someone who never even imagined about holding a weapon.

"Young master, you shouldn't go there."

Rudia sounded worried. The reason behind it was the weak body of the man.

"You might fall sick again."

Jaden pondered around for a while and opened his mouth.

"Don't worry. I have my reasons. Let me walk on my own."

Jaden had a weak and sickly body, so he always stayed indoors. The next day was going to be Jaden's first time going outside.

Aliana didn't seem like the type to ask him to do unreasonable things. There surely had to be a good reason why he asked him to go there.

With his time around Aliana, Jaden had realised quite a few things about accurately. He needed to follow her words for the time being.

"If you say so."

Rudia let Jaden take his shoulder away from hers. She slowly started walking to a nearby door.

Jaden's room was a bit farther than that door. They were on the ground floor.

Clank

"This is it."

Rudia opened the door and turned around. She moved past Jaden while speaking.

"As a maid, I have no permission to enter the training grounds. So I shall take my leave."

She began walking away. Jaden watched her move further and then stepped inside the room.

Clank

He closed the door after peeking outside.

--------------

Training dummies, archery target boards, weapon stands filled with all kinds of wooden weapons, and physical strength training equipment. The training grounds had them all.

Still, it didn't manage to get Jaden's attention. But something else definitely did grab his interest.

'W-why is that here-?'

Jaden had a stiff expression on his face. He was shocked after seeing a familiar item.

"What is this damned sword doing here?!"

The sword Aliana showed him earlier stood on the ground with its tip stuck in the floor. Seeing closely, a piece of paper was noticeable.

"What is it now?"

Jaden examined closely while squinting his eyes. He read what was written on it.

-Pull the sword out of the ground.

There was no need for him to bother himself by wondering who had done this. It was quite obvious by then.

Jaden remembered the sound of fingers snapping he had heard a while before Aliana left the dining room. She had used some magic again.

'That time!'

Jaden removed the paper stuck on the hilt of the sword. And threw it aside.

"I just need to pull this out, right?"

He grabbed the hilt with one hand. And applied some strength to it.

"It will be easy-!"

He tried to pull it out. The only thing he could feel were tiny vibrations in his hand.

Thunk

The sword didn't move.

"Hup-"

He applied more force.

Thunk

But it was of no use. The sword still didn't come out.

"Hah-?!"

As he was trying to pull for the third time, his grip loosened, and he fell to the ground.

Huff huff

He gasped for air. Jaden was out of breath after exerting himself.

-"What? Giving up so soon?"

Someone asked Jaden. A somewhat familiar voice. He recognised whose voice it was.

"Oh. How come you are here?"

Replying to the owner of the voice, he turned around.

"Aliana-"

He paused talking, and his face turned pale.

"G-gh-ghos-!"

As Jaden was about to scream, Aliana put her hands on his mouth to stop him from shouting at night.

-"Wait. Wait. Don't faint on me. I'm not a ghost. This is just my magic."

Aliana had a slightly transparent body. She already predicted that Jaden would have some amusing reactions.

-"Do you understand? If yes, nod your head once."

Jaden nodded his head once, after listening to Aliana. Letting her hand away from Jaden's mouth, Aliana floated around in the air.

'If I die someday, she will definitely be the reason for it-'

Jaden bit his lips as he looked at the see-through figure floating in the air.

-"I can't talk to you for long. So I will just give you instructions before my magic fades away."

Aliana said this as she moved around in the air. She was wearing the same outfit as earlier.

"How can you talk and have your own will?"

Jaden knew that, logically, it would've been impossible to perform magic like that. Leaving a message with the use of magic was possible.

But something like what Jaden was witnessing? It wasn't. This was beyond common sense.

-"I let some of my consciousness stay within this clone."

Everything seemed to be reasonable because of the logic behind it. However, that logic seemed to not apply to Aliana.

Aliana was using a magic called 'memory clone'. A type of magic where a copy is made with some amount of memories and a part of consciousness.

'I don't remember this type of magic either.'

Jaden never mentioned this kind of magic in his novel. But he had mentioned something else.

-Creating new magic spells was no small task. It would need years of experience and a high level of talent.

'She must be one of those so-called geniuses to be creating magic spells.'

Jaden didn't know, but Aliana had one more title aside from being the daughter of the Rosenstein family: revolutionary genius. But that story is for sometime else.

"What is it?"

Jaden was tired already. He was being stiff while talking.

-"Pull out that sword. You know how to do it. I taught you earlier."

Aliana's copy said as it grew fainter.

'She won't tell me anything...'

Jaden was sure about that. But again, Did it even matter since she gave him a clue?

Jaden's thoughts were mixed up. Luckily, he still had some hope left.

"I'll try once."

He stood up, grabbed the hilt again, and stayed still. He was trying to remember.

'Think. What did she teach me?'

Jaden closed his eyes. He could feel the cold air moving around him.

'Cold...'

Jaden had found the answer.

Thunk

'Yeah. That must be the answer.'

He poured his mana into the sword slowly while simultaneously pulling it out.

Twink

The sword came out of the ground. Not being able to handle the sword's weight, Jaden dropped the sword.

Thud

Aliana's copy watched over him and sighed. It looked like it wasn't upto her expectations.

-"This won't do. Let me show you something. Drink this first."

She said this while handing over a small vial with a strange pattern on it.

Gulp

Without any question, Jaden drank it. Childrens should remember not to consume something that they receive from a stranger they met just a while ago.

-"I have less time, I think. Look carefully at what I do."

Her colour became more light as she picked up the sword. The magic was fading away.

Swish

-"First step. Flash."

Shink

She moved the blade sideways and cut the air. The rose petals fell down in the path where the blade was moved.

-"Second step. Pierce."

Crackk

There was nothing that the sword hit against, yet the sound was huge. The rain of rose petals continued.

-"Third step. Flow."

The sword's trajectory looked like it was easy to perform, but it was complex.

-"And lastly."

Snap

She snapped her fingers. The rose petals that rained down on the ground just a while ago disappeared along with the sword.

-"That was all for now. Understand?"

Jaden was left in shock. He had, for some reason, understood what he had seen. To be precise, he had it ingrained in his brain.

'How is something like this possible...?'

It didn't make any sense. Learning something by just watching it was unheard of. Without practical experience, learning something wasn't actually possible.

'There is a possibility.'

Jaden looked at the empty vial in his hand. He had a bad feeling about it.

'Surely not...'

He remembered some details he had written about in his novel. It was a dumb thing that he made exist only as a legend. His face grew pale with nervousness.

-Memorization potion. This is a type of potion that can help you learn any technique just by seeing it once. A cheat item, to say. You don't need to be a genius to learn anything and everything after consuming it.

-"Oh. Time's up."

Aliana's copy looked at her hands disappearing. The cold wind blew through her magic.

-"Go inside now. I will be here to pick you up tomorrow."

She said this as her body slowly faded away. The magic was about to wear out at any time.

"To where...?"

Jaden had no idea why she was coming to pick him up. But then he felt like he was forgetting something.

-"Shopping date, of course."

Those were the last words he heard from her. He could see Aliana smile while fading away.

"I should go back inside."

Jaden said as Aliana's magic disappeared into thin air. As he got up, his gaze fell onto the piece of paper lying on the ground. He tried to read it.

-It will soon start showing it's other effects. That was an enhanced version of the memorization potion. So go to sleep as soon as you can. Hehe.

Jaden's eyes had lost the last glow of hope left in them now.