Heroine Creation: All My Summons Are Custom Made

Chapter 215: Master, Not Grandmaster

A frown formed on Lancet’s confused face.

"Why not?" he asked Astensia. "Are you forbidden from teaching it or something?"

Astensia smiled at the humourous question. "Of course not, Master," she replied. "I would like to teach you but I simply do not know the greatest skills of a swordsman."

Lancet paused again, staring. For a second, he honestly thought he had misheard her.

"What?" He stared at her. "You don’t?"

Astensia gave a tiny shake of her head, the feathers on her helm flapping. "Those skills are coveted, Lancet. They are beyond what most humans know and beyond what most humans can reach. I never trained for them, so I do not know them."

Lancet looked unsettled for a moment, then opened his mouth as if to argue and stopped halfway through the sentence. "But you have instant comprehension of every weapon you hold. You become a master of every—"

He broke off and his eyes widened.

The realization hit him hard enough to change his entire expression, and Astensia noticed it immediately.

She gave him a knowing look. "You see it now," she said quietly. "Master, not grandmaster."

Lancet stared at her.

Astensia continued, her voice steady and certain. "Regardless, I can defeat any grandmaster swordsman. My mastery of other weapons, my Ironwill, and my radiant power are enough to overcome almost anyone in battle. But I am not more skilled than them with the sword. I have attained mastery, and with my power that is enough for me. They attain grandmastery because it covers the gap."

The room had gone very still.

Luke and Min Tu had both abandoned training completely and were watching with intrigue.

Lancet’s gaze moved to them, then back to Astensia, and for a few seconds he simply thought.

Then he spoke. "So Renan has attained grandmastery as well."

Astensia looked thoughtful before answering. "Renan Falconhart?" she shook her head once. "No. Not yet."

Lancet’s brow lifted.

Astensia repositioned, folding her toned arms under her breasts. "But he’s close. When we fought I found his control over the blade to be ridiculously impressive. The way he moves doesn’t look like someone learning something new. It looks ingrained into him. Like he’s been doing it for decades."

Min Tu nodded slowly, already following the thread of the conversation. "That makes sense. He’s a Falconhart."

Astensia, not knowing what being a Falconhart meant, continued, "He’s not a grandmaster yet, but he’s getting there. And with his heavenly powers on top of that, he’s certainly unbeatable for you and many of the students in this school."

Lancet held the Radiant Guillotine a little tighter. He already knew that part.

He knew a lot more about Renan than anyone in this world, probably even more than Renan himself. But that knowledge stayed buried behind the character he was in this story

The former slum rat. The nobody from nowhere. Even though he’d been in the Academy for a few months, someone like that still wouldn’t know much of anything about the Falconharts and other noble families.

So, Lancet needed the others to believe he was learning this as he went. He turned to Min Tu.

"Falconhart," he said carefully. "That’s Renan’s family? And they were swordsmanship specialists, right?"

Min Tu nodded once. "They were. Revered for it, too."

Then she leaned a little against the edge of the training mark, clearly warming to the subject.

"The Falconharts used to be one of the great noble houses," she said. "Their bloodline seemed to have been touched by an Elder Specialist because they always awakened Specialist Classes, and very powerful ones too."

"Knights, Swordsmasters, Dragoons, even the long gone class of Templars, you name it. They were particularly revered for their swordmastery. Their swordsmasters built authority through discipline, duels, and battlefield command. They won battles against the Second World and led armies into Warning and Great Gates."

Luke scoffed, as if unimpressed.

Everyone glanced at him.

Min Tu ignored him and continued. "Back then, their name meant something. If a Falconhart swordsman stepped into a conflict, people took notice. They used to control military contracts, border defenses, and dueling circles across half the states. The house made its name on blades, not spectacle."

Lancet listened, already seeing the shape of what she meant.

"But then the world changed," Min Tu said. "Elementalist and Enchanter families started rising faster. Their magic was more dramatic, more adaptable, easier to sell to the public and easier to parade in front of the courts. Specialist Classes were still respected, of course, but the balance of influence shifted. Knights and Swordsmasters were and are still honored, but they stopped being the Houses everyone feared most."

"The Falconharts adapted, but not as quickly as others did. They stayed proud of their sword tradition while the higher noble houses started playing politics more aggressively. A lot of old blade families lost land. Lost access. Lost leverage."

She paused, then added, "And then came the collapse."

Lancet’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Collapse?"

Min Tu nodded. "There was a betrayal."

Luke’s mouth tightened.

"The Falconharts had built their name around a vow of defense," Min Tu said. "They were protecting a major route and several cities under an old alliance agreement. Then one of the allied houses broke the pact and opened the way for an enemy incursion. The Falconhart stronghold was left exposed at exactly the wrong time. By the time the surviving blade masters regrouped, the house had already taken a reputation hit it never recovered from."

Lancet kept his face neutral. He already knew all of this, and even more. He knew that Renan was seeking revenge, trying to rebuild his family and bring back the glory of the sword and true combat.

Min Tu went on, "After that, they fell further. They were still respected, but no longer feared the way they once were. The newer houses with more spectacle and stronger political connections filled the gaps. And once a family stops being useful to the right people, the academy system, the courts, and the war committees all start treating them like an echo instead of a force."

"This Falconhart family is a respectable one," Astensia said. "I give Renan Falconhart my condolences and I hope the world honors them one day."

Min Tu and Luke stared at her for a moment, taken aback by her naive, unfiltered righteousness. But then again, perhaps she owed the respect to the Falconharts as she too was a Knight.

Lancet was silent for a moment, brainstorming as they watched him.

Then he looked back at Min Tu. "But the swordsmanship techniques, weren’t they passed down by the greatest swordsmasters?"

That was what he was trying to get her to talk about, not an exposition on the Falconhart family history.

"The Grandmasters of the Blade," Luke answered coldly.

Everyone looked at him.

"You’re right," he told Lancet. "Some of them passed their secrets down through families. Others chose specific heirs. A few just handed their knowledge to random people they decided were worth it."

Lancet’s eyes narrowed as he put on thinking cap.

Luke noticed the change in his expression before anyone else did. He straightened a little, then stepped forward with a growing look of realization as if he had just seen the entire direction of Lancet’s thought crystallize in front of him.

"Why did you ask?" Luke said slowly.

Lancet blinked at him. "Huh?"

Luke’s eyes widened. "No way."

Lancet frowned. "What?"

Luke pointed at him. "You’re thinking of summoning a legend to teach you swordsmanship."

All eyes turned to Lancet.