Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Chapter 1-2. To Live in This World
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─Shadow Heresy Arts
──1st Form, Shadow Deployment.
──2nd Form, Demon Eye Open.
The abundant mana accumulated in his body began to flow out and manifest. This was only the second time using it in actual combat. The shadows spread across the ground twitched, then began to expand widely. In an instant, they enveloped the surroundings, transmitting the information above them to Judah, while the Demon Eye perceived even more. It felt like his field of vision had been forcibly expanded. Practicing heresy arts only in the motionless room felt entirely different from using them in real combat like this. Through Shadow Deployment, he learned the number of enemies.
'Three in total.'
Red markers appeared on the minimap, revealing their positions. He had thought there was only one wolf, but there were three. They had completely surrounded him, ready to attack his back at any moment. If he had recklessly charged at the one exposing its presence without deploying the heresy arts, the other two would have immediately targeted his rear. And he had been wrong about them moving around. They hadn't moved from the start. They had simply stayed in place, occasionally making footsteps to sow confusion.
Grrr.
As if it were the signal to attack, he suddenly sensed sharp killing intent from behind. One leaped out from the bushes, letting out a resounding howl.
Kraaang!
He turned to face it.
'Hah, it's huge!'
The wolf was larger than expected. Its dense, sharply grown fangs seemed ready to tear into his throat at any second. At the same time, wolves charged from the other side. He had already pinpointed their locations through Shadow Deployment and the Demon Eye before they burst from the bushes. He hurled a dagger he had been holding at one of the two rustling spots.
Fortunately, he didn't need to worry about accuracy. Thanks to mastering Mercenary-Style Left-Hand Dagger Arts over the past two years, it flew straight toward the beast's forehead. The charging wolf flinched in surprise and flattened itself to the ground.
In that gap, he planned to deal with the one in front of him first. He was still a child, but with stat bonuses and consistent training, his sword swings followed clean paths. He sidestepped as the wolf lunged head-on, dodging its attack, then gripped his longsword with both hands and slashed upward with all his might.
Sssak—a tearing sound, along with the sensation of slicing through something.
'Ngh!'
Regrettably, in the instant its fangs came right under his nose, a moment of fear caused him to deviate from his intended path. As he consoled himself that no first strike could be perfect, one of the wolf's front paws thudded to the ground. Followed by a heavy thump as its massive body rolled across the dirt. He turned, drew one of the two remaining daggers from his belt, and threw it at the head of the wolf that whined and tried to rise quickly.
Black Wolf hide was tough. But the blade of the dagger thrown from this close pierced the skin and sank into its throat. He saw its writhing body go limp and convulse. He wanted to exhale the breath he'd been holding, but now wasn't the time.
Yap!
Two remained. The one that dodged the dagger was behind him, but another came charging without interference right at his back.
Dodge, or attack.
One or the other. Judah chose the latter. The beast leaped, swinging its front paw. Its attack pattern flowed into his mind from the spread shadows, and he perceived it through the Demon Eye, dodging accordingly. At the same time as evading, he twisted his waist and shifted the sword inward.
'Ugh!'
He couldn't dodge perfectly—its claw sliced his left shoulder. A stinging pain came with a spray of blood. His brow furrowed in pain, but if he faltered here, he'd really die.
─Shadow Sword Arts
──2nd Form, Slash
With a slight mana consumption, black particles coated the blade. He untwisted his waist and swung the sword with all his strength. The blade raked up the side of the wolf, which had been confident in its preemptive strike. A massive gash opened along the sword's path, hot blood scattering like cherry blossoms in all directions. Covered in the beast's steaming red blood, Judah had no time to wipe or shake it off as he spun to reset his stance. The last wolf was right beside him.
He stared straight at its movements with both eyes. It seemed about to charge, but instead lowered its stance and crouched. Preparing to leap. He pulled the bloodied longsword's hilt to his chest, pointing the tip into the air. His left hand extended forward, serving as a sight. Like aiming an arrow at a target, he fixed the sword tip on a specific spot.
Kraaaang!
The wolf's voice, wrapped in fury, roared harshly, and Judah used the next sword art.
'Shadow Sword Arts, 3rd Form. Single Point!'
He visualized it in his mind through the technique's name.
Whoosh—
With the sound of wind gathering, black energy converged on the blade, and he thrust it into the air with all his might. The energy gathered atop the blade instantly formed a single lance, piercing the chest of the airborne wolf precisely. Just before impact, a flicker of surprise flashed in the wolf's eyes, consumed by intense rage.
It couldn't dodge.
Unless it had some special ability, maybe.
But it was too late now.
Puk—a sound, as it tore through tough hide and muscle, shattered bone, and pierced vital organs. Before the beast's weight pressed on his arm, he disrupted the mana forming the lance; it reverted to its longsword form, and blood gushed from the wound. Head, face, clothes—he was drenched. The metallic stench of blood rose nauseatingly. A swing of the longsword flung the blood from the blade.
Kheung, heung!
The wolf with the gashed side was still alive. He walked slowly over and brought his sword down on its head as it struggled to move. Only after confirming its death did he feel his hands trembling. His grip had been so tight his hands ached. Finally, he slowly exhaled the breath he'd held.
"Huu...!"
Dangerous. The thought suddenly struck him. Not because he felt threatened by life or anything like that. It was due to the pleasure and faint euphoria he felt the moment he took the wolf's life. Completely different from the sensation of hunting deer or boars. He had survived. He had staked his life and won.
Sparring with Cain was to test each other's skills and aim higher, not to take lives. Sparring meant no death even in defeat, because he trusted Cain wouldn't kill him. But the fight with the wolves was entirely different.
It was a struggle. Everything he'd unknowingly suppressed burst forth like a dam breaking.
"...Kuh. Kuhuk."
He tried to hold back the laughter bubbling up, but it was hard.
"Kra—, hahahaha! Ahaha, ahahaha!"
He finally burst into loud laughter. Mad laughter. No more wolves around. His whole body sang with euphoria. His heart pounded like thunder. Only after laughing for a while did Judah stop. The hot blood on his body had cooled in the wind. He checked the system messages he hadn't noticed during the fight.
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[Acquired 1 silver coin.]
[Acquired 1 silver coin.]
[Shadow Sword Arts and Heresy Arts skill proficiencies have increased by 1.]
[Acquired 2 silver coins.]
[Level up.]
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His level, which had only risen by 5 after two years holed up in the mountains tinkering around, shot up in one go. With the level up, the pain in his left shoulder wound faded slightly. Not fully healed. Damn this unfriendly world—modeled after a game yet overly realistic; even level ups didn't grant full recovery. Just a bit more regeneration.
Standing dazed for a while, Judah took a deep breath and rechecked the system messages.
Something important caught his eye. The acquisition log for currency. Unlike hunting normal animals, killing each wolf dropped a fixed amount of money into his inventory.
'Zentia clearly said no items drop, right?'
He had asked once. Whether killing monsters in this world dropped weapons or armor. When making this game, he had set it up for item drops from hunting. But Zentia seemed not to grasp the intent at first, asking if he meant , then laughed it off as nonsense after clarification, saying no such thing existed. Hunting boars and deer yielded no money or anything, so he believed her. But now that money dropped, maybe items could too. Or perhaps only money. He could check by hunting more wolves later.
Judah pulled a cloth from his <Bag> in the inventory to wipe the blood from his longsword and retrieved his daggers. He glanced at the fallen Black Wolves. Right—these were valuable. Their hides fetched good prices at general and clothing stores, and as lesser monsters, they had magic stones.
He opened his inventory <Bag> again and took out a butchering knife. First time on a wolf, but his skills honed on other animals in the Eastern Forest were decent enough. Not the highest quality hides, but satisfactory.
After skinning, he extracted the magic stones. As Zentia taught, they were mainly between the navel and solar plexus—and sure enough, he got two. The last wolf's chest was obliterated, so no stone. But he found something special instead.
"Is this a ?"
The baseball-sized code was encased in a glass-like membrane, with blue letters slowly rotating inside like a conveyor belt. The membrane emitted faint white light. White meant... 'Common' grade.
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「Code Suffix: Sharpness of ~」
Grade: Common _ Weapon Exclusive
Effect: Wound Aggravation - Bleeding +3%, Regeneration -1%.
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This game had no item enhancement like +1, +2. Instead, <Codes> like this granted prefix/suffix effects. Higher grades gave special options, obtained in various ways.
In the original game, from hunting or killing qualifying NPCs. Also quest rewards or synthesis for higher/same-grade codes.
But this world was reality to Judah, not a game. From Zentia, methods were similar: from monsters or influential figures like saints or sages upon death.
Difference: also from disaster sites like plagues or floods. To check effects, ask a mage or buy scrolls from the Magic Tower—borrowing system effects limitedly. With full system access, Judah just vocalized for info.
"Hmm."
Judah checked the code's option and applied it to his longsword experimentally. Zentia said to go to the Magic Tower, but for him, it differed.
[Apply 「Code Suffix: Sharpness of ~」 effect to <Longsword>?]
The system message appeared. Confirming, the orb shattered, letters seeping into the longsword.
[<Longsword> name changed to [Sharp Longsword] upon successful suffix code attachment.]
"......"
Nothing special. Swinging in the air showed no difference. Codes could be removed via Magic Tower, so maybe extract too. Sure enough, 'Code Extraction' in item info.
Moments later, the white code was back in his hand.
"Free application and extraction... Nice."
Grinning, Judah sensed sunset approaching and headed to Selenia Castle.
Tension released, his legs wobbled midway, but he walked steadily. No more Black Wolves in sight. Good.
* * *
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Tip 11. 1 gold coin = 1 million won, 1 silver coin = 10,000 won. 1 copper coin = 1,000 won.
Tip 12. Item grades: Common (white) - Rare (green) - Treasure (purple) - Unique (magenta) - Ancient (orange) - Legend (yellow).
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「Status Window」
[Name: Judah Arshel]
[Title: None]
[Level: 10]
[Job: Black Claw _ Shadow Magic Swordsman (Hidden A)]
[Revival Count: 1]
[Strength: 35 (D) / Potential A]
[Vitality: 35 (D) / Potential S]
[Agility: 30 (D) / Potential SS]
[Mana: 37 (D) / Potential B]
[Magic Resistance: 51 (C) / Potential S]
[Knowledge: 17 (F) / Potential B] ◀ Special
[Luck: 79 (B) / Potential A] ◀ Special
[Remaining Points: 9]
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========== Afterword ==========
Thanks to the coupons you all gave, I got new glasses today.
First change in 3 years—wow, the world looks different.
I'll write even harder! ㅎ!
Q. He's read all the library books, so why is Knowledge only 17?
A. Reading isn't perfect memorization. We forget things. Book contents fade naturally, especially if not essential knowledge.
Q. When will our Judah go on adventures? ㅇㅅㅇ??
A. Uh... yeah. Haha..? Huh?