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Today was day 12 of my escape from the Deep Sea. No faster way to grow stronger?
That was the title on the broadcast I had turned on. I had originally planned to become stronger slowly, for survival. Yeah, I had. But why did I come up with this heading in the first place?
I’m afraid I’m about to die. Thank you for loving me. Goodbye…
—Truth Scholar: Really!?
—Healing Violence: Looks like bullshit. He’s perfectly fine.
—Education Master: …What’s going on?
I glanced at the chat window and answered the Education Master’s question right away. To explain what I had seen yesterday.
“I went scouting to the Weapon Factory yesterday, and there was a Grim Reaper there!”
—Truth Scholar: An undead?
“Yeah, probably. Wearing a black hood and carrying a scythe.”
It looked like something straight out of the Yellow Springs. Even the skull inside the hood wasn’t human—it was like a deer’s.
—Truth Scholar: If it’s undead, divine energy is its weakness…
—Draw Sword: With the ultimate sword technique Draw-Sword, even the undead can be cut down in one strike…
—Healing Violence: Don’t listen to the Sword Sage, old man. High-grade undead regenerate before you even finish swinging. It takes less than a second.
—Draw Sword: If you cut them before they regenerate, that’s it.
—Healing Violence: For the love of god, stop talking about your own standards.
Hmm… divine energy.
With my current sword skills, it looked tough to beat a Grim Reaper. And wasn’t divine energy the undead’s natural weakness?
If only I had holy water… there might still be a chance…
—Healing Violence: But you can’t use divine energy. I’m telling you.
“Huh? What do you mean…?”
Healing Violence answered my question one by one.
—Healing Violence: Divine energy is basically leftover energy from the gods. And most of it is stored in sunlight.
“What does that have to do… oh.”
I was about to ask why it mattered when I realized where I was. Deep Sea. The only things I could see were ancient ruins and those terrifying big eyes. There wasn’t even sunlight, let alone proper light…
—Healing Violence: Even holy water items like that would be useless. The basic requirement is sunlight. If it were holy water made by a saint, maybe different. But Healing Violence’s words were as violent as the nickname suggested. He was reminding me once again how bad my position was…
A sigh escaped me. The situation was really that dire.
—Truth Scholar: Then we could just leave the Weapon Factory behind, right?
There’s no need to catch the Grim Reaper now anyway, right?
“I want to do that too…”
I sighed. Of course I wanted to avoid a Grim Reaper. But the Scanner had blocked that possibility.
The time was last night. I had been on a scouting mission at the command of Absoluzen. I was supposed to head to the Food Factory, but…
—Truth Scholar: You chickened out and didn’t go to the Food Factory?
“Ugh! …It’s true. I mean, how was I supposed to enter a factory after seeing the security robots being mass-produced there?”
That was after I had witnessed the security machines being produced at the Food Factory. So I turned my course toward the next district—the Weapon Factory. The distance wasn’t too far since it was the next zone, and I arrived quickly. And there, I saw the Grim Reaper.
In that eerie atmosphere, I had no choice but to hide behind the building and watch. I even ended up wiping out the Cyclops nearby. The way the scythe swung like a whip, at terrifying speeds, was simply overwhelming. The word “dominating” didn’t even cover it. It felt like the ruler of that entire sector. Was there no such thing as a Prism here either?
And my prediction was correct. I infused mana into the Prism and created a distortion field. I split some of that mana field onto the nearby stone. Now, the stone surrounded by the distortion field…
—Healing Violence: You threw it? What were you thinking?
“The speed was slow, so it was worth a try.”
I had walked slowly even while taking down the Cyclops. It was just that the energy I fired at it had instantly obliterated it. But the reason I tried it was because I was behind the building. The building somehow resisted even the Grim Reaper. The straight-line stone flew toward the Grim Reaper and…
Slash. It fell without any warning, severed in mid-air. It seemed like it wouldn’t work on an undead with no eyes. The Grim Reaper didn’t even glance at the stone, let alone me. To get more information, I took out the Scanner. The Cyclops might have charged at me to kill me, but I had enough ability to run right now. So I pointed the Scanner at the Grim Reaper…
Nothing special happened. Just the information appeared.
—Old Grim Reaper
—This entity was transformed due to the ███ Incident. It follows past orders and makes management its main duty. The next management district is the Third Outer Ring.
—Truth Scholar: Is there a problem with that?
“Yeah… the district I’m in is the Third Outer Ring.”
The Grim Reaper periodically moved between districts, and the next destination was where I was. And even though it was called “management,” it was basically wiping out lifeforms. Now I had two choices. Move districts… or kill the Grim Reaper. Honestly, at first I thought I should move. But other districts had even more dangerous things. For example, the Giant Octopus district? The other districts were similar. So I had no choice but to bite the bullet and kill the Grim Reaper. After experiencing this, I wanted to get stronger. And fast.
—Truth Scholar: You’re already growing fast…
—Draw Sword: No choice. I have no choice but to teach you the sword technique I was supposed to teach later. Right now.
“Really?”
I was quite surprised by Draw Sword’s reaction. The Sword Sage was supposed to be a passionate teacher who taught with enthusiasm, not the one who just gave homework and told you to figure it out yourself. To be precise… he had only taught me the first form so far. He never mentioned the others and just gave homework…
—Draw Sword: Just start. Come outside.
“Yes.”
Somehow, I felt the aura of a teacher from the Sword Sage. Of course, the impression before had been that he was only focused on the Draw-Sword technique. Anyway, I picked up my black sword. Squeak. Because I had sharpened the blade a lot, the sound was quieter than before. I stood on the familiar sandy ground. Whirr…
“…Watching?”
I turned around and saw a black egg and Absoluzen. It was right there as if it were watching a show, which made me a little uncomfortable. But the Sword Sage didn’t care and started explaining.
—Draw Sword: First, I’ll tell you the name of the second form. The name of the second form is Chain Slash.
The name indicated the direction of the sword, so the Sword Sage chose names intuitively. Interpreting the meaning of that sword technique…
“Is it a sword technique that connects and uses with other swords?”
—Draw Sword: Correct. It’s a bridge connecting different forms besides the first, so make sure to memorize it well.
Tension rose from the Sword Sage’s words. Maybe it was the most important technique. A moment passed, and Draw Sword sent another chat.
—Draw Sword: Actually, Chain Slash is a form that goes a little beyond sword techniques. It’s a chaining technique.
“…Chaining?”
—Draw Sword: Of course! Draw-Sword only shows its full power when you start from the sheath.
It was a statement that made sense yet didn’t at the same time. Was it not simple linking and swinging? The Sword Sage didn’t seem to care about my reaction and continued explaining.
—Draw Sword: The normal way of chaining isn’t it. This is a special technique done for connecting.
“How?”
—Draw Sword: Reversely.
“Yes?”
—Draw Sword: Do reverse chaining.
Was what I heard real? Reverse chaining? The name mixed two inefficient sword techniques left me dizzy. The Sword Sage added,
—Draw Sword: This is difficult to explain in comments, so I’ll send a reference book.
[A gift request has been received from Draw Sword.]
Feeling slightly dazed, I accepted the gift request. I had no idea what kind of way it was and couldn’t picture it in my mind at all. When I received the gift, a book fell with a thud. The name was ‘Reference Book.’ …It was too direct. I picked up the book that smelled strongly of the Middle Ages. What kind of content could it hold?
“Ah…”
The moment I opened the book, I was stunned. The lines were rough, but the human body was accurately drawn, so it wasn’t too hard to understand. It was just that the pose looked so out of place that I wondered how it was supposed to channel power. The first page showed the drawing of drawing the sword. It was almost exactly the same pose I had been using until now. The second page showed the drawing of switching the sword to reverse grip. Here the sense of the out-of-place began to deepen. But it wasn’t impossible. The third page showed chaining. No way. Because the sword was held in reverse, the sheath had to be twisted to put it back in. ‘Does this even connect?’ The pose that came out made me think that. It seemed the Sword Sage understood my thoughts and added,
—Draw Sword: Up to the third page is what I first thought of as the second form.
“Yes? That’s the first one?”
—Draw Sword: After that, there are thirty application versions. Memorize them all.
?
The Sword Sage almost looked like he didn’t want to do this anymore.