Shall We Try That Again?
"Shall we try that again? I grew a little careless."
"All right."
In truth, Dokgo Minsu had made no mistake at all. He had answered the speed and slipped the blade aside by the book, and by rights that should have opened a gap and invited the counter. But the sword's attack power was simply too high to allow even a deflection. The instant steel met steel, Dokgo Minsu's blade sheared apart like soft tofu.
"We'd better change swords. I think it's the weapon."
"Th-then let us."
Cold sweat beading on his brow, Dokgo Minsu agreed at once. The two of them drew swords meant for low-level use, equipped them, and faced one another again.
"You wield a fine sword. I envy you."
"You don't think I'm just riding my gear, do you?"
"Hardly. For a swordsman, possessing a good blade is only proper. How could I call that shameful? I am merely envious."
Yujun answered with an awkward smile.
Back in the game he never shut up about people being carried by their gear...
Odds were good that the man was thinking something else entirely on the inside.
This time Dokgo Minsu was the one who charged. The swords were identical in performance, and he freely admitted the wide gap in their physical stats, yet he still judged that he had a chance. From the moment he became a player he had tempered his body without rest, and thanks to that he had long made a habit of cutting down enemies of far higher level without much difficulty.
Crack!
This time his sword was not merely cut. It burst apart entirely. Thousands of fragments sprayed through the air, and Dokgo Minsu could not hide his bewilderment.
"......No."
Yujun's sword, by contrast, was perfectly intact. They had clashed with the same weapons. How could the results stand in such complete opposition? His opponent had not even put strength into the blow. He had only blocked, which meant raw muscle had played no part at all, and yet the only thing destroyed was Dokgo Minsu's weapon. It made no sense.
"......How in the world did you do that? Have you grasped the ultimate principle of swordsmanship?"
"The truth is......"
Yujun had some trouble getting the words out.
"It's attack power."
"Hm? But did we not use the same weapons just now?"
"Attack power doesn't only come from the weapon."
"Surely you are not wearing items with attack-power options? And not one of them, but several?"
"Yes."
"Hm."
"Let's just strip all our gear and fight. That'll be better."
"Very well."
Kim Yohan, who had been watching the match with keen interest, chose that moment to speak.
"Whoa—but seriously, how high is your attack power even at?"
"I don't know."
"What? You haven't calculated it?"
Yujun nodded.
"Why not?"
"Calculating it is a pain."
There were simply too many options tied to attack power, and knowing the number would not make him any stronger. So he had never bothered to work it out.
Armor set aside, Yujun took up his sword in ordinary clothes. Until now the factor of attack power had warped things so badly that it could hardly be called a fight. From here on, it would be the real thing. Dokgo Minsu, for his part, wore a peculiar martial robe that was clothing rather than equipment.
"What's with the outfit?"
"A custom commission. I wear it in the ordinary course of my days."
"You walk around in that?"
"Those who know me have learned to let it be."
"Don't the other races stare like they've never seen anything like it?"
"Of course they do."
"......Shall we begin?"
"This time I shall show you properly."
"I'll look forward to it."
The third duel did not end the way the first two had, with a weapon snapping apart in an empty instant.
Clang! Clang!
Their swords met without pause, and at last it was a spar worthy of the name. Yujun was surprised by how high Dokgo Minsu's strength turned out to be—harder, somehow, than the physical stats he possessed ought to have allowed.
Ordinary power shouldn't be able to take my strength head-on.
Dokgo Minsu strained under it, and yet he never went down. Stubborn and unyielding, he held to the very end, and now and then, even as he barely kept the blade off himself, he flashed out a brilliant attack of his own.
Something's different about him.
Crossing swords with the man, Yujun felt that he was unlike himself in some fundamental way. It was not that Dokgo Minsu's technique surpassed his own. Yujun had Swordsmanship at EX Tier, Unity of Sword and Body at GX Tier, and an EX++ Genius trait that amplified the effects of both. In excellence and in technical skill, he was overwhelming. And yet Dokgo Minsu's swordsmanship was peculiar. It felt as if the man possessed something Yujun did not.
What is it?
As their blades kept weaving together, he began to grasp it, if only faintly. Naturalness. Whether swinging his sword or simply moving his feet, Dokgo Minsu gave the strong impression of receiving no help from the System at all. He was simply more fluent in the use of his own body. Even with physiques of identical performance, efficiency differed from player to player, and Dokgo Minsu understood his body. He knew the way force actually worked. He had trained that body without cease, and the fruit of the work showed plainly in the spar.
After they traded another few dozen light exchanges, Yujun stepped back.
"You're no joke, sir."
"......Is that something for you to say?"
The one being pushed back was Dokgo Minsu. Yujun's praise could only leave him dumbfounded.
"No. You really do feel like a true master of the sword. Did you handle a blade before you came to the Tower of Infinity?"
"I toyed with a live sword as a hobby. But I could never have called myself a professional."
"So you practiced after coming to the Tower?"
"I did, yes. In the beginning, though, I had no thought of growing stronger. I had simply escaped the wretched body I was born with, and swinging a sword in one that was healthy was joy enough."
"......That's incredible."
"That experience let me walk the true path of the sword without being bound by the System."
"And your Swordsmanship trait?"
"I have it. But I use it only to increase the power of the blade. Swordsmanship does not lead me. You may take it that I myself am the one who moves."
At those words, Yujun's eyes went wide. Wasn't that the exact opposite of himself? He tended to lean heavily on the Swordsmanship trait, because that was what made the more efficient fight possible.
"I have not the standing to offer counsel like this, so it may seem presumptuous. Even so, think more deeply upon the sword itself, rather than depending so much on the trait. You may yet reach a higher realm than the one you stand in now."
"You're right."
"That aside, just how high is your Swordsmanship rank? I could not see a single opening."
"It's fairly high. But sparring with you, I get the feeling I haven't really been using the sword properly until now."
"You likely had no need. Take up that weapon from earlier, and your enemy dies before you have so much as the leisure to grasp the principles of the sword. I expect it will be much the same from here on."
"Do you think there's any point in my training the sword starting now? Would I actually see results?"
"Of course. That said, you must not neglect real combat either."
"Thank you. This was a valuable experience."
"We should cross blades again sometime. What do you say?"
"I'd like that."
Dokgo Minsu was weaker than he was, and yet there was no small amount to learn from him. Yujun wanted the same thing.
"Ah—and you would do well to keep at push-ups, and at exercise that uses the whole body. I am forever telling Joseph as much, yet he will not so much as pretend to listen."
"Exercise? You mean strength training?"
"Just so. For players such as ourselves, the more we use our bodies, the better."
"Because we recover quickly?"
"That as well, and the efficiency of growth is different. Think back to when you were an ordinary human. Even training to build muscle, you needed three or four days to recover, did you not? That is why one worked by muscle group, rather than training the whole body."
"Right."
"A player has no such need. Destroyed muscle regenerates completely before even a few hours have passed."
"Oh..."
"In truth, I am not the only player who trains his strength so steadily. Ah—the other races are the exception."
"Why the other races?"
"Because they were born already in possession of a player's body. Unlike us, they did not gain their abilities after the fact."
"That's true."
"In matters such as muscular growth, the other races receive none of that benefit. Not as we do."
"So only humans can actually gain something by training the body."
"In a case like yours, you would have to raise the intensity a very great deal. Your stats are already so high that... in truth, any ordinary measure of exercise may hardly show an effect."
"I'll give it a try."
"In any case, you have my thanks. Thanks to you, I have gained enlightenment once again."
"You can get something like that so easily? Enlightenment?"
"Well. The System informed me I had obtained a trait. If that is not enlightenment, what else would you call it?"
Dokgo Minsu smiled with deep satisfaction. Why was that so irritating?
Don't tell me he has a Genius trait too?
Or maybe he was simply a genius. In truth, facing him, Yujun had felt a wall—not because the man was strong. In a real fight he could have subdued Dokgo Minsu in a single second. It was a wall of another kind.
His mindset is different.
Was it because he had trained for years upon an unshakable conviction?
Give that man the right items, and he'd become truly strong.
"Honestly, did any of that make sense to you?"
Kim Yohan came over and asked.
"Which part?"
"All that stuff Mister Dokgo was saying. No matter how much I exercise, I can't feel a single difference."
"That is because you have not trained with any sincerity. Had a day or two of tempering the body been enough to see results, every dog and ox alive would be strong by now."
"Ah, why are you butting in again? And exercise just doesn't suit me. I'll get strong some other way."
"I have never forced you. You whined so much that I merely told you a sure method of growing stronger."
"Whining? Again? You know I hate that word."
"Which makes it all the more worthwhile."
"......You're the worst."
That was when it happened. Sensing something, Yujun's face hardened.
"Everyone, get ready."
"Don't tell me the Celestials are here?"
"Yes. Three hundred, at a rough count."
He donned the armor he had set aside and drew up his mana. Ten Celestials at once were already troublesome, and this time there were hundreds. As the party shifted into fighting stance, Kim Yohan tilted his head.
"Hold on. Those aren't the moderate Celestials. They look like the hardliners."
"The hardliners? Then we can consider them on our side?"
"It's murky, but we should talk to them first."
"Go ahead."
The Celestials who had swarmed in were not particularly hostile toward Yujun's group.
"Ah. I summoned them."
Dokgo Minsu said it as if it were nothing.
"Huh? You did? When?"
"While I was a prisoner."
Kim Yohan stared at him, dumbfounded.
"What? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you were certain to make a noisy fuss. I kept it from you on purpose."
"......Wow. Do you know it's even more annoying that you know me this well? And when did you even exchange messengers?"
"Reban—the one who said he possessed a Synchronization Marble. His sister, I am told, is a figure of legend within the hardline faction. I received her help."
Yujun's eyes lit up.
"Is Reban with them?"
"He said he would come, so I expect so."
Then another Synchronization Marble might be within reach. There was no guarantee Reban would hand him one. Even so, getting a Synchronization Marble out of the man, one way or another, was what Yujun had to do.