Otherworld (4)

Classes at the Great Demon Subjugation Academy split cleanly into morning and afternoon.

Mornings were theory — demon habits, attack patterns, the architecture of barriers. Afternoons belonged to the hunters: professionals dispatched from guilds all over the country to drill the Shooters and Ability Users among the student body.

And for a freshman class's first afternoon session, the academy never sent nobodies. The hunters who showed up were renowned names, A-Class or higher, here as much to advertise their guilds as to scout promising talent. Students got to train under elites and shop for a future home. The hunters got to flex their guild's prestige and poach the best prospects before anyone else could. A perfect arrangement. Everybody won.

Everybody except me. The Swordsman.

Every hunter in this world was either a Shooter or an Ability User. Which meant that as long as I was a Swordsman, none of them could teach me a damn thing. Not wouldn't — couldn't. God damn it.

My classmates' eyes lit up as they whispered among themselves. Whoa, that Shooter actually came here?No way — isn't that the guy who closed a Gate by himself? I didn't recognize a single one of them. Back in the game, whenever afternoon classes rolled around, I'd been the sad bastard off in the Virtual Training Combat Building, grinding trash mobs with a wooden sword I'd picked up in the gym.

Sniff.

Alice, blissfully oblivious to my suffering, turned to me with her face shining.

"Jojun, which guild do you like? I think that one looks good — Tamrang Guild, the one with Kim Jin, the S-Class Shooter!"

I followed her pointing finger. A beanpole of a man stood there in a tight black leather bodysuit, his expression as blank as a brick wall.

You've got to be kidding me. Alice, what the hell do you see in that scrawny stick figure? A proper swordsman — a man with a single blade at his hip and some actual romance in his soul — is way cooler than that!

"All right, students! Please line up in front of the hunter whose class you'd like to attend!"

The announcer's voice boomed from the far end of the platform, microphone in hand. Time to part ways, unfortunately.

"Go have fun, Alice."

"Huh? You're not coming?"

"Nah. I'm a Swordsman, remember? Nothing for me to learn even if I went."

I gave the sword at my hip a couple of pointed taps. Alice stared at me, clearly reluctant to leave.

"It's fine. This is a really valuable chance. Go learn something."

Watching her walk off toward that human toothpick made my chest ache, but there was nothing I could do about it. Afternoon class was mandatory for anyone with a Shooter or Ability User job. This was where they handed out skills, after all — a rare and precious opportunity.

"Okay. Then I'll meet you at the front gate when class is over. I'll text you!"

She fidgeted with my hand a little longer, still looking disappointed, then got swept away with the tide of students surging toward the hunters and vanished from sight.

Don't you dare fall for that beanpole, Alice!

Before I knew it, the space around me had emptied out completely. The isolation hit harder than I expected.

"Player!"

Angel popped into existence beside me with a little poof. Her timing, as always, was impeccable.

"Angel. Don't I get any of those nice instructors who hand out free skills?"

I grumbled as I started walking. Destination: the Virtual Training Combat Building. Same plan as in the game — hop into the combat sim and grind levels off whatever trash they spawned.

"Oh, come on, Player, have a little shame! The Swordsman class was thrown together in a rush. Expecting us to have 'instructor' data ready on top of everything else is asking a bit much!"

She huffed and puffed at me. Fair point, honestly. I couldn't even argue. I'd been dumped into this world in the first place to farm Causality for the Swordsman patch and to generate class data.

"But! Once you change class, we can sprinkle you with a few skills based on the big data we pulled from analyzing everything you've played!"

"Now that's what I like to hear. Good work."

Leave it to the planning team. A whole different species from the management drones who only knew how to tally Causality like accountants.

"Hehe, it's nothing~ Oh! And Player!"

Her voice jumped an octave, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Thanks to what you pulled off earlier, you can class-change right now!"

"Already?!"

"Yep. Recruiting Bianca — a heroine you weren't supposed to get until after the tenth scenario — must have been a pretty big deal."

That's my girl. Another miracle, courtesy of me.

"So the class-change list currently looks like this…"

Her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tiny fingers drummed at the empty air. An interface bloomed in front of me with a cheerful ping.

Ohhh.

I let out a low whistle, staring at the class names hovering in front of me. Elemental Swordsman was obviously pulled from the Enchant I'd been using. Swift Swordsman was exactly what it sounded like — a class built around blindingly fast swordplay. Sword Aura Master… a class that wielded sword aura?

"The only one you can actually change into right now is Elemental Swordsman, though. The potential ability you already have — Enchant — slashed the Causality cost of changing into Elemental Swordsman so hard that it just barely scraped over the line."

"Tch."

A little disappointing, but whatever. Look at the big picture. I was class-changing before the second scenario even started. Compared to the original timeline, where you didn't change class until after the third scenario wrapped, this was exponentially faster.

"Then I'll process the class change right now!"

The interface crackled with static. My status window began to rewrite itself.

"Ohh!"

The first thing that jumped out was the mana. A full twenty-point boost. That was insane. But my beloved, fully grown Enchant was gone.

"Hey?! My Enchant!"

What the hell was this? Why would they steal the Enchant I'd raised all the way to full growth potential? This — this was worse than not changing class at all!

I whipped around toward Angel, twitching. She flinched like I'd pulled a knife.

"Wait! Player! Read the description, please, the description! It turned into Spirit Master! That's Enchant! That's the whole reason the Causality cost dropped enough for you to class-change into this in the first place!"

I stabbed a finger at the Spirit Master potential. Information unfolded.

"What… is this?"

I finished the short paragraph. My review, in a single word:

Broken.

All elemental damage, doubled? I already had half a dozen elemental combos mapped out in my head, and every last one of them just got inflated by a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠factor of two?

Angel must have caught the look on my face, because she giggled like she'd been waiting for this.

"Right? Broken, isn't it? But like I told you from the start — Swordsman is the only melee class, so it comes with extra perks. The control difficulty is twice as high, so the benefits have to be twice as good."

"KYAAAAAA!!! HELL YES! Long live Ero Ability Shooters!"

This game was GOATed. No question.

That's right. I'd uploaded ten separate YouTube guides on Beating Flame Demons With Nothing But a Sword, and the unwashed masses had still sat there in the comments going this doesn't work? and has anyone actually done this? while laughing at my strats. I'd wanted to show them the real joy of close combat — not that primitive garbage where you poke from across the map as a Shooter or clear content without lifting a finger as an Ability User. They'd been ignorant. They'd been uncivilized.

But with power like this — with destruction like this — even those barbarians would start picking Swordsman.

"Khhahahaha!!! God, I love the planning team. They really know how to patch a game!"

I gave Angel's wings a couple of grateful pats.

"Aww, what~ Like I'd ever work as hard as you are right now, Player~?"

She rubbed her wings against my hand, laying the flattery on thick. And her personality was solid, too. A complete package.

"So what's this 'converse' part about?"

The affinity increase was a known quantity — I'd already researched that to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠death. But this new word, converse, I couldn't make sense of no matter how I turned it over.

"You'll figure it out once you try it? And look at that, we've arrived at the Virtual Training Combat Building. Why not give it a test run?"

"Okay!"

I stepped into the Virtual Training Combat Building with my chest full of anticipation, moving on autopilot. I'd been here countless times in the game. I could have walked these halls with my eyes closed.

I headed down to a simulation room on the first basement floor and worked the control panel with practiced ease. A training dummy rose from the floor amid a crackle of electricity.

Before diving into a full combat sim, I needed to get a feel for this new Spirit Master potential.

"All right. Let's try out the skill I just got."

Drawing Sword — Flame Flower.

My first exclusive skill. My heart was hammering.

"Drawing Sword…"

I murmured the skill's name and spent the mana. My body moved on its own, precise as a machine. Left foot sliding back, weight shifting onto the right. Right hand pressing down on the hilt, dropping the blade low in the scabbard.

So this was what a skill felt like.

I finally understood what they meant when they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said a skill would fire like clockwork, no matter when, where, or what kind of mess you were in.

"Shall I assist you?"

A soft, feminine voice brushed against my ear.

"Uh… sure?"

What the hell was that? I answered on reflex before my brain caught up.

"As you wish."

Ting!

My left hand flicked the mouth of the scabbard. Sparks of current snapped and jumped. Wind burst from inside the sheath and warped the flames clinging to the blade.

Wait.

The fire was way bigger than I'd expected.

A line of flame streaked between me and the dummy in a single stroke, then detonated in sequence.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOOOM.

Click.

I slid the sword home into the scabbard in my left hand. Behind me, the training dummy erupted in a violent roar of fire and shrapnel.

The damage was staggering.

"What… was that just now?"

Whatever had whispered in my ear a second ago was obviously the reason that attack had hit like the end of the world.

"Come on, Summoner, you still don't get it?"

Angel was practically snorting with excitement, the same manic energy she'd had the day we first met.

"Get what?"

"It's a spirit! A spirit! Haven't you even read Spirit King ElquiXX? That's required reading for every Korean! I would've known from the first second!"

"Known what?"

"Oh my GOD!"

Her eyes rolled back. She looked ready to breathe fire of her own.

"How can you be Korean and not know what a spirit is?!"

"Is that, uh. Common knowledge?"

"Of course it is! Listen carefully. A spirit is—!"

After a lecture that stretched on for several minutes, it finally clicked.

"You're telling me a setting this perfect existed the whole time?!"

"Obviously! Every element has its own spirits, and they all manifest in the material world with their own unique charms!"

She leaned in, eyes glittering.

"And this is an eroge! An eroge! Do you have any idea how insane that's going to be?!"

"Hahk—!"

A lifetime of ignorance crumbled in an instant. A setting this perfect had been sitting right there, and I'd had no idea. Gorgeous spirits waiting for me, one for every element?

I had to confirm this immediately. I was Korean. Seeing this with my own two eyes was a national duty.

I ripped the sword from my hip in one motion, poured mana into the blade, and wrapped it in fire.

Fwoosh.

The sound of flames catching. And then, against my ear, a voice.

"Did you call for me?"

Gentle. Honey-sweet. Dangerously charming.

"Yeah. Where are you?"

The fire clinging to the blade peeled itself free and gathered into a shape. A girl appeared — petite, but built with the kind of outrageous proportions that cinched in tight at the waist and spilled out everywhere else.

"Right here, Summoner."

The fire spirit beamed up at me.

"Angel."

I looked at her, and I knew.

"Yes, Player?"

"People are gonna pick Swordsman like crazy."

The demand for Elemental Swordsman was about to go through the roof.