Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Standing in the center of the training ground, I caught my breath.
“Alright, let’s start lightly for now,” Evelyn said, then began darting around in all directions.
‘So today starts with this pattern.’
She was zigzagging to prevent me from predicting her movement, then suddenly charging. This was a pattern where trying to track her with my eyes wouldn’t work; I had to react from my spot.
Flash.
As she charged, the world slowed. Looking at the trajectory, I saw it coming from the side. I had to strike at just the right timing.
…Now!
Clang!
I planted my right foot back and blocked her strike with my sword.
At first, I’d blindly tried to dodge from standing on rocks, only to fall backward.
‘Ugh, so embarrassing just thinking about it.’
What I learned over several days of falls and hits was that I had to dodge or block with the minimal movement necessary.
After I blocked, Evelyn landed gracefully on a nearby log and spoke.
“You’ve cleared stage one. Ready for the next stage?”
Bang!
She charged straight at me, breaking everything in her path. The second pattern was continuous attacks.
“Kuh.”
Red streaks of strikes flew non-stop in front of me—mid stabs, high slashes, low sweeps. I dodged diagonally, blocked, and pushed off a rock to retreat.
“How’s it feel? Can you keep avoiding without slipping?”
She was right. Until yesterday, I’d been trying to dodge all the strikes, often ending up in empty air and failing.
“Today… I think I can manage it!”
Now, with 60kg off my body, my footwork felt entirely different from yesterday. I didn’t need to look down to sense the logs and rocks beneath me.
‘I can feel a short log right behind me. A rock to the side.’
How hard to push off to reach an object, and how big the object was once I landed—all were clear to me.
I survived the barrage without a single misstep until she stopped attacking.
Evelyn spoke after she put away her sword.
“Wow, you cleared stage two already. Only the final stage left. I planned to take a month to teach this, but you’re ahead of schedule.”
I froze.
“W-what? A month? I’m barely surviving after just a week!”
She chuckled behind her hand.
“You look so cute. Did you think you’d finish early just because a deep-layer adventurer is personally teaching you one-on-one?”
She raised her sword.
“After this training, I’ll teach you vision swordsmanship. If you want to finish quickly, then clear this stage. Let’s go!”
In an instant, she vanished and charged at me.
‘What the hell! She was slower before—why is she this fast now?’
I barely dodged as she spun, pulling logs and rocks from the ground and throwing them. Blocking and dodging repeatedly, a wooden sword suddenly came at me.
Damn it, everything around me had been thrown! No place to step!
‘Crap. Another failure? Reset for tomorrow?’
I focused until veins popped in my eyes.
If there was nowhere to step, I just had to prevent her from attacking.
Hup!
As the thrust reached me, I jumped in place, hooking my toes on the wooden sword. Success.
She swung her arm, knocking it away, but I aimed at her wrist holding the wooden sword.
Clang!
…Damn.
Thud.
[Chaos exclaims in frustration.]
I stayed still on the floor, furious at my last failure. Evelyn clapped.
“I was going to let you leap to the nearest fallen object and count it, but you jumped in place and stepped on the wooden sword? Clever. I’ll count it as passing. Aren’t you more capable than I thought?”
[Chaos says that’s a relief.]
‘Yeah… if I’d done this a few more days, I might have lost my mind.’
Day 9.
I went to the training ground excited, but a problem appeared immediately.
“Arlen, I said I’d teach swordsmanship when you clear the training, but to master my style, you need at least a longsword, if not a greatsword.”
Evelyn pointed to my wooden sword.
“You seem used to a one-handed sword, but I’ll train you hard, so let’s switch weapons. Maybe the warehouse has something suitable.”
No way. My primary weapon, Barak, is only about 80cm long. Switching it would ruin everything.
Even if careful, it’s a unique weapon. Should I just use a backup?
“So… vision swordsmanship can’t be done with a one-handed sword?”
She looked puzzled.
“I designed it assuming a greatsword. Using a one-handed sword would reduce its effectiveness and versatility.”
That makes sense.
“Why insist on a one-handed sword if all the backup equipment was fine?”
I decided to be honest. Evelyn is a ridiculously powerful deep-layer adventurer, and we’ve already bonded as mentor and student. Hiding more seemed unnecessary.
“I actually have a unique weapon! It’s one-handed, so I can’t switch to a greatsword.”
I slowly explained how I got it from killing a mutant in the labyrinth, the advice I received, and why I hid it.
Evelyn listened solemnly. Then she said it was no big deal.
“So… that’s all you were holding back for? True, a unique weapon for a low-layer adventurer setting a floor record is unusual.”
She shook her head, thinking it ridiculous.
“If word spreads, low-level idiots might attack you. But you’ll grow fast enough to sweep them aside.”
She smirked.
“You trust me enough to tell me, and that’s touching.”
“Haha… really?”
“Good! You don’t usually show it, but Arlen, you’re my student. Not just for now, but for the long term. No backing out.”
I nodded.
“Yes, Master.”
She came close and wrapped my shoulder with her arm.
“Good. Now bring your unique weapon. I’ll help you adjust your swordsmanship to fit it.”
I rushed to my room and grabbed Barak, wrapped in a blanket.
‘Perfect. Time to learn swordsmanship and focus my Violet Lightning trait into a primary skill.’
Excited, I headed back to the training ground.