Chapter 2
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: I Made It Possible
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I made it possible.
Without hesitation, I shattered my body and destroyed everything I had.
In the process, I realized how to alter the things inside me without ruining my body.
The aura cultivation method I created and discarded. I had to craft over dozens of sword techniques just to produce something barely usable.
Failure meant death.
Through countless trials and errors, I forged better, sharper sword paths.
All the while, I fought monsters endlessly.
The silver lining was that I'd learned the trick of subduing monsters that no longer posed a threat, then using the time to train or heal.
For that, I relied on the easiest monsters—goblins—and trolls with their strong regenerative abilities.
Those bastards wouldn't die even without food anyway.
Once I reached Sword Expert, low-level monsters became trivial to handle.
While researching ways to survive the Expert stage, I devised a cultivation method specialized in physical reinforcement.
Yeah, I thought I was invincible.
Until I hit the first wall.
I called it the Newbie Slicer.
After repeated defeats against that sword-wielding gatekeeper that stood firm like a sentinel and severed my head, I concluded I had to let go of everything I had and rebuild from scratch.
What I'd built up was another failure.
My mind nearly broke, but this world allowed no madness.
So I discarded it all again.
I scrapped the cultivation method, crushed the aura circulation, and tossed every sword technique.
Then I created new sword arts to kill it.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of times.
There were limits to what I could create alone.
So I stole its sword techniques.
I died hundreds of times, imprinting its sword in my vision, and mimicked it.
In a way, it was my first true teacher.
At first, my head flew off in one exchange. Then ten, a hundred, a thousand.
Through those countless clashes, I found improvements in the new sword arts I'd learned.
So I discarded them without regret once more.
Crafting a single sword art or cultivation method took as much time as pouring my entire life into it.
At some point, it felt like blood tears flowed instead of regular ones.
And when failure caused my body to collapse, I'd build it all up again.
But amid those endless retries, I picked up some efficiencies.
Ah, doing it this way lets me build faster.
Ah, this way I won't die during tempering.
As the challenges piled up endlessly...
I finally cut it down and broke through the Sword Master wall.
A strategic weapon transcending humanity.
A living catastrophe, Sword Master.
Once I reached that realm, new things came into view.
So...
I discarded everything without attachment once more.
The Sword Master realm?
If I can't overcome this now, the next stage is a pipe dream.
So I burned more time becoming a Sword Master again.
In total, after surpassing the Sword Master wall twelve times, I was satisfied and moved on to the next stage.
Monsters before that—like the Phantom Sword—were child's play by comparison.
Unimaginable combat methods.
Unimaginable destructive power and bizarre special abilities.
Ah, my first sword teacher, the Phantom Sword, is obsolete now.
Teacher out!
For the next foes that appeared, I continued my tempering to slaughter them.
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⚔ STATUS ⚔
Name: Leon Cascadia
Age: 17 years old
Gender: Male
Abilities: (Sword Hall)
Realm: Mind Master (Entry) - Learned techniques can be viewed by unfolding.
When was it?
Even after reaching the realm where the Phantom Sword could sever my head with a simple swing, I sensed something eerie.
I was definitely a dullard.
When did my growth speed become this fast?
I pondered deeply—until my head flew off.
Yet I didn't stop, continuing to mull it over.
As soon as a goblin charged again, I shattered its limbs and sank back into thought.
And reached a conclusion.
Dullard or genius, it didn't matter. Shove enough time at a person, and humans adapt.
I'd adapted to swinging the sword and growing itself.
After that, things flowed smoothly.
Facing enemies even a Sword Master couldn't rival, I repeated trials, errors, and resets, climbing step by step.
Thus, I entered the mental wall, the realm of the Mind Sword. Simply put, the stage after Sword Master: Mind Master.
The realm of wielding the great principles of the world.
In that process, I met my second teacher—another sword-wielding monster.
So I began stealing its sword arts again.
Second teacher, this one.
Infinite repetition once more.
At its end, I surpassed another wall.
Defeated the second teacher and climbed again.
Met the third teacher.
Second teacher out!
Third, fourth.
Regrettably, from Mind Master onward, meeting one teacher no longer sufficed for realm-shifting growth.
In that process, I wondered if I wasn't going mad but fundamentally changing.
Still, I clung to the mindset from when I first fell into this damned Labyrinthos.
Because I couldn't go mad.
Even changing itself now registered as madness.
Fine by me.
My teachers weren't limited to sword users.
Heavenly combat entities, shapeshifters.
Whatever it was, I advanced.
To kill foes immune to physical death, I created new cultivation methods.
I surpassed the Grand Master wall, legendary even among swordsmen.
Ah, is the air fresher here?
Ah, no such luck.
The pinnacle is still ahead.
From here, it was a battle of time.
I had to craft cultivation methods and sword arts suited to me.
This won't reach the pinnacle.
Discard!
This doesn't work either. Discard!
Honestly, each was more than enough to reach Grand Master.
But they didn't suit me.
Eventually, I created sword arts and a cultivation method perfectly fitted to me.
Even then, no certainty.
I named this sword art Nameless Sword.
Since it might be discarded anytime.
Then I encountered a bizarre monster.
Is that a living being? Human or not.
Child or adult?
Fixing its form was tricky anyway. Didn't matter.
We had to kill each other regardless.
I fought it and suffered a crushing defeat.
Ha.
Easy to give up, but then what?
If I quit, what else could I do besides pick up the sword again?
"Fuck this, let's see who wins for real."
I met my first teacher, the Phantom Sword.
Casually slashed it into dozens of pieces with a gesture.
It was my teacher, so I considered repaying all the beatings politely, but no time to linger.
Met the second teacher.
Its head rolls.
Third, fourth, fifth... twelfth...
Slaying all my teachers regardless, I finally looked up at the colossal presence that revealed itself.
It silently gazed down at me.
"Don't be my teacher."
This one couldn't teach sword arts. Turning a mass of unique powers I could never obtain into a teacher meant nothing to learn.
After boundless time and challenges, I finally broke it.
And for the first time, witnessed a change in this endless hell.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Congratulations. You have reached the Pinnacle of the Sword.]
Pinnacle of the Sword.
The Labyrinthos text said so, but I felt there was something beyond this sword realm.
Too distant to contemplate, so I brushed it aside.
What did it matter? It said I could leave now.
Right?
I screamed at the text like a madman.
"Is it over? Is it finally over, you damned thing!!!"
In response to my frantic shout, the text rose calmly.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[You have accumulated all achievements and traversed the path of asceticism to its end. Further growth cannot be supported by the Labyrinthos.]
"......"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Will you exit the Sword Hall?]
That question sent a chill through me.
What the hell was this thing saying?
"Wait a minute. Am I crazy? It feels like it's saying there's more."
Dreadful anxiety gripped me; I even dropped my sword.
So much time must have passed. I thought I'd be more dignified and cool by now, but apparently not.
As I screamed in panic, the text replied as if asking the obvious.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[You have selected all halls. Proceeding to the next hall: Fist Hall.]
"Bullshit!!"
That day's scream was probably the loudest in my memory.
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Sword Hall.
You can't leave until you reach the pinnacle with a single sword.
The text said that, but there was a trap.
It said exit the Sword Hall, never exit the Dream Labyrinth.
Until now, I'd endured with the thought that escape was possible somehow, but all hope crumbled.
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️
[Warning. Warning. Visitor's sense of self is collapsing. Mental care intervention may be impossible.]
"You're insane. Repeat this dozens of times? Just kill me already."
I can't do it. I've endured this far, but no more, you bastard.
The text fell silent at my anguished cry.
Then offered a new alternative.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[We propose, Visitor Leon Cascadia:]
"Spit it out."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[We will temporarily seal your memories from this place.]
"What?"
What nonsense is this? Lose those memories, and what about all my efforts?
True, I'd discard them all to escape.
But it felt so unfair.
I, with zero sword talent, reached this far. How could I discard it without hesitation?
If that was the plan, why suffer to clear the hall?
Better to abandon the other halls.
If I'm not mistaken, these memories alone would let me live by the sword without issue.
I glared at the text, but it steadfastly displayed more.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[We will seal all memories from the Sword Hall and split your sense of self to enter all halls simultaneously.]
"All at once?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Upon completing all halls, we will sequentially restore each hall's memories additively. Do you accept the proposal?]
Clear all, then restore memories one hall at a time.
In other words, later I'd recall 'Ah, so this happened' all at once.
"Feels like I'd go insane."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Memories will be restored sequentially to prevent collapse of your mind.]
In short, regulated to avoid madness.
A crossroads.
Let me sort the situation.
Seal current memories to pre-Sword Hall state, challenge all halls simultaneously.
Then sequentially unseal all accumulated memories afterward.
Was this even a dilemma?
"Do it."
If they become old memories, the pain would fade.
Ah, that happened back then?
Like painful memories from the past.
Seemed deadly at the time, but later reflection brings 'Ah, yeah' nonchalance.
Plus, proceeding without prior memories lightens the burden.
"Fine. Proceed."
At my answer, light flowed from the text, blurring my consciousness.
Beyond the fading vision, I felt my soul splitting into dozens.
But the blur vanished quickly.