Volume 1 - CH 9

Act 1-9: Training Days

TN: Sponsored Chapter, Thanks for SoulCarver106 for sponsoring this chapter.

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===It’s almost been a year since I got trapped in this bizarre place. Currently, I’m just single-mindedly swinging the 【Unbreakable Stick】. The reason I’m doing this is simple: If I don’t do anything, I might become anxious about my future.

Naturally, I had a little hope that my stats might rise if I kept swinging 【Unbreakable Stick】. However, it was still the same as before, constant at 0.1. As I thought, it wouldn’t be that simple.

Anyhow, maybe because I had been training in the way of the sword since I became aware of my surroundings, I could forget everything once I swung my sword.

―Ten years after the start of the game.

Many years have passed. In the first few years after I got trapped here, I used to count the days in batches of thirty by engraving on the tall cliff surrounding the space. However, then I realized that the slate inside the temple records the number of days and years. Therefore, I stopped counting the days and decided to rely on that slate instead.

During those times, not a single day passed without me missing my family or my hometown. But then, to forget the feeling of loneliness in my chest, I came up with the idea of having virtual matches against the people I trained with until I was banished from my hometown.

―Forty years after the start of the game.

I managed to beat all my peers of the same age in our dojo and also the adult ones in the virtual matches. And when I also defeated all of the instructors at the dojo…

『You have met the acquisition requirement of 【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style, Beginner】. You have acquired a skill―【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style, Beginner】』 [TL: 戒流剣術(Kairyu Kenjutsu) is roughly translated as “Commandement Style Sword Art” or “Divine Rule Sword Art.”]

The inorganic voice of the woman resounded in my head.

「Eh? 」

When I heard another change in like years, I used appraisal while trying to be as calm as possible.

―――――――――――――――――――――

・Skill―【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style, Beginner】: Entry-level sword style. Slightly increases the user’s stats when fighting with a sword.

・Condition for skill acquisition: Train every single day for 40 years, and keep doing mock combat with a sword for more than 12 hours per day.

・Rank: Elementary rank

・Rank up condition: Train every single day for 120 years, and keep doing mock combat with a sword for more than 12 hours per day.

――――――――――――

The skill I had acquired this time was an enigmatic skill called 【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style】.

Naturally, I had never done any mock combat since there was no opponent for me at all. It seemed that my virtual matches were counted as mock combat. After all, those virtual matches were the way for me to keep up my connection with other people and maintain my sanity. That was why I had no reason to stop doing that.

―Eight hundred years after the start of the game.

My sword danced in the air, drawing smooth curves like flowing water. Now, I could use the stick as if it were one of my limbs.

My 【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style, Beginner】 had already broken through the intermediate rank and reached the esoteric rank.

I tried to use appraisal on the skill and found out that it raised my stats when I fought with a sword. However, what I was doing was just virtual mock combat. So I didn’t feel any particular change in my body at all.

But well, with this experience, I understood that swordcraft isn’t about skills or physical abilities. [TL: MC changed the way he referred to himself from I(boku) to I(watashi), which shows his mental growth.]

I went from being a person with physical abilities equal to that of a toddler to winning against my grandfather, the sword saint Elm Heineman, without a hitch. My grandfather was a personage who had fought against the fourth demon king along with the hero party in the past. His real abilities were guaranteed. In the virtual mock combat against him, I found out that physical abilities were nothing more than a superficial advantage.

That’s right. The way of swordcraft, otherwise known as swordsmanship, is a skill that transcends something like brute strength.

「Well, my grandfather isn’t in his golden age. There are still countless powerful people all around the world.」

Before I got trapped in this place, my grandfather had taken me on a field trip to various martial arts tournaments and dojos. I swung my sword every day while thinking about how to beat my opponent. That was why even though I had forgotten everything before I was trapped in this place, those martial artists’ special moves never left my mind.

Idavoll kingdom’s strongest swordsman used two swords like limbs—Twin Sword Gram.

The supreme and strongest elf who was said to be able to combine sword and magic—Silver of magic sword.

Glitnir Empire’s former sword emperor―Ashburn.

The world still had many more strong men.

Thus, I embarked on a sword journey with delight.

―Fifteen hundred years after the start of the game.

Many more years have passed. After beating my own grandfather in his golden age, I constructed in my mind the image of every single swordsman I had ever seen. Currently, I was trying to recreate the image of the first sword saint, a person recognized as the strongest swordsman in history. Naturally, I had never met the so-called first sword saint since he had long since passed away before I was born. In the end, he was nothing more than a product of my imagination. However, his strength was the real deal.

The moment I won against the first sword saint, I arrived at art-like perfection(Kaiden).

―Three thousand years after the start of the game.

After defeating the first sword saint, I decided to move on to the most formidable training partner that I had already decided on when I began this training. It was the supreme martial artist at the pinnacle of swordsmanship. I knew of him from a story my grandfather told me once long ago. This person mastered all kinds of martial arts, the supreme sword god who stood at the pinnacle of swordsmanship. And, since I had defeated the first sword saint, I should be able to recreate that perfect swordsman.

Ironically, the perfect image of the god of martial arts I created was none other than my current self, Kai Heineman.

I started the mock combat against myself, the most perfect martial artist and the god of martial arts.

The meaning in defeating the ideal version of myself, the result of me swinging my stick for so many years—too many to the point that I barely remembered the me when I had just entered this place—while heading toward a contradictory goal, perversion, was realized when I defeated myself and gained 【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style, Pinnacle】.

【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style, Pinnacle】 seemed to boost my stats to the highest when I entered combat with a sword. However, a thing like stats was nothing more than an appendix for a swordsman. It wasn’t even the most important thing. I couldn’t even say such a thing was useful.

By the way, as a result of eating poisonous caterpillars every day, I got 【Poison Assimilation】, a skill that surpassed 【Poison Resistance】, 【Poison Invalid】, and 【Poison Absorption】. It was the pinnacle of those skills. This 【Poison Assimilation】 enabled me to integrate poison with my body. This meant that if I got poisoned, instead of me getting harmed, my HP and MP would recover. It was a useless power for me, who did nothing but swing my stick, but it was better than nothing, I guess.

「Well, I guess it’s time to go.」

After I finished my meal that had the same menu for as long as I could remember, the 【Extremely Poisonous Bug】, I stood up and started swinging my 【Unbreakable Stick】.

Anyhow, too many years had passed to the point that I had almost forgotten about everything that had happened before I entered this place.

However, the only reason I could spend thousands of years so easily was that I walked on swordsmanship. Anything other than swordsmanship was a trivial matter for me.

That was why when I won against my ideal self and realized that I had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, I honestly was at a loss for what to do from now on. The reason was simply that I had lost a goal that had been standing in my way.

Defeating my ideal self had become my sole reason for living in recent years, a goal to surpass. After I won, I couldn’t find a new goal. At this rate, I became sure that I might lose myself against despair. There was no sparring partner left for me.

One day, I suddenly arrived at the most basic question: why did I start swinging my sword and honing my skill? Sometimes, it could be hard to see what’s under your feet. As if a hammer had struck my head, I suddenly remembered that there was something in that temple that my soul craved for.

I ended up laughing like an idiot as I recalled that the next thing I had to do was right beside me all along. I had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, and yet, I forgot about the dangerous place where I could challenge the strong and satisfy my thirst for real, deadly combat.

When I had just entered this place, I never even considered the option of capturing that dungeon located in the deepest part of that temple. The reason being that the dungeon was a death zone filled with dangerous monsters. Properly speaking, back then, I had no chance of surviving in that place. However, for the current me, there was no place as wonderful as this one. I could find a new challenge to cross inside that dungeon.

「Uhm! This excitement, I really can’t get enough of it!」

Thus, I strode toward the death zone with 【Unbreakable Stick】 in my hand while trying to suppress my loosened cheeks.

As I entered the dungeon, I saw a locust-like monster slowly walking toward me from the front.

When I used appraisal on it, the result was 【Name: Battaman】. I see! Not even appraisal allows me to see the other party’s stats. Interesting!

""

I mean, deciding something based on numerical values was definitely a killjoy. What would be so interesting about knowing that I’ve beaten an enemy with numerical stats below me? Rather, the fact that I couldn’t see its stats made things more interesting for me!

Due to the passive effect of 【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style, Pinnacle】, all my stats would rise by 50 on average. I’m looking forward to how much I can go against this fella with those numerical values. I’m getting really excited now.

「Oi, Battaman, or whatever you are, show me the path I should take.」

After saying that, I walked toward my enemy without even trying to hold back the joy and excitement in my heart.

I dodged all of the Battaman’s claw attacks by a paper-thin margin. My wooden sword easily redirected its all-out, right-middle kick and even its trump card.

「That’s all you got, huh…」

I just needed a few moments to realize something. Even if this guy kept attacking me for a hundred years, its extremely crude attack wouldn’t even be able to leave a scratch on my skin. Well, I guess I shouldn’t have put that much hope into a locust.

I somehow managed to suppress my disappointment and readied my wooden sword. And then―

「【Commandement Sword Art One Sword Style】, First Form―Deadline」

A line appeared on the body of the Battaman. That line spread toward the Battaman’s limbs and reached its head.

「GIGAH!?」

That was the last word the Battaman ever spoke. Its body swayed, a spray of green blood fountained out, and finally, it crumbled into fine pieces of meat.

I swung my wooden sword to the side to shake off the leftover blood on the blade. Then, I used appraisal on myself.

The average value of my original stats had risen from 0.1 to 0.2.

It seemed I could raise my physical abilities by defeating my enemy. When I found that my first real combat opponent was such a small fry, it was a huge disappointment. However, so what, this weak me was bound to meet a strongman I couldn’t defeat.

「Well, since that’s the case, let’s subjugate the monsters.」

Yup! That was my current goal. With that in mind, I single-handedly started a large-scale bug clean-up using the 【Unbreakable Stick】 in my hand.