The first thing to pierce my consciousness was a strange sensation—or, more precisely, my vision.
It was as though my already-good eyesight had been strengthened even further, making everything look brighter. It was a strange sensation, as though time were flowing slowly and quickly at once. To exaggerate, it felt as if I could even see the flow of time itself. With a little focus, I could practically see the microorganisms drifting through the air.
And most importantly-
“Ghk-!”
“Isn’t it about time you stopped following me around?”
I had actually started being able to see those hidden guards or whatever the hell they were. Rather than seeing their exact forms, I had become able to sense their presence. But that distinction did not matter to me. What mattered was that I had begun to recognize that the hidden guards were there.
Until now, they had apparently mistaken it all for coincidence, but there was no guarantee that would continue. There was nothing stopping Romero from keeping these hidden guards on me, and one day I might expose a weakness in front of them.
‘That can’t happen.’
I clamped a hand around the masked man’s throat and poured one of this body’s strengths, its raw physical power, into my grip. His complexion gradually turned pale. Just as it seemed he might actually die, I threw him to the floor and warned him.
“This is your last warning. Next time, I’ll kill you. Tell His Majesty as well. I have no interest in any further attention. If His Majesty wishes, I will go see him myself.”
“Cough, cough. U-understood. COUGH! I will…… keep that in mind.”
“Get lost.”
Just as when he had appeared, the masked man merged with the surrounding space and disappeared.
He had genuinely vanished.
“Haaah.”
All the tension drained from me, and I sank back into the sofa.
‘……Did I say the Gold Shop out loud?’
I carefully thought back over everything, wondering whether I had made some mistake or done anything suspicious while talking to myself. Other than groaning when my eyes hurt after purchasing , I had not made any particular sound or done anything suspicious.
‘I’m glad I bought .’
It had been an oddly bothersome item. Thanks to it, I had at least gained some room to escape future crises.
‘Nice, me! Nice, dear readers!’
What truly well-timed support that was.
It was well worth the 300G. Naturally, my expectations for the 900G rose as well. At this point, even the 200G was starting to tempt me.
“But wait. Why isn’t that shadow guy coming?”
Romero had definitely said he would send the ‘shadow’ to Grasco as well. I thought he meant he would get the shadow appointed as a professor like me, but……
‘Wasn’t that it?’
It seemed Romero’s ‘goodwill’ was only enough to get one person accepted, which meant I was the last person he could bribe into a professorship.
‘Don’t tell me the shadow’s hiding somewhere and watching me like those hidden guards or whatever?’
I heightened my eyesight (visual acuity) again, but there was nothing strange. Just in case, I swept my hands through the residence and searched it thoroughly, but I caught nothing.
‘What the hell? Has he gone senile?’
I offered my condolences to the memory of the still-young Romero, squeezed my dry, strained eyes shut, and headed for the bed. Maybe it was because I had been tense nonstop, but the fatigue was considerable.
“I’ll just lie down for a bit, then check …….”
The soft cushioning enveloped my body, and I remembered nothing after that.
***
Towering flames, splattered bloodstains, faces groaning in pain.
I could do nothing as I watched people being brutally slaughtered.
It was stifling.
I wanted to break free of the shackles binding me.
-Do not forget.
A face smeared with blood warned me.
-Do not…… forget.
How could I forget?
I’ll never forget.
A sword with a cold blue gleam swung toward my neck.
***
“Uwaaagh!”
Again.
Why do I always wake up like this here? I’m drenched in cold sweat and even tears, making a goddamn spectacle of myself, yet I can’t remember the actual contents of the dream. Judging by how this happens every day, it must be a pretty intense dream. I’m curious, though.
Anyway, I thought I was only going to rest for a bit, but I must have slept soundly for several hours, because the view outside the window had changed. Amazing, A(Aerok)-mattress! I had not once slept properly since coming to this world, yet this time I had truly slept deeply.
I checked the time and saw that it was when I always woke up.
5 a.m. Maybe it wasn’t a deep sleep after all.
I stepped outside for a moment to breathe the now-familiar dawn air, then immediately took a warm shower. Once I was done washing, it was time to choose my clothes. Time to choose…….
‘No, the tracksuit! The tracksuit!!’
Next on my schedule was trying out . Naturally, I should have chosen a tracksuit that was easy to move in. But I could not.
Didn’t I have one? I did. Grasco provided a good-looking tracksuit as standard issue. Even the design was not bad. And yet, as though this body were rejecting my will, my hand kept reaching toward the uniform.
‘No, no, n-okay, okay…….’
In the end, I put on the tailored uniform, my will thoroughly conquered by my body.
‘Hmm…… it’s not bad.’
The way the fabric hugged my body was not unpleasant. It seemed they had used high-quality cloth. No wonder their finances were in that state.
Anyway, after dressing in the uniform, I headed for . Grasco’s pride and joy, the training center , was open to anyone affiliated with Grasco. Though it was called a ‘Hall,’ it was actually a massive stone pillar. However, it had been magically treated, allowing it to accommodate all of Grasco’s faculty, staff, and students, numbering over a thousand, and to generate not only private spaces but group spaces as well. It was a state-of-the-art facility. Naturally, installing and maintaining it cost an enormous amount of money.
‘No wonder their finances were in that state.’
Of course, this was also a setting I had written. I had written it for the purpose of saying, They invested heavily, but it still fell easily, so stay vigilant! Thinking about it now, I felt a little sorry. It was one of the reasons they were being bled dry financially.
Now I was the one benefiting from it, so I intended to keep my mouth firmly shut.
Grasco was, after all, nothing more than a fence protecting me in this chaotic world. Of course, that would only last until this place fell. When that happened, I would have to find a new fence.
Anyway, if I didn’t want to be kicked out of Grasco, I had to manage at least the basics. I did want to keep living sweetly off their misunderstanding, but being too complacent was not good either. Even if all I had was , being able to do something and being unable to do it were clearly worlds apart.
And just like with , I did not know what might happen, so I needed to check it in advance.
-Please state your information for identity verification.
“Professor Lucas of the Faculty of Combat Studies.”
-Professor Lucas von Kraus, welcome.
A light scan confirmed my identity, and the entrance to opened.
When I let the rippling space take me, I entered a training area reserved for me alone.
It felt as though I were floating in pitch-black darkness. The current time was displayed in one corner of my vision. I could also use it to set a timer, stopwatch, or alarm.
“Start with basic training.”
-Starting ‘Basic Training’.
The darkness softly receded, revealing a vast white space.
I could see myself from every direction, making it an ideal setting for checking basic form.
There were other settings besides this…… but I had no particular desire to try them. According to the setting I had written, virtual monsters and battlefields could be generated, and they were so realistic that they sounded terrifying.
My only goal was to check , so ‘Basic Training’ was enough.
‘By the way, how do I use it?’
I had managed to summon an iron sword and grip it, but I had no idea what to do next.
Wasn’t it applied automatically like ?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I noticed that the mirroring system had superimposed translucent versions of me over my reflection.
Some had their hands raised above their heads, some had their arms twisted to the left or right, and others held them low. I had never learned swordsmanship, but anyone could tell they were poses taken right before swinging a sword.
‘Am I supposed to…… follow them?’
So this was how it was implemented. I decided to start with the downward slash, which looked like the most basic one. In truth, the other poses had my arms bent in rather strange ways, while this one looked the most comfortable.
As soon as I matched the pose exactly, all the others disappeared, leaving only one. Then it began to move very slowly.
Apparently, I was supposed to move along with it.
‘Like…… this?’
It was not enough to blindly follow it. I had to do it ‘exactly’.
If my form was even slightly off, it reset to the beginning, and that was surprisingly irritating. I got stubborn and tried again and again, but since I had never actually learned the sword, I kept missing the form. Eventually, my frustration exploded and I threw the sword away.
“Screw it, I’m done. Fuck this, I’m done!”
[Give up? If you give up, will be deleted.]
“What?”
That snapped my eyes wide open.
That 900G hadn’t been easy to get! I hurriedly picked the iron sword back up, calmed myself down, and took the stance again. My irritation and reason continued their tug-of-war, and after 1 hour and 32 minutes, I finally managed it once.
SWISH!
A clear, crisp sound!
Unlike my earlier wild swings, this one produced a sharp sound, probably because I had swung with proper form.
“Now that I like.”
[ Proficiency increased.]
Oh…… that was welcome news. Proficiency was tracked separately. If proficiency accumulated, then naturally form correction should follow as well. In that case, this painful process would become eas……
[Basic Swordsmanship - 0.0001%]
……So it’s a grind?
I should have realized it from the cash shop.
At its core, this system came from a fucking trash game.
***
‘Ugh, fuck.’
The proficiency increased by exactly 0.0001% for each swing. I tried it more than ten times just in case, so I was sure. There was no such thing as a critical that gave extra proficiency. No mercy. Exactly 0.0001%. I had to swing ten thousand times just to gain 1%.
If I assumed I would fill it all the way to 100%, would the form correction really be correction at that point, or wouldn’t it simply be something I had built through pure effort? They charged 900G for this shit? A wave of regret crashed over me: ‘I should’ve just bought or .’
Still, the feeling of gripping and swinging a sword was ni…… nice, my ass. My hands were blistered, every muscle in my body was trembling, and I was soaked in sweat from head to toe, leaving me clammy and uncomfortable all over again.
‘I’m itching for a refund…… I’m itching to stage a truck protest…….’
But there was no refund. If anything, it was practically threatening to delete the skill if I didn’t train properly. This bastard was even more vicious than K-games.
‘If only for the sake of my readers’ support, I’ll suck every last bit of marrow out of that 900G.’
But if I were a Korean with that kind of willpower, I’d already have produced a smash hit and be living large.
My resolve collapsed after ten hours. It was right around the time I had swung exactly 99 times.
“Should I give up?”
A very me-like thought slowly wafted up. Still, 0.0099% felt somehow disappointing and incomplete.
‘Just one more, then I’ll stop.’
A clean hundred is prettier, isn’t it?
I took my stance one last time and raised the sword high.
After about 99 swings, I had grown used to it, so unless a muscle suddenly spasmed, my form no longer fell apart.
SHING!
[ Proficiency increased.]
[Basic Swordsmanship - 0.01%]
[Daily Training complete. Reward granted.]
They say joy comes after hardship. Not only did the clean number put me at ease, but I had even received a reward.
[Receive?]
But now, with a choice on the side.