Chapter 16. Am I doing this right?
I wanted to do more slap fights right away, but it was impossible.
Hyunwoo touched his swollen cheek.
‘It’s only this much because I got Physique I. I should stop for today.’
It seed best to return to the lodging.
Hyunwoo left the market and headed for his lodging.
* * *
I arrived at the lodging.
In the still-empty lodging, there was only a single mattress.
Returning to the lodging, Hyunwoo was able to shake off the excitent of the slap fight.
Once the excitent passed, the pain set in.
“Agh… these ignorant Demon World bastards. What kind of sport is this? It’s going to kill soone.”
Hyunwoo touched his aching cheek and sequentially organized the things he had to do in the market.
‘First, swordsmanship. And if possible, Pain Tolerance too.’
I didn't forget the priority of the two.
Obtaining Pain Tolerance in the market was a secondary task.
The most important thing was to obtain the Skirma Swordsmanship.
Since I had ti, I was thinking of obtaining a new trait while learning the swordsmanship.
Lastly, I needed several items.
Core items necessary for hunting the Black Whale.
But I decided to postpone the matter of items for now.
‘It won’t be too late to prepare those after I’ve obtained the swordsmanship.’
Once a rough picture was drawn, Hyunwoo got up and took a stance.
‘Was it like this?’
The strange sensations he felt during the slap fight.
If it wasn't Hyunwoo's delusion, it was ‘Sabla Swordsmanship’.
Recalling the sensation from that ti, the arm he swung cut through the air.
WHOOSH—!
The sound of cutting through the wind clearly contained the essence of Sabla Swordsmanship.
After swinging his arm a few more tis, he felt like he was starting to get it.
It was confird that he would have to swing his arms instead of a sword for the ti being.
Whoosh—
For the first ti, Hyunwoo began training with his bare hands instead of a sword.
* * *
A week had passed since Hyunwoo started going back and forth between the market and his lodging.
Thump—
After waking up and waiting for a mont, he heard Van’s footsteps.
It was one of the changes that had occurred during that ti.
‘He’s right on ti today too.’
Van brought als at the tis Hyunwoo had set.
Clatter—
“Eat.”
Moreover, the food that used to be thrown on the dirty floor was now served on a plate.
The quality of the food hadn't changed much, but this alone was a huge improvent.
As Van cleared away the empty plate from yesterday's al, he stared at .
What is it?
“Do you have sothing to say?”
“Human. That ugly face of yours won’t last.”
At a glance, it sounded like he was picking a fight, but his true intentions were obvious.
He ant to ask if I wasn't getting my swollen face treated.
It was a statent filled with his own kind of concern.
Hyunwoo also returned the answer in Van’s way.
“Who are you calling ugly, you pig head.”
It ant I’ll take care of it, so you don't need to worry.
“Tsk… A gladiator’s body is his life. Take care of your body.”
Van clicked his tongue and left with the empty plate.
Seeing each other at every alti, I felt like we had gotten a little closer.
But telling to get treatnt was excessive ddling.
‘Who is he to try and make all my efforts go to waste.’
It wasn't that I was stingy with the mana stones for treatnt.
I was enduring because getting treatnt would render the past week’s struggle to obtain Pain Tolerance aningless.
For now, I had no choice but to endure.
It wasn't as if I had no gains at all over the past week.
Jingle—
Hyunwoo looked into his pouch of mana stones while eating.
‘Is it about 620 mana stones? I’ve earned over 120 mana stones.’
Hyunwoo used mana stones in the market in two cases.
One was to purchase the Frogman’s junk items, and the other was to participate in slap fights.
The luck from the first day in the slap fights didn't continue.
Still, there were more victories than defeats.
When I attacked first, I, who used Sabla Swordsmanship, had the advantage.
On the other hand, when I was on the defense, I was at a disadvantage.
It was an innate limitation that arose because of my human body.
Even though I had been enhanced with Physique I, I was fundantally weaker than the Demon World residents.
My lacking strength could be compensated for with Sabla Swordsmanship, but there was no way to compensate for my body’s durability.
‘Still, there was an unexpected reward.’
⌜Sabla Swordsmanship (2-Star)―70%⌟
Even though I hadn't trained in swordsmanship separately for a week, the proficiency of Sabla Swordsmanship had increased by 5%.
The system was clearly judging the slaps Hyunwoo threw as swordsmanship.
But even so, the speed at which the proficiency increased was excessively fast.
It was probably thanks to the synergy between the ‘Rookie’ title and the ‘Swordsmanship Genius’ trait.
Other than that, a minor gain was that I no longer closed my eyes to the opponent’s attacks.
It was the result of effort after learning that recognizing the incoming attack lessened the pain.
Not closing my eyes to an attack would also be helpful in a real fight.
The al, which had been slowly savored while recalling past events, finally ca to an end.
Hyunwoo put down the plate and headed to the market.
‘I don’t want to go….’
Unless one was a pervert, anyone would think the sa as Hyunwoo.
The back of Hyunwoo, who was willingly going to get beaten, was reminiscent of a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
* * *
The first place Hyunwoo headed to after entering the market was the back alley.
Buying the Frogman’s junk items there was the start of his daily routine.
…I still hadn’t obtained the swordsmanship.
‘If by any chance I don’t get the Skirma Swordsmanship in ti….’
Forget about hunting the Black Whale, it would be difficult to even run away in the Demon World Strait.
There was only a week and a day left until the Black Whale Survival match.
Obtaining the swordsmanship was not the end.
I had to raise its proficiency after that.
‘I have to get the swordsmanship as soon as possible, sohow….’
Hyunwoo was starting to get more and more anxious.
Regardless of Hyunwoo's anxiety, the Frogman hadn't said a single word for the past week.
Having arrived in front of the Frogman's stall, Hyunwoo opened his mouth.
“I’ll take everything.”
Today, too, I bought all of the Frogman’s junk items and stared at him.
“……”
The Frogman silently rolled up his mat.
‘Sigh. Another bust today?’
As I sighed and was about to turn away, I noticed the Frogman was standing still.
‘Huh?’
The Frogman, who had been ignoring all this ti, looked at and opened his mouth.
“I have sothing to ask.”
‘Yes!’
Hyunwoo’s face lit up as he approached the Frogman.
“Please speak.”
“Why are you being kind to ? These items are useless to a human.”
‘You’ve been selling them all this ti, knowing that?!’
No, more than that, ‘to a human’….
No one would need such junk items.
Hyunwoo suppressed the urge to correct him to ‘useless to anyone’ and opened his mouth.
“It’s because you remind of soone precious.”
“Soone precious….”
“I was once comrades with a Frogman in the past.”
Soone precious, my ass.
Of course, there was no such person.
I was just creating a pretext to learn swordsmanship from him.
The Frogman was lost in thought, his thick lips pressed together.
A mont later, he looked at Hyunwoo and said.
“I am a pauper. I have nothing to repay your kindness with.”
“May I ask for a favor?”
“Is there sothing you want from ?”
“It's nothing much….”
Hyunwoo’s words trailed off as he looked at the old sword the Frogman was wearing.
A long sword that looked more like a spear than a sword.
Its shape was reminiscent of an awl.
As Hyunwoo paused, looking at the sword, the Frogman asked in return.
“Are you interested in the sword?”
Hyunwoo shook his head.
Having built it up this much, he thought it was ti.
Hyunwoo said bluntly.
“I am interested in the swordsmanship that can be perford with that sword.”
“……”
Again, the Frogman sank into thought.
Before he could refuse, I pushed him once more.
“Even a clumsy swordsmanship is fine. Please teach your swordsmanship.”
After continuing to ponder for a mont, the Frogman finally uttered a single phrase.
“…Follow .”
“Yes!”
Hyunwoo let out a silent cheer of joy.
‘Yes!’
The Frogman began to lead the way, fidgeting with the sword at his waist.
A mont later, the Frogman stopped in front of the entrance to the sewage treatnt facility.
The entrance was blocked by iron bars.
When he pulled a lever next to the entrance, the iron bars rose.
RUMBLE—!
The dark interior could be seen behind the opened iron bars.
“Follow carefully.”
“Yes.”
Even before the Frogman warned him to be careful, a terrible sll was already wafting out.
As he went further inside, the foul sll intensified, putting all his senses on edge.
‘Ugh… The sll of the back alley was child’s play.’
The sll wasn't the only terrible thing.
Splash—
The water on the floor was getting deeper.
The unpleasant stickiness that touched the soles of his feet was disgusting.
“It must be a difficult environnt for a human to endure. You'll get used to it soon.”
After he started talking, the Frogman was surprisingly kind, contrary to his appearance.
He kept looking back at Hyunwoo as he led the way, checking if he was uncomfortable.
That wouldn't make comfortable.
Because it seed impossible to get used to this environnt.
Hyunwoo swatted away a swarm of flying insects that suddenly attacked him.
If I got used to a space like this, wouldn’t my life already be ruined?
At so point, my sense of sll beca numb, and breathing beca a little easier.
“Phew… Yes. It’s a little better now.”
Hyunwoo barely swallowed the complaints that rose up to his throat.
Unaware of Hyunwoo’s inner thoughts, the Frogman continued to speak.
“I’m glad. It will probably take you half a year of learning to even be able to imitate my swordsmanship.”
‘You want to stay here for half a year?’
I had no plans to stay that long at all.
Because it wouldn't take that long to learn the swordsmanship anyway.
⌜Trait : Master of Copy
Description : ‘The grass is always greener on the other side.’
You can steal soone else’s swordsmanship just by watching them.⌟
As long as I had Master of Copy, swordsmanship was just a skill that Hyunwoo could learn by simply seeing it perford.
The reason Hyunwoo had gone through the troubleso process and followed him all the way here was different.
It was because proficiency rises quickly when you learn directly from the user of the swordsmanship.
‘It’s not sothing I’m keen on, coming here… but I have no choice.’
It was sothing I had to endure to be able to use the ‘Skirma Swordsmanship’ I would learn from him in a real battle right away.
If my goal was just to obtain the swordsmanship, I could have just picked a fight with the Frogman and stolen his swordsmanship.
The reason I had gone through the troubleso process and followed him all the way here was because of the ‘Master System’.
‘Originally, the most standard way to learn swordsmanship is to learn from soone else.’
The Master System.
Because it was so difficult to raise swordsmanship proficiency in ‘Masal’, it was a system that was added later in a patch.
You could take the ga's characters as ‘masters’ and learn swordsmanship from them.
By learning swordsmanship under the guidance of a master, you could raise your swordsmanship proficiency quickly.
‘I don’t know if the Frogman will actually be applied as a master, though.’
It was worth checking out at least once.
After walking for a while following the Frogman, a huge cavern appeared.
In the wide space, there were many wooden planks that had been pierced, as if they were originally used for training.
The Frogman stopped and drew the sword from his waist.
Ssk—
“Watch carefully. I will show you what swordsmanship you will learn from now on.”
It was a good thing.
If the Frogman hadn't demonstrated the swordsmanship first, Hyunwoo would have asked him to.
The Frogman, who had been speaking in a gentle voice, suddenly let out a kiai.
“Hap!”
With a resounding shout, the swordsmanship unfolded from the Frogman’s hand.
He perford the swordsmanship with all his might, as if he had never been frail in the back alley.
He swung his sword fiercely, as if this were the last mont of his life.
The passionately perford swordsmanship contained the path the Frogman had lived so far.
Watching the swordsmanship that seed to have lted the joys and sorrows of life, Hyunwoo thought.
‘…He’s trying really hard. I feel bad.’
In fact, I didn't feel bad at all.
I was just looking forward to getting the swordsmanship for free.
After watching him perform the swordsmanship for a while, the system window I had been waiting for appeared.
⌜Skirma Swordsmanship (2-Star)—An ancient swordsmanship used by Frogn who inhabit the swamps. The all-piercing thrust can contain even greater power when perford in water.
Proficiency : 92%
Trait : None⌟
Befitting an old Frogman, he had high proficiency.
This ti, the prompt to acquire it imdiately did not appear.
‘Huh?’
[You must achieve a friendship level of 50 or higher with the Frogman to acquire the swordsmanship.]
Unlike the 1-Star, which could be learned imdiately, a condition was added to acquiring swordsmanship from 2-Star onwards.
‘A condition has been added to Master of Copy. I had a feeling, but I guess so.’
In fact, I had already guessed it.
If there were no restrictions on learning high-grade swordsmanship, I would beco ridiculously strong.
There was no way the AI in charge of balance would have allowed to learn swordsmanship without conditions.
…The condition would probably get more difficult as the grade increased.
A friendship level of 50 or higher with the Frogman.
Fortunately, this condition was easy.
Today was the first ti I had a conversation with the Frogman.
But it had been a long ti since I had surpassed a friendship level of 50.
‘Buying all the junk items helped.’
⌜You have t the acquisition condition for Skirma Swordsmanship (2-Star).⌟
The very fact that the Frogman had brought Hyunwoo all the way here ant a friendship level of 60 or higher.
⌜Skirma Swordsmanship (2-Star) is a copyable skill.⌟
⌜Would you like to acquire it?⌟
‘Acquire.’
⌜Na : Kim Hyunwoo
Title : Rookie
Skills : ■Sabla Swordsmanship (2-Star)―70%, ■Skirma Swordsmanship (2-Star)―0%(New!), ⊠
Innate Traits : Swordsmanship Synthesis, Master of Copy, Swordsmanship Genius
General Traits : PhysiqueⅠ⌟
The movents of ‘Skirma Swordsmanship’ were slowly being engraved in my mind.
This ti, there was even a teaching aid right in front of .
“Hap!”
The Frogman was still moving passionately, performing the swordsmanship.
I savored the swordsmanship being engraved on my body and watched his movents.
It was the easiest thing I had done so far.
After watching him a little longer, Hyunwoo finally opened his mouth.
“That’s enough.”
“Huh? Seeing it once won’t be enough. You have to see it at least two or three tis….”
“I think I can imitate it to so extent.”
“What did you say?”
The Frogman stared at with an incredulous expression.
Hyunwoo shrugged and stood in front of him with his sword.
He glared at .
“Are you… looking down on swordsmanship?”
It would be faster to show him once than to persuade him with words.
Hyunwoo closed his eyes and expanded his body’s senses.
‘A thrust aid at a single point.’
Soon, as the image in his mind and the sensation in his body coincided, the sword shot out.
A thrust with the speed of a ray of light!
WHOOSH—!
The Frogman’s eyes widened as he watched Hyunwoo’s swordsmanship.
“……!”
The swordsmanship that had been with the Frogman for decades.
He wasn't so blind as to not recognize the swordsmanship he had perford with his own hands all this ti.
The swordsmanship that unfolded from Hyunwoo’s hand was definitely Skirma Swordsmanship.
⌜Skirma Swordsmanship (2-Star)―2%⌟
The proficiency increased by 2% in one go.
Even after obtaining ‘Swordsmanship Genius’ and ‘Rookie’, the proficiency had never increased by 2% just by swinging the sword for the first ti.
Confirming that the Master System was being applied successfully, Hyunwoo grinned and opened his mouth.
“Am I doing this right?”
Instead of an answer, only silence filled the cavern.
“……”
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