Training Days
===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.