The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 1. Awakening (1)
One experiences something bizarre and inexplicable.
One overcomes it.
That is the condition for awakening.
【Seventy-eight-year-old Kim Hong-sik, who escaped the Thousand-Year Training Chamber and awakened as the “Sword Emperor,” has been appointed as South Korea’s first S-rank Awakener!!!】
This bizarre experience manifested differently for each awakener.
Like the Sword Emperor Kim Hong-sik, some had to spend a thousand years confined in a white chamber, training to achieve enlightenment.
Others had to overcome the Ten Thousand Poisons.
Or perhaps befriend a strange spirit that only they could perceive.
The world called this the Trial of Awakening.
【Seventeen-year-old Im Ji-ah, who awakened as the “Saint of Destiny” after winning the Tarot Game of Death, has been confirmed as the youngest S-rank Awakener!!!】
Yet this peculiar experience sometimes took the form of a game.
Im Ji-ah, who played the Tarot Game of Death in 2025, reportedly experienced the Trial of Awakening through nothing more than a smartphone.
It ignited the hearts of South Korea’s youth.
【Thirty-three-year-old Kim Jun-seo, who witnessed the end of the Real Hunter Game, awakened as the “Omni Master” and became South Korea’s tenth S-rank Awakener!!!】
Seventeen years old. That was me, Shin Si-woo.
I too was captivated by it.
After all, I was making quite a name for myself in one particular game.
[Sword Raising]
A game with the unique concept of raising a sword, no less.
During my adolescence, I prided myself on hipster games and appreciated the outdated pixel art as a form of aesthetic sensibility.
I was ranked first on the leaderboard and the only player who had properly raised a sword.
It was now 2025, two years after awakeners first appeared.
“I think I’m about to awaken.”
At seventeen, I confidently headed to the Awakener Management Agency to register as an awakener.
“You haven’t done it yet, and you only think you might?”
“Yes.”
The receptionist glanced at my age, then asked with a slightly irritated tone.
As the middle-aged man’s face twisted, I felt a chill of fear.
“A game?”
“Yes.”
I confidently told him I was ranked first in an extremely niche game called [Sword Raising].
Naturally, at seventeen, I believed I would be welcomed as a “sword-raising awakener”—an ultra-rare type.
But I was wrong.
“Sigh.”
The receptionist exhaled a deep sigh and looked down at me.
“Sword Raising is a game on Steam. It has just over a thousand players.”
“That’s right.”
The receptionist seemed intent on teaching me a lesson.
“That’s not a special or bizarre experience. You simply played a game diligently.”
“Pardon?”
“Think about it. Park Sang-hyun, who once dominated the AOS game scene with 100 million users, never awakened either―.”
The conversation shifted to a famous European FPS player ranked first globally who had recently undergone an Awakener evaluation.
“Even the world’s best players, the system just dismisses them as being good at games and playing a lot, yet at seventeen you’re already―.”
The lecture continued.
How lamentable this world had become, where Korean youth these days lacked sense and treated being good at games and playing them frequently as something special and extraordinary.
That was the gist of it.
At seventeen, I suffered no small amount of hurt.
“Tsk tsk, the kid just doesn’t want to study….”
“I understand though. With AI and all, they don’t have any future anyway, so dreaming of awakening is fair enough, right?”
“True, lawyers and accountants will all disappear anyway―. What’s the point of university? Might as well aim for the awakening lottery.”
I could hear the murmuring from those around me.
Perhaps hearing it himself, the receptionist handling my case clapped his hands sharply to lighten the mood.
“Come now! Let’s not hurt the kid too much! You all came here thinking you’d ‘probably awakened’ too!!!”
An awkward cough rippled through the room, and silence fell.
“Shin Si-woo, please come with me.”
The man who had wounded me most deeply then coaxed and comforted me, even pulling out a drink and murmuring that it was all meant for my own good.
Naturally, as a seventeen-year-old in the throes of adolescence, I didn’t believe his words.
Especially not as a seventeen-year-old who had become a Gate orphan.
‘I wanted to awaken and take revenge….’
How deeply wounded was I, treated as a gaming addict instead of awakening?
Whoosh!
【Sword Cultivation】
As a child, I always executed [Sword Cultivation], the game that had become my truest companion.
‘No matter how I look at it, this world and that world seem similar.’
Setting aside my regret, I focused on the monitor screen.
This game’s objective was to cultivate a [Sword], but I wasn’t the one wielding it.
‘I guide the sword to a worthy wielder.’
It was something akin to a simulation.
I guided the actions of some NPC who picked up my sword, steering them toward an ending.
It was frustrating at first, but once I gained proficiency, diverse strategies became possible.
Click.
I pressed the character creation window.
Unlike other games, instead of a human form, a blade gleamed brilliantly.
This was the time to shape the sword’s appearance and base stats, then assign initial [Skills].
This was the beginning of a build.
‘Holy sword types are tedious anyway―. And my mood isn’t great either.’
Perhaps that’s why.
I prepared a unique build I’d only considered before but found too horrifying to actually attempt.
[Bloodsucking Demon Sword]
A blade that grows stronger by absorbing the power of those it slays.
Perhaps if I reach the end of this sword, the next one will unlock.
‘I should let that beautiful murderer unnie wield this blade.’
At seventeen, I concluded my adolescence with the brutal [Bloodsucking Demon Sword].
“Eat well and grow strong!!!”
Whoosh!
[Bad Ending ― The continent has been destroyed.]
* * *
“Si-woo, what are you thinking about?”
“Oh… I used to be like that when I was younger.”
“Kekeke, you?”
It’s 2035, and at twenty-seven, I work at the Awakener Management Bureau in Yeouido.
I just finished an interview with a middle schooler who claimed to be ranked first in some famous game and thought he’d become an Awakener.
“Back then, I was also proud of being a little good at some strange game and came looking for answers like that.”
I kept it secret that I still play that game.
“There are only three cases of online games anyway. It’s meaningless. The more observers, the lower the probability—that’s the truth.”
Kang Seol-ah, the section chief sitting next to me, tilted her head.
With her long, straight black hair swaying and a smile in her eyes, she was someone I’d grown quite close to as a colleague from my cohort.
“That’s right. But when I was seventeen, there was no such concept.”
Even now, ten years later, the laws of awakening remain unchanged.
A peculiar and bizarre experience.
Overcoming it.
And games are indeed included in that.
‘Of course, most are very unusual and only visible to the person involved.’
Now I understand how foolish my younger self was.
But I don’t mock it.
I felt proud of young Shin Si-woo, who had lost his parents to the Gate Incident, for acting that way.
‘Thanks to that man, I came to my senses quickly.’
Because of the receptionist who counseled me back then, I resolved to pursue a career dealing with Awakeners.
To avenge my parents, I would need to enter a Gate, but as an unawakenend person, it was impossible.
‘Instead, I’ve found a way to support indirectly and take revenge that way.’
I’m the type who must repay everything I’ve suffered.
That’s why I quickly joined the Awakener Management Agency.
‘I’m quite admirable, if I do say so.’
And back then, I was alone.
Look at the middle schooler I just interviewed.
“Mom!!! This man says I’m a game addict!!!”
This kid came with his mother, no less. No, it’s worse than that. From his tone and gaze, it was the mother who encouraged him to play games so he’d awaken.
Naturally, the boy’s mother approached me.
Snort! Blowing air through her nose.
Kang Seol-ah glanced at me with a startled expression.
The meaning of that glance was clear enough.
‘Should I handle this?’
Yes, that’s exactly what it meant.
But I couldn’t let that sharp-tongued Kang Seol-ah open her mouth.
I subtly shook my head and approached the child’s mother.
Before I could say anything, an angry voice erupted.
“Why are you saying such things to discourage the child?”
I fixed the child’s mother with a stern gaze.
After collecting myself for a moment―.
“These days, overzealous parents push their children into dungeon expeditions trying to create Awakeners. That’s child abuse under the law. You’re aware of the legislation, aren’t you? Gaming falls under the same category.”
Unlike the early days of Gates, over a decade had passed, and considerable research into Awakening had been conducted.
It was possible to forcibly induce Awakening by implanting certain experiences, and governments had developed methods to artificially achieve Awakening on a national scale.
That’s why parents like this had emerged.
“But my child wanted to do this!!!”
“You’re exploiting gaming’s leniency to evade legal consequences and turning children into gaming addicts. Stop the child abuse.”
A middle school son could enjoy gaming.
Parents could respect that hobby.
But making a son do nothing but game to induce him to become an Awakener was something that should never be done.
“B-but it’s theoretically possible!!!”
“Only in theory. And there are only three documented cases worldwide.”
Parents do this for one reason.
‘The War God, Zhang Chen.’
A monster who became the world’s first SSS-rank Awakener.
A person who was playing a martial arts-based battle royale online game in China.
And a complete sociopath.
The other two cases were no different.
“Why not pursue a more constructive path instead?”
When Gates appeared, Awakeners emerged.
Monsters poured out and civilization was partially destroyed.
Then the Mysterious appeared, and reconstruction began.
‘Even AI became obsolete, so job prospects are wide open now―.’
That was the world twelve years after the Gate catastrophe.
“Why not raise your child to become a civil servant at the Awakener Management Agency like me? The salary is decent, the pension is excellent, the benefits are great. And if your child applies to become an Awakener, they’ll receive government support.”
“You mean become an artificially induced Awakener?”
“Yes.”
I presented the parents with an alternative.
Over the past decade, governments worldwide had discovered methods to artificially induce Awakening.
It was a relatively safe method, though the rank of the resulting Awakener was somewhat lower.
But in exchange―.
“You’re aware that naturally awakened Awakeners have a disproportionately high rate of insanity, aren’t you?”
The probability of becoming mentally ill drops significantly.
As I mentioned, an Awakener must overcome ‘peculiar and extraordinary’ experiences.
And such trials are difficult for ordinary people to overcome.
That’s why there are so many insane people among naturally awakened Awakeners.
‘You have to go mad to overcome the trials.’
I didn’t know it at first, but now it’s become a fact everyone in the world knows.
“I don’t know what you want, but you can’t drive your child into a dead end.”
I finished speaking and left my seat.
It was nearly six in the evening.
“By the way, Awakener Management Agency civil servants leave work right on time.”
—Ep. 01 Awakening
Click!
[Sword Cultivation]
“Hmm… Still?”
Manager Kang Seol-ah asked if I wanted to grab a drink after work, but I made an excuse about being busy and slipped away.
That busy business was [Sword Cultivation], a game I’d been absorbed in for over ten years.
‘A game about making a small, humble sword into something grand and magnificent.’
That was the essence of this game as I understood it in my childhood.
But now I think differently.
‘It’s about making a small, precious sword into something grand and magnificent.’
A small sword is possibility itself.
A starting point capable of becoming anything, of accomplishing anything.
That’s why it’s precious.
The player’s role is to grant the small sword diverse experiences and nurture it into full, magnificent bloom.
‘You could even call it being a parent.’
When I was young, I didn’t understand such things and committed all manner of terrible acts.
1st playthrough: Sad Ending.
2nd playthrough: Bad Ending.
3rd playthrough: Bad Ending.
4th playthrough: Sad Ending.
5th playthrough: Normal Ending.
There are many varieties of endings.
My sword destroys the world.
Or the world wages endless wars to obtain my sword, only to collapse.
The world continues in a lukewarm state, neither one thing nor another, and the story simply ends.
And so on…
‘Will a happy ending appear?’
But the last sword I cultivated was different.
[The Diligent Knight]
“Sword… you’ve brought this old body all the way here. Thank you. I’m grateful.”
There was only one reason I’d declined drinks with my colleagues tonight and rushed out of work early.
To witness the new ending of [Sword Cultivation].
‘I’ve grown quite attached to it.’
Twelve years we’d spent together in this game.
Simply my memories and the passage of time.
Or perhaps the fruit of my own relentless obsession.
At some point I’d come to understand that I possessed a remarkable capacity for deep immersion in singular pursuits, and I rather enjoyed burrowing into the depths of what captivated me.
Of course, only the things I loved.
‘When I was young, I thought this world resembled the real one… but it doesn’t.’
On Earth, [Gates] appear.
In this world, there exists something called the [Abyss].
They’re similar, yet fundamentally different.
‘Earth is red, and this place is black.’
Shin Si-woo, twenty-seven years old, understood perfectly well that [Sword Cultivation] was merely a game.
With such thoughts, I fixed my gaze upon the monitor.
The old man grasped my sword and slowly closed his eyes.
Then―.
A brilliant flash!
[The Devoted Knight ― ‘Reinhardt Euclid’ has witnessed the pinnacle of Sword Intent.]
[The Devoted Knight ― ‘Reinhardt Euclid’ has witnessed the pinnacle of Heart Sword.]
[The Devoted Knight ― ‘Reinhardt Euclid’ ascends to the realm of Perfect Unity of Body and Sword.]
‘Oh…’
My chest swelled with emotion.
With trembling eyes, I gazed upon this mere NPC wielding ‘my sword.’
The sole NPC who had slain all the demons in the world and achieved a complete and perfect form of peace.
The Devoted Knight, as he was called.
“I have beheld the ultimate truth of the sword. Sword… nameless blade―. How I wish to see you.”
The old man, his eyes blazing like a madman’s, stood holding my grand and magnificent sword, and somehow it didn’t sit right with me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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