The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 4

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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 4. The Truth (2)
I wanted to answer, “I’m a natural!”
That’s what I wanted to say.
“No need to answer. Once we finish all this, the truth will come out anyway.”
B-rank Mage Park Chang-seok.
The bastard had no intention of letting me off easy.
Without giving me a moment to speak, he relentlessly sent goblins at me.
That oppressive aura intensified again.
Schwick—
I slashed the throat of an incoming goblin while fixing my gaze on Park Chang-seok.
No matter how I thought about it, something felt wrong.
At this point, I couldn’t shake the thought that he was trying to kill me.
No, I could be certain of it.
‘This bastard really is trying to kill me.’
As I swung my blade, my senses sharpened, and that oppressive sensation reached its peak.
And so, I finally understood its nature.
Whoosh!
[Killing intent detected.]
Killing intent.
That oppressive aura I’d been sensing meant exactly that.
‘The Sword’s Enlightenment… that must be it.’
The countless messages that appeared when I first grasped the blade.
Even though I couldn’t summon the sword itself, the Sword’s Enlightenment remained within me.
My body and mind simply hadn’t understood them yet—
‘So it integrates naturally as I swing the blade.’
Perception was merely the beginning.
I was adapting to the sword at an insane pace.
And so—
Schwick, schwick! Splurt—
Like a seasoned veteran, I swept across the battlefield with fluid, masterful movements.
Wielding the small [Baby Sword], I slew countless goblins.
With absolute decisiveness and precision.
Just like a refined knight’s technique.
Every motion was deliberate and methodical.
After cutting down dozens of goblins—
“Huh??”
Suddenly, the oppressive aura the mage had been emitting vanished.
He stared at me with gleaming eyes.
“That skill! That ability!!! You really were a natural!!! Wow— summoning the sword was just a bonus ability, but swordsmanship was the real deal!!! Insane—what kind of blade technique is that?”
That bastard…
“You’ve been through some seriously brutal trials yourself. Wow―. To wield a sword like that, like some kind of ghost, how many decades of training would it even take?”
A genuine awakening supremacist.
Once I confirmed I was real, he completely shifted his stance.
That sinister aura, that murderous intent―it all vanished perfectly.
“You fight well. Plus, you’re not even scared, and your mental fortitude is definitely exceptional! I thought you were just some fake swinging around a pathetic blade―.”
The mage rambled on.
All while insulting my small, precious sword.
“I’ve just made a fellow awakener feel bad for nothing. If you’re already at that level, you’re like some monster comparable to that old Sword Master who went missing in the Tower….”
Yet just moments ago, he was the one trying to kill me.
I fixed Park Chang-seok with a sharp gaze.
“If I offended you by releasing my killing intent, I’ll apologize again.”
At that, he lowered his head.
Honestly, a B-rank hunter three years into awakening would have built up considerable power.
Even if I showed promise, I’d be at a level where fighting him would be winnable.
Yet he’s acting like this….
‘Either he thinks very highly of me, or he’s just naturally generous to natural-born awakeners.’
I nodded reluctantly, though it left a bitter taste.
Because he was starting to pull something out.
“If you just awakened, you’ll need money for all sorts of things….”
Still, I should probably stay angry, right?
Or so I thought, briefly.
He pulled out a crude paper ticket.
“This is a Tower entrance pass. You know what that is?”
Gates appear on Earth.
They erode their surroundings and spread strange and bizarre things.
But the Tower exists in a place unseen.
‘He’s giving me a Tower entrance pass?’
The Tower is unique and singular.
Its name is simply “Tower.”
Despite its ordinary name, it’s an extraordinarily special place.
‘A single pass costs over a billion won?’
This is excessive even as compensation for attempted murder and murderous intent.
I was about to get angry, but stopped myself.
“You’re just… giving this to me?”
A ten-billion-won ticket, just given away.
I’d heard that newly awakened hunters aim to clear Gates just to save up for one of these passes….
“I really do push my junior awakeners hard. As for the fakes….”
B-rank mage Park Chang-seok.
He trailed off.
The rest was left unsaid―.
‘Could it be that he’s even slaughtered people before?’
That was the speculation I made.
“They’re so infuriating I’d want to kill them, but I can’t. It’s a world where the non-awakened oppress us, after all.”
“Oppress us?”
“Well, you’ll understand eventually.”
Park Chang-seok left the Gate, his words laden with meaning.
* * *
Awakener Management Agency, Yeouido Branch.
“Here’s the evaluation report.”
“You finished already?”
Director Kang Seol-ah examined the report of B-rank Mage Park Chang-seok.
[Shin Si-woo Test Results]
—Combat Potential: SSS
—Growth Potential: SSS
It was an exceptional evaluation.
In truth, I had delivered results worthy of it.
“Y-you killed eighty-three goblins all by yourself? In just three minutes? Wow—.”
Director Kang Seol-ah stared at me with astonished eyes after reading the detailed breakdown.
“Si-woo, you’ve really become an incredibly powerful awakener!”
That’s right.
I had become an exceptionally rare commodity, receiving a special S-rank designation in the marriage market.
A young man under thirty.
An awakener with potential to grow stronger.
“Probably, there won’t be any objection to an A-rank rating. But don’t read too much into this SSS here—it’s purely a potential assessment. You know you need to build actual achievements to climb higher, right?”
“Of course.”
I could build achievements quickly.
Mage Park Chang-seok had given me a [Tower Entrance Ticket].
Even after slaying eighty-three goblins, my level hadn’t increased.
But the Tower is different.
‘The best place to level up.’
Still, it’s quite demanding.
I can’t go in empty-handed like this.
So—.
“Seol-ah.”
I regarded Director Kang Seol-ah carefully.
Using a form of address I only let slip when thoroughly drunk at social gatherings.
It was my way of signaling how important what I was about to ask truly was.
“Huh? Why are you calling me that at work? Do you need to borrow money or something?”
The problem was—.
Director Kang Seol-ah’s intuition was exceptionally sharp.
That’s right.
I need to borrow money right now.
“You said you had 4 million won in savings, didn’t you?”
“A-are you really going to borrow it?”
“Well….”
I had become someone capable of earning 4 million won in the blink of an eye.
But I had no money at this very moment.
And time was of the essence.
Whoosh!
「1st Sword, Reinhardt Euclid. [1/100]」
—Enter the Tower and commune with the Ego Sword!
This was the message that appeared before my eyes when I finished the combat power test.
After swinging the sword with honest effort, the stat for [1st Sword, Reinhardt Euclid] had increased by 1, and a Quest appeared telling me to enter the Tower and summon him.
Setting Reinhardt aside.
In the end, it meant I could finally see with my own eyes the magnificent and colossal greatsword he had been wielding—my greatsword.
‘I get to actually hold the sword I’ve been cultivating?’
I couldn’t contain myself.
Manager Kang Seol-ah had summarized this profound intention of mine very simply.
“So you’re saying you want to buy a 40 million won suit of armor just to hold that guy’s sword? Because the Tower is a dangerous place?”
“That’s right.”
“What about your money, Si-woo?”
I let out a heavy sigh.
“Well….”
Even though I had become a naturally-awakened Awakener, I couldn’t help but curse my own situation.
“That insane Patriot bastard has tied up all my money in an apartment.”
“Ah….”
After the first Gate incident, S-rank, SS-rank, and SSS-rank Awakeners appeared in succession.
South Korea even had one SSS-rank Hunter.
Commonly known as the Patriot.
“That lunatic said he’d abandon Seoul unless the average price of Seoul apartments dropped below 1 billion won―.”
So the government regulated real estate loans.
“―You’re one of those redevelopment move-ins!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I had inherited a dilapidated villa when my parents passed away.
Twelve years had passed since then, and in that time the area underwent redevelopment, and just recently I paid an additional fee and obtained a new move-in right.
All my money was tied up in the apartment.
“I can’t sell it even if I wanted to right now.”
Loan restrictions, increased taxes on high-priced apartments.
All sorts of bills were being enacted and executed overnight as “Patriot Special Laws.”
“The Patriot….”
An SSS-rank Hunter.
And one of the rare few capable of wielding power even outside the Gates.
He possessed the bizarre ability to summon historical figures from our nation as constellations.
“He’s genuinely a good person, but far too extreme.”
Japan no longer insists that Dokdo belongs to them.
Five years ago, Patriot summoned the constellation Yi Sun-sin.
Yi Sun-sin conjured twelve colossal aircraft carriers and turned portions of the Japanese archipelago into a sea of flames.
“He’s nicknamed the ‘Nationalist Hunter,’ though he’s equally ruthless with his own citizens.”
Jaywalking prohibition.
Execution of corrupt politicians.
Elimination of pro-Japanese corporations, and so forth.
Patriot actually kills.
‘A villain with good intentions, but….’
South Korea had become remarkably clean.
Corrupt politicians die.
Rapists and murderers die too.
As a result, heinous criminals vanished.
Perhaps because of this, Patriot has recently been fixating on trivial matters like housing prices and stocks.
In any case.
“I’ll lend you four million.”
After hearing this explanation, Kang Seol-ah reluctantly agreed to break her savings account and lend me a substantial sum.
She was truly a sister to be grateful for….
“I’ll repay you generously with interest.”
I bowed deeply and left the Awakener Management Agency.
Since I could enter the Tower from anywhere, I planned to enter it from my home, where I felt most emotionally secure.
* * *
“So… was this truly such a peculiar and extraordinary experience?”
Only after awakening did I realize I had undergone something remarkably unique.
For twelve years, I played Sword Cultivation on the same computer.
Click—.
[————]
And my computer no longer turns on.
In this current world, there isn’t a single person left who uses computers.
I had been so absorbed in Sword Cultivation that I failed to notice such things.
“It’s absurd. A computer that didn’t even have internet to begin with….”
Whoosh!
[World_NET]
I became aware of my personal internet.
Commonly called, the World Net.
A holographic screen materialized before my eyes.
This is supposedly the internet, but it’s actually a high-performance computer.
‘The reason AI became obsolete after the Awakener era began.’
The ‘Mystery’ that descended upon the entire world following the Gate incident is this personal computer.
AI and conventional internet became relics once the Gate’s server rooms were infiltrated, eliminating any possibility of advancement.
So now WorldNet is the default.
‘An ability granted to every person on Earth in the form of a status window.’
People use it for gaming, communities, everything.
Keyboards and mice generate automatically.
Or you can type using pure consciousness.
You can summon it small like a smartphone, and it supports calls and messages too.
An all-in-one smartphone and computer, essentially.
‘And it’s free.’
Awakeners can access several special functions exclusive to them.
Whoosh!
[Auction House]
I entered the Auction House.
I needed to purchase equipment before entering the [Tower].
‘If I officially enter a Gate, the government provides incentive payments.’
The government even gives Awakeners allowances.
When you find Mystery in a Gate, they buy it at premium prices.
Moreover, if you purify the corrupted land, you receive compensation equivalent to 50% of that land’s area.
The treatment is generous because we risk our lives.
[Beginner Full Body Armor: Instant Purchase Price ― 40,000,000 Won]
And as much as we earn, prices are absurdly inflated.
‘Insane.’
I’d heard the cheapest armor was 4 million.
So that wasn’t an exaggeration.
I pressed the [Purchase] button without hesitation.
The [Beginner Full Body Armor] from the Auction House was sucked into my inventory icon.
Once I enter the [Tower], I should be able to equip items from my status window.
“Is everything prepared now?”
I tore the [Tower Entry] ticket without hesitation.
* * *
Whoosh!
【You have entered Tower Floor 1.】
A mechanical voice echoed in my ears.
And beneath my feet, a green safe zone appeared.
A circle three meters in diameter.
I quickly thought about equipping the [Beginner Full Body Armor] from my inventory.
Whoosh!
Thin armor materialized across my body.
There were no specific numerical values, but it was armor with defensive power capable of blocking attacks from creatures like orcs.
‘Better than nothing, I suppose.’
I surveyed my surroundings.
The Tower is the space that can most greatly amplify an Awakener’s power.
A place that recreates the [strange and extraordinary] experiences encountered during the awakening ordeal.
‘Did the Sword Emperor disappear here?’
The Sword Emperor—Kim Hong-sik, seventy-eight years old, who completed a thousand years of training and was reborn as South Korea’s first S-rank Awakener.
He reached SS-rank by clearing the 9th floor of the Tower at age ninety, and then disappeared while challenging the 10th floor.
According to public speculation, perhaps something like a chamber of a million years of training had appeared….
“What about me―.”
My situation is definitely safer.
[Sword Raising] is ultimately a game with a story line after all.
The 1st floor would be implementing the early stages.
Whoooosh.
Looking around, desolate mist hung thick in the air.
The starting point of [Sword Raising].
The interior of the Abyss where I can deploy swords.
‘Is it not just similar, but exactly the same level?’
A space that feels like dot graphics brought to reality.
It’s just like a cave.
There’s nothing frightening about it except that the surrounding monsters look quite ferocious.
‘From the start―.’
Whoosh!
[You can summon Sword 1, Reinhardt Euclid.]
I possess the sword that most exemplarily saved the world.
Along with the NPC who wielded that sword.
‘Ego Sword summon.’
I naturally willed it.
To exchange the [Aga Sword] in my hand for [Sword 1, Reinhardt].
Then―.
Hummmmm.
The sword vibrated.
A distant sense of omnipotence, like when I first grasped the sword, suffused my body.
‘This is the true power of a sword―.’
Blue light rippled across the small [Aga Sword], and gradually the sword’s form transformed.
Kuuuuuuung!!!
A massive greatsword appeared, brimming with resplendent effects.
Kling!
A gleaming blue blade.
A pale sky-blue handle that exuded an elegantly restrained aesthetic.
And at the sword’s tip, a pristine white jewel.
The jewel pulsed with light.
【I greet the master of the supreme sword.】
An elderly man’s voice resonated in my ears.

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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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