I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

Late at night.
I accompanied my master to escort Fen Miao to the second branch of Utopia.

“Pack only the essentials. Everything else will be disposed of by the Academy. All traces of your existence in the world will be erased.”
“Understood. I’ll be back shortly.”

After sending her inside with instructions to pack her belongings quickly since she would be joining the Demon Slayer Squad, I found myself with a brief moment alone with my master in front of the building.

“Master.”
“Hmm?”
“Here.”

I opened the spatial tattoo and handed my master a black book.

“…What’s this? Attribute Energy Bullets?”

Master frowned as she examined the black book in her hand.

“It’s confidential, but this is one of the spoils we acquired from the Demonic Gate. It’s a skill book that allows you to create and unleash energy bullets made of attributes in a barrage.”
“….”

Hmm, perhaps the term “skill book” is unfamiliar?
No, that expression…

‘Ah, it’s the “I didn’t contribute to the raid, so why are you giving me something so valuable?” face.’

I let out a small laugh.

‘She’s still so old-fashioned in some ways.’

My master knew that thanks to her, I had acquired the absurdly overpowered trait of “Fated Bond.” And she must have realized that none of the members of our party were particularly suited to this skill book.
Yet she hesitated, feeling burdened by receiving something so valuable.

‘When it comes to situations like this, the most effective method is…’

Of course, taking a hostage.

Why a hostage, you ask?

I suddenly hugged my master tightly and met her gaze.
She inhaled sharply and averted her eyes.

“Master, are you really not going to accept this?”
“Disc-disciple… someone might see—”

Her eyes darted around nervously, scanning our surroundings.

“There’s no one around. You already know that. And so what if someone sees? Everyone already knows about our relationship from the broadcast.”
“Still—”
“If you want me to let go, then take it quickly.”
“…Disciple. I told you—”
“If you don’t accept this, something terrible might happen to me during the next Demonic Gate raid.”

That’s right. The hostage was me.
My own safety.

As expected, her body stiffened as soon as I mentioned the possibility of danger.

Her reaction was adorable.

“…Something terrible might happen?”
“Yes. I’ll need your help in the next Demonic Gate raid.”
“…Fine. But still—”
“Yes, I know you’d help me without asking for anything in return. I trust your skills, Master. It’s not like it matters whether you learn this or not.”
“….”
“But if you learn this, I’ll be safer.”
“You’ll… be safer?”
“Yes.”

I nodded, emphasizing the point.

Master let out a short sigh and nodded in return.

“…Fine. I’ll learn it. Now let go.”

I smiled as I let go of her.

For some reason, Master looked slightly disappointed as she reluctantly opened the demonic skill book.

Hwaaaaahhh—

The skill book shone with a bright white light, disintegrating into particles and being absorbed into Master’s body.

She closed her eyes, taking a moment to process her newfound knowledge.

Saaaaahhh—

A cold aura swirled around her, and ice crystals began forming in the air.

It was a breathtaking sight, like pristine snow suspended in midair.

‘…Wow.’

But soon, the ice crystals absorbed the surrounding moisture, growing larger and sharper, transforming into pointed octahedrons.

Then, they began moving according to Master’s will.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The ice shards danced freely in the air.

‘I thought it would just end with shooting them, but this…?’

Watching the display, I felt a strange sense of familiarity.

‘…Wait, doesn’t this resemble the technique I saw from the Sword Emperor before?’

The Sword Emperor’s skill involved condensing energy into sword forms, filling the area with a storm of blades—Thousand Blade Formation.

Master’s newly awakened ability through Attribute Energy Bullets shared similarities with that technique.

Of course, the form of the swords was different since they used different swordsmanship styles.
And instead of condensed energy blades, these were sharp ice fragments.

‘Actually, this might be more efficient. Condensing energy into tangible forms… Honestly, that’s only viable for someone with the absurd mana reserves of the Sword Emperor.’

Additionally, if those ice fragments inflicted a freezing status effect, it would make the technique even more potent.

After about a minute, the ice shards evaporated into vapor and disappeared.

“…Tch, the duration is still too short. But it’s… not bad.”

Ha.

I let out a faint laugh at those words.

“Truly a genius.”

This person is my master.

Master always humbly claims that she had no choice but to walk the path of the sword, unlike me, who is blessed with exceptional talent.
But in my eyes, the true genius is Master.

‘I had cheat-like advantages in the beginning and used knowledge from the game to get a head start. That’s how I grew to this point.’

But Master, even before meeting me, had already stepped into the realm of semi-transcendence.

Perhaps the greatest fortune I’ve had since being thrown into this world was meeting Baek Seol-hee and taking her as my master.

At that moment, Master looked back at me and spoke.

“Disciple.”
“Yes?”
“This… consider it an advance payment.”

Even after achieving such a new level of accomplishment, the fact that she still says something like this so formally—it’s endearing.

I smiled brightly and nodded.

“Of course! No matter how busy you are, Master, I will definitely, absolutely bring you along to the next Demon Realm Gate.”
“Hmm.”

Yes, the next Demon Realm Gate absolutely requires Master’s assistance.

Why?

Well…

“Because it’s a double gate.”

A double-dungeon-style gate where one gate generates another inside of it.
In such situations, the party has to split into two groups.
In the original game, this required assembling both a main party and a sub-party to clear it.

However, the sub-party… well, it wasn’t great.

‘After observing the sub-party today and watching Fen Miao, it became clear.’

Maybe if they were stronger later on, it would be different.
But if we sent a sub-party of Fen Miao’s current level into the Demon Realm Gate, they would die, 100%.

But.

If Master could take charge of one of them, splitting the party into two balanced groups of 4?

There’s no need to even hesitate.
I could confidently go “all-in!” without any worries.

No matter what anyone says,
Master is one of the people I trust the most.

.

.

.

Drip. Drip. Tap.

In a dimly lit room, crimson droplets of blood spread across the papers densely filled with writing.

“…Ah, blood.”

Shin Se-hee grabbed a tissue from beside her and pinched her nose.

She had been intensely studying strategy and tactics recently.

Before her, holographic displays of Utopia’s party members played in succession,
showing detailed information like stats, attack patterns, skills, traits, and personalities.

If even one piece of this information were to leak out, it would cause a massive uproar.

“Sigh…”

Shin Se-hee let out a low sigh as she scanned through the data with her eyes.

Although she hardly attended classes anymore, she still maintained top-tier test scores within the academy.
But even someone like Shin Se-hee couldn’t help but marvel every time she analyzed Jin Yuha’s tactics.

On one wall, footage of Utopia’s battle sequences played.

“…Truly, it’s genius.”

The key to party strategy lies in maintaining a flow where each member’s skills don’t overlap.

“You need to account for everyone’s skills, timing, and movements.”

Because of this, the 6-member party setup was an established norm in this era—it made it easier to avoid overlap.

“Yet Jin Yuha deviated from that norm and perfected a 7-member party system.”

Adding just one more member may seem trivial, but it makes command exponentially harder.
It’s easy to underestimate, but the overlap in mana waves between members drastically reduces efficiency.

This is why parties of hundreds or thousands are not organized as single units, even though it’s possible in theory.
Well, there are exceptions, like special circumstances during the first Demon Realm Gate or alliances like the U.S.-U.K.-Africa coalition.
But those are rare cases.

However, Jin Yuha masterfully adjusted timing and movement,
executing a flawless rotation without a single moment of error.

Even after running countless simulations, there was no strategy superior to Jin Yuha’s solution.

“Jin Yuha managed to come up with and implement this strategy in an unpredictable, unfamiliar situation.”

As much as following in Jin Yuha’s footsteps is daunting, I’ve never felt it was impossible.

But this time, I’m honestly unsure.

I’m scared.

Terrified.

One wrong decision in my command could cost my party members their lives.

If Utopia’s first defeat were to happen because of my lack of skill in leading…

Shin Se-hee shook her head, clearing the negative thoughts from her mind.

“Even so, I must do it.”

I heard that Jin Yuha couldn’t fully unleash his abilities as a dealer in battle these days.

Especially with his new skill, Mua (No-Self), requiring him to separate from command duties.
The fact that he’s not yet showing his full capabilities is astounding.

But since he entrusted me with the responsibility of command, it means he trusts me.
And it’s only right for me to rise to that trust.

“Still, theory alone isn’t enough. I need to try commanding in real battle situations.”

Shin Se-hee’s gaze grew heavy with determination.