NOVEL NEXT Chapter 979
<979 – Sword Saint (3)>
Sing and Jiang, who only ever took, didn’t realize that there was surprisingly tricky business involved in setting up the ritual table.
“Ugh, tsk tsk. Back in my day, we included at least some medicine on the ritual table!”
“Cappuccino? You old fool! How can you expect me to eat something that looks like rotten water? Are you telling me the dead should eat rotten stuff?”
“What’s there to eat when all you have is weeds! I’m not eating it! Get it out of here before I flip it over!”
If the spirits were satisfied with the ritual table, the chef would get a boost in experience points, but if they were dissatisfied, it would be a massive experience point deduction!
[The satisfaction level for the ritual table is extremely dissatisfied. Cooking experience efficiency is decreased by 40%.]
[The satisfaction level for the ritual table is critically dissatisfied. Cooking experience efficiency is decreased by 60%.]
[The satisfaction level for the ritual table is lethally dissatisfied. Cooking experience efficiency is decreased by 80%.]
Watching the ritual table, painstakingly set up, get kicked and smashed by the ghost swordsmen made the cooking Oknodie burst into tears.
An infuriated Jiang and Sing grabbed the spirits and beat them, but the spirits wouldn’t easily bend.
“It’s the first food I’ve eaten in thousands of years! Since being sealed in the Tomb of the Sword, I want to savor my first ritual table, but how can those feelings be understood by the ones who are being denied it!”
“Swordsmanship can compromise. But I can’t compromise when it comes to carving apple bunnies! I’m so jealous and mad that the old codger in the next ward got an apple shaped like a rabbit from his granddaughter!”
“Huh? If I flip this over, wouldn’t a better dish come out? Ah, whatever, just flip it over!”
Those who had already died once, with a 1 to 100 time ratio, had spent hundreds of years outside while thousands of years rolled by in the Tomb of the Sword, so they feared nothing in this world.
Jiang and Sing realized they couldn’t stop the spirits’ reckless behavior.
These spirits weren’t just causing a ruckus because they wanted something better to eat.
What are spirits?
They are the dead.
All the spirits gathered here were swordsmen.
Those who dedicated their lives to a single sword.
Even so, they were well aware of the value of their own lives, having been trapped in sword training until their hair turned white.
In their families, they wondered when that old man would die, and the young ones would slowly catch up. The old swordsmen, who were supposed to be respected elders, had become mere backroom old men, and their self-esteem must have been shattered.
Then, the Sword Saint appeared.
Whoever can defeat the Sword Saint will become the greatest swordsman in the world.
Before that fame, these foolish old men had such thoughts.
Better to die fighting the greatest swordsman and gain the glory of experiencing it than to live out their days in humiliation, and if luck favored them, they’d return to their family and step on the noses of those brats.
Though there were a few who seriously tested their swords in hopes of truly defeating the Sword Saint, most were simply tired of eyeing the dinner table.
When a person reaches a certain age, it’s only natural for dementia to come.
Except for the memories they cherished most in their youth, all other memories blur, and their stubbornness only intensifies.
Flipping the ritual table and demanding a refund were hidden troubles caused by the spirits’ dementia-like behavior.
The bad habit of throwing their family’s old swordsmen to the Sword Saint, a middle-realm version of the fictional “Koryo Jang” that never truly existed, circulated around the Sword Saint and buried the wandering souls in the Tomb of the Sword.
It could be said to be the accumulated karma from generations of young people attacking their elders.
“Cooking is scary… I don’t want to set the ritual table…”
Thanks to that, the cooking Oknodie, traumatized by cooking, trembled as it wore a giant dried fish like a cape.
Jiang and Sing watched their pitiful appearance with stern expressions, eventually plopping down beside the cooking Oknodie.
They didn’t hesitate to sit their butts on the dirty ground and even lay down flat, while the cooking Oknodie peered out from under the giant fish.
“Aren’t you two supposed to be training? Why are you suddenly taking a break…?”
“Anyway, it’s a 1 to 100 time ratio. We have a two-month vacation. Even if we rest here for 101 days, only a single day will pass outside.”
“Whoa! So we can play for 101 days together?”
The cooking Oknodie beamed with excitement.
Jiang turned around and stared at the cooking Oknodie.
“You’re satisfied with that?”
“I am!”
“After playing and rolling around, when we leave, you’ll be all alone.”
The cooking Oknodie blinked.
“Even after a year, only 3 days will have passed in reality, and even after 10 years, only a month will have passed.”
Confusion and fear flickered in its eyes.
“Even after 100 years, only a year will have passed in reality, and even after 1000 years, only 10 years will have passed. You’ll have to spend such a long time all by yourself.”
Tears and sorrow filled the innocent child’s eyes.
“Being alone here is like that. No matter how precious the memories, when held for that long, they inevitably become miserable.”
“That’s too much…”
“Yeah, it is. But humans cannot overcome time. They can only choose who to spend that long time with.”
Jiang asked with his usual stern expression.
“Do you still want to play with me for 101 days?”
“Not at all! The cooking Oknodie doesn’t want to live in loneliness for a thousand years like a high elf!”
“Then get up. Let’s feed that troublesome spirit some ritual table.”
The cooking Oknodie’s eyes filled with a kind of determination… too trivial and cute to call it malice.
“Is it that way over there?”
“Sister Sia. Is there a way?”
“A way to tame those picky spirits? There is.”
Sia drew her sword as if she had been waiting for the moment.
And then, she slashed the grave of a rebellious spirit.
“Grah!”
One spirit haunting the grave screamed and fell.
The other spirits panicked.
“What kind of craziness is this?! Destroying the grave to forcibly lengthen a spirit’s revival time!”
“If you keep this up, we won’t bother eating the ritual table!”
“Don’t eat it.”
Sia was different from the cooking Oknodie.
“If you’re going to complain about the ritual table that much, I’ll just push the grave so you can go to the ‘lowest priority’.”
“What!! You dreadful creature! Do you even know how long we’ve been in the Tomb of the Sword? It’s been hundreds of years!”
“What does that have to do with me? I’m not a spirit. I don’t care about your business at all.”
A merciless swordswoman destroyed a grave and buried another soul in the earth.
The spirits, who had looked down on the cooking Oknodie and acted freely, were now forced to choose.
Either eat quietly as given.
Or start a riot, get cut down, and perish indefinitely.
‘Indeed. This is the power of the swordsman in control!’
Even the spirits, who had formed a troublesome gang, began to weigh their options.
“No, I actually like this ritual table!”
“It’s not bad at all!”
“If you really don’t want to eat, why not just go back to your grave?”
[The satisfaction level for the ritual table is satisfactory. Cooking experience efficiency is unchanged.]
[The satisfaction level for the ritual table is slightly satisfied. Cooking experience efficiency increased by 10%.]
The setting up of the ritual table had surprisingly become smooth!
However, this time the cooking Oknodie hesitated.
Jiang asked.
“What’s the matter?”
“Everyone eating the food is a blessing… but still, if I’m going to cook, I want to cook something that brings joy to those eating it!”
“!”
“It’s not that I’m giving them mediocre food just because there are no choices! I don’t want to awkwardly present a ritual table after centuries!”
“What a fool. Choosing to suffer for no reason.”
Even so, those inefficient actions were what made the Oknodie most likable.
Jiang thought that if forcing decisions upon others was the realm of a master, then the cooking Oknodie truly was the strongest master in this situation.
Look at that.
Already, the heart doesn’t want to comply so easily.
“Can’t do it plain. If you want an upgrade on the ritual service, you better bring out one of those hidden ace moves!”
Thanks to Jiang and Sing’s active assistance, the cooking Oknodie’s ritual service level upgraded!
“Hey, how many times do I have to wait for my order? When will it come out!”
“Who ordered kimchi nabe?”
“Not me, but it looks delicious, so I’ll eat it.”
“Where’s my kimchi nabe?!”
“That’ve been taken by the long-haired spirit.”
“There are over a hundred long-haired ones here! How do we find it?”
Although there was dissatisfaction, the queue was much calmer than before.
As Jiang responded, he sulked.
“You all are confusing.”
“Confusing? Just look carefully! Even with the same bob cut, my sword twirls like a black snake, while that one jumps around like a viper!”
“Before we take up swords, isn’t that all the same? How can we remember and distinguish all that?”
Even the assassin struggled to find the one who ordered amidst the sluggish spirits!
“Since they’re all hazy spirits, it’s tiring to differentiate them, so let’s carve numbers on the graves. Since listening to all orders is annoying, just give me a summary of the grave number and order content.”
When people overcome discomfort, humanity’s living standards can improve dramatically.
Spirits began engraving numbers instead of addresses on their graves, and a ritual table delivery service that exchanged orders and anime according to grave numbers was successfully completed.
The ritual table for spirits in the Tomb of the Sword took a giant step forward today.
“Hmm?”
“What’s this? This comfort…”
Lo and behold, an automated ritual table delivery service was now in place.
Jiang and Sing suddenly realized.
They could now obtain the extreme without having to forcefully draw their opponent’s trump cards through grueling training.
Moreover, the one receiving them was the cooking Oknodie.
To receive an extreme, the cooking Oknodie, who wasn’t familiar with swordsmanship, couldn’t just wave a sword around randomly.
“I don’t understand! Explain it more!
“…Is this enough?”
“That’s too short! The extreme of the previous spirit was much easier and more impressive!”
If one couldn’t understand, it was treated as a shabby swordplay in the cooking Oknodie’s subconscious!
Spirits that were cut got to experience detailed demonstrations, explanations, and even posture corrections and practice, made it so that just watching from the side would bring in plenty of gains.
‘Isn’t this free gain?’
‘Cooking experience points… are rising without even swinging a sword!’
Jiang and Sing’s swordsmanship experience began to soar!