NOVEL NEXT Chapter 980
<980 – Sword Saint(4)>
As the swordsmanship experience points of Jiang and Sing were soaring steeply, outside, Irene was rolling around.
“Don’t you care about the picture frame that could help with the Northern Expedition?”
“Not at all. I’m really just here to have fun.”
“I see. Then let’s just enjoy the view together!”
Jiang was feeling rather wronged about the whole situation.
The duo’s sightseeing involved the third-years who had barely managed to break through the Mansion Mimic, and the abandoned second-years.
The students, who had been getting hit equally regardless of their grade, slowly began to fight back.
They were finding and combining functions that allowed them to exert greater power in their respective specters, accumulating experiences that led to the development of a ‘strategy.’
This would later serve as practice against various spirit domain manipulators far beyond the upper-grade spirits arriving from a hundred dimensions.
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“About the swordsmanship realm.”
“Yep.”
“How did Oknodie break through it?”
Those rolling on the scene were busy surviving or fighting out of anger, but from outside, there was clarity to be seen.
“There’s a ‘level difference’ and ‘danger level’ visible even in the Picture World. Among them, the <Tomb of the Sword> is the most high-difficulty Picture World positioned at the very top.”
“Oh. You figured it out!”
“Don’t you think it’s too much for Oknodie to handle alone? It’s not that Oknodie is weak, but over there, swordsmanship skills are the most crucial. As for Oknodie’s swordsmanship…”
“It falls short of the escape passing line!”
“Right. How could they have made it out? More specifically, it’s not Oknodie; it’s the Glutton Oknodie, though.”
Would Irene even care?
She seemed completely set to avoid both the Tomb of the Sword and other picture worlds as if she had made up her mind to not enter even if she died.
For someone in urgent need of a mental break more than training, spoiling anything would hardly matter.
It’s like ruining the ending for someone who doesn’t even plan to watch a movie!
Oknodie, twirling their lovely hair, rubbed their fingers together to gather their thoughts and let out a small giggle.
“There was indeed a cheat play. Looking back at the memories, they were pulling some tricks.”
“Tricks?”
“The spirits in the Tomb of the Sword take their gravestones as <Life Vessels>. If the gravestone is damaged, the spirit fragments scatter, and the soul gathers in the coffin beneath the gravestone. In other words, it can receive a <Destruction> judgment.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Right? There’s a massive difference in difficulty between defeating Sword Saint Reinhardt and damaging the gravestone of Sword Saint Reinhardt.”
The cheat strategy was born out of the inadequate mana and souls of the summer phase, intertwining the roles of the gravestone!
It’s known as the speedrun route.
Even Oknodie’s split clone, who found a strategy in an unfamiliar event they had never seen before, was surprisingly less capable than the original—yet that talent felt solid to Irene.
Wouldn’t that talent be put to use in the Northern Expedition as well?
As they sweep away the Northern Demon King’s army and explore the Demon Realm, if they can easily overcome the strong enemies, the Empire Nobles’ Demon Realm exploration diaries and the wisdom of seasoned veterans would be nothing to envy.
“But isn’t that risky?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“The accumulated swordsmanship experience points.”
“Ah, you mean the accumulated experience points aren’t very high because they didn’t overcome trials in the proper way?”
“Yep.”
“It’s definitely less than if you faced opponents head-on, but instead, a ‘minimum’ experience will definitely accumulate. Plus, overcoming various events will easily make up for the losses!”
Bulk buying.
Rather than inserting a straw into a single picture world and sucking it dry as fast as possible, it’s more like inserting straws into many worlds and taking just a sip from each.
If many worlds have experiences, the total amount of experience gained could surpass just overcoming one at a time.
“I see.”
Irene nodded, pretending to agree, but she realized the massive difference between superficial gain and genuine experience gained through overcoming challenges.
‘Oknodie’s combat power is so impressive that I didn’t notice it, but Oknodie isn’t perfect either.’
Unintentionally, she grasped Oknodie’s ‘weakness.’
Their immense experience.
Not all of it might be ‘real experience.’
Like the swordsmanship experience points gained through shortcuts.
There might be many instances where experience increases just in numbers without genuine experience across various fields.
‘If Jiang and Sing keep accumulating swordsmanship experience like this, maybe—just maybe—they could surpass Oknodie in swordsmanship. Even with the same experience points, or perhaps even slightly lower.’
Of course, there’s the ‘boost effect’ and ‘synergy effect’ resulting from the countless functions linked to a single ability.
The countless abilities Oknodie has would definitely manifest such effects tremendously.
But if one ability could gain the upper hand, there might exist someone somewhere in this world who can manage multiple functions.
If they could deepen the experience of just a ‘few necessary functions’ more than Oknodie…
One day, among Class 981 or 980 students, someone who could defeat Oknodie might just appear.
“How many experience points did Oknodie earn inside there?”
“About 3000 points, maybe?”
Experience points built up three times of the ultimate stance.
Considering the existing experience points, it sounds impressive numerically.
Yet the situation inside wasn’t looking good.
“Is that result considering the synergy between stances?”
“Yep? How does synergy happen?”
“Like this.”
Oknodie, who was peering into the Picture World, looked shocked.
Spirits that were originally not meant to merge their swordsmanship.
Each one was too busy concealing their ultimate stance and hunting down as many spirits as possible to sharpen their strength.
Yet those spirits had changed.
They began a limitless circulation of rising swordsmanship levels, learning from each other’s ultimate stances and growing together.
*
The delivery service for the ritual table prompted some unexpected side effects.
“If I can teach at least one more sword technique, could we receive the ritual table again?”
It all started from a cheeky thought of one spirit.
It felt too disappointing to just enjoy it once!
“This is my special dish I made! Eating this boosts your strength… but can a spirit even gain muscles…? Nevertheless, I really put my effort into this!”
“How cute.”
Indeed.
Spirits began to enjoy Cooking Oknodie’s ritual table with a sense of watching their grandchildren.
However, many spirits were furious.
“Damn it. If I knew it would be like this, I would have just accepted what was given in the beginning. Those lucky folks got to see Chef Oknodie directly bring forth the ritual table and chatter at them. Now, we can only see Oknodie’s quotes on the messenger card!”
“Fast ones always benefit, huh?”
“The reason speedy sword masters boast that speed is everything is clearer now. Damn…”
The spirits felt aggrieved.
Even with the same ritual table, just because they were late in their orders and decisions, they received unequal treatment.
“At the very least, we should get two offers. Otherwise, this grievance and resentment won’t go away.”
“Are you in for that? I am too.”
“You, bring out your sword arts. Let’s mix our sword techniques differently and apply for one more.”
The spirits quickly created a swordsmanship club on the spot, where they exchanged ultimate stances they’d learned over their shoulders and studied together.
The clubs created everywhere consisted of a fusion club for combining techniques, clubs digging deeper into a single field, and clubs trading one side dish from the ritual table for one sword technique.
Truly, all the trendy cultures from the Tomb of the Sword started and concluded with the ritual table of Cooking Oknodie!
“…I see. If I incorporate ‘time difference’ swordsmanship into space swordsmanship, it could result in strikes that can’t be blocked, continuous attacks that don’t cease, and numerous derivative strikes.”
Sing’s swordsmanship ascended to an even more mysterious and threatening realm.
“Assassination doesn’t necessarily have to be against a person. It’s also possible to perform combat that targets the weapons of the enemy.”
Jiang opened his eyes to a new style of combat that combines the realization of weapon destruction and assassination techniques.
“Sis, can we duel one more time?”
“Absolutely. I also have a sword style I want to test.”
While Cooking Oknodie was busy setting up the ritual table and fell fast asleep, the two grabbed their swords.
As Jiang danced around the vicinity as if searching for an opening, Sia showed remarkable recovery while leisurely parrying Jiang’s eager attacks with a variety of moves from the original area.
While the previous two would have engaged in continuous attacks like that, the situation in this duel was entirely different.
‘Occupying more space and wielding more sword forms allows me to acquire more options for attacks by rearranging the fabric of space and time.’
Sing was embodying an intellectual combat style aimed at projecting sword arts into different spaces and times by first displaying swordsmanship and pushing through their own dimensions.
Though unpredictable in timing and location, Jiang continued to clear every sword strike she unleashed.
‘Sia’s recovery returns her to the original stance. Although the sword strikes can fly transversely across space and time, the created ‘gap’ from forcibly fitting into
Finding an opportunity in Sia’s forced attacks, Jiang memorized every blurred motion he witnessed, her trajectory, and the moves Sing took at that moment.
Although the number of maneuvers and strikes was more excruciating than he anticipated, his efforts were not in vain.
At the moment Jiang accurately predicted her movement and swordplay, he slipped beneath Sing, faster by a step.
“!”
As Sing’s sword swiped at Jiang’s long sword, Jiang’s hand pulled out a dagger from his pouch and stabbed at Sing’s longsword.
Clang!
The sword broke.
He did it.
Jiang was filled with joy when Sing’s leg kicked him in the side.
Rolling over, Jiang shot a look of accusation at Sing.
“That’s so cowardly.”
“Your body is your weapon. A magnificent woman… no, a splendid swordsman should know this.”
Staring into Sing—no, Sia’s imposing chest—Jiang couldn’t help but agree reluctantly.
“I’ll make sure I flatten that high chest of yours next time.”
“Hmph. Give it your best shot.”
Sing felt a little pleased knowing her combat power was acknowledged.
Jiang felt no ill will knowing he had nearly caught up to Sing’s swordsmanship.
The adjustments to their experiences within the Tomb of the Sword were nearing completion.
The last step remaining was just one step.
Defeat Sword Saint Reinhardt.
The much-anticipated confrontation was left.