The moment I grasped the sword, the small wounds on my body healed. The fatigue I felt
vanished, and as the fatigue disappeared, I heard a voice.
"What keeps you alive?"
What keeps me alive? What is there in this life that sustains my existence?
Kasou: "If there's anything important in this life, it's definitely revenge."
"Revenge? Something as simple as that?"
Kasou: "I don't know what that cursed mind of yours knows, but for me, revenge is the only
tangible concept in this world ruled by abstract emotions."
"Anyone can talk big. What matters is putting those words into action."
Kasou: "I'm not like the people you think or might imagine. I live for revenge, and as long as I
live, I will kill those people."
"Are you a murderer?"
There's no reason for me not to be a murderer, but how could I say yes to such a question?
Kasou: "I don't kill anyone without judgment. I'm not a bad person.""I've never seen a good person kill someone."
I don't know why I'm answering these voices echoing in my mind, but I think I'm responding
because I started hearing them the moment I took the sword.
Kasou: "Have you ever seen a good person who doesn't defend themselves, who lets others kill
them?"
"So you're saying they attacked you?"
Kasou: "Countless times; I was humiliated, beaten until I passed out, my loved ones were killed,
and finally, I was left to die."
Kasou: "Isn't that enough?"
"If I can trust what you're saying, then yes, it's enough."
Kasou: "Will you combine your power with mine? That way, you can see whether you can trust
me or not."
"Then promise me, child."
Kasou: "I swear to you, I will never betray your trust."
"Can I consider you my partner from now on?"Kasou: "Of course, partner..."
Suddenly, I heard a different voice.
""ANCIENT SWORD USER APPROVED...""
Kasou: "Ancient Sword User?"
"You've achieved the first rank of my sword. With each rank you ascend, you'll gain additional
power."
Kasou: "Power?"
Michael: "Exactly."
Kasou: "By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we? I'm Aris Kasou."
Michael: "My name is Michael. Actually, I already know your name. The moment I accepted you
as my partner, your name was etched into my soul."
Kasou: "By the way, how powerful is the Ancient Sword User rank?"
Michael: "Powerful enough to destroy a large lake, but right now, you're only using about 2% of
that power."Kasou: "So when I reach 100%, will I only be able to destroy a lake?"
Michael: "When you reach 100%, you can advance to my second rank."
Kasou: "How do I reach 100% in the Ancient Sword User rank?"
Michael: "You can increase your Manas reserves by hunting monsters or meditating."
Kasou: "Can I kill them—"
Michael: "You said you wouldn't betray my trust."
Michael, who interrupted me, was right. What was I even afraid of? This much regret and sorrow
could turn a cat into a lion.
Kasou: "When do we start, partner?"
Michael: "Now that's the spirit."
Michael: "First, I recommend you meditate."
Following this advice, I sat under a waterfall and opened my hands as if in prayer. As he
instructed, I would focus on the Manas flowing within me and clear my mind.
A few minutes later, a flood of unnecessary thoughts began to fill my mind.Kasou: "I can't do this yet."
Michael: "DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP! TRUE STRENGTH BEGINS WHEN YOU THINK YOU
CAN'T GO ON!"
His shouting didn't help, but anyway, I'm trying to clear my mind...
I reached a stage where I could even feel the rotation of the Earth, but despite the difficulty, I
continued to meditate.
Michael thought to himself: "If he can maintain this level of success, he'll be able to undertake
his first monster hunt very soon."
My eyes were closed, so I didn't notice, but Michael, with his abstract vision ability, could see
that the water flowing down around me wasn't touching me. It was flowing completely around
me.
Michael: "Oh my God."
As soon as he spoke, my focus broke, and the water began to soak me.
Kasou: "Hey, what are you doing? I was doing pretty well, I think."
Michael: "You don't realize what you just achieved. Your body was starting to glow, emitting a
green light."
Kasou: "Is that a good thing?"
Michael: "If you had achieved this while hunting monsters, you would have already reached the
second rank, but meditation doesn't provide much power increase."
Kasou: "Why?"
Michael: "Because it's an easy method and doesn't involve any danger."
Kasou: "How much stronger have I become in these two hours?"
Michael: "I think you can use about 4% of your first rank's power. Your Manas level increases
very slowly through meditation."
Kasou: "Meditation = Trash."
Michael: "You might regret saying that in the future."Kasou: "How do you know?"
Michael answered in a quieter tone.
Michael: "From the old days..."
---
After a while, we started wandering through the forest. As we chatted, I picked fruits from the
tops of the trees.
I separated the unripe fruits and ate the rest.
After satisfying my hunger a bit, I continued moving forward.
Ever since I took the sword, I didn't feel tired from walking.
Kasou: "Michael, for some reason, I haven't felt tired since I took you. Is the power you're giving
me preventing fatigue?"
Michael: "You only don't feel tired while traveling. In a battle, you'll start to feel tired because
you'll be using Manas, and I can't prevent that at this rank."
Kasou: "So there are ranks where I don't feel tired even in battle?"
Michael: "Yes, but it's too early to talk about that. Right now, you need to be able to hunt
goblins."
Kasou: "Then let's hunt, partner."Michael: "Look, there are a few goblins over there."
Kasou: "So these are goblins."
They were as ugly as in the anime. Their bellies suggested obesity, while their thin arms
suggested weakness. The rusty swords they carried showed just how stupid they were.
Kasou: "First, I'll throw a stone."
I threw a stone behind them, planning to cut their heads off when they turned to see what it was.
I threw the stone, and it made a sound, but the goblins didn't turn around.
Kasou: "Why? Are they deaf?"
Michael: "Kasou, stop!"
Assuming they were deaf, I took a step forward to approach them from behind, but they noticed
Michael: "Ahh, kid, why don't you listen to me?"
I blocked the first goblin's attack with the sword, but the force of the attack made me drop
Michael from my hand.
Kasou: "Oh no."I dodged the second goblin's sword swing, but the third goblin on the left kicked me in the
stomach.
The kick sent me flying far away, opposite to where Michael was.
Kasou: "This weight... what is this?"
Blood was coming out of my mouth. I slowly got up. The goblins locked onto me and started
running toward me.
I dodged one attack, grabbed another's elbow, and stole its sword.
I stabbed the sword into the head of the goblin that jumped at me from behind, then ran to
Michael and picked him up.
That's how I killed my first goblin, but if I wanted to get out of here, I needed to kill more.
Michael: "Kasou, it won't be easy to kill them this way. There's a much easier method to kill
goblins."
As Michael spoke, an arrow came from behind and hit my arm. If there was an easier method, I
had to use it, or I could die here.
Kasou: "Explain that method quickly, hurry!"
Michael: "Listen, Kasou, goblins are blind and deaf monsters, but they can sense aura. When
you stepped behind them, you entered their range, and because you just meditated, your aura
was hypertrophic."
Kasou: "Hypertrophic? So because I increased my power through meditation, my aura
expanded temporarily?"Michael: "Exactly. If you can hide your aura a bit, you can hunt goblins much more easily."
Kasou: "How do I do that?"
While we were talking, the battle continued. Two more arrows hit me; one in my abdomen and
the other in my leg. If I took a few more hits, I might not be able to fight. I needed to learn the
aura-hiding method as soon as possible.
Michael: "Meditation is actually a method of compressing and hiding your aura. You strengthen
your current Manas by compressing it. This is called the aura-hiding method, also known as
Meditation."
Kasou: "What, so I have to meditate during battle? Isn't that too difficult?"
Michael: "You said meditation was trash, didn't you?"
Ah, it would have been better if you hadn't brought that up. Meditation really is incredibly
important.
Alright, I'll try...
I'm clearing my mind...
My focus broke as I dodged an arrow, but I tried again.
I'm clearing my mind...
My focus broke again as a goblin kicked me to the ground.
Clearing my mind? How can I do that in this situation?! The goblins were constantly attacking,
not to mention the noise...
Is it even possible to do this without a quiet and calm environment?But I couldn't give up. If I couldn't survive here, if I couldn't meditate during battle, I wouldn't be
able to take revenge. I'm so eager to see their pitiful faces begging... I can't lose to these
goblins here!
Michael: "Hoo?"
Michael was thinking to himself and didn't share his thoughts with me telepathically.
Michael: "This is getting interesting. Can this kid really do it?"
Suddenly, the goblins started moving slower, as if... as if they were having trouble sensing me.
I blocked one's sword strike with my sword and quickly moved behind it, cutting off its head.
The goblin archer missed this time, and I picked up the arrow that hit the ground and threw it
back at him with full force. The arrow hit him in the head, and the goblin was neutralized.
I infused Manas into a stone I found on the ground and threw it behind the last goblin. As it
turned, I stabbed it through the heart with my sword.
The fatigue of the battle overwhelmed me, and I sat down on the ground, the goblin's corpse in
front of me.
Michael: "You did it, partner."
Kasou: "It was exhausting. Can I release my aura now?"
Michael: "For now, you can. There are no goblins around."
Following Michael's words, I stopped hiding my aura, and as soon as I did, Michael told me to
check my Manas level.Kasou: "Did it increase?"
Michael: "You can now use about 21% of your first rank's power."
Kasou: "21%?"
As soon as I finished my sentence, I passed out. The battle was extremely exhausting, and I
had lost a lot of blood and sustained deep wounds.
When I woke up, it was evening. I was cold, but my wounds had healed.
Kasou: "Michael, is this the power of your first rank?"
Michael: "Exactly; features like no fatigue outside of battle, low-level healing outside of battle,
aura-hiding enhancement, night vision, extra low-level strength enhancement, and extra
low-level speed enhancement."
Kasou: "Even these are great features. What about the next rank? What kind of features does it
have?"
Michael cleared his throat and then spoke.
Michael: "You don't need to know that right now. When you reach the second rank, you'll see its
features."
Kasou: "So you're not going to tell me?"
Michael: "It's better if I don't tell you for now because if you hear the features of the second
rank, you might throw yourself into unnecessary danger trying to reach it and die."Kasou: "So you're saying I'll see when I reach it?"
Michael: "Exactly. You know what you need to do to reach the second rank. You need to hunt
more goblins."
With a sudden burst of excitement, I started running. I was running against the wind. The leaves
on the trees around me were swaying and making noise.
---
Three days had passed since that day. For three days, I hunted the goblins and deer I
encountered. While eating the deer, the goblins strengthened me.
Now I could use about 49% of Michael's power. The increasing power day by day was truly
impressive, like the effect I saw in the gym in my previous world.
On another sunny day, while wandering through the forest, we saw the entrance to a cave, but it
was far from the path, next to a cliff.
Kasou: "Do you think we can jump?"
Michael: "It doesn't look too far. If you speed up a bit, you can easily jump there."
Then Michael continued.
Michael: "What worries me is that it might be a nest. If it's something like a bear's den, it
wouldn't be a problem, but if it's a goblin nest and the goblin queen is there, we'll be in trouble."
Kasou: "How many goblins are usually in a nest?"Michael: "Actually, there aren't many, but there are elite goblins who might be courting the goblin
queen, meaning strong goblins."
Kasou: "Few but functional, then..."
Despite Michael's warning not to throw myself into too much danger, I wanted to enter this nest
no matter what.
"What I can do to improve is only limited by what I think I can do."
I encouraged myself with this thought and started to back up.
Michael: "Are you really going to do it?"
After taking my last step, I answered.
Kasou: "Of course!"
With a full-speed run, I jumped, and while in the air, I thought about what I wanted to do.
"I'll never forgive them for putting me in this danger."
---
As he said, I managed to jump easily. Although I let out a deep "phew," I knew it was too early to
relax.
I entered cautiously, keeping an eye on my surroundings while thinking of tactics. Surprisingly,
there were human drawings on the walls, but these drawings mostly depicted methods of raping
women.
Michael: "I think kidnapped women were forced to mate here in the past."Kasou: "Did such things happen?"
Michael: "Yes? Where have you been? Many villagers experienced this, and countries couldn't
go on expeditions because the men who went on expeditions left their wives defenseless at
home."
Kasou: "You said there are only a few goblins left for the goblin queen?"
Michael: "This must be the mating area. Besides the mating area, there's the goblin queen's
nest. I hope this is the mating area because hunting goblins in the mating area is much easier."
As we went further, we started seeing more drawings, with extremely nauseating methods.
After a while, we came across a few forks in the path.
Kasou: "Which one?"
Michael: "Let's take the second of these four paths."
I didn't object to this quick decision and started walking. Just as I was about to enter the second
path, a loud sound came from the fourth path.
I asked seriously.
Kasou: "Are you ready?"
Michael: "Shouldn't I be the one asking that?"
I entered slowly. I looked inside without revealing myself, and there was a goblin inside.
I tried the method I always used on goblins, infusing Manas into a stone, but this time I infused
two stones and threw one to the right diagonal and immediately the other to the left diagonal.As it turned from right to left, I jumped from the opposite side and attacked...
Kasou: "What?"
It had blocked my attack and even immediately kicked me into the wall.
Wiping the blood from my mouth, I slowly got up.
Kasou: "This power... Is the monster in front of me a goblin?"
Michael answered my unanswered question.
Michael: "Ahhh, the thing we didn't want to happen has happened. From now on, we're in a
goblin queen's nest."
While I was still in shock, the second attack came, but I dodged it.
Kasou: "This goblin is so fast-."
Before I could finish my sentence, it was behind me. At the last moment, I blocked its strike with
my arm, but I was thrown back.
The force of the blow had numbed my arm. Before the dust cloud cleared, I passed through it
and attacked the goblin.
I made 20 quick attacks, but it parried all of them and counterattacked.
While fighting quickly, I was taking a beating quickly. With its last blow, I was thrown into the wall
again, but this time I was thrown much farther.
At first, I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't move, probably due to the blows I had taken.Kasou: "Should I use that feature in this situation?"
Michael: "We have no other choice. Everything is permissible to win."
---
The goblin approached me with slow steps. When it looked at where I had been thrown, it
couldn't see me and was surprised.
When my Manas appeared behind it, it turned around, but I was faster and severed its arm from
its body.
The goblin screamed in pain and got angry. Now it attacked faster and stronger, but its attacks
seemed slower and weaker to me.
This was a feature I had developed over a few days of battles, the changing aura...
I meditated and broke the meditation half a second later, repeating this cycle continuously.
This way, the attacks kept seeming slower, and my aura's hypertrophy, its expansion, continued
constantly.
This power kept making me stronger during battle.
Kasou: "Now its attacks feel light when I parry them. I think I'll counterattack."
This time it attacked, I blocked, and I counterattacked.
In a cool and flashy way, I raised my fist in the air and said, "Now it's your turn to take damage."
The goblin was thrown back and stunned after a strong punch.
Kasou: "Now's the perfect time."
I quickly dashed forward and cut off its head. After sheathing my sword in the wooden scabbard
I had made, I turned around.Blood was gushing from the goblin's body. The feature that helped me win this battle was
exhausting me, so I collapsed to the ground, ignoring the blood flowing from the goblin's corpse
onto my body.
Kasou: "I'm so tired..."
Michael: "Your feature is really powerful. Have you used it before in previous battles-"
Kasou: "Did you say something?"
Michael had fallen silent again. When Michael fell silent, he wouldn't speak no matter what, but
this time he broke his silence.
Michael: "..."
Kasou: "What's wrong? Are you going to tell me?"
Michael: "Check your current level."
What, is that it?!!!
This sword really pissed me off sometimes.
Kasou: "You're driving me crazy... Anyway, let me see."
Michael: "Ohhh, it looks like you'll reach the second level soon. You've progressed 31% with just
one goblin."Kasou: "80%... Amazing! Let's kill more elite goblins!"
The sound of footsteps... and another... When I turned my head, I saw a goblin with a different
appearance. Was this even a goblin? I didn't know...
Michael: "No way! Kasou, run away-"
Before Michael could finish, I had already stood up and decided to attack immediately.
---
I pushed the hypertrophy to its limit and swung the sword with all my might. The creature in front
of me caught the sword with its hand!
Kasou: "What?"
It looked at me with its sweet appearance and smiled. Slowly, it raised its hand and touched my
chest, sending me flying back.
Even though I got up immediately, it was already behind me.
Kasou: "How is this possible? Even though I was thrown meters back, it was behind me when I
got up."
As I said this, it moved behind me, but the sound of its footsteps came after it moved. So it took
a step, and when it took the next step, the sound of the first step came. It was very hard to
follow with my eyes, but luckily it had only touched me once(!) and then just moved.
The creature in front of me started speaking.
"Hello, human. Why are you here?"Kasou: "Human? Aren't you human?"
Michael: "Ah, stupid kid. If you had listened to me, I would have told you it's the goblin queen."
The goblin queen? At first, I thought it was another creature. No matter how human it looked, no
matter how beautiful it was, the goblin queen emitted a filthy aura that no human could emit. So
the reason I thought it was another creature was that, despite not looking like a goblin, it emitted
a monster's aura.
The queen answered.
"I am the queen the goblins worship(!)."
Kasou: "So you're the goblin queen..."
The queen: "You thought I wasn't, didn't you? In such a beautiful body..."
As she showed more of her cleavage, she squeezed her own breast.
"...it's normal for you to be mistaken."
"I see you've killed my slave, and since you didn't answer my question... there's no harm in me
attacking!"
---
With quick steps, I was subjected to a series of punches, each heavier and harder than the last.
I could hear my bones breaking.This wasn't a fight between two people; it was a one-sided beating. When I swung my sword to
counterattack, I took several blows to my arm and almost simultaneously to various parts of my
body.
Covered in blood, I was about to fall.
When the queen appeared in front of me, the sound of her movement hadn't even reached me
yet. A few seconds later, the sound of her movement came, and she started speaking.
The queen: "What a pity. I expected a tougher warrior."
She clenched her fist, tensed, and with a solid punch, sent me flying back to the cliff at the
cave's entrance.
As I fell from a great height, I was about to lose consciousness. The only thing I felt was the
harsh pressure of the wind... Before I even hit the ground, I passed out and felt nothing.
---
"Girls, hold on!"
"Ahhhh!"
"Mai! No, don't do it!"
"Take this, you damn elf!"
I slowly opened my eyes. Even though the sunlight was blinding me...
What is this wetness I feel? This moisture? This coldness? A stream?
Michael: "Finally awake, kid?"Kasou: "Ahh... what... happened to me... like this?"
I was slowly coming to my senses, but I couldn't remember what had happened before. So I
asked Michael to clarify.
Michael: "After taking the goblin queen's last blow, you fell from the cliff into the river and
eventually reached this stream."
Kasou: "So we survived by luck, huh? Ahahah."
Our conversation was interrupted by screams coming from afar, and we turned our attention
there.
Kasou: "Do you know what's happening?"
Michael: "A group of humans is under attack, but I don't know the details. If the goblin queen is
after us, she might have confronted them too."
Kasou: "I'm sorry, Michael. Even if I can't win, even if I have hatred for humans, no innocent
person deserves to die."
Michael: "Even if I tell you not to go, you'll go, won't you? Ahhh, wasn't proving you're a good
person enough?"
Kasou: "This isn't about proving anything, Michael. You don't understand."
I started running forward. A group of humans was under attack, but was the attacking side a
group of humans? No, it wasn't, because when I looked closely, I saw their ears were much
longer.Elf: "Die, damn human."
He raised his sword and was about to stab the girl on the ground. Without giving the elf a
chance, I cut off its head and knelt beside the girl.
She looked at me, frightened and confused. Thinking I needed to calm her, I patted her head.
Kasou: "Don't worry, it's over... I'm strong."
I stood up and saw that I was surrounded.
No matter how cool I acted, I might be in a dangerous situation now…