I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents-Chapter 7: Floor 2 (3)

I picked up the fallen box from the ground and used my device to take a picture of the square object.

[Title: Sword of Light, what the hell is this?]

[Author: ㅇㅇ*]

It looks like it’ll explode if I touch it.ㄴ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Boom! So, it's a bomb? Well, to be fair, a lot of magitech devices do look like this.

ㄴ Sword of Light: Don’t worry. It’s painful all the same, but it won’t explode like that.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*: How can something be painful if it doesn’t explode?

ㄴ Sword of Light: You can check that item later. First, check the sword manual.

Ah, the sword manual.

The cover of the manual had a very simple title written on it.

Dragon Slayer Sword.

...A sword for hunting dragons.

Is there really a need for me to learn such a grandiose sword technique? Hmm.

The entry barrier seems way too high from the start.

ㄴ Sword of Light: If this were outside the tower, I’d have you grind mana control techniques to death. But in the tower, no matter how much you train your mana control, the structure won’t allow your mana capacity to increase.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Yeah, some people complain about that. But as someone from a farming background, I actually benefitted from it. I never had the talent to awaken through mana training anyway.

ㄴ Archmage: You need to hit at least level 20 before mana control becomes decent enough for a swordsman or warrior. Things like sword aura only become usable then. Before that, you can only use as much mana as you get from level-ups. Well, my starting point was different since I was a mage from the beginning.

As expected, it’s unfair.

People from 21st-century Earth had no choice but to start at a disadvantage compared to those from martial arts worlds or the medieval fantasy realms like where Sword of Light came from.

But then again, life is inherently unfair.

ㄴ Sword of Light: Just focus on mastering the sword techniques I wrote down. I explained them in a way you can easily understand, so read through them.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman: No matter how well it’s written and explained, if he doesn’t gain practical experience, it’s practically useless.

Gutter Swordsman, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly appeared to challenge Sword of Light’s statement.

However, Sword of Light didn’t seem flustered and quickly replied.

ㄴ Sword of Light: You’re right. Even if you understand it in your head, if you don’t put it into action, the technique won’t stay in your mind or body and will quickly fade. That’s why I also sent a sparring golem, Mk.2.

A sparring golem?

...Is it like a "training dummy" in games?

ㄴ Sword of Light: Press the activation button, and it’ll transform right in front of you into a humanoid golem.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*: And I have to fight it, right?

ㄴ Sword of Light: Yes, it has the introductory to mid-level sword paths from the manual implanted in it.

I could already guess what kind of experience awaited me.

A very ominous one.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*: How strong is this golem?

ㄴ Sword of Light: About as strong as I was when I was seventeen. It’s the same one I used for training back then. That was long before I entered the tower.

So, it’s weak, right?

...That was what I wanted to ask, but then I remembered this guy was an endgame-level Hard Mode clearer.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*: Uh... what’s that in terms of monsters?

ㄴ Sword of Light: I had already killed an Ogre Grand Chief and a Minotaur Assault Leader by then. Also took down one of the lowest-ranked demons of the Seven Calamities, that bastard Nephagos.

ㄴ ...You’re telling me you took down creatures most people can’t even kill in their lifetime when you were still a kid?

So if the golem is at that level... am I going to die?

Honestly, I don’t even know how strong those monsters are. I can only make guesses based on their names.

But judging from the other people’s reactions, my suspicions weren’t unfounded.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*: Did you send this thing to kill me?

ㄴ Sword of Light: You won’t die. The golem only uses a wooden sword.

ㄴ Nah, you won’t die. You’ll be in excruciating pain, but you won’t die.

ㄴ Wow, Sword of Light is terrifying. He came up with this plan in no time.

ㄴ Do you think a person who cleared Hard Mode would have a normal brain? They all seem dumb, but they survived a hellish bloodbath. Even as a Normal Mode clearer, my family freaked out over how messed up my emotional state became.

ㄴ Pioneer: Watch your mouth when calling people dumb.

I was starting to get a clearer picture.

What kind of "gift" Sword of Light had sent me.

And the comment from Heavenly Demon below confirmed that my theory was correct.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: You cannot die in the tower’s waiting room. Unless your head is completely severed by an ultra-fast sword path, all wounds will heal due to the waiting room’s effects.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: ...Indeed. If such sword paths unfold in battle, you can refine your combat senses quickly. And enduring the pain will also increase the proficiency of related skills.

ㄴ Translation: Your skills will level up fast.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: Then, wouldn’t it be better if the golem used a real sword? That way, your skill levels would rise even faster.

ㄴ Translation: This guy is even more insane. What kind of person even suggests that?

A real sword? That’s crazy talk.

ㄴ Sword of Light: I wondered if that was possible, so I tried to designate a trade with a real sword. It showed up as "trade impossible," as expected.

ㄴ Admin: They’re probably fine with people taking advantage of the waiting room’s healing system to some extent, but there must be a limit.

So basically, this was the result of combining the training golem Sword of Light sent me and the waiting room’s recovery effect.

An environment where I could be beaten to a pulp by the golem over and over but still recover fully every time.

ㄴ Sword of Light: The golem’s durability isn’t that high. Since it had to accommodate the Dragon Slayer Sword techniques, its durability dropped even further.

ㄴ Sword of Light: Thirty times. If you land thirty valid hits on the golem, it’ll break.

ㄴ Thirty?! LOL, with that skill gap, it’ll take half a year to land thirty hits.

ㄴ That golem with 30 durability left is about to survive for years.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman: ...It’s not entirely impossible, so I can’t say for sure that he’ll never break it.

I wanted to cry.

ㄴ Sword of Light: This was the best I could prepare in a short time. No need to be too grateful.

...Wow, thanks so much.

If I weren’t the one suffering, I’d probably applaud him for his brilliance.

But I was the one stuck in this situation.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*: Yeah... thanks for sending me this.

I needed to get my mind straight.

Just because these veterans seemed human didn’t mean I could apply normal logic to them.

ㄴ Sword of Light: Why don’t you try it out now?

ㄴ Admin: Hey, you’re going to be stuck in that sword hell anyway. At least get some sleep first.

So, Admin was the only sane one here?

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

ㄴ Admin: If you train in your current state, you won’t even get half the efficiency of proper training. Resting is part of training.

...Never mind. I take it back. There are no sane people here.

ㄴ Admin: Oh, and I kept meaning to ask—every time you show up, chaos erupts. What’s your name?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*: Han Yuseong.

ㄴ Han... Yuseong? That’s a unique name.

ㄴ Admin: Nice to meet you, Han Yuseong. Don’t die.

ㄴ Sword of Light: I’ll remember my disciple’s name.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon: It has a good ring to it.

I lay down.

Just one day.

And my life had changed this much.

Tomorrow scares me. The future even more so.

But I have to endure. If I want to clear this tower.

***

I could feel the baseball gripped in my right hand with perfect clarity.

The whole world was silent.

My eyes were locked on the catcher’s mitt.

Lifting my left foot slightly, I rotated.

Thwack!

Stretching my right leg forward, I extended my right arm, which had been drawn back.

The ball cut through the air and flew.

It was sucked into the mitt as if it belonged there.

Strike!

The umpire’s heavy voice rang out.

Everyone erupted into cheers and rushed toward me.

My fingertips tingled.

Clutching my right arm, I gave a bitter smile.

Winning isn’t what matters. Yuseong, why the hell did you wreck your arm like this when you're considered one of the Big Three? You’re going to keep playing baseball, right? Get well soon.

It was [N O V E L I G H T] the coach’s voice.

He was the one who had pushed me to overwork myself beyond my limits in the first place. A human body broke down so easily.

"Divorce him. I’ve hated him ever since he made Yuseong play baseball."

It was my mother’s voice.

Families broke just as easily.

The scene flashed forward.

Back on the mound.

The spikes of my cleats felt strangely foreign that day.

Crack!

Neither my mindset nor my pitching trajectory had changed.

Not a single thing had changed.

But the ball, struck by the batter’s bat, was soaring through the sky.

Pain flared in my shoulder once more.

Blood rushed to my eyes.

I dug into the dirt in frustration.

The future that had once seemed certain was so easily overturned.

When a junior teammate asked if I was okay, I grabbed him by the collar.

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I had no idea what I was saying.

It was like being underwater.

I couldn’t breathe.

"..."

My eyes opened.

It wasn’t exactly a pleasant dream.

I took a sip of the water I had bought with my coins yesterday.

The dream had been filthy, but my body felt refreshed.

I glanced at the clock.

7:32 AM.

A perfect time to start the day.

[Title: Morning, just woke up]

[Author: ㅇㅇ*]

As expected, I feel great after getting some sleep.Replies flooded in.

Most of the conversation was with Sword of Light.

He re-explained the sword manual he had given me and the so-called "prison of the sword."

After closing Transcendent Gallery, I started reading the manual.

Dragon Slayer Sword.

I couldn’t easily grasp what it was talking about.

But I skipped over the incomprehensible parts for now.

Sword of Light: Just take note of what you don’t understand and move on.Sword of Light: The golem will show you anyway.Following Sword of Light’s advice, I skimmed through the introduction before grabbing the small, square box.

A gray, cube-like box.

He had told me to take out the red fragment in the center and press the button.

Click—

A piece of the box detached like a cube fragment, revealing a black button inside.

Pressing that button would activate it.

The white button attached to the removed red cube fragment would stop it.

Beep—

I pressed the black button to activate the golem and set the box on the floor.

The surface of the box trembled, and mechanical arms shot out from both sides.

I could see the tiny gears shifting and turning with my naked eye.

A blue light glowed as another layer of square boxes beneath it began reshaping into bipedal legs.

The moment the golem recognized my presence, it moved.

—Swish!

Before I could even react,

A wooden sword slammed into my shoulder.

Crunch—

The sound of bones fracturing rang out.

"Agh."

Even though it was just a wooden sword, it hurt like hell.

Even though Pain Suppression activated whenever I got hit, pain was still pain.

Then, thanks to the waiting room’s effect, my body healed.

[Skill Enhancement Lv.1 – Activating Skill.]

The gemstone embedded in the center of the golem gleamed like a red, single eye.

I took three more hits.

[Skill 'Pain Suppression' has leveled up. Lv.3.]

And then I realized.

The countless slashes that had already carved into my body—

They were the First Form of the Dragon Slayer Sword, Þursahǫgg.

Follow current novels on freewebnσvel.cѳm.

Sword of Light: It’ll hurt a little.Sword of Light: Even though it’s a wooden sword, I made it with Setne wood, which is famous for its durability.Those were the last comments Sword of Light had left before I turned off the gallery.

Sword of Light: Even if it’s unfair. Even if it pisses you off. Even if you hate it. There’s nothing you can do. Just do it.I already know.

The pace of these old players is so fast it makes me want to cry.

But getting hit made things clearer.

I could see how I should swing the sword.

If I got it wrong, I just had to take a few more hits.

If I landed thirty hits, the golem would break.

Good.

I’ll definitely break you.