Shujinkou Janai! - CH 60

The duel with the Sword Saint began with an unexpected encounter.

After the world-wide event, the Tournament for the World’s Strongest ended, we returned to our normal peaceful life.

……Or so it should have been……

[H- Hey, Old man. That just now……]

[Don’t say it. I already know, so don’t say it.]

When we headed to the Guild’s training ground as usual, there stood Adventurers with sparkling eyes, seemingly waiting for someone.

(D*mn it! This is all Nirva’s fault!)

Nirva’s comment at the had made me the talk of the city as “the man who defeated the world’s strongest swordmaster in a duel and taught him swordsmanship”.

(What a bunch of nonsense! I bet he was just too lazy to teach the technique to others himself!)

I remembered the teasing smile Nirva had at that moment.

In the first place, even though he claimed “he learned that swordsmanship technique from me”, that’s not true at all.

All I had shown him was the fact that “manually executing Arts is possible”, and I hadn’t given him any hint as to its practical use.

However, just a few days passed and Nirva not only became able to manually execute Arts on his own, but also developed the technique of changing the angle of an Art and even demonstrated the application of activating another Art with both hands.

(That guy is the real deal.)

As to be expected from a person called genius in this world……

His imagination and technical skills are far superior to ordinary people like me.

Rumors that I had won a duel against such a monster, which is something I had only managed to somehow achieve with my game knowledge, is something that would only make me troubled.

And so, on behalf of Nirva, who had left on his own, I desperately tried to explain myself.

I told them that my victory over Nirva had been in a match that was under special conditions, how that doesn’t mean I’m stronger than him at all, and that I had only shown him that swordsmanship technique.

[And yet, what the heck is this……]

There were so many Adventurers in the training grounds that it was ridiculous to even count them, obviously waiting around as if they were looking for something.

As I lament my current situation, which isn’t going the way I want it to, the nearby Resilia, whose expression was the same as always, told me matter-of-factly.

[Your half-hearted denial backfired. Thanks to all your denying, it instead gave credibility to how “the parts you didn’t deny are true”.]

[……If you already knew that would happen, I wish you had stopped me then.]

When I helplessly retorted, Resilia shrugged her shoulders.

[You certainly are trying to make them doubly sure, but I think the result would have been the same. That was just how big of an impact that Sword Saint’s technique had on them.]

In other words, when Nirva pointed at me, the end result was already decided.

This ain’t funny at all.

[Rather than that, what are you going to do, Nii-san? I’m sure they will also notice our arrival soon.]

[That is……]

I have already decided to disclose the information about Manual Arts through the Guild.

It’s not like I’m unwilling to teach them, but I’m afraid that I might not be able to cope with teaching so many people at once.

Letting out a sigh, I called out to Radd and Resilia over.

[It can’t be helped. Change of plans.]

The impact of Nirva Dual-Wielding Arts was so strong at that place that it seemed to be the only thing that attracted attention, but it seems that those with discerning eyes should have already figured out that the Arts used by Radd are different from the norm.

That’s why, considering that the training ground where Radd and Resilia always train their swordsmanship had been overtaken by them, it would be better if the swordsmen group of me, Radd and Resilia didn’t go to that place.

Besides, I happened to know a certain “trial” that can be conquered only by front line-type characters.

[————–We’ll have some special training, Radd. Today, I’m going to make you a full-fledged treasure hunter.]

※　※　※

As I wade through the grasslands, trying to remember the path we’re supposed to take, I call out to Radd.

[To be honest, I’ve been thinking that it’s about time we got you a new Class.]

Radd’s current Class is .

A special Class that can be Class Changed by wearing specific equipment with the peculiar Class .

Although it’s a Class that you could Class Change to relatively early, its growth rate is equivalent to that of a Fourth-Tier Class.

It was a very tasty Class while your level was low, but now that his level has exceeded 30 and his bare minimum ability values had met the requirements for Class Changing to a Fourth-Tier Class, he doesn’t have much to gain from anymore.

No, due to the fact that it’s a balanced type where everything is almost average in growth, may be more difficult to handle than other Fourth-Tier Classes.

[Speaking of balanced types, , which could be accessed in the future, isn’t much different. Well, the Class is a Unique Class that is designed to be equivalent to a Third-Tier Class. It’s a little more scrambled than , but it has more bonus affinity values than the .]

[Heehhh…… Arehh?]

Radd was listening to my story with a nod of his head, but then he tilted his head.

[But Old man, didn’t you say how “when you reach Lv 99, your level may not increase anymore, but you can still raise your ability values as much as you want”? If you can just make up for your shortcomings by working hard at Lv 99, then wouldn’t it be better to just intentionally suppress the growth of ability values with a weak Class to speed up the level increase and learn powerful techniques earlier……]

I see his point, that’s a natural conclusion you’d arrive at.

But sadly, that’s unfortunately not realistic.

[First of all though, it’s reckless to try to raise your level when your ability value hasn’t grown enough. Even if you suppress the growth of your ability value a little by using a Class with low affinity given, the amount of EXP required won’t change much. Above all……]

[Above all?]

[When you reach Lv 99, the EXP requirement correction is inflated. Well, it still depends on your ability values, but you can consider that raising your ability values by a level after reaching Lv 99 requires at least several to 10 times more EXP than raising it from Lv 98 to Lv 99.]

[T- Then……]

As Radd’s face turned pale, I ruthlessly declared.

[It’s going to be even harder to overturn the ability value difference after Lv 99 than it was before it.]

[U- Ueeehhh……]

Everything beyond Lv 99 should just be treated as a challenge to improve oneself even further.

It’s essentially not of nature that would make existing gameplay easier.

[Well, that’s why Classes with high growth rates are important.]

I pulled a frowning Radd to the side and continued on.

I was anxious because I had only visited this place in my gaming days, but fortunately, I found the place I was searching for quickly.

[……We’re here.]

[Here? I can’t see anything though.]

As Radd spoke this, I placed my hand on a rock surface that appeared to be a dead end, and the wall illusion disappeared, revealing the passageway through it.

Inside it was a blatantly well-maintained path.

This is definitely man-made.

[……Just as usual, you find stuff that you usually wouldn’t have. How the heck do you even find places like this, Old man?]

I just shrugged at Radd’s question and went inside.

[……Speaking of which, you’ll achieve your other wish here too.]

[My other wish?]

[Yeah……]

I walked unhesitatingly through the as it appeared and turned my gaze toward the path marked as “The First Trial”.

As I used on the statue of a knight on a pedestal in the center of the room, which looked as if it was about to start moving, I spoke.

[Come on, you should be pleased. You’ve got a practice partner that will never break even after endless pounding.]