I Became a Swordsmanship Genius in the Game

Chapter 10. First Bronze Match

Pierre stared at the human before him for a moment.

He eventually opened his mouth, having even forgotten the respectful persona he had been maintaining.

“…You. Are you really human?”

“Yeah. As you can see.”

Hyunwoo shrugged his shoulders and continued speaking.

“Don’t you have anything decent besides this cheap junk?”

“……”

“Of course, what else can you expect from a black market merchant? That Orc guy brought a cheap merchant.”

At the sight of Hyunwoo scoffing, Pierre’s mask was finally stripped away completely.

“You arrogant human bastard…!”

Despite Pierre’s harsh words, Hyunwoo shook the potion as if it were no big deal and spoke.

“Then how about 125 mana stones for 5 of these strength potions?”

“…What? Are you out of your mind right now?”

“And I need five bundles of sage herbs and a heavy-tipped, sturdy iron sword. Those two together should be 95 mana stones. And…”

Hyunwoo ignored Pierre, who was making a dumbfounded expression, and began to arbitrarily price the items he needed.

After finishing his calculations, he opened his mouth.

“Let’s make it a total of 220 mana stones.”

“Do you take me for a joke? Why should I sell anything to the likes of you?”

“Do you think there won’t be anyone else willing to sell to me if I offer just 10 more mana stones here?”

“……”

Hyunwoo smiled leisurely and continued.

‘It’s obvious if he’s active as a black market merchant.’

A guy with no foundation and no officially operated shop in the Arena was unlikely to refuse such a deal.

Well, if it really didn’t work out, I could just call a new black market merchant.

There was not much to be disappointed about even if the deal fell through.

“You’re not the only black market merchant. If you’re not going to sell, then get lost.”

“……!”

As Hyunwoo waved his hand as if shooing a fly, Pierre’s bewilderment turned into anger.

The reason for his anger was that he had nothing to say in rebuttal.

“…Just how much did that blunt Orc bastard tell him about the Demon World?”

“I know it myself?”

“Ha! No way.”

Pierre didn’t believe that Hyunwoo, a human, could accurately grasp even the market prices of Demon World goods.

He simply thought he was a gladiator that the Administrator Orc clearly favored.

He wanted to turn his back on his arrogant attitude right away, but.

‘If it weren’t for this month’s performance…’

Pierre gritted his teeth as he thought of the inventory piled up in his warehouse.

Just as the human said, he wasn’t the only black market merchant.

If he left like this, the only one to be disappointed would be his own wallet.

Pierre forced his tightly shut mouth open and spoke.

“…Fine. I’ll sell.”

“The items?”

“I’ll have them delivered through the Administrator.”

As Pierre held out his hand, Hyunwoo took out mana stones from his pouch and gave them to him.

20, not 220.

Receiving the mana stones, Pierre’s eyes twitched as he glared at Hyunwoo.

“…Are you toying with me? What are you trying to do right now?”

“An advance. How can I trust a black market merchant?”

“……”

“I gave you an advance, so I’m keeping this?”

Hyunwoo tucked the potion into his bosom and shooed Pierre away with a gesture. The rıghtful source is noᴠelfire.net

Pierre let out a hollow laugh.

‘How could I be done in by a mere human….’

A human with no openings whatsoever.

He was a more tenacious bastard than himself, who prided himself on having gone through all sorts of trials and tribulations.

* * *

After Pierre left, Hyunwoo looked at the potion placed on his hand.

“Hmm…”

The visual of the potion, with its gloomy purple hue, was truly dreadful.

It was the ‘Potion of Strength Reinforcement’ that I had taken one of in advance after paying a deposit.

‘I should probably test one beforehand. It’s safe to drink, right…?’

Seeing the suspicious color, a hesitation to drink it arose.

It wasn’t a grape-juice-like purple.

It was a blackish purple that was reminiscent of poison.

Still, I couldn’t just keep having a staring contest with the potion.

Pop―

With a small sound, white steam rose from the opened potion bottle.

‘Just in one go.’

Hyunwoo drank the potion down.

“Ugh…”

He put down the bottle and grimaced.

It was disgustingly tasteless.

Well, I didn’t drink it to fill my stomach, so let’s move on.

The effect?

Hyunwoo clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly.

He tried to feel a change, but he couldn’t feel any particular difference.

‘Do I have to move to see?’

Hyunwoo picked up his sword.

He took the stance of the 2-Star swordsmanship, Sabla Swordsmanship, which he couldn't use properly before.

I centered my balance and twisted my waist to rotate.

Hung―!

⌜Sabla Swordsmanship (2-Star)―1%⌟

“Oh!”

Finally, there was a change in the proficiency.

The potion might taste bad, but its effect seemed to be certain.

Hung―! Hu-ung―!

After testing it several times with the proper stance, I was able to identify what was lacking.

As expected, the weapon was what was disappointing.

‘The weight is a bit lacking. The sword definitely needs to be heavier.’

With the current sword, the centrifugal force contained in the rotation wasn't being properly transferred.

I would be able to check when the sword I ordered arrived.

For now, Hyunwoo focused on raising the proficiency of the Sabla Swordsmanship.

Because if not for the duration of the potion, I wouldn’t be able to perform it with the proper stance.

I had no intention of wasting that time in vain.

Hu-ung―!

While he was in the middle of concentrating on his swordsmanship, the Orc came to visit.

He was holding a pouch in his hand.

Judging by the bulging shape, it seemed to be the potion and herbs I had ordered.

“Here, take it.”

Since the effect of the Potion of Strength Reinforcement was active, I couldn’t stop my training.

Hyunwoo gestured with his chin towards the mana stone pouch he had prepared.

“The balance. Give it to the black market merchant.”

Then, without even looking at the Orc, he continued to perform the Sabla Swordsmanship nonstop.

The Orc watched him silently for a while, then took out a sword from his waist and stuck it into the floor of the cage.

The Orc opened his mouth.

“This is the weapon the black market merchant gave you.”

Only then did Hyunwoo look at the Orc.

The Orc pointed at the sword in front of him, took the mana stone pouch, and left.

The sword I had been waiting for had arrived.

Hyunwoo examined the sword the Orc had left behind.

It was a type of dao, with the blade sharpened on only one side.

Hyunwoo pulled out the iron sword stuck in the ground.

“Keu-eung.”

The sword that the Orc held with one hand became a two-handed sword in Hyunwoo’s hands.

As big as it was, its weight was also considerable.

‘With this much…’

I would be able to properly contain the centrifugal force that was lacking with the wooden sword.

I gripped the sword and took my stance again.

But just as I was about to perform the Sabla Swordsmanship, the effect of the potion wore off.

“Keuk!”

Letting out a short groan of pain, Hyunwoo dropped the sword and collapsed on the spot.

His whole body trembled.

I checked the arm that had been holding the sword, and it was moving on its own as if convulsing.

‘Is this the side effect of the potion?’

It exerted a doping-like effect that temporarily strengthened the muscles, but in return, pain followed when the effect ended.

“Heok. Heok…”

Still, I thought that this level of pain was bearable.

I had ordered the sage herbs just in case the pain was too severe, but it wasn't bad enough to use them right away.

‘Once the side effects are over.’

Hyunwoo closed his eyes and tried to gauge how long the side effects would last.

If not now, there would be no time to check this leisurely.

The game’s settings and reality are completely different.

In this place where the five senses exist, there's a limit to what can be solved with information alone, so Hyunwoo needed time to figure it out.

“Hoo.”

After a short rest, Hyunwoo picked up the sword again.

There was less than a day until the next match.

I had to raise the proficiency of the Sabla Swordsmanship as much as possible before then.

* * *

The next day came.

Hyunwoo's first match after becoming Bronze.

It was the day of his debut.

I couldn’t be sure if it was morning inside the dark cage, but as always, the Orc came.

“Are you ready?”

At the Orc’s question, Hyunwoo shrugged and held his sword at an angle.

The sword was too big for his body, so it was difficult to wear it at his waist.

The Orc looked at the armed Hyunwoo once, then opened the cage.

Then he pointed with his finger to a dark passage.

“Just walk straight along the passage.”

“Does it start right away?”

When the Orc nodded, Hyunwoo took a deep breath and left the waiting room.

Once I pass through that passage, it's the Arena.

With the determination to survive this time as well, Hyunwoo’s feet began to move.

Walking down the passage, Hyunwoo checked his status window.

⌜Sabla Swordsmanship (2-Star)―15%⌟

As a result of groaning and swinging the sword all day, I was able to raise the proficiency to 15%.

‘The number of times I can perform Sabla Swordsmanship without a Potion of Strength Reinforcement is two? No, if I push myself, I can do it three times.’

And as a result of consuming one more potion for an experiment, I found that I could swing it without much trouble for about a minute after drinking the potion.

Now, what's left is the real fight.

‘I did my best.’

I did everything I could.

Now I just had to focus on the next match.

Hyunwoo stood in front of a blocked gate.

A moment later.

Kururung―

The firmly closed gate of the arena slowly opened.

Through the opening gap,

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa―!!!!!!!!

The cheers of the crowd poured in.

‘There are so many.’

There were incomparably more spectators than in the previous matches.

First of all, the height of the arena was different.

The spectator seats spread out behind the dizzyingly high outer wall of the arena.

The spectators’ faces were so far away they looked like black dots.

‘So from now on… is this a real Arena match.’

Gladiators began to appear one by one from other passages as well.

It seemed there were more gladiators fighting in this match than I had thought.

Hyunwoo looked around.

His gaze was focused not on the participants, but on the scenery of the Arena.

‘What kind of match is it?’

There are various types of matches in the Demon World Arena.

They are broadly divided into individual matches, team matches, and brawl matches, and which match would be held was decided randomly.

Among these, the match Hyunwoo wanted to avoid the most was the ‘brawl match’.

Hyunwoo's current weaknesses were his weak muscular strength and stamina.

Even if he solved the muscular strength problem with the potion he brought, there was no way to replenish his stamina.

In that sense, a ‘brawl match’, where you fight a large number of enemies without distinguishing between friend or foe, was the worst kind of match for him.

‘The large number of participating gladiators bothers me…’

While Hyunwoo was thinking about what kind of match would come up, the center of the Arena split open and a huge pillar rose up.

As thick smoke came out from the top of the pillar, the cheers of the crowd poured out once more.

Before long, the thick smoke cleared, and someone appeared on top of the pillar.

Except for the horns on his head, his appearance was no different from a human.

The guy, who cleared his throat as if testing a microphone, seemed to be the emcee.

[Ah, ah.]

The emcee began to speak.

[First of all, I would like to thank all the distinguished guests who have come to our Bellatus Arena.]

The emcee spoke with a formal air.

[I am Moraday, the emcee for this match.]

He appropriately made eye contact with the spectators in the stands, drawing their attention.

[Now, shall we choose the match that our Bronze gladiators will fight? I like this time the best. It's why I'm an emcee. Now, I will summon the roulette wheel!]

A moment later, when the emcee lightly snapped his fingers, a huge roulette wheel appeared in front of him.

On each slot of the roulette wheel were panels with various matches written on them.

A short while later, the emcee, who had been inducing cheers, spun the roulette wheel vigorously.

Hyunwoo could also see the matches on the roulette wheel.

His gaze was fixed on a single roulette slot.

‘…Please.’

A moment later, the roulette stopped, and the emcee's eyes sparkled as he shouted.

[―This match is… a ‘Trap Time Attack’!!]

Crazed shouts came from the stands.

Unlike the spectators who were already excited by the match type alone, the gladiators let out sighs and curses from all over.

At the contrasting reactions of the spectators and the gladiators, the emcee spoke with a satisfied expression.

[Yes. That's right! It's your favorite match type. Because….]

The emcee, who had been building up the atmosphere by pausing for a moment, opened his mouth with sparkling eyes.

[―It's the match where the most gladiators die!]

While the gladiators' expressions contorted, Hyunwoo let out a sigh of relief.

Hoo―

‘Thank goodness.’

Because the match type he had wanted the most, ‘Trap Time Attack’, had been selected.

‘This one should be a bit easier.’