I Became a Swordsmanship Genius in the Game

Chapter 36. One Step at a Time

“Information, you mean?”

“Yes. Information related to the arena.”

Seeing Verian sitting with her legs crossed and a relaxed smile, I wondered if she was going to ask for Mana Stones.

There was no way Lotus would just hand over information for free.

“How much is this information?”

“Ah, you misunderstand. This isn't a transaction, but a simple favor. In the first place… this isn't information that can be traded. It's a bit sensitive.”

“A simple favor….”

“Yes. You don't have to feel burdened.”

I could guess her intentions even less.

The Information Guild, Lotus, was giving out information as a simple favor?

Even a passing dog wouldn't laugh at that.

There must be some ulterior motive….

As Hyunwoo maintained a wary expression, she smiled with her eyes and said.

“It's true. Do you know why the gladiators who went out on requests were urgently recalled?”

“…I’m not sure?”

Hyunwoo had his guesses, but he saved his words.

“It seems investigators will be dispatched to refresh the atmosphere.”

“Investigators….”

“You look like you know what investigators are, don't you?”

“I've heard a thing or two.”

Hyunwoo knew well about the arena's ‘investigators’.

It was a common occurrence for gladiators to die on requests from the arena.

But when a massive loss occurred, like in Sylvester's case, a situation arose where gladiators hesitated to take on requests.

To correct such an atmosphere, investigators were often dispatched to the gladiators.

“They say they're going to investigate the Sylvester request.”

“Is that so?”

The investigation they conducted was merely a formality.

The main purpose was to tighten the gladiators' discipline and refresh the atmosphere.

No wonder they recalled us so urgently.

There was a reason for it all.

As Hyunwoo narrowed his brow and thought about the investigation, Verian spoke with a deep smile.

“The investigation at the arena might be very tough. They push you relentlessly so you can't think of anything else.”

“……”

“Of course, as the Super Rookie, Mr. Hyunwoo, you probably won't suffer that much.”

“Yes, well. That's what the position is for. I had an inkling.”

In truth, I wasn't very worried.

The ‘Super Rookie’ was the face of the arena.

To become the face, it wasn't just about being treated well outside, but there had to be preferential treatment inside as well.

Only then would the other gladiators desire that position.

Verian explained in detail the flow of events that would soon unfold in the arena to Hyunwoo in advance.

Seeing her bestowing a favor with a smiling-eyed expression, Hyunwoo was certain.

She was really giving him information without asking for anything in return.

The reason for that was, perhaps….

‘I guess the information about the item prices rising was very useful?’

The information Hyunwoo had provided was valuable information that even Lotus hadn't known.

It seemed Lotus had highly evaluated my worth for bringing them such information.

In other words, her actions were an attempt to get on my good side.

Once I understood her intentions, the tension eased.

Verian spoke in a friendly manner, her eyes smiling.

“Did something happen at Sylvester this time?”

“Well…”

Hyunwoo dragged his words, starting to contemplate whether to sell her the information.

The deliberation was short.

Lotus would likely be able to easily access information about the recent events.

If I could score points just by telling her information that would soon be known anyway, it wasn't a waste to just give it to her.

Hyunwoo told her the same level of information he had told the knight at Sylvester.

Verian, with a satisfied look on her face, rose from her seat.

“After the investigation is over, please pay a visit to Lotus. A gift will be ready.”

“A gift?”

“It wouldn't be fun if I told you beforehand, would it?”

Leaving only those words behind, Verian left the dormitory.

‘A gift… well, I'll find out when I get there.’

Hyunwoo shook off his thoughts about Verian and Lotus and searched inside his clothes.

‘The next thing to do is….’

As Hyunwoo was rummaging through his clothes and organizing the things he had obtained from Sylvester.

Clack―!

With the sound of a door urgently opening, Van came to visit.

He approached me with a serious expression.

“Be careful. The atmosphere in the arena is chaotic.”

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Van, with a tense expression, looked around and whispered softly.

“This is a secret from the other gladiators, but…”

“Yeah?”

“There's a rumor from Lotus that there will be an intense investigation targeting the survivors of this request.”

Van said so and then, with an anxious look, moved away from me.

Hyunwoo looked at him and slowly blinked his eyes.

“They're doing that to the Super Rookie too?”

“…Huh?”

“As far as I know, the Super Rookie is an exception to the investigation, though?”

“Ah… is that so?”

“And here I was worried.”

“……”

It was late and over the top, but it was because he was worried about me.

Hyunwoo shrugged once and began to search inside his clothes again.

‘Now what's left is….’

Tick―

As the glass bottle in his pocket touched his finger, he remembered something he had forgotten.

“So this was left.”

“What's that? Why did you bring a bug?”

The Golden Beetle of Arum.

The golden beetle in the glass bottle had multiplied to two in a single day.

It was because I had fed it Lafre seeds.

The golden beetle that ate the seed had split by binary fission, like an amoeba.

‘Well, an insect multiplying by binary fission doesn't make sense, but.’

If I were to pick at every single thing like that, it would be harder to find anything that made sense in this world.

Hyunwoo emptied the Lafre seeds he had packed into the glass bottle.

This was why he hadn't exchanged the seeds for Mana Stones at Gert Castle.

Propagating the golden beetles was more important than the reward of Mana Stones.

Now, if he just let the golden beetles multiply from two to four, four to eight, and so on, it was only a matter of time before they increased to hundreds.

However, I needed a place to raise the growing number of golden beetles.

After a moment of thought, Hyunwoo spoke to Van, who was observing the bug in the glass bottle as if it were fascinating.

“Call Pierre for me.”

When Hyunwoo called, Pierre quickly came to the dormitory.

“Mr. Hyunwoo! I'm so glad you're safe!”

There was no way Pierre's bright smile was only because of my safe return.

The previous sense of urgency had disappeared from his face.

“The item prices must have gone up a lot, huh?”

“Yes! Not quite double yet, but at this rate, they'll definitely rise by more than double!”

“That's great.”

“Is there anything you need?”

Perhaps because they had spent some time together, Pierre had become a bit quicker on the uptake.

Before Hyunwoo could even say anything, he asked first what was needed.

Pierre, who had already taken out a notepad, prepared to write down my words.

A commendable kid.

Hyunwoo nodded with a satisfied expression and began to explain what he needed.

“A round glass bottle that can be held in one hand. Ah, something like a potion bottle should be fine.”

“I can prepare that much right away.”

“I need quite a lot.”

“How many…?”

“About…”

Hyunwoo recalled Anesta's hunting method in his mind.

Even by a rough estimate, its size was more than ten times that of a Lafre.

Recalling Anesta's massive body, the 100 bottles I had initially thought of seemed like it wouldn't be enough.

I might need them on the way there, too.

“A generous 200 bottles?”

“200 bottles?”

“That should be enough.”

Pierre, who was nodding and scribbling in his notepad, paused for a moment.

Then he looked at me.

“I think we'll be short on the budget…”

“Right. You used it all to buy items, didn't you? What about the gifts? Is there nothing left?”

“Yesss…”

Pierre began to watch my expression, his voice trailing off.

“Well, since a rumor went around that Mr. Hyunwoo only received gifts and gave no reply…”

“So no more gifts came in?”

“Yes… I'm sorry.”

It wasn't something for Pierre to be sorry about.

Hyunwoo tossed a pouch of Mana Stones to the helpless boy.

Thud―

He had received 25,000 Mana Stones from Sylvester just for the cost of information.

Among them, a pouch containing 5,000 Mana Stones.

Pierre's eyes widened at its weight.

“For now, prepare it with that.”

“Ah! Where did you get so many Mana Stones… This is more than enough. No, there will be some left over after buying everything.”

“Really? You can take the rest as your service fee.”

“Yes…? Are you serious?”

“Of course. Follow me.”

Hyunwoo nodded and led Pierre somewhere.

The place Hyunwoo led Pierre to was the training room.

In front of it, Hyunwoo spoke.

“You did a good job with the interior design this time, huh?”

“Interior design…? What is that?”

“Ah, I mean you decorated the training room well.”

“Hehe, thank you.”

“But you know.”

“Yes?”

Hyunwoo then placed a hand on Pierre's shoulder and made him look inside the training room.

“It's a training room, but there are no weapons. Isn't that strange?”

“Ah… it does feel a bit empty.”

“Right?”

“Yes…?”

“You think so too, right?”

“Yesss…”

Pierre glanced back and forth between the training room and Hyunwoo, his eyes rolling―.

Although they called it a partnership, the hierarchy between the two was clear.

Hyunwoo was above, and Pierre was below.

Grasping the intentions of a superior was essential to survive in the Demon World.

“Ahh… I will fill it with various types of weapons!”

The Mana Stones Hyunwoo gave him were nowhere near enough, but considering the Mana Stones Pierre had earned from the item trading this time, it was nothing but loose change.

At Pierre's reaction, Hyunwoo nodded in satisfaction.

“Not various types of weapons. Various types of swords. Got it?”

“Yes! Just leave it to me.”

He was a decent enough secretary.

Hyunwoo sent Pierre, who was making a determined face, away and entered the training room.

‘I'll have to get used to sword transformation.’

To change the sword's form and use swordsmanship in a real battle, practice was important.

‘And while I'm at it, I should review the swordsmanship styles I haven't been using.’

I recalled the 1-star swordsmanship skills I hadn't used much recently.

⌜Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries (1-Star)⌟

⌜Kilij Basic Swordsmanship (1-Star)⌟

They weren't to be ignored just because they were mere 1-star swordsmanship skills.

Each had its own use.

Swordsmanship is the body's memory.

As long as I practiced, I could naturally use it whenever needed.

Swordsmanship unfolded from Hyunwoo's hands.

The slash of the Common Swordsmanship of the Northern Mercenaries.

The deflection of Kilij Basic Swordsmanship.

The swing of Sabla Swordsmanship.

And the thrust of Skirma Swordsmanship.

He executed each swordsmanship style slowly, one by one.

He swung Cheonbyeondo, alternating its form between a greatsword and a rapier.

Now, I could clearly picture the appropriate form of the sword for each swordsmanship style.

‘Once Pierre fills this place with swords, I should start by storing the new ones.’

It was impossible to store the forms of all swords with Cheonbyeondo right now.

But once Cheonbyeondo's first awakening occurred, I could store an infinite number of forms of common iron swords.

The task he gave Pierre to fill the room with swords was preparation for that time.

“Phew… this is twice as tiring as just swinging it normally.”

Transforming Cheonbyeondo while simultaneously using swordsmanship consumed a considerable amount of stamina.

Hyunwoo wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down for a short rest.

While resting, he looked at his status window.

The empty swordsmanship slot around the middle felt vacant.

‘I should probably get a new swordsmanship skill soon.’

Every time I looked at the empty swordsmanship slot, I felt a compulsion to fill it quickly.

However, the swordsmanship I needed to acquire this time had to have good synergy for synthesis with my existing skills.

‘Later on, the probability of survival will definitely change depending on the swordsmanship skills I've learned.’

Each and every swordsmanship skill was a critical matter directly linked to my future survival.

Learning them indiscriminately was a perfect way to hasten my own demise.

For this reason, I still hadn't filled the third slot as I was searching for a suitable swordsmanship.

‘The swordsmanship that guy uses.’

While contemplating a new swordsmanship, I recalled the one Lucas used.

A swordsmanship that packed a powerful, one-hit-kill blow.

I had already confirmed that its synergy with Skirma Swordsmanship was not good.

‘How is the synergy with Sabla Swordsmanship?’

Sabla Swordsmanship didn't feel like it had a strong single blow, but it was a sufficiently domineering style of swordsmanship.

‘If the synergy is just decent enough….’

As long as the synergy wasn't the absolute worst, it was worth learning.

Hyunwoo saw potential in Lucas's swordsmanship and was about to go find him, but he stopped.

‘Let's not be hasty. We'll meet again soon anyway.’

Lucas was a fish already caught.

I shouldn't be the one clinging to him; I had to make him cling to me.

If I became impatient, I would achieve neither this nor that.

Impatience only breeds mistakes.

I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them.

‘I'm doing well enough right now. Let's do what I can, one step at a time.’

I would be going to the Sylvester region again soon.

So, I would do what I can.

As Hyunwoo stood up again, swordsmanship unfolded from his hands.