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Chapter 4 — Garden of Beginnings [1]
"Phew, let's sort this out."
After a flood of information suddenly rushed into my head—
I was confused for a moment but quickly managed to calm down and organize my thoughts again.
'When I rummaged through that box, it felt like some sort of power entered me.'
And that power was none other than the skills and sword techniques used by my defensive swordsman.
I went to the desk, grabbed a notebook and a pen, then began jotting down the skills that came to mind.
[Attack Prediction Skill]
[Physical Attack Enhancement]
[Defense Enhancement]
...
"Other than these, the rest are all swordsmanship-related skills..."
I began writing down the names of the sword techniques as well—skills, or more precisely, sword arts.
'Parry, Deflect, Five Types of Guard...'
Ten defensive sword techniques.
And then two offensive skills—Slash and Thrust—where I had invested some skill points just to have minimal attack means.
'On top of that… I definitely mastered the five types of Basic Swordsmanship too.'
Basic Swordsmanship.
Players usually didn't bother maxing out the basic swordsmanship skills.
They normally just took them to level 1 and moved on, thinking that maxing them out was a waste of time and resources.
'Skill points are always scarce, and even at level 1, basic swordsmanship is good enough. Most players would rather invest in other skills than master the basics.'
But I had taken all of them to the max level.
The reason was not only because it slightly increased the power of my only offensive skills, Slash and Thrust...
'If you master all five basic swordsmanship types, the number of sword arts you can learn increases from one to four.'
Normally, players who followed the swordsman tech tree could only learn one sword art.
But by mastering all the basic swordsmanship skills, you could learn three additional sword arts.
Of course, as I said earlier, maxing out the basics took far too much time and resources, and most players found it more efficient to specialize in a single sword art instead—so they rarely did it.
But I had.
'Well, I had more than enough skill points to spare anyway.'
Defensive swordsmanship didn't really have many skills that consumed a large number of skill points.
So I just invested the surplus into basic swordsmanship.
If needed, I could always abandon the defensive swordsman concept and learn another sword art.
'But in the end, I stuck with the defensive swordsman concept. And I'm glad I did.'
Never in my life had I imagined I'd end up inside the game.
I didn't know when it might become relevant, but having mastered the basic swordsmanship skills would definitely prove useful.
Well, anyway...
"This should be about it."
I checked over the notes I had written down.
It might not be exact, but these seemed to be the skills that had been absorbed into me when I opened and examined that box.
To sum up the situation—
'I've obtained the skills and weapon I used, but as for the other items my defensive swordsman had… it doesn't seem like any of them are here.'
I rummaged through the box again.
I had secretly hoped I'd find the consumables and holy relics I'd collected over time.
But unfortunately, no matter how much I dug, nothing else came out.
"Hmm, I could live without items, but I really need a rune… Do I have to go get one again?"
Runes.
In this game—or rather, in this world—each person could possess one rune.
A rune was a kind of trait, like a passive skill.
But depending on which rune you had, your entire playstyle could change.
Because, with a rune, you could perform attacks imbued with its element.
'Fire, lightning, wind… Once you inscribe a rune onto your body, you can passively wield one elemental attribute.'
For reference, the rune I used before was called "Blessing of Water."
As long as I had that rune, I wouldn't have to worry about my personal protection.
'But… is it really right to use the Blessing of Water again?'
A sudden doubt crossed my mind.
The reason I had used that rune in the first place was because it fit the defensive swordsman concept.
There were probably far better runes in this world. Maybe it would be worth finding a different one—
"…No."
I shook my head, coming to a conclusion.
Of course, I could find stronger runes.
But this world wasn't a game anymore—it was real.
Meaning, monsters could attack at any time.
It might be better to play it safe.
'Besides… considering the skills I have, the Blessing of Water is still the best fit.'
I looked again at the list of skills I had written down.
If the information in my head was true, then right now I possessed a fairly high level of swordsmanship.
Sure, it was specialized in defense,
but even so, I could do quite a lot as a swordsman.
'And if I use these skills properly… becoming a knight might actually be possible.'
A knight.
I didn't know why, but something deep inside told me I had to become one.
And logically speaking, becoming a knight was indeed the best choice for my current situation.
'Reviving the family line shouldn't actually be that hard. With my assets and knowledge of this world… I just need to attend management classes at the academy, then return to my territory and run a little SimCity.'
I wasn't sure if I'd manage territory administration well, but at the very least, reviving the family seemed more than possible.
The real issue, however, was uncovering my family's secret.
'That hidden ancient manuscript I saw earlier… The moment I discovered it, I transmigrated to this body.'
That manuscript contained information about a family that had received the Record Erasure Sentence.
Meaning—my family might have been the one that suffered that punishment.
If I wanted to uncover the truth, I had to investigate the group that had issued the sentence—the Imperial Family.
[To Be Continued]