kscans

Chapter 138 - Her Way of Being

After succumbing to the Sword Saint's smile, about thirty minutes had passed since we resumed our match. In terms of density, it was an incredibly packed thirty minutes... but she seemed to be satisfied surprisingly quickly, and thankfully, it didn't turn into an all-day affair.

With Ui-san's words, "Let us stop here," she sheathed her sword, and our introductory sparring session came to a peaceful (?) conclusion. Irori also left quite casually, saying, "I have something to do, so I'll be going now." I managed to quickly exchange friend requests with him then, and seeing this, Ui-san said, "Then I shall as well," and sent me a request... which was followed by an invitation to the chaotic Round Table talk room, where the sheer absurdity of it all somehow managed to help me relax. That was just a few minutes ago.

As for the extended match, the fact that I was basically helpless remained unchanged. This time, I tried to go on the offensive while desperately fleeing from her blade... and that was about it. True to her word, she refrained from launching the same kind of fierce onslaught as the first time—but that hardly mattered. What she demonstrated was, once again, an insurmountable gap in power.

Honestly, at my current level, I couldn't even imagine a scenario where I could not only win but even land a single effective blow. That was the level of difference between us.

Now, at Ui-san's invitation, I found myself once again enjoying a peaceful cup of tea on the veranda. As if her dignified appearance in battle was a lie, she sat next to me in a small, proper seiza, holding her teacup with an air of tranquility.

After crossing swords so many times... or rather, after being so thoroughly thrashed, for better or worse, I felt I had grown slightly more accustomed to her. When I looked at her, she was still, without a doubt, a beautiful person in every aspect, from her atmosphere to her mannerisms. That still made me nervous, and I couldn't help it—but when I recalled her figure holding a sword, a strange sense of kinship bloomed within me.

This person probably doesn't like fighting. She loves the martial arts themselves. What I sensed from her serious eyes when we crossed swords wasn't the exhilaration of battle, but something different—something like a thirst for knowledge.

Her words, that she was excited to face me, someone so far outside the bounds of a normal player, were proof of that. During our fight, as I desperately tried to keep up, I could feel that what she desired was to observe, learn from, and understand my every move.

In other words... Ui-san isn't really seeking strength as a combat player, is she? She loves martial arts, and she's just completely absorbed in swinging her sword. If I had to categorize her, she's more of an enjoyment-focused player, isn't she?

Our directions are slightly different—but I feel our stance as players, as people who are completely engrossed in enjoying this virtual world, is the same. That must be where this sense of kinship comes from.

In the face of her awe-inspiring Yamato Nadeshiko aura, I still felt a sense of reserve... but the initial feeling of her being untouchable had, I realized, completely vanished.

"Anyway—that teleportation thing is just not fair."

"Fufu... Would you like to try practicing it, Haru-kun?"

As we drank our tea, a thought occurred to me. In my current state of mind, I should be able to make some small talk—and when I voiced my honest impression, Ui-san simply smiled and said, "I can teach you."

—But, having already heard a rough explanation at the end of our match, I could only manage a strained expression. If it were something I could learn just by being taught, I would be more than happy to learn it, but...

"............Could I hear the theory one more time?"

"Of course. That footwork, you see—"

'Shukuchi'—a name known far and wide in both reality and fairy tales. It was one of the unique techniques that made her the Sword Saint. Of course, it wasn't some supernatural phenomenon like "distorting the earth's ley lines to shorten the distance." Nor was it a common technique passed down in ancient Japanese martial arts. It was something that could only be achieved in this virtual world, with an avatar that far surpasses the human body.

According to her—when we players move our avatars in this world, we are explicitly using two forces. This is simply the idea that we control our avatars by referencing both our Strength (STR) and Agility (AGI) stats. That much is obvious, and I'm sure every player, including myself, understands that on a vague level.

However, she took it one step further. It's understandable that STR is related to the avatar's speed. In the real world, the fundamental output for movement is muscle power. But what about AGI? Unlike STR, which represents a 'tangible thing' like muscle strength as a numerical value, what kind of 'force' does this stat, which represents an 'intangible thing' like agility, exert on a player's avatar?

She, in her wisdom, defined this vaguely understood force as "another, invisible muscle." This is the foundation of her Shukuchi—and the biggest factor that makes the Sword Saint's avatar a superhuman whose speed is on a different dimension from other players.

In conclusion, Ui-san has these two output systems completely under her control. It's like having a double set of muscles, or two engines—no, the potential exists in all players, but there's a world of difference between being able to control it freely and not. She and those who operate on their stats with a vague understanding are, literally, standing on different stages.

—Now, when I first heard this explanation, along with understanding, I also had a question. Even with the detailed explanation, it was difficult to even grasp it intuitively, but the gist was that she was drawing out the power of her avatar beyond its intended limits. That certainly explained her movements—but wait, weren't those movements the result of a skill or something?

And on that note... come to think of it, did she even have any skill effects on her avatar or weapon?

Attack skills, support skills—the active skills that exist in Arcadia are generally accompanied by various effects in the form of 'light.' Good examples for me would be [Ignition] or [Exchange Voltate]. Even [Tremble Slide] makes my feet glow faintly, and if you look really closely at [Floating Leaf], you can see a faint, pale green effect covering my entire body.

...But, recalling my intense match with her, I had no memory of seeing any such light. And so, I asked her half-jokingly—"That's a skill, right?"

To which Ui-san, with a small smile, replied, "I get that a lot..."

————————————————————
◇Status◇
Title: Sword Saint
Name: Ui
Lv: 100
STR (Strength): 628
AGI (Agility): 200
DEX (Dexterity): 500
VIT (Vitality): 300 (+100)
MID (Mental): 200
LUC (Luck): 0

◇Skills◇
None Skill

◇Arts◇
【Kesshiki Ittoryu】
[Flying Water]
[Striking Iron]
[Mist-Cleaver]
[Heavenly Snow]
[Withered Flame]
[Echoing Light]
—————————
——————
———
——
—
-
————————————————————

...and showed me a detailed status screen that was nothing but things to question.

Her stats exceeding the equivalent of level 180 was already baffling, but what's with "None Skill"? Why doesn't she have a single skill???

As for Arts, I can kind of guess. The name she mentioned, [Kesshiki Itto], must be the name of a swordsmanship school. It's not hard to imagine that the names listed below it are the 'forms' of that school. Though the number is absurd. Does she have over twenty special moves???

Seeing all these outrageous stats, I was, of course, utterly confused. Perhaps she was used to this reaction. Ui-san herself just smiled serenely and explained each point...

First, regarding her stats and skills, the two mysteries are linked. It feels like a long time ago now, but I remember when Sora and I cleared the tutorial map, the [Trial Spheres of Partition]. I hadn't paid any attention to it since—in fact, I had completely forgotten about it—but a skill delete system had been unlocked. Simply put, it's a special build system that allows you to permanently delete unnecessary skills in exchange for a small number of stat points.

Getting rid of unnecessary skills and even gaining extra points might sound like a great deal, but if it were that obviously advantageous, I would be using it too. For example, what's the rate for my skills?

[Blink Switch] ⇒ +1 stat point
[Exchange Voltate] ⇒ +1 stat point
[Floating Leaf] ⇒ +2 stat points
[Adamant Sky Dash] ⇒ +3 stat points
[Rabbit Run] ⇒ +3 stat points
[Fatal Leak] ⇒ +1 stat point
[Telepathy] ⇒ +20 stat points

—And that's the reality of it. Haha, it's almost laughable.

I picked out some of my skills that I thought were relatively unique or high-performance, and this is the result. Ten stat points are equivalent to one level, so how many skills would I have to sacrifice to gain 80 levels' worth of points...

[Telepathy] having a high rate might seem strange, but if you think of it as permanently erasing a bond, it's certainly a tremendous cost. As you can easily guess, skills deleted by this system can never be reacquired. No amount of crying or pleading will bring them back; it's a final farewell to that skill and all its pre-evolutions. No way I'm using something that terrifying.

And yet, this Sword Saint—

'Skills are wonderful, but I want to wield my sword with my own power.'

...with that single, ridiculously cool conviction, she has been using this system as a useful feature ever since it unlocked at level cap. By the way, as far as I knew, there was no way to remove skills from the stat screen other than switching aptitude skill trees—so when I asked about that, she said she was using a special title for it.

[Single-Minded Devotion]—unequips all skills and makes them unusable. That's its only effect, a debuff title on a level unlike any other. However, for Ui-san, who deems anything other than her own power unnecessary, it's the most convenient title imaginable...

Just as my skills, which I had set but never used, have been evolving, it seems that skills moved to the reserve slots also have a growth check, albeit at a lower rate. And so, for three years, she has kept all her skills unequipped, letting them grow to a certain extent in reserve, and then deleting them one by one—and the result is the state she has reached now. At this point, what can you do but fall to your knees in silent reverence? Her will, her way of being, and the strength she has acquired through them. Everything about her is just too strong???

Next, about Arts. At first, I had guessed it was something like a skill that players could create themselves. And the truth was, I was half right and half wrong. Arts are legitimate 'techniques' that are created by the player and recognized by the system as being on par with skills. So what does that mean? It means they have the power and effects of a skill, but are not bound by any of the restrictions of a skill.

Forced wind-up and motion—none.

Forced recovery frames after using a move—none.

System-defined cooldown—none.

There's no way I can win if you can use something like that freely, are you kidding me! Some might rage. However, the reality is this.

—There's no way you can achieve something like that, are you kidding me!!

You know that [Endless Sky, Boundless Sword] that Irori used in the selection match? That ridiculous assault skill with twenty-two strikes in a few seconds. To put it simply, it's like being told to achieve something like that purely through skill, without relying on system assistance. It's not enough to just swing your weapon fast and flashy. You have to be fast, powerful—and with proper principles, establish it as a technique. A 'technique' that is recognized by the system as an Art is given a power correction similar to a skill and is engraved on the status screen. And that moment is when a 'School' is established—

"—So, in essence, you move your muscles while simultaneously propelling your body with another force from the outside. It's not a simple addition but a synergistic effect, so you can move much faster than if you were just operating your body without thinking."

"............S-So, how do you move that other force from the outside?"

"That is the tricky part. It is something you must understand intuitively for yourself... I can put it into words, but I had to accept that it would not be understood."

"Ah... well, could I hear those words, just in case?"

"Very well...—First, imagine you have two bodies."

"—................................Y-Yes."

"Not in separate places, but two bodies overlapping, slightly offset from each other."

"Yes."

"Then, you will understand. The sensation of having your own body, and another body slightly outside of it, two separate sources of power."

"I think you skipped a few steps—... I mean, yes."

"You control those forces in a single breath. The image is to focus the inner one, and grasp the outer one."

"I see."

"That is all... but did you understand?"

"Huuu...—I... under... stood."

That I will absolutely never understand.

She must have read the full meaning behind my words from my indescribable expression. Ui-san's eyebrows drooped just slightly, and she smiled. "That is a shame."