Chapter 5

I Became a Newbie Favored by the Transcendents Chapter 5

SaviorOfTheEmpire.

The female knight who had posted the ‘Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship’ tip in the gallery.

She had suddenly sent me a trade request.

The timing was strange too.

Right after I happened to upload a proof post of myself using the swordsmanship to the gallery?

‘For now, should I accept?’

I grew curious about what intention she had in approaching me.

Besides, hadn't I managed to achieve an insane result in the tutorial thanks to Ernia Swordsmanship?

In a way, SaviorOfTheEmpire was my benefactor.

It wouldn't be bad to use this opportunity to thank her.

“Accept trade request.”

When I accepted the trade, a hologram in the form of a chat window appeared.

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) Greetings.

-Me) Yep, hello

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) I saw the proof post you just uploaded to the ‘gallery.’ It was truly perfect. So much so that I could not help but marvel.

-Me) Haha; No, not at all. You flatter me

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) It is not flattery. I am not one to speak empty words. Especially when it comes to swordsmanship. If you too are a martial artist, the habit of belittling yourself is not a good one.

“What’s with the way she talks?”

It's practically dripping with strictness, dignity, and seriousness.

Well, even from what I'd seen of her through the animated images in the tip post, she had looked quite stiff and particular.

Even though she didn't look much different from me in age.

-Me) Ah, yes. Anyway, thanks to you I got to learn an insanely good swordsmanship. Thanks haha

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) Rather, I am the one who wishes to express gratitude. Thanks to you, I have seen hope.

“Hope?”

What is she talking about?

-Me) Thanks to me?

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) Mm... I would like to explain in detail, but unfortunately, we do not have much time. Conversations conducted through a trade may only last five minutes.

-Me) Huh why

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) It is a measure imposed by the ‘Administrator’ to prevent excessive fraternization. We should leave personal conversation at that and get to the point quickly.

Hmm, looks like they're wary of cliques forming here too.

Well, the gallery isn't social media, so I could understand that much.

What SaviorOfTheEmpire had said bothered me a little, but it probably wasn't important.

There would be opportunities to find out later.

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) There is one reason I contacted you. There is something I wish to give you.

-Me)??

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) Your swordsmanship was perfect. All swordsmanship branches outward from its first form, so I am certain you will be able to master the remaining forms without difficulty. However, there is something more important than swordsmanship that you have yet to learn.

-Me) What is it

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) A cultivation method. Specifically, the Ernia-style Mana Cultivation Method. I have not yet posted anything about it in the gallery either.

A cultivation method. I'd seen those in webtoons.

It was some kind of training method where you controlled energy through special breathing and built up internal energy, if I remembered correctly.

But that was only something from comics.

Cultivation methods... Aren't they basically just meditation?

-Me) Will learning a cultivation method actually help me somehow?

-SaviorOfTheEmpire)??? What an ignorant thing to say. Do not make such jokes in the future. They make you appear undignified.

-Me) Was about to say that lol

“...”

It felt like if I said even one thing wrong, I'd be treated like an idiot.

Let's pretend it was a joke.

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) If you learn the Ernia-style Mana Cultivation Method, your abilities will leap to an even higher level. Not only will the power of your swordsmanship itself increase, but the loss rate of mana will also decrease, your mental realm will expand so that you can maintain composure at any moment, and you will be able to burn away impurities accumulated throughout your body.

-Me) Oooh

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) That is merely a simple explanation. In truth, it is such a noble and profound cultivation method that a few words cannot possibly convey it all. I promise that you will never regret learning it.

Even at a glance, it seemed to have plenty of advantages.

The only thing that bothered me was why SaviorOfTheEmpire was being so nice to me.

Judging by the nuance, this ‘Ernia-style Mana Cultivation Method’ didn't seem like something she taught just anyone.

And she was going to let me learn it just because I uploaded one proof post?

Wouldn't I end up regretting it later if I bit without thinking?

While I was mulling over various concerns, a notification appeared in the chat window.

[‘SaviorOfTheEmpire’ has registered a ‘Soul Stone.’]

“Huh?”

A Soul Stone? What is this now?

She said she'd teach me a cultivation method, so why was she suddenly giving me this?

-Me) What is this?

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) A fragment of consciousness containing my enlightenment. If you hold it in your hand and break it, you should be able to inherit knowledge concerning the ‘Ernia-style Mana Cultivation Method.’

-Me) Ah. So it’s like a memory chip yeah

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) What is a memory chip?

-Me) Uh... Anyway, we have something similar. But is it really okay for me to receive something this good for free?

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) Hmm. It seems you are misunderstanding one thing. I did say I would give it to you, but strictly speaking, under the system, it is not free.

-Me)?

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) This is a ‘trade,’ after all. It need not be of equal value, but you must also register something that can be exchanged.

Damn it, now that I think about it, she's right.

Since it's a trade, something basically has to go both ways.

Why had I just assumed it would be free?

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) My apologies. If it were up to me, I would simply give it to you, but unfortunately, the system only allows a fixed amount of GP to be given through sponsorship.

-Me) Can’t be helped haha; I was already feeling uncomfortable receiving it for free after you helped me anyway. But I don’t really have anything worth giving you right now, what should I do...

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) It need not be anything grand. That said, you cannot simply offer just anything. As long as it is roughly something I require, the system will determine whether the trade can be completed.

-Me) What do you need?

Perhaps she was thinking, because after a brief silence, a reply came.

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) I am a knight. Something that can invigorate a body exhausted from refining martial skill would be preferable.

-Me);; Hold on. Let me think if I have anything

This is troublesome. What should I give her?

“Something that can invigorate an exhausted body...”

As I looked around, my gaze suddenly landed on something.

It was the ‘Luxurious Potion Bottle’ I'd received earlier as a tutorial reward.

‘...Maybe this?’

I'd originally planned to sell it and make a little spending money, but it couldn't be helped.

Obtaining a useful cultivation method was far more beneficial than some spending money.

‘Besides, I have nothing else I can give her.’

[Registering ‘Luxurious Potion Bottle.’]

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) Oh. A potion? It should suffice to wet my throat.

-Me) Try it try it

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) This will do. Then let us conclude the trade. I hope you continue to devote yourself diligently to your training.

Flaaash!

The trade window flashed.

[Trading ‘Luxurious Potion Bottle’ for ‘Soul Stone.’]

Tap-!

A blue stone shaped like a diamond dropped down.

When I focused my gaze on it to verify the item, an information window appeared.

=====

<​Soul Stone>

-A stone containing someone’s knowledge.

-When destroyed, inherit knowledge concerning the ‘Ernia-style Mana Cultivation Method.’

=====

Good. Nothing was wrong with the item.

Still, no matter how many times I saw it, I couldn't decide whether to call it amazing or convenient.

To be able to place your own knowledge into a stone like this and pass it on to someone else, how did she even do that?

As expected, ‘Pantheon’ seemed to be a world even more mysterious than I imagined.

‘I’ll start right―.’

Just as I was about to crush the stone the way SaviorOfTheEmpire had told me.

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

“Fuck, you scared me.”

...A tremendous number of system messages suddenly began filling my vision.

______________

On a hill filled with wildflowers in full bloom.

A woman dressed in fluttering cloth garments sat demurely while hugging a sword to her chest.

The woman's name was Daphne von Kain.

In Pantheon, she went by the alias ‘SaviorOfTheEmpire.’

“...”

With quietly open eyes, Daphne stared at a majestic golden fortress standing beyond the hill.

Something so overwhelming just to look at that it seemed like a symbol of prosperity itself.

Pantheon Manifestation Realm No. 32.

The Empire, ‘Ernia.’

That was the official name of the realm where Daphne currently resided.

It had once been Daphne's homeland.

And it was the name of her fallen motherland, now vanished into history.

“...”

Tight―

Daphne slightly tightened her arms around the sword she embraced.

The fortress she was looking at now perfectly preserved the grandeur of the empire at the height of its brilliance.

But it was nothing more than an imitation recreated by Pantheon.

What had the real Ernia Empire looked like when Daphne saw it for the final time before ascending to Pantheon?

Collapsed.

Burning.

Filled with death.

-“C-Commander... Please, forgive me... for going ahead of you...”-

-“I am truly sorry... that I could not fulfill my duty as a guardian of the empire...”-

Even now, the dying words of her subordinates and their bloodstained hands occasionally flickered before her eyes.

Without even having time to grieve the deaths of those who trusted and followed her, Daphne still could not forget the waves of demons that had surged forward to ravage the empire.

She fought to the very end.

Even amid the despair of the knight order collapsing and His Majesty the Emperor passing away, she continued cutting off the heads of demons until the very end.

Because that was her mission.

In the end, for her achievement of never letting go of her sword until the very last moment and upholding the path of knighthood, Daphne was able to ascend to Pantheon.

An afterlife that only Transcendents whose deeds in life had been acknowledged could enter.

A truly glorious place that only the chosen could enjoy.

‘But what meaning does any of that have?’

Daphne was the only person from the Ernia Empire whom Pantheon had accepted.

Not one of the knights who had spent their entire lives alongside her had managed to ascend here.

Why?

They had devoted themselves to their homeland every bit as much as she had.

If I deserved the right to ascend to Pantheon, shouldn't they have been granted that same right as well?

“...”

She was lonely.

Because she alone remembered the final days of the empire.

But even that would not last forever.

‘My memories are growing increasingly faint.’

Daphne frowned and pressed a hand to her forehead.

It had already been ten years since she ascended to Pantheon.

At some point, she had begun having trouble remembering the scenery of Ernia.

As if fog had settled inside her head.

It was cruelly ironic.

She had spent her entire life with the empire, yet those memories were fading.

‘...Is this not too cruel?’

It was not a phenomenon caused simply by the passage of time.

No matter how much time passed, one could not forget the scenery of the world where one had spent an entire lifetime.

But here in Pantheon, that obvious common sense did not apply.

‘Why does such a curse even exist?’

The Curse of Oblivion.

A curse suffered without exception by everyone who lived in Pantheon.

As the name ‘Oblivion’ suggested, the longer one spent in Pantheon, the more things one forgot.

For example, memories from one's life.

The memories one had cherished while alive, the world one had lived in, the faces and names of precious people one had shared life with...

Those things gradually disappeared from memory, like stone slowly worn away by rainwater.

Naturally, Daphne could not escape the curse either.

‘Thunderbolt Knight Order... Even the memories of laughing and talking with all of you no longer remain with me.’

For Daphne, who had lost her parents to a plague as a child and lived as an orphan, her fellow knights had been her only family.

She had laughed, cried, and talked with them, sharing both the empire's golden age and its darkest years.

And now, even the happy moments she had shared with them were about to disappear beyond the reaches of memory.

The only things she could still recall clearly were their faces as they bled to death, apologizing for leaving before her.

Faces stained with grief and agony.

‘Why do the good memories disappear first, while the memories I least wish to recall remain until the end?’

Daphne hated the Curse of Oblivion.

No, she hated Pantheon for forcing her to suffer such a damned curse.

As time passed, eventually she would no longer be able to recall even the faces and names of her companions.

And if more time passed, she would forget the scenery of Ernia as well.

And if even more, more time passed.

...She would even lose who she herself had once been.

‘Before that happens, I must leave behind traces of myself and my knight order.’

And so, one day, Daphne came up with an idea.

To spread the ‘Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship’ through Pantheon.

If she could see other people wielding the swordsmanship that had practically been the symbol of the empire and its knight order.

That alone, she felt, might allow her to shake off some of her fear of oblivion.

And even if the Curse of Oblivion eventually swallowed her whole one day.

She thought she would be able to find some peace knowing that she had spread the swordsmanship and left behind traces of Ernia.

But.

Even that did not go as she wished.

Cruelly enough, not one of the countless Transcendents in Pantheon could easily learn the ‘Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship.’

“Kh...!”

It was not that she couldn't understand why.

In fact, she had even expected it to some extent.

The swordsmanship had been structurally designed so that anyone not from the empire would have difficulty mastering it.

The structure of mana circuits possessed only by Ernians, the color of their souls, and their breathing method.

Without all three, no matter how exceptional one's talent with the sword was, the movements could only become tangled and collapse.

She knew that, but since they were Transcendents after all, she had still hoped they might somehow be different.

It had been a vain hope.

How could there not be even one?

‘In the end, there is no one with whom I can share the traces of Ernia.’

And while she spent her days in resignation like that.

-[Proof of me using Ernia Swordsmanship, how good is it?]-

...Daphne witnessed a miracle.

A newly appeared man had perfectly executed the ‘Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship’ that no one in Pantheon had managed to perform.

A shudder ran through her.

At the same time, the emotion called hope pounded against her heart.

This man.

If it is this man, he can understand the noble value of the imperial swordsmanship!

Though he may not be from Ernia, he can inherit the spirit and will that her homeland had taken pride in!

And.

He can remember in my place... that somewhere in the infinite universe, a world like that once existed.

“...”

From that moment onward, Daphne gained a purpose.

To teach this man everything she knew.

To raise him as a new Sword Master who would carry on the legacy of the ‘Commander of the Thunderbolt Knight Order’― Daphne von Kain.

If possible, she wanted to meet him in person and teach him rather than doing so through Pantheon.

But Pantheon was vast enough to be called infinite, so that would not be easy.

Still, someday, an opportunity would surely come.

‘Perhaps next time I should at least ask his name.’

Asking another person's real name in Pantheon, where anonymity was the rule, was taboo.

Well, as long as the ‘Arbiter’ didn't catch her, it should be fine.

Daphne smiled faintly and looked at the bottle beside her.

It was the item the man had given her earlier through the trade system.

She happened to be thirsty from devoting herself to training, so the timing was perfect.

Daphne reached out and grasped the bottle.

And.

Crackle!

A miracle occurred.

“...!!”

Her mind flashed as though struck by lightning.

That momentary flash illuminated the darkness known as the Curse of Oblivion.

...A memory resurfaced.

“Ahhh.”

A time when the empire was still at peace.

One day during its golden age, when it had been at its strongest and most prosperous.

A memory of drinking mead, tearing into meat, and singing songs with her knightly subordinates in a village tavern.

“How can this be...”

It was one of the countless memories that had already been swallowed by the Curse of Oblivion and forgotten long ago.

Drip- Drip-

Without Daphne herself realizing it, clear streams of tears ran down her cheeks.

A happy moment with her companions, one she had given up on ever remembering again, had suddenly returned to her.

“The curse could not possibly have disappeared... Why?”

Only one possibility came to mind.

The moment she touched the bottle the man had given her, her memories had suddenly returned.

Daphne focused her tear-reddened eyes and carefully examined the bottle.

Then.

Upon realizing what the bottle was made of, she stared at it in disbelief.

“C-could this possibly be... a Mana Crystal?”

A Mana Crystal.

That stone of life that could never be found in Pantheon.

Just how had that man obtained one?