Chapter 1

The Swordsmanship Genius Who Transcends Through a Pact Chapter 1

[The Savior has died.]

Watching my character collapse miserably to the ground, I slammed my desk without even realizing it.

“Aaaaargh!”

Months of effort had just gone down the drain.

Do you have any idea how much work I put into that character?

He was supposed to be the savior who would actually save the world.

And yet, just like that...

“Fuck!”

I downed the energy drink beside me and stared at the screen again.

Seeing my character still lying there dead and unchanged, I let out a sigh.

Last Savior, an open-world RPG infamous for its hellish difficulty.

Even after sinking more than five years into it, it was the one game whose final achievement I still hadn't cleared.

The achievement completion rate was 0%. In other words, no one had ever managed to clear the last one.

The problem was that the final achievement required seeing the true ending.

Which effectively meant no one had ever seen the end of the game.

[Would you like to begin a new salvation?]

“Hoo.”

It was a roguelike where death meant starting over, and on top of that, every new character's traits and starting location were randomized.

That only made me want to challenge it even more.

I'd always been the kind of person who couldn't feel satisfied with a game until I'd cleared every last achievement.

Whether it was mindless repetitive grinding or some convoluted puzzle made no difference.

‘What's impossible about it? Just keep trying until it works.’

That mentality had carried me through countless games and even earned me a bit of a name in the community...

■ [Lost track of how many days I've been achievement hunting]

-Failed

└LMAOOOOOO

└Wait, he failed again?

└Thought you said this run was cracked, and you failed again lol

└Why does this headbutting dinosaur keep smashing its head into the wall? Even AI doesn't know the answer.

Now I was famous for a different reason.

As the headbutting dinosaur whose only claim to fame was the sheer number of attempts I'd made.

└Isn't this guy still the one who's gotten the farthest though?

└Yeah, he's cleared everything except the last achievement

└Then why are you making fun of him?

└Because it's funny lol

I was being slandered for a reason so simple it was almost impressive, but anyway.

“Haa.”

What mattered was that I'd failed again.

There was nothing you couldn't accomplish if you put enough time into it.

Especially in a buy-to-play game with no cash shop.

‘There was a time when I believed that.’

Maybe some things in this world simply couldn't be achieved no matter how much time you poured into them.

Considering I'd spent more time on this game than any other, it was a question worth asking.

I'd optimized everything for the best possible outcome and challenged it over and over, only to fail every time.

The biggest problem was that there were just too many ways for the world to end.

I'd personally confirmed four apocalypse endings, and as far as the community knew, there weren't any others.

First, the indiscriminate war of conquest launched by the Central Empire.

Then the southern fanatics summoning an evil god.

The western necromancers unleashing the dead.

And on top of that, the massive demonic invasion beginning in the North.

Stopping all of them was the bare minimum required to reach the true ending.

‘Because if you don't stop them, the game itself ends.’

I'd at least managed to prevent the first three before, but the real problem was the massive demonic invasion.

“How the hell am I supposed to stop the North from getting half wiped out right from the start?!”

That was the biggest reason this game was such a goddamn piece of shit.

They should've either moved the starting point earlier or at least pushed the invasion event back.

“Trash game.”

I knew saying that wouldn't change anything.

All I could do was press the start button.

Because even while feeling this pissed off, I was still the kind of person who wanted to overcome it.

“Ha, whatever. Please, just this once, give me some insanely broken trait and let me start as the First Prince...”

Seriously, if I failed to see the ending again, I was either going to hunt down the developers or leave them a 5,700-character review.

[You are the first Savior to complete your 10,000th attempt.]

The moment I thought that, a message appeared along with a mocking burst of fanfare.

As I slowly read it, I could feel a vein throbbing at the back of my head.

‘Are you fucking with me?’

It was enough to make me grind my teeth, but I forced myself to endure it and was just about to start the game when—

[Even after ten thousand failures, do you still intend to challenge it again?]

Another message appeared as if to taunt me, and I grabbed the monitor without realizing it.

Anyone could tell it was mocking me at this point.

[Do you truly wish to challenge it again?]

“Of course I do!”

I was about to click the mouse while staring at that final prompt.

Then I immediately noticed something strange.

‘The screen...’

A burst of light flared as if a flashbang had gone off. I closed my eyes for an instant, and when I opened them again, what I saw was...

“What the hell.”

An old-fashioned room I'd never seen before in my life.

Stunned by the sudden change, I sat up and looked around.

‘Why am I.’

Here?

My old bed had become an expensive-looking one.

The room itself was far larger, and all the furniture looked like something you'd find in a medieval noble's mansion.

‘Medieval?’

Last Savior happened to be set in a similar era.

My last memories immediately resurfaced.

Thoughts about hunting down the developers and leaving that review.

No way. Right?

“Ugh.”

The moment I thought that, a slight pain struck me, and memories belonging to this body surfaced.

‘Ian Rashid.’

The second son of House Rashid, who had lost both parents at a young age and fallen into despair.

He'd locked himself in his room for an entire year, while his only remaining elder brother handled the affairs of the family as its head.

As I sifted through those memories, I became certain almost immediately.

“I'm fucked.”

This was inside Last Savior.

* * *

House Rashid.

‘It wasn't anything special.’

A family of little importance within the game. If it had any relevance at all, it was probably the fact that it was destroyed during the massive northern invasion, one of the early-game events.

“I'm just screwed.”

The one silver lining was that this was exactly five years before the game's original starting date.

The problem was that I'd been dropped into a fucking game where the world could end at the slightest misstep.

‘Five years until the invasion.’

When the invasion began, the North suffered devastating losses, and most of its territories fell into the hands of the demons.

It was effectively considered an unavoidable event.

To reach the true ending, rather than preventing it, I'd usually focused on reclaiming the North afterward.

“Five years. Five years, huh...”

That was enough time to work with.

Maybe I could do more than simply survive. Maybe I could even reach the true ending.

‘And the North respects strength above all else.’

As long as I had power, people would acknowledge me to some extent, which would make everything I did from here much easier.

If I didn't start growing stronger immediately, I was as good as dead five years from now.

Even if I somehow ran away or did whatever it took to survive, there was no chance I'd make it through the countless events that came afterward.

“So I have to get stronger somehow.”

To survive in the North, and to avoid destruction, I needed strength.

I found a notepad and began writing down every major event that would happen in the future.

“Young Master, are you awake?”

A voice came from outside.

It was a voice I remembered, the butler who had cared for me since childhood.

“I left your meal outside...”

“Yeah, I'll be out soon.”

“...Pardon? Ah, yes! Understood!”

Clatter-

Something fell, followed by the sound of someone hurriedly running away.

‘Well, I have been holed up in this room for a whole year.’

It was understandable that the butler would be shocked.

Anyway, what mattered right now wasn't their reaction, but finding a way to get stronger quickly.

‘Since I was born into a noble family anyway, I might as well use everything I can.’

No matter how insignificant the family was, nobles were still nobles.

If I wanted to stop the events that were coming, I had to use every resource available to me.

‘This won't be easy.’

If I wanted to survive, I absolutely had to become stronger.

The voices of the weak were ignored all too easily in this place.

“Well then...”

I calmly stepped outside and followed the butler, who still looked stunned.

At the place we arrived, one person was waiting for me.

“Ian?”

“Brother.”

“Ian... It really is you.”

The man slowly approached and touched my face.

‘He's handsome.’

He was someone I recognized.

After all, he'd appeared in the cinematic for the massive invasion.

At first, he'd become a topic of conversation because of his looks.

But afterward, something else had brought him attention.

‘There were all kinds of people.’

Lords who fled, nobles who simply gave up, and even those who became servants of the demons.

Amid all that, Cain Rashid had led his soldiers into battle and died a heroic death.

It was the kind of scene that stirred something in any man's chest...

‘Damn, it would've been nice if I'd become him instead.’

For a moment, I thought things might have been much easier if I'd become Cain instead of Ian Rashid.

“Brother, that's enough.”

“Ah, forgive me. I was afraid perhaps my eyes were deceiving me...”

“I'm hungry. Why don't we eat first?”

“Of course, you're right! When the butler told me earlier, I was so surprised that I ordered the finest feast...”

I began eating while listening to my brother talk.

He'd clearly put effort into the meal, because it tasted excellent.

The problem was that I didn't have the luxury of paying attention to the flavor.

‘Ian Rashid has no foundation whatsoever.’

Losing his parents at such a young age was tragic, but afterward, he'd never trained in swordsmanship or magic.

Physically speaking, this was close to the worst possible starting point.

In Last Savior, where you began as a random character, starting without having learned a single skill meant you were basically trash.

‘And that's me?’

At least I was a noble.

And my relationship with Cain Rashid didn't seem too bad either.

Partway through the meal, I carefully picked my moment and spoke.

“Brother, would it be all right if I used the training grounds?”

“The training grounds?”

Cain Rashid looked at me with mild surprise, as though the question had caught him completely off guard.

Ian had spent every day shut inside his room, practically waiting to die.

“I've been thinking about things lately. I realized I can't keep living like this.”

“...”

“I thought I needed to do something.”

“And?”

“I figured the right place to start would be training my body.”

After saying that, I watched his reaction.

For a moment, I saw emotion well up in Cain Rashid's eyes.

“Yes. I always believed in you. If that's what you want, you're free to use it whenever you like.”

“Thank you.”

Watching Cain leave first after that, I felt strangely awkward.

Seeing how genuinely moved he looked made me feel a little guilty for some reason.

‘Either way, I got what I wanted.’

This was five whole years before the game's original starting point. Plenty of events had surely changed, but there should still be quite a few things worth obtaining.

Of course, since most events required at least a minimum level of combat ability, I'd have to grow stronger first...

‘I just have to do it.’

Nothing would change if I sat around doing nothing.

* * *

“Hoo...”

And so I arrived at the training grounds.

Needless to say, I'd never had any reason to hold a sword even in modern times, so it felt incredibly awkward in my hands.

‘Still, I have to try.’

The moment I gripped the sword with that thought—

-At last, you've picked me up!

I heard a voice.

I looked around at the sudden sound, but after realizing no one was there, I slowly lowered my gaze.

-Swing me ten thousand times.

-It's been so long since anyone used me. I'm itching for it.

“A sword?”

-Hurry!

“What the hell...”

At the sound of the voice urging me on, I slowly tightened my grip on the hilt.

At the same time, text appeared before my eyes.

[Swing the Worn Training Wooden Sword (-) within one day]

[0/10,000]

A quest?

I'd thought I was hearing things, but seeing something appear in front of me suggested otherwise.

‘An ego sword?’

No, why the hell would something like that be lying around in a training ground?

​While I was still completely bewildered, the sword spoke again.

-Complete the Pact, and I'll give you something good!

A Pact? Even after all my time playing Last Savior, I'd never seen anything like this before.

“Something good?”

-I'm sure you'll be able to grow stronger.

Grow stronger.

The instant I heard those words, my gamer brain kicked into gear.

‘I'll get stronger just by swinging a sword?’

And the number was only ten thousand.

Just ten thousand.

I'd played this game ten thousand times.

‘There's no risk besides my arm hurting.’

So why would I refuse?

“Hoo.”

I let out a short breath and swung the sword.

[1/10,000]

The counter rose immediately.

“Ha. This really is a quest?”

The sheer absurdity of the situation made me laugh, but my body was already moving on reflex.

Mindless repetition was a task I knew better than almost anyone after clearing so many games.

One swing at a time, the number began rising rapidly.

“Hoo, hoo...”

But that only lasted at first.

Ian Rashid's untrained body was weak enough that simply swinging a sword quickly wore him out.

‘This cursed body is even shittier than my original one.’

I'd thought ten thousand was nothing, but this was going to be a tougher grind than expected.

“Ghk...”

Maybe I'd been gripping the sword too hard, because pain throbbed through my hands.

Even so...

[677/10,000]

‘The number's going up.’

The thought alone made the corners of my lips rise.

“Um...”

“Isn't the Young Master pushing himself too hard?”

The gazes of several servants and their whispered voices brushed past my ears.

But I ignored them.

[Swing the Worn Training Wooden Sword within one day]

[2,954/10,000]

The fairly decent stance I'd had when I first started swinging had long since fallen apart.

My whole body felt as though it were screaming.

If I didn't drop the sword right now, it felt like I might collapse.

‘Higher. Keep going higher.’

After sinking this much into it, there was no way I could quit.

Whenever my body started hurting, I actually corrected my stance.

Otherwise, the counter wouldn't rise properly.

‘If I quit now, I'll just be some guy with sore arms!’

What mattered right now wasn't the pain, but whatever reward this quest—or whatever it was—would give me.

[6,109/10,000]

The sun had still been rising when I'd first picked up the sword, but before I knew it, I could feel it sinking into the distance.

The sun vanished and the bitter northern wind began to blow, but I ignored it.

[8,308/10,000]

Blood kept running from my hands, their skin completely torn open.

Now, if I didn't concentrate, the counter wouldn't even register properly.

‘Almost there. Just a little, just a little more.’

[9,360/10,000]

“Ian, there's no need to push yourself this hard on your first day.”

“Haa, I'm, I'm fine...”

“I didn't give you permission to train so you could work yourself to this state. Why are you going this far...?”

Cain's worried gaze passed over me.

“The number. The number keeps going up.”

“...”

Shock and concern flashed through Cain Rashid's eyes, but I didn't have time to care about that.

[9,999/10,000]

[10,000/10,000]

Ten thousand. I swung it ten thousand times...

[You have successfully completed your training.]

“I did it!”

The words burst out on their own.

I raised both blood-soaked hands and reveled in the sense of accomplishment.

-Wow! You really swung me ten thousand times right away!

-Thank you. I'm happy I finally got used again after so long.

-Your form was kind of a mess, though.

‘You little bastard?’

The voice almost sounded like it was teabagging me.

Just as I was about to marvel at the sheer nerve of it, more messages appeared one after another.

[A Trait is awakening.]

[Pact]

[Rank: Mythic]

[Description: You can form Pacts with swords, fulfill their wishes, and receive rewards. Depending on the Savior's standing, you may form Pacts with higher-ranked swords.]

[The Savior's current standing is ‘Trainee’.]

A trait had suddenly appeared.

Unlike skills or stats that could be developed within the game, traits were unique abilities fixed from the very beginning and could not be changed.

‘A hidden trait...?’

I thought I knew almost everything there was to know, but I'd never seen this one before.

And it was even Mythic rank.

‘It's growth-type, too?’

The reward was absurd.

But the messages didn't end there.

[You have successfully completed your Pact with the Worn Training Wooden Sword.]

[You have acquired ‘Northern Swordsmanship (F)’!]

“Huh?”

I stared openmouthed at the window that appeared before me.

A skill.

In any other game it might have been different, but in Last Savior, skills were the hardest part of your build to fill out.

You couldn't even learn one unless you had a master, a limited skill book, or some rare artifact.

‘This is basically...’

Cheating, isn't it?

The Swordsmanship Genius Who Transcends Through a Pact