I watched Jacob swing his sword around.
He swung it with as much power as he could muster.
*Swish!*
*Swish!*
'At least he can cut straight most of the time.'
His starting point was better than someone that's never wielded a sword.
I walked up to him slowly.
"Ah! M-"
*Clank!*
As I entered his attack range I blocked his attack holding the handle with both arms.
[Developing skill...]
"Ah! Sorry about that! I tried to stop!"
'As expected. He went full strength from the start.'
"Don't worry about it. What are your s- strengths?"
I was about to say stats but stopped myself just in time.
"Ah, uhm I attack a lot?"
I nodded.
"That's it. It works well against beginners to simply overwhelm them. But if you meet someone who has trained in technique your doomed."
I swiftly moved my sword and.
*Clank!*
*Fling!*
His sword was now in the air.
"Ah."
"You can also be overpowered by pure strength."
Jacob retrieved his sword but then looked at me confused.
"Uh, what about against monsters? Like wouldn't it be easy to overwhelm a slime?"
I shook my head.
"Slimes are a special case. Their bodies are acidic, so your sword becomes dull quickly and then it gets destroyed."
Jacob nodded briefly.
"What do you think is important in swordsmanship?"
I decided to ask a question and Jacob contemplated for a while.
"Strength and movement?"
I nodded.
"Is there more?"
Jacob answered slowly this time.
"Technique...?"
I nodded.
"Yes, there's also sight or spatial awareness which is required for duels and battles with multiple enemies. A big part of that is using your environment."
Jacob nodded.
"Alright, pick up your sword and attack me."
Jacob flinched slightly and picked up his sword and swung horizontally.
*Swish!*
*Clank!*
I blocked the sword without much trouble.
'One.'
Jacob swung again.
*Swish!*
*Step.*
This time I dodged backwards.
In one swift movement I positioned myself and jumped towards him.
"Urgh!"
Jacob swung his again.
*Swish!*
'Two.'
This time I ducked under his sword.
"Ah."
I took one more step forward and swung my sword.
*Swish!*
I stopped relatively close to his neck.
Sweat slowly dripped down his cheek.
"And you died. Let's do it again."
Jacob breathed in and took a stance.
'Hmm, he reminds me of a soldier.'
"This time I'll try to act like a goblin."
Jacob looked at me confused.
"What? How are you gonna do that?"
I shrugged and.
*Step!*
I jumped towards him.
*Swish!*
Jacob not being ready almost failed in defending.
*Clank!*
"Wh-"
*Swish!*
This time was the same.
"And you died."
Jacob was confused.
"Huh? Isn't that cheating? And what do you mean "act like a goblin"?"
I shrugged.
"I doubt a goblin would wait for you if he thought you were weaker than him."
Jacob sighed and asked.
"Let's just say that a goblin would do that. Isn't it unfair that you're so strong?"
I nodded acknowledging this.
"Life's unfair right? And what can you do? Struggle, that's what you can do."
I answered my own question and glared at Jacob.
"Now, attack me."
Jacob after realizing the difference in ability between us didn't hesitate and swung his sword.
*Swish!*
*Shiing!*
*Tap!*
Instead of blocking I let the sword glide down and quickly tapped his head with the handle.
"Ouch!"
Jacob stared bewildered at me.
"Even after you're attacked try to counterattack right after."
Jacob didn't bother saying anything and nodded.
'He's taking this seriously.'
*Swish!*
He swung his sword towards my neck this time.
'Holy cows. He's got guts.'
I quickly ducked and prepared to attack.
'Ah.'
Jacob spun around using the momentum from his previous spin to get ready to attack me.
'He knew I would dodge.'
An attack meant to prepare a follow up attack.
"Impressive."
*Step!*
*Swish!*
I stepped towards his side and raised my sword.
"Ah."
My sword gently on his neck stood still.
I removed the sword from his neck
"I'm just gonna say this now. If you ever try to duel someone don't talk and don't even think about taunting the opponent unless he's a bastard."
Jacob nodded staring at the sword in his hand.
"So how did I do?"
Jacob asked with anticipation.
'I wonder. I should get permission from Laura to go hunt some goblins or something.'
"That last attack was a good idea, but you probably need to train your body."
Jacob nodded as if prepared for it.
"What should I do."
I looked at him from head to toe.
"Start with twenty of basically every work out you know. Also, go run for a while if you still have energy left after that."
Jacob looked surprised.
"What?"
I looked at him tilting my head slightly.
"Eh? You're not gonna even give me details?"
I nodded.
"Yup, I'll show you some workouts in case you don't know many, but I don't know much about your body. Also what is your diet anyway?"
I asked.
I was curious and I wanted to check if I had to hunt for food or something.
"Uh, I guess rice and occasionally bread?"
'Is that what the farmer was doing on the first day?'
I briefly thought about the first day when I entered the village.
"So you don't eat meat or you can't get it?"
Jacob flinched slightly and nodded.
"Can't get it. It's too dangerous and expensive because we don't have a hunter in town."
I nodded and waved goodbye.
"Gotta go for a while. I'll probably be back before the sun goes down."
"Yeah, good luck on whatever you plan to do."
'Now, should I check if there's any butcher nearby?'
My current plan was to go kill some animals or something nearby and hopefully get meat.
On the way I quite a few guys ended up staring at me but I ignored it.
'Wow, I guess that's a given. This body is strangely attractive.'
After about five minutes of searching, I found a man that had worked as a butcher before and he was willing to help me.
"It would be great to do some butchering after such a long time. I'll say this just in case, try not to destroy the body."
I bowed slightly and went into another nearby forest.
"Thank you, I'll do my best."
'If what he said is correct, there are some wild animals further ahead.'
*Rustle!*
"Grah!"
I looked at the goblin that had appeared in front of me.
The goblin quickly ran at me with a rusty dagger.
[Equipping: Threaded sword(A+)]
'Arc.'
*Swish!*
[Developing skill....]
[You have killed a goblin(F)]
[You have gained experience!]
"Grah!"
"Gar!"
"Gar!"
I sighed and swung my sword towards the green bastards.
'slash.'
*Swish!*
One
*Swish!*
Two
[You have killed 4 goblins(F)]
[You have gained experience!]
[You have leveled up!]
"More?"
I saw more goblins approaching and sighed loudly.
*Sigh.*
[Activating skill: mana circulation(E-)]
'I can probably use the same concept as mana breathing.'
[Developing skill...]
I breathed in and tried to locate and contain the mana in the air.
"Cough! Jeez."
'My body can't handle this yet.'
In the past it was possible to brute force mana regeneration by absorbing "nature's mana."
I continued and eventually the goblins reached me.
'A major cause of human death. The simple goblin.'
*Swish!*
'Just die.'
[You have killed 2 goblins(F)]
[You have gained experience!]
[You are in continuous combat]
[Messages will now be hidden!]
'What? since when was that an option?'
I looked confused at the message while quickly jumping back to avoid a goblin.
"Grah!"
'Why?'
*Swish.*
Another goblin head fell.
'Let's finish quickly.'
*Swish....*
I continued moving forward.
[Re- awakened skill: Swordsmanship(D+)]
I hunted about ten goblins and re-awakened a skill.
'It's pretty highly ranked. I once heard of a genius that got a B tier basic skill just because of their pure talent.'
[Passive skill: Swordsmanship(D+)]
I looked satisfied at the message and looked at the last goblin.
"Adios, arc."
I briefly said and cut off its head.
*Swish!*
[You have killed 13 goblins(F)]
[You have gained experience!]
[You have leveled up 3 times!]
'Alright, time to see if there are any animals nearby.'
I proceeded to find multiple "animals."
'Dang, they're all awakened.'
The occurrence of animal awakening happened after the first year.
It benefited almost everyone with a pet, but for some they devastated the local area and awakeners had to be dispatched to stop them.
'If I remember they should be about C rank or D if I'm lucky.'
I briefly checked my stats.
[Avatar: Sira Katsumi(stats)]
Avatar stats: [STR: E-] [VIT: F+] [AGI: F+] [INT: E-]
'Not bad but not good enough.'
I could probably kill a rabbit but there's not enough meat.
'That goddess really comes in handy when I started from scratch.'
She gave me a bunch of information on how to grow stronger.
'I really paid too much attention to her info dumps, and now I'm here using that information.'
I took out my sword slowly trying not to make sound.
'One, two, three, four and they're all boars. Let's target the closest one.'
I quickly decided on my target and attacked.
'Step by step.'
*Step!*
*Step!*
*Step!*
I took three steps.
That was enough to close the distance.
'Line.'
I was in a stabbing position and pushed my sword as hard as I could.
*Tap!*
*Splitgh!*
'Crap.'
The boar couldn't fully dodge the surprise attack but still managed to avoid instant death.
Its empty eye socked was proof of that, and now it was staring at me angrily.
"Oink!!"
It squealed and the other boars quickly charged at me.
The main weakness of many boars are their simple attack pattern and if it isn't a giant it's size.
*Rustle!*
*Bam!*
I jumped up to barely dodge the boars and the boars collided.
I rotated my sword downwards and stabbed.
'Line.'
*Splitgh!*
'One down.'
[You have killed an awakened boar(D)]
[You have gained experience!]
"Oink!"
The boar with one eye squealed loudly and the other boars quickly backed away and started circling me.
"Ah, so that's how you survived. You were the leader."
I nodded to myself and quickly ran at the leader.
'The leader should die quick.'
*Swish!*
*Tap!*
Instead of trying to dodge it ran towards me.
'This!? Is it intelligent?'
*Bam!*
I couldn't swing the sword properly so didn't inflict a deep wound.
"Oink!"
The other boars quickly joined in.
In three seconds three attacks were targeted at me.
I quickly dodged the boar charging at me while grazing it with my sword.
The second boar as if ready for it charged at me before I landed and I had to block its attack.
*Bam!*
I fell to the ground.
The leader of the boars charged at me without mercy.
'Line.'
I quickly recovered from my fall and stabbed my sword.
A stab with no regard for my own safety.
A line that went through the boar's head.
*Splitgh!*
*Bam!*
[You have killed an awakened boar(D+)]
[You have gained experience!]
[You have leveled up!]
"Urgh!"
*Thud!*
*Rustle!*
I was knocked to the ground and groaned in pain.
"Argh, I think it broke something."
I looked at the rest of the boars silently.
'Two left.'
"Oink?"
The boars looked confused and quickly ran away.
"Oh."
I sighed in relief and checked my own body.
'Ah, yeah I'm a girl. How did I forget that?'
I sighed inwardly and checked my title. The reason I was a girl.
[Title: Saviour of corruption(EX+)]
Details: You have saved your world from the otherworldly corruption! The few survivours can live in peace thanks to your sacrifice and power!
Active title effect 1: You will be able to resist the corruption!
Active title effect 2: You will be able to remove minor traces of corruption without your authority!
Passive effect: you will emit a minor aura of purification
Note: is currently active and is linked to your current body.
'Huh?'
The note at the end.
'Wait a second. Can I change back to normal?'
I quickly wanted to test this theory.
'Uh, do I just equip a different title?'
I doubted it but decided to try.
[Equipping title: Weapon master(Legendary)]
[Deleting original body...]
"What the fu-"
[Deleting of the original body has been cancelled!]
I briefly felt extremely shocked and afterwards extremely stressed.
"W-what the.... you can't just choose to delete my body like that!"
[Due to an anonymous vote you will be granted another character slot!]
'What? That was possible?'
Quickly I saw two options in front of me.
[Kazumi Quintius(lv 632)] ([Sira Katsumi(Lv 16)])
I quickly clicked on my own name without thinking.
[Selected character: Kazumi Quintius(lv 632)]
[Status is automatically adjusted!]
'Ah, I guess that's good?'
I briefly thought about that this world was an ownerless world.
So the consequence of a constellation descending, a potential owner could be bad.
[Switching avatar....]
My vision was filled with blue and then everything went dark.