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[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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Chapter 06: Divine Artifact (2)
“W-What just…?”
Lea de Karayan stared at me in disbelief.
It looked like I’d suddenly hurled the sword to the floor.
‘That’s not it.’
…I’d just dropped it because it was too heavy.
〔Strength: 1〕
‘Damn it, this pitiful Strength stat…’
I clicked my tongue in frustration.
Goddamn it. Just how weak is this body?
According to the game’s settings, Frostglow wasn’t even considered a particularly heavy sword.
And yet I couldn’t even lift it.
Seriously, what a piece-of-crap body.
‘…Come to think of it, I could barely lift a rusted one-handed sword earlier. Why did I even think I could carry around a big longsword like this?’
I let out a sigh, filled with regret.
I’d come here hoping to find a weapon that could withstand my skills but I couldn’t even lift it to begin with.
There was no helping it. At this point, I had no choice but to give up on Frostglow—
‘…No. Wait a minute.’
Stop—
Right then, something clicked in my head, and my eyes narrowed.
While I silently stared down at the sword lying on the floor, Karayan finally snapped out of it and nervously asked,
“G-Great one? I-Is something the matter…?”
“Be quiet for a moment.”
“…Yes.”
I silenced her with a single word.
Karayan clamped her mouth shut, her expression puzzled as her eyes darted around.
I ignored her and followed the thread of my thoughts.
‘No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t make sense.’
At first, I was too stunned by Frostglow’s unexpected appearance to think clearly.
But the more I thought about it, the more something felt off.
Frostglow.
According to the original game’s story, the Ruins Guild shouldn’t have owned this weapon at this point in the timeline.
Sure, eventually it would fall into Karayan’s hands but that was supposed to happen much later in the story.
‘Which means, the Frostglow here…’
Having pieced it together, I opened my mouth.
“It’s a fake.”
“……Pardon?” Karayan replied in a flustered voice. “A… a fake?”
“Yes.”
“I-I’m sorry, but I think that’s highly unlikely.”
She started stumbling over her words.
“This sword was clearly crafted by ‘The Master of Flame and Forge.’ That’s already been verified…”
I cut her off with a question.
“Didn’t you say this weapon was acquired only a few days ago?”
“……”
“Then I assume the appraisal process hasn’t been completed yet.”
Karayan hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“You’re correct—we’ve only conducted an initial appraisal. But even so, we concluded the chances of it being a fake were extremely low—”
“I won’t say it again. Have it reappraised.”
“……”
“What’s the hesitation? You’d have to verify it through cross-checking eventually anyway.”
At my firm tone, Karayan shut her mouth.
Then, without another word, she nodded.
“Understood. I’ll contact the appraiser immediately.”
“And tell them to examine it assuming it’s a counterfeit.”
“…I’ll be sure to pass that along.”
Good.
Now the Ruins Guild owed me yet another favor.
Just a single word from me today might be worth a thousand gold someday down the line.
‘It’s a bit disappointing that I didn’t get the real Frostglow here…’
But even if it had been genuine, I wouldn’t have been able to carry it anyway.
So what’s the point?
With that thought, I brushed aside my lingering regret.
‘Besides, I don’t need to obsess over a Divine Artifact just because it has flashy effects.’
After all, I had the skill 【Soul of the Swordmaster】.
There was no reason to overextend myself chasing some weapon with powerful passive abilities.
‘…I should just stick with what I originally planned.’
A sword that’s light enough for me to wield despite my miserable Strength stat and durable enough to withstand my skills.
A weapon with high enough specs to carry me all the way to the endgame.
And above all…
‘…The weapon I had already decided on the moment I stepped into this vault.’
Sshhk—
Having made up my mind, I turned my gaze toward a corner of the vault.
A snowy-white scabbard.
Next to it, a single, slender sword lay flat.
I whispered the weapon’s name in my heart:
‘Featherblade.’
The name alone told you everything you needed to know.
True to its name, this Divine Artifact had an in-game weight stat of exactly ‘0’.
It didn’t offer much beyond that, though, which was why it had long been considered the lowest-tier Divine Artifact in the game.
‘…But for me, right now, it’s absolutely perfect.’
A weapon with zero weight.
That meant even someone like me—with a Strength stat in the gutter—could carry it around easily.
What’s more, Featherblade was still a Divine Artifact in name and classification.
Its durability far outstripped that of any ordinary weapon.
Unlike that cheap blade that crumbled into dust the moment I used Soul of the Swordmaster, this one should last long enough to survive multiple uses of even a 12-star mythic-tier skill.
“……”
Srrk—!
I lifted Featherblade.
As expected, even I could hold it with ease.
Wearing a satisfied smile, I turned to Karayan and said, “I’ll take this one.”
“…Pardon?”
Karayan’s voice was practically trembling with confusion.
“F-Featherblade? Out of everything here… you’re choosing that?”
I looked at her and answered plainly, “Why? Is that a problem?”
“N-No, it’s not exactly a problem, but…”
She trailed off, her expression clearly reluctant.
Karayan stared at the Featherblade in my hand like it was garbage.
“……”
Yeah.
Honestly, I couldn’t blame her for reacting that way.
Aside from having a weight stat of ‘0’, Featherblade was essentially just a durable sword.
In fact, many swordsmen in the game actively avoided it because it felt weightless to swing.
Using sword techniques that relied on weight was completely out of the question—and more than that, the way Featherblade felt in the hand was so fundamentally different from normal swords that the dissonance was hard to ignore.
‘A trash-tier sword so bad it practically mocks the title of Divine Artifact.’
Maybe that’s why.
As I mentioned before, Featherblade was once considered the lowest-tier weapon among all Divine Artifacts by the playerbase of Loel.
‘…That was back then, anyway.’
Over time, players came to discover the blade’s true nature.
Eventually, they realized something: Featherblade wasn’t called a Divine Artifact for nothing.
‘Featherblade awakens once specific conditions are met.’
The original game had all kinds of hidden Easter eggs.
Among them, the most well-known was the True Name Unsealing system—a mechanic where certain “trash” items would gain god-tier stats and effects when certain requirements were fulfilled.
Featherblade was one of those awakening-type weapons.
Its awakened form received top-tier evaluations, even among the game’s most powerful gear.
In fact, it eventually surpassed Frostglow, claiming the number one spot in the sword-class item rankings.
‘If Karayan had known what Featherblade could become after awakening…’
Even someone like her—who’d been willing to hand over Frostglow without hesitation—
never would’ve let me take Featherblade.
And what if she does eventually learn the blade’s true value?
The answer’s obvious.
She’ll try to buy it back at any cost—even if it means throwing down a mountain of gold.
I grinned quietly to myself at the thought.
‘Perfect.’
…So far, this first playthrough was unfolding more smoothly than any of the previous ones I’d done.
* * *
“Here. Take this.”
Sff—
The moment we stepped out of the vault, Karayan handed me something.
It was a magically lightened subspace pouch—a bag enchanted with weight-reduction and spatial compression magic.
I accepted it, puzzled, and turned to look at her.
Karayan simply shrugged and explained, “That’s one hundred million shillings.”
“…Huh?”
Shilling—the currency used in the original game.
Its exchange rate was practically one-to-one with the Korean won, which led some players to speculate that the secretive game studio behind Loel might be a Korean company.
‘Granted, the in-game economy is a total disaster thanks to the post-apocalyptic setting…’
Still, a hundred million shillings was no small sum.
This money would no doubt prove to be a huge help in surviving this world.
‘…But why is she just handing me this kind of money out of nowhere?’
Was she really giving me this massive sum just because I saved her life?
As I looked at Karayan with questioning eyes, she calmly added an explanation, “It’s the reward for defeating the champion of the underground arena.”
“…Ah.”
Her words jogged a memory I’d momentarily forgotten.
—‘Those who survive this match will have all their debts cleared… and receive a sum of 100 million shillings from the Ruins Guild.’
Right.
That’s what the announcer said back at the arena.
I’d been so busy I forgot all about it until now.
“The other surviving slaves also received their reward and were granted freedom. Thanks to that, our underground arena went into the red for the first time.”
“……”
“But to be fair, Human Butcher Barba had been hogging the champion’s seat for far too long. We were about due for some new blood in the arena anyway.”
Pause—
Uncharacteristically talkative, Karayan suddenly went silent.
She stared at me for a moment, her expression hard to read, before finally asking, “But unfortunately, our new blood won’t be appearing in the arena again, will he?”
“……”
“You plan to leave this place, don’t you?”
Nod—
I silently nodded in response.
Like I said before, I needed to keep a safe distance from the Ruins Guild.
Sure, staying close to them might be convenient for now.
But in the long run, it’d only hold me back.
‘And more importantly…’
If—by some slim chance—they were to discover that I wasn’t the person who saved Karayan…
‘…Then I’d be in for a world of hell.’
Which is why I had to leave the Ruins Guild as soon as possible.
Perhaps Karayan had sensed that our parting was near.
Her voice softened as she spoke again.
“Then, before you go… could you at least tell me your name?”
My name…
I paused, thinking it over, before replying, “Who knows. I’ve forgotten it myself.”
“…Excuse me?”
“It’s been so long since I last used it.”
Karayan looked at me, stunned.
She had the expression of someone wondering what the hell I was even saying.
But it couldn’t be helped.
Like I said, the fewer ties I had to the Ruins Guild, the better.
“You really are a mysterious one, aren’t you… Savior.”
Eventually, Karayan nodded reluctantly.
“Very well. Then I won’t press the matter further.”
“……”
“Just one thing… Just one last question, please.”
Ssh—
After a brief silence, she looked me straight in the eyes and asked, “Someday… you will return to the Ruins Guild, won’t you?”
I nodded.
And without even a second’s hesitation, I answered, “Yeah. Someday.”
This world was brutal beyond belief.
And in a place like this, when you've sunk your teeth into a good mark, there’s no reason not to take advantage of them.
If the time came when I truly needed the Ruins Guild’s help again…
…I would definitely return.
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[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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