I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

Alice blinked slowly, her eyes adjusting to the pitch-black darkness that surrounded her. Her mind was filled with confusion as she tried to make sense of her situation.

“…Where am I?”

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t figure out where she was. The bigger problem was that her body wouldn’t move at all, as if it was bound and restrained.

Despite this, she managed to calm herself down.

‘Grandma will come to save me soon.’

Because of the Sword Emperor.

Nevertheless, she needed to understand how she ended up in this situation, so Alice slowly retraced her memories.

“So, it was definitely…”

Ah.
Lee Yoo-ri and Kang Do-hee.
It all started with them.

2 weeks ago.

Ever since the Sword Emperor asked her to help train the two girls.

To be honest, she wasn’t thrilled about it, but Alice diligently took on the task.

And she also wanted to show off a bit to that guy with the handsome face who was asked to become her grandmother’s disciple.

Since she couldn’t do it directly to him, she decided to demonstrate her skills to the two girls who had come with him.

Each of them chose a terrain that suited their attributes.

Lee Yoo-ri picked a barren, dry land devoid of any trees.

Kang Do-hee chose a scorching hot magma region.

Apparently, a woman named Mage had come by and created various terrains, but Alice didn’t remember her.

Anyway, she taught them the training methods she had learned from her grandmother, tailored to their respective attributes.

They trained by swimming in a valley with an iron ball tied to their waists, climbing cliffs upside down, and navigating through treacherous trap courses filled with deadly weapons.

However, what Alice hadn’t anticipated was their level of skill.

Although Alice had spent most of her life shut away in this place, she had ventured outside occasionally and knew that the Sword Emperor’s Mountains were filled with a strange energy that drained mana and stamina.

Yet, Lee Yoo-ri and Kang Do-hee were catching up to her at an alarming rate.

At first, their bodies, unaccustomed to the energy drain, struggled to keep up, and it took them almost a day or two to complete a single training session.

But day by day, they adapted and soon reached a level comparable to Alice’s.

And then, on the seventh day…

After seeing Jin Yuhua, they became even more driven, pushing themselves to the brink of self-destruction.

Alice tried to maintain her composure, but she was secretly flustered. What was driving these girls so relentlessly?

‘Are all the people at the Academy like this? Grandma always said I was special, that there was no one at the Academy who could match me. She told me to hide my true strength, but…’

Hiding her strength was the last thing on her mind now; she wasn’t even sure if she could stand alongside them.

Alice’s faith in her grandmother’s words began to waver, and the certainty she had always felt about her own abilities started to shake.

And so, on the fourteenth day…

Lee Yoo-ri and Kang Do-hee had exhausted all their tricks and were now performing Alice’s lifelong training routines with greater skill than her.

Boom!

Boom!

Kuwoong—!

“Eeeek!”

Lee Yoo-ri, standing on a mountain, deflected the falling boulders, even as her body was at risk of being crushed. Her arms and legs were bruised and battered, but her eyes remained fierce and determined.

As someone with the earth attribute, this was one of the most challenging trainings, and Alice, with her water attribute, had never attempted it herself.

But she knew how difficult it was because she had failed at the most advanced water attribute training.

‘Kang Do-hee must be doing the same…’

Punching and kicking the lava waterfall, despite the melting flesh and mana protection.

‘They’re crazy…’

By this point, even Alice was feeling anxious.

If this was the average level at the Academy, she understood why her grandmother had never taught her the sword.

Clack—

Taking advantage of a brief break while Lee Yoo-ri caught her breath, Alice approached her.

Kang Do-hee had an intimidating aura and a blunt personality, so Alice found it difficult to approach her.

But Lee Yoo-ri was more responsive to questions, so Alice decided to start with her.

“…Um, is Jin Yuhua really stronger than you guys?”

Alice asked awkwardly, and Lee Yoo-ri turned to face her with a puzzled expression.

“Haa— Haa— What, Jin Yuhua?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s with your interest in Jin Yuhua?”

Lee Yoo-ri, usually so passionate, suddenly wore an icy expression, surprising Alice, who quickly swallowed her breath.

‘—Hic!’

Alice managed to muster a cold voice, determined not to show any weakness.

“I’m just curious about his level, that’s all.”

Lee Yoo-ri narrowed her eyes at Alice, and a moment of silence passed between them.

“…Hmm.”

Lee Yoo-ri sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, he’s strong. The strongest among us.”
“…But he’s a guy?”

Even Alice, who had been sheltered and knew little of the outside world, understood that men couldn’t beat women.

After all, men were born with different mana levels and physical abilities, so how could he be the strongest?

“You can’t judge Jin Yuhua by those standards.”
“What…?”
“I’m saying he’s not like any ordinary guy you might imagine. That’s why we’re pushing ourselves so hard, so we don’t hold him back.”

Lee Yoo-ri took a moment to catch her breath before lifting her shield again, signaling that she’d rested enough.

As Alice watched, a strange curiosity piqued her interest.

‘What kind of man is Jin Yuhua?’

Just then—

Surrr—

A tree vine slithered up Alice’s ankle.

“…Huh?”

The vine pulled at her ankle, dragging her body into the ground.

.

.

.

“Master… You have the ice attribute…?”

Master nodded, and I couldn’t believe it, even as I saw the mana causing frost to form on her sword.

Of course, if she had an attribute, I would have noticed it sooner.

‘But how is that possible? The Moon Shadow Sword technique is supposed to be attribute-less…’

Naturally, I had assumed Master was attribute-less like me.

But Master seemed to sense my doubts and spoke up.

“That sword I taught you…”

She seemed uncomfortable talking about it.

“The Moon Shadow Sword?”
“Yeah, that sword… It’s not supposed to have an attribute.”
“Huh?”
“It reduces the possibilities.”
“Oh.”

Her words made sense to me now.

‘The Moon Shadow Sword is a sword that shouldn’t have any weaknesses.’

Its essence is to embrace all possibilities, and a noticeable weakness would limit its options.

While having no attribute might seem like a disadvantage, making one appear weaker or less efficient, in the world of Velvetスラ, being attribute-less wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The characteristic of the attribute-less was that they had no particular strengths, but also no particular weaknesses.

Kang Do-hee, with her fire attribute, was weak against water, and ice was weak against fire.

But the attribute-less had no such weaknesses. They took and dealt the same amount of damage regardless of the opponent’s attribute, making them versatile.

‘So, Master chose to be attribute-less even though she had the ice attribute, but wouldn’t that make her less efficient…?’

I wondered what her score would be if she used an ice attribute sword.

Anyway, this was good news.

If Master had the ice attribute, our chances of defeating the Demon Tree increased significantly.

“Now that we have the ice attribute, where is that damn tree?!”

The Sword Emperor, losing his patience, asked urgently.

“Hey.”

I pointed with my finger.

“…Where?”

Everyone followed my finger with their eyes, and their pupils shook as they realized where I was pointing.

It was the pit where I had been trapped for over two weeks.

When I saw the black and white threads of possibility to save Master, there were also black threads sprouting from the ground.

So,

The Demon Tree was nestled underground in this mountain.