I Was the Strongest Sword God in My Past Life

part 3

A solid body and hair drenched in sweat. Features sharpened by weight loss and eyes like deep, sorrowful lakes.

‘Huh? Wait, did he always look like this?’

Ten days may be short for some.

But for a hero, it was enough time. He hadn’t noticed at first glance in the mirror, but now, having regained his condition,

Jien and Evan even resembled each other in appearance.

“Professor Romina?”

Thanks to Jien’s call, Romina barely snapped back to reality. She compared the Jien in her memory with the one before her eyes.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Romina checked the dormitory address again.

‘Did I come to the wrong place?’

It was definitely room 411 in building D4.

The building was fine. What had changed was the student living there. Jien’s impression was completely different from before.

‘Of course, in a good way.’

Romina, with her mouth dry, looked at Jien with pleased eyes.

‘He’s like a completely different person?’

However, Romina’s behavior was contrary to her thoughts, rather brusque.

“Do you know you have a Stigma Studies exam coming up?”

“No, I didn’t know.”

“Ha, how could you know if you’re absent so much. Really, who decides to skip ten days?”

“Oh, that, I already got permission from the principal.”

“What, what? The, the principal?”

“Yes, he said it’s fine to do personal training until the next Gate evaluation test.”

“Is that so?”

Principal Selfis may be materialistic but is a power player second only to the chairman. Romina, just a professor, had nothing to say.

An awkward silence.

Romina murmured quietly.

“So… is that all?”

“Yes, yes?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Jian was flustered, but Romina had already flipped her hysterical switch.

“Is only the Gate test important? What about Stigma Studies? The written exams? Do you all only care about practicals? Huh? So full of yourselves… If your heads are empty, you’ll die like dogs in the Gate!”

Romina’s target wasn’t Jian. If Jian was guilty of anything, it was merely being in front of Romina right now.

“These days, students are cunning, just aiming to meet the grade cut-offs… Back in my day, it was… really…”

After a long rant, Romina finally regained her composure.

“Anyway! If you fall short in this exam, you’re repeating the year. Just remember that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I like the crisp response, but I prefer good results, you know? Oh, and you…”

Romina swallowed back the words she intended to say.

‘Do something about the smell.’

She concluded the conversation with a long sigh.

“No, never mind, never mind. Just remember the test.”

With that, Romina left.

And Jian was alone in the empty dormitory.

‘…I’ve hit the jackpot with the exam.’

There was no time to spare for theory. Even if there was time, as if he would study theory.

Jian had recovered the memories of his past life. With those memories, he could pride himself on having a deeper understanding of Stigmas than anyone else.

“The condition of my body is excellent for ten days.”

And Jian had a secret weapon prepared a few days ago.

Items hidden under the bed.

Seemingly random and disorganized, they might look like junk, but contrary to appearances, they were valuable.

‘These are all artifacts.’

[Artifact]

In the past, the term encompassed all treasures, but the modern concept has become more detailed, described as follows:

[Items imbued with the mysteries of the Gate]

The value of artifacts varies greatly. Some are treasures coveted by nations and corporations, while others are inferior goods, like those obtained from low-level 1st or 2nd grade Gates.

‘It’s about time to start using them…’

The place where Jian had hidden the artifacts was the Artifact International Archive.

AIA (Artifact International Archive).

A century had passed, and the building had changed, but the artifacts Jian had entrusted to the vault in a past life remained entirely intact. A system where anyone who knew the password could retrieve their belongings.

Thanks to this, although the artifacts were entrusted by Evan, Jian, who inherited the memories, was able to type in the password and retrieve the items.

Among the various artifacts, the first that Jian grasped was a pair of glasses.

They looked like ordinary glasses, but the artifact was grandiosely named ‘Eyes of Knowledge’.

When worn and a small amount of mana flowed through…

＜Ring of Endurance＞

Grade – Common

Information – A ring twisted from the curse of Zone 1, made for training purposes.

Effect – The same movements increase the body’s fatigue. Allows for high-efficiency training in a short time.

It displays information about objects or creatures like this. The glasses were seldom used due to discomfort, but they were intended for use in this virtual gate.

The next artifact was a gourd with a strange talisman attached. It looked shabby, but its efficacy was tailor-made for Jian.

＜Liquor of Reincarnation＞

Grade – Rare Spirit

Information – A liquor born from the hidden world’s powers, a masterpiece of the greatest brewery in Zone 3, Qiu En Jia Long.

Effect – Increases mana.

※Duration is less than one week.

‘This completes the preparations.’

Jian poured the liquid from the gourd into his mouth without hesitation.

Though a hundred-year-old liquor, it was still an artifact.

Mana swirled as if tearing through his body.

“Now I’m ready to summon the magical tools.”

Medicine to the pharmacist, and the saber to the past life. Truly, the growth of a specialist was astonishing.

* * *

If sacred marks are a condition for the gifted… what are magical tools and magical machines? The answer could be summarized in one line.

If the magical machine is the painting, then the magical tool is the brush.

In other words, for the Saber to exert its unique abilities, a magical tool is necessary. But no one knows what form it will take. Everything is engraved only in the stigmata that looks like tattoos.

“It’s a relief to have found the stigmata.”

The brown sacred mark engraved on Jian’s hand changed into a red sword-shaped stigma as he recovered the memories of his past life.

To say the stigmata is everything to the Saber is no exaggeration. The reason is that each stigma’s magical tool effect differs. Hence, from the moment of birth, one could be deemed either a blessed or doomed character.

For reference, the name of the stigma Evan had in a past life was…

“Black Fragrance.”

– Yes, Master Gian.

A woman in her twenties’ voice echoed in his head.

A kind of telepathy. Not often used, but the Stigma allowed for such communion with its bearer.

“How much is the assimilation rate now?”

At Gian’s inquiry, Black Fragrance replied without delay.

– The current assimilation rate is 97%.

Assimilation (同化)

The sense of unity between the Stigma and the Saber is called assimilation. This is quantified as the assimilation rate.

An assimilation rate of 97% would make anyone flip backward. For comparison, a 6th-grade Saber, Principal Selfis, had an active-duty assimilation rate of 80%.

The reason Gian, who hadn’t even seen a virtual gate, possessed such a figure was due to his previous life as Evan, who had fought life-and-death battles alongside Black Fragrance.

‘As memories transferred, so did the assimilation rate.’

He hadn’t expected much, but this was a good phenomenon.

The power of a magical tool is influenced by the assimilation rate, so much so that Arcana had a separate educational course called [Befriending the Stigma].

Gian had skipped that process. Not just a jump, but he had flown on a plane with the buffs from his previous life.

‘The magical power and assimilation rate are sufficient.’

Gian closed his eyes.

‘Let’s recall slowly.’

Summoning the first magical tool was quite an effortful task.

Feeling the shape of the magical tool instinctively.

In fact, what Gian was doing now was akin to cheating. Recalling his previous life, the image of Black Fragrance, which he had been with for over a decade, was vividly drawn before his eyes.

The jet-black blade and edge.

A design pursued solely for efficiency.

The more he recalled, the clearer the image became, soon forming into a sword.

Black Fragrance resembled well-polished obsidian. Staring at it, one could feel being sucked into the sword as if enchanted. His comrades from the past life had said this about Black Fragrance’s attribute.

The jet-black sword that cuts through negativity.

Gian had his eyes closed, but he felt the sword materializing before him.

‘Now it’s the final turn.’

He reached out for that imaginary sword that couldn’t possibly exist in reality.

When he grasped it, it felt as if it was in his hand, even the weight was perceptible. The preparation was complete with that.

In Jian’s hand, once scorned for lacking a magical tool, was the hero Evan’s artifact, the pitch-black sword, Heukhyang.

“It’s been a while, Heukhyang.”

About a hundred years, perhaps?

Jian smiled as he looked at the sword.

* * *

The fitness room of Dormitory B3.

Boasting state-of-the-art facilities, this place was always bustling with people during the day, but not at night.

The unlocked fitness room, after 10 p.m., often became a den of student misdeeds.

“Hey, Dayben! Did you hear about it?”

A male student, giggling while glued to his phone, asked, and Dayben crushed a beer can in response.

“What?”

“You know, that guy who challenged you before.”

“Challenged me?”

“Yeah, that bottom-dweller.”

“Oh.”

With a sneer, Dayben finally remembered.

“I’ve lost interest in that guy. Didn’t I tell you? He’s someone who can’t become a Saver, still without a magical tool, you know?”

That was sincere. In Dayben’s mind, Jian was no longer worth tormenting.

After all, the harassment had started because of Jian’s swordsmanship skills.

Dayben’s stigma, his magical tool, was a sword. His family valued not only swordsmanship but also physical combat prowess. Despite that, Jian had put up a good fight.

‘A lowborn from the orphanage, withstanding my attack?’

That was something Dayben’s pride could never tolerate. Since then, he had relentlessly bullied Jian.

“But why bring up that loser now? It’s ruining my appetite.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like he’s planning to leave school? I saw him attending the sparring class last time.”

“Professor Kashen’s class?”

As the gang nodded, Dayben pressed down on an unopened beer can.

Bang!

The can burst with a loud noise under the pressure of mana.

“Ah, it’s bothering me…”

Sure, he was a discarded toy, but now the story was different.