Sweeping the Academy with a Wooden Sword

[Mistilteinn, activating.]

[Starting ■■■ cultivation.]

Lee Dojin’s consciousness faded out at the same time he heard the unidentified soft voice.

How many hours had passed?
Dojin slowly opened his eyes. A dense forest of trees came into view.

He could smell the grass.

“Are you ready to wake up?”

A clear and delicate voice was heard near his ear.
Dojin opened his eyes wide.

Snow-white hair. And eyes rippling with green.

The woman, who at first glance looked like a young girl, stroked Dojin’s hair.

“You’ll come to your senses now.”

And once again, his vision went dark.

He opened his eyes again.

This time there was no lush forest. The unidentified girl was nowhere to be seen.

It was the ceiling of his father’s workshop.

His mind had returned, but he could still feel heat in his body.

He had a headache too. His whole body was tingling.

“What on earth is this?”

It’s certain that something like a tree branch had seeped into his heart.
What was it called again?

“Mistilteinn…”

That’s definitely what he heard.

[User recognition complete.]

Too delicate for an adult, too mature for a girl.
It was a soft voice of indeterminate age.

It must be the same being as the girl in the forest from earlier.
Though the tone seems to have become a bit stiffer.

“What exactly are you?”

Could it be something like ‘nanomachines’ that entered his body?

[This ego, Mistilteinn. Acts solely for the sake of the master.]
[Constructing an ego system suitable for the owner.]

[Owner, Lee Dojin. Body scan complete. Problem detected.]

[‘Mana inability’, seeking solution.]

“Solution? You can solve mana inability?”

I couldn’t easily believe it.
Even with all the cutting-edge technology mobilized with So Yueun’s help, not even a bit of mana was generated in my dantian.

[Partial solution for ‘mana inability’ has been found.]

What?

[Find a weapon suitable for interacting with this ego, Mistilteinn.]

“Interaction?”

Weapons were scattered all over the display stands and work areas.

I picked up a sword.

[Unsuitable weapon.]

I picked up a spear.

[Unsuitable weapon.]

I picked up an axe.

[Unsuitable weapon.]

After that, I picked up everything that could be a weapon – knife, bow, hammer, etc. – but all were unsuitable.

Interaction.

The ‘Mistilteinn’ absorbed into my body had the appearance of a tree branch.

Then.

[Suitable weapon.]

“Ha.”

A bitter laugh burst out.
The weapon in my hand right now was.

A ‘wooden sword’.

[Starting interaction.]

[By the authority of this ego, ‘1-star mana’ is granted to the owner’s dantian.]

The bitter laugh disappeared on its own.
Because truly, something started to rise.

So this is what they mean when they say something fills up in the dantian.

Like water filling an empty cup.

My body became full.

“Can I really… use mana? Me?”

Elation rose from the tips of my toes.

[Try releasing mana.]

The mana that miraculously appeared in my dantian just now.
I moved that mana.

There’s no way I can’t move it. I couldn’t even dream of it because it didn’t exist in the first place.

There’s no way I can’t use what’s already in my hands.
I focused all my nerves on my dantian.

Twitch!

Like a single sprout germinating in barren soil.
I raised mana from my dantian.

From that sprout.
Mana spread throughout my entire body.
Like an old tree taking root in the ground.

Where both arms meet.
There was the wooden sword.

Swish!

A transparent current of air rose on the blade of the wooden sword.
A colorless light.
It was sword energy (劍氣).

“…It worked.”

I felt an intense sense of achievement.

“It’s blunt.”

Although I managed to draw out sword energy without a single failure, perhaps because it was overlaid exactly on the form of the wooden sword, the sword energy was also blunt.

While it might be suitable for destroying something, what I wanted was sword energy in a form capable of ‘cutting’.

Sharp like the sword energy that rises on a real sword.

Once again, I focused energy on my dantian.

Rise up.
A colorless flame envelops it.
But this time too, it was blunt.

Extinguish the flame.
Light it up again.

Maybe the shape of the wooden sword is the problem.
I started swinging the wooden sword while wrapping it in sword energy.

Upper cut. Middle cut. Lower cut.
Focusing all my mind on the tip of the sword, I strike down.

Ten times.
A hundred times.
A thousand times.

My arms started to cramp. A drop of sweat fell along the back of the wooden sword.

Drip, drip…

The floor was soaked with sweat.

Even after confirming that the sword energy couldn’t become sharp no matter how much I swung the sword wrapped in blunt energy, I continued striking for a long time.

Immersion (沒我).
After a very long time, I immersed myself in swordsmanship.

It felt like a lie that until just yesterday, I couldn’t even concentrate properly while struggling with the frustration of not being able to use mana.

Then, a voice faintly echoed in my head. It kept ringing like an echo.

Only after buzzing for a long time could I hear those words clearly.

[Please stop.]

It was Mistilteinn’s voice.
And the moment I recognized it, suddenly all strength left my body.

Beyond aching, a burning pain rose throughout my entire body.

Only then did I realize. That I had pushed myself far beyond my physical limits.

Once again, my consciousness faded out.

I opened my eyes. The dense forest I had seen half a day ago came into view.

“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

Snow-white hair and green eyes.
The unidentified girl was looking down at me again this time.

“Mistilteinn?”

“Yes.”

Mistilteinn stared at me intently.

“Your body is a mess. When we met earlier, it was because I was being implanted, but now it’s because you’ve abused your body yourself.”

She seemed clearly dissatisfied with me. No, perhaps closer to puzzled than dissatisfied.

“Right now, your body is being repaired. This is your heart, and my world.”

Mistilteinn brought her face close to mine.

“Why did you continue training to the point of abusing your body so much after confirming that you could use sword energy?”

She was asking me something that was very obvious to me.

“Because I’ve been longing for it.”

That moment of releasing mana to form sword energy.

“It’s thanks to you. Thank you.”

The moment I thought would never come was realized thanks to Mistilteinn.

At my words, Mistilteinn’s eyes widened.

“…If you’re grateful, use your body sparingly. So that this doesn’t happen again, efficiently. It’s not good to meet me often. This place doesn’t affect reality. It means there’s no gain even if you train here.”

“I understand.”

I looked at the scenery. Trees of winter, the same as the current season in reality, densely covered the surroundings.

The sky had darkened, as if the sun had set in reality.

“You’ll be able to regain consciousness in a little while.”

I finally remembered what I should have asked first.
“Why did you enter my body?”

Thanks to her entering, I was able to use sword energy even if only with a wooden sword, so my question became much more polite.

Mistilteinn’s green eyes stared at me.

“The egos (ego) that descend to this world have a mission. To choose a suitable master and make that master stronger.”

Mistilteinn continued.

“And we have the power to discern people’s inherent qualities. What I felt from you was a great longing to become stronger. That’s why I was implanted. I didn’t know that desire would be this intense though.”

Mistilteinn let out a soft sigh.

“But at least you won’t just sit around wasting time. Not you, master.”

I have no such intention.
Now I don’t care what’s in my hand. If I can only use a wooden sword, I was confident I could sharpen even that wooden sword.

“But why is your way of speaking different? I mean, between now and when you communicate with me in reality.”

“It’s the ego’s rule. When communicating with the master as equipment, use clear language to avoid any misunderstanding between us. That’s the rule this world has given to egos.”
Rule?
“According to that rule, when I’m being used by you as equipment, I enter ‘Advice Ego’ state. It’s a state where I quickly pull out knowledge books from my mind and help you as efficiently as possible.”

It meant that when I’m in reality, she’s in ‘Advice Ego’ state. That’s why her tone becomes somewhat stiffer.

“Now your body’s repair is complete. Go back to reality. Please, please don’t overdo it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Mistilteinn furrowing her delicate brow.

“Alright.”

My vision went dark again.

Chomp!

Back in reality, I quickly satisfied my hunger with a piece of bread from my bag and picked up the wooden sword again.

I went out to the yard outside. The cold of midwinter became bearable once I started using mana. I was going to sweat again anyway.

The fact that the sword energy wrapped around my wooden sword doesn’t sharpen – that’s not a problem with the sword path.

I confirmed that after swinging it over a thousand times.

Technique.
It must be a problem with the technique of handling sword energy itself.
I’m going to cut monsters with this wooden sword.
Whether it’s a real sword or a wooden sword in my hand. I had to forge it sharp.

Swish!

Mana stirred in my dantian.
I repeatedly overlaid sword energy evenly on the wooden sword and retrieved it.

How many times did I do this?
A thousand times? Two thousand times?

The sky that had been dark was now dawning with a new day.

I raised sword energy.

Sword energy that rose somewhat roundly following the form (形) of the wooden sword.
I infused my thoughts and will into that sword energy.
I controlled the mana.

Tzzzt!

The shape of the sword energy slowly transformed.
My arms trembled.

Fweeeet!

The colorless flame.
Uniform and sharp sword energy (劍氣) was rising on the wooden sword.

[Excellent.]

Mistilteinn’s voice softly echoed in my head.