Taming Master

Ian, who had placed his hand on the third box, hesitated for a moment.

‘Sure, well, since it’s completely random anyways. Still, it would be great if something like a bow or a magic wand appeared.’

Ian, who finished his momentary contemplation, nodded his head.

“Sure, I’ll go with this.”

• Weapon selection has been completed.

Along with the message, the weapon floated in the air.

However, unfortunately, it was not one of the kinds of weapons that Ian wanted.

‘What is this? A greatsword?’

A giant, dark-coloured greatsword, which was comparable to Hellaim’s greatsword, had appeared in front of Ian’s eyes.

As Ian grasped the handle of the greatsword, a message popped up again.

• You have selected the weapon, ‘The Judgment Sword of the Spirit King’.

And along with the message, a bright white glow permeated the greatsword, which looked black in colour, as its blinding figure was revealed.

Ian took in a sharp breath of air without realizing.

“Hut!”

It was because the outer appearance of the greatsword was incredibly beautiful.

The golden pattern that was inlaid into the white blade gave off a very luxurious feeling.

Ian instinctively checked the information of the item, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed.

That was because all of the options were sealed.

The only fortunate thing was that the weapon’s Offensive Power still remained at least.

‘How is the Offensive Power of a greatsword 1500? This is crazy. It must be at least a Legendary-rank item.’

And while Ian was having such thoughts, Eclipse’s ghost appeared next to Ian.

• You have selected the greatsword. I don’t know if you’ll be able to properly use the Judgment Sword with such a weak-looking body, but good luck to you.

Ian turned his gaze towards Eclipse as he asked.

“What do I need to do now, though?”

Eclipse’s words continued.

And his explanation was quite long.

• The warriors of our Selamus Tribe are divided into a total of five ranks depending on one’s combat abilities. The lowest rank being a D-rank, and from there, it goes up in the order C, B, A, and S.

After pausing for a moment to breathe, his words continued.

• Starting now, an imaginary Selamus warrior with the exact same condition as you will appear. Starting with the D-rank, a warrior one rank higher will appear in order.

Ian asked.

“If it’s someone that is the exact same rank as I am, does that mean our combat abilities are the same as well?”

Eclipse nodded his head.

• A Selamus warrior that has been set to have all the same stats as you will appear.

Internally, Ian let out a sigh of relief.

‘If our stats are completely the same, whatever comes out, I’ll chew them up.’

As Ian had never thought that he fell behind anyone in VR when it came to control, it was confidence that he could have.

“I see. Please continue to explain.”

Eclipse opened his mouth again.

• I have no idea how high of a ranked warrior you will be able to win against, but the rank that you succeeded in winning against will be set as your rank, and afterwards, the gateway will match the difficulty level according to that rank.

“I see.”

Ian felt a desire to win bubble up from deep within his heart.

‘If I’m not an S-rank, who else would receive an S-rank?’

He had already forgone taking into account the penalty that he had picked a greatsword, which he had barely even used before.

He just felt interest towards the new combat condition that he had never experienced before.

‘Well, since I’ve used a greatsword in other VR games a lot before too.’

Eclipse’s words continued again.

• For now, I will continue the explanation on the next gateway after you are graded a rank.

“Understood.”

At Ian’s expression that looked like it was full of confidence, Eclipse smirked as he spoke.

• Good luck to you. I hope that Kaizar’s discernment will not disappoint me.

As Ian slightly turned his head, he could see Kaizar, who was watching him with an interested expression from outside of the arena.

‘If I can’t even pass a low rank, Kaizar will probably ignore me even more than he already does, right?’

On the other hand, at the thought that Kaizar’s attitude might even change a little if he at least gained an S-rank, Ian fired up his will even more.

• Let’s start.

Eclipse’s ghost disappeared as a blue light slowly appeared in its place.

And soon, that light took on a form and became a burly-looking, adult male.

He was holding the same weapon as Ian.

‘I just need to beat him, right?’

The corners of Ian’s mouth slightly rolled upwards as he tightened his hold on the greatsword.

And in the next moment, he charged forward like an arrow.

‘First attack leads to unfailing victory.’

Because of the heavy weight of the greatsword, it was impossible to control it unless both hands were used.

Ian bent his body back like a bow, and he swung down the greatsword which he had pulled up from behind his right shoulder.

Cla-ang-!

Along with a weighted noise, the two greatswords clashed.

The Selamus warrior blocked Ian’s sword in a relaxed manner as they attempted a counter-attack.

‘I knew this would happen.’

When it came to any attacks using a greatsword, the movements couldn’t help but inevitably be large.

That’s why if you weren’t careful with all of your attacks, it was easy to get hit by a counter, so it also happened to be a difficult weapon to handle.

The Selamus Warrior that lifted his sword and blocked Ian’s attack immediately shot out forward towards Ian’s chest.

Cla-cla-cla-clang-!

Ian slightly twisted the course of his sword that was swinging downwards and pushed his opponent’s sword away.

“Hmph!”

In the next moment, along with a short shout of concentration, Ian jumped up into the air.

He forced the greatsword that was being pushed down into the ground, and Ian, who used that rebound to jump, dodged the sword in a relaxed manner as he moved behind the Selamus warrior.

‘Now it’s my turn!’

A counter-attack to a counter-attack.

Ian, who lightly landed, diagonally swung his greatsword, which was naturally laying low to the ground, upwards.

Chwa-reu-reuk-!

He moved his body quickly, but the Selamus warrior, who got a long gash to his side, frowned as he regained his stance again.

And Ian also tightened his grip on his sword again as he began to focus on the opponent.

‘I couldn’t deal as much damage as I hoped for. It seems that since he took my stats exactly as they are, his reflexes are quite high.’

Amongst his combat abilities, Ian’s reflexes were the highest.

And fitting of that stat, his opponent’s movements were incredibly agile.

Stomp- Stomp-.

Ian and the Selamus warrior moved little by little by taking small sidesteps as they watched for a weak point in their opponents.

While the Selamus warrior was expressionless, Ian’s expression was incredibly serious.

That was because it had truly been a while since he had fought one-on-one only with control like this and without any other advantage or disadvantage.

Setting aside whether he succeeded in the quest or not, Ian was truly enjoying this battle on its own.

Sweeeek-!

Piercing through the momentary silence, the Selamus warrior’s sword attack flew through.

Both of Ian’s hands, which reacted quickly, met with his opponent’s attacks as they began to dance here and there.

Clang- Cla-clang- Clang-!

The offensive and defensive battle continued.

However, as the engagement grew longer little by little, Ian slowly began to find his groove.

‘You’re basically just going to keep jabbing and testing the waters, huh?’

While looking at his opponent, who just continuously went with qualitative motions with his greatsword, Ian slightly rolled up a corner of his mouth.

‘You’ve made a mistake.’

Thanks to his opponent, who had a defensive combat tendency, Ian was able to find his groove much easier in comparison.

Ian wagged his finger towards his opponent.

“Are you just planning on continuously testing the waters like that? You should try and properly attack me now.”

As his imaginary opponent definitely didn’t have any emotions, he didn’t think that his provoking would actually work, but it seemed it did this time, as his opponent began to charge at him.

Grabbing the handle of his greatsword with one hand, Ian hung low against the ground.

It was a situation where it seemed like he would just be directly hit if he didn’t lift his sword up quickly and block the attack, but Ian was relaxed.

‘Shall I gamble a little?’

Focusing his gaze on the white sword that rushed towards his forehead, Ian instead threw his body forward.

“…!”

It seemed that the Selamus warrior was slightly surprised at the unexpected action, as his expression slightly wavered, but he swung down his sword without hesitation.

Whoong-!

However, his greatsword couldn’t help but let out an empty sound as hit ripped through the air.

“So long, dude!”

Ian, who avoided the sword that dropped down by a whisker, spun his greatsword with all of his fighting power.

Whoong-!

Ian wasn’t even holding the greatsword with both hands.

While holding the greatsword’s handle with his right hand, he had swung the sword that he had laid flat with all of his strength.

It was indeed a dangerous attack with no backing, and the moment he failed at attacking, he would end up showing all of his weak points.

However, if he succeeded in attacking, it was a different story.

Koo-deu-deuk- Bang-!

The greatsword that Ian was holding had directly hit the back of the Selamus warrior.

In a completely defenseless state, the Selamus warrior had allowed a huge attack to hit him.

“Kuh-huk!”

Even letting go of the sword that he was holding, he was thrown onto the ground and just lied there like that.

Ian grinned as he lifted his sword and aimed it at his opponent.

“You’re supposed to use the greatsword for this feeling.”

As its movements were huge, it wasn’t easy to successfully land an attack, but once a big attack lands, the weapon that could deal an enormous amount of damage was the greatsword.

If it was an attack like the one that Ian just successfully landed, he could deal over ten times the amount of damage compared to the damage he would normally deal with the same stats.

Ian stared at the opponent as he mumbled.

“Hey, you, you probably still have some Vitality left, yet you’re just going to keep lying down like that?”

As soon as Ian’s words were done, the Selamus warrior slowly stood up.

However, shortly after, he turned into a faint light and disappeared into the air, and in that spot, Eclipse’s ghost appeared again.

Clap- Clap- Clap-.

Eclipse, who appeared while clapping his hands, opened his mouth with a satisfied expression.

• How surprising. I was truly surprised because your fighting senses are greater than I expected.

At his genuine compliment, Ian replied with a pleased expression.

“Huhu, the greatsword is indeed a truly charming weapon.”

At his words, Eclipse wore a broad smile as he replied.

• Oh, son, you know something. That’s right, the greatsword is the weapon that you could call the symbol of a valiant warrior.

While looking at the greatsword hanging on Eclipse’s back, Ian laughed to himself.

‘Now that I look at it, that man’s weapon is a greatsword.’

Eclipse’s words continued.

• There is a reason why the sword is called the king of ten thousand weapons. Since the sword is the weapon that is the basis of all weapons, that is.

Ian nodded his head as he replied.

“You’re right, Eclipse. I also agree.”

And shortly after, the greatsword that was in Ian’s hands disappeared into the air like a mirage.

At that, Ian wore an interested expression as he asked.

“Oh-ho, does my weapon change each time?”

Eclipse nodded his head.

• That’s right. Are you disappointed that you cannot use a greatsword?

Eclipse had thought that the weapon that Ian mainly used was the greatsword.

But then again, it was because Ian used the greatsword so proficiently.

However, Ian was not disappointed at all.

“No, rather, it’s fun.”

Eclipse, who thought that Ian’s confidence was a bluff, burst out laughing.

• Let’s see if you can continue to maintain that confidence.

Eclipse disappeared into the air while laughing loudly, and in his spot, five black boxes began to appear again.

And along with that, a system message popped up in front of Ian’s eyes.

• You have successfully suppressed the D-rank Selamus warrior.

• As you have succeeded in suppressing them overwhelmingly in a short amount of time, you have jumped straight over the C-rank.

“…?”

At the unexpected message, Ian’s two eyes slightly grew.

The messages continued.

• Please select the weapon that you will use in battle. The weapon that you used in the last battle is excluded.

Ian grumbled to himself.

‘What do you mean select. You don’t even show me what they are.’

However, Ian couldn’t help but be surprised in the next moment.

This was because the black boxes became faint and in their spots, different kinds of weapons appeared.

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