Garbage Brave : Isekai Ni Shoukan Sare Suterareta Yuusha (LN)

Enjoy the chapter~

TLN: Changed the skills name, I translated it as [Martial Art] in WN, changed into [Close Combat Technique].

TL: NyX

ED: Onihikage

Chapter 3 – Black Mist

The death match with the Hellbear has changed me. My level has increased, and my [HP] and [STR] have increased as well. Because I gained the skill [Monstrous Strength], [Strong Body] and [Strong Arm], my chance of survival had sharply increased. Not only that, but I also gained a lot of skills that would give me an advantage in battle, so I’d become one of the strongest existences in the Great Borf Forest.

The only thing I apparently didn’t have was the intimidating presence of a powerful being like the Hellbear, because I still kept getting attacked by some of the weaker monsters. That said, even when I encountered a pack of Hyena Wolves or a herd of Boagnons, which I struggled to defeat before my life and death battle with the Hellbear, I could beat them with plenty of breathing room.

And so, on the fifth day after I went to the river, I faced that cat monster again.

Race : Musk Leopard, Level 230

Skills : [Acceleration] [Night Vision] [Presence Detection] [Wild Intuition] [Shadow Sewing] [Dark Magic]

Attributes : HP [B] | MP [A] | STR [A] | INT [C] | AGI [S] | DEX [B] | LUK [E]

Hmm, it has [Dark Magic]… cool! This is my chance, right? Isn’t this a heaven-sent opportunity for me to learn [Dark Magic]? However, this creature’s [AGI] is [S], and it’s better to treat it like it can become [EX] at any moment, because it also has [Acceleration] in its skill list.

Hehehe, there’s a considerable difference in our levels, but the only difference in our skills is [Dark Magic]! And so, it came over and smacked me while I was busy gloating.

Gah, I’m in so much pain right now. How many times have I experienced this in this world?

I completely couldn’t keep up with the Musk Leopard’s speed; it’s like fate really wanted to torment me with these countless critical situations that I’d experienced so far. My limbs were twisted and bent in all the wrong places, and I was bleeding profusely, no longer capable of moving on my own.

The Musk Leopard looked down at me triumphantly and stepped on my face with its front paw.

“[Dismantling]!”

With a splatter, the monster cat’s neatly dismantled body parts fell into the mud. Sigh, I really want to find a smarter way to beat these things. The familiar scroll of level-up notifications showed up again.

Why do I always have to prepare myself to be on the verge of death like this? Is that just the stupid nature of Japanese pacifists? Or is it because I subconsciously wanted to be in a reversal situation, like in a common light novel story? Somehow I survived another near-death experience, but I really want to be spared from doing this again.

I took some meat out of [Material Storage] and chewed it. I can’t help but admire how incredible [Ultimate Cooking] is, which can make grilled meat that completely recovers you from only eating four slices.

I collected the cat monster parts and cooked the meat with [Ultimate Cooking]. The skill on the first meat was something I already have, [Acceleration], so I just put it in [Material Storage]. The next meat could give [Shadow Sewing], the next one could raise [AGI], and the next was [Presence Detection]… oh jeez, are you telling me [Dark Magic] isn’t that easy to get…? There’s only one piece left… please let it be [Dark Magic]!

Grilled cheek meat of the large civet cat ⇒ You can learn the [Dark Magic] skill, and recover from sickness, injury, and abnormal conditions!

I make a guts pose after reading that, and ate the cheek meat immediately.

You have learned the [Dark Magic] skill.

I even started dancing, still in the guts pose. It was like one of those lantern festival dances, I was too happy to care if anyone saw me. Just look at this joyful movement!

You have been granted the [Weird Person] title.

“Huh?”

I froze mid-dance when I read that. If you looked at me from the side, with my right leg and both hands raised up, I’d look like a weird statue. But that’s not important, what the hell is this title!? [Pervert]? No, [Weird Person], huh? What’s that supposed to mean?

Name : Tsukuru Sumeragi

Job : Chef, Level 205

Skills : [Ultimate Cooking] [Ignition] [Dismantling] [Detailed Appraisal] [Material Storage] [Spring Water] [Tool Maintenance] [Ingredient Detection]

Skill II : [Night Vision] [Acceleration] [Throwing] [Presence Detection] [Sense of Smell Enhancement] [Wild Intuition] [Cooperation] [Group Action] [Whispering] [Monstrous Strength] [Strong Body] [Strong Arm]

Skill III : [Plant Magic] [Wind Magic] [Shadow Sewing] [Dark Magic]

Attributes : HP [B] | MP [B] | STR [A] | INT [A] | AGI [A] | DEX [EX] | LUK [EX]

Title : Weird Person

Dark Magic ⇒ Magic that can only be given to those who control darkness. You there, don’t go sullying your hands with crime.

Weird Person ⇒ Since you don’t want to hide your important bits, let’s give you this title! When you wear clothes, you become almost inconspicuous, like a rock on the side of the road.

…

Sigh, I’m just trying my hardest to live, it’s the monsters that made me wear these tattered clothes! I wouldn’t do it if I had a choice!

I cried out. I screamed a cry of sorrow and anger that came from deep within my soul.

▼▼▼

It took me a few days to erase it from my mind. What did I erase? I don’t know, I erased it!

I continued down the river again. The demon that came out this time was turned into experience points with my [Dark Magic]. This skill is seriously so useful! At night, I can do whatever I want, and even during the day, as long as there’s shadows, I can still use it quite a bit.

When I don’t want to meet a monster, I can just hide in the darkness or shadows and move through that. Since my presence becomes like a ghost, I can avoid the monster’s senses, and paired with the increase in movement speed from being in the shadows, I can perform the strongest battle combo by approaching while hidden and assassinating the target with [Dismantling] in the darkness.

[Dismantling] can’t be done without touching the target, so in the event the monster reacts the instant part of my body leaves the darkness, such as my hands or feet, I can substitute [Ignition] for [Dismantling].

[Ignition] can be activated even if my whole body is still within the darkness, so even if a monster notices me, I can wrap it in fire immediately. For that reason, I haven’t gone through any other near-death experiences lately. If I’m always diving in the dark, they won’t find me. Eating, sleeping, relieving myself, all of it’s possible in the darkness. I only need to come out if I want to take a bath…

Oh yeah, I’ve also killed some brand new monsters that I encountered during this time.

Race : Sand Armadillo, Level 150

Skills : [Sturdy] [Rolling] [Iron Wall] [Earth Magic]

Attributes : HP [B] | MP [C] | STR [C] | INT [D] | AGI [B] | DEX [D] | LUK [E]

As the race name suggests, it’s an armadillo monster.

At first, I was afraid of the impact from the armadillo’s [Rolling] skill, which was about the size of an elephant. Would I get smashed as flat as a piece of paper if that thing landed on me? Probably.

The armadillo was able to maintain its composure when I set its hard scales on fire with [Ignition], but it was quite bothered and panicked when I tried to damage it with a large volume of [Spring Water]. It didn’t fall down in one go, but three shots of [Spring Water] was enough to drown it.

So, depending on the monster, even [Ignition] might not do much. That battle prompted me to think more about skill compatibility based on the type of enemy. I was just glad I could get its three skills: [Sturdy], [Iron Wall], and [Earth Magic], despite only getting a tiny amount of meat from its abdomen.

Race : Soul Eater, Level 170

Skill : [Soul Eating] [Phantom Body] [Summoning Undead]

Attributes : HP [C] | MP [A] | STR [D] | INT [B] | AGI [B] | DEX [D] | LUK [E]

As you could guess from the race, this monster eats souls, and actually has the [Soul Eating] skill. Moreover, because of the [Phantom Body] skill, or maybe from a characteristic of being a ghost-type monster with a transparent body, physical attacks were ineffective.

It’s also pretty annoying to fight because it always summons undead type monsters in the surrounding area. However, it seems weak to fire, so it was easy to defeat when I burn it with [Ignition].

Because it’s a ghost-type monster, I didn’t even expect [Dismantling] to yield anything edible, but surprisingly, its eyeball returned as an ingredient. I cooked it with [Ultimate Cooking], but it took me another two hours to actually put it in my mouth. I was hesitant to eat it because of its grotesque appearance.

However, once I did, it was surprisingly delicious, tasting like a rich, sweet dessert with refreshing complementary acidity, and I also got the [Summoning Undead] skill.

You shouldn’t automatically hate something before you actually try it.

Race : Wood Doll, Level 160

Skills : [Photosynthesis] [Close Combat Technique] [Intuition] [Plant Magic]

Attributes : HP [B] | MP [C] | STR [B] | INT [B] | AGI [B] | DEX [C] | LUK [E]

This one… was an instant kill with [Ignition]. It’s literally a tree, after all. It was a man-shaped doll only a little larger than me, about 175 centimeters tall, and for some reason it had two fruits on its head resembling an apple and an orange.

[Dismantling] returned no meat, just the fruit attached to its head. When that fruit was cooked with [Ultimate Cooking], it gained a nice candy-like appearance, and tasted delicious. I’d only been eating meat until now, so I hunted them for a while.

The Soul Eater’s eye was also delicious, but I didn’t want to actively hunt for those because it looked so unappetizing; that’s why I only hunted the Wood Dolls. Of course, I also got the [Close Combat Technique] and [Intuition] skills from it.

Race : Sword Reaper, Level 200

Skills : [Swordsmanship] [Soul Eating] [Spiritual Body] [Summoning Undead] [Corrosion Magic] [Transition Technique]

Attributes : HP [A] | MP [A] | STR [A] | INT [B] | AGI [B] | DEX [B] | LUK [E]

It looks just like a grim reaper, with a black cloak, a skeleton’s face, and a… sword. I know what you’re thinking, I’d also expect a grim reaper to have a scythe, but for some reason it wields a sword. The sword itself also feels very creepy due to the red lines running across the black blade like blood vessels.

Unfortunately, the Sword Reaper is too fast to kill. Even though it didn’t have skills like [Intuition] or [Presence Detection], it could sense the darkness when I approached and kept its distance no matter how fast I moved. I gave up and left it alone, because it would become a game of tag if I insisted on pursuing it.

▼▼▼

It’s been a month since I started traveling down the river. I’ve been walking for a long time, but still I’ve seen nothing but forest. Is this Great Borf Forest perhaps bigger than the Amazon Rainforest on Earth? If so, when am I going to find human civilization? Though my heart was ready to break from solitude, I held on, and continued walking by the riverside.

It was almost sunset. Recently, the air was biting cold even in the daytime, so when the sun went down the temperature would drop so much I’d shiver uncontrollably. It’s clear that winter is coming soon, but my current appearance is completely primitive.

My hair has grown wild compared to when I first got thrown into the Great Borf Forest, and before long the clothes I was wearing were in such tatters they couldn’t even be called clothes anymore. I just wrapped them around my waist to maintain decency, and that’s the best I could do.

However, the one thing I’m grateful for is that it doesn’t feel cold in the darkness, so I practically live there these days. Not having anyone to talk to for a whole month has left me feeling very lonely.

I wonder if there’s anyone in this forest… right now, I’d accept any kind of sapient existence to fill this emotional void, even if it turned out to be a monster. Events in light novels often proceed such that the main character is able to make friends with a monster, such as a slime or Fenrir, so I was hoping for something like that as well.

Come to think of it, are there beastmen in this world? Are there any fantasy races such as elves or dwarves? In the temple where I was summoned, everyone just looked like regular humans, so that aspect was kind of boring, but I think it makes sense to expect other races to exist because this is a different world, full of magic.

What I mean is, I’m definitely going to find some people who have animal ears! I think that I’m allowed to cuddle with something that has soft fur, considering the hardships I’ve been through so far!

The darkness was so comfortable. Whenever I get sleepy, I go to sleep in there, and keep moving after I’ve regained my stamina. If a monster comes out, I kill it, and eat it when I’m hungry. Earlier, I ran into another Hell Bear, and I didn’t have a hard time like before since I could just sneakily touch its back and use [Dismantling].

I’ve become a total cheat character, but I still remember the time when I was almost killed by the Hell Bear. It’s almost nostalgic.

Oh yeah, I also finally killed a Sword Reaper. My strategy for fighting it was to activate [Acceleration] from inside the darkness in order to shorten the distance as quickly as possible, and set it on fire with [Ignition] as soon as I was close enough.

The Sword Reaper instantly got its distance with [Transition Technique], even in that state, but the distance of a single [Transition Technique] was only about 150 meters, well within the range of my [Presence Detection]. I’d figured this out for sure after chasing so many of them.

Once I successfully managed to hit it with [Ignition], I kept a distance of about 50 meters and watched it burn. The fire from [Ignition] will continue to burn as long as I want it to or until the target dies, so I figured the Sword Reaper would keep burning and eventually die, like any other creature.

And I was right ― the Sword Reaper died after burning for about three hours. It was quite a hardy monster, but I was able to beat it for the first time! When I dismantled it, I also got the eerie sword and jet-black cloak that it had, and its heart as an edible ingredient. The heart was unexpected, but it’s still way more palatable than the eyeballs dropped by Soul Eaters, so I cooked it with [Ultimate Cooking].

Grilled heart of the grim reaper ⇒ The [Swordsmanship] skill can be learned, and sickness, injury and abnormal conditions will be cured!

Hmm, well, I’m happy about learning [Swordsmanship], but… if possible, I wanted [Transition Technique] or [Corrosion Magic]. [Transition Technique] is generally useful, and [Corrosion Magic] was just something I wanted to have. I’m not saying it would be a luxury, but… well, it just wouldn’t.

I got the usual notification in front of me that I had learned the [Swordsmanship] skill. And I finally got a cloak to cover up this body of mine! It’s time to say goodbye to looking like a wild man!

And… I got that creepy sword. Is this a sign that I should fight with a sword? I did just get [Swordsmanship], so my fighting power will surely be increased, but I barely even touched the copper sword. Also, what if I get cursed by equipping this creepy sword? That wouldn’t be funny at all, so let’s confirm what it is with [Detailed Appraisal] first.

Grim Reaper Sword ⇒ A divine sword that was born when a sword saint reached the end of his life with regrets. This sword, created by the will of the sword itself, cannot be broken, chipped, or bent, and never loses its edge. It is said to choose its wielder.

It’s a long description, but it doesn’t seem to be cursed. The question is, can I actually equip it? I mean, all I need is for the sword to choose me, right? Anyway, now for the cloak…

Hermit’s Coat ⇒ Also known as the Grim Reaper’s Coat, it will not recognize those who are living at a lower level than the previous wearer. It won’t tear or get dirty, and completely blocks magic.

This is… a bit of a delicate coat for a guy like me who can move hidden in the dark. But it’s actually a coat, not a cloak… Hmm, it said it completely blocks magic, but [Ignition] isn’t magic, so I wonder if it would still affect it?

At any rate, I can equip the sword and coat. There aren’t any negative effects or curses attached to them, so it should be fine. I put the coat on and wrapped a belt around my waist for the sword sheath. I felt a little more civilized than earlier when I only had a cloth of tattered rags around my waist.

Now that I’m dressed like this, I’m sure I can regain my civilized life! But then, something happened to me, to interrupt my cravings for the future ― actually, something happened to the sword that was hanging on my waist, not me! It started vibrating and rattling intensely.

“What is this!?”

I held the sheath and the handle as tightly as I could to suppress the vibration. Now, my raw strength is enough to pulp a monster at the level of a Boagnon, but that still wasn’t enough to suppress the vibration, and on the contrary, it was getting worse. Finally, the sword flew out of its sheath and glowed brightly.

“Wha!”

It was so bright I had to shield my eyes.

“Are you strong?”

I felt like I heard a voice from somewhere. Perhaps it was just my imagination, a hallucination borne of the dizziness caused by this radiant light. There’s no reason for a person to be here. After all, this is the Great Borf Forest, a magical forest inhabited by monsters! No humans would want to come here!

I seem to have finally lost my mind. There’s no way I could hear someone else’s voice in a place like this. I guess it’s been long enough for that to happen.

“Don’t ignore me!?”

“Eh?”

When I heard a yell and opened my eyes, I saw that creepy sword floating in the air in front of me. I looked around for the source of the voice.

[TLN: Why is he still using that rag on the illustration, lol.]

“It’s the sword in front of you!”

“Yeah… I guess so…”

It’s certainly possible that I could be imagining this hovering sword to be talking, but my instincts appealed to firstly confirm whether it really was the old “talking sword” trope. I recognized this creepy sword probably had a will because that was written in the description, but I never thought it would actually speak.

“Don’t touch me!”

I absently tried to poke the sword with a finger, but apparently it didn’t like that. I looked it over, but no matter what angle I checked, it only looked like a creepy sword. So, if it’s a talking sword, does that mean it’s intelligent?

“Quit staring at me! Jeez, what do you think I am!?”

“…What, aren’t you a sword?”

“I’m no ordinary sword, I’m a Divine Sword!”

Ohh, well if you say so. The description did say “Divine Sword” after all.

“Now, I’m going to question you as to whether you’re worthy of being my owner. I can recognize the truth behind your answer even if you tell me lies.”

“…Question me? Shouldn’t it be more like, Give me your magic!Whoaaa! Isn’t that usually how these things go?”

“Like I said, what do you think I am?!”

“A creepy sword?”

The sword screeched hysterically. Actually, wasn’t its voice kind of like a young woman’s?

“…That’s enough. I’ll ask you a question now.”

“Will you let me use you if I answer?”

“If you qualify to own me, I will lend you my power. But if I decide you’re ineligible, I’ll go on a journey to find my next owner!”

“Looking for your next holder… but I don’t think anyone will touch a creepy sword that looks cursed~”

“Huh? This is just a temporary form! My form changes depending on the owner, no matter what.”

“Whoa~! Can you become a katana?”

“I can be any sword envisioned by the person I recognize as my wielder!”

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

“Do you understand how great I am now? Then I’ll ask you my question!”

“Okay!”

What kind of question it will be? I’m a little nervous now.

Name : Tsukuru Sumeragi

Job : Chef, Level 208

Skills : [Ultimate Cooking] [Ignition] [Dismantling] [Detailed Appraisal] [Material Storage] [Spring Water] [Tool Maintenance] [Ingredient Detection]

Skills II : [Night Vision] [Acceleration] [Throwing] [Presence Detection] [Sense of Smell Enhancement] [Wild Intuition] [Cooperation] [Group Action] [Whispering] [Monstrous Strength] [Strong Body] [Strong Arm] [Sturdy] [Iron Wall] [Close Combat Technique] [Intuition] [Swordsmanship]

Skills III : [Plant Magic] [Wind Magic] [Shadow Sewing] [Dark Magic] [Undead Summoning] [Earth Magic]

Attributes : HP [B] | MP [B] | STR [A] | INT [A] | AGI [A] | DEX [EX] | LUK [EX]

Titles : Weird Person

Sturdy ⇒ Umm… it’s just sturdy.

Iron Wall ⇒ Temporarily prevent damage from any attack, isn’t that great?

Close Combat Technique ⇒ Talk with your fists!

Intuition ⇒ Intuition is good already but, [Wild Intuition] is superior, so…

Undead Summoning ⇒ Whooaa, so many new friends! You’ve graduated from being a loner!

Earth Magic ⇒ You can use magic to manipulate the earth. Do you want to build a house with this?

Swordsmanship ⇒ I apologize in advance for this one*! Don’t ever be a cutting demon, okay?

▼▼▼

“Do you believe in God?”

“…Huh?”

“As I said, do you believe in God? I’m asking a question.”

“…You trying to get me to join a cult?”

“No!”

“Then let’s just say that I do believe in the existence of God, but not in a religious way.”

“Oh? You believe in the existence of God, then?”

“Of course! I can’t beat the shit out of him if he doesn’t exist!”

“Wha ― beat!? You want to beat up a god?”

“Damn right! I want to beat them until I’m satisfied!”

“What did God do to you?”

“A temple priest who worshipped God abducted me and threw me out here into this terrifying forest.”

“Isn’t that the priest’s fault…?”

“I’d say God shares a big part of the responsibility by neglecting to punish the priest for his actions, isn’t that common sense?”

I believe there has to be some kind of godlike existence, since this is a different world. When I was in Japan, I never felt or believed in any existence that could be called God, but I after I got kidnapped and thrown into this magical world, I started to believe in it.

I can’t possibly accept a fantasy world setting like this to be real without the existence of a god. God is obviously the reason I ended up out here in the first place. God allowed the hero summoning to occur, God forgave the corruption of the priest, and God forgave the humans of their arrogance, and as a result, here I am. That’s why I’m going to give that god a beating!

“There is a God! And I plan to beat the crap out of him!”

The sword laughed, quietly at first, then with gusto. “I see! You wanna beat a God, huh!”

“If you’re going to stop me, I’ll fight you too, you know?”

“No, I won’t stop you. On the contrary, I’ll cooperate!”

“I thought so… God is your enemy too, huh?”

“Hmm? Why you think that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because you’re a creepy sword, isn’t it?”

“Don’t call me creepy!”

That’s how this creepy sword recognized me as the holder. I’m not sure of the details, but this sword seems to have some kind of resentment against God. Let’s not ask about it too deeply; this is the compassion of a samurai.

“Hold me, and imagine a sword worthy of your might.”

“O-oh. Like this?”

I held the handle with both hands and started imagining the sword I wanted. Picturing a sword is more difficult than I thought. I’ve never actually done it before, and I never had a sword while I was still in Japan.

Is this good?

The sword shone brightly again. M-my… my eyes~!

“Hey, if you’re going to shine, tell me first!”

“Don’t be so angry, you’ll go bald quickly.”

“Shut up!”

I’m not bald! I’m not bald, I just have a wide forehead!

“You can open your eyes now.”

I trusted those words, and looked. In my hand was a sword ― no wait, not a sword, but a katana, about 80 centimeters in length, with a beautiful hamon like a curvy wave rising slowly.

But what I admire most is the jet-black blade. The contrast between the hamon and the blade is great. It’s not a sinister kind of black, like earlier, but a black that somehow feels sacred.

“It’s beautiful.”

“…W-wow, really?”

The sword acted embarrassed for some reason. Well, it might be a mistake to say that to a sword, but is there something different about her now?

“H-how about my name? Give me a name!”

“A name? Oh yeah… how about Black Mist?”

“Black Mist… Alright, that’s a good name!”

Name : Black Mist (First Form)

Skills : [Unbreakable] [Sharpness] [Purification] [Evolution] [Special Move (1)]

Attributes : HP [EX] | MP [S] | STR [G] | INT [S] | AGI [G] | DEX [G] | LUK [S]

Title : Grim Reaper Sword

Suddenly, Black Mist’s status appeared. With the exception of myself and monsters, it only ever showed a basic description, even with [Detailed Appraisal], but the moment I named the sword Black Mist, I could see her status. Maybe it was because she had recognized me as her wielder.

I took a good look at Black Mist’s status. Two of her skills, [Evolution] and [Special Move (1)] were worrisome. Because the description has “first form” next to its name, I have some idea of what the [Evolution] skill is, but…

“Hey, what’s this [Special Move (1)] skill?”

“It can trigger a super powerful technique if you put magic into me!”

“Super powerful, huh… How powerful are we talking?”

Black Mist chuckled. “Just wait until you see for yourself, it’s going to be fun!”

“What, you can’t just tell me right now?”

She didn’t tell me anything else about the [Special Move (1)], so I moved on and checked over the rest of the displayed stats, particularly the unusual attributes. Considering the normal range of [S] to [G], the [EX] on its [HP] is definitely just shorthand for extreme, right? But this is the first time I’ve seen anything with [EX] other than me.

“Hey, in your attributes, there’s [HP (EX)], but what does [EX] actually mean?”

“Huh? Attributes? What attributes are you talking about?”

“The ones in your status, right? It displays your attributes.”

“What are you talking about? The status only displays name, job, and skills.”

“…Hey, do you know about the [Detailed Appraisal] skill?”

“I know about [Appraisal]? This [Detailed Appraisal] you’re talking about is new to me.”

“In [Appraisal], do you see the same name, job, and skill as the status plate?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Obvious, she says. Well, since I have yet to be acquainted with this world’s common knowledge, I was grateful for the information.

After that, I asked Black Mist about various things. However, all I figured out was that when a Chef uses [Cooking] on monster meat, it doesn’t allow one to learn skills from the monster, or improve one’s attributes. I have no idea why I’m the only one who has that special effect. It also turned out to be abnormal for one’s level to exceed 200.

“There’s a condition to level up past 100: You need to have defeated something 100 levels higher than yourself. To go past level 200, you need to have defeated something 150 levels higher than yourself. In other words, since you’ve defeated something more than 100 levels higher than yourself, you’ve accomplished what people refer to as limit break.”

Okay, I see now. My first encounter in this forest was that Musk Leopard, the first time I thought I was going to die. I was still at level 1 at that time, and the Musk Leopard was probably around level 230. In other words, I think I’ve defeated a monster more than 200 levels higher than me.

“Hey, what happens if you defeat a monster 200 levels higher than yours?”

She chuckled. “That’s impossible, but some theorize there’s a third stage limit break. Supposedly that’s from killing something 200 levels higher than you, but I don’t know where they got that from.”

“What would happen if I fulfilled the conditions of this third stage?”

“I think they said the level cap would be removed entirely.”

I silently considered the implications of that. Black Mist chuckled. “Well, it’s impossible anyway. Even past demon kings and heroes reached some kind of level cap, despite limit breaks. A first-stage limit break to surpass level 100 is already amazing.”

Would she believe me if I told her I might have already cleared the condition for the third stage?

But what’s going on with my skills, anyway? There are a lot of skills that even Black Mist couldn’t understand from her common knowledge about this world. It’s likely no one knows about attributes either. What the hell has happened to me?

“Now that I think about it, does that mean the monsters in the Great Borf Forest also cleared the conditions for the second stage limit break, since a lot of them exceed level 200?”

“No, monsters have a fixed level from the time they’re born. It can start out high, but it won’t grow no matter what. I don’t really know why that is.”

Having that level from the time you were born was abnormal, wasn’t it? With this leveling system, we can gain experience and grow stronger, yet a monster’s level was already high from birth… that’s pitiful. What a boring life, just existing without experiencing the thrill of growing stronger. What an unpleasant system for the monsters. I’d never want to be like that.

After asking a lot of questions, there were still a lot of things I didn’t get good answers for, but I decided to keep moving. I’m not like a primitive man anymore, since I’m wearing a coat. Of course, I’m wearing almost nothing underneath the coat, so I’m still in a very precarious situation, but as long as I don’t take it off, there won’t be a problem.

“To be honest, I never thought anyone could enter the Great Borf Forest alone. Moreover, you can even survive so deep in the place! I’d expect nothing less from my wielder.”

“I didn’t go into this forest because I wanted to. I was tricked when I was sent through the transfer gate, that’s why I’m here now.”

“You were tricked into coming here? I guess someone really hates you, Tsukuru… maybe they thought of you as a hindrance.”

“Why’s that?”

“It takes a lot of magic to use a transfer gate. Sending one person to this forest doesn’t seem worth the expense.”

“Certainly, it’s better to just secretly throw me into jail.”

“As far as I know, there’s no better place to exile someone than the Great Borf Forest, and other than you, there’s never been a survivor.”

I continued silently down the river. I soon realized that even when there were monsters nearby, they didn’t notice me. I don’t have a skill for hiding my presence, so I was a little confused.

“It’s the effect of the Hermit’s Coat.”

“Man… what an amazing coat.”

“Of course! It’s one of the highest level items with a stealth effect, you know!”

“Ohh, is it really that good?”

“Items have classes too, you know! There are seven item classes: Lower, Intermediate, Advanced, Special, National Treasure, Legendary, and Mythical.”

“I see, seven classes, huh… so what class is this Hermit’s Coat?”

“It’s Legendary.”

“Whoa~ I see. So, what about your class, Black Mist?”

“I’m Mythical!” (Smug Face)

Just from how Black Mist said that, I felt like I could picture her clearing her throat and posing proudly. She’s just a blank, faceless sword, but somehow I could sense her emotions.

Author’s Note:

＜Limit Break＞

In the first stage, if you defeat an opponent at least 100 levels higher than you, the level cap is raised to 200.

In the second stage, if you defeat an opponent at least 150 levels higher than you, the level cap is raised to 300.

In the third stage, if you defeat an opponent at least 200 levels higher than you, the level cap is removed.

* TLN: The original phrase is “Kirisute Gomen”. It means literally, “exemption to cut down and cast aside” a member of the lower class who failed to show proper respect to a member of the samurai military caste.