Sweeping the Academy with a Wooden Sword

“Is that why you came to me?”

Choi Cheolhyeon stared at me as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Yes, I want to know if such trees exist. And if they do, I’d like a wooden sword made from that tree.”

“A wooden sword? Why a wooden sword?”

I decided to use what Choi Cheolhyeon himself had just said to me.

“Didn’t you say you weren’t interested in what situation I’m in?”

I can’t tell him the truth that I plan to do hunter work with a wooden sword.

“…Right, I did say that.”

Choi Cheolhyeon, who had muttered softly, paused for a moment before speaking again.
“First, about the existence of trees that can withstand sword energy. Such trees do exist. Probably more than you’d think, though I only know of three specifically.”

There are many types but he only knows three?

“Why?”

“Those who know of such trees’ existence, and those who possess them, keep their existence hidden. For their own benefit. Well, I’m the same.”

Indeed, information is power, even now in the age of hunters.

Choi Cheolhyeon continued his explanation.

“The tree that those in the know are all aware of is Greenwood. It’s named that because not just the leaves, but the wood itself is green. And then there’s the Millennium Wood that I have.”

Millennium Wood.

“I bought it when it was discovered in a high-level dungeon. I named it myself.”

Choi Cheolhyeon touched the wooden nameplate on his desk.

“This is one of the things I made as a memento.”

“Excuse me, but could I touch that?”

Choi Cheolhyeon looked at me, furrowing his brow deeply.

“What good would touching the nameplate do?”

“I’m curious.”

If I touch it, I’ll be able to tell if it’s a superior tree.
Because I have Mistilteinn.

The master looked at me like I was crazy, but still picked up the nameplate and handed it to me.

‘How is it?’

When I asked mentally, after a moment Mistilteinn’s answer came.

[After appraisal, it is confirmed to be a superior tree.]

Oh ho.

“Can you make a wooden sword for me using the Millennium Wood?”

“Is that really what you want from me? A wooden sword?”

“Yes. That’s all.”

“You don’t seem to like asking questions, so I’ll only ask what’s necessary.”

The master’s sharp gaze fixed on me.

“It’s for actual combat, right?”

“Yes. It’s for real combat.”

As the master asked seriously, I had no choice but to answer seriously.

“Go measure your hand length and come back.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Choi Cheolhyeon measured the length of my hand and arm with a tape measure, then started scribbling in a notebook.

“It’ll take 4 days. Come back in 4 days.”

“Thank you.”

I bowed my head. The most important business was done.

“Was my father really just an ordinary blacksmith?”

Since acquiring Mistilteinn, it was a question that kept lingering in my mind.

It seemed too extraordinary a treasure for my father to have obtained by chance as a material.

Choi Cheolhyeon grinned at my question.

“You must have discovered something. For you to think Hyukwoo wasn’t an ordinary guy.”

Choi Cheolhyeon slowly shook his head.

“I don’t know the details either. I only know that Hyukwoo wasn’t as ordinary as you think. Because I didn’t pry into his past. What I can say for certain is, before becoming my apprentice, he was a hunter who lived by the sword.”

A hunter?
“And a hunter treated like a master by the big shot who was the president of the World Superhuman Association.”

“My father never mentioned anything like that.”

Not even once.

“He probably didn’t want to. Or shouldn’t have. Anyway, your father seems to have lived quite an extraordinary life. You should live extraordinarily too.”

My head was spinning, but there was still one more thing I needed to ask.

“Is there someone who has the World Tree?”

Choi Cheolhyeon blinked at my words.

“Are you asking because you know? Or because you don’t know?”

“I think it exists.”

The rate at which myths and folklore were proven to exist through dungeons was higher the more well-known the original myth was.

Few entities were as famous as the World Tree.

“It does exist. I even know who has a branch of the World Tree. It’s the chancellor of Iroaz Academy.”

I doubted my ears for a moment.

“…Is this something that can be freely disclosed like this?”

“Well, it’s something those who should know already know anyway. The president of the World Superhuman Association, the chairman of the Korean Hunter Association, the Magic Tower Lord, the principal of Athena would know too.”

The standard for “those who should know” is too high.

“Thank you for telling me.”

I bowed my head.
I’ve asked everything I needed to ask now.

“Wait. Have you decided where to stay?”

I shook my head. I came straight here after killing the goblins.

“I’ll book you a hotel room, check your messages.”

Despite his fierce appearance, he’s quite kind.
4 days until I receive the wooden sword.

“Is there a good mountain for hiking nearby?”

“Hiking? Why, thinking of climbing a mountain while waiting for the wooden sword?”

“Yes.”

“Ha, what an old soul… Go to Mount Gamak. It’s moderately high.”

I bowed my head again and went outside.

As soon as I left the building, a message arrived.
Peyton Hotel.
I immediately went to the hotel, unpacked, and rested.

I closed my eyes while lying on the bed.
And entered Mistilteinn’s world.

Saaaa….

A cool breeze tickled the bridge of my nose.
The green-eyed girl in white clothes, Mistilteinn, was staring at me.

“Welcome, master.”

“Oh, Mistilteinn.”

I immediately brought up my business.

“Do we need a branch of the World Tree?”

Mistilteinn’s power is activated by contact with trees. And that becomes my power.

The reason I came to get a superior tree this time is ultimately because of that.

If it’s a branch of the ‘World Tree’, not just any tree, we might gain a tremendous power.

“With a branch of the World Tree, I could draw out a few more abilities inherent in me. Those abilities would certainly be tremendous power even by this world’s standards.”

Mistilteinn slowly shook her head.

“But there’s no need to take such a risk to obtain it. At least not yet. And what I felt while resonating with the Millennium Wood just now is that it could be of great help in enhancing your power.”

Mistilteinn added softly.

“If that being is cooperative, that is.”

That being?

“What do you mean?”

“The Song of the Tree, that’s an ability I can activate when interacting with superior trees. I can call into my world the person with the highest historical value among those who have come into contact with that tree.”

“What’s historical value?”

“The influence on the era. Whether it’s great achievements, notoriety, or a realm related to power. The person in that Millennium Wood was someone high in all three aspects.”

I could now understand Mistilteinn’s intention.

“A teacher… you mean we can make that being my teacher.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

So that’s why she said the summoned being needs to be cooperative.

It was too abstract to imagine based on just verbal explanation.
I’ll know in 4 days.

As I was organizing my thoughts, Mistilteinn’s voice was heard again.

“Do you want to go to the Academy?”

“…Why do you think that?”

“Well, because your heart raced when you heard the World Tree is at the Academy. It doesn’t seem to be because of the World Tree itself.”

So you could hear that.

Iroaz Academy.
The largest hunter training institution in the country where most students graduating from Athena Awakened Special School go.

So Yueun who abandoned me. Cha Dahye who still seems angry at me. And even the promising Jin Hyunwoo.

They’ll all be going to Iroaz Academy.

Wanting to go to the Academy wasn’t my desire.

“What I want is proof.”

Proof that my life wasn’t wrong.
Proof that the sword path I’ve swung countless times wasn’t wrong.

That would be proof of my value of existence.

“If I go to the Academy, I want to crush everyone.”

With overwhelming power.
That was my arrogant desire.
So honest that my arms trembled.

“You can do it.”

Mistilteinn embraced me.
Until my body stopped shaking.

The next morning.

Trudge trudge

I climbed Mount Gamak that Master Choi Cheolhyeon had told me about.

There wasn’t a single hiker.

Since monsters appeared, after results showed that the frequency of gate occurrences was higher in natural environments like mountains compared to urban areas, the number of people going hiking started to decrease significantly.

And now, except for a few mountains directly managed by government hunter agencies, there were no people at all.

Trickle trickle… gurgle gurgle

The sound of a stream echoed in my ears.

“Phew.”

Blue sky. Vigorously stretched white clouds.
Seeing the scenery at the summit, my complicated feelings became organized.

Unlike me who dropped out of school, all the students in my year, including So Yueun, had one more year left.

One year.
I too will become stronger during that year.
Somehow, more overwhelmingly than them.

“I’ll prove it.”

The value of my existence.

After descending about halfway down the mountain, I picked up the wooden sword.
And raised sword energy.

Tzzzt!

Colorless flames flickered along the blunt blade of the wooden sword.

A falling dry leaf.

I swung the wooden sword towards that leaf.

Swish!

The leaf was cleanly cut in half and fell.

How many more times did I swing the sword?

Only then did I realize someone was watching me from behind a rock.

“You… are strong?”

A girl with long pinkish-red hair was staring at me.

“Let’s fight!”

Crazy.
The girl drew her sword from her waist as she shouted.

Shing!

It was clearly a real sword with a sharp blade.
And she came running towards me.
With the corners of her mouth raised in a grin, like a wild beast.