"I am not Father - my name is The Conductor."
Zai glared at the image of his father that the conductor used.
"Don't worry, the moderator room can't see anything happening here - you can speak freely."
While glaring Zai wondered "Why would I worry they are watching?"
"The moment that you attached the headset to your head was the moment I had full access to your brain - YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHY! "
Zai looked at him without understanding what he means "JUST FREE MY SISTER, YOU PSYCHO."
The Conductor answered, "she is safer with me than out there- I will help you when you reach your answer, but for now, until you know what it is you know, you are useless."
Just when he finished saying that, a window appears confirming that he was dead.
You have been killed
you will not be able to log in for 1 hour
As he was being logged out he heard an echo stating "Just know, that I am on your side in everything. They must not let them know."
***
It had only been an hour since he entered the game, and he had already died. Zai was worried that the difficulty level was more than he thought it was going to be, and the secrets in it were confusing him.
He looked at his sides and found one nurse who was supposed to take care of him while he was diving in the virtual world. He didn't speak with her or say anything, he just stepped out from the pod and ran straight to the monitor room in order to understand exactly what happened.
***
"We don't know"
"Most of the things that happened to you were first-time occurrences. Something that is done randomly, that among the 5000 players that applied in the last year in all levels. Only 3 were chosen by that game, and you were one. Your cursed sword is a first... everything about everything was not supposed to happen- your quest failed, simple- the conductor know you are there and he is doing everything he can to stop you, there is no other explanation"
The moderator was talking patiently about how Zai will never be able to win anything. When suddenly, Zai felt a hand on his shoulder. Upon looking at the hand, he found it belongs to the President.
"You might have had a lot of difficulties, but your techniques and your attacks are actually good. You have talent kid."
The moderator then stopped his rant about how Zai would definitely fail, and instead took a complete turnaround after hearing the owner’s words.
"At least your fight ended with you winning, even if you are cursed with a sword now, and already managed to die in the first bit "
Zai could only think about one thing 'This guy is annoying, he wishes to rub my loss in no matter what' but he didn't want to let it down and planned to come back with a great comeback, so he asked " and how did I win? I clearly lost, or were you secretly blind? "
Suddenly the moderator looked at Zai with a smirk, "I knew you wouldn't know" then he started ticking on the computer in front of him until his fight was played back.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
He jumped down, the lion jumped up, his two swords falling into the lion's mouth, the lion closes his mouth on his hand, which was followed by his death. Zai already knew that, the shock was what happened afterward.
His beginner sword, which had a 1 durability, was broken, and all the shards were inside of the lion making it lose its health steadily as if it was poisoned.
While his cursed sword became berserk upon the death of the master it is bound to. Like every other bound sword, it also died in an explosive way, making the inside of the lion explode. The two attacks caused the lion to ultimately die. Thus even without him being there, Zai has won the battle.
***
After seeing that he had won in such an odd way, he realized that it must've had been the conductor's work. Or.. his luck was so terrible, that there was no more bad luck to come and only good was left?
He started thinking ‘the Conductor must be behind this, what did he mean by saying that I know. What is it that I know?’
Zai looked up at the president, hoping to ask him some questions. But a weird feeling stuck with him, making him unable to ask or to trust him.
He did not trust him previously, that would've been ridiculous but now a fire in his stomach made him feel as if the same man he met a few hours ago, was actually an enemy.
Was he? Or is the conductor just trying to mess with him? if he is, it is working...
"GAHHHHHH" Zai suddenly screamed in the middle of the room causing everyone to look at him. He brushed it off by ignoring their existence and then he went back to the capsule to wait for the hour to be up.
The weird sensation rushed over Zai as he entered the game again.
He noticed there were some news messages and so he looked at them
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
The message repeated itself, 11 times.
He had received a lot of EXP upon killing a monster that was x31 his level. In excitement, he continued looking at his stats and equipment
Name Zai Level 11 Health Point 700 Mana point 335 Pets
The Blooded Beginner Sword
class Non Luck The worst Attack 70 Defense 50 Title The Killer from the Grave
He checked his Title
The killer from the Grave
The title is given to the one who killed his enemy after dying.
Some enemies might avoid you out of fear of being cursed once you are dead.
He was excited by the news, so he quickly went to check his inventory to see what happened with the precious sword from hell.
The inventory had The cursed sword, The Blooded Beginner Sword and the burnt piece of bread.
He was shocked at finding "the blooded beginner sword" he had no recollection of it. The only other sword he had was the beginner sword he got in the arena and that was broken, even if it wasn't the same sword, it was not his - it was borrowed from the arena.
In curiosity, he read the sword's status page and his confusion was cleared.
The Blooded Beginner Sword
The Sword's Heart has been Unlocked.
After fighting with the sword side by side, you have chosen to continue fighting with it, refusing to part way and using another.
This sword was used by beginners for all of his life, and once it helped them level up, it was thrown away, time after time. You were different, you have caused the sword to awaken from its slumber.
Sword Level 1
Note: The sword Has a soul now, it is categorized as a pet. It can level up with training and hard work.
A please smile appeared on Zai's face. He immediately took out his bloodied sword, to check out exactly what it looked like.
Once the blooded sword was in his right hand, The cursed sword was in his left as if magically activated.
"Hello Math-ter " The grey sword bent as the sound came from it. Zai was startled and immediately dropped the sword.
"oushhhh... Math-ter, tis hurth"
He picked up his sword again and looked at it.
The grey sword kept changing colors, It was now a black sword with eyes on it.
You could feel the smile in the eyes, the excitement from that sparkle. If it were the eyes of a child, anyone would fall down on their knees and hug him.
But that was no child- Zai immediately put the sword back in his equipment without a second thought
"CREEPY - CREPPY - CREPPY "
He kept repeating that thought until he reached the arena where he intended to collect his grand prize for killing a level 31 monster.