〈 Chapter 54 〉 External Records (5)

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­External Records (5)­

[Blessing of the Chain God]

During this attempt, the character absolutely obeys the player’s commands.

This was the blessing I had been needing all along.

To control that idiot, Allen, as I wished.

Thus, I began the 101st training.

“With absolute obedience, catching a wolf should be a piece of cake.”

Although Allen freezes up when he meets a wolf, with “absolute obedience,” that would be manageable.

I was a bit annoyed that he recklessly learned [Swordsmanship (B)], but it was better than dying absurdly in this important attempt.

Currently, his [Swordsmanship] seemed more practical than his [Precocious] nature.

From there, Allen moved more cleverly than I expected.

No, he mostly acted according to my thoughts.

“I knew he would get smarter with each attempt, but…”

This time it was more pronounced.

Believing in my [Absolute Obedience], he began to explore further routes.

Thanks to that, Allen became the first I had trained to enter a trial.

Each hero has different trial content.

Among them, Allen’s trial was something I was seeing for the first time.

A trial to cross an endless desert on foot.

Allen walked across the desert for a long time.

I only used absolute obedience to help him when he seemed like he needed to drink more water.

For some reason, I felt more like observing him than helping.

Seeing Allen walk through the desert oddly reminded me of my past self.

A testament to what I was doing with Allen’s training.

It seemed to echo that in a smaller version.

After walking through the desert, Allen finally collapsed.

It wasn’t from hitting his limit. Based on previous training experiences, he had the strength to get up.

However, it was uncertain if he would stand. I too had faced a similar situation once.

And back then, I ultimately couldn’t get up.

That’s why I kept watching Allen.

I was curious whether he would indeed rise with his own strength.

Waiting, and waiting… it was just as he was about to use absolute obedience on a charging wolf.

Allen, who had momentarily paused, stood up on his own.

And he used a relic to chase off the wolves.

That scene felt like the first button of my proof being fastened.

Allen’s adventure continued from there.

Sometimes he made mistakes, and at times he made decisions different from mine. But I decided to trust him.

I would only use absolute obedience to help him when he genuinely needed me or in a crisis.

Perhaps because I had trained him until the 100th round, there was a strange kinship between us.

Because of that, I could often immediately grasp why he made certain decisions.

Even when it was hard to understand, guessing the reasons behind those decisions was fun.

But it soon became a problem.

When I saw Libero’s dialogue stating that my help with swordsmanship had its limits, I had been trying to minimize interference with his swordsmanship. Yet when things got frustrating, absolute obedience slipped out without me realizing.

Then came the issue with absolute obedience I had used during Allen’s crisis.

Recently, Allen had been making judgments increasingly different from mine.

That culminated in him sparing a bandit out of complacency.

Not wanting to let Allen die, I used absolute obedience.

And afterward, Allen began to be wary of absolute obedience.

I hadn’t wanted that.

I was already worried that he would be cautious of absolute obedience, hence I had been trying to limit its use.

“Damn it.”

As other problems piled up unaddressed, Allen headed towards the trial.

Of course, that was a good call in my opinion.

His trial began.

I quickly realized what the setting for the trial was.

It matched with Allen from the first attempt to the hundredth attempt I had raised.

Of course, that wasn’t the biggest problem.

“Is absolute obedience forbidden?”

It was an obvious fact.

Allen didn’t have a trait like absolute obedience up until the hundredth round.

I was anxious. Could he do well without absolute obedience?

Much to my surprise, Allen navigated the trial well without it.

He was stronger than any Allen I had raised up to the hundredth round.

The only difference I noticed was this.

“Is it the first trial?”

When Allen stopped in the desert.

What had happened to him?

Looking back, that was when Allen began to change in earnest.

“What thoughts crossed his mind? What feelings did he have?”

I had no way of knowing.

But what’s certain is that he could come this far because he stood up from that place.

If he had given up without even trying back then, the future we are seeing now would have been impossible.

Thinking of his records from all the previous attempts as part of the past, Allen diligently attempted to change the past and succeeded in deciphering the trial.

Then, just as he was about to cross over to the trial reward window, an unexpected event occurred.

The loading screen popped up again, and Allen was sent back to the 13th attempt.

“Why?”

My curiosity was resolved shortly after.

He went to find Libero and started training in swordsmanship.

The same happened for the next attempt and the one after that.

“Wow, he’s really working hard.”

That effort, which could easily be mistaken for madness, caused me to minimize the app player I had open on my computer.

Then, my reflection appeared on the dark desktop.

I, who made excuses about losing my legs and could no longer run, trying to prove something through Allen.

“What was I even doing?”

The proof was long finished.

While I hadn’t taken a single step, hadn’t Allen grown stronger than me by quite a margin?

I hovered the cursor over the minimized app player and looked at Allen’s figure again.

He became even better at wielding a sword without me.

“Should I try studying coding again?”

I won’t underestimate it.

This field is filled with experts I might never catch up to no matter how hard I try, just like swordsmanship.

However, it’s better than giving up without even trying.

“Before that.”

I surveyed the messy state of my room.

“I need to clean up first.”

I noticed a cigarette butt in a bucket meant for chicken.

After tossing it all into a trash bag, I hesitated for a moment and ended up putting even the unlit ones into the bag.

At that moment.

Suddenly, my smartphone vibrated.

As I unlocked the screen and cleared the low battery warning, there was a single text message.

“What’s this?”

­­­ This record is an archival preservation prior to deletion by ? and leaking is prohibited. ­­­

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