It hurts.
My whole body is burning.
Did my right arm get chopped off? No, it's still perfectly attached. But a blinding agony, as if my muscles were melting, swept through my right arm and then my entire body.
?Just as I thrashed around, unable to endure the pain.
?
"Don't move!"
?
Smack!
?A small hand slapped my shoulder.It was a little kid with black hair, Estelle.
"Why are you moving when I'm applying the ointment! Stay still!"
?
Estelle was mashing up various herbs and applying a poultice to my back as I lay face down.
?It smelled minty. Did it have an icy-hot effect? Magically, the excruciating pain wracking my body slowly began to subside.
?As for how I ended up like this.
?When I barely made it out of the sewers after the clash with the hooded guy, this kid was standing at the entrance as if waiting for me.
?
"Mister, are you friends with Daniel?"
?
At first, I didn't know who she was talking about. Daniel??
"The guy who always walks around with his hood up! He wasn't at our usual meeting spot today... People said he went into the sewers with you!"
?
It seemed the suspicious hooded man's name from earlier was Daniel.?
"Do you two know each other?"
?
Just as I was trying to figure out how to answer the kid's question.
?
"Ugh!"
?
Unable to withstand the intense pain digging into my body any longer, I collapsed to my knees.?
The kid freaked out, asking if I was hurt. She said her house was an apothecary so they had plenty of medicine, and told me to follow her.
I desperately needed to track down this Daniel guy, but my body was wrecked and his whereabouts were currently unknown.
Figuring I could get some treatment and extract more info about him, I followed the girl.
And the moment we arrived at her house, I blacked out. When I opened my eyes, it was morning.
Thus, I was currently lying in a shack attached to a rundown house on the outskirts of Cadeiro.
Why the shack, of all places? Apparently, the house was too small and cluttered with stuff, so there was no room for me.
?Anyway, this isn't picking up a stray cat; she picked up a full-grown man. Wouldn't her parents scold Estelle?
?
"Estelle, thanks for treating me, but did you get your parents' permission?"
"I have no parents!"
?
A cheerful reply. I unintentionally dealt a critical hit.
The atmosphere got awkward real fast.
Well, need to ask something else.
?
"R-Right. By the way, what kind of person is this Daniel guy?"
"He's a good person! He brings us rare herbs that only grow deep in the forest! About once or twice a month. We have a usual spot we meet at, but he wasn't there yesterday."
?
The girl applied the last bit of ointment to my leg and wrapped a bandage over it. She was quite skilled.
?
"So I went looking and found you, mister! Are you two really friends?"
"I wouldn't exactly call us friends... I just have something I really need to ask him."
"I see. Then you should ask my Master! She probably knows way more about Daniel. She'll be back this evening, so you can ask her then."
"Your Master?"
"Yeah. I live with my Master. She's a bit weird, though."
?
Estelle glanced around as if checking for eavesdroppers, then leaned in and whispered softly.
?
"She just stares at the stars all day and mutters weird things no one understands."
?
I was a bit worried when she said she didn't have parents, but it seems an adult is taking care of her. The guardian sounds a bit eccentric, but it's a relief.?
Anyway, the first aid was finished. I still throbbed here and there, but I could move around somewhat.
?
Crunch!
?
Hmm? As I tried to sit up, I leaned on a wooden crate next to me, and the part I gripped simply shattered.
?
What is this?
?
[Good question, Master. As a result of forcibly executing a sword art requiring mana, your 'Mana Core' has been activated. Your overall physical capabilities are enhanced.]
?
So that was the identity of the boiling heat that surged from my lower abdomen when I used the Enforcer Blade.
It was like my website finally got its own dedicated backend server. It meant I could handle more complex operations now.
?
[Daily build limit has been reset. (5/5)]
?
On top of that, Terminal's free plan limit had reset. I needed to start the work I had put off.
?
"Wow, a sword! Mister, are you gonna do sword arts?!"
?
When I reached for the Terminal Sword, Estelle's eyes sparkled.
?
"No one around here does sword arts! Can I watch?"
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
?
I nodded. It wasn't like watching would wear the sword out.
My current goal was singular.
Use the 'Enforcer Blade' as a base, preserve its logic and power, but refactor it into a completely different sword art.
I had already confirmed the hard way that blatantly plagiarizing someone else's sword art in this world leads to a massive headache.
Therefore, the process of changing the UI and frontend packaging of the copied Enforcer Blade was absolutely necessary.
I pulled up the Terminal window and dictated my requirements as long and detailed as possible.
?
'Patch it to match my hardware so it puts less load on my body. Leave the original file alone and work on a cloned branch. Preserve the damage output, but change the visual frontend entirely. And...'
?
The barrage of feature requests continued for a solid five minutes.?
What else could I do? The free plan only gave me 5 queries a day.
Which means that I had to cram as many prompts into one request as possible.
[Requirements acknowledged. Initiating build for project 'Bootleg Enforcer'. Estimated time: 5:00 minutes.]
?
Five minutes is extremely fast. Considering it took hours to clone the original Enforcer Blade, modifying an existing project internally seemed much faster and more efficient.
?I lightly stretched while waiting.?
Compared to the effort I put in, my body moved much lighter and with far more power. The hot energy coursing through my veins. Probably that mana thing it mentioned earlier, right?
?
A moment later.
?
[Build complete. 'Bootleg Enforcer' - Execute? (Y/N)]
?
"Y."
?
Gripping the Terminal Sword, I swung the Bootleg Enforcer.
?
"Huh?"
?
It felt strangely disjointed. The trajectory and speed of the blade looked plausible, but there was absolutely no weight behind it.
It felt like I was swinging a rolled-up newspaper.
What happened? I checked the Terminal window.
?
[Warning: 'Bootleg Enforcer Sequence 3: Spinning Slash' references an undefined variable.]
[Warning: 'Bootleg Enforcer Sequence 2: Dashing Thrust' references an undefined location.]
[Warning: 'Bootleg Enforcer...']
?
A massive wall of warning logs.
Every time I executed a sequence, warning messages popped up.
What the hell?
A dependency error?
?Normally, you'd have to dig into the code yourself to analyze the root cause of these errors.
But I am a 100% pure Vibe Coder.
?
'Terminal, run debug and analyze the problem.'
?
[ ? Chain of Thought (12 lines) | Expand ▼]
?
Terminal fell into deep thought trying to figure out the cause of the error.
Surely it wasn't because I ordered it to fix things without even reading the error logs myself.
Anyway, after waiting a bit, Terminal spit out an answer.
?
[...To match the Master's hardware limits, the mana manipulation and footwork modules were overly simplified. These changes are causing severe compatibility issues with the overall sequence logic.]
?
So a dependency error indeed.?
It was exactly like the bottom block of a Jenga tower being too weak, causing the entire upper structure to shake.
At this rate, the Bootleg Enforcer was a dud. How are you supposed to use a sword art that deals zero damage?
Sure, the stamina and mana drain were practically zero, making it okay for light cardio... but the sequences still clearly showed the distinct flavor of the original 'Enforcer Blade'.
?
Milestone 1: Don't be a sword art thief. Failed.
In the end, I started the second refactoring process.?
First, I went back to basics.
Back to the days in coding boot camp when I used to copy my friend's assignments.
What is the true essence of copying?
Simply pressing Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V isn't everything.
The true aesthetic of plagiarism lies in not getting caught.
?Therefore, after copying, the very first thing you must touch up is the frontend—the part everyone sees.
?So for the second attempt, I decided to focus entirely on changing the visual and audio UI.
?
Project name: 'Combat Bootleg Enforcer'.
?
'Terminal, let's patch the visual effects first. Meisa's sword aura was a clear, pure blue, right? We're going the exact opposite.'
[Understood. Changing the hex code for the visual effect 'Sword Aura' to a muddy #FF0000 (Red).]
'When she swung the sword, it made a high-pitched, sharp ringing sound. Can we change it to a low, vibrating hum?'
[Yes, Master. Changing audio effects to 'Low-Frequency Resonance'.]
'The blade's trajectory is too honest. Inject some feints, and add curves or irregular movements to the pathing. Build it with these requirements.'
[Understood. Applying all aforementioned changes and initiating build for 'Combat Bootleg Enforcer'. Estimated time: 780 seconds]
?
Shortly after, the 'Combat Bootleg Enforcer' was compiled.
The results were astonishing.
?
Vrrrrrrrrm—
?
The Terminal Sword spat out a dark crimson light along with a heavy bass hum.
The mana drain was on a completely different level from 'Bootleg Enforcer v1'.
But at the same time, the blade overflowed with power.
I swung the sword at a wooden pillar inside the shack using the most basic sequence of the 'Combat Bootleg Enforcer'.
?
Swoosh—!
?
An intimidating low-frequency sound.
A red sword aura cleaved the space.
And where the aura passed, only a perfectly smooth, cleanly sliced cross-section remained.
?
"...This is insane."
"Are you crazy, mister?! What are you gonna do if you cut the barn pillar?!"
?
Estelle, who was watching from the corner, shrieked.
No wonder a bunch of dust suddenly rained down from the ceiling.
Fortunately, it wasn't a load-bearing pillar. The shack didn't collapse.
?
"Be careful! What are you doing!"
"Sorry, sorry. I'll watch it from now on."
?
After somehow calming Estelle down, I reviewed the strike I just made.
?
'Terminal, how was the output compared to the original Enforcer Blade?'?
[Comparing equivalent sequences, it appears over 70% of the original power output has been preserved.]
Over 70%. That was a very satisfying metric.?
If it's this strong with my current hardware... what happens when my body gets fitter and my mana pool grows?
Just imagining it gave me shivers.
Of course, there was a cost.
Just one sequence drained a huge chunk of mana, and a wave of exhaustion washed over me again.
I might need to ask Terminal to implement a feature that caps the maximum output.
Regardless, I was satisfied.
I had struggled against Daniel because it was hard to manage the spacing.
If I use Bruno's Auria Sword Art for general combat and unleash this 'Combat Bootleg Enforcer' at the critical moment, I actually stand a chance against him.
"The server really is the most important part. Now that the backend is stable, the frontend runs smoothly too."
?
Muttering to myself, I continued my training using the zero-damage Bootleg Enforcer for cardio.
Then, whenever I felt my mana had regenerated enough, I swung the Combat version once.
Feeling like a movie villain, I even tried a secret technique to Force-choke someone from a distance, but sadly, it threw an error.?
Estelle watched my movements with sheer fascination, but after hearing me mutter to myself, she tilted her head in confusion and quietly slipped away.
?
---
?
A tavern on the outskirts of Cadeiro City.
?
It was bustling with adventurers and storytellers.
?
"Did you hear? They say an incredible swordsman appeared at a tavern downtown! Rumor has it he subdued a city guard in a single strike!"
"Wasn't that guard just completely incompetent?"
"You fool, how dare you look down on the standard sword arts distributed by the Royal Family! There's no way a guard is weak!"
"Anyway, they say this swordsman used a bizarre technique that isn't even recorded in the Grand Encyclopedia of Swordsmanship. An incomparably soft sword style!"
?
Just as the gossip was reaching its peak.A man suddenly barged into the conversation.
?
"A swordsman using a soft sword, you say?"
?
A muscular giant with a bushy beard.?
It was Bruno.
Technically, he was supposed to be in a holding cell right now, so showing his face in public was a bad idea.
However, this was the outskirts of Cadeiro. No one here recognized Bruno.
?
"Yeah, they said it was unbelievably soft! The way he used his opponent's own momentum...!"
?
Slam!
?
Bruno slammed the table. Everyone's eyes turned to him.
?
"I knew it! That man is my little brother! That softness is undeniably the Auria Sword—"
?
His sly-looking subordinate stepped hard on Bruno's foot from behind.?
Only then did Bruno snap back to reality.
He was a wanted criminal.
Realizing he shouldn't expose his identity, he clamped his mouth shut.
In the midst of the silence, one of the tavern patrons spoke up.
?
"Really? This swordsman named Jihoon is your brother?"
?
Jihoon?
?
Bruno fell into deep thought for a moment.
?
'Jihoon? Jihoon, huh...'
?
There was no way his father would use a naming convention like that.
Bruno suddenly realized he had never even asked his little brother for his name.
But it didn't matter. Sometimes, brotherhood is communicated solely through the crossing of blades.
After pondering briefly, Bruno reached a logical conclusion.
Considering the family's traditional naming conventions, his brother's name must surely be 'Zion'.
?
"You fools! How could an older brother not know his own sibling's name! It's not 'Jihoon'. It's 'Zion', 'Zion'!"
?
Seeing him speak with such absolute conviction, the patrons nodded with slightly bewildered expressions.
?
"I swear I heard Jihoon..."
"But he says he's his actual brother..."
"If the real brother says so, it must be true..."
?
And thus, a rumor slowly began to spread around Cadeiro.
?
The legend of 'Zion', the master of the soft sword who subdued the city guard in a single strike.
?
---
?
Night fell, the moon waning in the sky.?
Estelle was busy preparing dinner for her Master inside the house.
?
Creak—!
?
The front door opened, and someone walked in.
Red hair tied in twin-tails. A slender frame.
A baggy black robe and dark circles heavily bags under her eyes.
It was a girl who looked exhausted to her bones, yet her eyes burned with fervor.
The moment the girl stepped inside, she dropped her bag onto the table.
A squirrel popped out of the bag and scurried over to its nest in the corner.
Shortly after, the girl pulled a thick tome from the bag and slammed it open in the middle of the table.
?
"Estelle, I found a new clue today! I'm certain there's a lead on the 'Voice of the Stars' in here!"
?
Saying that, the girl buried her nose in the book, reading at a frantic pace. Then, as if realizing something, she lifted her head.
?
"Right. Did that swordsman you picked up yesterday leave?"
"No, Master! He's still here!"
"I told you to just call me Sis Lumira. But why is he still here? Don't tell me you gave him dinner too...?"
?
They barely had enough food for themselves. Lumira asked, looking half ready to cry.?
Whether she understood her Master's distress or not, Estelle just looked excited.
?
"I already gave him dinner! He said my cooking was good! Also, I watched the mister practice his sword arts. But he was saying some really weird things!"
?
Lumira rubbed her forehead with her hand. When every single grain of food was precious!
But she couldn't bring herself to scold Estelle.?
Lumira sighed and gave a half-hearted response.
?
"Right. What did he say?"
"Umm... For the 'Pront-endo' to work well, the 'Pack-endo' needs to support it? What does that mean?"
?
Drop!
?
A pen fell to the floor.
?It was the pen Lumira had been holding just a second ago.
The girl's purple eyes trembled violently, as if an earthquake had struck them. Even the squirrel in its nest looked at Lumira in shock.
Lumira's mouth opened. With a trembling voice.
?
"Estelle... what did you just say...?"
"Huh? Pront-endo and Pack-endo..."
?
Lumira frantically rushed to the bookshelf. The house was so packed with ancient texts there was barely room to step.
Pulling out the thickest tome, Lumira flipped through a few pages and immediately found the exact section she was looking for.
?
"Frontend... Backend..."
?
Lumira murmured. And she confirmed it. Those two exact words were undoubtedly recorded in her ancient grimoire.
?
"I found it..."
?
Pure ecstasy bled into Lumira's voice.
?
"I found him! The Prophet who speaks the lost 'Language of the Stars'!"
?
Lumira kicked off her chair and practically sprinted toward the shack. Estelle simply watched her go, tilting her head in confusion.
