Reincarnated as a Sword Vol. 1

by Yuu Tanaka

  Prologue

  The first thing that came to mind when I opened my eyes was how dark it was. “Hm. Is it night?”

  The very next moment though, a bright light shone from my left. It felt inviting, so I turned to it. What greeted me was an incredibly beautiful sight: an infinite vista as far as the eyes could see, with something that looked like a bright halo surrounding the edges. It resembled a sunrise. The ascending light gleamed like a rainbow and I couldn’t help but feel touched by the sight.

  Then I wondered what was on the other side.

  I turned to my left. There, the moon was setting, a gigantic ring of silver on the horizon. Only a bit of the lunar body remained in sight, but its magnitude wasn’t diminished. It was a breathtaking sight to behold. I’d never seen anything like it in my thirty years of living. I found it odd that I didn’t break down into tears right away.

  Hold on. Thirty years? Was I alive? Wait, was I dead? The last thing I remembered was a red convertible approaching me at breakneck speed. The flashy man in the driver’s seat was looking at his smartphone. Yep, he had been playing with his phone while driving, and boy did he look like he was having a great time of it. Well, I’m not having a great time, asshole! I screamed to myself while piecing together what had happened. But I was pretty sure I had died then. I must have.

  “Hmm, what is going on…?”

  “Hey, there. Are you finally awake?”

  “Wha?! Who’s there?!”

  A voice echoed from the darkness, though I didn’t feel anyone there. Actually, it felt like the voice came from inside my head.

  “You’re in for a rough ride. Better strap yourself in.”

  “Huh? What?”

  “See you around.” Then the voice was silent.

  “Uh. Hello?” I called out to the voice, but to no avail. What was that? A hallucination? It sounded very clear to me… I stirred in an effort to get a better view of things, and finally realized something:

  I couldn’t move my body.

  “Hm? What’s this? What’s happened to me?” I thought I was tied up, but it didn’t feel that straightforward. My whole body felt weird. I couldn’t feel my arms and legs, for one thing, and the rest of my body just felt off. “I can’t feel my eyelids, either. Or my eyeballs for that matter… Wait, so how am I seeing things, exactly?” I looked down to check my body. I was a bit worried at first, but it seemed I could move my vision to some degree.

  “I… I’m a sword.”

  My eyes found a sword, vertically rising from a pedestal. I somehow knew this sword was in fact my own body, impossible as that may be to understand let alone explain. But I understood beyond the shadow of a doubt that the sword was me, and I was the sword. My eye (or what was functionally an eye) was located at the hilt, somewhere between the guard and the blade. How could I see despite having a sword for a body? How mysterious.

  “I died…and was reincarnated as a sword?”

  What absurd light novel was this? I’d pinch my cheek to make sure this wasn’t a dream, but I lacked the ability to do so. “I think I have something like…skin?” I could tell part of my blade was stuck into the pedestal beneath me. I didn’t exactly have skin, but I could feel my blade buried in the pedestal.

  “Is this really another world?”

  It wasn’t Earth, that was for sure; there were too many moons for it to be. I looked up at the sky and saw six moons: red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and pink, all adorning the night sky with their dim glow.

  Chapter 1:

  The Lonely Sword of the Great Plains

  I took in my surroundings which looked nothing like my Earth. If this were an alternate universe light novel, I would have some sort of cheat skill, I thought. Although, considering I had been reincarnated as a sword, I wondered if I could use any skills. Maybe being turned into a sword was itself my cheat skill, though I highly doubted it. It could just be wishful thinking and I might not even have any overpowered skills to begin with. A staple of cheat skills would be Identify… Oh, hello. It turned out I could look at my own stats. How convenient.

  Name: Unknown

  Owner: None

  Race: Intelligent Weapon

  Attack: 132 MP: 200/200 Durability: 100/100

  Evolution: [Rank 1]

  Skills: Identify 6; Self-Repair; Telekinesis; Telepathy; Status+; Recovery Rate+; Skill Sharing; Mage

  I seemed pretty strong. Looked like I could check out each individual skill, too.

  Identify 6: Displays information of surrounding objects.

  Self-Repair: Automatically restores weapon durability unless completely destroyed.

  Telekinesis: Use magic to affect surrounding physical objects.

  Telepathy: Use magic to speak directly into the minds of others.

  Status+: Slightly increase all user stats.

  Recovery Rate+: Slightly increase user’s health and magic recovery rate.

  Skill Sharing: Grants Owner access to all skills.

  Mage: Ability to feel the flow of magic. The mark of a mage.

  I guessed the number following the skill name was its level. I thought I was somewhat strong, considering I came out the box with a Level 6 in Identify. Then again, the cap could be 9,999 for all I knew, so it might be too early to celebrate. But I was no ordinary weapon at the very least. There were so many terms and skills I didn’t understand, but there was an air of power about them. The abilities seemed fitting for a rare weapon, or a unique weapon at that.

  Yet my name remained “Unknown.” Was it because my Identify skill wasn’t high enough, or because it had been left blank in the first place? It’d be weird if my sword self-retained my former name—wait, my former name? What was it again? Huh… I couldn’t remember for the life of me. Weird.

  Uhhh…I really can’t remember. Despite having retained full memory of everything else. Thirty years old. Male. Office worker. Lived alone. Hobbies: anime, manga, VRMMO, novels (of the light variety). People told me I had a positive outlook on life. Liked curry; didn’t have any foods I particularly disliked. No girlfriend; I had never been in a relationship, now that I thought about it. Well, that’s kinda sad… That said, the rest of my memories remained intact, so I was sure my name would come back to me eventually. I did reincarnate into a sword after all, so I was bound to have some discrepancies in my memory here and there. There was nothing I could do about my memories at the moment, so I decided to leave it alone for now.

  Moving onto my appearance: The blade, forged from an unknown metal, glowed white with three blue lines running down it. I may be flattering myself, but the blade did look beautiful. I seemed to have been forged into the form of a longsword.

  My sword guard was of a subdued golden color, and a carving of a gallant wolf decorated it, along with blue twine. The string was a lattice of blue and white braided into one. Not to toot my own horn, but I didn’t look like a mass-produced sword, so I thought I was probably one of great worth. Though, I couldn’t tell how strong I was, going by my attack value of 132. There was the possibility I was little more than a heavily decorated, ornamental sword, but the odds of that being true were low since I came equipped with skills. It’d be awful if it did happen to be true, though. I might as well toss myself into a furnace and kill myself at that point. But I was still a beautiful-looking sword. In an RPG, this would be the sword that made its appearance well into the game; as mysterious as it was elegant.

  Doesn’t change the fact that I’m a sword though, I sighed to myself.

  I wouldn’t have called myself handsome in my previous life. That being said, I wasn’t butt-ugly, either. I was just your average, run-of-the-mill nerd, I guess, which was why I had no particular longing for my old body. I ha
d no objections to being born into a different one. In fact, I would’ve requested it if I’d had the option to.

  A sword, though. Really? I couldn’t eat, couldn’t play video games, and man, there went my chances of graduating from virginity. Th-then again, this meant I was going to be a wizard for sure! This was the cross I had to bear for the rest of my life.

  I paused.

  This was depressing. If I had hands and feet, I would’ve prostrated myself right here and now. Wait, was that what that Mage skill meant? It was the only skill that seemed different from the rest… Damn it, this was no laughing matter!

  I didn’t know how long I sulked. It could’ve been five minutes, it could’ve been an hour. The more I sank into my dumbfounded silence, the more stupid I felt for being upset. Well, I’m a sword now. No use worrying about that kind of stuff. I couldn’t run from reality if I tried. Besides, if I hadn’t been reincarnated, I would’ve died in the accident. The more I thought about it, the more fortunate I felt. I was supposed to die, but here I was, still conscious. Yeah, not everyone got to become a sword after all, so I should enjoy it while it lasted. When I put it that way, it wasn’t so bad. This was my unexpected second lease on life. I may as well aim to live the best possible sword life I could.

  What constituted the best of the sword life, though? Well, I needed someone to wield me, that was for sure. Maybe a hero? But being the sword of a hero wasn’t without its difficulties. I would have to fight a demon lord, and I might break in the process, which would mean a legendary blacksmith (a dwarf) would have to fix me. And a hero usually meant someone with a passionate sense of dumb justice and a trim, but muscular frame; probably good looking. Basically, someone who was the complete opposite of me. Honestly, I didn’t think we could get along if we tried. If it came down to it, I’d much rather have a girl wield me. It’d be best if she were cute, but I’d be able to live with her if she wasn’t completely ugly. That was already worlds better than being paired with a meathead hero. It’d also be great if she had an amazing sword arm. She’d become a legendary hero wielding me to mow down her enemies. I’d go down in history as her beloved sword and they’d tell of our exploits in every textbook in the land… I mean, if I was going to dream, I may as well dream big. But first, I needed to figure out a way to leave these plains. I couldn’t hear the mysterious voice anymore, so I needed to think this through.

  I began by taking stock of my surroundings. It seemed I was standing in the middle of some ancient ruins. There was no roof over my head, and the pedestal I was stuck in was placed in the middle of the ruins as if I were a prize. Surrounding the pedestal were small shrines which made it seem like an object of worship. The place was covered in moss and looked neglected—why, there was even a tree sprouting through a crack in the roof of one of the small shrines. It underscored the passage of time, and how no man had walked through these fields in ages.

  Was I some sort of legendary weapon, granted to those worthy enough to find me? It didn’t look like I was in any sort of dungeon though. I couldn’t see behind me since I was planted on the pedestal, but before me were grasslands and shrubbery as far as the eye could see, with not a single tall tree in sight. Squinting, I could barely make out some moving shapes in the distance. Were they animals? It doesn’t look human, that’s for sure. And it didn’t seem like I could move on my own. Hang on a minute… I had Telekinesis on my list of skills. Maybe I could move using that.

  I grunted and began concentrating on casting Telekinesis. I felt myself getting lighter and my blade slowly sliding out of the pedestal. Focusing on the sensation, I imagined a sword floating in the air. Wow, I’m flying! I could move in any direction I put my mind to. Parted from the pedestal, I began flitting through the air. I CAN FLY! I wasn’t very fast, but I was satisfied with it for the moment since I could move of my own volition. I circled the pedestal, confirming my suspicion that I was surrounded by ruins. The place was about thirty meters in diameter and seemed to have originally been constructed of brown bricks. Years of neglect and exposure to the elements had left it darkened with moss.

  Who made this place? I have a sinking feeling it’s the same person who made me… Judging by how old the place looked, I must’ve been left here for a long time. A sword didn’t just come into the world wailing like a baby does; someone must have forged me. Ruling out the possibility of my body being warped into a sword by the accident that is. My creator would be my top candidate for the first person to use me, but if he was already dead, there went that possibility. That said, there was no moss or grime on my pedestal or the piece of cloth decorating it. It was like I’d been left there just the other day. Did that mean my creator was still out there somewhere?

  Hmm? An odd sensation rushed through my body as I took in my surroundings. What’s this…? I felt…tired. A feeling of weakness overwhelmed my blade.

  Then I started falling.

  Seriously?! I began desperately casting Telekinesis to no avail. I was thirty meters off the ground. Float! Please, just float at least! My prayers were left unanswered and I hit the ground with a loud metallic clang which rang through the air. Ow… That…didn’t hurt at all, actually, but am I cracked anywhere? Any fractures? I scanned my body and was relieved to find myself unscathed. My senses were working as they should, too. I might just be some sort of legendary sword after all if I fell from such a height and was no worse for wear. But why did I fall? I couldn’t use Telekinesis anymore, and listlessness washed over me. I checked my stats to look for the cause of this accident.

  Well, there was the problem. Looks like I’m out of MP. My Mana Pool was at 0/200. I must have been spending it the entire time I was using Telekinesis. This, too, must have been the cause of my listlessness. At least I didn’t lose consciousness when my MP hit zero. I think I was only flying for about three minutes. Couldn’t have been more than five. I lay on the stone pavement and waited to see if my MP would recover, and it did. I could feel magic flow into me from my surroundings. The air must’ve been filled with mana. I counted the time it took to recover my MP and found it to be at a rate of one point per minute. I waited an hour to get my mana up to sixty before attempting Telekinesis again.

  All right, I’m in the air. No problems so far. I checked my stats to see my MP steadily dropping. I use a point of mana for every second of Telekinesis, which means I can get about three minutes of air time with 200 MP. I didn’t want to fall flat on the ground again, so I hurried back to my pedestal before my mana ran dry.

  I felt oddly at ease when I slid back into it. Home sweet home. I shouldn’t move about recklessly like that again; it was too risky. I held off going on any grand expeditions and took in the surrounding area.

  I spotted many animals in the grasslands. It looked like a savannah from my Earth. There were mammals, insects, and oddly-shaped creatures which were probably unique to this world. One thing for sure was that things were much bigger here than they were back home. For example, the ant-like shadow I saw first was the size of a large dog. The things that looked like cows and bats were all gigantic in size. Nothing like the ones back home. I was only eyeballing, but they had to be ten meters tall, at least. That was bigger than an elephant, now that I thought about it.

  I guess you could call them monsters. Which made me wonder, With those huge monsters walking around, I don’t suppose I’m bound to see any people running around these parts. At least, I didn’t see any humanoid shapes.

  Reincarnation Log: Day Three

  I heard something coming from behind me. Footsteps; multiple pairs of them.

  “Gehe, gehaf.”

  “Agyogyo.”

  “Gegya!”

  Were they talking to each other? I wasn’t sure if they were speaking a type of language, but it seemed they were communicating with each other. They could be wolves, judging by the sounds of their voices. They were coming closer, and I could feel them right behind me. Come closer so I can see what you are.

  Rustling.

  Com
e on…

  More rustling.

  Just a few more steps…

  More rustling, which then stopped.

  Damn it, they stopped right behind me.

  “Gya gyu?”

  “Gyal gaga.”

  “Gyang ga?”

  “Gruhaaa.”

  What were they saying? I thought one of them was asking for advice from the others, but then something grabbed me. I felt fingers wrap around my hilt, and, as hard and callused as they were, the hand they belonged to felt human. I guessed they were trying to pull me out of my pedestal. Yet I felt an odd revulsion to whoever it was that was trying to take me. I didn’t even know what he looked like, so the least I could do was give him a fair shot…but still.

  I used Telekinesis to resist their advances and hold my ground. My resistance must have awakened their greed, because my mysterious visitor was now putting his back into yanking me out. Well, too bad. I rooted myself even harder. I wasn’t going to let this thing pull me out of my home.

  “Gya gya!”

  “Gyu gaga gaga…!”

  “Haga hav!”

  The others were getting riled up, as if they were cheering their friend on. They were dancing around me now, ready to take on the challenge of pulling the sword from the pedestal.

  “Gyal gaga!”

  “Gol gyal!”

  And that was when I saw what they were.

  Seriously?

  He had green skin with a face that looked more brutal than a gorilla’s, and a pair of short horns coming out of his head. He wore a fur pelt and had a club in his hands.

  Goblins?

  They were goblins beyond any shadow of doubt. Excuse me, but I didn’t want to be used by a couple of goblins! If I ended up as a magic sword wielded by goblins, that’d be the end of me. If I had to settle for them, then at least have a Goblin King wield me and not these mooks!