Chapter 5: Want to Be Awesome? Please Recharge
The character before him was far too familiar! Wasn't this the protagonist of the Onimusha game, Akechi Samanosuke? How could he have drawn this character!?
Could it be because he was currently learning swordsmanship?
Still, Ian was curious about how this card was supposed to be used, so he tried to check it out.
【Akechi Samanosuke Hidemitsu】
Card Star Rating: Three Stars
Title: Onimusha
Level: 1
Strength: 50
Speed: 50
Life: 50
Nen: 50
Skills: True Flash Slash: At the moment an enemy is about to strike you, counterattack at extreme speed, dealing massive damage.
Parry Flash Slash: Immediately activate after parrying an attack, counterattacking at extreme speed and dealing massive damage.
Chain Flash Slash: Continue attacking before the Flash Slash timing window expires, allowing for consecutive massive damage.
Bonds: Obtain Aru, Life +32%
Obtain Morin Ranmaru, Strength +25%
Obtain Oda Nobunaga, Nen +20%
A three-star card, with three skills to boot, but it made Ian's eyebrows dance with excitement, because these three skills were the ones he was most familiar with. In the Onimusha game, the whole point was Flash Slash!
"The card has been drawn. Would you like to equip it to a card slot?"
As soon as the system prompted him, Ian immediately confirmed. He really wanted to know how this card character would take effect.
Once he confirmed the equipment, the screen jumped to the team formation mode. Including Ian himself as the host character, there were six card slots for equipping cards. But right now, only two slots were unlocked, just enough to equip Akechi Samanosuke's card. The remaining slots had small locks hanging on them. Based on Ian's estimate, these locked slots would probably only unlock when his level increased—wasn't that how most games worked?
After equipping Akechi Samanosuke's card, Ian immediately noticed changes in himself.
He found that his stats now had an extra 15 points in Strength and 15 points in Speed, and the same went for Life and Nen, each increased by 15 points!
System: "Card equipped! Nen ability item activated!"
This caught Ian a bit off guard. He had been wondering earlier how to unlock the Nen value, and suddenly it appeared just like that. This was really a good thing.
Ian did the math and asked the system, "A three-star card gives 30% of the card's stats, right?"
"Yes. A one-star card gives 10%, two-star gives 20%, and so on. A five-star card can give up to 50% stat bonus!" the system replied.
Ian was quite satisfied and asked further, "Can the card be upgraded?"
"Yes! Cards have their own levels. Each time the level increases, the card's own stats improve, and a corresponding percentage is fed back to the host! Cards can also be evolved to higher star ratings, which also increases the bonus percentage. This requires the host to cultivate the card! Recharging diamonds can speed up the cultivation process!"
"Can we talk about recharging after I have some money?" Ian asked helplessly. "And how do cards evolve?"
"Obtain the same character fragments and use evolution stones to upgrade. An existing three-star card can yield 30 character fragments!"
Ian checked the evolution option and found that to upgrade this Akechi Samanosuke to four stars, he needed 120 character fragments. That meant Ian would have to collect four identical cards.
This was probably going to be a very long process...
Ian then looked at the skill options. This card had three skills, so he was full of anticipation.
However, when he checked, Ian was a bit dumbfounded. He found that his own skill was still just a solitary basic swordsmanship.
"Can't I use the card character's skills?" Ian quickly pressed the system.
"The host needs to meet the corresponding basic ability requirements!" the system replied.
Sure enough, Ian looked at the card already equipped in the slot and saw that the skill descriptions had changed.
True Flash Slash: At the moment an enemy is about to strike you, counterattack at extreme speed, dealing massive damage. Requires Basic Swordsmanship skill.
Parry Flash Slash: Immediately activate after parrying an attack, counterattacking at extreme speed and dealing massive damage. Requires Intermediate Swordsmanship skill to activate.
Chain Flash Slash: Continue attacking before the Flash Slash timing window expires, allowing for consecutive massive damage. Requires Advanced Swordsmanship skill to activate.
And Ian was still only at the Basic Swordsmanship level...
Frustrated, he exited the menu. Ian realized that for now, he could only push himself to train harder...
In the time that followed, Ian didn't continue practicing. Instead, he sat quietly in the dojo to recover his sore and trembling muscles.
This was also a method Koushirou-sensei had taught him, focusing on aerobic breathing adjustments. It seemed to quickly clear the lactic acid from his muscles, working even better than massage.
He sat there until noon, when Kuina brought him a meal.
The dojo Ian was in was called Isshin Dojo. It was quite spacious, but only three people lived there permanently: the dojo master Koushirou, his daughter Kuina, and Ian. There was also Koushirou-sensei's junior brother, Suke, a middle-aged man with a small mustache who served as an instructor at the dojo. When Koushirou had said earlier that Kuina could beat the adults in the dojo, he was referring to this junior brother.
The four of them always lived in the dojo. The other little brat disciples of Ian's were all residents of Shimotsuki Village, and at mealtime, they each went home to eat.
But now, one more person had become a permanent resident eater at the dojo: Zoro.
As the only woman in the dojo, Kuina always prepared the meals. Her cooking was pretty good, and Ian always enjoyed eating it.
Seeing Kuina arrive, Ian smiled at her and got up to help set out the bowls and chopsticks.
"What about sensei's?" When they sat down face to face and were about to eat, Ian suddenly remembered and asked.
"I've already sent Father's portion!" Kuina replied.
Ian nodded, said nothing more, and began to eat.
Actually, over these three months, Ian had noticed that when Kuina mentioned her father Koushirou, she often used terms like "Father-sama!" but he had never heard her call him "Dad!"
These two different forms of address naturally indicated different levels of closeness, so Ian could sense that the relationship between Kuina and Koushirou-sensei seemed somewhat distant.
Through his observations during this time, Ian had gradually come to understand why the father and daughter were like this.
Koushirou-sensei usually wore a harmless, smiling expression, treating everyone with kindness. However, deep down, he still held some traditional ideas.
He had always wanted a son to inherit his Isshin Dojo, but unfortunately, Kuina's mother had given him a daughter.
In his view, female swordsmen, due to physical limitations, could never become the strongest.
Although Koushirou loved his daughter Kuina very much, his occasional remarks inevitably revealed a sense of regret. Kuina was a smart child and could naturally sense her father's thoughts. To avoid disappointing him, under this influence, Kuina gradually began to adopt a more boyish personality.
She started keeping her hair short, trained in swordsmanship desperately, and constantly pushed herself to get stronger. She even eventually defeated Koushirou's junior brother, trying to prove to her father that she could inherit the dojo and carry on Koushirou's aspirations.
All of this was just to gain more of her father's love...
But unfortunately, these efforts couldn't change Koushirou's traditional thinking. He stubbornly believed that a girl couldn't inherit the dojo.
Kuina might not have realized this, but Ian, with his adult perspective, could see it clearly.
"Ian-niisan, what are you thinking about?"
Ian had been lost in thought. Hearing Kuina's voice, he suddenly snapped back to reality. He looked at Kuina and saw curiosity shining in her beautiful big eyes.
"This fish is delicious! Kuina, your cooking has improved again!" Ian praised her, using the compliment to change the subject.
"It was a gift from Uncle Hell, the fisherman in the village!" Kuina said with a sweet smile. Only in everyday life did she show such a girlish smile.
They chatted as they ate. Just then, a figure suddenly burst into the dojo.
Zoro walked in, drenched in sweat, apparently just finishing his training. When he saw the two of them eating lunch, he immediately shouted, "Ah! You two are so sneaky, starting without me! Where's mine?"