Chapter 7: Sword Technique Improvement
Ian felt mentally exhausted. He wasn't sure if bringing Zoro along for physical training was a mistake. Running around the village that morning, Ian had to correct the directionally challenged idiot a total of one hundred and twenty-eight times. The entire morning was spent amidst Ian's roaring shouts.
After finally finishing the run, Ian led him to a small grove near the seaside.
"Next up is sword-swinging practice!" Ian panted. "After we finish the sword swings, we'll do strength training!"
Another full thousand sword swings, each one requiring full concentration to feel the motion. However, perhaps because he was gradually getting used to it, Ian noticed after finishing the swings that the muscles in his arms weren't as sore as yesterday.
Ian completed his sword-swinging practice first. Then he found some ropes, tied up two large stones weighing several dozen pounds each, and located a sturdy tree. He tossed the ropes over a branch, using it as a lever. Grabbing one rope in each hand, he began pulling them down one after another in a punching motion.
This counted as a simple form of equipment training, right?
While Ian was desperately training his strength, Zoro was still doing his sword-swinging practice. Having mastered the basic sword-swinging movements yesterday, Zoro today picked up two bamboo swords again and furiously attacked the target tree stump. It seemed he was determined to walk the path of dual-wielding to the end.
Ian didn't bother him. The two were essentially training independently, using each other only as motivation. At most, Ian would occasionally correct Zoro's form.
When Zoro finished his sword-swinging practice, Ian's strength training was also nearing its end. He was drenched in sweat and wanted nothing more than to collapse to the ground.
"My turn!" Zoro eagerly grabbed the ropes Ian had dropped and imitated his pulling motion.
For a child, two stones weighing several dozen pounds each was no easy task. Watching Zoro grit his teeth with a fierce expression, Ian suddenly chuckled. He used the remaining rope to tie up a slightly smaller stone and handed it to Zoro.
"Here, bite down on this with your teeth! Hold it tight and don't let it fall," Ian said.
"Why?" Zoro asked, confused and foolishly. "You didn't do that earlier!"
"Trust me, you'll need it later!" Ian said with a mysterious grin.
That's right, you'll definitely need it later, because the path you're going to walk isn't dual-wielding—it's three-sword style!
Thank me now. I'm helping you train early. You'll have a strong set of teeth…
Thanks to Ian's mischief, Zoro started his three-sword style training early. He bit down hard on the hanging stone, keeping his body as upright as possible, while his arms pulled the other two large stones. His entire body trembled, but he persisted bit by bit.
Leaving Zoro alone, Ian picked up an even larger stone, raised it above his head with both hands like a weightlifter, and began doing squats repeatedly.
This was a training method he had just thought of. It could strengthen his core and leg muscles, effectively improving his speed.
For now, his attribute growth came from two sources: one was the bonus from his card, and the other was his level increase. Beyond that, Ian wondered if his attributes could also grow through physical training.
So all the exercises he was doing now were essentially experiments.
There wasn't much conversation between them. They trained relentlessly, sweating profusely, until noon. Only when their bodies were too sore to continue did they finally stop.
Lying on their backs, both gasped for air. Ian adjusted his breathing, trying to recover his stamina as quickly as possible. After who knows how long, he finally managed to sit up. He was about to call Zoro when he noticed the guy had fallen asleep!
Was this tendency to oversleep starting from childhood?
Ian shook his head helplessly, hoisted Zoro onto his back, and trudged step by step back toward the dojo.
What they didn't know was that, a little higher up the slope where they trained, Kuina revealed herself. She was also covered in sweat and exhaustion, but as she looked down at their training spot, her eyes were filled with stubborn determination…
After lunch and a rest, Ian took Zoro to the dojo's fields, where they swung hoes and worked the land. In the evening, they resumed their training.
In between, whenever Zoro got the chance, he would challenge Kuina. Unfortunately, he was always taught a lesson.
Strangely enough, even though Ian and Kuina could now fight to a draw—meaning fighting Ian was essentially the same as fighting Kuina—Zoro rarely challenged Ian. Instead, he mostly followed Ian in training but was endlessly enthusiastic about challenging Kuina. Even though he got beaten badly every time, once he recovered, he'd go again. This happened at least three or four times a day, leading Ian to suspect that this guy might be a hidden masochist…
What Ian didn't know was that Zoro, the simple-minded idiot, had a very straightforward thought process. For Ian, who had been guiding him to train and grow stronger, Zoro saw him as a senior brother or big brother. But for Kuina, she was an opponent.
Different roles naturally led to different treatment. Getting beaten by a senior brother occasionally was normal, but being beaten by an opponent was unacceptable.
Except when challenging Kuina, Zoro was almost inseparable from Ian. And just as Zoro refused to accept losing to Kuina, Ian refused to be outdone by this kid two years younger than him. They both worked desperately to grow stronger, which in turn spurred Kuina to secretly train harder as well.
A strange competition formed among the three…
Koushirou naturally observed all of this, but he didn't interfere. He just watched with his usual smiling expression, letting things take their course.
And so, over a month passed.
During this month, Ian's body underwent a dramatic change. His muscles had begun to take shape. Although he still looked a bit thin due to his child's body, the aura of strength was starting to emanate from him.
His hypothesis was confirmed: self-directed training could indeed improve his attributes.
However, this improvement was slow. For example, in strength training, if Ian with 20 points of strength could lift a hundred pounds at his limit, then to gain another point of strength, he had to break that limit by lifting a hundred and ten pounds or more. Each breakthrough in the limit brought a 1-point increase in strength.
Over the past month, Ian had continuously increased the weight of the stones he trained with, but he had only gained 3 points of strength…
It was slow, but it was a supplement to Ian's growth. After all, in the peaceful village of Shimotsuki, there weren't even bandits, let alone enemies. The only opponents Ian could find were Kuina and Zoro. Beyond that, he couldn't find anyone to gain experience from. He couldn't beat Kuina—at best, they drew, so he got no experience. He could beat Zoro, but the experience was too little, only 50 points each time. And now, going from level 1 to level 2 required 1000 experience points.
He couldn't just beat Zoro up every day, could he?
In other words, Ian's level couldn't increase much in the short term. Without leveling up, his card couldn't improve either. He had asked the system: the card's level couldn't exceed the host's own level.
So the only way to increase his attributes was through self-training.
Fortunately, after over a month of relentless practice, his Basic Sword Technique proficiency was finally maxed out.
How to describe it? It was a strange feeling. The moment his Basic Sword Technique proficiency maxed out and upgraded to Beginner Sword Technique, Ian felt a completely different sensation when holding a bamboo sword. There was no resistance or hesitation. The bamboo sword in his hand no longer felt like an external tool. Holding it felt as natural as if it were part of his body. He could wield it as effortlessly as moving his own arm.
Perhaps thanks to his long-term, persistent practice, the breakthrough in sword technique happened naturally. The bottleneck Ian had imagined didn't appear.
This should be a process of quantitative change leading to qualitative change, Ian thought.
[Beginner Sword Technique: You have gained a qualitative understanding of the way of the sword. Your sword speed +10%, destructive power +10%.]
That was the system's attribute description for Beginner Sword Technique. Sword speed was easy to understand, but the increase in destructive power left Ian a bit puzzled. Data was data, but what exactly did 10% destructive power mean? There didn't seem to be a quantifiable standard.
After thinking it over, Ian could only interpret it as causing more severe injuries when hitting an opponent.