Chapter 21: First Recharge Gift Pack?
The day Ian chose to set sail was quite nice, a bright and sunny day with good weather.
Under such weather, the sky displayed a deep azure blue, occasionally dotted with a few drifting white clouds as embellishment. Gazing at the endless ocean and feeling the gentle sea breeze, it gave one a refreshing and uplifting feeling.
Tired from rowing, Ian simply unfurled the small sail on the fishing boat, letting the sea breeze carry him forward.
He lay back in the boat, watching unknown birds fly across the sky while checking on his system.
Choosing to set sail wasn't just to find a way to cure Kuina; it was also because he had hit a bottleneck!
Opening the system's attribute interface, Ian could see his current level. He was now Level 5, experience gained over six years of sparring with Zoro in Shimotsuki Village. Thanks to learning to use Nen before Zoro and having trained in swordsmanship longer, Ian had more wins than losses in their exchanges.
The reason it was more wins than losses was that Zoro was indeed exceptionally talented. In the later years, he actually managed to comprehend his own sword techniques.
Although at first, the only moves he could use were Tiger Hunt and Bull Needle, Ian could indeed feel the power of Nen in his sword—or in this world's terms, the fluctuation of Haki. With these two techniques, Zoro gradually mastered his inner strength, so much so that even Ian could only match him blow for blow. If Ian wasn't careful, Zoro might seize an opening and defeat him.
Zoro's strength grew bit by bit, and the experience Ian gained from defeating him increased slightly. It could be said that Ian owed his current level entirely to Zoro's contributions.
However, once Ian reached Level 5, he found that defeating Zoro no longer yielded experience points. The system seemed to default to not allowing excessive experience gain from the same opponent.
Moreover, the island where Shimotsuki Village was located had no fierce beasts or the like, which meant that from two years ago, he could no longer level up. This was one reason he had wanted to set sail early two years ago, but Master Koushirou had stopped him.
It seemed that within the system, Ian, as the host, was also considered a card. Based on star rating and aptitude, he was probably a basic one-star green card. This was evident from the attribute points he gained upon leveling up.
Each level he gained increased his Strength by 5 and Speed by 5. Reaching Level 5 meant an increase of 20 points in Strength and 20 points in Speed.
This might be the aptitude issue the system had mentioned. When Ian used experience books to level up the card of Ryo Sakazaki to Level 5, he found that this three-star card gained 15 Strength, 15 Speed, 20 HP, and 20 Nen per level.
This card was likely the balanced type, with equal increases in Strength and Speed upon leveling, making it an excellent reference for comparison.
Ian had also tried asking the system if he, as the host, could use evolution stones to increase his star rating and aptitude, but was told he couldn't. It required other special items, though the system didn't specify what those items were.
Though a bit disappointing, the system's answer at least gave Ian some hope.
At a 30% ratio, each level of Ryo Sakazaki's card gave him a full attribute boost of 5 points. So now, Ian's attributes were as follows:
Name: Ian
Level: 5
Doriki: 217
Strength: 82 (Base 5 + Level Up 20 + Card 35 + Self-Training 22)
Speed: 78 (Base 5 + Level Up 20 + Card 35 + Self-Training 18)
HP: 89 (Base 10 + Level Up 40 + Card 39)
Nen: 99 (Base 0 + Level Up 40 + Card 39 + Nen Training 20)
Skills: [Advanced Swordsmanship]: Sword speed +30%, Destructive power +30%. Proficiency (10000000/10000000)
[Intermediate Nen Training]: Increases Nen recovery per hour. Current recovery: 5 points. Increases total Nen capacity by 25%. Proficiency (6811/50000)
Among the two skills Ian currently had, the ten million proficiency for Advanced Swordsmanship had long been maxed out. However, strangely, Advanced Swordsmanship couldn't be upgraded further. This was the so-called bottleneck! Ian knew there must be a higher level of swordsmanship beyond this, but he lacked the insight and opportunity to advance.
The Nen Training skill had accumulated through his daily practice with bamboo swords. Limited by his Nen capacity, it couldn't increase as quickly as swordsmanship proficiency, so it was only at Intermediate level. However, the pleasant surprise was that leveling up Nen Training increased Ian's total Nen capacity by a percentage.
Both Advanced Swordsmanship and Nen Training affected Ian's Doriki value. Otherwise, with his current attributes, he wouldn't have over 200 Doriki.
Of course, it was said that around 500 Doriki was needed to be considered a superhuman. Ian's 200-plus Doriki seemed low, but that wasn't entirely accurate. Through long-term sword practice, Ian had discovered something: when using Nen to execute a Flash Slash, his Doriki would momentarily change!
This change was an increase, and depending on the amount of Nen Ian channeled, the increase varied. For example, if he wrapped all 99 points of his Nen around his sword to execute a Flash Slash, his Doriki could at least double in that instant!
Since the Flash Slash skill was instantaneous, this Doriki increase was hard to notice without careful observation. Ian had only discovered it by accident.
After reviewing his attributes, Ian flipped to the card backpack to check the cards he had obtained.
Every 100 days, he could draw a card for free. Over two years, that was about seven draws. In six years, Ian had drawn a total of twenty-one times.
Although the chance of pulling a card from a single draw was low, with enough attempts, he was bound to get lucky. Over these twenty-one draws, Ian had gradually pulled three complete cards.
Having cards was good, but the problem was they were all one-star and two-star cards: Ran Dou (one-star green card, source: Yu Yu Hakusho), Shinpachi Shimura (one-star green card, source: Gintama), and Jabu the Unicorn (two-star blue card, source: Saint Seiya).
When he drew these cards, Ian was completely dumbfounded. Although he knew these low-level cards weren't worth cultivating, it wasn't until he saw their attributes and skills that he truly understood why.
Not only were their base attributes low, but they also had only one skill. Ran Dou's card was a bit better, with the skill Shrink Spell, though he didn't know what effect it would have. The most baffling was Shinpachi Shimura's card, which had only one skill: Tsukkomi!
And Jabu the Unicorn was the same. Weren't Saint Seiya characters supposed to use Cosmo? Yet in the card attributes, they also had a Nen attribute!
Ian realized that no matter what card he drew in this system, their skills were categorized under Nen. It seemed that in the system's concept, Nen abilities had unified the entire universe...
Although Ian still had one card slot available, he didn't want to waste it on these cards. With low bonus percentages and minimal base attributes, equipping these cards would provide negligible attribute boosts. It was better to save the slot and wait until he had enough money for his first ten-draw, then equip the four-star orange card.
After drifting on the sea for half a day, Ian's stomach growled. He sat up and opened the bundle he had brought.
The bundle contained his packed belongings: a few changes of clothes and three days' worth of dry rations. Ian had heard from Uncle Hell in the village that it took three days by boat from Shimotsuki Village to the nearest town, so he had prepared these rations.
Taking out some dry food and a bottle of water, Ian sat in the boat and began to eat. Just then, he noticed a small cloth pouch in his bundle.
He didn't remember packing such a thing, so out of curiosity, he picked it up and opened it.
To his surprise, the pouch contained a stack of green bills and a white envelope.
Ian counted the bills: a total of 20,000 Berries. It was the first time he had held so much money. Then he opened the envelope, and sure enough, it was a letter left by Master Koushirou!
Though he hadn't come to see him off, Master Koushirou had still been thinking of him. These 20,000 Berries were all of Master Koushirou's savings, given entirely to Ian as travel expenses.
Ian felt a wave of warmth. 20,000 Berries might not be much, but what it represented was Master Koushirou's care for him.
Just as Ian was sighing with emotion, he suddenly heard the system's voice in his mind.
"Currency detected. Would the host like to make a recharge? The first recharge comes with a First Recharge Gift Pack!"