Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Ian felt exhausted. He wasn't sure if bringing Zoro along for the physical training was a mistake. Running around the village, Ian had to correct Zoro's sense of direction a whopping 128 times, spending the entire morning yelling at him.
Finally, after the running session, Ian led him to a small grove near the sea.
"Next is sword practice!" Ian gasped, "After that, we'll do strength training!"
They practiced sword swings a thousand times, with each swing requiring full concentration. Ian noticed that his arm muscles weren't as tired as they were yesterday. Perhaps he was getting used to the training.
After completing his sword practice, Ian found some ropes and tied two heavy rocks together. He then found a sturdy tree and threw the ropes over its branches. Using the tree as a lever, he pulled on the ropes with both hands, simulating punches.
It was a simple form of strength training, wasn't it?
While Ian worked hard on his strength, Zoro continued his sword practice. Having mastered the basics of sword swings yesterday, Zoro now wielded two bamboo swords and attacked a target tree stump with determination. He seemed determined to become a master of the two-sword style.
Ian didn't pay much attention to Zoro, as they were both training individually. They were just each other's motivation, and sometimes Ian corrected Zoro's movements.
After Zoro finished his sword practice, Ian's strength training was coming to an end. Covered in sweat, he wanted to collapse on the ground.
"It's my turn!" Zoro eagerly picked up the ropes Ian had left behind and started pulling them like Ian did.
For a child, lifting two heavy rocks wasn't easy. Amused by Zoro's fierce determination, Ian grinned mischievously and tied a smaller rock to the remaining rope. He handed it over to Zoro, saying, "Hold it with your teeth! Make sure it doesn't fall."
"Why?" Zoro asked, puzzled. "You didn't do it like this!"
"Just trust me; you'll need this later!" Ian replied with a mysterious smile.
Yes, he would need it in the future because he was going to walk the path of three-sword style, not two-sword style!
Thank me later; I'm giving you a head start on your training. You'll have strong teeth for this...
Thanks to Ian's mischief, Zoro started his training in three-sword style ahead of schedule. He clamped his teeth on the hanging rock and tried to keep his body upright while pulling the other two rocks with his arms. He trembled, but he persisted.
Ian ignored him and picked up a larger rock. Holding it with both hands above his head, he repeatedly squatted, as if doing weightlifting, to train his core and leg strength, which would help improve his speed.
Ian noticed that his attributes were mainly influenced by two factors: the bonuses from the cards and the increase from leveling up. However, he wondered if he could enhance his attributes through self-training as well.
Thus, all the exercises he tried were experimental.
The two continued to train, sweating profusely, until noon. Exhausted, they finally stopped.
Lying on the ground, they both struggled to catch their breath. Ian tried to recover quickly, but it felt like an eternity before he could stand up. When he was about to call out to Zoro, he noticed that Zoro had fallen asleep!
Is this guy's penchant for napping something from childhood?
Shaking his head helplessly, Ian lifted Zoro and slowly made his way back to the dojo.
Unbeknownst to them, Koushirou-sensei observed from a spot above where they trained. He wore a grin on his face and let them be, enjoying the sight.
And so, over a month passed.
During this month, Ian's body underwent significant changes. His muscles had started to take shape, and even though he was still a bit thin due to his young age, his powerful aura was starting to emanate.
His hypothesis was confirmed: self-training could indeed enhance his attributes. However, the progress was slow. For instance, if he could lift a hundred kilograms at his strength level of 20, he would need to break that limit and lift a hundred and ten kilograms or more to gain another point in strength. After over a month of training, he had only gained 3 points in strength.
It was a slow process, but it was a supplement to Ian's growth. In the peaceful village of Shimotsuki, where not even bandits roamed, there were few opponents he could spar with. Besides Guina and Zoro, there was no one else he could find to gain experience. However, he couldn't defeat Guina, at best they reached a stalemate, so he couldn't gain experience from her. While Zoro was a sparring partner, he only provided 50 experience points per session, and Ian needed 1000 points to level up from 1 to 2.
He couldn't just keep challenging Zoro every day, right?
As a result, Ian's leveling up seemed to have hit a temporary limit. With no way to level up and the cards unable to raise his attributes further (the cards couldn't surpass the host's level), he could only rely on self-training.
Thankfully, after a month of consistent practice, Ian had finally maxed out his proficiency in basic swordsmanship. The moment he elevated it to junior swordsmanship, he felt a remarkable difference. Holding the bamboo sword, it no longer felt like a foreign object but an extension of his body, responding perfectly to his commands.
Perhaps due to his persistent training, the breakthrough in swordsmanship came smoothly without any bottlenecks.
"It should be a process of qualitative change after quantitative accumulation," Ian pondered.
[Junior Swordsmanship: You have gained a profound understanding of the way of the sword. Your attack speed increases by 10%, and destructive power increases by 10%.]
The attack speed was easy to understand, but Ian wasn't entirely sure about the increase in destructive power. Data was one thing, but how much difference would 10% make? There didn't seem to be a quantifiable standard.
So, after some thought, Ian could only understand it as the ability to inflict more severe injuries on opponents after striking them.
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