Three days later, during the early morning hours, Issho was finishing his daily training quest from the system.
The cool morning air brushed against his skin while his body remained locked in the horse stance position.
Sweat slowly dripped down from his forehead and slid across his jaw, yet Issho’s posture remained perfectly steady without even the slightest shake.
This was the final round of his daily training routine—horse stance meditation.
The surroundings were mostly quiet except for the faint sounds of movement coming from the restaurant area in the distance.
The first rays of sunlight had already spread across the sky, signaling the beginning of a new day.
Finally, after enduring the final moments of the training, Issho slowly exhaled.
At the same instant, the familiar mechanical voice of the system rang inside his mind.
“Blood +1.”
“Mana +0.1.”
“Observation Haki range +10 meters.”
One notification after another appeared before him alongside the System’s emotionless voice.
A faint smile appeared on Issho’s face upon hearing the rewards.
Without wasting time, he immediately opened his character panel with anticipation.
====
Name: Issho
Blood: 10
Mana: 1
Innate Ability: Gravity Control
Abilities: Observation Haki (100 m); Shadow Fighting; Demon Slaying Sword Technique; Six Powers (Unlocked)…
Item(s): Sword: Yakuza Kasen
Daily Quest: 1.
Do horse stance meditation.
(60/60 min)✅
2.
Practice swordsmanship with Fujitora in Shadow Fighting (real world).
(0/60 min)
====
The moment Issho sensed the information displayed on the panel, the smile on his face widened further.
Finally.
His Blood stat had officially reached 10 points.
And beside the words “Six Powers,” the word “Unlocked” had now appeared clearly.
That meant he could finally begin training in the Six Powers technique.
Just thinking about it made Issho slightly excited.
At that exact moment, the System’s voice suddenly rang out once more inside his mind.
“Congratulations, Host, on reaching 10 Blood points.
You are now eligible to break through to the Trainee Knight level.
Would you like to break through?”
As soon as Issho heard those words, excitement flashed across his mind.
A smile instantly appeared on his face.
Without even the slightest hesitation, Issho immediately sat down on the ground right where he was and replied inwardly,
“Yes.”
The instant Issho accepted, a sudden change erupted within his body.
Thump!
Issho’s heartbeat abruptly intensified.
Then another heartbeat followed.
THUMP!
THUMP!
The sound became so loud and powerful that it could faintly be heard even outside.
At that moment, Donny, who had been busy doing some work nearby, suddenly paused after hearing the strange and unusually heavy heartbeat sound.
His expression changed slightly as he instinctively turned toward Issho’s direction.
Soon, Donny noticed something shocking.
Issho’s face had turned completely red.
The veins across his neck and arms bulged visibly, while the muscles throughout his body slightly tightened as if tremendous energy was surging through him from within.
Most shocking of all…
A faint reddish glow had begun appearing around Issho’s body.
Although extremely faint and difficult to notice unless one looked carefully, that reddish aura was undeniably there.
It was mana.
Seeing this scene, Donny became slightly frightened.
The heavy heartbeat echoing from Issho’s body and the strange reddish glow surrounding him made the atmosphere feel unusually tense.
Without wasting any time, Donny immediately ran inside the restaurant.
As soon as he entered, he quickly informed Martha and Alex about Issho’s condition in a lowered voice so the customers inside the restaurant would not overhear and panic unnecessarily.
Both Martha and Alex immediately stopped what they were doing.
Their expressions turned serious as they hurried toward the backyard alongside Donny.
Soon, all three of them arrived and saw Issho still sitting there on the ground.
Issho’s body remained tense, his face still flushed red while faint reddish mana flickered weakly around him.
The sound of his heartbeat was still unusually loud, making the scene feel even stranger.
For a moment, none of them dared to move closer.
Although they had no idea what exactly was happening, they instinctively felt that interfering recklessly would be a bad idea.
Maybe Issho was undergoing some kind of special training.
Or perhaps this entire situation was intentional.
If they suddenly touched him or tried to forcefully help him, they might accidentally disturb whatever process he was going through.
And if something went wrong because of that, the consequences could become serious.
So all three of them simply stood nearby and waited anxiously.
Time slowly passed.
Finally, after around ten minutes, Issho’s heartbeat reached its peak.
THUMP!
THUMP!
THUMP!
Then slowly…
It started calming down.
The frightening intensity of the heartbeat gradually weakened.
The redness covering Issho’s face also slowly faded, and the excessive blood flow throughout his body began stabilizing.
As a result, the bulging veins across his skin gradually receded back beneath the surface.
The faint reddish glow surrounding his body also started weakening little by little until it almost completely disappeared.
Finally, Issho took a deep breath.
Then he slowly exhaled.
The tension around his body completely relaxed afterward.
Seeing Issho finally calm down, Martha, Alex, and Donny all felt relieved almost at the same time.
Alex and Martha quickly moved a little closer while Donny remained slightly behind them.
“Are you alright, Issho?” Alex asked with concern in his voice.
“What exactly happened?”
From the side, Martha also hurriedly asked, “Should I call a doctor?”
After hearing their worried voices, Issho could not help but feel slightly warm inside.
Even though he had only been staying here for a relatively short time, these people had genuinely shown concern for him.
A faint smile appeared on Issho’s face as he replied calmly, “You all don’t have to worry about anything.
I was just training, that’s all.”
The moment they heard that, all three of them visibly relaxed.
Although Issho was technically only a tenant staying in their place, he had always behaved well.
He never caused trouble, was polite to everyone, and despite being blind, he remained extremely self-reliant.
In fact, that was something all three of them secretly admired about him.
Most people in Issho’s situation would have depended heavily on others, but Issho handled almost everything himself.
That naturally earned their respect.
After confirming that Issho was truly fine, Martha and Alex finally returned to the restaurant since they had left their work midway.
As for Donny, he also returned to continue his own tasks.
Meanwhile, Issho remained seated where he was.
The moment everyone left, he immediately called out his character panel in his mind.
And when he saw the updated information—
====
Name: Issho
Blood: 12
Mana: 1.2
Innate Ability: Gravity Control
Abilities: Observation Haki (120 m); Shadow Fighting; Demon Slaying Sword Technique; Six Powers (Unlocked)…
Item(s): Sword: Yakuza Kasen
Daily Quest: 1.
Do horse stance meditation.
(60/60 min)✅
2.
Practice swordsmanship with Fujitora in Shadow Fighting (real world).
(0/60 min)
====
A surprised expression instantly appeared on his face.
His Blood stat had increased to twelve points.
Not eleven.
Twelve.
This genuinely surprised Issho because he had originally thought that, at most, breaking through would only raise it to eleven points… or perhaps not even that much.
As if hearing Issho’s inner thoughts, the System immediately responded inside his mind.
“It is kind of obvious, Master.
After all, this is the norm.”
The mechanical voice continued calmly.
“Try recalling Elric’s memories.
For normal mana-training knights or mages, their mana strength or physical strength also does not increase by only one point every time.”
Issho remained seated quietly while listening.
“For example, when an ordinary human is about to break through to the Trainee Knight level by condensing mana inside their mana core, their physical strength is usually only around six to seven points beforehand.”
The System continued explaining in its emotionless tone.
“But the moment mana successfully gathers inside the mana core, they become capable of partially channeling mana through their body.
As a result, their initial physical strength immediately rises to around ten points.”
Hearing this, Issho slowly understood.
The System then continued,
“Blood-Forged Knights work slightly differently, but the overall logic is still similar.
Before the mutation of the blood occurs, you must first gradually build your Blood points step by step until you reach the threshold required for evolution.”
“That threshold is Blood point 10.”
The faint morning wind brushed against Issho’s face as he silently listened.
“The moment you reached that threshold, the mutation inside your blood finally occurred.
That mutation strengthened your body further, which is why your Blood value increased from 10 points to 12 points instead of merely stopping at 10.”
After hearing the System’s explanation, Issho slowly nodded.
He was already somewhat aware of this concept himself.
After all, he possessed Elric’s memories, and many related pieces of knowledge quickly surfaced inside his mind.
When someone successfully broke through from an ordinary human to a Trainee Knight, or from a Trainee Knight to a full Knight, their strength would always experience a noticeable leap.
That sudden increase existed precisely because of this principle.
Before the breakthrough, they would remain stuck near the threshold for a long time.
But the moment they crossed into the next level, their body would undergo changes and directly rise to an entirely new stage of strength.
Blood-Forged Knights were somewhat different from ordinary mana knights, but the core logic still followed the same concept.
In Issho’s case, once his Blood reached 10 points, the condensation and mutation of his blood finally occurred.
And as a result, his Blood value directly rose to 12 points, making him noticeably stronger than before.
Issho could clearly feel the difference in his body even now.
His muscles felt denser.
His heartbeat felt steadier.
Even his senses seemed sharper than before.
Just at that moment, the System’s voice rang inside his mind once again.
“Congratulations, Host, on crossing the threshold of blood and successfully reaching twelve Blood points.”
“New quest added: Train in Six Powers.”
Immediately afterward, new information appeared before Issho.
Daily Quest:
Do horse stance meditation.
(60/60 min)✅
Practice swordsmanship with Fujitora in Shadow Fighting (real world).
(0/60 min)
Do training of Six Powers.
(0/60 min)
As soon as Issho heard this, he immediately focused on his character panel.
Sure enough, below the quest section, a completely new daily quest had appeared.
“Do training of Six Powers for one hour.”
A faint smile slowly appeared on Issho’s face after sensing the newly added quest.
Finally…
He could officially begin training in the Six Powers techniques.