[Progress: Prototype – Ten Thousand Swings: Tsubame Gaeshi (1/100)]
Noah stared at the new notification without much surprise.
He was already used to the system behaving like an unhelpful NPC.
It rarely explained anything properly, so he had to slowly test everything himself.
It had taken several days to finish ten thousand swings.
Partly because Tsubame Gaeshi wasn’t his only training.
Every morning, Noah sparred with the Sword God.
Every evening, he practiced Battle Aura Flow and Battle Aura Coating: Hardening.
Learning the Longsword of Light was one of the requirements for becoming a Sword Saint, and free control of battle aura was a necessary foundation for that ultimate technique.
That left only afternoons for repeated Tsubame Gaeshi practice.
Still…
Ten thousand swings had increased the progress by only one.
So one hundred progress meant one million swings.
Combined with the original hint—”One thought reaches the divine; sudden enlightenment follows”—was this literally asking him to reach godhood through a million repetitions?
Whatever enlightenment waited at the end, Noah was genuinely curious.
And according to years of gaming experience, the longer a quest took, the better its final reward usually was.
More effort = more reward.
Basic game design.
Gacha games excluded.
Besides, over the past few days Noah could clearly feel himself getting faster and smoother.
The Longsword of Silence: Tsubame Gaeshi was gradually accelerating.
As familiarity increased, the number of correct swings he could complete in the same amount of time would also continue rising.
Even if there were no final system reward, the improvement he personally felt was enough reason to continue.
What Noah didn’t know was that the increased smoothness came from more than repetition.
His high-intensity training with Gal—constant pressure at gradually increasing speed—was forcing out his potential too.
Even Gal was a little surprised by how visibly Noah’s reaction speed improved.
The Sword God had to recalibrate his attacks every day to stay just ahead of Noah’s growth.
No new system notification appeared.
Noah withdrew his attention.
Time to keep training.
Sword practice consumed an enormous amount of energy.
Before long, noon approached and Noah’s stomach began protesting.
He stopped and headed toward the dining hall while maintaining Presence Concealment, both to refill his stomach and continue charging Killing Intent: Nascent.
Since emptying the gauge on the Ice Rock Rats, Noah had immediately begun accumulating it again.
…
Two more days passed.
Noah maintained the same schedule.
Morning: get beaten on time at Gal’s residence.
Afternoon: return home and practice sword techniques.
He finished another empty swing, returned the wooden sword to position, and exhaled.
Just as he prepared to repeat the movement that was nearly becoming muscle memory, footsteps sounded over the snow.
The steps were light, but deliberately audible.
Noah’s attention shifted.
He turned.
Dark-blue hair tied behind the head.
Healthy skin.
A swordsman’s outfit designed for movement.
Nina.
She stopped in front of Noah and glanced at the wooden sword in his hand, then at the sweat-soaked clothes clinging to him.
Heat still visibly steamed from his body in the cold air.
Noah leaned lightly on his wooden sword and spoke first.
“Yo.
Haven’t seen you for two days.
Arm healed, so you’re back to lessons?”
He wasn’t deliberately rubbing salt into the wound.
They had already agreed that once both recovered enough to use Tsubame Gaeshi properly, they’d exchange details of the technique.
Some afternoons, Nina had indeed come to watch Noah train.
Before, she’d done it secretly.
After being exposed, she’d simply started watching openly.
That was why Noah found her two-day absence a little strange.
Nina paused.
Her absence wasn’t solely because her injury had healed.
There were other reasons too.
In the end, she simply nodded.
“It’s healed.
Starting tomorrow, I’ll continue training under Master Timothy.”
“I see.”
Noah thought for a moment.
Practicing Tsubame Gaeshi alone every afternoon was honestly getting a little boring.
He could focus and accumulate swings, sure, but he hadn’t forgotten that every person in this Sanctum was a treasure vault of talents waiting to be opened.
‘I, a champion of talent sharing, cannot stagnate here!’
Finding sparring partners was an excellent way to improve relationships.
That had been one reason he’d offered to exchange techniques with Nina in the first place.
Normally, everyone trained under their masters in the morning and sparred with other disciples in the afternoon.
Nina obviously had her own circle.
Once she returned to normal training, Noah probably wouldn’t see her as often.
His Public Enemy title wasn’t exactly helping him break into her social group.
“Noah, you know the general sparring session is in three days, right?” Nina asked while he was thinking.
“Yeah.
The outer dojos do something similar.”
Noah had spent eight years training outside before being promoted.
Many rules and systems were essentially the same, so adapting here hadn’t been difficult.
“Then you also know lower-ranked swordsmen can challenge higher-ranked ones without drawing lots.”
Noah nodded.
During the monthly session, disciples either arranged sparring partners themselves or drew lots against someone of the same rank.
There was also a third option.
A lower-ranked swordsman could directly challenge someone above them.
The higher-ranked disciple generally wasn’t allowed to refuse.
The rule existed so students who believed they had grown strong enough could prove themselves in real combat and earn promotion.
“You’re Advanced now,” Nina continued.
“Some lower-ranked disciples are going to challenge you.
You probably won’t be allowed to refuse.”
“Why would I refuse?”
Noah looked genuinely confused.
He was confident no Intermediate swordsman could beat him.
He’d already defeated an Advanced swordsman.
“They’re planning to exhaust your stamina first.
Once you’ve been worn down, stronger swordsmen will challenge you.”
Nina explained the real point.
“Ah.
So they’re exploiting the rules properly.”
Noah wasn’t stupid.
If he actually became exhausted, he could simply stop accepting optional challenges from people of his own rank.
It might look cowardly, but it was still legal.
Then another thought occurred to him.
If he performed well in front of everyone, based on the system’s personality, maybe he could squeeze out another reward.
Soon he noticed something else.
“Wait.
Nina, how do you know about this?”
Nina’s face immediately flushed with embarrassment.
She had once been one of the people helping organize it.
After losing their duel, Nina had initially convinced herself that Noah won only because he’d kept dodging until she was exhausted, then took advantage of her weakened state.
People in her circle had said the same thing.
Their constant belittling of Noah made it easier for Nina to think of him as nothing more than an underhanded little villain.
Then Noah’s later behavior repeatedly shattered that impression.
Afterward, Nina had deliberately distanced herself from that circle.
Once Gal’s words helped her understand her own problem, she wanted even less to participate in their plan.
She’d actually come here partly to warn Noah.
“…”
Noah saw her silence and naturally assumed she simply didn’t want to betray whoever had supplied the information.
“Forget it.
But I’ve got an idea.
Before the general sparring session, Nina…
want to spar with me?”