Knowing how to use Haki was nothing special; Ivankov had seen plenty of Haki users.
What shocked him was Ian’s age!
Haki was a latent power present in all humans, existing much like an instinct.
However, most people remained unaware of it or failed to draw it out in their entire lifetimes.
Under normal circumstances, one could only grasp how to wield this power after undergoing grueling training and hardship, which was why Haki users were generally adults.
Yet today, Ivankov had witnessed an exception.
That exception was Ian.
Judging by his height, the boy was twelve years old at most, perhaps even younger.
But from such a small child, the fluctuations of Haki had actually erupted.
Because of this, the way he looked at Ian right now was like looking at a genius…
no, a monster.
Meanwhile, Ian squatted on the ground, clutching his head for quite a while before finally feeling the headache ease up a bit.
Before he could even ask the system what was going on, a series of notifications suddenly rang out.
“You defeated an opponent stronger than you, gained 500 EXP.”
“You obtained an achievement reward: First time using a Nen skill in combat!”
“You obtained the Basic Nen Cultivation skill, current proficiency: 0!”
What was going on?
Enduring the lingering headache, Ian checked his mind.
His experience points had suddenly skyrocketed.
This was easy enough to understand.
In truth, Ian had been harboring some ulterior motives from the start.
The reason he chose a Revolutionary Army soldier as his opponent wasn’t just to test his Issen skill; he also wanted to see if he could gain experience points by defeating him.
In his eyes, since he was just a child, the other party would definitely hold back, naturally giving him a chance to win.
To put it bluntly, that Revolutionary Army soldier had actually been played by Ian.
However, he hadn’t expected that defeating an opponent stronger than himself would yield so much experience.
Now, Ian’s experience points had surged to 750.
He would be able to level up very soon, which would bring another boost to his attributes.
Furthermore, after using the Issen skill, Ian had also received an achievement reward.
Opening the achievement interface, he discovered that the reward was actually five EXP Books!
These EXP Books weren’t for Ian to use himself, but rather for leveling up his cards.
Aside from this achievement reward, Ian also noticed other rewards in the achievement interface, such as ‘Defeat 10 opponents’, ‘Defeat 100 opponents’, or ‘Doriki reaches 50’, ‘Doriki reaches 100’.
The rewards for these achievements varied.
The common ones gave EXP Books, while the higher-tier ones rewarded Breakthrough Stones and Diamonds.
Among them, achievements rewarding Diamonds were the rarest.
Ian wasn’t surprised by this; he knew very well how stingy this game system was.
The true purpose of these meager Diamond rewards was actually to entice players into topping up…
What surprised Ian the most was the newly acquired Basic Nen Cultivation skill.
When he first saw his Basic Swordsmanship skill, Ian had wondered if there were other types of basic skills.
He hadn’t expected one to actually appear now.
[Basic Nen Cultivation: Increases the amount of Nen Energy recovered per hour.
Current recovery rate: 1 point.
Current proficiency: (0/1000)]
After reading the skill description, Ian immediately understood.
So this skill was used to recover his own Nen Energy!
It made sense.
The skills obtained from the cards almost all required Nen Energy to activate, and his own Nen Energy pool was pitifully small.
What would he do when he ran out?
Now that he had this Basic Nen Cultivation skill, even if he exhausted his Nen Energy, he could slowly recover it just by resting for a while.
He just didn’t know how to increase the proficiency of this skill.
Could it be that it increased by continuously consuming his own Nen Energy?
Hmm…
that was highly likely.
Wasn’t the proficiency requirement for this skill much lower than the swordsmanship skill?
After Ian’s swordsmanship skill upgraded to Beginner Swordsmanship, the proficiency required to reach Intermediate Swordsmanship had actually skyrocketed to a staggering one million!
When he first saw that number, even he had gasped in shock.
Comparing that absurd figure to the current Nen Cultivation skill’s requirement made it feel completely insane.
Perhaps it was because of this skill’s slow recovery effect that Ian’s headache had lessened.
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly noticed someone seemed to be in front of him.
Looking up, the first thing that filled his vision was Ivankov’s massive face.
Up close, this face was even more terrifying.
Startled, Ian scrambled backward two steps and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Yee-haw!
Boy!” Ivankov seemed to be in a fantastic mood.
He spun in place and said to Ian, “Truly astonishing.
What is your name?”
“I’m Ian!”
“Little candy Ian!” Ivankov said.
“How are you feeling now?
Do you need me to treat you?”
“No need, I’m feeling better!” Ian quickly waved his hands.
Ian absolutely dared not accept Ivankov’s goodwill.
He didn’t even know if this Hormone Fruit user standing before him was male or female.
Although his current appearance was male, he could transform into a woman at any time.
Facing someone who could freely manipulate hormones, Ian was firmly resolved not to let the man touch his body.
Who knew if he would use healing hormones or gender hormones during the treatment?
“Alright then!” Ivankov nodded.
“There’s no need to worry too much.
Your headache should just be an aftereffect of awakening Haki, nothing serious.
By the way, do you know what Haki is?”
If anyone familiar with him in Shimotsuki Village had asked this, Ian would have definitely played innocent and claimed ignorance.
But since it was Ivankov asking, Ian didn’t feel the need to hide anything.
He simply nodded and said, “I know!”
He understood that Ivankov had likely mistaken his Nen for Haki, which was why he asked.
However, Ian knew his own situation best.
Lately, he had been constantly analyzing his Nen.
In his judgment, Nen was probably still somewhat different from true Haki.
Although their essence might be similar, their manifestations weren’t necessarily the same.
When wrapped around a sword, Nen could simulate the effects of Armament Haki, but it might not be able to simulate something like Conqueror’s Haki.
He guessed that Ivankov had originally intended to give him a long, drawn-out lecture about Haki, only to have it choked back by Ian’s single sentence.
Ian noticed him trembling all over, wearing an expression that showed he was holding it in with great difficulty.
Finally, Ivankov said, “You know?
Ah, truly remarkable.
Then I don’t need to explain it to you.
Just make sure to get plenty of rest these next few days!”
“Who are you?” Although he already knew Ivankov’s name, Ian still pretended to ask.
“Yee-haw!
I am Emporio Ivankov!” Ivankov spun around and said, “You can call me Iva or Ivan.
Names and titles are trivial matters, they aren’t important at all.
Even if you call me ‘poop’, it doesn’t matter…”
Then, suddenly, Ivankov shouted angrily, “I DON’T WANT TO BE CALLED POOP!!!”
Ian stared at him speechlessly.
‘I didn’t call you anything…’
At this time, the other Revolutionary Army soldiers also gathered around, looking at Ian with amazement.
They likely knew about Haki as well but hadn’t been able to awaken it themselves.
They were utterly shocked that Ian could use Haki at such a young age.
At the same time, probably feeling like they had completely squandered their adult lives, they showered Ian with praise.
Everyone loved hearing words of praise, and Ian was no exception.
The problem was that as these guys said, “You’re amazing, kid!” they also kept trying to pat his head.
This was intolerable!
Just as Ian was about to lose his temper, the Revolutionary Army soldier he had fought earlier walked over.
Seeing him wincing in pain, Ian still felt a bit guilty, so he asked, “Are you okay?”
The Revolutionary Army soldier had originally felt quite aggrieved.
Fighting a child was one thing, but actually losing was another.
However, hearing Ian’s question, out of adult pride, the soldier forced a smile at Ian, his white teeth gleaming.
And then, he actually reached out and patted Ian’s head too.
“Now can you take us to the dojo?” the Revolutionary Army soldier asked.
‘Damn it, another headpat!’
Ian blinked, nodded very obediently, and turned to walk away.
The group quickly followed.
However, what they didn’t expect was that under Ian’s guidance, they walked for a long time without reaching the dojo.
“Strange, why do I feel like we passed by here earlier?” a Revolutionary Army soldier asked, scratching his head in confusion.
“Impossible, you must be remembering wrong!” Ian said without looking back.
The group had no choice but to keep following him, completely unaware that Ian was leading them on a wild goose chase, having already circled the entire village once…
This was a petty revenge from a man harboring a deep grudge against headpats…
Actually, this was already Ian showing mercy.
Originally, he had planned to lead them around for over a dozen laps…