Koushirou lifted the blanket, got out of bed, put on his glasses, stifled a yawn, and walked out of his room.
He originally intended to go wash up, but upon stepping out, he spotted Kuina peeking at something from behind a pillar.
Curious, he walked over.
Just as he was about to ask her what she was doing, Kuina turned around, pressed a finger to her lips, and whispered, “Father, keep your voice down.
Don’t disturb Big Brother Ian!”
Koushirou peeked out and immediately saw Ian sweating profusely on the training ground.
The morning sunlight washed over Ian, his dripping sweat catching the light.
The faint outline of his muscles exuded the beauty of raw strength.
Koushirou could tell that Ian was already utterly exhausted, panting heavily, yet his sword-swinging motions never stopped.
“What’s wrong with Big Brother Ian?
This is the first time I’ve seen him do morning practice!” Kuina said curiously.
Koushirou smiled faintly.
Although he didn’t know what had brought this on, he knew that Ian’s practice today was more serious than ever before!
“Don’t disturb him.
Go practice somewhere else,” Koushirou said.
Kuina nodded and clenched her fists.
“Big Brother Ian is working so hard to get stronger.
I can’t slack off either!”
Meanwhile, Ian was completely immersed in his own world.
In fact, his mind was entirely blank.
A wave of intense fatigue washed over him, leaving him in a groggy daze.
The only reason he was still swinging his sword was pure subconscious muscle memory.
He didn’t even know how many times he had swung his blade.
If no one disturbed him, he would probably keep practicing until he collapsed from exhaustion.
But right at that moment, a loud and boisterous voice suddenly rang out.
“Ah!
You’re so sneaky!
You actually started practicing without waiting for me!”
Ian snapped out of his daze and turned around, only to find Zoro standing there, glaring at him angrily with two bamboo swords in hand.
Sweat dripped down his cheeks.
Ian wiped his face and panted, “What do you mean sneaky?
I don’t recall needing to invite you, do I?”
Zoro stared at Ian for a long moment before suddenly pointing a sword at him.
“You’re a tough guy too, right?
Let’s have a duel!”
This kid was an absolute battle maniac.
Ian originally didn’t want to bother with him, but Zoro was already yelling and charging forward.
Seeing his aggressive posture, Ian subconsciously swung his sword at him!
Bam!
A direct hit, right in the face!
It was exactly the same as when Kuina hit him yesterday…
Zoro’s slightly healed nose started bleeding all over again.
Setting aside his sheer ruthlessness, the current Zoro was a complete rookie when it came to swordsmanship.
Ian had been practicing basic sword techniques for quite a while, so it was no surprise that he could beat him.
However, the moment his sword struck Zoro, Ian realized that his strike felt different from usual.
Even though it was a subconscious reaction, both the speed and power were absolutely perfect!
But what was even more outrageous was the voice that suddenly echoed in his mind at that exact moment.
“Defeated opponent, gained Experience Points +50!”
He quickly checked his mind and discovered that not only had his basic swordsmanship proficiency increased by a large margin, but his experience points had also gone up!
Where there were levels, there were naturally experience points.
However, Ian had never figured out how to earn them until now.
To think he actually had to defeat opponents to gain them.
It couldn’t be helped.
Whenever he fought Kuina in the past, he always lost, and he was too embarrassed to beat up the snot-nosed junior disciples.
Because Master Koushirou always assigned Kuina as his sparring partner, he had never won a single match, which was why he never knew how his experience points were supposed to grow.
While Ian was browsing through his stats, Zoro was busy tending to his nose.
The red welt running down his face hadn’t even faded yet, and today Ian had added another one.
“Damn it!
That woman is like this, and you are too!” Zoro grumbled resentfully while plugging his bleeding nose.
Ian shrugged.
*’Is that my fault?’*
“Just you wait, I’ll surpass both of you sooner or later!” Zoro glared at Ian, marched off to the side, and began swinging his swords desperately.
Great, now there was another person on his list!
Ian looked speechlessly at the wooden sword in his hand.
He never expected his first real interaction with Zoro to happen under these circumstances.
Looking up at Zoro’s practice swings, Ian couldn’t help but speak up.
“You idiot, using so much strength to slash, don’t you know how to hold back your power!?”
Since Zoro had just joined the dojo, Master Koushirou hadn’t taught him any techniques yet.
As a result, Zoro’s practice was completely chaotic.
He was just hacking away wildly with two bamboo swords without any rhythm or form.
Hearing Ian’s voice, Zoro paused, stopped his swings, and asked, “Then how do I do it?”
Ian shook his head, walked over, grabbed Zoro’s shoulders, and pressed firmly against his lower back.
“Keep your upper body straight!
Tuck your butt in, keep your head up, and stick your chest out!
Put the other bamboo sword down.
You haven’t even grasped the basics of the One-Sword Style yet, so don’t even think about using two!”
After correcting Zoro’s posture, Ian demonstrated the proper movements.
These were all things Master Koushirou had taught him.
As the eldest senior brother of the dojo, Ian was now passing them down to his junior brother Zoro.
“Alright, do it yourself!” Ian left him to it and went back to wash up.
His entire body was incredibly sore, and he reeked of sweat.
While taking a bath, Ian checked his stats and noticed that his swordsmanship proficiency had risen to twenty-eight thousand.
He hadn’t expected that practicing with absolute focus could multiply his proficiency gains so drastically with every swing.
But thinking about it, it made sense.
Mindful practice and mindless practice were bound to yield different results!
Glancing at the card shop again, Ian suddenly realized that the draw countdown had reached zero!
In other words, Ian could finally draw a card!
He had been wondering what these cards were actually used for, but he hadn’t had the chance to test it out.
Now, his wait was finally over.
Impatiently, Ian prepared to select the draw option, only to hear the system’s voice chime in.
“First card draw guarantees a 3-Star Purple Card.
First 10-draw guarantees a 4-Star Orange Card.
Confirm draw?”
Ian was left speechless.
It really was a typical gacha card game model.
First draws, 10-draws, even the card tier system was exactly the same…
Ian had no hope for a 10-draw.
To pull that off, he would need a million Berries.
Right now, he could only afford a single draw.
*’Confirm draw!’* Ian commanded silently.
The card appeared facing away from Ian.
Upon his confirmation, a magical starlight pattern lit up on the back of the card.
In a burst of light, the card flipped over, revealing a long-haired samurai in Ian’s field of vision.
The samurai had a handsome face, slicked-back hair, and wore dark red Sengoku-era samurai armor while wielding a katana.
What was truly eye-catching was the giant, blinking eyeball embedded right into his right hand’s gauntlet!
“You have obtained a 3-Star Purple Card: Akechi Samanosuke Hidemitsu!”