“Sword Presence…”
Rook tightened his grip on the sword.
A strange sensation, completely different from anything he had experienced before, emerged within him.
Previously, he had wielded the weapon purely through his body and sword techniques.
Now, however, his spiritual will had become part of it as well.
An instinctive understanding rose from deep within him.
His body, mind, and will gradually aligned.
The tendrils of his consciousness extended outward and gathered upon the sword.
From the union of body and sword… to the union of heart and sword.
Rook raised the weapon.
Its appearance had not changed in the slightest.
Yet he could clearly sense it.
The sword was different now.
Transmission.
His physical strength and spiritual power gathered throughout his body according to his will.
An imposing presence gradually rose from Rook before being transmitted into the sword.
He raised his gaze.
Several meters away stood a huge gray boulder that would require three or four people joining hands to encircle.
Rook walked toward it.
The moment he reached the boulder, his aura climbed to its peak.
His sword suddenly flashed.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Several sword flashes sliced through the air in rapid succession.
The condensed sword light vanished.
Immediately afterward—
Crack!
Crack!
Crisp sounds echoed from the boulder.
Smooth, intersecting cuts appeared across its surface.
Bang!
The force remaining within those cuts suddenly erupted.
The massive boulder instantly shattered along the sword marks.
Dust billowed into the air.
He swung his sword again.
A sharp crescent slash tore free from the blade.
Crack!
The sword slash struck the rock and carved nearly half a finger’s depth into its surface.
Through Sword Presence, Rook could coordinate the strength of his entire body.
By focusing his body, mind, and will at the instant he swung his sword, Sword Presence gathered and compressed the wind produced by his slash, allowing him to release it outward as sword energy.
Rook carefully sensed the consumption within his body.
Although he could now perform this kind of ranged attack through Sword Presence, the drain on his energy was far too great.
“My Swordsmanship has reached the necessary level, but my physical condition still isn’t strong enough to use this freely.”
He immediately understood.
Rook stopped himself from swinging again.
Nojiko, who had witnessed everything from nearby, walked toward him with amazement filling her eyes.
“That was incredible.
“I don’t really understand what happened, but you definitely became stronger again.”
Rook looked back at her with a smile before shaking his head.
“I’m still far from anything impressive.
“You could say that only now have I truly stepped into the path of the sword.”
Nojiko stared at him blankly.
Rook smiled and changed the subject, pointing toward the tiger on the ground.
“Let’s find somewhere suitable. We’ll eat this big guy later.”
Nojiko blinked and smiled.
“Sure. Tiger meat is very nutritious.”
A short while later, the two reached a stream in the mountains.
Nojiko remained on the bank preparing the tiger meat while Rook searched the surrounding forest for firewood.
However, not far away…
Rook stood calmly before a leopard.
It had attempted to ambush him.
Instead, he had cut it down with a single strike.
The translucent panel appeared before his eyes.
[Swordsmanship — Expert: 0/1000]
Rook stared at the skill.
“So after reaching Expert, ordinary wild beasts can no longer provide Swordsmanship proficiency?”
Continuing to fight beasts of this level could no longer improve his swordsmanship.
Rook accepted the fact quite naturally.
It made sense.
At the Expert stage, Swordsmanship was no longer limited to simple physical application.
If mindlessly slaughtering ordinary beasts could allow the skill to grow without limit, that would be far more unreasonable.
By the same logic, even if he had originally chosen to kill ordinary people to improve his skills, they would have become useless at his current level anyway.
It seemed he had made the right choice.
The beasts of this world clearly had far greater training value.
After all, Rook certainly didn’t believe ordinary civilians could generally defeat the wild beasts living deep inside these forests.
He could rely on his talent and continue cultivating it through practice.
Or… he could find stronger opponents and improve through genuine life-and-death combat.
Arlong and his crew.
The thought naturally surfaced in Rook’s mind.
But he quickly suppressed it.
“Even though I’m confident my Swordsmanship is above theirs, my physical condition still isn’t enough to defeat Arlong.
“With Arlong’s physical strength, even with my Swordsmanship, I’d have an extremely high chance of dying if I fought him before my Body, Strength, and Agility all reach at least fifteen.”
Based on what Rook remembered, Arlong’s combat ability was probably no weaker than that of a Marine Headquarters Captain.
However, he should still be below the level of a Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral.
Rook continued thinking.
“Then my immediate priority is improving the other three skills.
“Once all of them reach Expert, the attribute increases they provide should give me the basic physical strength necessary to kill him as quickly as possible.”
As for acquiring new skills, Rook had already considered that as well.
His current four skills had already formed a relatively complete combat system.
Learning new skills would inevitably divide his attention.
Given his present situation, that would offer very poor returns.
However… if he wanted a major increase in combat power within a short period, there was only one real option.
Haki.
Armament Haki required a powerful body as its foundation.
Conqueror’s Haki was too elusive and unpredictable.
That left only—
Observation Haki.
Observation Haki could potentially awaken under extreme danger.
That possibility caught Rook’s attention.
He slowly exhaled.
There was no point rushing.
A meal had to be eaten one bite at a time.
A road had to be walked one step at a time.
Carrying the firewood he had gathered, Rook returned to the stream.
He chopped it into suitable lengths, built a fire pit, and lit the flames.
He left everything afterward to Nojiko.
Rook picked up his sword and began practicing nearby.
As time passed, he gradually came to understand how Swordsmanship at his current level needed to be trained.
To continue advancing, he needed to bring his body, mind, and will into greater harmony.
Every single sword strike had to be tempered through Sword Presence.
Focus.
Rook calmed his mind.
All of his attention gathered upon the sword.
He sensed his own Sword Presence.
Force circulated through his body.
His mind gathered momentum and transmitted it into the blade.
However, cultivating Sword Presence consumed a considerable amount of energy.
Even with Self-Recovery, Rook needed to rest and relax for twenty minutes after every hour of practice.
Yet that created an unexpected benefit.
Every time he finished resting, he discovered that the proficiency of Self-Recovery had increased.
A positive cycle had begun.
Time passed.
Evening arrived.
Rook finally ended his first focused training session after awakening Sword Presence.
It hadn’t been very long.
Only eight hours.
[Swordsmanship — Expert: 0 → 6/1000]
[Self-Recovery — Beginner: 7 → 13/100]
Rook dismissed the panel.
Rook smiled.
Then he looked toward Nojiko, who was exercising nearby.
“We’re heading home.”
Nojiko stopped training and wiped the sweat from her face.
She walked to the fire pit and placed the tiger meat wrapped in oiled paper into her backpack.
…
“Why didn’t you hunt anymore this afternoon?”
Nojiko asked curiously as they walked home.
Rook thought for a moment before answering.
“I had some new insights.
“I needed to calm down and explore them properly.”
“That Sword Presence you mentioned?”
“Yeah. That.”
At this point, Rook looked toward Nojiko.
“Your flexibility and bodily control are already pretty good compared to ordinary people after all the basic training you’ve done lately…”
He paused.
“Do you want to learn swordsmanship?”
Nojiko froze.
She looked at him uncertainly.
“I heard swordsmanship requires building a foundation from childhood.
“Can I really learn it now?”
“So you do want to learn?”
Rook chuckled.
“Then I’ll teach you tomorrow.
“You can use the old iron sword I replaced before.
“If you have talent for it, then keep practicing.
“If you don’t, continue strengthening your body and build a foundation for hand-to-hand combat later.
“Your talent for physical combat is actually pretty good.”
“Alright.
“Thank you in advance.”
Nojiko’s eyes curved into crescents.
She turned slightly toward Rook, and the corners of her lips rose unconsciously.
After they returned home, Nami came back not long afterward.
The three ate dinner together and chatted.
Rook also answered questions the sisters had encountered during their training.
Another two days passed in the blink of an eye.
They continued training in the mountain behind the village.
Rook taught Nojiko the fundamentals of swordsmanship while simultaneously using wild beasts to train his Hand-to-Hand Combat.
After two days, Hand-to-Hand Combat advanced into the Skilled stage.
He gained one point of Body and one point of Strength.
His physical condition improved once again.
Another seven days passed.
Rook ventured farther into the mountains in search of stronger beasts.
Under his obsessive and focused fighting… his Hand-to-Hand Combat proficiency at the Skilled stage gradually approached its limit once again.
That day.
Four o’clock in the afternoon.
Deep in the mountains.
On a broad stretch of flat ground.
Rook stood with his fists raised, a fierce aura surrounding him.
Two enormous black bears stood before him.
When they reared upright, each was nearly four meters tall.
The three were locked in a brutal fight.
Bang!
One black bear roared.
Its massive paw tore through the air with a violent whistle as it swung toward Rook’s head.
Rook shouted and dashed forward.
He threw a fist directly against the incoming paw.
Fist and paw collided.
A deep, muffled impact echoed through the clearing.
Both man and beast were forced several steps backward.
At that exact moment— the second bear suddenly lunged from Rook’s rear flank.
A stabbing sensation suddenly spread across Rook’s body.
His instincts reacted immediately.
He twisted sideways.
A huge black shadow flashed past, brushing against his body before crashing forward.
Day after day of intense combat had unknowingly sharpened Rook’s senses.
His perception of danger in his surroundings had steadily become more sensitive.
He was gradually beginning to detect threats before they actually arrived.
After avoiding the bear’s charge, Rook drove strength through both legs.
He exploded forward.
In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance.
His fist smashed violently into the bear’s waist and abdomen.
The bear howled in pain and toppled to the ground.
At that moment, the first bear charged again.
A huge paw swept toward him.
Rook dodged sideways while grabbing the bear’s foreleg with his left hand.
Borrowing the momentum, he leaped upward, twisted his waist, and kicked the bear squarely in the face.
Bang!
The heavy impact left the black bear’s head buzzing.
It staggered backward several steps.
Then—
Boom!
It crashed onto the ground.
Some time later… after enduring one heavy punch and kick after another, both black bears were lying on the ground.
They covered their heads with their paws and whimpered painfully.
But no matter what happened… they absolutely refused to get back up.
Relying on their thick hides and enormous bodies, the two bears simply began playing dead.
Rook, however, no longer cared about them.
Because the system notifications had already appeared in his mind.
[Notice: Your Hand-to-Hand Combat proficiency has reached the maximum value for “Skilled”: 500/500. Hand-to-Hand Combat will automatically advance.]
[Notice: Your Hand-to-Hand Combat skill has advanced from “Skilled” to “Expert”!]
[Body +1!]
[Strength +1!]
[Agility +1!]
[Notice: Your Hand-to-Hand Combat has reached “Expert.” You have obtained the Trait: “Cicada’s Premonition.”]
[Cicada’s Premonition: Through exceptionally sharp senses, detect danger and perceive approaching threats in advance.]
[Notice: Hand-to-Hand Combat — Expert: 0/1000. Next Rank: “Master.”]