It seemed that the thing Garp had been fiddling with just now was this very sword.
The sword was still sheathed, yet an aura of sharpness already permeated the air around it.
Clearly, this was no ordinary weapon.
Roya looked at the sword in Garp’s hand with slight surprise.
“This is…”
“One of the 21 Great Grade Blades—Engetsu!”
Garp grinned at Roya and handed him the katana.
“I heard before that you wanted a famous sword.
I happened to come across this one after taking down a pirate crew, so I brought it back.”
In this world, there was little distinction between swords and blades, and a katana could also be referred to simply as a sword.
The most famous weapons were the 12 Supreme Grade Blades, followed by the 21 Great Grade Blades, and finally the 50 Skillful Grade Blades.
The World’s Strongest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, wielded one of the 12 Supreme Grade Blades—the Black Blade Yoru.
Obtaining one of the Supreme Grade Blades was incredibly difficult.
Even acquiring one of the slightly inferior 21 Great Grade Blades was no easy feat.
Garp hadn’t returned for an entire week…
Had he gone off to obtain this sword?
He claimed that he had simply happened to find it after defeating a pirate crew, but Roya suspected that Garp had gone to considerable lengths to gather information about the sword and had deliberately ventured out to sea for it.
No wonder Garp had been coming and going so mysteriously over the past month…
So that’s what he had been doing.
In an instant, Roya pieced together most of Garp’s actions.
He looked at the Great Grade Blade Engetsu that Garp was offering him and reached out to accept it with utmost seriousness.
“Thank you.”
“HAHAHA!
You little brat, why are you suddenly acting so formal?
No need to thank me.”
Garp grinned at Roya.
For a brief moment, a trace of warmth seemed to flash through his eyes.
But in the very next instant, his expression suddenly became fierce.
“Oh, right.
Speaking of which, you little brat, it’s already been a month.
You’re still at the bottom of the recruit camp, aren’t you?”
The moment he finished speaking, Garp suddenly stood up and brought his fist down on Roya’s head.
THUD!!
Roya, who had nearly been moved to tears by Garp’s gift, immediately wanted to draw Engetsu and fight the old man to the death.
Rubbing the swelling on his forehead, Roya glared at Garp through gritted teeth.
“Uncle Garp, I hope you didn’t hurt your hand.”
“No!”
Garp snorted.
He folded his arms across his chest.
Thinking about how Roya had repeatedly managed to give him internal injuries with nothing more than a single sentence, Garp couldn’t help feeling irritated.
After glaring at Roya, he continued.
“By the way, I’ve gotten you a month’s leave.
For the next month, I’ll personally supervise your training.
You’d better take it seriously!
Otherwise…
Hmph!”
“What?”
Roya stared blankly at him.
Garp’s eyes instantly widened, and he looked ready to deliver another punch.
“What?
You don’t want to?”
“No!
I mean…
we’re starting tomorrow?”
There was no way Roya would refuse.
He had wanted Garp to personally guide his training for a long time.
Unfortunately, Garp was always disappearing without a trace, so Roya could only ask him questions about cultivation whenever they happened to meet.
Who was Garp?
With Garp personally guiding him, Roya’s future training would be more than twice as effective.
“Of course!
We’ll officially start training tomorrow.
You can get a good rest today.”
Seeing Roya agree, Garp finally revealed a satisfied smile.
Roya nodded before taking the famous sword Engetsu back to his room.
Once inside, Roya immediately flopped down onto his bed.
He had intended to rest so that he would be ready for tomorrow’s training, but out of habit, he still activated the Sword Soul System with a thought.
The familiar status panel appeared before him.
Stage One: Damaged Sword Soul +10 (Enhancement Conditions Met)
Attributes: Attack Power +30
Enhancement Energy: 10/10
Seeing that there didn’t seem to be any other changes, Roya yawned and prepared to go to sleep.
But almost in the very next instant, Roya’s eyes suddenly widened.
A buzzing sensation erupted inside his mind, instantly sweeping away every trace of drowsiness.
“Wait…
Enhancement Conditions Met?!”
The words “Enhancement Conditions Not Met”, which had previously been displayed there, had somehow changed into “Enhancement Conditions Met!”
Roya was both surprised and delighted.
He quickly thought back.
After returning home, he hadn’t done anything particularly unusual.
Aside from receiving a famous sword from Garp—a Great Grade Blade, Engetsu…
His thoughts abruptly stopped.
That’s it!
Other than that, there was seemingly nothing else that could explain the change.
The only thing he had done after returning home that could possibly have caused the Sword Soul’s condition to change was obtaining the famous sword Engetsu.
“So, satisfying the enhancement conditions requires me to obtain a famous sword?”
A look of realization appeared in Roya’s eyes.
He simply didn’t know whether obtaining one of the 50 Skillful Grade Blades would be enough, or whether he needed a Great Grade Blade like Engetsu—or something even higher.
But that didn’t matter anymore.
What mattered was…
The Sword Soul could be enhanced again!
In the next instant, Roya activated it with a thought.
The hazy, ethereal Sword Soul space appeared before him once again.
At the center of the space, the crystal-clear sword covered in cracks floated silently in midair.
Roya took a deep breath.
Without hesitation, he selected Enhance.
VMMMM!
At that moment, astonishing changes instantly swept through the hazy space.
Streams of golden energy emerged from the void and surged toward the crystal-clear Sword Soul at the center.
Brilliant golden light instantly enveloped it.
This wasn’t the first time Roya had enhanced the Sword Soul.
But without a doubt, the disturbance this time was far greater than during the previous enhancements.
As the golden light poured into the Sword Soul, a soft radiance suddenly emanated from its crystal-clear blade.
Specks of light shimmered across its surface, giving it a hazy, beautiful appearance.
Within that glow, the countless cracks covering the blade began to heal!
“As expected, this enhancement is a qualitative transformation.
Even the cracks in the blade are healing?!”
Roya watched the scene unfold, unable to remain calm.
A hint of excitement appeared on his face.
VMMMM!
Finally, under Roya’s expectant gaze, every crack across the blade completely healed.
The glow gradually faded away, leaving behind a simple, ancient-looking, semi-transparent sword that continued floating in midair.
Once everything finally settled down, Roya activated the status panel again.
Stage Two: Ancient Sword Soul +0
Attributes: Attack Power +40, Strength +10 (One Additional Attribute Can Be Drawn)
Enhancement Energy: 0/20
At a glance, compared with its previous state, the Sword Soul had gained 10 points of Attack Power.
More importantly, it had acquired an additional Strength +10 attribute.
Unlike the white-colored Attack Power attribute, the Strength attribute was green.
Clearly, it was a higher-grade attribute.
Roya couldn’t directly feel the increase in Attack Power.
It merely meant that his attacks would cause greater destructive power.
The increase in Strength, however, was something he could clearly perceive.
Although 10 points of Strength didn’t seem like much, when Roya carefully sensed his body, he could clearly feel that his physical strength had increased by at least thirty percent!
“In other words, my physical strength was only 30 points before?”
Roya pondered for a moment.
“I wonder how much Strength Garp has…”
Ten thousand?
Twenty thousand?
The corner of Roya’s mouth twitched.
He immediately discarded that thought, which was far too discouraging, and looked back at the status panel.
The Enhancement Energy had changed to 0/20.
Clearly, this meant that another enhancement would require 20 points of Enhancement Energy, making the next enhancement considerably more difficult.
Roya had already discovered during his first month that the amount of Enhancement Energy required for each enhancement increased progressively.
Previously, however, the requirement had only increased by one point each time.
This time, it had jumped directly by ten.
Roya wasn’t particularly surprised by that.
What truly caught his attention was the additional option that had appeared after Attack Power +40 and Strength +10:
One Additional Attribute Can Be Drawn.
“An additional attribute can be drawn…
That’s pretty interesting.
Let’s give it a try.”
Roya didn’t need to figure out how to do it.
With a thought, several words appeared above the status panel.
Begin Draw.
Whoosh!
The words “Begin Draw” flashed past.
The text and numerical values on the status panel instantly disappeared.
Then, attributes of various colors began flashing and changing rapidly before Roya’s eyes.
Aside from green, blue, and purple, Roya even saw a golden attribute.
Unfortunately, it flashed by in an instant, making it impossible for him to see exactly what it was.
The green and blue attributes appeared most frequently.
Purple appeared far less often.
As for gold…
It seemed to appear only once.
“Although I couldn’t see what it was, gold is probably the strongest attribute.
Purple should probably be a rare attribute as well…”
Watching the various colored attributes continuously flash before him, Roya made a rough deduction.
He simply didn’t know what attribute he would eventually draw.