Ding!
You defeated an opponent using Sakakibara Ittō-ryū: Ascending Tower.
Personal Experience gained: 60.
Sakakibara Ittō-ryū Experience gained: 80.
Ding!
Your Experience is full.
Personal Level increased by 1.
You gained 1 Skill Point.
Ding!
Your Experience is full.
Sakakibara Ittō-ryū increased by 1 rank.
You gained 2 Skill Points.
Ding!
Sakakibara Ittō-ryū reached Rank 5.
Reward: 3 Sakakibara Ittō-ryū Specific Skill Points.
Remaining Skill Points: 5.
Sakakibara Ittō-ryū Exclusive Skill Points: 3.
Current Personal Level: LV 9 (30/800).
Sakakibara Ittō-ryū Level: Rank 5 (0/900).
To Ogata, the sound of leveling up was incomparably pleasant.
Each notification represented measurable progress, proof that his struggle and training were transforming him into a stronger swordsman.
He could swear this was the longest sequence of system notifications he had heard since arriving in the Edo period.
The flood of unfamiliar information left him almost dizzy.
It was not merely the quantity of Experience that surprised him; the system had introduced an entirely new category of points without any warning.
Exclusive Skill Points?
What are those?
Why didn’t I receive them when Sakakibara Ittō-ryū ranked up before?
Could it be that a martial-arts school must reach a certain rank before these Exclusive Skill Points become available?
If so, reaching certain milestones might be far more valuable than an ordinary increase in rank.
While Ogata struggled with the unexpected information, Itagaki’s three companions rushed forward and helped him from the ground.
“Itagaki, are you all right?”
“Were you injured?”
Supported by the others, Itagaki covered the shoulder Ogata had struck.
“I’m fine…”
Once they confirmed that he had suffered no serious harm, his companions relaxed.
Then all three turned simultaneously and glared at Ogata.
Ogata temporarily set aside his confusion about the system and returned his attention to reality.
“What?” He met their anger with a calm gaze.
“He and I fought a fair match, and I won fairly. Do you have some objection?”
The three men stammered, searching for an accusation they could throw at him.
Their anger was obvious, but anger alone could not change what every witness had seen.
No words came.
Ogata was entirely correct.
The duel had been openly agreed upon.
Neither participant had used a trick.
They fought fairly, and Ogata claimed an honest victory.
There was nothing they could condemn.
Unable to produce even half a reasonable complaint, the three men supported Itagaki and hurried away.
As they fled, one shouted back, “Just you wait!”
Ogata paid no attention to the empty threat.
Only after the four had nearly disappeared from sight did he remember something important.
Winning the duel had settled the contest, but it had not fulfilled the condition Ogata stated before it began.
Itagaki had never apologized to O-Fuku.
“Hey! Don’t run! You still owe her an apology!”
Ogata called after them while retrieving the uchigatana he had placed aside.
He returned it to its saya and prepared to pursue them.
Before he had taken more than a few steps, O-Fuku’s voice reached him.
“That’s enough, Ogata-sama! Don’t chase them! After watching you give that man a beating, I’m not angry anymore!”
Ogata gradually stopped.
“But…” he began hesitantly.
O-Fuku smiled at him from nearby.
“It truly is enough. My anger is gone, so I no longer need an apology. Besides, I don’t want to see any of them again.”
Since she herself insisted, Ogata could only abandon the pursuit.
The spectators dispersed now that the samurai duel had ended.
In groups of two and three, they returned to Nagareya to resume drinking.
Ogata also returned to his post beside the entrance.
The moment he sat down, he impatiently opened the system screen.
The recent stream of notifications had revealed that the system possessed many functions he had yet to explore.
Its capabilities extended far beyond his earliest assumptions.
He examined the new values and considered the Experience he had received. Get faster updates on g.com.
Defeating Itagaki gave me sixty Personal Experience and eighty Sakakibara Ittō-ryū Experience.
Defeating Makino gives only twenty points in each category.
Why was Itagaki worth so much?
The Experience from defeating him was even greater than what I received from defeating Mikami-senpai—yet Itagaki was unquestionably weaker than Mikami.
Ogata had noticed the inconsistency as soon as the system began announcing the rewards.
The victory over Itagaki granted so much Experience that both his Personal Level and Sakakibara Ittō-ryū rank increased together.
That was a dramatic result from a man whom Ogata had defeated without spending even one of his saved Skill Points.
Originally, he believed Experience depended entirely upon the opponent’s strength.
Defeating a powerful enemy should provide more, while defeating a weak one should provide less.
The latest result suggested that assumption was incomplete.
Raw ability clearly mattered, but some additional factor must have influenced how the system judged a victory.
Itagaki was weaker than Mikami, yet defeating him yielded considerably greater rewards.
After reflecting for a while, Ogata developed a plausible explanation.
The Experience obtained from an enemy might also depend upon that enemy’s killing intent—the hostility and genuine danger carried within the opponent’s attacks.
A friendly practice match and a confrontation in which someone truly meant harm were not the same kind of battle, even if both ended with a defeated opponent.
When Ogata sparred with Makino, Mikami, or his other fellow disciples, they approached the contest in friendship.
None intended to wound him.
Their swords carried no malice, so the rewards remained modest.
Itagaki was different.
He had not fought with goodwill.
He attacked with an attitude that accepted injuring Ogata as a perfectly satisfactory outcome.
His sword carried a much heavier killing intent.
Even though they fought with saya rather than naked blades, Itagaki had not cared whether Ogata left the match injured.
That might explain why defeating him awarded far more Experience than defeating Mikami.
Ogata could not confirm the theory, but it was the most reasonable explanation he could devise.
He would need further battles against genuinely hostile opponents before he could know whether it was correct.
Having settled that question for the moment, he turned to the next mystery—the unfamiliar phrase he had heard among the system messages.
School-Exclusive Skill Points.
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