I…
leveled up?
Ogata had yet to recover from the rapid succession of system messages.
Only after a moment did he fully absorb everything that had sounded in his mind.
The Personal Experience gained from defeating his senior disciple had been exactly enough to advance him to LV 8.
The level increase had also awarded him one Skill Point.
Finally obtaining a Skill Point filled Ogata with excitement.
From everything he had learned while examining the system, Skill Points were its most valuable resource.
With Skill Points, he could become stronger.
He was debating whether to spend his hard-earned point on a Personal Attribute or save it to improve one of his sword techniques later when a hearty male voice rang from a corner of the dojo.
“Ha ha ha! Ogata-kun, you have been distracted all day, so I thought you might not be feeling well. It seems I worried for nothing! You are in excellent form today!”
Ogata looked toward the speaker.
He was a broad, powerfully built man whose sakayaki had been shaved with exceptional neatness.
Not only was his body impressive, but his features were striking as well.
If only he would change his hairstyle and stop shaving that hideous sakayaki, Ogata would have considered him unquestionably handsome.
After all, Ogata had come from modern Earth.
To his eyes, the sakayaki was an unspeakably ugly hairstyle.
There probably was not a handsome man alive who could truly make it look good.
Ogata unconsciously lifted a hand and touched the thick hair covering his own head.
Quiet relief welled within him: he wore his hair in a sōhatsu style, not a sakayaki.
Among the samurai of the Edo period, the sakayaki was undoubtedly the most fashionable hairstyle.
Its opposite was sōhatsu—leaving the crown unshaven and gathering all the hair into a topknot.
That was how Ogata wore his hair.
Or, to be precise, that was how the original owner of this body had worn it.
Not only had the former Ogata kept a sōhatsu hairstyle, he had deliberately left some of the hair over his forehead loose as bangs.
Refusing to shave the crown was unusual enough.
Letting part of the front hang down made his appearance downright heretical in the eyes of the people of this age.
The former Ogata had received plenty of criticism for it.
Yet no matter what others said, he stubbornly kept both his sōhatsu and his fringe.
To everyone else, his taste had been ugly and eccentric.
To the current Ogata, it was astonishingly stylish.
He felt profoundly grateful for his predecessor’s excellent aesthetic judgment.
Lowering his hand, Ogata smiled at the imposing man.
“Mikami-senpai, you flatter me.”
The man’s name was Mikami Uemon.
Among all the disciples of the Sakakibara Dojo, he was widely acknowledged as the strongest.
Despite standing above the rest in ability, Mikami never became proud.
He always trained with humility.
It was precisely because of that character that everyone in the dojo—including Ogata—held him in high regard.
Ogata assumed Mikami merely meant to offer a few words of praise.
Instead, Mikami rose from the floor and smiled.
“Ogata-kun, if you have no objection, would you grant me a match? I find myself eager to cross swords with you while you are in such fine condition.”
Ogata raised an eyebrow at the request.
After considering it briefly, he nodded.
“All right. It has been a long time since the two of us fought. Let’s have a match.”
“Ha ha ha! Your fighting spirit is as high as ever today, Ogata-kun!”
Ogata’s reason for accepting was simple.
Although he had already fought two matches, he did not feel satisfied.
He had not had enough.
He wanted to keep fighting—to experience a sword match that would leave his blood singing.
* * *
Mikami swung the bokken a few times to familiarize himself with its weight, then adopted chūdan-no-kamae and fixed his gaze on Ogata.
Ogata assumed the same stance and stared back.
From the pressure radiating from Mikami alone, Ogata immediately sensed that this man was far stronger than Makino or the senior disciple he had just defeated.
“Here I come.”
The words had barely left Mikami’s mouth when he stepped inside Ogata’s reach and swept Dragon Tail toward his chest.
Ogata’s pupils contracted.
Mikami was unbelievably fast.
Ogata avoided the Dragon Tail by the narrowest margin and immediately counterattacked.
Mikami blocked every returning strike.
* * *
Ogata sharpened his concentration to its absolute limit.
Even then, he could only barely evade Mikami’s attacks.
Every counterattack he launched was stopped.
He could clearly feel his stamina draining at a frightening rate, while Mikami still had strength in reserve.
For the moment, the match remained even.
But the longer it continued, the more clearly Ogata’s impending defeat would reveal itself.
He had to find a way to bring Mikami down quickly.
Damn it!
I’m still not fast enough.
If my movements were only a little quicker, Mikami wouldn’t be able to block my sword!
In Ogata’s judgment, defeating Mikami was not truly complicated.
He needed only to move faster.
His attacks were just slow enough for Mikami to intercept every one of them with superior speed.
As Ogata agonized over his lack of quickness, a bolt of realization flashed through his mind.
He already possessed the means to increase his speed immediately.
The system…
Ogata silently issued the command.
Put one Skill Point into Agility.
Ding!
Agility increased by 1.
Current Agility: 6.
Remaining Skill Points: 0.
Ogata had invested the point from his level increase into Agility.
As the system voice faded, his body suddenly felt much lighter.
The effect of that single additional point manifested at once.
Suppressing the smile threatening to surface, Ogata locked his gaze onto Mikami.
Mikami had raised his sword above his head and was preparing to deliver the downward-cutting technique Waterfall.
Lifting a sword overhead carried considerable risk.
If an opponent standing within striking range possessed enough speed, he could bring you down with ease.
What happened next was a perfect demonstration.
Just as Mikami lifted his bokken and prepared to cut, Ogata moved with a speed he had never displayed before.
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