The cultivation system of the Pirate World is primarily based on physical constitution.
Whether the focus is on Devil Fruit abilities, the Three types of Haki, Swordsmanship, or Martial Arts—
Everything is built upon the foundation of the physical body.
The powerhouses of the Pirate World have strong physiques, but their energy consumption is also massive.
Without Sea Kings and various other fantasy-level beast meats to sustain them, no amount of food would be enough.
Sea King Meat is actually quite expensive.
One hundred bucks per pound.
For an orphan with no money like Ryo, using this meat for daily consumption was a bit too luxurious.
However, Ryo planned to use Sea King Meat for all his daily consumption over the next two months.
The college entrance exam was only two months away.
With the martial arts panel at his disposal, he naturally intended to exhaust all his current resources to rapidly improve his strength.
Once his strength increased, he wouldn’t be short on resources.
Being a student is the easiest time to obtain resources; as long as one can demonstrate talent, resources are easily acquired.
Once this period passes and one leaves this platform—
It becomes very difficult to obtain resources so easily again.
While waiting for the delivery to arrive,
Ryo picked up the wooden sword by his bedside and began to swing.
His breathing was rhythmic as he raised the heavy wooden sword high and brought it down steadily.
This also allowed him to train his Breathing Technique and Swordsmanship.
Of course, the effect was certainly a bit worse than a normal practice session of Breathing Technique and Swordsmanship.
But with the martial arts panel, every drop of sweat was guaranteed to turn into the fruit of a Breakthrough.
Under this extremely strong positive feedback mechanism, even someone like Ryo, who wasn’t overly diligent, became hardworking.
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.
Swing the sword, and swing again.
Sweat was already falling like small water droplets, only to be shattered the moment he swung his sword.
His muscles were already quite fatigued, but driven by his will, he continued to swing the wooden sword in his hand.
Knock, knock.
After about half an hour,
A delivery man knocked on Ryo’s door.
He handed ten pounds of frozen Sea King Meat to Ryo.
Ryo closed the door and opened the packaging bag with some anticipation.
He had achieved a Breakthrough in his Breathing Technique during the Swordsmanship class today, and after practicing for another half hour since returning tonight, he was already starving.
The Sea King Meat was frozen rock hard.
Ryo didn’t bother thawing it; he took out a chunk of meat, about two pounds.
He placed the frozen meat on the cutting board.
Hiss.
He activated his Breathing Technique, drawing a large amount of air into his body to drive his physical augmentation.
He set a pot to boil and put the meat pieces in.
Once cooked, Ryo made a simple dipping sauce and started eating immediately.
Sea King Meat was indeed good; no wonder the people in the Pirate World always ate meat with such gusto.
He wondered what level such high-quality ingredients would reach if combined with the skills of a Shokugeki chef.
Lost in thought, Ryo quickly finished the two pounds of meat.
Sea King Meat contained a considerable amount of energy; after eating two pounds, Ryo already felt very full.
Adjusting his breathing rhythm,
He could soon feel the food being rapidly digested within his body.
Breathing Techniques are quite versatile when it comes to physical cultivation.
In terms of digesting food, it wasn’t as fast as the Life Return from the Pirate World, but it excelled in being comprehensive.
Once that feeling of fullness subsided slightly,
Ryo put the remaining meat in the fridge and headed out with his wooden sword.
The space at home was too small, and the practice effect wasn’t very good.
He went to the community square and found a relatively quiet and secluded spot.
Ryo began to practice Water Breathing Swordsmanship with his wooden sword.
A few elderly people were chatting nearby, but they weren’t surprised to see Ryo practicing Swordsmanship.
In the era of high Martial Arts, this was perfectly normal.
“Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash.”
“Water Wheel.”
“Flowing Dance.”
“Striking Tide.”
In the spacious area, Ryo performed the Water Breathing Swordsmanship over and over again.
From the First Form, Water Surface Slash, all the way to the Fourth Form, Striking Tide.
These were all the Water Breathing sword techniques he had learned so far.
Practicing repeatedly—as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.
With the martial arts panel, Ryo’s practice efficiency was incredibly high, and the speed at which he gained mastery was astonishing.
Half an hour passed.
[Water Breathing Technique Proficiency +1]
[Water Breathing Swordsmanship Proficiency +1]
The panel appeared, reminding Ryo that he had grown stronger once again.
“Very good.”
Ryo casually wiped the sweat from his forehead.
To be honest, he was quite exhausted by now.
If it weren’t for the Sea King Meat sustaining him, he probably wouldn’t have been able to keep going.
But now, his chest was heaving violently, yet his eyes were exceptionally bright.
His Water Breathing Swordsmanship was only one experience point away from LV2.
Ryo continued to swing his sword; the sweat in the air was shattered by the wooden blade.
Ryo did his best to maintain his breathing rhythm.
Breathing Techniques can tap into the body’s potential; as long as nutrition keeps up, one can definitely grow stronger the more they train.
Tanjiro’s father was as thin as a rail and terminally ill.
Yet by relying on Sun Breathing, he could dance for a whole day and night in the heavy snow.
The key was the breathing.
Practicing the same sword techniques over and over was quite tedious, but the feeling of getting stronger every second was quite intoxicating.
Finally.
The martial arts panel appeared.
[Water Breathing Swordsmanship Proficiency +1]
At the same time, information seemed to surface in Ryo’s mind and then re-aggregate.
His body naturally leaped high into the air.
He glided gracefully through the air, like a bird.
“Water Breathing, Fifth Form: Blessed Rain After the Drought.”
Both the speed of his descent and the speed of his sword swing looked remarkably gentle and slow.
But when Ryo landed,
A section of a tree trunk as thick as an arm snapped off behind him.
Even though it was severed by a wooden sword, the cut actually appeared quite smooth.
The Fifth Form of Water Breathing.
Ryo was now soaked to the bone, gasping for air, but his face was full of excitement.
The further one goes with Water Breathing Swordsmanship, the stronger it gets, and the harder it is to master.
His predecessor had studied for three years and was stuck at the Fifth Form, unable to break through, just as his Breathing Technique was stuck at the first stage.
Now, he had only used one afternoon—at most four or five hours of work.
And he had broken through the two major Bottlenecks that had trapped his predecessor.
Especially the Swordsmanship, going from six proficiency points to the current LV2.
The improvement could only be described as rapid.
His Breathing Technique had also gained a point of proficiency.
Now it was:
[Water Breathing LV2 (3/20)]
Looking at the panel, at this rate of improvement, it wouldn’t take more than three to five days for him to break through to Water Breathing LV3.
Which is what the school teachers call the third stage, focusing on increasing the duration of Total Concentration Breathing and slowly moving towards Total Concentration Breathing Constant.
This stage is a period of very rapid physical improvement.
In the Demon Slayer World, one could barely be called a minor expert at this point.
Just like the demon slayer protagonist Tanjiro, who was at this stage from the time he slew the Hand Demon until he killed the Lower Moon at Mount Natagumo.
Learning Total Concentration Breathing Constant basically grants one Hashira-level strength relative to the era before the Taisho Pillarss.
Incidentally, as far as Ryo knew, Teacher Da Ye’s current public status was the third stage of Breathing Technique.
Meaning that upon reaching this stage, there was a high probability of obtaining school resources.