013 Swordsmanship - Field Longsword Mizugami-ryu
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The Sword Dao section in the Strange Tale World.
To enter here, one first had to perform parkour in front of about a dozen excited little oni.
If you touched the door of the Sword Dao section before being tackled by them, you were considered successful.
In that early morning game, Kamiyagawa failed the parkour and was pinned down by the headless high schoolers, biting the dust on the spot.
It was only with great difficulty that he succeeded in parkour in the evening reboot.
The wooden floor was as shiny as if it had just been waxed, and the nonsensical handwritten banner that read "A true man should fence!" still hung on the wall.
The dim light from outside the window streamed in, forming beams in which one could see fine dust dancing.
The brawny and intimidating red oni still silently knelt at the center of the dojo, with a tachi placed beside him.
Compared to the chaotic dance of the headless high schoolers outside, the inside of the Sword Dao section was peaceful, like the good old times.
Here it comes!
Kamiyagawa walked up to the red oni, bursting with excitement.
Coach, I want to play basketball!
[You have submitted 100 Soul Crystals.]
After the tuition was paid, the red oni, who had been sitting still as a puppet, finally made a move.
He stood up from the ground, and his nearly 3-meter-tall, deep red burly body was full of a sense of pressure.
The red oni spoke, his voice loud and clear, like a war drum being pounded vigorously, "Swordsmanship... training... begin!"
"Huh? Is it starting just like that, without any foreplay? I'm not ready yet," Kamiyagawa scratched his head.
The rough, twisted muscles heaved, and a visible red aura rose from his feet, surging in all directions!
The red oni was full of fighting spirit!
Kamiyagawa, inspired and impressed, was still admiring the mighty stance of his newfound teacher when the next second, everything went black before his eyes, and he was ejected from the game.
In the cherry blossom forest of the real world.
Kamiyagawa came to his senses with a face full of confusion and daze.
He had thought that perhaps the red oni lacked martial ethics, took his money without doing the work, and simply chopped him down with the tachi.
But looking at his feet, there were no Substitute Paper Person bodies to confirm a death.
He picked up his phone, and there were no death notifications. But there were two new game messages—
[You have acquired the swordsmanship, Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style (Beginner 0/100)]
[Swordsmanship training has begun, log in to the game again to end the training.]
He opened the [Personal Information] panel—
[Name: Kamiyagawa (In Sword Dao Training)]
[Strength: 3]
[Agility: 4]
[Constitution: 3]
[Charm: 8]
[Spirit Art: 0]
[Passive Skills: None]
[Active Skills: Five Thunder Righteous Method · Remnant, Swordsmanship · Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style (Beginner 0/100)]
Upon clicking on the skill section, he could see that the proficiency of the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style was increasing slowly.
"That's it, turns out this crappy game allows for AFK," exclaimed Kamiyagawa.
This was the first time Kamiyagawa had left the game in a non-death situation.
But he quickly grasped what was happening.
Probably right now, in that world of demons and ghosts in Strange Tales, his paper substitute was practicing fencing with the muscular red oni behind closed gym doors.
"Not having to actually operate and still being able to improve swordsmanship level, that feels amazing."
Indeed, being able to AFK is quite sweet.
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"Just lie down, and the paper person will move on its own."
Satisfied, Kamiyagawa packed up his things and left the school, planning to clock in for his shift at the convenience store.
Inside the game, the paper person was diligently training in swordsmanship to improve its strength; and here I was, diligently working my butt off to earn money and support my family.
We both have a bright future!
...
Wild Greatsword Mizugami-ryu, also known as Marubeni Self-Manifestation Style.
It was a swordsmanship style created by the Edo period swordsman Marubeni Kenchin, who took the Wild Blade Technique he'd learned from Satsuma Shiken Style and further refined it.
Both the Self-Manifestation Style and Shiken Style came from the same roots and featured the straightforward and forceful swordplay favored by the bold and fearless.
Put simply, it's all about being reckless.
The style especially emphasizes the Grandiose Slash, a powerful downward cut from above, aiming to kill the enemy with the first strike. The speed and power of the slash are not to be underestimated; often, the opponent couldn't even dodge if they wanted to.
Legend has it that during the Bakumatsu Period, a samurai managed to block the first strike of the Wild Greatsword Mizugami-ryu, but the sheer force of the attack drove his own sword into his head, killing him.
"The swordsmanship I'm learning seems pretty strong, and it sounds like it has a high level of prestige too."
A full day and night had passed since I set the game to auto and started learning swordsmanship from the Red Ogre.
During this time, Kamiyagawa collected some information related to the Wild Greatsword Mizugami-ryu and got a general understanding of this swordsmanship style.
Back to the game.
The Substitute Paper Person in "Strange Tales" seemed tireless.
Over the past 24 hours, the proficiency of Wild Greatsword Mizugami-ryu had been slowly increasing, reaching (Beginner 20/100).
Kamiyagawa didn't plan to log back into the game to stop the training.
Letting it run on auto seemed like a good idea.
Anyway, he couldn't beat anyone in that Strange Tale World.
Focused training for self-improvement is all benefit and no loss.
"I guess in about four more days, the proficiency of Wild Greatsword Mizugami-ryu will reach the next level. I just wonder if there's a cap to the experience earned when training with the Red Ogre."
If I could raise my proficiency without limits, I'd turn into the Sword God of Ten Li Slope!
Before my retreat, I was timid; after I emerge, I'll come out swinging heavy blows!
None of the strange, wondrous children at Karyou Ghost School will escape; they won't know what hit them, rawr.
In the following days, Kamiyagawa did as he said and didn't log in to "Strange Tales" again; he just carried on with school and work as normal.
Furthermore, accustomed to waking up early, he would exercise daily—specifically, by running in the morning.
It couldn't be helped.
Kamiyagawa's constitution was terribly poor; 343 for strength, agility, and constitution definitely fell below the average for males his age.
While running wouldn't suddenly boost his physical attributes, consistent effort over time was bound to have benefits.
Plus, practicing running had an additional perk—
Facing the fierce and brutal entities in the game, running a little bit faster might give me a slightly better chance to survive.
As for the game, the Substitute Paper Person was doing admirably; training in the Sword Dao department without rest and without accumulating fatigue, securing a steady gain of 20 proficiency points each day.
Five days later, the proficiency of Wild Greatsword Mizugami-ryu had leveled up.
From beginner level to expert level.
The next level-up required proficiency points to increase from 100 to 1000.
Undoubtedly, the Substitute Paper Person's auto-training was a powerful trump card.
In real life, for an ordinary person to practice Sword Dao and go from a complete beginner to a basic novice, it would take about three months.
Spending half a year could take one to the initial ranks, and after another year, one could aim for Second Segment.
Beyond Second Segment, another year and a half of practice would likely bring one to Third Segment level.
And the Expert Level Tachi Technique in "Strange Tales" actually equated to the real-life level of third to fourth dan in Sword Dao.
This efficiency of training was practically quantum speed learning.