Selene felt utterly drained, both physically and mentally. A deep weariness settled in her bones. She questioned if taking Zoro under her wing for training had been a monumental mistake. The entire circuitous route around the village had been punctuated by her exasperated shouts, correcting the Mosshead's direction a staggering one hundred and twenty-eight times. The early morning had been soundtracked by Selene's increasingly frantic roars.
Finally completing their tortured jog, Selene led him to a small grove nestled near the coastline, the sound of the waves a gentle contrast to her ragged breaths.
"Next," she panted, wiping sweat from her brow. "Sword swinging practice! After that, we'll do strength training!"
It was another thousand swings, each one requiring full concentration, feeling the rhythm, the force, the intent. But perhaps she was slowly adapting, or perhaps the system was working its subtle magic. After finishing the set, Selene noticed the trembling in her arms wasn't as severe as it had been the day before. Her muscles still ached, but it was a less debilitating fatigue.
Selene finished her swings first. Then, she rummaged around until she found some sturdy lengths of rope. She used them to bind two heavy stones, each weighing perhaps thirty to forty pounds, then sought out a robust tree. Throwing the rope over a low-hanging branch, using it as a makeshift pulley system, she grasped one end of the rope in each hand and began a series of pulling exercises, mimicking punching motions, hauling the heavy stones up and down. It was a simple, crude form of weight training, improvised from her surroundings.
As Selene strained, pouring sweat into building her strength, Zoro was still diligently working on his thousand swings. Despite yesterday's defeat and Selene's earlier correction, he was once again gripping two bamboo shinai, relentlessly attacking a sturdy tree stump that served as their practice target. It seemed he was firmly committed to walking the Nitoryu path, come hell or high water.
Selene didn't interfere, letting him train in his own way. Their sessions were mostly parallel efforts, each implicitly pushing the other, serving as mutual motivation. The most Selene did was occasionally correct Zoro's utterly bizarre form when it became too egregious.
By the time Zoro finally completed his swinging practice, Selene's strength training was nearing its end. She was drenched in sweat, muscles burning, wanting nothing more than to collapse onto the cool earth.
"My turn!" Zoro crowed, utterly unphased by his own exhaustion, grabbing the ropes Selene had just dropped and eagerly mimicking her pulling motion.
For a child, two stones weighing that much were no joke. Selene watched Zoro grunt and strain, his face contorted in a determined grimace. A sudden, wicked thought struck her. Grinning mischievously, she used the remaining rope to tie a smaller stone, maybe twenty pounds, then held it out to Zoro.
"Here," she instructed, her smile innocent. "Bite down on this. Hold it firmly. Don't let it drop."
"Why?" Zoro asked, bewildered and slightly muffled as he already had his teeth clamped on the stone. "You didn't do that!"
"Just listen to me," Selene said, her voice taking on an air of deep, knowing wisdom. "You'll need this later."
Oh yes, she thought, suppressing a laugh. You'll definitely need this later. Because the path you're destined to walk isn't Nitoryu... it's SANTO RYU! The Three Sword Style!
Thank me later, Zoro. I'm giving you a head start on developing those legendary jaw muscles.
Thanks to Selene's subtle nudge, Zoro was inadvertently beginning his Three Sword Style training years in advance. He stood there, jaws clenched tight around the dangling stone, trying to keep his body upright, while simultaneously pulling the two heavier stones with his arms. His entire frame trembled with the effort, sweat pouring, but he stubbornly held on, pushing himself inch by painful inch.
Ignoring him, Selene hoisted an even larger stone – closer to fifty pounds – raising it above her head with both hands. She began a series of deep squats, using the stone as added resistance, mimicking a weightlifting exercise. This was a new exercise she'd just thought of, targeting her core, legs, and glutes – crucial muscle groups for explosive speed and agility.
Her current understanding of attribute growth was twofold: the direct percentage bonus from equipped cards, and the increase from her own character level. But she was also experimenting, testing the hypothesis that dedicated physical training could contribute directly to her base stats, just like in a game where you allocate points or build muscle. Every training session was a form of exploration in this new, system-assisted body.
They trained in relative silence, punctuated only by grunts of effort and ragged breaths. Sweat dripped, muscles screamed, pushing towards their limits. They continued until well past noon, stopping only when their bodies simply refused to go on, limbs protesting fiercely.
Sprawled on the ground, gulping air, both were utterly spent. Selene focused on her breathing, employing Koshiro's technique to accelerate her recovery. After what felt like an eternity, she finally managed to push herself to a sitting position. She was about to call out to Zoro, but then she noticed... the Mosshead had fallen asleep.
Seriously? Does the narcolepsy start this early?
Selene chuckled softly, shaking her head in fond exasperation. She gently hoisted the sleeping Zoro onto her back – thankfully, he was light enough at this age – and began the slow, painful trek back to the dojo.
Neither of them knew that just above them on the hillside, hidden among the trees, Kuina had been watching. She was also dripping with sweat, clearly having just finished her own strenuous, solitary workout. But as she gazed down at the spot where Selene and Zoro had trained, her eyes burned with a fierce, unyielding determination, mirroring the drive of the two below.
After lunch and a brief period of rest, Selene took Zoro out to the dojo's small field. Armed with hoes, they spent the afternoon laboring under the sun, tending to the crops – another form of physical exertion, albeit less intense than their morning regimen. In the evening, they returned to the dojo for another round of practice.
Throughout the day, whenever the opportunity arose, Zoro would inevitably seek out Kuina for a challenge. And, just as inevitably, he would be soundly defeated. It was almost comical.
Strangely, despite the fact that Selene could now fight Kuina to a draw – meaning a spar with Selene should, in theory, be just as challenging as one with Kuina – Zoro rarely challenged Selene. He preferred to train with her, learning from her, but saved his relentless, almost masochistic desire for combat specifically for Kuina. He would challenge her three or four times a day, getting beaten badly each time, only to stubbornly come back for more after patching himself up. Selene sometimes wondered if the kid had a hidden masochistic streak.
What Selene didn't fully grasp was the simple, one-track mind of this future swordsman. To Zoro, Selene had quickly become a 'Big Sis' figure, a mentor and training partner who was helping him get stronger. Kuina, however, was his designated rival. Being occasionally beaten by a mentor was understandable, part of the learning process. But losing to a rival? That was unacceptable. That was the fire that drove his constant, relentless challenges.
Aside from his targeted assaults on Kuina, Zoro was almost constantly by Selene's side, shadowing her. And just as Zoro was unwilling to lose to Kuina, Selene, deep down, was equally unwilling to be surpassed by this kid two years younger than her. Together, they pushed themselves relentlessly, their combined efforts unconsciously fueling a quiet, unspoken competition between the three of them, including a certain fierce girl who secretly doubled down on her own training in the shadows.
Master Koshiro observed this burgeoning dynamic. He didn't intervene, his gentle smile unchanging, seemingly content to let the currents of youthful ambition run their course.
And so, over a month passed in this rhythm of rigorous training, chores, and persistent challenges.
Over that month, Selene's body transformed noticeably. Muscle definition began to solidify, particularly in her arms, legs, and core. While still a child's frame, she carried herself with a newfound physical presence, an aura of underlying strength.
Her hypothesis had been confirmed: dedicated self-training did contribute to her base stats. However, the progress was slow. Taking Strength as an example: if her current 20 Strength allowed her to lift, say, 100 pounds as a maximum effort, gaining another point of Strength required her to break that limit – to successfully lift 110 pounds or more. Each significant breakthrough granted a mere +1 to the relevant attribute.
After a month of constantly increasing the weight and intensity of her exercises, Selene had only managed to gain a modest +3 in her Strength attribute.
It was slow, painfully slow, but it was a vital supplement to her growth. In the peaceful backwater of Shimotsuki Village, there were no bandits, no strong enemies to fight for experience points. Her only viable "opponents" were Kuina and Zoro. Kuina, she still couldn't reliably defeat – at best a draw, which didn't seem to grant EXP. Zoro she could beat, but he only gave a paltry 50 EXP per defeat. Leveling up from Level 1 to 2 required a daunting 1000 EXP. Beating Zoro twenty times a day wasn't a practical or sustainable strategy, even if she wanted to.
This meant her character level wasn't going to increase significantly anytime soon. And, as the system had confirmed, her card levels were capped by her own level. Without leveling up, she couldn't upgrade her card or gain its passive percentage bonuses.
So, rigorous self-training remained her primary path for direct attribute growth.
Fortunately, there was a breakthrough in another area. After over a month of relentless, focused practice, her [Basic Swordsmanship] proficiency gauge finally filled.
The feeling was profound, almost surreal. The moment the system registered the skill's advancement to [Beginner Swordsmanship], as Selene held her wooden sword, the bokken felt utterly different in her grasp. There was no stiffness, no awkwardness, no sense of the sword being a separate tool she was simply manipulating. It felt like a natural extension of her own arm, responding instantly to her will, flowing seamlessly as if it were a part of her very being.
Perhaps it was the cumulative effect of her long-term, unwavering effort, intensified over the past month. The skill threshold hadn't felt like a wall she had to break through, but rather a natural progression, a barrier that simply dissolved when the time was right. It was a sublimation of quantity into quality, a transformation.
[Beginner Swordsmanship: You have achieved a qualitative understanding of the Sword. Sword Draw Speed +10%, Destructive Power +10%]
The system's description for Beginner Swordsmanship was clear. Sword Draw Speed was easy enough to understand. But "Destructive Power +10%" was more ambiguous. Stats were one thing, but how did a 10% increase in 'Destructive Power' translate into the physical world? There wasn't a clear, quantifiable metric.
After some thought, Selene concluded it likely meant that when she struck something (or someone), the impact would cause 10% more severe damage than it would have before – harder hits, deeper cuts (if she were using a real blade), more disabling blows. It was a raw boost to the effectiveness of her strikes.