The next day, early morning!
Lin Qi got up very early. Although he had barely slept the night before due to excitement, his long-standing habit still made him wake up early.
After getting up, Lin Qi began his daily training as usual.
Although he now had the cheat-like role-playing system, Lin Qi still dared not relax.
The role-playing system was not absolutely safe. Not only was there a system penalty of elimination, but there were also various dangers in the mission worlds. System missions were not so easy to complete.
The system had already begun searching for mission worlds. He didn't know when it would find one, and that would be the time for Lin Qi to perform his first role-playing mission. Lin Qi needed to increase his strength as much as possible during this time to ensure that he could successfully complete this first system mission.
The first time is always the hardest. Lin Qi didn't have much of a foundation of strength now. As long as he succeeded on the first try, Lin Qi's strength would increase, and the system missions would not be too difficult to deal with.
Lin Qi practiced his sword swings in the courtyard of the dojo, sweating profusely.
Koushirou, who lived opposite Lin Qi, saw Lin Qi practicing his sword swings in the courtyard and showed a gratified expression on his face.
Thinking to himself, "I knew I hadn't misjudged him. This disciple might become a world-renowned swordsman someday."
Upon seeing Koushirou, Lin Qi quickly stopped to greet him, saying, "Good morning, Master."
"Hmm, Lin Qi, have you always trained like this?" Koushirou asked.
"Yes, Master, I've been training like this ever since I could wield a sword," Lin Qi replied.
"Oh?" Koushirou was quite surprised by the answer. Few people trained so diligently, let alone a four- or five-year-old child.
"Then, Lin Qi, let me ask you a question," Koushirou said earnestly, "Why do you want to learn swordsmanship?"
He then stared intently at Lin Qi, seemingly trying to discern his true thoughts.
"Why learn swordsmanship?" Lin Qi touched his cheek, thinking carefully, and said,
"I want to become stronger! To become the strongest! I want to control my own destiny, defeat all enemies, protect what I cherish, and roam freely in this sea, without restraint."
"Is that so? That's quite a grand ideal," Koushirou said, smiling at Lin Qi.
"Lin Qi, do you know what swordsmanship is?" Koushirou asked again.
"Swordsmanship? I don't know, but I want to learn from you, Master, what swordsmanship is," Lin Qi answered honestly, which was indeed his true thought.
But Koushirou said, "No! Lin Qi, you can't learn swordsmanship from me."
Lin Qi looked at Koushirou strangely, not understanding why he said that.
Seeing Lin Qi's confusion, Koushirou explained, "Lin Qi, true swordsmanship must be found by yourself; no one can teach you. I can only teach you how to use a sword, but what a sword is, you must think about that yourself."
Lin Qi lowered his head, deep in thought, and understood what Koushirou meant.
Lin Qi could learn the swordsmanship of an ordinary swordsman from Koushirou, but if he wanted to become a sword master, or even a great sword master, he had to comprehend his own swordsmanship; Koushirou couldn't help him.
Understanding this, Lin Qi looked up at Koushirou and said, "Master, I understand."
Koushirou nodded approvingly; this disciple was not only exceptionally talented and hardworking, but also seemed to have excellent comprehension.
"Then, Master, what is your swordsmanship?" Lin Qi suddenly asked.
"My swordsmanship?" Koushirou smiled and said, "There are swordsmen in this world who cannot cut through anything, yet these swordsmen can cut through steel and even harder things. My swordsmanship is about possessing the power to protect what you want to protect and to cut what you want to cut. As for a sword that can harm everything it touches, that is not a sword to me."
"I see!" Lin Qi said thoughtfully. It seemed that Koushirou had said the same thing to Zoro.
At this moment, a voice suddenly interrupted the conversation between the master and disciple.
"Stop talking, breakfast is ready."
Koushirou's wife, Lin Qi's teacher's wife, Kiko, was standing by the door at some point, urging Lin Qi and Koushirou to eat breakfast. Koushirou
's wife, Kiko, was a very beautiful woman, a veritable enlarged version of Kuina, a mature version of Tashigi. She was currently pregnant, and the baby in her belly was probably Kuina, but she was still more than three months away from giving birth.
"Alright, let's eat breakfast. The dojo will be opening soon." With that, Koushirou smiled and helped his wife, shamelessly showing off their affection.
Lin Qi obediently followed behind, pretending not to see.
"The physical body is the foundation of all combat skills. Whether it's swordsmanship or taijutsu, strength and speed are the most basic and important factors."
Koushirou, the dojo's training instructor, was explaining the importance of physical strength and swordsmanship techniques to the students as they lifted stones.
But the students were all sweating profusely and didn't pay any attention to what Koushirou was saying.
Among these students, Lin Qi was the most relaxed. Because of his training since childhood, this training was a piece of cake for him.
He could not only lift the stone a circle more times than the other children, but his movements were also much faster.
Besides training with the other dojo students every day, he mainly studied swordsmanship with Koushirou after school.
Everyone knew this, and the children were envious, but there was nothing they could do; they hadn't yet completed the physical training task Koushirou had given them.
Koushirou was clearly a highly qualified swordsmanship instructor. Since
the village children lacked a strong foundation, he started with the very basics. Physical training and sword practice were part of their daily curriculum.
For Lin Qi, Koushirou primarily taught him techniques for generating power, the application of sword moves, and training in strength, speed, and reaction time.
It could be said that, aside from practical combat, Koushirou was already training Lin Qi as a swordsman.
With Koushirou's meticulous guidance, Lin Qi's strength naturally increased rapidly.
To understand his specific abilities, Lin Qi activated a personal panel function through the role-playing system, which directly displayed his current strength in various aspects.
Lin Qi's current strength data was as follows:
System Host: *Lin Qi
Age: 5 years old
Power Level: 50
Special Abilities: None
Combat Skills: None
He had no special abilities, and his power level was only 50, but for a five-year-old like Lin Qi, it was already quite good.
After all, an ordinary trained naval soldier only has a Dao strength value of 10, which means that Lin Qi's physical strength is already comparable to five strong naval soldiers.
Add to that the swordsmanship Lin Qi has been diligently practicing recently, and he should be able to take on ten ordinary naval soldiers without any problem.
Seeing that the children on the field were starting to give up, Koushirou said, "Alright, that's enough. Put it down."
Hearing Koushirou's words, the children immediately threw away the stones they were carrying, panting heavily, some even collapsing to the ground.
Koushirou looked at the students, except for Lin Qi, who were slumped over, and shook his head helplessly.
Most of these children only came here to train in their spare time; many of them had already started working for their families, and swordsmanship was just a hobby for them. Only two or three of them were seriously seeking the true path of the sword.
"That's enough for today. You've all been training for a while now. You can start learning swordsmanship tomorrow," Koushirou said to the resting group.
"Really? We can finally start practicing swordsmanship!"
"Yeah! Yeah! We're so tired of carrying stones all this time!"
"Lin Qi started practicing swordsmanship a long time ago, and now we can finally start too."
The children excitedly discussed this as soon as they heard they could practice.
Only Lin Qi remained silent. Koushirou had already told him about this. However, he wouldn't train with the children anymore. In Koushirou's words, Lin Qi had already learned the most basic things in swordsmanship, and the rest was up to Lin Qi to study on his own.
After everyone dispersed, Koushirou called Lin Qi into the house.
Koushirou took out a long box from a large chest and handed it to Lin Qi.
"What's this?" Lin Qi looked at Koushirou curiously.
"Open it and see," Koushirou said with a smile, gesturing for Lin Qi to open the box himself, without directly answering Lin Qi's question.
Lin Qi obediently opened the box, and a finely crafted longsword appeared before him.
The long sword, about 70 centimeters in length, was shaped like a katana, with a slightly curved, bright silver blade engraved with inscriptions.
Lin Qi took out the long sword and examined it closely, recognizing the inscription as nine characters: 临, 兵, 斗, 者, 皆, 阵, 列, 前, 行.
The blade also bore two characters: 和泉.
"This is Izumi, one of the 21 Great Swords?" Lin Qi exclaimed in shock, looking at Koushirou.
"Yes! That's right, it's Izumi!" Koushirou replied with a smile.
"This? What do you mean, Master?" Lin Qi asked uncertainly, but his tone inevitably carried a hint of hope.
"I'm giving it to you as a sword. I wonder if you like it?" Koushirou smiled casually, as if he were only giving away a wooden stick.
"Really?" Lin Qi was overwhelmed by the surprise and quickly bowed, thanking his teacher. "Thank you, teacher!"
"Yes, yes." Koushirou waved for Lin Qi to stand up and said, "Lin Qi, I'm giving you this sword because I hope you'll train hard. Don't let this great sword down, and I also hope that Izumi will accompany you to the pinnacle of swordsmanship, instead of rusting away in a box."
"Yes, teacher. I certainly won't let you down." Hearing this, Lin Qi immediately promised confidently.
"Alright, you can go now. Familiarize yourself with 'Izumi.' For a while, it will be your sword." Koushirou finished speaking and waved for Lin Qi to leave.
Just as Lin Qi excitedly carried "Izumi" out of Koushirou's room, a familiar voice suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Ding! Role-playing system has detected a mission world. The transmigration mission is about to begin."
(End of Chapter)