Testing the Waters

Congratulations! You have drawn the grand prize: one Soul Tree, "Miyamoto Musashi."

Description: A small tree that nurtured the Heroic Spirit Miyamoto Musashi, the mature-beauty-type young woman from "Fate -Grand- Order." Level LV40. Status: Unawakened.

Effect: Great Mastery of Two-Sword Style. A Level LV40 Soul Tree allows the host to master all of Heroic Spirit Miyamoto Musashi's abilities except for the release of her Noble Phantasm [Six Paths Five Rings: Kurokaze].

Heroic Spirit Miyamoto Musashi Skill Overview—

Fifth Stance: The advantage of Two-Sword Style. Move with the swords, adapt with the situation; doubles the number of one's attacks.

Heavenly Eye: Causal Magic Eyes, an ability that reaches its intended result and severs where the target exists. If one decides to sever an opponent's right wrist, then no matter what, that opponent's right wrist will be severed. It narrows the infinitely possible future down to a single "certain" outcome.

Void: Represents the highest realm of a swordsman. Where there is Void, there is invincibility. Even slashes employing multidimensional distortion cannot catch one who possesses Void. While this skill is active, damage is negated.

Battle Continuation: Living in a thoroughly shameless and underhanded manner. Playing dead to avoid losing and the like are all specialties. Deceive others with sweet talk, flee disgracefully, then recover at an extraordinary rate.

Seeing the introduction to the Soul Tree "Miyamoto Musashi" in his mind, Mu Yu was completely stunned.

He had never expected that, after the Good Quick Sword White Deer, he would draw another Soul Tree that nurtured Heroic Spirit Miyamoto Musashi.

Most importantly, this was not a tree seed, but a fully grown tree that had reached Level LV40.

Heavens, this grand prize was far too generous. His luck had absolutely exploded!

As expected of the auspicious day he had waited so many days for. Nice!

System: "..."

The system did not know how to mock him.

Her master really did know how to be content!

Naturally, Mu Yu had no idea what the system was thinking. He was quite satisfied with drawing Heroic Spirit Miyamoto Musashi's Soul Tree.

"System, do Miyamoto Musashi's abilities give me any bonuses when I use One-Sword Style?"

They do. However, the effects of Miyamoto Musashi's Soul Tree can only be fully unleashed when using Two-Sword Style.

"Got it."

Mu Yu was thoroughly pleased. He had planned to use Two-Sword Style as his trump card anyway.

Just like Kirito—if he wasn't down to a sliver of health, he wouldn't play... Ahem, that came out wrong.

When Kirito did not bring out his Two-Sword Style, no one ever knew his true strength. Once he held two swords, his enemies might as well type GG.

After Miyamoto Musashi's Soul Tree was planted in the Courtyard, even the Swordsmanship Tree was affected, growing a branch belonging to Two-Sword Style.

It had to be said, the scene was incredibly miraculous. Mu Yu felt as though he had been remade from head to toe.

Still, Miyamoto Musashi's abilities—especially [Heavenly Eye]—were best kept as a last-resort trump card.

Otherwise, something terrible could happen!

The next day.

"One point. Mu Yu wins."

Koshiro's voice rang out, and the dojo was silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Not only were the little brats sitting on their knees nearby dumbfounded, even the adult instructors clicked their tongues in amazement.

Over this period, Zoro had challenged Mu Yu more than a hundred times in a row. Although Mu Yu had always won,

they could all sense that Zoro was growing stronger and that the gap between the two was shrinking.

At first, Zoro could not even withstand a single move from Mu Yu. After fifty challenges, the two had basically begun trading blows evenly.

But no one had expected that today, Mu Yu would once again take Zoro down in a single move.

Clean and decisive!

Not to mention everyone else—even Koshiro was extremely surprised. His squinty eyes had opened.

As for Kuina, the shock in her heart could no longer be described with words.

Zoro, sprawled on the ground, was dealt a crushing blow!

"Why? Why can't I take even one move from you again?"

Zoro was truly unwilling to accept this. He had clearly felt that if he worked hard, harder, harder still, then one day he would defeat Mu Yu.

But today, he suddenly realized that not only had the distance between himself and Mu Yu not shrunk—it had grown even wider.

Zoro was not the only one. That was what everyone was thinking.

Mu Yu's strength had grown far too quickly overnight. Calling it earth-shattering would not be an exaggeration in the slightest.

Mu Yu had considered this long ago.

Not only had he deliberately revealed his strength just now, but even telling Kuina yesterday that he was a "Devil Fruit ability user" had been part of his plan.

He had inherited Kuina's fate of spurring Zoro onward. The world's difficulty had increased by 12%, and he now faced the danger of being killed off by the plot.

Time was undoubtedly precious to him. He had to raise his strength as much as possible in the shortest time.

And obtaining Koshiro's true teachings was undoubtedly a shortcut.

However, gaining Koshiro's true teachings would not be so easy. Revealing his strength and potential was undoubtedly one way.

Mu Yu looked at Koshiro. "Master, please forgive me for not telling you the truth before. I'm actually a Devil Fruit ability user."

"A Devil Fruit ability user?"

Aside from Koshiro and Kuina, every adult and child in the dojo stared wide-eyed at one another, completely unable to understand what Mu Yu meant.

Koshiro immediately became interested. "An ability user, huh? Interesting. Can you tell me what your ability is?"

Mu Yu extended his hand, and White Deer appeared in it.

Seeing Mu Yu's "magic trick," everyone exchanged looks. They could scarcely believe what they had just witnessed.

Koshiro seemed thoughtful and asked with a smile, "Is it a Paramecia Weapon-Weapon Fruit?"

Mu Yu shook his head. "That is only one of my abilities. Strictly speaking, it should be a Tree Planting Fruit. The ability my fruit grants me is—planting trees."

"Planting trees?"

Everyone was bewildered.

Plant a Swordsmanship Tree seed, let it take root, sprout, and grow, and his swordsmanship would advance by leaps and bounds?

What kind of ridiculous ability was that?

Wasn't that absurdly overpowered?!

Not to mention everyone else—even Zoro, who was usually so single-minded, was shaken to the core and deeply disheartened.

Mu Yu looked at Zoro. "Zoro, every time you challenge me, you add energy for my Swordsmanship Tree to grow. Do you still think you have a chance of beating me now?"

Zoro: "Damn it, how can there be an ability like this in the world?"

To be honest, Mu Yu's "Devil Fruit ability" had truly dealt him a severe blow.

Not only Zoro—even Kuina's heart churned. She had never expected Mu Yu's ability to be something like this.

Mu Yu ignored the deeply shaken crowd and instead looked at Koshiro.

"Master, last night, my ability underwent explosive growth. Ordinary training is no longer very useful to me. I hope to challenge you. If possible, I hope to inherit your true legacy!"

At Mu Yu's words, the entire dojo fell silent enough to hear a pin drop.

His words had simply been too blunt.

Teach your disciple everything, and the master starves—this applied in any world.

Whether to pass down one's legacy was a decision only the master could make. It was not something a disciple could demand in reverse.

Mu Yu knew that, of course. But he had no choice, did he?

Mu Yu did not shrink back. He looked at Koshiro openly and honestly.

Koshiro still wore his gentle smile. His answer was very simple. "Sure. As long as you can pass my test."

He agreed. Master Koshiro actually agreed!

How was that possible?

PS: Wuhan was locked down. I still don't know when it will reopen, and there's no way to send deliveries. This book might have to go without promotion until it reaches one hundred thousand words. Wuwuwu, this is so depressing!