Within the endless void, the Golden Scales radiated a dazzling glow.
Minos placed book after book onto it—he did not need to memorize these books. As long as he closed his eyes and they were within a one-meter radius, they could be directly replicated in this void.
One book after another was placed on the Golden Scales. Although knowledge was not particularly valuable to the Golden Scales, and much of it overlapped—for instance, Soru from Rokushiki and Tekkai developed by some pirate, the latter clearly being a cheap, inferior imitation of the former—the Golden Scales naturally did not acknowledge duplicated techniques.
Still, with enough quantity piled together, the value was fairly considerable. This time, Minos wanted to exchange them for memories. Memories were far more expensive than mere knowledge.
Moreover, Minos had not placed knowledge such as Haki on the scales—only knowledge of the same category could be treated as a whole in a trade with the Golden Scales, and what one received was generally knowledge or memories of the same category.
If he put Haki on the scales, he would probably receive energy cultivation methods such as Cosmo cultivation, Nine Yang Divine Art, Magnetic Field Rotation, or the Grimoire of Magic.
Yet under the rules of a different world, these things clearly could not be cultivated. Just as Minos had transplanted the Evil Eye and become a Yokai, yet still possessed no Demonic Power, because the rules simply did not permit such things to exist.
Once Minos truly had Haki, these things might serve as references. For now, they would only muddle his mind and had no meaning whatsoever.
After placing all the body-training knowledge onto the scales, Minos began examining the various knowledge and memories offered on the other side.
"Indiscriminate Fighting Style? What the hell is that? Oh, that thing from the Ranma 1/2 comedy manga."
"Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms? Without internal energy, it probably wouldn't even compare to Iron Sand Palm."
"Ten Thousand Nations Shocking Palm? Something from Dragon Ball, where you turn ki into lightning... If I could cultivate Dragon Ball ki, why would I learn this? I could spend a few years training under that blind Gian with gravity and directly punch through the entire World Government."
"Mike Tyson's boxing memories... Sorry, but this isn't a boxing ring."
"Hm? These are Tang Zichen's cultivation memories from Dragon Snake Landing? Not bad. This is pretty good."
Dragon Snake Landing was a world of National Arts cultivation. Though the National Arts within it were largely fantastical and completely different from the genuine methods of tempering the body and controlling force, at least its fundamental methods for strengthening the flesh and coordinating one's power were universal.
Furthermore, Tang Zichen possessed the mental realm of Autumn Wind Precedes the Cicada, which bore a striking resemblance to Observation Haki's ability to foresee the future. If one merely looked at cultivation knowledge, it would naturally be confusing and meaningless. But if he could obtain her memories, they would be immensely beneficial for developing Observation Haki in the future.
"She'll do!" Minos made his decision easily. He doubted that waiting any longer would reveal memories better suited to him.
"But... it looks like there's still some left. I should be able to exchange it for something extra." Tang Zichen's memories were still a little more valuable than what he had on the scales. Minos began searching through the memories on the other side again.
"I should look for swordsmanship! My strengths are reaction speed and agility, so swordsmanship should be the best choice!"
"This is... Kojiro Sasaki's memories from the Type-Moon world? Pretty good. Though I definitely can't use Swallow Return... Ugh, it's over the limit. Can't exchange for it."
"Let's keep looking..."
"Hatake Sakumo's swordsmanship training memories... over the limit."
"Ma Jianxing's cultivation memories from History's Strongest Disciple... also over the limit."
"Uh... so this is the only extra I can get?"
Minos looked helplessly at the glowing orb of memory in his hand. Inside were... Katsura Kotone's swordsmanship training memories.
"What is this supposed to be? Swordsmanship with a Special Attack against scumbags?"
After grumbling a couple of times, Minos still added it to the scales—at least he would not need to worry about compatibility.
After all, swordsmanship completely grounded in reality could not possibly be weakened in any world.
And being able to decapitate someone with a single strike qualified one as a master even in the real world.
It was just that Minos felt a little creeped out...
Trading memories was not as painful as trading bloodlines, but it still left Minos feeling dizzy and bloated. Furthermore, unlike combat techniques and knowledge, simply having the memories in his brain did not mean he could use them. He also needed the corresponding muscle memory.
Otherwise, this would happen in battle.
Brain: Watch me use Black Tiger Steals Heart.
Arm: Oops, aimed too low. It became Monkey Steals Peach.
Brain: Watch me use As if Sealed and Closed.
Face: I blocked too slowly. I'm already swollen!
Still, with the experience contained in those memories, training naturally became much easier.
Even though higher stages of National Arts, such as Dan Jin, could not be cultivated in this world at all, and An Jin and Hua Jin were merely techniques for converting force rather than cultivation realms, the most basic techniques and methods for tempering the body, along with the ability to control one's body, were enough to benefit Minos enormously.
As a result, his performance during training the next day gave Katakuri a huge shock.
His strength and speed had not increased much, but his techniques had improved tremendously. He could already control the force throughout his entire body instead of letting it scatter chaotically as it had in the beginning.
Yet Katakuri remembered that it had taken him half a year of training to reach this level. This Minos had mastered these techniques in a single day?
Moreover, this fellow's swordsmanship had improved greatly as well. No, he had not known swordsmanship at all before and could only be called a complete amateur. His swordsmanship was still not exceptional now, but no one would object if he called himself a swordsman.
Then, his competitive spirit stirred, Katakuri loosened up a little and nearly beat Minos and Talon flat as pancakes...
Pirate training methods were this simple and brutal. Aside from desperately tempering the body, they used battle itself for training. Getting beaten up was practically inevitable.
Fortunately, Minos was a Yokai. His recovery ability far surpassed that of humans, and he would not suffer lingering injuries, so he adapted rather quickly to this simple, brutal training method.
He had no choice but to adapt. He was not one of Katakuri's younger siblings, and Katakuri had no reservations when training him. Over the next few days, aside from their grueling workouts, Minos and Talon were simply beaten up.
Even after Katakuri brought them back to Flour Island, he never relaxed their training. He was especially attentive toward Minos.
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