Anything purchased from the Trading Market could be placed into or taken out of the backpack slot at any time, which was quite convenient.
Xia Nuo first took out the katana, "Masamune."
He drew the sword from its sheath.
The slender blade gleamed under the sunlight with a frosty luster, yet retained an astonishingly delicate curve.
He raised it before his eyes and examined it carefully.
The razor-thin edge displayed a gradual shift in color. Starting with a deep-sea indigo near the guard, it faded into an almost transparent pallor toward the tip.
He finished the remaining cola in one gulp, tossed the empty can into the air, and gave his sword a slight swing. In an instant, he cut it cleanly into several pieces without the slightest hindrance.
The afterimages of the blade's tip flashed through the air, leaving behind silver trails like fireflies.
"What a fine sword." Xia Nuo's eyes filled with admiration.
Its weight and balance were perfect, and it felt excellent in his hand.
The blacksmith shop in the neighboring town of his hometown was somewhat famous among the nearby islands. Back when he had been obsessed with swordsmanship, he had eagerly gone there to take a look.
But every sword and blade inside had been worlds apart from this one.
He returned the sword to its sheath.
The blade being too long was not a problem. His body had only just entered its growth period, and once he grew a little taller, it would become a perfectly fitting sword for him.
After putting it back into his backpack, Xia Nuo opened the two Rokushiki Secret Manuals again.
The moment they opened, the random dice selection was completed. The displayed results were "Soru" and "Tekkai."
"Not bad luck."
The boy's mood grew even brighter. The former focused on movement, while the latter strengthened defense. They were precisely the two techniques he favored most at present.
With a thought, he opened Tekkai first.
Secret Manual-type items unfurled directly before his eyes like the System Panel. The pages turned according to his thoughts, making it somewhat similar to an e-book.
The text inside was extremely detailed, even providing thorough breakdowns of each move and technique.
Whenever he came across something obscure and difficult to understand, a blurry, dark-blue silhouette would appear beside the text as he browsed, demonstrating the techniques methodically. It was very intuitive.
His ability to quickly master Breathing Fist earlier had also been partly due to this teaching method.
"The threshold for entry isn't high, but mastering it proficiently will still require a great deal of hard work."
After roughly browsing through the two Rokushiki Secret Manuals, Xia Nuo's eyes flickered as he made a general estimate.
His physique had improved tremendously compared to when he had first begun practicing Breathing Fist.
Combined with Breathing Fist's special effect of rapidly dispelling muscle fatigue, his progress in physical techniques would inevitably far surpass that of ordinary people.
Even by a conservative estimate, he should be able to master both techniques proficiently within a year.
"Within a year..."
Xia Nuo shook his head slightly. If this had been before, he would definitely have been satisfied with that speed.
But now, with Arlong weighing on his heart like a massive boulder, he had to progress faster—and much faster!
Fortunately.
His luck had been exceptionally good this time. He had obtained an enhancement item that he could actually use.
Xia Nuo's gaze fell upon the final item in his backpack slot, and his eyes were filled with barely restrained anticipation.
He had never possessed an item that assisted with cultivation before. His current strength had all been forged through his own step-by-step, single-minded hard work.
Now, it was finally time to experience what it felt like to have a speed-up cheat!
Half an hour later.
On the underground first floor, inside a spacious large cabin.
Xia Nuo looked around and nodded in satisfaction.
This place had originally been a backup armory. Since the Gatt's route had been relatively safe in recent years, it had remained vacant and unattended for a long time, with dust covering everything and cobwebs crisscrossing the room.
When Xia Nuo found Gart and asked for a room where he could practice physical techniques,
the old man immediately remembered this place. He promptly called people over to clean it thoroughly, then brought in several sandbags and some discarded lumber, tying them together with hemp rope to make crude wooden posts.
He had even prepared mirrors, water, and towels in full, and forbade the other sailors from disturbing Xia Nuo. The thoughtfulness genuinely warmed and touched Xia Nuo.
"Let's begin."
Xia Nuo carefully placed the Hercules statue in the corner, then let out a long breath and began jogging in circles to warm up.
After warming up, he did not immediately begin practicing Rokushiki. Instead, he chose to continue practicing Breathing Fist.
After all, the bottleneck of this boxing style was already faintly visible.
If he could break through to mastery sooner, the boost it provided to his combat strength would far exceed that of beginner-level Rokushiki.
Time passed in a flash.
In the blink of an eye, six days had gone by. Under the afternoon sunlight, the Gatt sailed steadily across the ocean.
This route was indeed safe enough. They encountered no further accidents along the way, nor did they run into any pirate ships fond of flying skull flags.
Inside the underground cabin.
The sound of repeated impacts rang out without end. A sturdy figure darted back and forth between the wooden posts and sandbags, while wet trails of sweat covered the wooden floor.
"One thousand nine hundred ninety-nine... two thousand, stop!"
The counting echoed through the enclosed space. The boy's spine resembled the drawn bowstring of a massive crossbow. At the instant his knuckles touched the teak post, he abruptly withdrew his strength. An invisible vibration seeped into it, and with a crack, ring-shaped fractures appeared across its surface.
"Huff..."
Xia Nuo suddenly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, white steam billowed from his entire body, and his breathing was as heavy as a bellows.
With every inhalation, his diaphragm sank to twice the depth of an ordinary person's, while the muscles between his ribs swelled like sails. The instant he exhaled, his throat vibrated, and the pressure from his alveoli expanding outward with wild force was visible to the naked eye.
He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing rhythm. Only after a long while did he gradually calm down.
When he took a dry towel and wiped away his sweat, scalding steam still rose continuously through the towel's fibers.
Xia Nuo tilted back his neck and gulped down water. After draining it, he tossed it aside and wiped his mouth vigorously.
"Awesome!"
The low voice that emerged from his throat still felt unfamiliar to him.
It had previously retained some childishness, but now it sounded as though he had directly crossed the final stage of adolescence and voice change, becoming an adult's voice completely.
"Six days. It only took six days!"
Xia Nuo walked over to the mirror, the floorboards creaking beneath his feet. Looking at the familiar yet strange figure within, he grinned, his eyes filled with exhilaration.
During these past few days,
he had spent more than twelve hours each day bitterly training here. Only he himself—and perhaps the silent statue in the corner—knew how much hardship he had endured and how much sweat he had shed.
But the results of cultivation would eventually bear witness to everything!
On the sixth day—in other words, today—he had completely broken through the bottleneck and brought Breathing Fist to mastery!
The barrier that had originally restricted his body's limits was like a fragile glass container being forced apart. It shattered inch by inch.
Then it crazily expanded and was reforged, its capacity far exceeding what it had been before. It gave him a transcendent sensation, as though he were looking down from above after evolving into an entirely new species.
The change in his voice was one of the obvious alterations brought about by the breakthrough.
It was also the most insignificant one.
Xia Nuo studied his reflection in the mirror.
His face remained handsome and refined, but his eyebrows had grown considerably thicker and darker, while his jawline had become more defined. His black hair, which had previously only reached his ears, had grown wildly and covered his shoulders.
As for his height, he had shot up by more than ten centimeters!
From his neck downward, every muscle on his body was knotted and bulging. His shoulder blades rose like battering rams, and when his latissimus dorsi fully spread, they directly blocked half the mirror.
Most frightening of all was his spine. The thirty-three vertebrae rippled beneath his skin as though a living creature lurked within. When he slightly hunched his body, his entire spine resembled a fully drawn heavy crossbow, producing a teeth-grating creak of tension.
Compared to his current body, the one from six days ago appeared so frail.
He stood before the mirror for a long time.
He simply kept examining himself from head to toe, like a craftsman from an ancient civilization admiring a proud sculpture he had created with his own hands. He could never grow tired of looking at it.
Snap!
He suddenly hooked two wooden posts up with his feet and kicked them into the air, catching one in each hand.
With a little force, he crushed both wooden posts at once, shattering them into countless fine splinters that pattered to the ground.
The boy then spread his arms and wantonly savored the powerful strength surging through his body, strength far greater than before. Unable to suppress his joy any longer, he threw back his head and laughed heartily.
"Hahahahahaha!!!!"
The laughter shook dust from the ceiling, sending it drifting down in a rustle that reached all the way to the deck.
On the deck.
Gart was leaning against the railing and leisurely smoking his pipe. Feeling the violent tremors in the wooden boards beneath his feet, he remembered that Xia Nuo had been eating and sleeping in the underground cabin for the past few days without coming out for air or showing his face.
He could not help feeling somewhat worried.
After hesitating for a moment, he still followed the spiral staircase downstairs and arrived outside the backup armory. Slowly, he raised his right hand.
Creak~
He had just been about to knock when the wooden door was suddenly shoved open from inside with great force, startling him into taking a step back.
"Hm?"
The person opposite lowered his head when he noticed him and let out a soft sound of surprise.
Old Gart looked up at that familiar face. Nothing seemed to have gone wrong. His gaze moved downward, where the boy had already put on that bulky coat, making it impossible to see any changes.
But why did something seem so strange...?
No!
The moment he realized what it was, Gart's mouth fell open. The pipe between his lips dropped to the floor with a clack.
When they had first met, the boy had clearly been more than half a head shorter than him. So how was it that now, Gart had to raise his head and look up at him instead?!
"Mr. Gart, what brings you here? What a coincidence."
The black-haired boy scratched his head and revealed a shy, youthful smile. "Um, I haven't eaten for half a day, and I suddenly got a little hungry. I was just about to head to the dining hall. Would you like to come with me?"