Banbu, You're Not That Dumb After All~

"Do you know the ultimate secret of swordsmanship, Banbu?"

The [One-Handed Straight Sword] skill instructor gazed solemnly at the empty ground ahead as he posed the question to Wang Shui.

No idea. Could you hurry this up? I still need to grind monsters. If I don't, I won't eat today. Don't blame me when I beg you to buy me dinner.

"The ultimate secret of the sword? Becoming one with your sword?" he replied with some offhand nonsense.

The instructor smiled and shook his head. "Always leaving yourself enough room to escape."

All right, I approve of your swordsmanship!

"A one-handed straight sword is usually paired with an off-hand shield, providing both offense and defense while making it easier to disengage. But you can only equip a small shield. Large shields require the dedicated [Shield Specialization] skill, which takes a high strength stat to learn."

The instructor drew a wooden sword from the nearby weapon rack and lowered his body slightly, his left hand and foot forward. Holding the sword in his right hand, he drew it back level beside his chest, his body naturally relaxed.

"For safety's sake, a small shield is an off-hand piece of equipment you must master. But purely in terms of Sword Skills, a small shield actually interferes with your vision and balance during early training, so you can leave it out while learning."

"Mm!" Wang Shui nodded and ran over to the instructor's right, taking the same stance half a body length behind him so he could see the instructor's movements clearly.

The instructor nodded in satisfaction too. He looked a little vacant, but he could still take the initiative to learn.

"Watch closely. What we call Sword Skills are refined from simple attack movements. Ultimately, the movements remain the same. The standard attacks for a one-handed sword mainly include thrusts, downward chops, rising cuts, horizontal slashes, and diagonal slashes to either side. Almost all of these have corresponding Sword Skills, like the opening thrust stance I'm taking now."

At that, the instructor pushed off the ground, rotating his waist and hips as his right arm sent the sword straight forward.

At the same time, a distinct blue glow lit up the wooden blade, and the Sword Skill took shape.

At first, the man pushed the sword. Once the instructor's sword reached the limit of his reach, the sword began pulling the man!

The instructor shot three or four meters forward at tremendous speed. He also made a small leap, even switching legs in midair to let the Sword Skill carry him forward.

"This is the general basic Sword Skill for one-handed weapons-[Linear]. Of course, it's difficult to get it to register with something like a one-handed hammer."

The instructor's matter-of-fact explanation left Wang Shui dumbfounded.

What happened to this being a world without magic? Could someone draw a force diagram for that movement just now? How the hell is that not magic?!

Despite his inward grumbling, Wang Shui began copying him, pushing off the ground and twisting his waist and hips.

The instructor hadn't taught him to twist his waist and drive his hips, perhaps assuming that Wang Shui, who claimed to have learned [Dagger], already understood how to generate force.

Shing-

A faint ring sounded as the force reached the sword tip. The thrust was textbook, but no Sword Skill glow appeared, and naturally, Wang Shui didn't dash forward either.

"Mm, well done, Banbu. Your form is very good, but you finished twisting your waist too early-or rather, your arm moved too slowly, leaving you a little short of force at the end. Don't rush. I'll teach you the downward chop, rising cut, horizontal slash, and diagonal slashes to either side first. Practice all these movements together. Get familiar with the sword in your hand, stabilize your movements, and let your force flow smoothly."

The instructor then demonstrated the downward chop, rising cut, horizontal slash, and diagonal slashes to either side. This time, he didn't activate any Sword Skills, merely demonstrating the movements slowly.

After watching twice from different angles, Wang Shui fell into thought, carefully recalling and analyzing the instructor's standard movements for generating force.

Before long, he began practicing while the instructor offered guidance beside him.

"Don't twist too far on a horizontal slash. Just ease off naturally when the sword reaches your right side."

"Open up your arm on a downward chop. Yes, the front section of the sword should travel the greatest distance, giving the area near the tip more power. Control the distance and angle of each chop. Ideally, keep the force consistent too."

"A rising cut isn't a flick! Keep your wrist relaxed! Step forward,

yes, keep your balance." These movements weren't difficult, and the instructor was quite patient. Soon, Wang Shui's movements became smooth and connected.

But Wang Shui still hadn't learned the skill, so he couldn't use any Sword Skills at all.

Time slipped by. Mild hunger, aching muscles, and mental exhaustion set in together, but Wang Shui gritted his teeth and kept going.

Sweat ran into his eyes, so he simply closed them, sensing the sword's movement with his body alone.

Wang Shui didn't want to give up. This might be his only chance to acquire a basic skill.

If he couldn't learn from such a conscientious [One-Handed Straight Sword] instructor... he didn't hold out much hope for anyone else either. Playing pitiful and putting on an act weren't burdens to him. He feared wasting time more.

Failing to acquire skills for so long wasn't merely a matter of falling behind in progress. It was a matter of survival.

His innate ability barred him from acquiring skills through simple dragging and dropping, but it had also enhanced his learning ability. The word "greatly" wasn't just for show.

The more he slashed and thrust, the lighter the [Small Sword] in Wang Shui's hand felt, until it was like a twig, or even a feather. Gradually, Wang Shui could feel the wind-or rather, the air currents-passing over the blade.

He could feel the blade parting the air, but he still hadn't acquired the skill.

Just as he'd spent half a year in [Iron Edge City], a safe city controlled by the system, reading large quantities of specialized books and burning through plenty of ammunition practicing with guns, yet never acquired a single skill.

A faint irritation slowly crept over him, and the sword in his hand began to grow heavy.

"Stop." The instructor calmly interrupted Wang Shui as something began to go wrong with his bearing.

Wang Shui stopped his sword and wiped the sweat from his face. No longer regulating his breathing, he gulped down air to rescue his dazed head.

The instructor paced within a very small area, his face grave.

"Banbu, how did your older brother teach you [Dagger]?"

Huh? Dunno. I made that up.

Wang Shui could only shake his head blankly.

The instructor frowned and circled Wang Shui twice before finally stopping in front of him and looking into his eyes.

Wang Shui no longer had the strength to act. His eyes had reverted to his own vicious dead-fish stare, and exhaustion made him look even more unfriendly.

"Banbu... have you ever killed a monster?"

Wang Shui shook his head.

"Then have you ever used violence against any target with the intention of injuring or killing it?"

"Do wooden targets count?" As Wang Shui answered, he recalled the poor target whose entire outer outline he'd shot away during firearms practice.

The instructor shook his head solemnly, then picked up his wooden sword again.

"Come on. Attack me. You should still have a little strength left."

Hm? Wang Shui was puzzled. Sparring?

"Strike at my vitals with the intent to kill me. Don't worry. With your technique and condition, I'll give you a gift if you can so much as touch the hem of my clothes."

What a lousy provocation, and an utterly halfhearted material incentive. Wang Shui was irritated, but he wasn't stupid yet.

This instructor's level certainly couldn't be low. Agility was the main stat for a one-handed sword, so he had to be fast. It would be perfectly normal not to land a hit.

Still, despite thinking that, Wang Shui lowered himself into a lunging stance.

The instructor simply stood there, his right hand holding the wooden sword's hilt, its tip hanging naturally toward the ground.

Thrust!

Wang Shui suddenly burst forward. Without a Sword Skill, he could only advance on his own feet while driving the sword forward in a thrust.

His form was correct, his movement forceful.

The instructor merely turned slightly sideways, easily avoiding the oncoming sword tip.

Planting his feet, Wang Shui didn't withdraw his sword. Instead, he turned his wrist inward, leveling the blade horizontally as he stepped left, swiftly converting the thrust into a rightward horizontal slash.

The instructor took one step back, once again avoiding the horizontal slash by just enough.

Wang Shui's rear right foot traced a circle inward toward his left foot, his center of gravity shifting rapidly forward. At the same time, he turned his wrist outward, making the blade perform a small wrist flourish before him. As the sword reached the upper right, he immediately slashed diagonally down to the left.

The description was complicated, but in practice, he simply followed the horizontal slash with a small step forward, then a wrist flourish and a diagonal slash.

Nimble, connected, elegant.

The diagonal slash caught the instructor within its reach, but the instructor merely flicked his wooden sword upward.

The wooden sword knocked Wang Shui's sword aside. The instructor stepped farther in along the centerline, turning his wrist inward to deliver a pointing thrust that instantly struck Wang Shui's chest. Then he flipped his wrist again with tremendous speed, the wooden tip tracing a tiny semicircle that swept right across Wang Shui's throat as he lowered his head!

His chest took a heavy blow. Wang Shui only felt the instructor give him a light tap, but a modest yet distinct force pierced straight through his chest and out his back.

The sword tip sweeping his throat brought even sharper pain. Wang Shui choked outright, involuntarily letting go of his [Small Sword].

Clang-thud-

The small sword fell to the ground. Wang Shui clutched his throat and dropped stiffly to his knees, unable to recover for a long while.

"What intricate wrist work. Did someone teach you to use a sword like that? Within the Sword Skill system, even rapiers don't have that sort of continuous offensive."

Rather than Wang Shui's injury, the instructor was more delighted by the inward wrist-turning thrust and compact, wrist-flipping slash Wang Shui had just shown him, which he'd returned in kind.

"Very intricate, but without corresponding Sword Skills, they won't have much power. These technique-focused attacks use movements that are too small, making them difficult to develop into Sword Skills. And quite clearly, these techniques are meant for small- and medium-sized monsters, or specifically for..."

Yes, they had been developed specifically for humans-killing techniques.

Since his injuries weren't serious and he'd barely even lost any HP, Wang Shui soon recovered somewhat.

"What, is your throat too injured to speak?"

Wang Shui nodded. A [Body Part Damage] debuff icon had appeared beneath his short blue HP bar, counting down from five minutes.

But that wasn't important!

Enduring the pain, Wang Shui took a lunging stance again, this time facing not the instructor, but the empty ground nearby.

Ground, legs, waist. Force rose from the ground, natural and smooth.

As Wang Shui thrust his blade straight forward, an azure glow rapidly covered it.

Accompanied by the light and sound effects of a Sword Skill, Wang Shui slid two or three meters straight forward before finding his footing with stumbling steps.

"Uh, when using a lunging skill, either give your feet some time off the ground or run along with the charge. Don't plant your feet firmly on the ground to brake."

Offering that final instruction, the instructor smiled and shook his head. "Banbu, you're not that dumb after all. Your understanding of the sword seems somewhat different from the traditional schools."

Wang Shui showed no sign of delight. Instead, he bowed to the instructor with earnest solemnity.

Then he took out a blank sheet of paper and wrote with a pen:

"Thank you very much for your instruction. This truly means a great deal to me. It's terribly rude of me, but I haven't yet asked your name."

"Luke. Or, going by the instructors' numbering, you can call me Instructor Number Seven."

Then thank you so much, Seventh Brother. Looking at the [One-Handed Straight Sword] skill that had automatically filled his skill list, Wang Shui instead quickly calmed down amid his delight.

More than simply acquiring this skill, Wang Shui cared that he seemed to have grasped a spark of inspiration for acquiring more skills.

"You seem to have noticed," Instructor Seventh Brother suddenly said. "You should now understand what kept you stuck on the verge of mastering the skill."

Yes. Wang Shui nodded. So acquiring a skill also requires using the techniques you practiced to beat someone up.

"Exactly. Intent. The intent of the strong. Attack, defeat, even kill. The techniques you've mastered, or rather, the embryonic form of a skill, aren't a dance, nor are they movements for exercising your body. They're weapons! Weapons just like the sword in your hand! You're too cowardly!"

Huh? Isn't beating someone up enough?

"You must seize it, seize the skill you're about to master. Imagine what changes it will bring you, how it will help you defeat your enemies. Master it! Use it!"

Wang Shui nodded receptively, then wrote on the paper, "Sorry for the trouble, but could you explain it more simply?"

"Intent. You lack the intent of the strong. Your eyes have no desire to win, no killing intent, no aggression whatsoever. You lack combat!"

At those words, Wang Shui instantly saw the light.

Indeed, he hadn't fought a single battle over the past half year. He'd dutifully repaired vehicles and worked at the forge.

He'd only practiced shooting because he liked firearms and wanted to have some fun with guns.

The only two skills he had were ones he'd mastered under immense pressure to survive during his awakening quest, when a faction had captured him for forced labor.

Combat and pressure...

Having figured a few things out, Wang Shui bowed to Instructor Seventh Brother again, then wrote on the paper:

"I'll ask for your guidance if I have more questions later. I think it's time for me to get plenty of practice."

Wang Shui had gained a great deal today and resolved a major worry, but he still hadn't even begun progressing through SAO.

"Mm, you should get plenty of practice. And for an adventurer, your physical condition is far too poor. You can do some extra strength training every day, such as practicing your sword with weights. Saying strength is speed is something of an exaggeration, but once your strength is high enough, your agility stat will indeed rise too."

As Instructor Seventh Brother went on like this, Wang Shui wore a baffled expression.

"Can the four main stats be increased through training?"

Reading the words on the paper, Instructor Seventh Brother was puzzled too.

"How else? Rely solely on the three free stat points you get each time you level up? Aren't free stat points for making up your shortcomings? If you lack the strength to wield a powerful weapon, add strength. Likewise, if you're desperately short on agility or dexterity, you can put some points into those. Only constitution does nothing beyond increasing HP and physical potential, so nobody puts points into constitution. That's why people generally save their free stat points, then use the accumulated points to wield more powerful weapons once training becomes noticeably less effective at higher levels, isn't it? Didn't your instructor-oh, no, your deceased older brother-tell you?"

I haven't seen Brother Hei in a month or two. I hope some illness defeats him soon.

No, Brother Hei isn't the point.

As far as Wang Shui remembered, no posts on the strategy website had ever mentioned that stats could increase through training!

There had been quite a few posts explaining how stats affected combat, followed by a pile of stat allocation guides.

According to Instructor Seventh Brother, stat points were best saved until the end, to meet the requirements for equipping high-level gear!

By now, the fastest-leveling players were already level three or four, right? A dozen or so points already made a big difference...

And these high-level players who'd wasted their points would all become the mainstays of the clearing group!

Wang Shui hurried out the door and opened his map to find the tavern.

Argo! You'd better be in this town!