I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Seeing that Kondo had taken the initiative to admit his mistake, Okita stopped pursuing the matter and just glared at Kondo with a resentful look.

After calming Okita down, Kondo placed the protective gear he had been carrying on the ground in front of him. "Here, Aoto, try this protective gear on and see if it fits. If it does, then let's start training right away."

In his previous life, Aoto had never seen protective gear specifically for Japanese swordsmanship. Since "Haruto Aoto" had never been to a swordsmanship school, he naturally had no knowledge about wearing protective gear.

Kondo was also very considerate; seeing that Aoto was not familiar with putting on protective gear, he immediately came forward to help.

The protective gear that Kondo brought was brand new, had no unpleasant smell, and was the perfect size.

Seeing that there were no problems with the protective gear, Kondo nodded with satisfaction: "Very good! Then..."

Before Kondo could even finish speaking, a few scattered footsteps suddenly came from the entrance of the dojo.

"Good morning, little master. We're here to practice our swordsmanship."

Good morning, little master.

……

Four young men, all of very young age, appeared at the entrance.

These four must be the rest of the apprentices at this sword-fighting school—Qing Deng concluded in his heart.

Kondo's next words confirmed Aoto's conjecture.

"Oh, you've come to practice swordsmanship." Kondo smiled at the four of them. "Come, let me introduce you. This is your new junior brother—Tachibana Aoto."

After briefly explaining Aoto's situation to the four people, Kondo suddenly asked Aoto:

"Tachibana-kun, you just told me that you learned a little swordsmanship from your father, right?"

“Yes.” Qingdeng nodded. “I’ve only learned a little bit.”

"Alright, I'd like to first confirm your current level so that we can teach you more effectively. You can have a simple spar with one of your senior brothers later. Don't be nervous, just treat it like a game."

Kondo's procedure of "confirming the apprentice's level" was a normal practice in the martial arts school, so Qing Deng had no objections. Moreover, he was more than happy to spar and compete with others, so he nodded without hesitation: "Okay! No problem!"

After Aoto nodded, Kondo turned to look at one of the taller students among the four apprentices who had just arrived at the sword-making school:

"Suzuki-kun, go put on your protective gear. You can have a simple spar with Tachibana-kun."

……

……

The tall guy named Suzuki put on his armor with remarkable speed and efficiency.

He and Qingdeng tucked their bamboo swords into their left waistbands, squatted on the left and right sides of the dojo respectively, bowed to each other, and then drew their bamboo swords from their left waistbands in a gesture resembling the drawing of a sword, before slowly standing up.

The above is the complete set of etiquette for sparring in the dojo.

After completing this entire set of etiquette, the competition can begin.

The one who launched the first attack was Suzuki.

"Ahhh—!"

Suzuki yelled and swung his sword at Aoto's head.

This isn't just an ordinary strange cry. His strange cry has a scientific name: "Qi He".

Simply put, it involves drawing energy into the dantian (lower abdomen) to produce a loud roar, which helps generate power and also intimidates the enemy.

Qingdeng didn't understand swordsmanship, but he did understand unarmed combat and baton techniques. These skills gave him a very solid foundation in footwork and a wealth of experience in sparring with others.

With such rich experience in sparring, there was no reason for him to be intimidated when competing against Suzuki.

Qing Dengji calmly took a step back, thus dodging Suzuki's slash.

Kondo, Okita, and the other three apprentices who had just come to practice swordsmanship with Suzuki were now sitting on the edge of the dojo, watching Aoto and Suzuki's duel intently.

Suzuki is the type who thinks "offense is just so satisfying."

He launched a relentless barrage of attacks on Qingdeng.

However, Qing Deng dodged all of his attacks with his skillful footwork.

After seeing Aoto dodge Suzuki's attack once again with his footwork, Okita lowered his voice and said to Kondo in a volume only he and Kondo could hear:

"Kondo-kun, Tachibana-kun just told me that he's skilled in hand-to-hand combat and the Ten Techniques, and he's not exaggerating. In terms of footwork, many of the veterans at our Shieikan are no match for Tachibana-kun."

Kondo didn't reply, but simply nodded silently, then continued to watch intently as Aoto and Suzuki competed.

This is a friendly competition to assess Qingdeng's current strength.

Therefore, Qing Deng knew that if he kept defending and dodging, Kondo would definitely not be satisfied. Kondo would definitely want to see how good his offensive ability was. If he didn't start attacking quickly, Kondo would definitely not call a halt to this sparring match.

Therefore, after dodging another attack from Suzuki, Qing Deng seized the opportunity when Suzuki's sword had just been swung out and had not yet been retracted, and slashed at Suzuki's head with the bamboo sword in his hand.

However, Suzuki is a good offensive player, and equally strong defensively.

He quickly took a step back, simultaneously pulling the bamboo sword in his hand into his robes, thus parrying Qing Deng's bamboo sword.

Undeterred, Qing Deng unleashed two more sword strikes.

Bang!Bang!

The sound of bamboo swords clashing rang out twice.

Suzuki neutralized both of Qing Deng's attacks.

Not only was it neutralized, but after parrying Qing Deng's last attack, Suzuki quickly stepped forward and, seizing the opportunity when Qing Deng's bamboo sword was parried and wide open, slashed heavily at Qing Deng's chest.

At that moment, the three apprentices who had come with Suzuki to learn swordsmanship all showed smiles as if they had seen something funny, and one of them even let out a low laugh.

For the three of them who had studied swordsmanship, Qing Deng's slashes were so poorly executed that it was like watching a child swinging a sword, so bad that they couldn't help but laugh.

Upon noticing the three men laughing, Okita immediately glared at them fiercely.

After being glared at by Okita, the three of them quickly stopped smiling.

As Okita used his eyes to stop the three from laughing, Kondo silently thought to himself:

—I've roughly figured out Tachibana-kun's skill level...

After watching the series of exchanges between Aoto and Suzuki, Kondo had already formulated an assessment of Aoto's strength in his mind: his footwork was decent, but his swordsmanship was only slightly better than that of an ordinary person who had never been exposed to swordsmanship.

—My swordsmanship is a bit weak, so I have to start learning from the very basics.

—Overall level... can only be considered an average person with a fairly decent foundation in footwork.

—That's all for now.

Kondo, who felt there was no need to continue the match between Aoto and Suzuki, slowly raised his hand, preparing to stop the competition.

However, at this moment—

"Hmm?" Kondo's eyes suddenly widened slightly, and then he stared intently at Aoto in the dojo.

Okita also made a similar move.

Kondo and Okita, almost simultaneously, slightly widened their eyes and stared intently at Aoto.

A growing sense of astonishment slowly surfaced in their eyes.

……

……

Kondo and Okita couldn't see it—in Aoto's mind, there was a "high-speed projector" running right now.

The projector was showing the scenes from his earlier contest with Suzuki.

Qingdeng stared uncontrollably at the "film" playing in the "projector".

In my mind, the "film" played frame by frame.

In reality, Qing Deng loosened his grip on the knife slightly with his left hand, and also raised his left heel slightly.

—I think I gripped the knife a little too tightly just now...and shifted my weight too far back...

At this moment, the "Sword Prodigy" entry in the system's talent list shone with dazzling golden light!

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Chapter 14 A Stunning Skill (Part 2)

Kondo did not stop the match, so Suzuki had no choice but to continue.

"Drink up—!"

A sharp slash was accompanied by a loud shout.

The bamboo sword traced an arc as it struck Qing Deng's forehead, which was covered by protective gear.

Suzuki didn't have much hope for his attack. Through his series of exchanges with Qing Deng, he knew that his opponent had excellent footwork and that hitting him would not be easy.

As Suzuki had predicted, his attack was once again dodged by Aoto.

However—although he had anticipated that his attack would not be effective, a hint of surprise still appeared on Suzuki's face.

I wasn't surprised that Qing Deng was able to dodge his attack.

Instead, they were surprised that Qing Deng's dodging speed seemed to be a little faster than before.

—Why does this person seem to be dodging faster?

Suzuki quickly racked his brains, trying to come up with an answer to the question, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a reason that would convince him.

Kondo and Okita, who were off the field, knew the answer—Aoto had just slightly changed his stance while holding the sword, adjusting his center of gravity to one that was more suitable for holding the sword. This correction made Aoto's dodging much easier.

After dodging Suzuki's slash, Aoto immediately launched a counterattack.

Unaccustomed to emitting a breath, Qing Deng silently lowered his waist slightly, pushed the bamboo sword forward, and slashed horizontally at Suzuki's chest.

Snapped!

Suzuki swung his sword to parry Aoto's slash.

However, despite making a successful defense, Suzuki still showed a look of astonishment as if he had been hit.