Bleach: Getting Stronger Starting from Teaching at the Spiritual Arts Academy

"Also, you were just staring at my sword, which isn't good."

July continued, "By the time you see the trajectory of the sword, it's often too late to react. You need to observe how I exert force so that you can predict how I will strike."

"The teacher can actually predict where I'm going to hit..." Cilantro mused. "But even if I observe the teacher, I can't figure anything out..."

"This requires accumulating experience. You can't be complacent when practicing swordsmanship; you need to practice with others frequently. However, a solid foundation is also very important," July said.

"I understand! I will try my best!" Cilantro waved her little fist and said energetically.

It was getting late, so July told Kana to go home first and come to the dojo to practice swordsmanship when she didn't have class tomorrow.

[You have given a lesson to your disciple; reward settled.]

[Reward: 20 Swordsmanship Experience Points]

[Received an extra reward for teaching an S-rank talent disciple for the first time]

[Gain 10000 points of basic general experience]

[Obtained Sword Skill Enhancement Scroll (Mastery)]

This first-ever extra reward was quite generous, which truly surprised July.

I actually gained 10000 points of basic ability general experience.

This extra reward is only available once; you won't receive it again even if you recruit disciples with S-level talent in the future.

In July, he continued to apply all the basic general experience he had just gained to his spiritual pressure.

In July, it felt as if he had truly devoted himself to training for a period of time, and his spiritual pressure had increased significantly.

My spiritual pressure has increased from 10 to 31.

If you convert the spiritual pressure level on his panel into the Soul Society's grading system, it's equivalent to a level 14 spiritual power, which is a significant improvement compared to before.

In July, I took another look at the new things I had acquired.

[Sword Skill Enhancement Scroll (Mastery): Can enhance any sword skill below Mastery level to Mastery.]

nice one!

After thinking for a moment, July used the skill enhancement scroll he had obtained on the Instant Step Iaijutsu. This move requires the use of Instant Step skills, and since his Instant Step level was average, this sword technique was quite difficult to master.

Chapter 7 A rare opportunity

The following day, July arrived at the Shinigami Academy early in the morning.

His classes are mostly in the morning, and he even came a little earlier today.

Yesterday, before Cilantro left, she said that the wooden swords in the class's swordsmanship room were of poor quality, and she planned to check them before class.

I went to the office in July. Yesterday was the first day of school and the teachers were all very busy. I didn't get to know all my colleagues in the office yesterday.

As soon as he entered the office, he saw that petite Grim Reaper again.

She leaned against the table, chatting with a female teacher.

Shirai Riko noticed someone coming in and waved, "Good morning, Shikatori-sensei."

The female teacher with long green hair waved and said, "Good morning, Shikatori-sensei."

The green-haired teacher is from the Kido Club; I saw him when he came to the office yesterday in July.

"Good morning, Shirai-sensei and Sakai-sensei." July paused and said, "Shirai-sensei is here too. I might have to come find you later."

Shirai Riko works in the logistics department, but the logistics department's office isn't here; this is the instructor's office.

"Why are you looking for me?" Shirai Riko asked, somewhat curious.

“Yesterday my student said that many of the wooden swords in the swordsmanship room were damaged. After I go and check, I may have to ask Mr. Shirai to replace them with new wooden swords,” July explained.

"So many wooden swords have been worn out in just one day of school? Are all the students in your class naturally strong?" Shirai Riko asked incredulously. "Before school started, all the wooden swords in the sword room were replaced with new ones!"

"Shikatori-sensei, I'll go with you to take a look."

"No problem, please follow me."

Shirai Riko wanted to confirm the situation, and Nana didn't refuse. The two went to the sword room together.

He originally wanted to sit in the office for a while and get to know all his colleagues before going there, but since Shirai Riko happened to be there too, he went to deal with the wooden sword replacement first.

The office and the swordplay room are not in the same building; it's a distance to walk between them.

Riko Shirai, with her talkative nature, soon started chatting with Nanatsu again.

"Are the students in Shikatori-sensei's class easy to manage?" Shirai Riko asked.

"It was alright. Everyone was quite respectful to me during class yesterday." July recalled the students in her class. Apart from Shinji Hirako and Kensei Muguruma, she didn't find any particularly troublesome students.

Hirako Shinji is rather lazy. Yesterday, during the practice of Sujin, he started to slack off as long as July wasn't watching him.

Kensei Muguruma has a rather impulsive personality and is a student who is prone to getting into trouble.

"Then you'd better do your best, Shikato-sensei. I'm quite familiar with the Kido Club. I heard from Nakajima-sensei that the students in her class are amazing, including many geniuses from noble families. The swordsmanship teacher for this class is also a new teacher."

Shirai Riko lowered her voice, speaking furtively as if she were revealing some incredible secret, "Let me tell you a secret, the captain of the swordsmanship club was temporarily transferred to the Spirit Arts Academy, and he'll be returning soon."

"What does this have to do with me?" July was completely baffled. He was just a new teacher who had just joined the company. Even if there was a vacancy for the head of the swordsmanship club, it shouldn't be his turn.

"I heard that they select teachers with good teaching performance to serve as department heads, which is why so many geniuses from noble families are put in the same class," Shirai Riko continued, sharing the gossip she had gathered.

Putting students with good academic foundations in one class clearly indicates that someone is paving the way for the teacher who will teach that class.

"Oh? Really? If it's about choosing teachers with good teaching results, then I'll have to work hard..." July was excited. If she became the department head, she could choose the classes she wanted to teach first, and she would have more opportunities to come into contact with those Grim Reapers from her memories.

The term "patient guidance" is now available in July, making it much more effective to teach students.

Even if most of the promising talents with a foundation in swordsmanship have already been selected, he is not without a chance of winning.

"It's true, otherwise we wouldn't have put so many geniuses from noble families in the same class this year. They used to be scattered. Actually, this news has already spread far and wide, and many people know about it. Only new teachers like you, Shirai Riko, don't know yet," Shirai Riko said.

Shirai Riko didn't actually think that Nana would be able to win the position of captain of the swordsmanship club, since most of the good talents had already been selected. She just couldn't resist sharing, which is why she told Nana these things.

"Thank you for letting me know, Shirai-sensei." July thought she would bring some snacks to work tomorrow to thank Shirai Riko.

The two went to the sword room and examined the wooden swords on the wooden sword rack together.

“These wooden swords all look very new,” Shirai Riko thought, finding nothing wrong with them.

"It is indeed a new wooden knife." July carefully examined the wooden knife and found no signs of long-term use.

He gathered his spiritual pressure at his fingertips and rubbed them together to remove the oil layer from the wooden sword.

The outer layer of the wooden knife is coated with a special oil that can prevent moisture and insect infestation, and also improves the feel of the knife.

"This is a refurbished wooden knife. It must have been stored away for a long time and has been neglected, causing it to crack from moisture." After rubbing off the oil layer from the wooden knife in July, she discovered that the wood inside was actually cracked.

If wooden knives are not maintained for a long time, their appearance will become mottled and rough to the touch. The material will also gradually degrade, losing its original strength and durability, making the wooden knives more prone to damage.

The wooden swords at Shikatori Dojo were all personally maintained by Nanatsuki, so he knows them very well.

"A refurbished wooden sword?!" Shirai Riko was taken aback. She quickly picked up another wooden sword and, following Nanatsuki's example, rubbed off the oil coating.

Sure enough, the same problem was found: some of the wood inside had cracked.

After testing several more wooden knives, almost all of them showed signs of cracking, just to varying degrees.

"Ms. Shirai, are you in charge of procurement?" July felt that if Shirai Riko was involved, she would be in big trouble. This kind of thing was very complicated.

"It wasn't me, but I'm in charge of distributing them to the various sword-making rooms. If all these wooden swords are like this... we're doomed, we're going to get yelled at!" Shirai Riko scratched her hair, somewhat annoyed.

"I need to go check the warehouse..." Shirai Riko hurriedly left the swordsmanship room.

It seems that the wooden swords cannot be replaced for the time being. However, the students are still practicing the basics of swordsmanship, such as stances, footwork, etc., and they have not yet reached the point where they need to spar. These defective wooden swords can be used for now.

Time quickly came to class, and the students arrived at the swordplay room one after another.

"Good morning, teacher..." Cilantro from Mochi City mumbled, biting into a steamed bun.

"Good morning." July nodded, counted the heads, and everyone was there.

Generally speaking, it's rare for freshmen to skip classes during the initial period of the semester; they'll usually pretend to be in class for a few days.

In July, we must try our best to arouse students' interest in kendo.

"Classes begin."

"Yesterday, a student asked why Shinigami, who have many techniques such as Zanpakuto, Kido, Hakuda, and Shunpo, still need to learn swordsmanship."

"Today, I'm going to show you what swordsmanship can do."

Chapter 8 Classroom Presentations

In the center of the swordplay room stood a human-shaped target.

In July, she picked up a wooden sword and slowly walked toward the human-shaped target.

The students formed a circle, watching July's movements.

The human-shaped target is specially made and extremely tough; even a shallow strike with a real knife would be difficult to cut through it.

In July, he lunged forward, raised his sword, and pressed his left hand against the back of the blade, attaching his spiritual pressure to the sword.

The next moment, all the muscles in July's body tensed up, and she took a sudden step forward, thrusting out the wooden sword in her hand at a speed that no one present could see.

Shikatori Style: Instant Strike!

thump—

With a muffled thud, the wooden sword had already plunged into the chest of the human-shaped target.

July drew the wooden sword, and as soon as he dissipated the spiritual pressure attached to the blade, the wooden sword instantly turned into wood chips, shattering into pieces on the ground.

Most of the students in this class were born in Rukongai and had never seen such swordsmanship before; they were all stunned.

"Teacher is so amazing!!!" Cilantro clapped excitedly.

The other students also came to their senses and began to applaud.

Hirako Shinji remained as languid as ever, casually clapping along with the other students.

"Tch..." Kensei Rokusha muttered, "I can punch a hole just as easily."

He was still somewhat dismissive of swordsmanship, preferring the visceral feel of hand-to-hand combat to swords.

“That’s the ‘skill,’ now I’ll show you the ‘trick.’” July took out a bowl of red bean rice he had brought and waved to Cilantro in the crowd, “Cilantro, come here for a second.”

As soon as Cilantro saw July take out the red bean rice, she flashed in front of July at lightning speed.

"Teacher, am I supposed to eat here? Is it a bit inappropriate?" Cilantro asked expectantly.

"Don't eat yet, just hold this and stand here." July placed the bowl of red bean rice in her disciple's hands and told her to hold it.

Then, using chopsticks, she picked up a cooked red bean and stuck it on her forehead.

After doing all that, July went to the knife rack and took a wooden knife.

Cilantro was confused by the teacher's behavior and stared blankly at the teacher who was slowly walking towards her.

Just as Cilantro was slightly stunned, July's eyes suddenly became unusually sharp.

Cilantro suddenly felt a sharp chill on her forehead and between her eyebrows.

call out--

The sound of air being cut rang out.

Kensei Muguruma's pupils slowly dilated, and he exclaimed in disbelief, "Tch...cut in half!!!"

The languid look on Hirako Shinji's face disappeared, and he looked intently at the red bean on Kana's forehead.

—The ripe red bean had already been cut in half with a wooden knife.

"Unbelievable... Can a wooden sword really produce such a sharp slash?" Hirako Shinji murmured.

The cooked red beans, stuck to the forehead like this, are not particularly secure. If the sword swing is slightly slower, the red beans will be knocked apart instead of being cut in half as they are now.

Moreover, the red bean is very small, so to accurately hit it without hurting Kana Mochi, you need to have very precise control over the distance.

This sword strike was extremely difficult; Shikatori-sensei's swordsmanship is terrifying!

"Absolutely brilliant! Shikatori-sensei—please teach me kendo!" A student with a somewhat fierce-looking face was so excited that tears streamed down his face.

He felt that today was a special day—he had found his life goal: to learn kendo and become a great swordsman!