I teach judo in Tokyo.

“This is kissing…” Ryougi's eyes sparkled, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up.

"It feels really good."

Sosuke smiled and said, "Ori, what you just did was at most a touch, a child's kiss. The instructor will teach you what a lover's kiss is."

Then, he pressed down on the back of his disciple's head and bowed deeply.

Ryougi's curious eyes immediately trembled, and then she instinctively closed them.

......

......

Just as Atobe Sousuke was pushing Ryougi's intimacy level from the first stage to the second stage.

A secluded spot in Tokyo.

Six people with extraordinary presence were sitting back on the sofa.

On the small table between them, the image of a burly man was being projected in 3D.

The man was blond, had one eye, and wore a black vest that accentuated his terrifyingly muscular physique.

His projection looked at one of the six men, an elegant middle-aged man: "Goenitz, congratulations on your escape."

Goenitz smiled gently: "Lord Luke, I must say, I must thank you for your help over the years."

"Hmph... No need to thank me. You know I rescued you all for..."

In the projection, Luke touched his eyepatch: "It's all for the sake of personally blasting you to pieces and trampling you under my feet."

"Just like how you treated me back then."

Even through a 3D projection, when he uttered these words, one could still sense his intense hatred—a hatred so intense he wished he could kill Goenitz—from his expression and tone.

"Hehehe..." Goenitz chuckled a few times, completely unconcerned about Luca's death threat.

"Lord Luke, I am very pleased that the small test back then has actually nurtured you into such a great tree."

"Enough with the nonsense!" Luke roared in a low voice, like a lion in a rage.

He said coldly, "I have no interest in reminiscing with you. The main reason I'm contacting you this time is for this 'ceremony'."

"I, Luca, have done everything I could for this ceremony, but from your perspective, what still needs to be improved for it to truly succeed?"

Goenitz nodded, his expression remaining calm and gentle: "Your current preparations and progress have indeed reached the best that can be done at present. I can feel the highly concentrated 'willpower' within the Tokyo Dome. However, willpower alone is not enough."

“Willpower is just the key; you need to find the ‘lock’ first.”

Luke raised an eyebrow: "Judging from your disgustingly confident look, you must know how to solve this, right?"

"of course."

Goenitz smiled broadly: "Sacrifice is inseparable from bloodshed and despair. Using this as a medium, and then having us chant incantations to transmit directional information to 'our lord,' we can naturally guide the Second Coming accurately..."

He looked at Luke, his eyes filled with profound meaning: "Once our Lord succeeds in returning, he can use himself as an anchor point to gradually expand the passage between this world and the 'Other Shore,' filling this world with 'Great Power.' You powerful beings, by using this Great Power, can naturally break through the limitations of being human and glimpse the qualifications to become higher beings..."

Luke looked intently at Goenitz: "You self-proclaimed god... tell me your plan."

Goenitz smiled slightly.

"We don't need to wait until the final round of the King of Fighters tournament. By the next round, we'll have more than enough willpower. With proper preparation, we can present the world with a grand performance on that day..."

......

......

Antarctica, deep within the ice sheet.

Within a vast metal base.

Inside the meeting room.

On a long, wide conference table, a bizarre logo of a giant snake coiled around a planet was printed.

Around the conference table sat several people with different personalities.

At this moment, everyone calmly listened to the sinister voice emanating from the speaker in the center of the table.

"As mentioned before, Gulizalid is dead, Wesker is dead, and Gis is seriously injured and receiving treatment. This match is now showing signs of slipping out of our control."

The voice was unmistakably that of Vega, the Crown of Hearts.

“My gut feeling tells me that Luke is a problem and not trustworthy.”

"And on the Japanese side, they actually brought in that monster, Furinji Amanto, to monitor us, completely restricting our movements..."

"Clearly, I need reinforcements."

After saying that, Vega fell silent.

The people at the conference table exchanged glances, then all looked at the man seated at the head of the table.

The man was wearing a smart black and blue trench coat, had dark skin, and a handsome but cold appearance.

Beside him lay a giant male lion with pure black fur, being gently stroked by him, and it yawned contentedly.

The man stroked the lion with one hand, while resting his chin on his other hand and leaning back on the sofa, his face indifferent and calm.

He nodded, his gaze sweeping over the people at the conference table.

Then, in an unquestionable tone, he said calmly, "Jia Shen, Rao, you two put down what you're doing and go check on the situation."

“Alright.” A man wearing a white cloak and robe, with a gloomy face, a red mark between his eyebrows, and carrying a long sword in a wooden sheath, nodded.

“OK.” Another imposing man, over 2.2 meters tall, also smiled and agreed.

***

Chapter 369 Water Moon Stance

It was the third day after Atobe Sousuke returned to the dojo.

Today, Sousuke, who had just finished sparring with Yae Meika, was sitting cross-legged in the dojo checking his stats.

Meanwhile, the beautiful master went to take a bath, covered in sweat.

Since becoming Sousuke's disciple and receiving his new skill level bonus, Yae Meixuan's swordsmanship has greatly improved, reaching over 50 points during combat sparring.

Having experienced a new level, Yae Meixuan's fighting spirit soared, and for several days she dragged Atobe Sousuke into sword duels every day.

However, her swordsmanship, even after being enhanced, cannot surpass Sousuke's basic swordsmanship level of "53," while Sousuke's actual swordsmanship level requires additional enhancements from the "mutual learning" function.

The difference in levels is too great, and Yae Mei-xuan is also not as physically strong as Sousuke.

He was inferior to Sousuke in strength, speed, and skill.

She was still completely outmatched throughout the entire process.

However, Mei Xuan no longer cares about winning or losing.

She discovered that this strange power enhancement only took effect during battles, so she regarded it as a rare state of "enlightenment".

Not wanting to miss out on this gift from heaven, she relentlessly sought out Sosuke for battles, even when she was being thoroughly beaten by him, all in an eager and persistent manner.

In fact, it wasn't just Yae Mei-gen.

Under his guidance, each of Sousuke's disciples greatly increased their time for combat training.

In the same intense battles, he was also driven to make rapid progress by his "high level" self.

For example, Rin's ninjutsu level has finally broken through to "30" - normally, breaking through from "29" to the integer "30" means that one's strength is about to enter a new stage.

It usually takes a relatively long time to get stuck.

However, now that there are level bonuses, the disciples can get a sense of what it would be like to be at a higher level.

Naturally, there is no bottleneck to the growth of strength.

......

The disciples are making rapid progress, and Sōsuke is not lagging behind.

In fact, he was the one who got stronger the most in those short three days.

First, there's the skill reward Yae Meixuan received for becoming his disciple, and then there's the skill reward Rin received for reaching level 30.

Sosuke thus obtained two SSR-level skills.

"Instant Kill" is a weapon-type technique, a rushing sword-drawing technique.

And unarmed weapons like the "Roman short sword," and a powerful charged punch.

These are improvements in skill.

Another improvement is that after accepting Yae Meixuan as her disciple, her swordsmanship, which is over 40, further increased the value of the system's "teaching and learning from each other" effect after calculation.

Now, the total value of all disciples' highest-level protective spells has reached over 210, providing Zongjie with a 21-point bonus to all protective spell levels.

In other words, his current average unarmed basic skill level is around "45", which becomes "66" after the boost.

His kendo level is above 50, and with the bonus, it becomes above 70.

Ninjutsu and Yin-Yang Dao also received corresponding bonuses.

It should be noted that Vega, who was listed as the "Crown of Hearts" by the Serpent of the World, may be mainly strong due to his "67" level of spiritual cultivation.

However, in this modern world without extraordinary abilities, his mental abilities do not significantly enhance his combat skills. Therefore, his "66" military combat skills are the foundation of his strength.

In other words, even a Grand-level powerhouse only has a strength of "66".

Sousuke has already reached the Grand rank in terms of "stats".

This is just the initial state; if you also consider his numerous powerful skills—not even mentioning UR-level skills.

He is probably already one of the strongest in the world, countable on one hand.

Speaking of kendo levels.

During his sword duels with Yae Bai-xuan over the past two days, Atobe Sousuke discovered an unexpected delight.

That is, ever since his swordsmanship level broke through "70" with the boost—

He can actually use SSR-level sword skills with his own abilities.

He can use any of the sword skills that are still in the panel, such as "Nine-Headed Dragon Flash" and "Mist Slash", or the sword skill memories such as "Tiger Crouching Absolute Blade Stance".

That's right. With these technical principles and experience, and given his current "70" level of swordsmanship, he can activate sword skills without the help of the system.

This means that Sousuke can now directly refine sword skills through the system's functions.

......

Now, Sosuke is looking at the system panel, planning to fuse some SSR-level sword skills to create new UR-level skills.

He took stock of his choices and decided to melt down the newly acquired SSR-level sword skill "Heavenly Instant Kill", the unarmed skill "Dragon Tail Kick" which had a relatively large opening, and the newly upgraded sword skill "Nine-Headed Dragon Flash".

Then, the skill to be refined was a weapon-based one—Tiger Crouching Blade Technique.

It's a very practical, yet relatively unused, counter-attack technique.

[The skills "Instant Kill", "Dragon Tail Kick", and "Nine-Headed Dragon Flash" have been retrieved.]

[The "Tiger Crouching Blade Technique" has been fully refined]

[You have acquired the UR-level weapon-type skill - Water Moon Stance].

The system remained completely responsive.

After he fused the three SSR-level skills, he immediately completed the sublimation of memories under his guidance.

A great deal of knowledge and experience about the "Water Moon Stance" counter-attack technique was directly incorporated into Atobe Sousuke's instincts.

This is a counter-attack sword technique that is more powerful and unreasonable than the Tiger Crouching Blade Technique.

When used without energy enhancement, its effect is similar to Tiger Crouching Blade Stance, allowing you to parry the opponent's attack and launch a counterattack simultaneously.

When empowered by energy, the effect is simple and powerful—it can withstand an opponent's energy-enhanced attack and launch a counterattack.

Of course, even if he clearly understands the principles of UR-level techniques and has perfect experience, he cannot perform them through his own subjective control.

This skill requires an extreme level of physical control.

It is certainly not something that can be used independently by someone with a "70" level of swordsmanship skills.

It is necessary to use the system's "one-click macro" to perform this function.