He set the bamboo sword aside and took out various types of suburi sticks from the sword bag, examining them one by one. He found that they were all for kendo practice and couldn't help but secretly praise Ryan Smith for being so reliable.

He wasn't stupid—he could tell that Ryan Smith didn't approve of him teaching himself kendo. But even so, Ryan Smith still went to great lengths to prepare all the necessary practice tools for him. This showed that he was truly someone worth befriending. If he really didn't want to get involved, he could have just handed him a random book and that would be it—there was no need to be so thorough. Clearly, he was very considerate.

Of course, he had his reasons for insisting on self-study. He opened the box, reached in, and took out a book, gently stroking the cover. He saw that it was titled "The Book of Five Rings," a modern print, authored by Miyamoto Musashi.

He murmured softly, "I hope it's a skill book." With that, he opened the cover, and immediately his vision went black. A moment later, a semi-transparent dialog box appeared before his eyes—Would you like to learn the skill [Swordsmanship: Niten Ichi-ryu]?

"Yes!"

"[Swordsmanship: Niten Ichi-ryu] has been acquired. Current level 1. Gained passive [Dual Weapon Wielding]. Proficiency increases as the main skill level increases."

Henry Carter let out a long sigh of relief. It worked! This damn mobile game finally didn't let him down this time. He'd tried using books on physics and chemistry before, but it didn't work—he almost thought it could only be used for learning languages.

He immediately activated the skill [Swordsmanship: Niten Ichi-ryu], and countless images naturally surged through his mind. Scenes of slashing flashed before his eyes, and his hands began to move restlessly on their own.

He stood there with his eyes closed, savoring the feeling for a moment, but soon felt a bit troubled—Niten Ichi-ryu used two swords, but could you use two bamboo swords in a kendo match?

Whether or not it could be used in kendo competitions was pretty important. He figured Emily Turner probably wouldn't let things go so easily—of course, if she stopped bothering him, he could just treat it as a self-defense skill! But if she kept causing trouble, she'd most likely use her kendo experience to provoke him, so he had to be prepared.

He dumped all the books out of the box, but seeing the mess on the floor made him uncomfortable. He quickly stacked them neatly, then began flipping through them one by one, planning to find a suitable one—

Kashima Shintō-ryū, founded by the sword saint Tsukahara Bokuden, belongs to the Shintō school. Its swordsmanship emphasizes basic training, and its ultimate technique, "Ichi no Tachi," is mastered by striking a wooden post 6,000 times a day, with each strike carrying lethal force.

This one felt pretty good, but let's keep looking...

Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, derived from Kage-ryū, with the core philosophy of "not killing—we win by not being killed."

What kind of swordsmanship is this? Buddhist swordsmanship?

It had to be said, Evelyn Smith really liked kendo, collecting a huge amount of materials—official prints, photocopies, even handwritten manuscripts. Who knew how much time and effort it took? Unfortunately, it all ended up benefiting Henry Carter because of an angry younger brother.

After picking for a while, he chose Kashima Shintō-ryū, took the book in his off-hand, and tried to learn the skill. But immediately, a prompt appeared in his mind—This skill can be fused with [Swordsmanship: Niten Ichi-ryu] to become [Classical Swordsmanship]. Fuse?

Oh?

Henry Carter was stunned. In the original mobile game, skill fusion was a paid feature that allowed similar skills to share experience points. But he never spent money, so he'd never used it. He didn't expect the game to be so generous now.

He immediately chose to fuse, and the system instantly prompted: Skill [Classical Swordsmanship] generated. Current level 1. Gained passives [Dual Weapon Wielding], [Sword Mastery].

He'd originally worried that learning too many skills would take too much time to practice, but now that there was such a convenient feature, Henry Carter didn't hesitate. He immediately fused all the swordsmanship-related books in the box into [Classical Swordsmanship]. Finally, he picked up the bamboo sword and performed a suburi under [Classical Swordsmanship]—an empty slash. Instantly, a line of green text appeared in the lower left corner of his vision: [Classical Swordsmanship] experience +1, current experience 1/100.

Henry Carter felt gratified. He did another suburi (sliding step), slicing through the air with vigor. Seeing the experience increase by another point, he felt a hint of joy.

He focused intently on his practice, and soon the system prompts came one after another—

[Classical Swordsmanship] current level increased to LV2;

[Classical Swordsmanship] current level increased to LV3;

[Classical Swordsmanship] current level increased to LV4;

[Classical Swordsmanship] current level increased to LV5; skill advanced to beginner level, gained passive [Meditation Battle], character level +1, strength +1, intelligence +1, charisma +1.

Chapter 12 Evelyn Taylor

Seeing the prompt for charisma +1, Henry Carter was speechless—why would swordsmanship increase charisma? His charisma was already high, so high it was annoying, and now it increased again?

The mobile game he brought over was called "Dragons, Swords, and Magic," a domestic knockoff semi-idle mobile game, the kind you could play both casually and grind if you wanted.