New Upgrade (Part 1)

In an open field located at the training ground in Isshin Dojo, about 5 young men were sitting cross-legged on the floor facing a middle aged man.

Alvin was among these five young men. When he arrived this morning, he was brought here by Aaron together with these four young men who were supposed to begin swordsmanship training with him. The instructor who was supposed to teach them the basics of swordsmanship was called Bart; a very strong senior brother of the Isshin Sword Dojo!

When he arrived here this morning, Aaron had introduced him to some of his fellow brothers and sisters at Isshin Sword Dojo. By using his [Investigate skill], Alvin surprisingly discovered that the weakest apprentice, who was nine years old had reached Level 5! There were also a lot of apprentices between levels of 5 and 10 with majority of the senior apprentices having a level of at least Level 11.

As Alvin was thinking of some faces that he expected to see but didn't see this morning, their instructor Bark spoke, "First of all, as novices, I will explain to you the training course in the future. In the mornings, we will do the foundation training, take a rest at noon, and then finally physical training late in the afternoon. When I am occupied with other business, you will have to train by yourself and occasionally seek guidance from your Senior Brother Aaron when you experience problems. Only when you complete the preliminary training will you have the chance to receive training from Master Koshiro! Any problems?"

"No, Senior brother!" All five young men answered enthusiastically.

Bark smiled when he heard that. He then looked straight at Alvin and spoke, "Arnold, master has noticed that you already have some basic sword training so a special development plan has been earmarked for you. Please follow your senior brother Aaron.

Alvin didn't speak but obediently followed Aaron outside towards a small hill behind the sword dojo. When he heard their general training plan, Alvin began to also plan out his general strengthening plan. In the morning, he would join the dojo for basic sword training and then hunting in the afternoon before returning for physical training. This would be able to maximize the benefits out of the time that he had in this world.

…

When they arrived on the hill at the back of Isshin Sword Dojo, Aaron handed a wooden sword as well as a wooden mask to Alvin. The mask only revealed eyes, and there were air holes in the mouth and nose to aid smooth breathing. Alvin couldn't determine why he was o wear a mask for their training.

"What is this for?" Alvin asked.

"This is train your most foundation fight ability. Without training, if someone is cut with a sword or is hit in the head with a weapon, the first reaction is to close your eyes. In combat, if you really close your eyes, it is tantamount to declaring the death penalty. So, what we must first do is to let you overcome the instinct. As for the method to achieve this, you will find out soon enough." Aaron smiled devilishly while explaining.

Immediately after that, he wielded the wooden knife which he was holding and hit towards Alvin's head.

"Bang!"

But surprisingly, despite it being a sneak attack, Alvin had accurately blocked it. This really surprised Aaron.

"Well? It seems that we all underestimated you. You seem to have received some combat training before."

Hearing Aaron's statement, Alvin nodded in response. As someone who was a top combatant for his country in his former life, of course he had received extensive basic combat training and had learned to overcome the instinct to close his eyes when being attacked.

Despite this, he still insisted on continuing this training because he wanted to use this method to train his reaction speed. Since, Aaron was stronger than him by several levels, he simply couldn't keep up with his speed of swing his sword. So he wanted to train his instincts to react faster and help him block attacks that he can not even follow.

….

In the twinkling of an eye, the entire morning passed, and despite wearing a wooden mask, Alvin was beaten under Aaron's wooden sword.

Even though he still wasn't able to react to Aaron's swings, he had still made some progress. During this time, he would occasionally receive prompts of his contract beast's kills. After having breakfast this morning, he had once again released it into the forest to speed up their accumulation of experience points.

….

"Well, its almost noon. Time to take a break" Aaron signed as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead. The basic training this morning had allowed him to witness willpower on a whole new level.

Despite being beaten down countless times, Alvin continued to get up and insisted on continuing the training. This allowed Aaron's appreciation for this new Junior brother to rise to another level.

"Senior Brother, as thank you for your attendance this morning, i'll like to treat you to lunch this afternoon." Alvin said to Aaron as they walked out o the hills towards the Canteen of [Isshin Sword Dojo].

Upon hearing this, Aaron immediately refused. How can he as a Senior brother allow his Junior brother to pay for lunch? But after the continued insistence of Alvin, Aaron finally relented. The two found a good restaurant and ordered a few good dishes. Both of them were very tired because of this morning's training so they gorged down the served food without wasting any.

After lunch, they both parted ways with Alvin heading to the forest. After getting to the edge of the forest, he rested for about thirty minutes to regain his stamina and wait for Byako's return.

After the White Tiger returned, both Alvin and Byakko once again headed into the forest to continue their hunt.

This afternoon hunt proved very productive with Alvin hunting a lot of strong creatures and gathering a lot of meat and materials which he could sell for money. With Byakko's strength, he was ensured of his safety while tempering his basic sword technique through hunting.

By the time he had completed the afternoon hunt, his experience points had reached 'Level: 6 (546/700)'! Byakko was also on the verge of reaching the required awakening points to become a Level 2 Mythological Beast! What Alvin was looking forward the most was the attribute increase he would receive when Byakko broke through.

After this afternoon's hunt, Alvin gathered the materials and meat from his hunt and headed to the market. He sold all of his proceeds including the materials from Byakko's previous hunt. This allowed the amount of extra cash he had on him reach a whopping 1,600,000 Berries!

After that, he returned to the Shadd's Component workshop and completed today's portion of component assembly and took the chance to rest and recover some stamina.

At around 3:00 AM in the afternoon, leaving Byakko at his apartment, he once again went to the Dojo for his physical training.