This is the most urgent crisis, directly related to Aoto's life.
The scenes where he was attacked by three assassins flashed uncontrollably through Aoto's mind.
Cold sweat dripped from Aoto's forehead and back.
The previous Aoto lived in a peaceful era, and before his transportation, he was just a young man who had just graduated from police academy and hadn't even joined the police force, never having faced a life-and-death crisis...
Tonight was the first time he was hunted down, the first time he felt what imminent death was like.
This feeling... was not pleasant.
Every time he recalled the previous chase scenes, cold sweat uncontrollably dripped from his forehead.
He didn't want to die because of the ridiculous reason of "having worked at the United States Embassy for a few days."
He was lucky tonight, as bystanders came in time and drove off the assassins.
What about next time?
Will he be this lucky next time?
The "Radical Anti-foreigner Faction" are a bunch of madmen, it's impossible to reason with them. Their next attack might be in seven days, or perhaps... tomorrow.
Anxious, Aoto unconsciously increased his speed doing push-ups.
—At least have the ability to protect oneself from being killed by the "Radical Anti-foreigner Faction"...
Aoto's thoughts spread out from the idea of "acquiring self-defense ability."
How can he acquire the ability not to be easily killed as quickly as possible?
A word appeared in Aoto's mind:
Cheat!
If he wants to gain powerful protection quickly, there's no more reliable method than "relying on a cheat."
If he could successfully duplicate some extraordinarily impressive talent quickly, his self-defense ability would sharply increase.
Aoto's thoughts spread further, delving deeper.
His "Talent Duplication System" only activates during competitions with others.
So what kind of place would allow him to openly compete with many people?
A type of building common in Edo Japan, its name seemed to come alive and popped into Aoto's mind automatically.
Sword Dojo!
Since the Genji Warrior Group successfully sidelined the Emperor in 1192 and established the first Samurai Government: the Kamakura Shogunate, the Samurai Class has been the ruling class in Japan for over 600 years.
Over these 600 years, Japan's social class system divided into four classes like China's: Scholars, Farmers, Artisans, and Merchants.
In China, scholars and officials were considered superior.
In Japan, it was the Samurai who were considered superior.
Although the scholars in both countries are different, their status is the same—they are the ruling class and privileged class above the Farmers, Artisans, and Merchants.
In China, it's said, "All professions are inferior, only studying is superior."
In Japan, it's, "All professions are inferior, only the Samurai is superior."
After Tokugawa Ieyasu established Japan's third Samurai Government: the Edo Shogunate in 1603, the Edo Shogunate enacted many laws to demonstrate the noble identity of Samurais, granting them many privileges exclusive to the ruling Samurai Class.
One significant privilege Samurai possessed was the "Sword-Carrying Right."
"Martial" is one of the most important attributes of the Samurai Class.
Therefore, to emphasize the noble identity and "martial" attribute of Samurais, the Edo Shogunate decreed: only Samurais can carry swords, and Samurais must carry their swords when they go out.
Samurais generally carried two swords, one long, one short.
The longer one, called "Tachi," is the main weapon during fights.
The shorter one, called "Wakizashi," is the auxiliary weapon in sword fighting.
The Samurai's sword-carrying right made the sword a symbol of the Samurai, which in turn led to the flourishing of swordsmanship.
The Edo Era was a time when Japanese swordsmanship flourished.
The Beichen One-Sword Style, Shindo Mononoke Stream, Mirror Heart Mingzhi School... These well-known schools all originated during the Edo Era.
The flourishing of swordsmanship naturally led to the widespread establishment of Sword Dojos.
In Edo City alone, there are dozens of Sword Dojos.
To openly fight with others—there's no better way than to join a Sword Dojo with many people.
Going to a Sword Dojo to learn swordsmanship comes with two major benefits, killing two birds with one stone:
1: It can maximize the effectiveness of his cheat.
2: It allows him to simultaneously learn swordsmanship and enhance his self-defense abilities.
The reason Aoto nearly got hacked to death tonight is largely due to his current swordsmanship level... being too poor...
The "Original Tachibana Aoto" had no interest in swordsmanship.
In his 18 years, he never attended any Sword Dojo to learn the sword, only learning "Tachibana School" from his father.
The so-called "Tachibana School" is a handful of practical combat sword techniques his father developed during his lifetime.
Although few in number, these techniques are indeed highly practical in combat.
However, the "Tachibana School" is not a formal school, so while it's more than enough to deal with ordinary people who know nothing, facing seasoned practitioners would leave Aoto at a loss.
Thus, Aoto, who currently only knows this makeshift "Tachibana School," essentially has the skill level of "can't beat anyone except ordinary people"...
Although Aoto, who inherited the memories of his previous life, possesses powerful hand-to-hand combat skills, even the most formidable hand-to-hand combat skills find it difficult to yield advantages against an armed opponent.
The best way to counter armed enemies is to be armed oneself.
If he had powerful swordsmanship, he'd never be in a situation like tonight where he almost got hacked to death.
After thinking of going to a Sword Dojo to learn the sword, Aoto immediately thought of another potential way to utilize his cheat—to challenge dojos!
Challenge one Sword Dojo after another, competing with members of one dojo after another.
However, as soon as this thought of challenging dojos emerged in Aoto's mind, he dismissed it himself.
He'd only challenge dojos if he lost his mind.
Challenging dojos, regardless of the era, is a laborious and thankless task.
Hardly one in ten dojo would even agree to let outsiders issue challenges. Since accepting challengers does more harm than good for a dojo.
Winning against challengers brings only limited reputation boost for the dojo.
However, if they lose, they'll feel disgraced, which would adversely affect the recruitment of new students later.
Sensible Sword Dojo masters would never engage in such self-destructive acts.
Even if he found a few dojos willing to accept challenges, Aoto wouldn't necessarily be able to compete with many people.
For in this era, there are many rules to challenging dojos.
One of the rules is that if you lose, it's considered a failed challenge, and you are immediately expelled from the dojo.
Given Aoto's current swordsmanship level, challenging dojos would likely result in something like this—unable to defeat even the first apprentice sent by the dojo, then being expelled, having only succeeded in sparring with one person from start to finish.
Thus, challenging dojos is inefficient, easily offends people, and is laborious with no benefits.
After thoroughly organizing his thoughts, Aoto had a clear goal in mind: go to a Sword Dojo to learn swordsmanship!
With his goal set, Aoto jumped up from the ground and called out to Kyūbē, who was still in the kitchen, with a breathless voice from doing over 50 push-ups:
"Kyūbē! Come here for a moment!"
"Aye, coming."
Kyūbē pattered quickly out from the kitchen, stopping in front of Aoto.
"After deducting the necessary expenses for food, clothing, housing, and others, how much savings do we have left? I want to go to a Sword Dojo to learn swordsmanship! With our current remaining savings, which Sword Dojo can I afford for study?" Aoto concisely asked Kyūbē.