Having completed his first enhancement and acquired the martial arts of the *Tennen Rishin-ryū* swordsmanship school, Liang En rested for a few minutes before turning his attention to another card.
Sword Heart (SR): As the most renowned member of the Shinsengumi, Toshizō Hijikata, at the age of nine, wandered to Edo from the Tama area and met Kondō Isami, subsequently entering under Kondō's tutelage and becoming a disciple of the *Tennen Rishin-ryū*. After only three years of sword practice, Hijikata defeated the swordsmanship instructor of the Shirakawa domain at the age of twelve.
Upon joining the Shinsengumi, the nineteen-year-old Hijikata, with his exceptional talent, had already surpassed his master Kondō in swordsmanship, thus becoming the foremost expert of the *Tennen Rishin-ryū*. By the age of twenty, he was appointed as the captain of the first unit and the swordsmanship instructor of the Shinsengumi.
During the active years of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata also proved through his experiences that his swordsmanship was among the top, arguably the very best within the ranks teeming with skilled swordsmen.
Interestingly, in contrast to the murderous inclinations of many Shinsengumi members, Hijikata's sword was as gentle in nature as he was in disposition, radiating an innocent and cheerful aura.
Usually, he was known for his humorous conversations and ever-present smile in his interactions, often playing with the children near the barracks. Even in the face of enemies, he could converse and laugh with ease, maintaining composure and calm. However, once engaged in battle, he would go all out and decisively eliminate his foes.
Even before the Shinsengumi was formally established in the second year of Bunkyū, Kojima Kanenoshin noted in the "Kojima Diary," "With such swordsmanship, he is bound to reach perfection in his later years."
This situation arose because Toshizō Hijikata possessed an extraordinary sensitivity to weapons and battle, a sensitivity that could be referred to as "Sword Heart."
Enhancement Card (One-time use), Effect One: Possesses a special sensitivity to various cold weapons, allowing the user to learn the use of various cold weapons at several times the speed of an average person.
Effect Two: After using the card, the user can gain a special inspiration that provides an insight into battle techniques similar to those of Toshizō Hijikata.
Note: The process of gaining inspiration involves some degree of modification to the soul, so it is best to find a safe place to lie in bed during the enhancement process to avoid accidental injury.
"No wonder this card is of a higher grade; it offers a soul enhancement," Liang En realized after reading the content on the card. According to the cards he had obtained before, Liang En could be certain that specific skills, unless extraordinary, were hard to reach the SR level, but cards that could enhance human capabilities, especially the soul, were generally SRs.
Clearly, this card contained some special power, and Liang En, now adept at using it, had Jeanne d'Arc guard the door while he lay in bed using the enhancement card.
After the card was used, Liang En felt as if he were faintly experiencing Toshizō Hijikata's not-so-lengthy life, as if watching a movie.
When he awoke from these visions, he realized only about 20 minutes had passed, yet it felt like much longer in his dream.
Taking advantage of the daylight, Liang En quickly took out a modern-style samurai sword he had prepared earlier and began practicing in the field.
At first, his use of the samurai sword was somewhat awkward. Having previously acquired swordsmanship skills, juggling two different types of swordsmanship naturally caused some initial stumbling.
However, thanks to the effects of the Sword Heart, Liang En quickly grasped the essentials of wielding the samurai sword, soon mastering the techniques he had learned and making some adjustments based on his actual situation.
"Your level with weapons is quite impressive," observed Jeanne d'Arc, nodding. "If you keep this up, I believe you'll soon match the combat strength of the mightiest knights from my era!"
Truth be told, Jeanne's combat skills were only above average. After all, her forte was boosting morale and commanding troops rather than personal bravery.
However, having been the general commander of the French army, she had seen many formidable knights, and from a purely martial perspective, her assessment was quite respectable.
After watching Liang En's demonstration, Jeanne quickly assessed his level and combat strength, giving him a fair evaluation.
"This is indeed good news, but the only pity is that we are no longer
in the age of cold weapons," Liang En remarked as he put away his sword.
"In ancient times, this level of combat skill would have made me a powerful warrior on the battlefield, but today, these skills are mostly just for physical training and occasional self-defense."
"You're right," Jeanne spread her hands, "even the mightiest warriors of my era would not stand a chance against a modern soldier in fully armed combat."
"It's not that modern soldiers are significantly stronger than those of the past, but rather that modern weapons can easily level the playing field between individuals."
Having acquired new skills, Liang En was as excited as a child with a new toy. Over the next few days, he devoted considerable time to practicing his combat techniques.
During this period, Liang En discovered that the so-called Sword Heart skill was not only applicable to Japanese samurai swords but also to cold weapons from Japan and beyond.
Indeed, during this time of practice, Liang En was quite certain that this skill, as previously demonstrated on the card, was effective with all cold weapons.
Besides various combat practices, Liang En spent most of his time on creative work, including routine jewelry design and designing posters for the upcoming Orient Express run a few months later.
Count Boskiet had approached him to design the posters, a task naturally suited to the era of Alfons Mucha's prominence, hence a Mucha-style poster seemed apt for the current circumstances.
Considering the collaboration and a fee of 5,000 euros per poster, Liang En did not hesitate to take on these tasks.
With mastery of the Painting (SR) ability and inspired by great artists, these designs took Liang En little time, allowing him ample time to focus on translating novels.
During this period, "Dracula" was successfully published, and reports indicated a significant increase in visitors to the castle in Romania.
Given this, Liang En was inclined to quickly translate the "Twilight" series, pushing the current vampire craze to a new peak.
Unfortunately, his plans to write the entire series in one go were not successful. After nearly four weeks at home, just after translating the second part of "Twilight," "New Moon," and the side stories "Bree Tanner's Brief Second Life," "Twilight Reborn," and "Midnight Sun," he received an unexpected letter.
Thank you for reading this far! You can access more chapters from HERE by joining my Patreon community. You'll gain exclusive early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
As a member of my Patreon community, here is what you'll get:
For $5
- Early access to 100s of chapters before they go public.
- You also get access to all the novels I'm translating, you can find them here HERE.
- Your name will be featured on the "Wall of Gratitude".
- The power to vote on which novel I translate next.
- You Get Ad-free Chapters.
For $10
- You get to suggest a Novel for me to translate.
- You get to recommend a Novel and I will immediately start translating it.
Plus, you can Cancel your membership at any time.
Don't let this amazing opportunity slip through your fingers!
