After Akimi took his stance, Urokodaki Sakonji didn't waste any words and immediately lunged forward with a straight thrust toward him.
Seeing Urokodaki's movement, Akimi instinctively swung his bamboo sword to the side, blocking the thrust while pressing Urokodaki's blade downward.
Just as Akimi was about to follow the motion along the sword's path and slash at Urokodaki, the old man suddenly exerted strength, knocking Akimi's bamboo sword away by some distance.
Then, switching his grip from right-handed to left-handed, he delivered an upward slash from below.
With no time to bring his sword back to guard, Akimi could only leap backward.
But that was exactly what Urokodaki wanted.
He raised his sword and quickly closed the distance, slashing fiercely toward Akimi midair.
Since there was nothing to push off from in the air, Akimi had no choice but to twist his waist, using the motion to drive his bamboo sword into a Second Form: Water Wheel, barely managing to block the blow — but the force from Urokodaki's strike still sent him flying.
Thanks to his quick reflexes, Akimi managed to plant a hand on the ground, flip over, and land in a crouch.
In just a few moves, Akimi had been forced into a rather awkward position — proof enough that Urokodaki's skill was indeed formidable.
At this point, Urokodaki gave a serious assessment:
"From what I can see, your swordsmanship is decent, but you lack enough actual combat experience, so your performance in a real fight is still quite limited. Overall, I'd say it's only average."
It was a fair evaluation, but it made Akimi purse his lips — after all, his swordsmanship was arguably the strongest among all players, something he had been quietly proud of.
Kirito's strength comes from having the fastest reaction speed among all players and exceptional gaming skill.
Purely in terms of swordsmanship, Kirito is actually weaker — especially since he hasn't trained with a sword in at least two years.
Still, Urokodaki's words left Akimi feeling slightly deflated.
But he quickly recovered — in fact, he became even more excited.
If his swordsmanship was "only average" in Urokodaki's eyes, that meant the old man's skill far surpassed his own, and he'd have even more to learn.
After returning his sword to rest, Urokodaki asked:
"How far have you progressed in practicing Water Breathing?"
Akimi answered honestly:
"I just recently mastered Total Concentration Breathing."
Total Concentration Breathing is unlocked when Water Breathing proficiency reaches 300 points.
When activated, it boosts Strength and Agility by 20 points each, greatly increases the power of Water Breathing forms, and grants immunity to low-level hindrance effects such as bleeding and stun during the duration.
High-level effects like paralysis, however, can only be slightly shortened.
Such an effect did seem a little overpowered, but considering the slow growth rate of Water Breathing, it felt somewhat reasonable — Akimi's One-Handed Sword proficiency had already surpassed 600, while his Water Breathing proficiency had only just reached 300.
Moreover, Water Breathing's subsequent proficiency modifiers were awarded every 100 points, and at Akimi's current rate of improvement, it might not be until the fiftieth floor that his Water Breathing could level up again.
"How long have you been practicing Water Breathing?"
"Hmm… about seven months."
Akimi's answer made Urokodaki Sakonji pause in mild shock.
He spoke slowly, enunciating each word:
"Without a trainer guiding you, you mastered Total Concentration Breathing in seven months?!"
Seeing Urokodaki's slightly exaggerated expression, Akimi scratched his nose and asked:
"Wh… what's wrong? Is that considered slow?"
That completely oblivious reply made the corner of Urokodaki's mouth twitch a few times.
He shook his head slightly and said:
"No, not slow at all. In fact, I'd say it's so fast it's almost absurd."
It wasn't really Akimi's fault — in the real world, he was only a half-baked practitioner of Water Breathing.
After three years of training, he had only just begun attempting Total Concentration Breathing, and could only perform about ten forms at most.
Compared to that, his Water Breathing progress in SAO was drastically different — still slower than ordinary skills, but by comparison, remarkably quick.
"Since you've already mastered Total Concentration Breathing, the next step is to practice Total Concentration Breathing: Constant."
As Urokodaki spoke, he somehow produced ten gourds of various sizes — the smallest no larger than a thumb, and the largest as tall as a person.
"Your next task is simple," Urokodaki said, pointing at the gourds.
"Maintain Total Concentration Breathing while training — even when resting at night. Use Water Breathing forms without the breathing technique and make them identical to when you do use it. And try to blow these gourds until they burst."
Then he turned to Asuna and said:
"As for you, young lady, I'll be teaching you Water Breathing and sword techniques next."
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