Upon listening to the way he spoke, it occurred to Lily that the little boy had a less friendly tone. She hadn’t provoked him first. It was only natural since she hadn’t seen him before, right?
However, remembering that she wanted to get along with the disciples here, she also turned around and politely answered with a smile: “Hello, I’m Lily Kagami. I’m new here.”1
“New here? Are you… a formal disciple or someone’s companion?” The short and smart boy asked cautiously.
His attitude made Lily more and more confused. She replied, “Well, it should be considered a formal disciple.”
As soon as the boy heard that she was a formal disciple, he showed a disgusted and nervous expression as he said “Hmm! Can’t we find any decent person in the Dojo nowadays? Now we have resorted to taking in women as disciples!”2
After that, he kept looking up and down at Lily: “I have to wonder just how did she sneak into the dojo.”
Leaving this sentence, the young man went out of the door in anger without even touching his food.
Lily was at a loss. Did she provoke this person? Why did he turn so hostile to her?
“Hello, is this Miss Kagami?” A kind looking, tall and thin-eyed male disciple who seemed to be several years older than Lily came to Lily’s side in a white and gray coat.
“Hello…” Actually, Lily was a little flustered. Was she so unwelcomed?
“Miss Kagami, please take a seat.” The male disciple pointed to a mat in front of the low long table and said.
So Lily sat down side by side with the man. The composed man picked up a piece of cloth and wiped the place where the young man had stepped on. He smiled and said, “My name is Kondo Naotaka and I have been here for many years. If there is anything that Miss Kagami doesn’t understand, please ask me.”
Said Kondo while pouring a cup of tea for Lily.
Lily politely took the tea, looked at the door and asked, “Senior Kondo, why was that boy so angry with me just now? I don’t know him at all. ”
“It seems that Miss Kagami is indeed new to the dojo. You are not familiar with everything here, is it?”
“Yes, indeed.” Lily nodded.
Kondo said: “That boy, named Hachiya Torayasu, was ranked 60th in the Genji Dojo which was the last rank of all the disciples before Miss Kagami came.”
“Oh…” However, him being last ranked had nothing to do with her.
Kondo continued: “Miss Kagami still doesn’t know that the disciples of Genji Dojo have benefits that the outside world can’t expect. However, even Genji Dojo’s resources are limited, and those limited resources naturally needed to be used to nurture more excellent talents. Therefore, the total number of disciples of the main dojo always stays at 60. If one is added, it means one has to leave.”3
“Huh? So that’s why…” Lily suddenly realized, “So, is it because I robbed the position of that disciple? However, this dojo is so big so why not keep some more disciples? Why do they have to drive people away? ”
“Haha, the one to leave might not necessarily be Hachiya. Although the dojo is large, it’s resources are really limited.”
“What kind of resources? Senior Kondo, what are you talking about?”
At this time, the attendants brought meals to the disciples sitting at the table. The meals consisted of grilled fish, radishes, white rice, and miso soup. In short, it was a pretty sumptuous meal.
“Since you’re here, Miss Kagami, why don’t you eat first and we will converse slowly?” Said Kondo with an indifferent smile.
After the meal, Kondo took a walk in the dojo with Lily. He took out a small exquisite bag and then took out a small piece of jade-like thing from it. Although this thing was small and broken, it exuded a strong, pure, and extraordinary spirit power.
All of a sudden, Lily was attracted. The spirit aura of this small broken jade seemed to have an incredible attraction force and affinity.
“This, this is…”
“Don’t tell me it is Miss Kagami’s first time seeing this thing? This is called “Magatama Fragment.” It contains a very pure essence but it can be easily absorbed by the human body.”
“Magatama Fragment?”
“Haha, yes, Miss Kagami, as you know the normal and natural spirit power that can be absorbed by the body every day to strengthen itself is very limited. Most of the spirit power is accumulated in the body for consumption. However this Magatama Fragment is different. The daily absorption limit is almost a thousand times or ten thousand times that of ordinary powers!”4
“Ah!?”
Lily did not lack spirit power. She could use Phantom Blade to absorb the spirit power from the animas of monsters defeated by her. However, even so, her spirit power reserves which could be transformed into the essence to strengthen the body were limited and the process was pitifully slow.
“To put it simply, if there are enough Magatama Fragments, it is possible to upgrade from a high-tier Sword Master to a low-tier Sword Saint5 overnight,” said Kondo.
“What!?” Lily was shocked, “Overnight…”
“Correct.” “Kondo said with a smile: “It’s just that the Magatama Fragment is extremely precious. Even if you have money, you can hardly buy any of it in the market. This is the real strategic resource monopolized by both the Genji clan and Taira clan. After all, as long as any talented samurai is given enough Magatama Fragment, you can quickly train a large number of Sword Saint. How marvelous is that? You can understand this, right? Miss Kagami.”
Lily nodded at once.
“However, even in the Genji and Taira clan, the quantity of Magatama Fragment they have is very limited. They are very precious and much more valuable than gold! This is the lifeblood of the Genji and Taira clan which is used to dominate the Heian Empire and fight against the gigantic monsters everywhere. Therefore, they can only afford to distribute a small finite amount to nurture the younger generation. After all, the Magatama Fragment consumed by the younger generation can’t turn into battle power immediately. ”
“Well… senior, do you mean that you can get this precious Magatama Fragment in the dojo?”
Lily wanted to improve her strength quickly to find out the secret to wake up her senior sister. When she heard of such a good treasure for the first time, of course she wanted it!
“Yes, Miss Kagami is really smart. The disciples of the Genji Dojo can get a certain number of Magatama Fragments every month!”
“Ah…”
“So you know why Hachiya is so nervous about you now? If you really replace his position then you will get the Magatama Fragments every month. Therefore, it is you, not him, who will quickly improve her strength.”
Lily was astonished. Senior Kondo spoke in a gentle tone but he hit the nail on the head. He said with a sigh: “Yeah, it’s a thing that can greatly improve strength every month. Who doesn’t want it and who will not fight for it?”
Originally Lily had a guilty conscience, however soon enough her eyes turned cold and decisive. She needed those resources as well, in fact as much as possible. Even if she had to rob Hachiya for it, she wouldn’t hesitate in doing so if she needed to.
“Senior, how much do we get each month? How much Magatama Fragments are needed to improve the strength by a level?”
“Haha, everyone’s talent and physical advantages are different. They can’t be fully described. However, those who can come here are basically one in a million geniuses. The sizes of the Magatama Fragments vary so they are measured by weight. Generally speaking, 50 grams of Magatama Fragments can make a samurai with good spiritual affinity improve the strength by about 1000 kan of penetration force. However, this is only an approximate number and it actually varies from person to person. ”
“1000 kan…” Lily was stunned.
Just 50 grams of this Magatama Fragment could increase the penetration force by 1000 kan! Many people practiced hard all their lives but their penetration force would not increase more than 100 kan. And yet, the consumption of one or two fragments of Magatama Fragment would increase penetration force by 1,000 kan. Sure enough, the world of geniuses in Genji Dojo was different!
“However, Miss Kagami, don’t think that it’s so easy to get your hands on it. You need to know that just merely 50 grams of Magatama Fragments are no joke. As far as I know, it is almost impossible to get them from anywhere else apart from the Genji and Taira clan. Moreover, the amount the dojo gives us every month is very small.”
“The first ranked disciple can get 50 grams of Magatama Fragment each month.”
“50 grams!” Lily was startled, “That’s a lot.”
— 50 grams per month. That was six hundred grams per year. Every year, the penetration force would be increased by 12,000 kan. This was terrific. Even if one just lazed around and did nothing for five years, one would become a high-tier Sword Saint! High-tier Sword Saint. If only one among ten thousand samurai could achieve it after twenty years of training, it would already be considered very remarkable. There were only a few high-tier Sword Saint in the entire Eastern Nation.
“Haha, it’s quite a lot indeed. However, Miss Kagami, that’s only for the first ranker in the Dojo.” Kondo continued, “The lower the ranking, the less you get.”
“Second and third ranked disciples get 25 grams per month.” “The disciples ranked four to ten get 15 grams per month.” “The disciples ranked eleven to twenty get 10 grams per month.” “The disciples ranked twenty one to forty get 5 gram per month.” “The disciples ranked forty one to sixty get 2.5 grams per month.”
“That is to say, the lower one is ranked, the less resources one will get. The dojo actually concentrates on nurturing the top talents and encouraging competition among them. The resources are given out by the dojo each month. Once the number of people exceeds sixty, the last one will be eliminated and kicked out. It’s not only losing the opportunity to get a Magatama Fragment but also a great shame. Which strong geniuses do not have pride of their own?”
After listening to Mr. Kondo’s introduction, Lily nodded and agreed.
“By the way, senior, how does this ranking system work?”
“Haha, it’s very simple. Disciples use wooden swords and spares to compete with each other. The instructor or an unrelated party would serve as the referee. If the original ranking of the winner is lower than that of the loser, the loser will get the ranking of the winner. If the original ranking of the winner is higher than that of the loser, it will not change.”
“However, disciples ranked lower than tenth rank can only challenge the opponents within ten ranks higher than their own ranking. Disciples ranked from tenth to third rank, can only challenge up to third ranking. The third rank holder can only challenge the second rank holder and only when one gets second rank can he challenge the first ranker! There’s no limit to challenging lower rankers.”
Seeing that Lily seemed to understand, Kondo said: “For the first three months after entering into dojo, One does not need to participate in the challenge yet. However, the moment you do participate, you will immediately be under the rules for the rankers.”
“There are sixty-one people in the dojo now. If Miss Kagami doesn’t participate in the challenge then the person ranked 60th will be kicked out of the dojo at the end of this month. However, if Miss Kagami takes part in the challenge and fails, you will get the 61st rank. If you do not get promoted by the end of the month, you will lose the qualification to train in the dojo. However, because you are a newcomer, you will still be shown consideration. In most cases, the newcomer is unlikely to participate in the challenge. Therefore the lowest ranked Hachiya is in the most dangerous situation.”
“I see.” Lily could not help nod after understanding the whole situation.
“Haha, Miss Kagami, in order to encourage the disciples to actively challenge each other, the disciples will get an incentive of 5 extra grams of Magatama Fragment as a reward for every tenth rank they break through for the first time. One will get an extra 50 grams of Magatama Fragment as reward when someone achieves the tenth, fifth, third, and second rank for the first time! And when one gets first rank for the first time, they will get a one-time reward of 250 grams!”
“Furthermore, in order to encourage geniuses to perform miracles, if newcomers participate in the challenge within the so-called protection period of three months and wins, then the reward for breaking into any ranking will be doubled!”6
