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"What is this, Ikki?"
"Did you use me as a model to learn swordsmanship?"
Gion looked at Ikki suspiciously.
In the Sword Training Room, a model of a swordsman who mastered breathing technique was used by Ikki and his partners to challenge. Gion knew this - she had learned about it from Tashigi.
Gion always felt this was Ikki's way of making it easier for his partners to learn breathing techniques and swordsmanship. This was also the reason why they could master breathing methods and swordsmanship so quickly.
Since she and Hina weren't Ikki's partners, they had adopted a less convenient method to learn breathing swordsmanship. But she never knew that Ikki would be able to create a model of herself for challenge.
"To be precise, the shadow inside isn't based on you. She's targeting your future self."
Ikki took Gion's hand and walked toward the arena.
"Future me?" Gion's eyes widened slightly as she looked intently at herself in the arena.
After taking a closer look, she found that the version of herself in the arena seemed a little older than she was now. The most noticeable difference was that she had wrinkles under her eyes in the arena, and her skin didn't seem as radiant anymore.
"This... how on earth did you create my future self?"
Gion looked at Ikki in surprise. She thought she knew enough about his abilities, but now she found that she still didn't know enough yet.
As for whether Ikki was deceiving her, Gion didn't think so. Based on her understanding of him, Ikki wouldn't do such a thing just to entertain her.
"Well... it's a secret."
Ikki raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
"It's really... you still don't trust me enough. It's really sad. Forget it, who made me a trespasser? And I'm not as beautiful as Nico Robin, so I can't attract you like she can. Even my future self got wrinkles early."
"By the way, you said the person in the arena is my future self, so exactly how much older is she than me?"
Hearing this, Ikki rubbed his chin and said, "It should be... you in five years."
Gion was now 38 years old, and the sword shadow in the arena was 43 years old. That was exactly a five-year difference.
"In five years?" Gion frowned and raised her hand to the corner of her eyes. "In five years, will I have wrinkles and my skin will gradually age?"
"Well... who knows."
Ikki shrugged. Now that Gion had learned breathing techniques, Ikki thought she might be able to slow down her body's aging process.
Gion pursed her lips and took a deep look at the lines at the corners of the sword shadow's eyes. Even a powerful woman like her couldn't help but feel emotional when seeing the wrinkles of her future self.
Ikki glanced at Gion and raised his hand, snapping his fingers. The next moment, the sword shadow in the center of the arena began to demonstrate her abilities.
She slashed with her sword, and a huge peach-colored sword energy flew out from the blade, striking directly against the transparent wall of the arena.
Just this one sword move made Gion widen her eyes. She recognized that the person inside had a higher level of understanding the way of the sword than herself.
At this moment, she understood why Ikki had summoned her future self.
"You want me to fight my future self, then let me complete my understanding of swordsmanship by fighting her? Just like how you asked Nami and the others to challenge the breathing swordsman models to help them quickly understand the way of breathing swordsmanship?"
Gion murmured.
Ikki remained silent. In his opinion, if Gion thought that way, then that was what he wanted to see.
Ten minutes later, Gion's sword shadow finished her demonstration and returned to her previous position.
"Then it's your turn, Gion. Go fight her and try to master your future power in advance."
Ikki patted Gion's back and looked up at the sword shadow in the center of the arena.
Gion took a deep breath, nodded, and walked into the arena with her slender legs.
Although it was unclear why her future self couldn't use Moon Breathing swordsmanship, the sword energy she could wield in the future was unmatched by the current Gion.
Faced with such a future self, Gion understood that she needed to go all out.
"Then, come on, future me. Let me learn how to use your sword."
Gion's eyes focused, the Demon Slayer Mark and Transparent World activated simultaneously, and she suddenly stepped toward the sword shadow on the opposite side.
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[Ding! Your partner Gion defeated the 'Mountain-Cutting Realm Swordsman Gion,' and her swordsmanship realm was promoted to the 'Mountain-Cutting Realm.']
[Gion's personal attributes have been updated, please check them yourself.]
[Name: Gion]
[Age: 38 years old]
[Weapon: None]
[Life Force: 81,000, SS level]
[Sword Realm: Sea-Breaking Realm]
[Swordsmanship Style: Momousagi Single-Sword Style, Moon Breathing]
[Abilities: Advanced Armament Haki, Intermediate Observation Haki (Future Vision), Marine Six Styles, Natural Demon Slayer Mark, Transparent World]
[Ding! Congratulations to Host, a member of your team has raised their swordsmanship realm to the limit of the current world. Host will be specially rewarded with 2 lottery opportunities, and Gion, the Mountain-Cutting Realm swordsman, will be specially rewarded with 1 exclusive lottery opportunity. Please ask Host to draw the lottery on her behalf.]
'Huh?! Is this an unexpected surprise?'
Ikki opened his eyes wide and looked at Gion, who was fainting on the ground in the center of the arena due to exhaustion from fighting. He didn't even have time to see the future sword shadow that she had stabbed through the chest turn into energy and integrate into her body.
He looked at his own personal attributes panel. When he saw the number of remaining draws clearly displayed on the attribute panel, Ikki realized that he had heard correctly. The system really was rewarding lottery privileges.
'Sure enough, good deeds are rewarded.'
Ikki sighed in his heart. Fortunately, he had taken out the 'Mountain-Cutting Sword Master Gion Challenge Permission.' Otherwise, it might have taken a long time for him to get lottery rewards.
'System, I want to draw the lottery!'
[Drawing lottery... Congratulations to the Host for winning X5 'A-level Nutritional Potions' and X3 'S-level Nutritional Potions.' Congratulations to Gion for winning the famous sword 'Monohoshizao'!]
[Note: Only one S-level nutritional potion can be used per day, and the effect lasts 3 hours.]
[Note: The 'Monohoshizao' is the weapon held by the heroic spirit Sasaki Kojiro. The 'Monohoshizao' issued by the system contains the inheritance of Sasaki Kojiro's sword skill 'Tsubame Gaeshi.' Using the inheritance can enter the relevant fantasy world to observe the process of Sasaki Kojiro's research and development of 'Tsubame Gaeshi.' Participating in the practice will have a high probability of obtaining the sword skill 'Tsubame Gaeshi.' As a Host, you can follow Gion into the fantasy world to observe 'Tsubame Gaeshi' and learn related techniques.]