His and Kimimaro's guesses were indeed correct.
Reiichi, who had awakened the Tenseigan, was classified by the system as being on the same level as Madara—a half-step Six Paths Level. Since Hoshiyomi defeated Kaguya Reiichi, the system counted it as a successful challenge against a higher-tier opponent, and with the bonus for defeating a higher-tier opponent, it awarded him a full 70 experience points.
The reason it didn't give the full 80 points like with Madara was because Madara's case was a kill, while Reiichi was only defeated, so it was 10 points less.
But even so, the reward was already extremely generous. After all, once someone is killed, they're gone—but Reiichi would still be around to fight him many more times. This was a woolly sheep he could keep shearing.
Just thinking about how each fight meant 70 experience points—and even if future rewards diminished with repetition, he could still keep farming it for a long time—Hoshiyomi grew increasingly excited. For a moment, he even found himself wishing he could stay in this world a bit longer.
But the truly exciting thing had yet to come.
That even better thing was none other than this: Hoshiyomi could now draw his second skill.
This battle with Reiichi had pushed Hoshiyomi's experience up to 270 points, and once experience hit 250, the system granted a skill draw.
This was also the last skill he would be able to draw before reaching Sword Saint level. Just the thought made Hoshiyomi so excited that he could hardly contain himself.
This was one of the last two skills he could ever obtain—of course it had to be incredibly powerful.
Without hesitation, Hoshiyomi switched to the skill-draw interface. Staring at the large text reading "Skills Available to Draw: 1," he could feel sweat forming in his palms.
The last skill before becoming a Sword Saint… it had to be powerful, right? He just didn't know whether it would be a flashy beam-type attack or a simple, unpretentious technique like Ultimate Slash.
Logically speaking, Ultimate Slash already counted as the simple, no-frills type, so this time the system should give him a beam-type skill. Honestly, Hoshiyomi really lacked good AOE skills.
Up to now, Hoshiyomi's only AOE moves were Sky-Piercing Draw Slash, Soul-Devouring Demon Seal Slash, and Heavenly Rift Flowing Light.
His other skills could hit multiple enemies, but they were primarily single-target.
After imagining possibilities for a while, he decided that getting a wide-area AOE would be the most satisfying.
He fantasized about drawing something like Excalibur—the Sword of Promised Victory, the EX-Rank Holy Sword. Hoshiyomi couldn't help but show a delighted (idiotic) grin.
Looking at his pale hands, he rubbed them together excitedly. With slightly trembling fingers, he selected the skill-draw option.
The system's skill-draw animation was as crude as always, yet to Hoshiyomi it was the most beautiful sight in the world.
Watching the glowing screen shift and flicker, his breathing quickened. The changes grew slower and slower until finally, the light froze gently on a single skill.
Hoshiyomi instinctively widened his eyes and looked at the skill description appearing in the glow.
Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the skill: Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion
Skill Description:
The host can replicate any sword or blade they remember and manifest it physically. Weapon quality depends on the amount of chakra invested. When a manifested weapon's durability reaches zero, it will cause an explosion of a certain scale.
(Note: "Unlimited Blade Works" cannot replicate unique special abilities inherent to the original weapons.)
Ultimate: Inner Ghost Sword Technique — Storm Style:
Creates 24 replicated swords, with 12 floating in the air and 12 planted in the ground to form a sword formation. The user then delivers multiple rapid attacks on the enemy. After all 24 swords are used, one powerful additional finishing attack is unleashed.
...
Upon seeing this skill, Hoshiyomi's breathing momentarily stopped, and his mind went almost completely blank.
In his head, only one word remained: Invincible.
This Ten ThousandSword Pavilion was very similar to Shirou Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works from Fate, yet also very different. The biggest difference was that this "Unlimited Blade Works" only had the form, without any of the original's special abilities, and it could only replicate swords and blades, not their unique powers.
In exchange, the replicated weapons explode when their durability hits zero.
But even just that was enough to make Hoshiyomi extremely satisfied—because this skill… is cool as hell!
When Hoshiyomi used the Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion, he could pour in a large amount of chakra to replicate a divine weapon not inferior to Mikazuki Munechika, or he could casually condense a simple blade and throw it out like Gilgamesh hurling treasures from the Gate of Babylon.
Just imagining it was enough to make him feel impossibly stylish—creating thousands or tens of thousands of weapons with a wave of his hand, flicking a finger to turn a hundred thousand White Zetsu into porcupines. Just the thought alone was too cool to even talk about!
Another huge surprise was that Ultimate Slash's version of Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion had directly evolved into the First Awakening skill of the DNF (Dungeon & Fighter) Sword Master class—Ghost Swordsmanship: Storm Style.
That was a skill Hoshiyomi had coveted for a long time. He had originally hoped to draw it from a future skill lottery. He didn't manage to draw it… yet he ended up receiving it anyway as a bonus from Ultimate Slash's enhanced form.
So in the end, while the system appeared to award him only one skill today, in reality he got two. No matter how you calculate it, this was an absolute profit.
In addition to these two surprises, there was one more expected development—Dance of the Startled Swan had advanced again as Hoshiyomi grew stronger.
Dance of the Startled Swan Current Stats:
• Maximum charges: 6
• Charge recovery time: 3 hours
• Sword Shadow duration: 4 hours
There was no doubt Hoshiyomi was completely satisfied with this 250-point experience reward. But instead of just staring inside the system space, of course he wanted to go outside and test it.
With that thought, Hoshiyomi exited his Sword Heart System.
Outside the system space, Kimimaro had been waiting for quite a while. Seeing Hoshiyomi open his eyes again, he asked curiously:
"So? How was it, how much experience did you get? Didn't you say you were close to a skill draw? Did you get a new skill?"
Hoshiyomi, still smiling widely after leaving the system, straightforwardly recounted everything he had just experienced.
After hearing the description of Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion, Kimimaro immediately complained:
"Isn't that just Unlimited Blade Works? Your system is pretty good at pulling weird stuff out of nowhere."
Hoshiyomi coughed awkwardly:
"Uh… that's not important. What matters is—this skill… is cool!"
Kimimaro nodded in agreement. He nudged Hoshiyomi's arm, urging:
"Hurry up and use it. Show me what a real-life Unlimited Blade Works looks like."
Hoshiyomi nodded, took a deep breath, and followed the system's description, channeling his remaining chakra into Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion.
As Hoshiyomi visualized it, a faint blue sword shadow appeared in the space behind him, distorting eerily. With the continuous flow of his chakra, the shadow kept shifting shape.
Under the tense gazes of Hoshiyomi and Kimimaro, the sword shadow morphed and refined itself until it finally took the form of the Mikazuki Munechika hanging at Hoshiyomi's waist.