I Formed the Strongest Swordsman Group-Chapter 2: Talent Replication System

—What was that sound?!
Tachibana Aoto—or rather, Qin Deng—stood frozen in place, startled by the sudden mechanical voice that had echoed in his mind.
Before he could even process the mechanical voice, his vision suddenly blurred, his eyes losing focus.
When his sight returned to normal, Aoto was astonished to discover—his vision had become unprecedentedly clear.
It was the dead of night, and the ambient light had previously only allowed him to barely make out the path beneath his feet.
But now, everything before his eyes appeared vividly sharp.
Even the darkest corners untouched by light were perfectly visible to him.
While Aoto was still reeling from this sudden change in his vision, the operation to capture the "Righteous Crowd" had quietly concluded.
According to the informant's intel—the "Righteous Crowd" consisted of only twelve members.
Under the surprise assault by Aoto and his team, they were swiftly rounded up—those who surrendered obediently were tightly bound with coarse ropes, while those who resisted were executed on the spot.
"Oh? Tachibana, you actually took down the Righteous Crowd's second-in-command? Well done."
At that moment, Aoto's superior—Arima's voice—rang out from behind him.
The Edo Town Magistrate's office hierarchy could be broadly divided into three levels: Town Magistrate, Yoriki, and Dōshin.
The Town Magistrate could be understood as the mayor, Yoriki as middle management, and Dōshin as ground-level personnel.
Generally, one Yoriki oversaw two to three Dōshin.
Aoto was directly under Yoriki Arima's command.
Turning toward the voice, Aoto saw Arima approaching him at a leisurely pace—his clothes splattered with bloodstains, a long sword dripping with fresh blood in his hand.
After crouching beside the middle-aged man Aoto had knocked unconscious with a single move and briefly examining his injuries, Arima stood up and said to Aoto:
"Tachibana, excellent work. A rare achievement indeed—you've successfully captured the Righteous Crowd's second-in-command alive."
"This guy is their number two, known as 'Cat's Eye.'"
"Cat's Eye?" Aoto questioned.
"They say this guy is a freak who can see as clearly at night as a cat." Arima pointed at his own eyes. "Hence the nickname."
With that, Arima patted Aoto's shoulder.
"Alright, stop standing around dumbfounded. Let's hurry and escort these scoundrels back. The sooner we get them locked up, the sooner we can go home and rest."
"Oh, right." Aoto nodded reflexively.
Thanks to their ambush, out of the twelve Righteous Crowd members—four were dead, two severely injured, and the remaining six captured alive.
The second-in-command Aoto had taken down was among the prisoners.
The dead were wrapped in straw mats and, along with the critically injured, transported back to the magistrate's office on carts first, followed by the surviving criminals.
By the time this troublesome task was completed, nearly an hour had passed.
After successfully delivering the remaining Righteous Crowd members to the magistrate's office, Arima gathered everyone who had participated in the night's operation.
"Everyone! Excellent work!" Arima said with a smile. "The Righteous Crowd has been completely eradicated!"
"The Town Magistrate is very pleased with our performance tonight."
"So—"
Arima drew out his words.
"The Town Magistrate just told me: Everyone who participated in tonight's operation gets tomorrow off!"
The moment Arima finished speaking, cheers erupted from all sides.
Aoto didn't join in the celebration—his mind was still in a daze.
"Alright, everyone head home." Arima waved his hand, signaling for quiet. "I'll handle the remaining cleanup."
Another round of cheers broke out.
After Arima dismissed them, the group dispersed in twos and threes, each heading home.
Aoto also stepped out of the magistrate's office with a blank expression.
Unbeknownst to him—three samurai wearing straw hats had been hiding in a dark alley not far from the magistrate's office.
Once Aoto left, these three warriors rested their hands on their swords, hunched low, and began silently trailing him...
……
By the time Aoto and his three pursuers were well away from the magistrate's office, the minor officials who had been transporting the Righteous Crowd's casualties were chatting idly while blowing warm air into their frozen hands.
"Ah, the Righteous Crowd is finally finished."
"With them gone, Edo should become at least a little more peaceful."
"I wonder when we'll be able to root out those 'Expel the Barbarians' and 'Divine Punishment' fanatics too? Those people are terrifying... I heard Yamada from the interrogations department was ambushed by them the other night on his way home—almost got himself killed."
"Why would the Expel the Barbarians faction target Yamada?"
"Apparently because he publicly voiced support for adopting Western medicine."
"Tch. Those Expel the Barbarians folks keep chanting their slogans, but in the end, almost all their victims are our own countrymen. If they had the guts to jump into the ocean and attack the American steamships, then I'd respect them as heroes."
"Enough of this depressing talk. Let's go get a drink."
……
Following the memories in his mind, Aoto walked the path home.
But shortly after leaving the magistrate's office, he stopped and leaned against the roadside.
He wasn't in the mood to slowly make his way back to the home from his memories.
Right now, he just wanted to figure out exactly what was going on.
Rubbing his temples vigorously, Aoto tried recalling how he had ended up time-traveling to ancient Japan...
His memories before the transmigration were crystal clear—he had been a fresh graduate from the police academy.
In his previous life, he had always idolized the police profession.
Before he even understood the difference between boys and girls, he had already resolved to become an officer.
And remarkably, this ambition had come true.
His past self had been the quintessential "model child" that parents compared their own kids to.
Throughout elementary and middle school, his grades were consistently top-tier.
During college entrance exams, his scores were so outstanding he easily got into the police academy.
His performance at the academy remained stellar, graduating as valedictorian with the highest comprehensive scores.
Then, just three days after graduation... he found himself in this unfamiliar era...
He remembered—before transmigrating, he had been leisurely reading in his home study.
As he read, he grew drowsy and decided to nap right there in his chair.
When he opened his eyes again... he had become Tachibana Aoto, a police officer in ancient Japan, and was abruptly thrust into an arrest operation...
—So I transmigrated by taking a nap?!
Aoto's face darkened.
Having given up on figuring out how he time-traveled, Aoto took a deep breath and continued massaging his temples.
He was now sifting through "original Aoto's" memories.
He needed to determine what period of Japan he was in.
Having perfectly inherited all of "original Aoto's" memories, it only took a moment to recall: Ansei 7...
What year is that in the Gregorian calendar?
No idea...
Probably because the Western calendar hadn't caught on in Japan during this era yet.
Currently ruling Japan was a massive entity called the "Tokugawa Shogunate," also known as the "Edo Shogunate."
—No good... I have no clue what year this is...
The black lines on Aoto's face multiplied...
"Original Aoto's" memories only contained the current era name, with no concept of the Gregorian calendar.
Aoto couldn't deduce the year from the era name either, as he knew nothing about Japanese history.
History had never interested him, and Japanese history was completely foreign.
Having also abandoned trying to pinpoint the year, Aoto turned his thoughts to the mechanical voice from earlier.
—Could this be... the so-called "system"...?
In his past life, Aoto had read some web novels and was familiar with the concept of "systems."
After mentally calling out "system" a few times, a virtual screen materialized before his eyes:
……
[Name: Tachibana Aoto] (?)
[Current Talents:
Night Vision]
……
The content on this virtual screen was surprisingly sparse—just these two lines.
Aoto noticed a small question mark at the end of his name line.
Focusing his attention on it, the question mark expanded into a new screen:
……
[Talent Replication System Rules:]
[1. After engaging in combat with someone possessing special talents (regardless of victory or defeat), you may replicate one of their talents. (Note: Not everyone has special talents—most are ordinary people with none.)]
[2. If the target possesses multiple talents, one will be randomly replicated.]
[3. You may only replicate talents from an individual once. Even if they possess other talents, no further replication is possible.]
[4. When a talent is active, its entry in the system interface will glow.]
[5. The host may possess an unlimited number of talents, but cannot have duplicates.]
[6. Talent replication requires time—you must engage in combat for at least 10 seconds to copy a talent.]
[7. Upon meeting certain conditions, the host may awaken new talents independently.]
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