Chapter 25. Recommendation Qualification (Part 2)
This was Fulan’s current status panel.
[Name: Fulan
Profession: Rune Warrior (Half Star), Alchemist
Attributes: Physique 2.5, Spirit 2.3
Skills:
Swift Wind Breathing Method (Proficient) (Proficiency: 25/10000)
Pharmacology (Proficient) (Proficiency: 8621/10000)
Runology (Mastered) (Proficiency: 543/1000)
Astrology (Beginner) (Proficiency: 76/100)
Wind Blade (Mastered) (Proficiency: 281/1000): Condenses a blade of wind in the hand and releases it to strike the enemy.
Heavenly Sky Strike (Mastered) (Proficiency: 431/1000): Can only be used in midair, delivering a powerful downward blow.
Traits: Move With the Wind, Experienced Alchemist
Mental Power (Allows mental energy to be condensed into runes. When used in combat, your mental power can be converted proportionally into strength at a ratio of 1:0.3, rounded down.)]
It was already the end of the academic year. After this Swordsmanship Class, the examination would begin in less than a week.
Over the past three months, Fulan had pushed her panel to an extremely impressive level. She felt that she had already trained everything she possibly could.
First was the Breathing Method. After a long period of sparring with Bella, her Breathing Method had finally reached the Proficient level. After that, she stopped training with Bella.
The reason was simple—Bella could no longer defeat her.
Whenever she activated the Breathing Method, her strength would become comparable to Bella’s, while she remained more agile. As a result, Bella had not won a single match afterward.
Her attributes had also increased greatly due to the improvement of her Breathing Method and the acquisition of the Rune Warrior profession.
With the stacking bonuses from her close-combat abilities, her Physique had surpassed her Spirit for the first time.
In addition, while practicing Runology, she had discovered an extremely expensive shortcut.
She realized that when carving runes onto a weapon, if she stopped after drawing one quarter of the rune, she would still gain 1 point of proficiency.
Because the rune was incomplete, she could draw it three times on the same weapon. That meant a single weapon could yield 3 points of proficiency.
At the same time, this method took far less time than fully engraving a complete rune onto a weapon—only about half the time.
Normally, completing an entire rune only rewarded around 2 to 4 proficiency points.
Therefore, intentionally ruining weapons was far faster than honestly engraving runes.
The only problem was that the Magical Craftsmen did not seem to adapt well to this mass-production style of orders. Even after pushing aside other work, their delivery schedules kept getting delayed.
As a result, her orders had now piled up to over one thousand weapons. Because of her massive purchases, the price of White Mountain Copper had remained extremely high.
The Rune Warrior profession had also granted her a trait: Mental Power.
All she could say was that it was excellent. She had tested it. The enhancement could be activated or deactivated at any time. However, while the enhancement was active, she could not cast spells.
At this point, she was completely prepared.
Everything she had done was for the sake of instantly defeating Richter—a person she had not even met yet.
Returning to the spar with John.
When the match began, Fulan did not activate the Breathing Method. She simply swung her sword and attacked.
When John saw that Fulan had not activated the Breathing Method immediately, he frowned slightly.
This was not a wise choice.
Did Fulan think that he adjusted his displayed strength according to his opponent’s current condition? That was not the case.
From the beginning, he had always matched his strength to his opponent’s best possible state.
Fulan would suffer a disadvantage in the first clash.
After a brief moment of thought, John decided to slightly reduce his strength.
However, the force transmitted through the wooden swords the moment they collided shocked him.
He hurriedly increased his strength and only relaxed after successfully blocking the attack.
How had Fulan achieved such a powerful Physique?
He felt that the force behind her strike was stronger than Bella’s when she did not activate the Breathing Method, but slightly weaker than Bella’s when it was active.
If Fulan already possessed this level of Physique in her normal state, combined with the agility she was already known for…
A thought appeared in John’s mind that startled even himself.
Fulan could participate in the Senior Apprentice examination right now.
In fact, she would probably achieve a fairly respectable ranking.
In his opinion, Fulan should only reach such a level after joining the Sword Chant School for one or two years. This development simply defied common sense.
An apprentice who could not even perform the simplest slash a few months ago had now become a powerful “Senior Apprentice.”
After another exchange of attacks, Fulan also noticed that John’s strength was gradually increasing.
If she did not activate the Breathing Method now, she would have no chance.
In an instant, Fulan gathered the wind around her and began launching a storm of relentless attacks.
A bead of sweat appeared on John’s forehead.
Just as he expected, once she activated the Breathing Method, her strength slightly surpassed Bella’s.
At that moment, he deeply regretted not replacing the wooden sword in his hand earlier.
During his fight with Bella, the sword had already been bent. Now, during this battle, John could even hear the sound of it nearing its breaking point.
This wooden sword had never been designed for battles of this intensity.
He could sense that Fulan’s wooden sword was also bending, but his would likely break first.
Left with no choice, John activated his own Breathing Method. His strength and speed rose significantly compared to before.
The situation immediately shifted. The slight advantage Fulan had held vanished as John regained the upper hand.
For a brief moment, Fulan considered activating Mental Power.
She felt certain that if she activated it now, she would definitely win under the current circumstances.
But she ultimately dismissed the idea.
Her recent increase in Physique could still be explained away by claiming the delayed effects of the Body-Tempering Technique.
However, if her Physique suddenly rose to another level during combat, it would be difficult to avoid suspicion about some secret technique.
Besides, she did not necessarily need to use it.
After slightly dodging an attack, Fulan brushed her hand across her sword.
The motion was incredibly fast. Even Bella would probably not have reacted in time if she had seen it.
John noticed the movement as well, but he did not think it meant anything and paid it no attention.
He had to fight with full concentration now. Although he knew Fulan’s strength exceeded expectations, if he were actually defeated, his friends in the Sword Chant School would probably laugh themselves to death.
However, the next clash exceeded John’s expectations.
The two wooden swords collided again.
This time, the sound was much softer.
John’s wooden sword had broken.
Most of the blade flew away, absorbing the impact as it went. The remaining piece in his hand was now shorter than a dagger.
Not good.
The thought flashed through John’s mind instantly.
He intended to block the next attack and retreat quickly to create some distance.
But it was too late.
Fulan was more agile than he had imagined. Even though he managed to block the strike, the remaining edge of her blade still brushed against his body from the side.
John lowered the shattered wooden sword in his hand.
With a bitter smile, he let out a long sigh before speaking.
“Fulan, I look forward to the day you become a formal mage.”
After this exchange, he had already realized something.
Within three years, Fulan would certainly pass the trial and become a formal mage of the Sword Chant School.