Although Garret’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Garret had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Garret did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself, deep in thought.
※※※
True to Garret’s announcement, the next day she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts department’s competitors and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Garret would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Garret.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Garret for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head casually.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Garret’s departure.
Regardless, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much! Even the weakest student from the Temis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat the Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically while fetching two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’ll test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, straightforward as ever, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith on the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Good! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about half his strength.
Seeing Zack’s casual approach, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen shouted “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance from Amelith. In imperial combat, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “fourth” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after his full-force backward leap, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and brought her sword down again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword diagonally from her shoulder.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, could only watch as the sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but halfway through his evasion, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that the sixth move Zhang Wen taught was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought the blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect the blade before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let the fallen Zack off the hook. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith remove her blindfold.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the prestigious academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the physical arts department of Almitus Academy stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead relentlessly pursued by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded vigorously. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on the students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around shouting numbers on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final biting remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. Although Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Temiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between him and Governor Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the team of instructors for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The instructor team…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, it was too much to expect Amelie, who was only at level four in physical arts, to compete against the carefully selected experts from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department! Even the weakest student in the Temis Academy delegation had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelie became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see what you’ve achieved during this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelie while fetching two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The little beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelie.
“I’m being tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with the heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelie in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelie, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelie a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’ll be attacking Amelie.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelie.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had to follow instructions.
“Good! Amelie, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelie—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Alright, begin!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelie focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelie. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelie, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelie, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelie immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelie could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelie’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelie. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelie’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen shouted “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelie’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelie’s. This meant that while Amelie’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelie. In imperial physical arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to engage in a prolonged fight with Amelie.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelie’s energy swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelie didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved.
Amelie slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelie leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “fourth” move, Amelie had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an indescribable smoothness in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelie’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his might, he could only watch as Amelie closed the distance faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelie’s attack.
Clang! Amelie’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelie’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword diagonally forward from her shoulder.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword thrusting toward him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that the sixth move Zhang Wen had taught was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelie’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelie’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned into a chill—he had thought the blindfolded Amelie would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelie wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelie’s movements were so smooth that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelie’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelie, of course, didn’t let the fallen Zack off the hook. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen, smiling, told the sweat-drenched Amelie to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelie saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelie’s excitement, Zack nervously shouted, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almisius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelie, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and had been chased down by the blindfolded Amelie, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelie’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make it hard for the lower-level combatant to even stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelie had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelie back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelie won because she was stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelie find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
※※※
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between him and Governor Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile, silently pondering.
※※※
Just as Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team…” After dismissing the student sent by Rinoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead the team! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelie, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the physical arts department of Themis Academy was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from Themis Academy’s visiting team had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelie started to feel uncertain.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this intensive training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelie while fetching two energy swords from the side.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I want to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing the energy swords to Zack and Amelie.
“I’m being tested too?” The straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen smirked, sending Cloud to the side and leaving only Zack and Amelie in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelie, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelie a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’ll be attacking Amelie.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelie,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had to follow instructions.
“Alright, Amelie, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelie—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelie focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelie. However, worried about hurting the still-blind Amelie, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelie, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelie immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelie could perform the move more flawlessly, free from distractions.
Thus, Amelie’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelie. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelie’s energy sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack embarrassingly walked right into Amelie’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelie’s. This meant that while Amelie’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap back, hoping to create distance from Amelie. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelie.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelie’s energy swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelie didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelie bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelie leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing move “4” before, Amelie had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the move.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “4.” He knew what Amelie’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his might, he could only watch as Amelie closed the distance faster than he could and swung her sword again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelie’s attack.
Clang! Amelie’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage in mid-air. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelie’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to steady himself, watched helplessly as the energy sword came at him. He frantically dodged to the left, but before he could complete the move, Zhang Wen called out “6,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move “6” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelie’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelie’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelie would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelie wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelie’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelie’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelie, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelie open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelie saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, the young beauty, who had already anticipated something, was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelie’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of Almythos Academy stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. Throughout the fight with Amelie, aside from the first strike where he had slightly underestimated her, Zack had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and had been chased down by the blindfolded Amelie, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelie’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level fighter went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level fighter lose their footing!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelie had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelie back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves. Do you think Amelie won because she’s stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelie find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
“Instructor team, huh…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures remaining on the training ground and sighed dramatically about the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking helplessly at Zhang Wen.
Unlike the psychokinetic department, where there were always numerous strong contenders for the annual competition, in the physical arts department, finding a student willing to compete was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them! Besides, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself during the competition. Thus, finding students willing to join him in this embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed Carrie would represent the physical arts department in the competition, but now she had clearly stated she wouldn’t help. The two of them couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hmph! What’s there to be nervous about? I never counted on Carrie participating in the competition this year anyway,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head casually.
“Is that so…? Haha!” Zack and Cloud nodded along with Zhang Wen’s words, but their expressions clearly showed their doubt. They obviously thought Zhang Wen was just trying to comfort them after Carrie’s departure.
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final biting remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student Linoa had sent and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training field.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this potential embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear that she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
Regardless, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite students from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was a stretch. Even the weakest student in the Temis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud.
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith sounded uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” the young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Do I need to be tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, asked in confusion as he took the energy sword.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous smile, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’re going to attack Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still not understanding what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but she reacted reflexively to Zhang Wen’s voice.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword into the ground behind her, causing the blade made of special crystal to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move surprisingly smooth.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and brought her sword down again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward with all his strength to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword diagonally from her shoulder.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the now-sweaty Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the academy.
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could produce such devastating power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless offensive style. Throughout the fight with Amelith, aside from the first strike where he had underestimated her, Zack had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a chance to mount a proper counterattack. He had been relentlessly pursued by the blindfolded Amelith and had lost the match in utter confusion.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire, a one-level difference in combat was often considered a foregone conclusion. A one-and-a-half level difference? When the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant lose their footing!
And yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded vigorously. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves. Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. And second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Garret’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Garret had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Garret was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Garret’s announcement, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this potential embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed Garret would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Garret.
“Hey, no need to be nervous. I never counted on Garret for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said casually, glancing at Zack and shaking his head.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Garret’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Themis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Themis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, in any case, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” Even Amelith sounded uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces and knowing exactly what they were thinking. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he walked to the side of the field to fetch two energy swords.
“Of course!” the little beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner,” Zhang Wen said with an evil grin, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Just use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still not understanding what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s energy sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was highly risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s energy swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, until the special crystal blade bent slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she found the move surprisingly smooth.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith leaped forward faster than him and struck again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting rapidly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that Amelith, with her eyes closed, wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block her strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the now sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man of the Almitheus Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and had been chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and had lost the match in a daze!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey, don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
Although Garret’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Garret had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Garret did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Garret’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department and would be undergoing “closed training” with the participating students in the coming days, meaning she could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, sending the student away and glancing at the three lonely figures left on the training field. He couldn’t help but lament the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was nearly as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed Garret would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t fathom how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without her.
“Hey, no need to be nervous. I never counted on Garret for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said casually, shaking his head.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen was just trying to reassure them after Garret’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite students from the Themis Academy’s physical arts department was a stretch! Even the weakest student from Themis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, in any case, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win, but…” Even Amelith seemed hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see what you’ve achieved during this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he walked to the side of the field and picked up two energy swords.
“Of course!” the young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous smile, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’re going to attack Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught us?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Just use your usual fighting style. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still unsure of what Zhang Wen was trying to achieve. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the numbered moves. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines before assuming his most familiar thrusting stance and charging at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about half his strength.
Seeing Zack’s casual approach, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the collision startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. While Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the exchange, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack had no intention of getting entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword into the ground behind her, causing the specially crafted crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
On the other side, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, her sword coming down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, could only dodge to the left as the sword came at him. But before he could fully dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a series of cross-slashing strikes. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he had forgotten that she wouldn’t hold back. And her movements were so precise that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a panicked Zack could only use his left hand to barely deflect the blade before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up. She continued with the cross-slashing strikes as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting Amelith, now drenched in sweat, open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was shocked. She could hardly believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in alarm, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of the Almythius Academy stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could produce such devastating power.
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming style of attack that left no room for the opponent to breathe. Throughout the fight, Zack had been using his full strength to resist, but from start to finish, he hadn’t had a single chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and had lost the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat ability was already enough to make the outcome of a fight a foregone conclusion. And with a difference of a level and a half, when the higher-level fighter went all out, the shockwaves from their combat energy could make it impossible for the lower-level fighter to even stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey, don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves. Do you think Amelith won because she’s stronger than Zack? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. And second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack’s style. You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said as soon as he saw the expressions on their faces. “I’ve had you training hard for over a week, so it’s time to let you see what results your training has brought.”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa had a student deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. For the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the three lonely figures left on the training field, lamenting the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was brimming with talent every year, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead. Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even harder.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey, no need to be nervous. I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was a stretch! Even the weakest member of the Temis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my concern. You just focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha, Teacher Zhang, we really want to win, but…” Even Amelith seemed uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see what you’ve achieved.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” the young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous grin, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’ll be attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting style. Just be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still unsure of what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Begin!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about half his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first angled her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelith’s energy sword struck Zack’s blade with precision. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrust wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the initial clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but at Zhang Wen’s command, she acted reflexively.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword into the ground behind her, bending the blade made of special crystal. As the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “fourth” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected fluidity in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, her sword coming down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting diagonally from her shoulder.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, watched as the sword came at him. He dodged to the left, but halfway through his evasion, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s sixth move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so熟练 that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect the blade before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was utterly dumbfounded. The popular young man from the physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and lost the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a difference of one and a half levels, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey, don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
“Of course!” The pretty girl nodded without hesitation.
Although Carlette’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carlette had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carlette was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carlette’s announcement, she didn’t show up at Zhang Wen’s combat training the next day. Meanwhile, Linoya sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. For the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and wouldn’t be able to continue attending Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the three lonely figures left on the training field, lamenting the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them. Moreover, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the upcoming match. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carlette would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carlette.
“Hey, why the nervousness? I never counted on Carlette for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen was just trying to reassure them after Carlette’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite students from the Themis Academy’s physical arts department was a stretch! Even the weakest student from Themis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha, Teacher Zhang, we really want to win, but…” Even Amelith seemed uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see what you’ve achieved during this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he walked to the side of the field to fetch two energy swords.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, straightforward as ever, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen smirked, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith on the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’re going to attack Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines and then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance, charging at Amelith. However, worried about hurting her while her eyes were closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She tilted her energy sword upward and then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had anticipated Amelith’s strike when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but at Zhang Wen’s command, she acted reflexively.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the blade made of special crystal to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing move “four,” Amelith had always found the first part of the move a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the execution.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword diagonally from her shoulder.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, could only watch as the sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but before he could complete the move, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move “six” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical strike would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either. Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his sword lost somewhere along the way.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And just like that, Zack was rolled from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting Amelith, who was now drenched in sweat, open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had expected something like this, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Watch out!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of the Almythos Academy stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a decent chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been relentlessly pursued by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and had ended up losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat ability usually made the outcome of a fight a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant struggle to stay on their feet!
And yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said with a smile as he called Zack and Amelith back to his side.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey, don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves. Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. And secondly, it was because I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
“Do I have to be tested too?” The straightforward Zack asked confusedly as he took the crystal energy sword.
Although Garret’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Garret had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final biting remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Garret did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile curling his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Garret’s announcement, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the student sent by Rinoa leave. He glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was brimming with talent every year, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed Garret would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Garret.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Garret for this year’s competition anyway,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to comfort them after Garret’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in martial arts, against the elite fighters carefully selected from the martial arts department of Themis Academy was simply too much! Even the weakest martial arts student in Themis Academy’s visiting team had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Themis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting their shoulders with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith sounded uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” the petite beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain accompanying our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous smile, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith on the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting style. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still unsure of what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s casual approach, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, running straight into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the blade made of special crystal to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected fluidity in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward with all his strength to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
Just as Zack was retreating, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that the “number six” move Zhang Wen had taught was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so熟练 that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, allowing the sweat-drenched Amelith to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was still shocked, even though she had anticipated the outcome. She could hardly believe that she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man of the martial arts department at Almitheus Academy stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a chance to mount a proper counterattack. He had been chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and had lost the match in utter confusion!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a difference of one and a half levels, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level opponent unable to even stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded vigorously like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. And second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke and shook his head helplessly.
Although Carlette’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carlette had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. Although Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Temiso as well as Carlette did, he had heard a bit about the feud between him and Governor Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen curled the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself.
※※※
True to Carlette’s announcement, the next day she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training session. Meanwhile, Linoa had a student deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the following days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors every day and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training field and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead the team! Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carlette would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carlette.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carlette for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carlette left.
In any case, having Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, compete against the carefully selected experts from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelith became uneasy.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith individually as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you should have numbered each move as I instructed? …Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen had Amelith stand a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Just use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s casual approach, Zhang Wen curled the corner of his mouth again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s energy sword would strike down when he heard Zhang Wen shout “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack embarrassingly ran into Amelith’s strike like a fool.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap back, hoping to create distance from Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was highly risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of Zack and Amelith’s energy swords, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm drawing a perfect arc as she forcefully pressed the energy sword into the ground behind her, until the blade made of special crystal bent slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the energy sword above her head and slashing down.
When practicing move “4,” Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she felt an indescribable smoothness in executing the move.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “4.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than him and struck again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage in mid-air. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to stabilize himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword thrusting toward him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen shouted “6,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move “6” was a continuous cross-slash, and in his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned into a chill—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword slashed toward him again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let the fallen Zack off the hook. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long gone.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” Like a ball, Zack rolled from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, the young beauty, who had already anticipated something, was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almythius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and had been chased down by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to even stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
“Does that mean… using the moves you taught us?” Zack asked hesitantly.
Although Carlet’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carlet had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carlet was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself.
※※※
As Carlet had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. For the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team…” After dismissing the student sent by Rinoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen in confusion.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this potential embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carlet would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carlet.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carlet for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just to comfort them after Carlet’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite students of the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest student in the Temis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In the end, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelith seemed to lose confidence.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see the results of this intensive training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith individually while fetching two energy swords from the side.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the side and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here’s the rule… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Just use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the optimal distance for an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s casual approach, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who was unprepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack didn’t fare much better. Although he knew Amelith’s energy sword would come down when Zhang Wen shouted “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack foolishly walked right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance from Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of their energy swords, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she acted reflexively.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the energy sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing move “number four,” Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she found an unexpected fluidity in the move.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after his full-force leap backward, he could only watch as Amelith, moving faster than him, leaped forward and struck again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward the left front.
Zack, still trying to steady himself, saw the energy sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move “six” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword, then fell backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around on the ground, his energy sword long gone.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen, with a smile, told the sweat-drenched Amelith to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack under her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Be careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack nervously shouted, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of the Almitheus Academy stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such an overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to catch their breath. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, except for the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been using all his strength to resist. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and was chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and lost the match in a daze!
It’s worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a difference of one and a half levels, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves generated could even make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won so easily!
“Now you understand.” Calling Zack and Amelith back to his side, Zhang Wen smiled at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
“Okay.” So far, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. However, as Zhang Wen’s student, he could only follow his teacher’s instructions.
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s announcement, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training session the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the team of instructors for the psychic arts department. For the next few days, she would be engaged in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and would no longer be able to attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The instructor team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student Rinoa had sent and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training field.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with a mix of confusion and helplessness.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear that she wouldn’t help. The two of them couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head with ease.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the carefully selected elite of the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student in the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” Even Amelith sounded hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces and knowing exactly what they were thinking. “You’ve been practicing hard for over a week now. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he walked to the side of the field and picked up two energy swords.
“Of course!” the young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you should have numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing one of the energy swords to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous smile, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’re going to attack Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still not understanding what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Alright, start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused her breath, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision, free from distractions.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared for it. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the exchange, Zack’s reflexes were quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In Imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the next number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, until the blade, made of a special crystal, bent slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part of the move a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move surprisingly fluid.
On the other side, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and brought her sword down again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to steady himself, watched as the sword came at him and had no choice but to dodge to the left. But before he could complete the dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s moves were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to call out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a panicked Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect her blade before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to follow Zhang Wen’s instructions, unleashing a series of cross-slashes. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the now sweat-drenched Amelith remove her blindfold.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had expected something like this, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man of the Almisius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless attack that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had been slightly overconfident, he had been fighting with all his strength afterward. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been relentlessly pursued by the blindfolded Amelith and ended up losing the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the Empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to even stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded vigorously, their heads bobbing like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
“Alright, let’s start!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh when she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead the team. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to comfort them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith while fetching two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain acting as the sparring partner for our heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Good! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the optimal distance for launching an attack.
“Alright, start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision, free from distractions.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the exchange, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the specially crafted crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always felt the first part of the action was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed with an unexpected smoothness.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after his full-force retreat, he could only watch as Amelith leaped forward faster than he could react, bringing her sword down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting rapidly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to stabilize himself, saw the sword coming and desperately dodged to the left. But before he could complete the dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that the “number six” move Zhang Wen had taught was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that a blind Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so熟练 that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to call out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to follow Zhang Wen’s instructions, executing a series of cross-slash attacks. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen smiled and told Amelith, who was now drenched in sweat, to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was still shocked, even though she had anticipated something like this. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Be careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This is… unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almitius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left the opponent no room to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been using his full strength to resist. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blind Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a difference of one and a half levels, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from where you need to be! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the team of instructors for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The instructor team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, feeling the unfairness of life as he glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey, why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters carefully selected from the physical arts department of Termis Academy was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student in the Termis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Termis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting their shoulders with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith seemed uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away before turning to Zack. “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area before assuming his most familiar thrusting stance and charging at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared for it. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack didn’t fare much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen shout “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the two swords clashed, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she acted reflexively at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed her energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the blade made of special crystal to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “move four,” Amelith had always felt the first part of the move was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed more smoothly than ever.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and brought her sword down again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He swung his energy sword upward with all his strength to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
Just as Zack was retreating, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting out rapidly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to steady himself, watched helplessly as the sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but before he could complete the movement, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “move six” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that a blind Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so熟练 that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And just like that, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen smiled and told Amelith, who was now drenched in sweat, to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was shocked, even though she had anticipated something like this. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of the Almythius Academy stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless offensive style. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blind Amelith, losing the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to even stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. Although Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen curled his lips and thought to himself.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. At the same time, Linoa sent a student to convey an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the team of instructors for the psychic arts department. In the following days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts department’s competition students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The instructor team…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always filled with strong competitors during the annual competition, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead the team! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Is… is that so? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to comfort them after Carrie left.
In any case, having Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, compete against the carefully selected experts from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelith became uncertain.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith individually while fetching two energy swords from the side.
“Of course!” The little beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you should have numbered each move as I instructed?… Good, now I want to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Do I need to be tested too?” The straightforward Zack took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner,” Zhang Wen smirked evilly, sending Cloud to the side and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen had Amelith stand a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Just use your usual fighting moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned carefully.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Alright, start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training ground, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s casual movements, Zhang Wen curled his lips again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so Amelith didn’t lose her grip on the sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s energy sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap back, hoping to create distance from Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s energy swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she acted reflexively.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm drawing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, bending the special crystal blade slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “fourth move,” Amelith had always felt the first part was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she found an unexpected smoothness in the move.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword thrusting toward him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that the sixth move Zhang Wen taught was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned into fear—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that Amelith wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so熟练 that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around on the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Ah?” When Amelith saw the dirty Zack beneath her sword, the little beauty, who had already had a premonition, was still greatly surprised. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was already dumbfounded. The popular handsome guy of the Almitheus Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such a relentless, tide-like offensive that gave the opponent no chance to catch their breath. In the fight with Amelith, except for the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been resisting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and was chased down by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level side exerted full force, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level side unsteady on their feet!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won so easily!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amelith back to his side, smiling at the three of them.
“Mhm!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a bucket of cold water: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around shouting numbers on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the team of instructors for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors and would no longer be able to attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The team of instructors, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the student Linoa had sent walk away. He glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear that she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelie, who was only at the fourth level of martial arts, against the carefully selected elite of the Temis Academy’s martial arts department was a stretch! Even the weakest martial arts student in the Temis Academy delegation had a sixth-level strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat the Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelie seemed unsure when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelie specifically as he walked to the side of the field to fetch two energy swords.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I asked? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelie.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain accompanying the heroine,” Zhang Wen smirked, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelie in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelie, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen had Amelie stand a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelie later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelie,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelie, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelie—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Begin!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelie focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelie. However, worried about hurting Amelie, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelie, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelie immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelie was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelie’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the collision startled Amelie, who was unprepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelie’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelie’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelie’s. This meant that while Amelie’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the exchange, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelie. In imperial martial arts, close combat was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to engage in a prolonged fight with Amelie.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelie’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelie, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved.
Amelie bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, causing the blade made of special crystal to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelie leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelie had always felt the first part was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed more smoothly than ever.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelie’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelie closed the distance faster than he could and delivered another strike.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward with all his strength to block Amelie’s attack.
Clang! Amelie’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelie’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting rapidly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, could only watch as the sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but before he could fully evade, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelie’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelie’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelie would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that a blind Amelie wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelie’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelie’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelie, of course, didn’t let up. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting Amelie, who was now drenched in sweat, open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelie saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelie’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almythius Academy’s martial arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming attack that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelie, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been chased down by a blind Amelie and lost the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelie’s! In the empire, a one-level difference in combat was often considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level fighter went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level fighter lose their footing!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelie had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelie back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Mm-hmm!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelie won because she’s stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. And second, I helped Amelie find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
Just as Carrie had announced, she indeed didn’t show up at Zhang Wen’s combat training class the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus couldn’t continue attending Zhang Wen’s combat class.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, glancing at the three lonely figures left on the training field, lamenting the inequalities of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was brimming with talent every year, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud forced a laugh, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Themis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Themis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! Whether we can beat Themis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, patting their shoulders with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith seemed uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see the results of this intensive training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, straightforward as ever, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner.” Zhang Wen smirked, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright, here’s the rule… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’ll be attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Good! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about half his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could perform the move with perfect precision, free from distractions.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith, but the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, bending the blade made of special crystal. As the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing move “four,” Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He swung his energy sword upward with all his strength to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack, mid-air, still took a small hit. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Still off-balance, Zack could only watch as the sword came at him, frantically dodging to the left. But before he could fully dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that move six was a continuous cross-slash, and in his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! And her movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only block with his left hand before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his sword lost somewhere in the chaos.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And just like that, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had some inkling of what had happened, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless offensive style. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, Zack had been fighting with all his might. Yet from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, being relentlessly pursued by the blindfolded Amelith and losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. A one-and-a-half-level difference? When the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant lose their footing!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded vigorously, their heads bobbing like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited just yet! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s stronger than Zack? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. And second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s announcement, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t fathom how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud forced a laugh, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Themis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Themis Academy delegation was at least level six, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Themis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith seemed uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this intensive training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner,” Zhang Wen smirked mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center of the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away and then turned to Zack. “You’ll be attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught us?” Zack asked in a low, confused voice.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to achieve, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Good! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Alright, begin!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training ground, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about half his strength.
Seeing Zack’s lackadaisical approach, Zhang Wen smirked again. Just as Zack closed the distance to five steps, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision, free from distractions.
Amelith’s energy sword struck Zack’s blade with perfect accuracy. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith, but the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other hand, Zack didn’t fare much better. Although he had anticipated Amelith’s strike when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired effect.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In Imperial combat, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack had no intention of getting entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the next number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, bending the special crystal blade slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “fourth move,” Amelith had always found the initial motion a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected fluidity in the movement.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, her sword coming down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward, blocking Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She lunged forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Still struggling to regain his balance, Zack could only watch as the energy sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but before he could complete the motion, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “sixth move” was a continuous cross-slash. In Zack’s current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought the blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, the terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith wasn’t about to let Zack off the hook. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And just like that, Zack was rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground to the edge of the fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a grin, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, the young beauty was still shocked, even though she had anticipated something like this. She could hardly believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy.
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almythius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. Throughout the fight, Zack had only underestimated Amelith at the very beginning. After that, he had fought with all his might, yet from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a decent chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been chased down by the blindfolded Amelith and lost the match in utter confusion!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the Empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a difference of a level and a half, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant lose their footing!
And yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a bucket of cold water: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Temiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student sent by Linoa and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite students from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest student from the Temis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In the end, whether we can defeat the Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner,” Zhang Wen smirked mischievously, sending Cloud to the side and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward to the side. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on performing the move perfectly from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s energy sword would strike down when he heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters fighting was highly risky. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of their energy swords, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, until the specially crafted crystal blade bent slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the energy sword above her head and bringing it down with a powerful strike.
When practicing the “move four” before, Amelith always felt the first part of the move was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she found an unexpected fluidity in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after his full-force retreat, he could only watch as Amelith leaped forward faster than he could and delivered another strike.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack, still in mid-air, took a slight hit. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting swiftly from her shoulder toward the front left.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword thrusting toward him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “move six” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned into a chill—he had thought the blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to call out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword, then fell backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around on the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, allowing the sweat-drenched Amelith to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the strength academy.
“Be careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This is… unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the physical arts department of Almitheus Academy stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead relentlessly pursued by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on the students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a bucket of cold water: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final biting remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. Although Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile, silently pondering.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, the next day she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to convey an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors, and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in martial arts, against the carefully selected experts from the Temis Academy’s martial arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest martial arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat the Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelith became hesitant.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith while fetching two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Good! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Alright, begin!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s energy sword would come down when he heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack embarrassingly walked right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance from Amelith. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to engage in a prolonged fight with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of their energy swords, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, until the specially crafted crystal blade bent slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in executing the move.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, her sword coming down once more.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting swiftly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword thrusting toward him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned into a chill—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, the terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen smiled and told the sweat-drenched Amelith to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, the young beauty, who had already anticipated something, was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s martial arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant unsteady on their feet!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amelith back to his side, smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a firm tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around shouting numbers on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team leading the psychic arts department. For the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student Linoa had sent and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was brimming with talent every year, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this potential embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head with ease.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the carefully selected elite of the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student in the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat the Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting their shoulders with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces and knowing exactly what they were thinking. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” the young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with an evil grin, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still not understanding what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, running straight into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the two swords clashed, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but at Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the blade made of special crystal to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “move four” before, Amelith had always felt the first part of the move was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed more smoothly than ever.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard the number “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after his full-force retreat, he could only watch as Amelith leaped forward faster than he could and brought her sword down again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward the front left.
Zack, who hadn’t yet stabilized himself, watched as the energy sword came at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move six was a continuous cross-slash, and in his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to call out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed repeatedly, rolling around on the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was still shocked, even though she had anticipated something like this. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from Zack’s initial underestimation, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a chance to mount a decent counterattack. He had been chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and had lost the match in utter confusion!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant lose their footing!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from where you need to be! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s stronger than Zack? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself, deep in thought.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the mental arts department’s coaching team. For the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the mental arts department’s participants and would no longer be able to attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The coaching team, huh…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen in confusion.
Unlike the mental arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing coach! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud forced a laugh, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carrie’s departure.
Regardless, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest member of the Temis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner,” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the side and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she didn’t lose her grip on the sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had known Amelith’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was highly risky. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “fourth” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard the number “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, and another strike came his way.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She lunged forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “sixth” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect the blade, then fell backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And just like that, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, allowing the sweat-drenched Amelith to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was still shocked, even though she had anticipated something like this. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almythius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such an overwhelming offensive style that left the opponent no room to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and had been relentlessly pursued by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, ultimately losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile, silently pondering.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors, and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team…” After dismissing the student sent by Rinoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training field, sighing at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which always had a strong lineup for competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead the team! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to comfort them after Carrie left.
In any case, having Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, compete against the carefully selected experts from the Termis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Termis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Termis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelith started to feel uncertain.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith individually as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The little beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the side of the field, leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had to follow instructions.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first angled her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she didn’t lose her grip on the sword.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the exchange, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap back, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, until the specially crafted crystal blade bent slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the execution.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, and another sword strike came down.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting swiftly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, could only dodge to the left as the sword came at him. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that a blind Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect the blade, then fell backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had expected something, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the Almisius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and had been chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and lost the match in a daze!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to even stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amelith back to his side, smiling at the three of them.
“Mm-hmm!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department and would be conducting “closed training” with the participating students for the next few days, meaning she could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, feeling the weight of life’s inequalities as he glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey, why the tension? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said casually, glancing at Zack and shaking his head.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in martial arts, against the elite fighters from the Termis Academy’s martial arts department was a stretch! Even the weakest martial arts student from the Termis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, in any case, whether we can defeat Termis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith sounded uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to show you the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he walked to the side of the field and picked up two energy swords.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith in a moment.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to follow instructions.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first angled her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared for it. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she acted reflexively at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, until the blade, made of special crystal, bent slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with a powerful strike.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always felt the first part was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed more smoothly than ever.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and delivered another strike.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that a blind Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so熟练 that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a panicked Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith wasn’t about to let Zack off the hook. She continued to follow Zhang Wen’s instructions, delivering a series of cross-slash attacks. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And just like that, Zack was sent rolling from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, allowing Amelith, who was now drenched in sweat, to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Be careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s martial arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could produce such devastating power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless attack that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. Throughout the fight, Zack had been using all his strength to resist, but from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been chased down by Amelith, who was blindfolded, and had lost the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a difference of one and a half levels, when the higher-level fighter went all out, the shockwaves from their combat energy could even make the lower-level fighter unable to stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey, don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. And second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked, lost in thought.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the mental arts department’s teaching team for the upcoming competition. For the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the mental arts department’s participants and would no longer be able to attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The teaching team…” After dismissing the student sent by Rinoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the mental arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing teacher! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear that she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the carefully selected elites from the physical arts department of Themis Academy was simply too much! Even the weakest physical arts student from Themis Academy’s visiting team was at level six, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Themis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, straightforward as ever, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain accompanying our heroine.” Zhang Wen smirked mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright. Here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low, confused voice.
“Of course not! Just use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first angled her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, until the specially crafted crystal blade bent slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing move “four,” Amelith had always found the first part of the motion a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the movement.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, and another strike came down.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward with all his strength to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
Just as Zack was retreating, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She lunged forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, could only watch as the sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that move “six” was a continuous cross-slash, and in his current position, Amelith’s next vertical strike would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith wasn’t about to let Zack off the hook. She continued to follow Zhang Wen’s instructions, unleashing a series of cross-slash attacks. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
And Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” Like a ball, Zack rolled from the center of the training ground all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen chuckled, allowing the sweat-drenched Amelith to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the academy.
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of Almitheus Academy stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. Throughout the fight with Amelith, aside from his initial underestimation, Zack had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been chased down by a blindfolded Amelith and lost the match in utter confusion!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant lose their footing!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded vigorously, their admiration for Zhang Wen’s seemingly ordinary smile now tinged with an air of mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited just yet! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered so far are just the most basic moves. Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. And secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh when she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final biting remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the psychic arts department’s coaching team. For the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts department’s competitors and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The coaching team, huh…” After dismissing the student sent by Rinoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing coach! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this potential humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head casually.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelia, who was only at level four in martial arts, against the elite fighters carefully selected by the Temis Academy’s martial arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest martial arts student in the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” Even Amelia became nervous when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelia while fetching two energy swords from the side.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you should have numbered each move as I instructed? …Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelia.
“Do I need to be tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain who’ll be sparring with our heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelia in the arena.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelia, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelia a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelia later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelia.” Zhang Wen cautioned carefully.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelia, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelia—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelia focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the arena, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelia. However, worried about hurting Amelia, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelia, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelia immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelia could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelia’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelia, who was unprepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so Amelia managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelia’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelia’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was a full level higher than Amelia’s. This meant that while Amelia’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance from Amelia. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelia.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelia’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelia, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelia bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelia leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “move four,” Amelia had always felt the first part was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed more smoothly than ever.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelia’s next move would be. However, after his full-force retreat, he could only watch as Amelia leaped forward faster than he could react, bringing her sword down once more.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his sword upward to block Amelia’s attack.
Clang! Amelia’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelia’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “move six” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelia’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelia’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelia would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that Amelia wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelia’s movements were so熟练 that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelia’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelia, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the arena to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen smiled and told Amelia, who was now drenched in sweat, to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelia saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, the young beauty, who had already had a premonition, was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelia’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the martial arts department of the Almisius Academy stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelia, except for the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and was chased down by Amelia, who had her eyes closed, and lost the match in a daze!
It’s worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelia’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to even stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelia had won with ease!
“Now you understand.” Calling Zack and Amelia back to his side, Zhang Wen smiled at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on the students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, pouring cold water on their enthusiasm: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelia won because she was stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelia find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you on the battlefield, shouting out move numbers, do you?”
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen’s mouth had already called out a new number: “Eleven!”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s announcement, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, feeling the weight of life’s inequalities as he glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training field.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey, no need to be nervous. I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said casually, shaking his head.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Termis Academy’s physical arts department was a stretch! Even the weakest member of the Termis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, in any case, whether we can defeat Termis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha, Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith sounded uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see what you’ve really achieved during this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he walked to the side of the field and picked up two energy swords.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed one of the energy swords to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, ever the straightforward one, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain accompanying our heroine in her training,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous smile, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’re going to attack Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting style. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first angled her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen shout “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed her energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, bending the special crystal blade slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “Number 4” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and swung her sword again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She lunged forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Still struggling to steady himself, Zack watched as the energy sword came at him and desperately dodged to the left. But before he could fully evade, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “Number 6” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, the panicked Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect her blade before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the now-sweaty Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat ability was already considered a foregone conclusion in terms of victory or defeat. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy alone could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a bucket of cold water: “Hey, don’t get too excited! You’re still far from where you need to be! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s stronger than Zack? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? Looks like this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself, deep in thought.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa had a student deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team leading the psychic arts department. For the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors, meaning she could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” After dismissing the student sent by Rinoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelie, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters carefully selected from the physical arts department of the Themis Academy was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student in the Themis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelie became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see what this intensive training has achieved.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelie specifically while fetching two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I asked? …Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelie.
“Am I being tested too?” The straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelie in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here’s the rule for this test… Amelie, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelie a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’re going to attack Amelie.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelie.” Zhang Wen cautioned carefully.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelie, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelie—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelie focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelie. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelie, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelie, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelie immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelie could perform the move even more perfectly, free from distractions.
Thus, Amelie’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelie. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelie’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen shouted “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelie’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelie’s. This meant that while Amelie’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance from Amelie. In Imperial combat arts, close-quarters fighting was highly risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelie.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelie’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelie didn’t understand what was happening, but hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelie bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, bending the blade made of special crystal. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelie leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with a fierce slash.
When practicing the “Number 4” move, Amelie had always felt the first part was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed with an indescribable smoothness.
On the other side, when Zack heard “four,” his heart sank. He knew exactly what Amelie’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelie closed the distance faster than he could retreat, bringing her sword down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelie’s attack.
Clang! Amelie’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack still took a small hit. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
Just as Zack was retreating, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelie’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, watched helplessly as the sword came at him. He frantically dodged to the left, but before he could complete the move, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “Number 6” move was a continuous cross-slash. In Zack’s current position, Amelie’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelie’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought the blindfolded Amelie would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelie wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelie’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelie’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelie, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen chuckled, allowing the now-sweaty Amelie to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelie saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, the young beauty, who had already anticipated something, was still shocked. She could hardly believe that she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Themis Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelie’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of the Almythius Academy stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelie, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blindfolded Amelie, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelie’s! In the Empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level fighter went all out, the shockwaves from their combat energy could even make the lower-level fighter unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelie had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amelie back to his side, smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’ve still got a long way to go! What you’ve mastered so far are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelie won because she’s stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Second, I helped Amelie find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carlet’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carlet had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carlet did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile curling his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carlet’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to undergo “closed training” with the psychic arts students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student Rinoa had sent and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them! Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed Carlet would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Carlet.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carlet for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carlet’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in martial arts, against the elite fighters carefully selected by the Temis Academy’s martial arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest martial arts student in the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting their shoulders with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces and understanding their thoughts. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” the young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“Do I need to be tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who’ll be sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous grin, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving Zack and Amelith in the center of the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright, here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack replied, still unsure of Zhang Wen’s intentions. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision, free from distractions.
Amelith’s energy sword struck Zack’s blade with perfect accuracy. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith, but the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other hand, Zack didn’t fare much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen shout “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the initial clash, Zack’s reflexes kicked in. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the next number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, bending the blade made of special crystal. As the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, bringing her sword down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword diagonally from her shoulder.
Still struggling to regain his balance, Zack watched helplessly as the sword came at him, forcing him to dodge to the left. But before he could complete the dodge, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that the “number six” move Zhang Wen had taught was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a panicked Zack could only block it slightly with his left hand before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to follow Zhang Wen’s instructions, executing the cross-slash. Poor Zack was left rolling on the ground, his energy sword nowhere to be found.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And just like that, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith remove her blindfold.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was still shocked, even though she had anticipated something like this. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s martial arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless style of attack that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, Zack had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a decent chance to counterattack. Instead, he had been relentlessly pursued by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant struggle to even stand!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded vigorously like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to them to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’ve still got a long way to go! What you’ve mastered so far are just the most basic moves. Do you think Amelith won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself, lost in thought.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and would no longer be able to attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition anyway,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head nonchalantly.
“R-really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their unease. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Termis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest student in the Termis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Termis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith became uneasy when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he walked to the side of the field to fetch two energy swords.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain accompanying our heroine in her training,” Zhang Wen said with an evil grin, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the center.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen had Amelith stand a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked in a low voice, still confused.
“Of course not! Just use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s sword would strike down when he heard Zhang Wen shout “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was highly risky. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, until the specially crafted crystal blade bent slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with a powerful strike.
When practicing the “move four,” Amelith had always found the first part of the motion a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an indescribable smoothness in the movement.
On the other side, Zack’s heart sank when he heard the number “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, and then another strike came down.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack, who was mid-air, still took a small hit. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting swiftly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move six was a continuous cross-slash, and in his current position, Amelith’s next vertical strike would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This is… unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of Almitheus Academy stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such an overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead relentlessly pursued by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and ended up losing the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a difference of one and a half levels, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at the start. And secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training class the next day. Meanwhile, Lenora sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, feeling the unfairness of life as he glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training field.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t fathom how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey, why the tension? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen said casually, shaking his head as he glanced at Zack.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite students of the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest student in the Temis Academy’s visiting team had a level six physical arts ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, in any case, whether we can defeat the Temis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting them on the shoulder with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith sounded uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, immediately understanding what they were thinking. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he walked to the side of the field and picked up two energy swords.
“Of course!” the young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous smile, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still not understanding what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. As Zack closed in to within five steps of Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first angled her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision.
Amelith’s energy sword struck Zack’s blade with perfect accuracy. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared for it. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen shout “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the two swords clashed, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In the empire’s physical arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat ability, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted another number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed her energy sword against the ground behind her, bending the blade made of special crystal. As the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected fluidity in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank as soon as he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and swung her sword again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward with all his might to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to steady himself, watched as the sword came at him and desperately dodged to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so smooth that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith wasn’t about to let Zack off the hook. She continued to follow Zhang Wen’s instructions, unleashing a series of cross-slash attacks. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting Amelith, now drenched in sweat, open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. Throughout the fight with Amelith, Zack had only underestimated her at the very beginning. After that, he had fought with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even managed a decent counterattack and had been chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three of them nodded vigorously like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey, don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves. Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at the start. And second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack. You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around shouting move numbers on the battlefield, do you?”
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” Thus, Zack bounced like a ball, rolling all the way from the center of the field to the iron fence.
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. Although Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Temiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between him and Governor Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile, silently pondering.
※※※
Just as Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa had a student deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts department’s competitors and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team…” After dismissing the student sent by Rinoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the inequality of life with a drawn-out sigh.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead the team! Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, having Amelie, who was only at level four in physical arts, compete against the elite fighters from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was far too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat the Temis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelie began to feel uncertain.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You must have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelie while fetching two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you must have numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelie.
“Am I being tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelie in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelie, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelie a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelie later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelie,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had to follow instructions.
“Alright! Amelie, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelie—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelie focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelie. However, worried about hurting Amelie, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelie, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelie immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelie could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelie’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelie, who was unprepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so Amelie managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelie’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, running straight into Amelie’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelie’s. This meant that while Amelie’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the initial clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelie. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelie.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelie’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelie, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelie slightly bent her knees, her right arm drawing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, causing the specially crafted crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelie leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with a powerful strike.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelie had always felt the first part was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move flowed more smoothly than ever.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelie’s next move would be. However, after his full-force retreat, he could only watch as Amelie leaped forward faster than he could react, bringing her sword down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelie’s attack.
Clang! Amelie’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelie’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword swiftly from her shoulder toward the front left.
Zack, still trying to steady himself, saw the sword coming and desperately dodged to the left. But before he could fully evade, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelie’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelie’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelie would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that a blind Amelie wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, her moves were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to call out.
As Amelie’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelie, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelie open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelie saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had some inkling of what had happened, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the strength academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelie’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the physical arts department of the Almythius Academy stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelie, apart from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blind Amelie, losing the match in a daze!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelie’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelie had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelie back to his side, smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelie won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelie find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Termiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Lenore sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department and would be undergoing “closed training” with the participating students for the next few days, meaning she could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student Lenore had sent and glanced at the three lonely figures remaining on the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t fathom how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters carefully selected by the Termis Academy’s physical arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Termis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Termis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve assigned numbers to each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” The straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain playing the role of the hero’s sparring partner.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she didn’t lose her grip on the sword.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to leap back, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the specially crafted crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always felt the first part of the motion was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found an unexpected fluidity in the movement.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, bringing her sword down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She lunged forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he began to move, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a series of cross-cutting strikes. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect the blade before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-cutting strikes as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen smiled and told Amelith, who was now drenched in sweat, to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, she was still shocked, even though she had anticipated it. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the Almithes Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless offensive style. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from Zack’s initial underestimation, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a decent chance to counterattack, and had been chased down by Amelith, who had her eyes closed, and lost the match in a daze!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make it impossible for the lower-level combatant to even stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said with a smile as he called Zack and Amelith back to his side.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed to them to carry an air of infinite mystery.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered so far are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. Although Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Temiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between him and Governor Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked, silently pondering.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, the next day she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground. Meanwhile, Linoya sent a student to convey an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the team of instructors for the psychic arts department. In the following days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts department’s competing students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The instructor team…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoya, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead the team! Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just to comfort them after Carrie left.
In any case, having Amelie, who was only at level four in physical arts, compete against the carefully selected experts from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelie became hesitant.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen, seeing their expressions, knew exactly what they were thinking. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelie individually while fetching two energy swords from the side.
“Of course!” The little beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed?… Good, I’m going to test you now,” Zhang Wen said, handing the two energy swords to Zack and Amelie.
“I’m being tested too?” The straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen smirked mischievously, sending Cloud to the side and leaving only Zack and Amelie in the arena.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here’s the rule… Amelie, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelie a few steps away, then explained to Zack, “You’ll be attacking Amelie later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelie,” Zhang Wen cautioned carefully.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had to comply.
“Alright! Amelie, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelie—the optimal distance for an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelie focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the arena, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelie. However, worried about hurting Amelie, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s casual approach, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelie, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelie immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelie could perform the memorized move with even greater precision.
Thus, Amelie’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelie. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelie’s energy sword would strike when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrust wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack embarrassingly ran into Amelie’s strike like a fool.
However, Zack’s combat level was a full level higher than Amelie’s. This meant that while Amelie’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance from Amelie. In imperial combat arts, close combat was highly risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to engage in a prolonged fight with Amelie.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of their energy swords, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelie, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved.
Amelie slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword forcefully into the ground behind her, causing the specially crafted crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelie leaped forward, raising the energy sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing move “4,” Amelie often found the first part of the action a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in executing the move.
On the other side, when Zack heard “4,” his heart sank. He knew exactly what Amelie’s next move would be. However, after his full-force retreat, he could only watch as Amelie leaped forward faster than him and struck again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelie’s attack.
Clang! Amelie’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack, mid-air, still took a small hit. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to stabilize himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelie’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting swiftly from her shoulder to the left front.
Before Zack could stabilize himself, he saw the energy sword thrusting towards him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “6,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move “6” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelie’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelie’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned into a chill—he had thought Amelie with her eyes closed would be easy to handle, but he forgot that Amelie, with her eyes closed, wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelie’s movements were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelie’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword and then fell backward.
But Amelie, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the arena to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelie open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelie saw the dirty Zack under her sword, the little beauty, who had already anticipated something, was still greatly surprised. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelie’s excitement, Zack nervously shouted, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, beside Zhang Wen, was already dumbfounded. The popular handsome guy from the Almisius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen taught, he never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such an overwhelming offensive that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelie, except for the first strike where Zack slightly underestimated her, he had been resisting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he didn’t get a single decent chance to counterattack and was chased down by Amelie, who had her eyes closed, and lost the match in confusion!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelie’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in normal combat, when the higher-level side exerted full force, the shockwaves could make the lower-level side unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelie won effortlessly!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amelie back, smiling at the three of them.
“Mm-hmm!” The three nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the students’ excitement, Zhang Wen knocked each of their heads, pouring cold water on their enthusiasm: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelie won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelie find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. Although Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Temiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Temiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a smirk forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s declaration, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Rinoa had a student deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and would no longer be able to attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student Rinoa had sent and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them. Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to soothe them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith seemed hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you should have numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“Do I need to be tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“Alright. Here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be responsible for attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Just use your usual fighting techniques. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Good! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s energy sword would strike down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to quickly retreat, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of their energy swords, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she forcefully pressed her energy sword into the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the energy sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “move four,” Amelith had always felt the first part of the move was a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she found an unexpected fluidity in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after his full-force retreat, he could only watch as Amelith leaped forward faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack, still in mid-air, was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to stabilize himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed immediately. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting rapidly from her shoulder toward the front left.
Zack, still trying to stabilize himself, could only watch as the energy sword came at him, forcing him to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “move six” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so熟练 that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the now-sweaty Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the physical arts department of Almitheus Academy stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack and had been chased down by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she was stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile forming on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s announcement, she did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts competitors, meaning she could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” Zhang Wen sighed, watching the student Linoa had sent walk away. He glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground, lamenting the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition anyway,” Zhang Wen said, glancing at Zack and shaking his head nonchalantly.
“R-really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
Regardless, sending Amelith, who was only at level four in martial arts, to face the carefully selected elite of the Themis Academy’s martial arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest martial arts student in the Themis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my problem. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking over to the three of them and patting their shoulders with a smile.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelith seemed uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces and knowing exactly what they were thinking. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith as he walked to the side of the field to fetch two energy swords.
“Of course!” the petite beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I asked? Good. Now I’m going to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing one energy sword to Zack and the other to Amelith.
“I’m being tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous grin, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’re going to attack Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting style. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack said, still unsure of what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the next move number. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blind Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smiled again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith was able to perform the move with even greater precision, free from distractions.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith, but the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen shout “seventeen” and knew Amelith’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrusting motion wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. While Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s reflexes kicked in. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the next number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but at Zhang Wen’s command, she acted on reflex.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword into the ground behind her, bending the blade made of special crystal. As the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “move four,” Amelith had always found the first part of the motion a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move surprisingly smooth.
On the other side, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. But after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and brought her sword down again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward with all his strength to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. As he landed, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out the next number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She lunged forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to steady himself, watched helplessly as the sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but before he could fully evade, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that move six was a continuous cross-slash, and in his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! And with her practiced movements, she didn’t even give Zack a chance to call for mercy.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirt-covered Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated something, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man of the Almitheus Academy’s martial arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming attack that gave the opponent no chance to catch their breath. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from Zack’s initial underestimation, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blindfolded Amelith, losing the match in a daze.
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level fighter went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level fighter lose their footing!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Mm-hmm!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. And second, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone following you around on the battlefield, calling out move numbers, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen wasn’t as familiar with Governor Temiso as Carrie was, he had heard a bit about the feud between him and Governor Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen curled his lips and thought to himself.
※※※
True to Carrie’s announcement, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to convey her apologies to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would make a fool of himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in this embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the tension? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to comfort them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelie, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite students from the Temis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelie became hesitant.
“I know, I know.” Seeing their expressions, Zhang Wen knew exactly what they were thinking. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You should have mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelie as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I’m going to test you.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelie.
“Do I need to be tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, confused.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelie in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright. Here are the rules… Amelie, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelie a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’ll be attacking Amelie.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked quietly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelie.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelie, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelie—the optimal distance for an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelie focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the field and then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance, attacking Amelie. However, worried about hurting Amelie, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen curled his lips again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelie, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelie immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelie could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Thus, Amelie’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelie. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so her energy sword didn’t fly out of her hand.
On the other hand, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelie’s energy sword would strike down when he heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelie’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelie’s. This meant that while Amelie’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was swift. He used the recoil to leap back, hoping to create distance from Amelie. In imperial physical arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to engage in a prolonged fight with Amelie.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of their energy swords, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelie, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelie slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent energy sword released its stored energy, Amelie leaped forward, raising the energy sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “move four,” Amelie had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s energy sword, she found an unexpected fluidity in the move.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelie’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his might, he could only watch as Amelie closed the distance faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelie’s attack.
Clang! Amelie’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s energy sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack, mid-air, still took a small hit. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelie’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw the energy sword thrusting toward him and had to dodge to the left. But halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s “move six” was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelie’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelie’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned into a chill—he had thought Amelie with her eyes closed would be easy to handle, but he forgot that Amelie, with her eyes closed, wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelie’s movements were so smooth that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelie’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amelie, of course, didn’t let the fallen Zack off the hook. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was slashed and rolled around on the ground, his energy sword long gone.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen, smiling, told the sweat-drenched Amelie to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelie saw the dirty Zack beneath her sword, the young beauty, who had already had a premonition, was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelie’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was dumbfounded. The popular young man from the Almythius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to catch their breath. In the fight with Amelie, apart from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t had a single decent chance to counterattack and was chased down by Amelie, who had her eyes closed, losing the match in a daze.
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelie’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their combat energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelie had won with ease!
“Now you understand.” Calling Zack and Amelie back to his side, Zhang Wen smiled at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelie won because she was strong? No, it was because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelie find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Zhang Wen thought to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s combat training the next day. Meanwhile, Lenore sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. In the coming days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s combat classes.
“The faculty team…” Zhang Wen sighed, lamenting the inequality of life as he dismissed the student Lenore had sent and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training field.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even harder.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud forced a laugh, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen was just trying to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
Regardless, pitting Amelia, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Themis Academy’s physical arts department was a stretch! Even the weakest student in the Themis Academy’s visiting team had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” Even Amelia sounded uncertain when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelia as he fetched two energy swords from the side of the field.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelia.
“Do I need to be tested too?” Zack, ever straightforward, took the sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who’s going to spar with our heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelia in the field.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule… Amelia, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelia a few steps away, then turned to Zack. “You’re going to attack Amelia.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught me?” Zack asked, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual fighting style. But be careful not to hurt Amelia.” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright, Amelia, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelia—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelia focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, meanwhile, gave a helpless smile to Cloud on the sidelines before assuming his most practiced thrusting stance and charging at Amelia. However, worried about hurting Amelia, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelia, Zhang Wen called out the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelia immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She angled her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelia could focus entirely on perfecting the move from memory.
Amelia’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelia, who hadn’t been prepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t strong enough to knock the sword from her hand.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he had heard Zhang Wen call out “seventeen” and knew Amelia’s sword would come down, his well-practiced thrust wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelia’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelia’s. This meant that while Amelia’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelia. In imperial combat arts, close-quarters combat was risky. With his superior strength, Zack had no intention of getting entangled with Amelia.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelia’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Amelia, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but she reflexively moved at Zhang Wen’s command.
Amelia bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, bending the blade made of special crystal. As the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelia leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “fourth” move, Amelia had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she found the move surprisingly smooth.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew what Amelia’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his might, he could only watch as Amelia closed the distance faster than he could and struck again.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward to block Amelia’s attack.
Clang! Amelia’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelia’s pursuit was relentless. She stepped forward, thrusting her energy sword from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Before Zack could steady himself, he saw Amelia’s sword coming at him and had to dodge to the left. But just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen called out “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. Zack knew that Zhang Wen’s sixth move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelia’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelia’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelia would be easy to handle with her eyes closed, but he forgot that she wouldn’t hold back either! Moreover, Amelia’s movements were so熟练 that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to call out.
As Amelia’s energy sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly deflect the blade before falling backward.
But Amelia, of course, didn’t let up. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
And Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” Like a ball, Zack rolled from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Finally, Zhang Wen chuckled, allowing Amelia, now drenched in sweat, to open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelia saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelia’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almythius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught them, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen such an overwhelming, relentless offensive style. In the fight between Zack and Amelia, aside from the first strike where Zack had underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack before being chased down by Amelia, who had her eyes closed, and losing the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelia’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, in a normal fight, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level combatant struggle to stay on their feet!
Yet, under these circumstances, Amelia had won with ease!
“Now you understand.” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amelia back to his side, smiling at the three of them.
“Yeah, yeah!” The three nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelia won because she’s stronger than Zack? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelia find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final acerbic remarks were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? This competition is getting interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the mental arts department’s teaching team for the upcoming competition. Over the next few days, she would have to participate in “closed training” with the mental arts department’s competitors and could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The teaching team…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the inequality of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the mental arts department, which was brimming with talent every year, finding a student willing to compete in the physical arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition this year. Finding students willing to join him in that embarrassment was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud thought Carrie would represent the physical arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. They couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the physical arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“Really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just to comfort them after Carrie left.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in physical arts, against the elite fighters from the Themis Academy’s physical arts department was too much of a stretch! Even the weakest physical arts student from the Themis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In the end, whether we can beat Themis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling and patting their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win. But…” When it came to the competition, even Amelith seemed uncertain.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see what you’ve achieved during this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith specifically while fetching two energy swords from the side.
“Of course!” The little beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, now I want to test you,” Zhang Wen said, handing the energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Do I need to be tested too?” Zack, being straightforward, took the energy sword and asked in confusion.
“No, you’re the villain who will spar with our heroine,” Zhang Wen smirked mischievously, sending Cloud to the side and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright,” Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do, but as Zhang Wen’s student, he had to comply.
“Good! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Zack, on the other hand, gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting Amelith, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could focus entirely on performing the move perfectly from memory.
Thus, Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled Amelith, who was unprepared. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so Amelith managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s sword would come down when Zhang Wen shouted “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap back, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial combat, close-quarters fighting was risky. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Amelith, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith slightly bent her knees, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword against the ground behind her, until the specially crafted crystal blade bent slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
Meanwhile, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping back with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could and swung her sword again.
By this point, Zack could no longer hold back. He desperately swung his energy sword upward to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with all his strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit was relentless. She lunged forward, her energy sword thrusting out from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, watched helplessly as the sword came at him. He barely managed to dodge to the left, but halfway through, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In his current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in two.
Seeing Amelith’s closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought Amelith would be an easy target with her eyes closed, but he forgot that a blind Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, Amelith’s movements were so practiced that she didn’t even give Zack a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to barely block the strike before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his sword lost somewhere in the chaos.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training area to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a grin, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the dirty, disheveled Zack beneath her sword, the little beauty, who had already anticipated something, was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked within the top ten in the physical arts department at the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in fear, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This… this is unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely dumbfounded. The popular young man from the Almythius Academy’s physical arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that gave the opponent no chance to breathe. In the fight with Amelith, aside from his initial underestimation, Zack had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even had a decent chance to counterattack, and was instead chased down by the blind Amelith, losing the match in utter confusion!
It was worth noting that Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half level difference, when the higher-level combatant went all out, the shockwaves from their energy could make the lower-level combatant unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amelith back to his side, smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excitement on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen knocked each of them on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold dose of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You’re still far from ready! What you’ve mastered are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s strong? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at first. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out move numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
“Yeah, yeah!” The three of them immediately nodded their heads like pecking chicks. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Although Carrie’s tone was harsh as she left, Zhang Wen could still discern her true intentions. It was clear that Carrie had come specifically to remind Zhang Wen that Governor Karajan would be attending the match. Her final, biting words were actually meant for Zhang Wen’s benefit. While Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Termiso as well as Carrie did, he had heard a bit about the feud between Termiso and Karajan.
“Governor Karajan is coming to watch the match? It seems this competition is going to be quite interesting!” Watching the two girls walk away, Zhang Wen smirked to himself.
※※※
As Carrie had announced, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training ground the next day. Meanwhile, Linoa sent a student to deliver an apologetic message to Zhang Wen. She had been selected as part of the faculty team for the psychic arts department. Over the next few days, she would be conducting “closed training” with the psychic arts students and thus could no longer attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts classes.
“The faculty team, huh…” After dismissing the student sent by Linoa, Zhang Wen glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground and sighed at the unfairness of life.
“Teacher Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen with uncertainty.
Unlike the psychic arts department, which was always brimming with talent during competitions, finding a student willing to compete in the martial arts department was almost as difficult as finding a willing instructor! Moreover, this year, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself in the competition. Finding students willing to join him in that humiliation was even more challenging.
Originally, both Zack and Cloud had assumed that Carrie would represent the martial arts department, but now she had made it clear she wouldn’t help. The two couldn’t figure out how Zhang Wen could lead the martial arts department to victory without Carrie.
“Hey! Why the nervousness? I never counted on Carrie for this year’s competition anyway,” Zhang Wen glanced at Zack and shook his head nonchalantly.
“R-really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions betrayed their lack of confidence. They clearly thought Zhang Wen’s words were just meant to reassure them after Carrie’s departure.
In any case, pitting Amelith, who was only at level four in martial arts, against the elite fighters from the Temis Academy’s martial arts department was simply too much of a stretch! Even the weakest martial arts student in the Temis Academy delegation had a level six strength, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright! In any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my concern. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen walked over to the three of them, smiling as he patted their shoulders.
“Haha! Teacher Zhang, we really want to win too. But…” Even Amelith became hesitant when it came to the competition.
“I know, I know.” Zhang Wen could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time for you to see the results of this special training.”
“You’ve mastered all the moves I taught you, right?” Zhang Wen asked Amelith while fetching two energy swords from the side of the training ground.
“Of course!” The young beauty nodded without hesitation.
“And you’ve numbered each move as I instructed? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen handed the two energy swords to Zack and Amelith.
“Am I being tested too?” Straightforward Zack took the energy sword, looking confused.
“No, you’re the villain sparring with our heroine.” Zhang Wen grinned mischievously, sending Cloud to the sidelines and leaving only Zack and Amelith in the training area.
“Teacher Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head in confusion.
“Alright, here’s the rule for this test… Amelith, close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, right there!” Zhang Wen positioned Amelith a few steps away, then turned to Zack and said, “You’ll be attacking Amelith later.”
“You mean… using the moves you taught?” Zack asked softly, still confused.
“Of course not! Use your usual combat moves. But be careful not to hurt Amelith,” Zhang Wen cautioned.
“Alright.” Up to this point, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen was trying to do. But as Zhang Wen’s student, he had no choice but to comply.
“Alright! Amelith, keep your eyes closed. The test is about to begin!” Zhang Wen shouted, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amelith—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Start now!” Zhang Wen yelled.
Amelith focused, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move numbers. Meanwhile, Zack gave a helpless smile to Cloud outside the training area, then assumed his most familiar thrusting stance and charged at Amelith. However, worried about hurting the still-blindfolded Amelith, Zack only used about fifty to sixty percent of his strength.
Seeing Zack’s half-hearted attack, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amelith, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s command, Amelith immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first tilted her energy sword upward, then swung it forcefully downward. With her eyes closed, Amelith could perform the move with even greater precision, free from distractions.
Amelith’s energy sword accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the clash startled the unprepared Amelith. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, so she managed to keep hold of her sword.
On the other side, Zack wasn’t faring much better. Although he knew Amelith’s sword would strike down when Zhang Wen called out “seventeen,” his well-practiced thrusting move wasn’t easy to retract. As a result, Zack ended up looking like a fool, walking right into Amelith’s strike.
However, Zack’s combat level was still a full level higher than Amelith’s. This meant that while Amelith’s downward strike had the upper hand, it didn’t achieve the desired result.
After the evenly matched clash, Zack’s second reaction was quick. He used the recoil to leap backward, hoping to create distance between himself and Amelith. In imperial martial arts, close combat was a risky move. With his superior combat level, Zack naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amelith.
“Four!” Almost as soon as Zack and Amelith’s swords clashed, Zhang Wen called out the second number.
Still blindfolded, Amelith didn’t understand what was happening, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she reflexively moved into action.
Amelith bent her knees slightly, her right arm tracing a perfect arc as she pressed the energy sword firmly into the ground behind her, causing the special crystal blade to bend slightly. Then, as the bent sword released its stored energy, Amelith leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and bringing it down with force.
When practicing the “number four” move before, Amelith had always found the first part a bit awkward. But this time, after clashing with Zack’s sword, she felt an unexpected smoothness in the motion.
On the other side, Zack’s heart sank when he heard “four.” He knew exactly what Amelith’s next move would be. However, after leaping backward with all his strength, he could only watch as Amelith closed the distance faster than he could retreat, her sword coming down once more.
By this point, Zack had no choice but to go all out. He swung his energy sword upward with all his might to block Amelith’s attack.
Clang! Amelith’s forceful downward strike hit Zack’s sword again. Even with his full strength, Zack was at a slight disadvantage. Upon landing, he had to take several steps back to steady himself.
As Zack retreated, Zhang Wen called out another number: “Eleven!”
Amelith’s pursuit followed like a shadow. She stepped forward, her energy sword thrusting swiftly from her shoulder toward Zack’s left front.
Zack, still trying to regain his balance, watched helplessly as the sword came at him. He desperately dodged to the left, but before he could fully evade, Zhang Wen shouted “six,” nearly making Zack spit blood. He knew that Zhang Wen’s “number six” move was a continuous cross-slash. In Zack’s current position, Amelith’s next vertical slash would cut him in half.
Seeing Amelith’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation turned to dread—he had thought a blindfolded Amelith would be easy to handle, but he forgot that a blindfolded Amelith wouldn’t hold back! Moreover, her movements were so fluid that Zack didn’t even have a chance to cry out.
As Amelith’s sword came down again, a panicked Zack could only block it slightly with his left hand before falling backward.
But Amelith, of course, didn’t let up on the fallen Zack. She continued to execute the cross-slash as Zhang Wen had taught her. Poor Zack was sent rolling across the ground, his energy sword long since lost.
Zhang Wen kept calling out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” And so, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the training ground all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Zhang Wen finally said with a smile, letting the sweat-drenched Amelith open her eyes.
“Huh?” When Amelith saw the disheveled Zack beneath her sword, even though she had anticipated it, she was still shocked. She couldn’t believe she had just defeated Zack, who ranked within the top ten in the martial arts department of the Strength Academy!
“Careful!” Seeing Amelith’s excitement, Zack shouted in alarm, carefully moving the tip of the energy sword away from his neck.
“This is… unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, was completely stunned. The popular young man from the Almitheus Academy’s martial arts department stood there with his mouth agape, staring at his two classmates in the distance. When practicing the moves Zhang Wen had taught, he had never imagined that combining them could unleash such formidable power!
In Cloud’s previous experience, he had never seen such a relentless, overwhelming offensive style that left no room for the opponent to breathe. In the fight between Zack and Amelith, aside from the first strike where Zack had slightly underestimated her, he had been fighting with all his might. Yet, from start to finish, he hadn’t even gotten a decent chance to counterattack. He had been chased down by the blindfolded Amelith and lost the match in a daze!
Keep in mind, Zack’s combat level was a full level and a half higher than Amelith’s! In the empire’s view, a one-level difference in combat was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a one-and-a-half-level difference, when the higher-level fighter went all out, the shockwaves alone could make the lower-level fighter lose their footing!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amelith had won with ease!
“Now you understand,” Zhang Wen said, calling Zack and Amelith back to his side and smiling at the three of them.
“Yes, yes!” The three of them nodded like chickens pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the excited expressions on his students’ faces, Zhang Wen gave each of them a light tap on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited just yet! You’ve still got a long way to go! What you’ve mastered so far are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amelith won because she’s stronger? No, it’s because Zack underestimated her at the start. Secondly, I helped Amelith find a way to counter Zack! You don’t think you’ll have someone calling out numbers for you on the battlefield, do you?”
“Ouch! Alright, alright!” Zack held his head, which had just been smacked by Zhang Wen, wincing as he answered. Meanwhile, Aerith let out a series of pitiful “mewling” sounds and pouted at Zhang Wen.
“Know it? Hmph!” Zhang Wen chuckled, his gaze falling on Zack and the others with an inscrutable smile. “What I’ve taught you is nothing like those third-rate martial arts techniques such as thrusts and spinning blades. Since you’re so confident, how about this? For the rest of today’s class, try to figure out ways to counter various martial arts techniques used by the Empire.”
“Yes, sir!” Zack and the others answered without hesitation.
Frankly speaking, when they heard Zhang Wen refer to the Empire’s most popular martial arts techniques as “third-rate moves,” they couldn’t help but feel an odd sense of superiority. Even Zack, the privileged son of the Shinra army, found nothing wrong with it.
“Excellent! Then you may begin training on your own. Dismissed!” Zhang Wen smiled and casually waved them off. However, the three students didn’t immediately leave, instead hesitating in place and exchanging glances.
“Hmm? What are you still doing here?” Zhang Wen quickly noticed the students’ odd behavior and gave them a strange look.
“Er… Um… Professor Zhang, have you heard about the banquet at the Governor’s Mansion tonight?” Zack bravely stepped forward, his handsome face forming a forced, amusing smile as he nervously asked.
“I have heard about it,” Zhang Wen replied indifferently.
“Will you be going?” Zack asked, growing even more nervous.
“Me? Probably not,” Zhang Wen thought for a moment, then smiled and shook his head.
“Oh!” Zack immediately exhaled in relief, exchanging a thumbs-up with Cloud behind him, both grinning from ear to ear.
“What? Are you happy that I won’t be attending the banquet?” Zhang Wen deliberately asked with a cold expression.
“Hehe! Professor Zhang, we were just worried that if you went to the Governor’s Mansion tonight and we didn’t show up, you might get upset. Now that you’re not going either, we don’t have to worry about it anymore!” Zack smiled again, stepping closer and whispering nervously.
“Right. The banquet hosted by the Governor’s Mansion must be incredibly boring! Rather than wasting our time at such an event, we’d rather go to the training hall and polish our martial arts skills,” Cloud nodded in agreement with a solemn expression.
For most young students at the Almace Academy, attending the Governor’s banquet and mingling with nobles from various countries was a great opportunity to showcase their talents and stand out. However, given Cloud and Zack’s status, they clearly didn’t need such an opportunity. In the eyes of these two martial-arts-loving “promising youths,” nothing could be more agonizing than spending time at a dull banquet, smiling and entertaining a bunch of old aristocrats.
“So now you’re satisfied?” Zhang Wen asked again in mock displeasure.
“Hehe!” Although Zhang Wen’s tone was harsh, the two handsome young men could tell he wasn’t really angry. They quickly grinned shamelessly, afraid that Zhang Wen might change his mind, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
Watching Zack and Cloud run to a corner of the training ground, Zhang Wen was surprised to find Aerith still standing in place, her face full of hesitation. “Why aren’t you leaving? Do you have something else?” Zhang Wen asked curiously. In his mind, Aerith was usually straightforward and not the kind of girl who liked to be coy.
“Er… No… Nothing really,” Aerith hesitated for a while before shaking her head at Zhang Wen.
“If there’s something, just say it! If there’s nothing, then see you tomorrow,” Zhang Wen said indifferently, waving his hand and turning around.
“Fine! I’ll just say it then!” Seeing that Zhang Wen was really about to leave, Aerith finally couldn’t hold back and shouted. Then, she quickly walked up to Zhang Wen, hands crossed in front of her chest, and bluntly glared at him, asking, “Could you reconsider about attending the banquet tonight? I’m not forcing you!”
That’s not forcing? Zhang Wen almost burst out laughing at Aerith’s sulky remark. He really wanted to grab a mirror right away and show Aerith her own expression. She practically had the words “unhappy” written all over her face!
“Why would my attending or not attending the Governor’s banquet matter to you?” Zhang Wen neither agreed to Aerith’s request nor refused it outright, instead countering with a question.
As soon as Zhang Wen asked the question, Aerith’s momentum immediately dropped. The pretty girl pouted, looking dejected as she muttered, “It’s all my father’s fault! He’s been looking for an opportunity to flatter those imperial nobles for a long time. Yesterday, as soon as the invitation from the Governor’s Mansion arrived at home, he proudly promised, ‘My daughter will definitely attend the banquet on time.’ Sigh! Zack and the others are so lucky. No one’s forcing them, so they can just choose not to go!”
“Haha! So if I don’t go either, you’ll be the representative from the Almace Academy’s martial arts department at the Governor’s banquet tonight. You’ll be the star of the show!” Zhang Wen teased with a smile.
“Professor Zhang, how could you say that?” Aerith indeed fell for the bait, immediately jumping up anxiously. She pitifully grabbed Zhang Wen’s arm, pleading repeatedly, “Please do this for me, okay? Please?”
Aerith was wearing the most popular training outfit at the imperial academy. Except for the color not being black, it was essentially no different from the tight-fitting suits often favored by modern female thieves in Earth TV dramas. Moreover, to ensure flexibility, the training outfit was only an extremely thin layer. Although Aerith’s chest wasn’t as full as Lynara’s, as she hugged Zhang Wen’s arm, he immediately felt the amazing elasticity of her bosom.
While using physical persuasion, Aerith also lifted her pretty face, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears, looking like a helpless little kitten, both pitiful and adorable. Although Zhang Wen knew full well that Aerith was deliberately doing this, her flattery and the expression that evoked a sense of conquest were still hard to resist.
“Alright, alright! I’ll go with you then,” Zhang Wen pretended to be helpless as he nodded.
Whether or not to attend the Governor’s banquet was, to Zhang Wen, a trivial matter of no great consequence. He had originally decided not to go simply because he was too lazy to deal with the hassle. Since Aerith was pleading so desperately, if he still refused, he would be too heartless.
“Hehe! I knew Professor Zhang wouldn’t abandon me!” Aerith blushed slightly, threw a flirtatious glance at Zhang Wen, and then unknowingly or intentionally took half a step back. As she let go of Zhang Wen’s arm, she made sure his hand slid past her bosom before running off with a series of crisp giggles.
Actually, Zhang Wen and Aerith had already experienced everything between them, so a brief touch like that should have meant nothing. Yet perhaps only Zhang Wen and Aerith herself truly understood that it was precisely because of their ambiguous and complicated relationship that Aerith’s teasing little games of playing hard to get were even more tantalizing.
“Little enchantress… I’ll make sure you pay me back with interest someday,” Zhang Wen couldn’t help but smile slightly and shake his head as he savored the soft, elastic sensation from his hand moments ago.
Under Zhang Wen’s strict orders, the trio of students indeed gave their all during the remaining time. Among them, Zack, who came from a family with profound martial arts knowledge, was responsible for demonstrating all the Empire’s martial arts techniques he could master. After each demonstration, the three would huddle together, racking their brains to figure out what combination of movements could be used to counter the techniques.
However, the trio soon discovered that Zhang Wen’s demands were not as easy to fulfill as they had imagined. Although when Zhang Wen was directing earlier, Aerith seemed to handle Zack’s attacks effortlessly, the three students now realized how incredibly difficult it was when they had to study it on their own!
Because when fighting against a higher-level opponent, it wasn’t just about countering their moves; it was also about neutralizing their battle energy!
For instance, during Aerith’s battle with Zack, every time Zack swung his crystal-energy sword, the power from the battle energy in his body created explosive shockwaves around him. Even though Aerith could counter Zack’s techniques, she was like a small boat in a storm before such absolute power, easily capsizing at the slightest carelessness.
However, during their earlier fight against Aerith, even though Zack had used his full strength, Aerith had instead grown stronger and stronger! Zack even felt that when Aerith attacked, her movements created a strange effect. Not only did it always make him feel like he couldn’t exert his full strength, but sometimes she could even use the battle energy he released to attack him with his own power.
While being beaten up badly by Aerith, Zack had never seriously considered this issue. Now, thinking calmly, he realized how incredible it was!
“Ouch! Got it,” Zack winced, clutching his head where Zhang Wen had just tapped him, grimacing in pain. Meanwhile, Amelie let out a soft whimper, pouting at Zhang Wen with a look of grievance.
“Got it? Hmph!” Zhang Wen chuckled, his gaze lingering on the trio with an enigmatic smile. “What I teach you is nothing like those third-rate techniques like thrusts and spinning blades. Alright, since you’re so confident, let’s spend the rest of today’s class figuring out how to counter the various martial arts of the Empire.”
“Yes, sir!” Zack and the others responded without hesitation.
Honestly, when they heard Zhang Wen dismiss the Empire’s most popular martial arts as “third-rate,” they couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of superiority. Even Zack, the young master of the Shinra military, didn’t find it inappropriate.
“Good! Then practice on your own for now. Dismissed!” Zhang Wen waved them off casually. However, the three students didn’t leave immediately. Instead, they hesitated, exchanging glances.
“Hmm? What are you still doing here?” Zhang Wen quickly noticed their odd behavior and gave them a curious look.
“Well… uh… Master Zhang, have you heard about the Governor’s banquet tonight?” Zack mustered up the courage to step forward, his handsome face breaking into an awkward, nervous smile.
“I have,” Zhang Wen nodded indifferently.
“Will you be going?” Zack asked, growing even more nervous.
“Me? Probably not,” Zhang Wen thought for a moment, then shook his head with a smile.
“Oh!” Zack immediately let out a sigh of relief, exchanging a thumbs-up with Cloud behind him.
“What? Why are you so happy that I’m not going?” Zhang Wen deliberately feigned a cold expression, turning the question back on them.
“Hehe! Master Zhang, we were just worried that if you went to the Governor’s banquet and we didn’t, you might be upset. But since you’re not going, we don’t have to worry anymore!” Zack grinned, leaning in to whisper.
“Yeah. The Governor’s banquet is bound to be boring! We’d rather spend our time honing our skills at the training hall than waste it at some stuffy party,” Cloud nodded in agreement.
For most young students at the Almis Academy, attending the Governor’s banquet and mingling with the Empire’s nobility was a golden opportunity to shine and make a name for themselves. But for Cloud and Zack, whose statuses already set them apart, such opportunities were unnecessary. To these two martial arts enthusiasts, nothing could be more torturous than being stuck at a dull banquet, forced to smile and mingle with a bunch of old nobles.
“So, are you satisfied now?” Zhang Wen asked again, his tone slightly exasperated.
“Hehe!” Though Zhang Wen’s tone was stern, the two young men could tell he wasn’t actually angry. They quickly grinned, not wanting to give him a chance to change his mind, and darted off in the blink of an eye.
As Zhang Wen watched Zack and Cloud run off to a corner of the training field, he noticed that Amelie was still standing there, her face filled with hesitation. “Why aren’t you leaving? Is there something else?” Zhang Wen asked, puzzled. In his experience, Amelie was usually straightforward, not the type to beat around the bush.
“Well… no… nothing,” Amelie hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.
“If there’s something, just say it! If not, then I’ll see you tomorrow,” Zhang Wen said, deliberately nonchalant, as he turned away.
“Fine! I’ll say it!” Seeing that Zhang Wen was really about to leave, Amelie finally blurted out. She strode up to him, crossed her arms, and looked him straight in the eye. “About the banquet tonight, can you change your mind? I’m not forcing you!”
Not forcing me? Amelie’s last remark almost made Zhang Wen burst out laughing. He really wanted to grab a mirror and show her the look on her face. She might as well have written “unhappy” across her forehead!
“What does it matter to you whether I go to the Governor’s banquet or not?” Zhang Wen neither agreed nor refused, instead turning the question back on her.
As soon as Zhang Wen asked, Amelie’s confidence deflated. She pouted, muttering dejectedly, “It’s all because of my father! He’s been looking for a chance to cozy up to the Empire’s nobility. As soon as the invitation arrived yesterday, he promised, ‘My daughter will definitely attend!’ Ugh! Zack and Cloud are so lucky. No one’s forcing them to go.”
“Ha! So if I don’t go, you’ll be the Almis Academy’s martial arts representative at the Governor’s banquet. Quite the spotlight!” Zhang Wen teased with a smile.
“Master Zhang, how can you be like this?” Amelie fell for it immediately, jumping up in a panic. She clung to Zhang Wen’s arm, pleading pitifully, “Please, just this once! Okay? Please?”
Amelie was wearing the most popular training outfit at the Empire’s academy. Apart from not being black, it was no different from the tight-fitting suits favored by modern female thieves in Earth’s TV dramas. And to ensure flexibility, the fabric was extremely thin. Though Amelie’s chest wasn’t as full as Lenora’s, when she hugged Zhang Wen’s arm, he could immediately feel the surprising elasticity of her bosom.
While using her body to her advantage, Amelie also tilted her pretty face up, her eyes brimming with tears, looking both pitiful and adorable, like a homeless kitten. Though Zhang Wen knew she was putting on an act, her submissive attitude and the look of vulnerability on her face were hard to resist.
“Alright, alright! I’ll go with you,” Zhang Wen finally nodded, pretending to be reluctant.
Whether or not to attend the Governor’s banquet was a trivial matter for Zhang Wen. He had initially decided not to go simply to avoid the hassle. But since Amelie had pleaded so earnestly, it would have been too heartless to refuse.
“Hehe! I knew Master Zhang wouldn’t abandon me!” Amelie blushed slightly, giving him a flirtatious glance. Whether intentionally or not, she took half a step back, letting Zhang Wen’s hand brush against her chest as she released his arm, then ran off with a string of clear laughter.
Truth be told, Zhang Wen and Amelie had already been through everything together, so a brief moment of intimacy like that shouldn’t have meant much. But perhaps only Zhang Wen and Amelie themselves understood that it was precisely because of the ambiguous, unspoken tension between them that Amelie’s little game of playing hard to get was so tantalizing.
“You little minx… sooner or later, I’ll make you pay back every bit of this, with interest!” Zhang Wen couldn’t help but smile, shaking his head as he savored the soft, elastic sensation still lingering on his hand.
Under Zhang Wen’s strict orders, his trio of students indeed gave it their all in the following hours. Zack, with his deep family heritage, demonstrated all the Empire’s martial arts techniques he knew. After each demonstration, the three would huddle together, racking their brains to figure out what combination of moves could counter them.
However, the trio quickly realized that Zhang Wen’s demands weren’t as easy to fulfill as they had thought. While Amelie had seemed to effortlessly counter Zack’s attacks under Zhang Wen’s guidance earlier, when left to their own devices, they discovered just how challenging it was.
When facing a higher-level opponent, it wasn’t just about countering their moves—they also had to counter their combat energy!
During Amelie’s fight with Zack, every time Zack swung his energy sword, the explosive residual energy from his combat power would ripple out. Even if Amelie could counter his moves, in the face of sheer power, she was like a small boat in a storm, easily capsized.
Yet, earlier, when facing Amelie, Zack had also gone all out, but Amelie had only grown stronger! Zack even felt that Amelie’s movements created a strange effect, making him feel like he couldn’t fully exert his strength, and sometimes even using his own combat energy against him.
During the fight, Zack hadn’t seriously considered this. But now, thinking back, he realized just how incredible it was.
Alright, if that were all, the trio might have been able to meet Zhang Wen’s demands. Zhang Wen’s techniques were already several times more sophisticated than the Empire’s martial arts, and with a bit of thought, they could find suitable combinations to counter the relatively rigid Empire techniques. Even with the added requirement of countering combat energy, they could still figure something out.
However, just as Zack and the others had finally devised several ingenious combos and were about to pat themselves on the back, Zhang Wen strolled over to them.
“You seem to be doing well!” Zhang Wen first nodded with apparent approval.
“Of course! We’ve put in a lot of effort!”
“Good, I’ve seen it. Now, since you’ve come up with so many combos, why don’t you demonstrate them for me?” Zhang Wen smiled, sitting down on a bench by the training field.
“No problem!” Zack confidently agreed, immediately taking a stance opposite Cloud.
“Wait!” Zhang Wen suddenly stopped them. “Zack, this time, switch roles with Cloud. Let Cloud use the Empire’s techniques, and you use the moves you’ve just come up with to counter her. Oh, and Zack, don’t hold back—use your full combat energy.”
“Huh?” The three turned to look at Zhang Wen in confusion, not understanding why he would make such a request.
Amelie had already proven that Zhang Wen’s techniques could counter opponents one and a half levels higher. Now, with Zack, who was already slightly stronger than Cloud, using his full power, was there even a point to this match?
However, just as Zack and the others finally managed to devise several intricate combo techniques and hadn’t even had time to feel proud of themselves, they saw Zhang Wen casually stroll over to them again.
“You seem to be doing pretty well!” Zhang Wen first nodded appreciatively with a smile.
“Of course! We’ve put in a lot of effort!”
“Indeed, I can see that. Come on! Since you’ve already figured out so many combo techniques, demonstrate them for me now,” Zhang Wen said with a smile as he sat down on a bench by the training ground.
“No problem!” Zack confidently agreed, immediately positioning himself and Cloud on either side.
“Wait!” Seeing their stances, Zhang Wen suddenly called them to a halt. “Zack, this time, you and Cloud switch roles. Let Cloud use the Empire’s martial arts techniques, and you use the moves you just came up with to counter her. Oh, and Zack, you don’t need to hold back your battle energy—use your full strength.”
“What?” The three of them turned their heads simultaneously, looking at Zhang Wen in confusion. They couldn’t understand why Zhang Wen had made such a request.
Earlier, Aerith had already proven that the techniques Zhang Wen taught were sufficient to handle opponents one and a half levels higher. Now, having Zack, who was already slightly stronger than Cloud, use his full strength, was there even any point in continuing this match?
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