Inside the secret realm, before being teleported away, Frederick looked at Jiang Lin with a gaze filled with the deathly silence and calm of someone who had just experienced life's greatest ups and downs.
He had become somewhat detached and resigned. His opponent's methods were too bizarre and incomprehensible; his defeat was understandable.
He even found himself secretly hoping that the young man before him... or rather, this degenerate, could achieve even better results.
It would be best if he could shock the entire audience, take first place, and become a top-tier dark horse who suppressed all the other geniuses.
That way, his own performance wouldn't look quite so pathetic.
"Can you tell me your name?" he asked.
Faced with the question, Jiang Lin blurted out instinctively: "Wei Yimin."
Immediately after, because the identity bracelets detected that the two had been defeated by Jiang Lin, they were teleported directly out of the secret realm.
Jiang Lin looked at the 27 points added to his bracelet, and his mood wasn't exactly bright.
How did it take so much time to deal with two losers of that level?
It seemed he still needed more practice!
Jiang Lin claimed the two 【Designated Skill Upgrade】 rewards from the system. He planned to find a quiet corner and sleep for a few hours first.
Once he got stronger, he would go find the top-ranked students from the other two schools and take their points.
Clearly, he didn't realize that he had already dealt with one of his two biggest competitors.
The teaching quality and resources of the three schools in Boulder City were all roughly the same.
Therefore, the gap between the top students of the three schools wasn't that large.
While in terms of pure physical stats, Jiang Lin was far inferior to the top tier of level 9s, his skill management and strategy, combined with the combat information provided by the 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】, allowed him to defeat them easily.
Jiang Lin checked the safe zone and the time for the next zone shrink displayed on his bracelet.
The next shrink was in six hours. There was enough time to break through his skills!
As the saying goes, sharpening the axe doesn't delay the woodcutting. Jiang Lin followed his memory and ran deep into the forest.
Eventually, he found a spot where almost no creature groups lived. He dug a hole and buried himself, leaving only his nose and mouth exposed for breathing. At the same time, he pushed 【Breath Concealment】 to its limit and began selecting the skill for the limit break.
I choose you—【Basic Swordsmanship (superlative)】!
However, before starting the limit break, Jiang Lin first cast a 【Low-level Strengthening · Normal Version】 on his own brain to see if he could improve his mental shock resistance.
Then, Jiang Lin began to allocate the points.
In the next second, a massive flood of memories poured into Jiang Lin's mind.
...
He arrived at a clearing on a massive boulder, an old wooden sword by his side.
He had been in this very space the last time he raised this skill to the superlative level.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Lin began his practice, which was so familiar it was practically instinct.
These were the most fundamental aspects of all swordsmanship, and they were the parts Jiang Lin felt he had already completely digested and mastered.
Just like during his last limit break, Jiang Lin had no clue how to break the limit of 【Basic Swordsmanship】. But to avoid wasting time, he raised his sword and began practicing over and over again.
Unlike last time, however, he had the experience of his first limit break. From the start, he silently sensed the changes in his body, trying to detect if those light motes from the darkness would appear again.
To his disappointment, no light motes appeared.
Perhaps he hadn't practiced long enough?
Jiang Lin thought to himself.
Thus, while experiencing and sensing the changes in his body, he practiced this most basic skill of all swordsmanship over and over again.
Time gradually passed, and Jiang Lin reached a point where there was no more room for improvement in basic swordsmanship.
These things were already carved into his muscles; no matter how much more he practiced, it had no effect.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Lin once again became a frail old man at the end of his life.
Finally, he stopped his movements.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he stared blankly at the old wooden sword that had accompanied him through countless years.
After so many years of erosion, the originally fragile wooden sword was already dilapidated. It only maintained its shape because Jiang Lin used magic essence to wrap and preserve it.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Jiang Lin's mind.
What... exactly is a sword...?
Can this piece of rotting wood in my hand be a sword?
Is it called a sword because it has the shape of one, or is it because in my perception, I believe it is a sword, and thus grant this rotting wood the name of a sword?
For a moment, thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind. Jiang Lin seemed to finally touch the threshold, but the feeling was fleeting and vanished quickly.
In the past, Jiang Lin had never thought deeply about this question. In his long-standing perception, a weapon of this shape used for attacking was a sword—seeing mountains as mountains, and seeing waters as waters.
But now, after so much time, he still hadn't managed to break the limit of 【Basic Swordsmanship】. This made him start to doubt if his direction had been wrong from the start.
Perhaps his understanding of the sword wasn't enough.
What he needed to temper was not just the sword in his hand, but the sword in his heart.
He began to question his former self, feeling that the sword in his hand was nothing more than a piece of rotting wood, not the essence of the sword itself—seeing mountains not as mountains, and seeing waters not as waters.
In the next moment, he directly shattered the rotting wood in his hand. He imagined himself holding a sword, sketching out the shape of the sword in his heart.
Time flew by.
His first life ended.
Carrying the experience and memories of the previous life, Jiang Lin quickly set down the physical sword and continued to try practicing.
Gradually, Jiang Lin felt the weight in his hand grow heavier. The sword in his heart, which had previously only existed in his imagination, seemed to be taking shape.
But he felt he was still one step away from a breakthrough.
Ultimately, countless more years passed, and the sword in his heart never truly appeared. Imagination was, after all, just imagination.
So, Jiang Lin once again looked at the wooden sword he had kept by his feet throughout this life.
He picked up the wooden sword and swung it again. This time, a wondrous feeling flooded Jiang Lin's heart. It felt as though with a single thought, the sword in his heart could merge with the wooden sword before him.
A sword is, after all, a physical object. It is a weapon with a specific shape, not something dictated solely by mental perception.
Whether or not he recognized it as a sword did not change its inherent properties—seeing mountains as mountains once again, and seeing waters as waters.
And what he needed to do now was merge the sword in his heart with the sword in his hand. Only then could he unleash the full power of the weapon!
【Successfully comprehended sword intent】
【Basic Swordsmanship (superlative) → (limit-broken)】
【Swordsmanship talent has received a minor increase】
The concept of time was blurred, but a massive amount of memories still surged frantically into Jiang Lin's brain.
However, the time Jiang Lin spent in that space was much shorter than the last time. It took only a little over one lifetime to comprehend 【Basic Swordsmanship】 to the limit-broken level.
As the system notification arrived, Jiang Lin's own aura began to change.
To the originally gentle and kind aura of a paladin, a sense of sharpness and edge was added.
The memories hammered at his brain, but after experiencing so many impacts, Jiang Lin had finally developed enough resistance to remain conscious.
In his daze, he hurried to cast a few more rounds of 【Low-level Strengthening】 on his brain.
Unfortunately, the strengthening technique had no effect on the mental level; at most, it just made him more thick-skulled.
Fortunately, even though 【Low-level Strengthening】 was useless, Jiang Lin relied on his resistance to this massive volume of memory to successfully weather the first wave of impact without immediately passing out.
Furthermore, the 【Paladin Breathing Technique】, which operated as a passive, played a crucial role during this process.
It quickly soothed his spirit and relaxed his tense nerves.
The light elements in the air also poured into his body, easing his discomfort.
Soon, Jiang Lin adjusted his state.
Successful limit break! And he didn't pass out!!
Jiang Lin was extremely pleased.
Is what I comprehended... the so-called sword intent?
Jiang Lin sat up, preparing to release 【Light Blade】 to see if the power of all his sword techniques had increased.
Swish!
A longsword of holy light appeared. Jiang Lin looked inward at his body and found the sword in his heart that he had polished for countless years until it finally took shape. Then, he attempted to merge that heart sword with the holy light longsword in his hand.
The holy light longsword flickering in Jiang Lin's hand suddenly dimmed slightly. However, following that, it became much more solid and sharper than before.
Jiang Lin sensed the changes in the holy light longsword and had a general idea.
If the sword in the heart was simply referred to by the system as sword intent, then after adding sword intent to an existing sword technique, the technique's power would increase by about thirty percent.
However, it seemed this increase was tied to the strength of his sword intent.
Unfortunately, this sword intent didn't seem to count as a skill.
Jiang Lin checked, and there was no sign of sword intent in his remaining 【Designated Skill Upgrade】.
Since he couldn't use the upgrade to strengthen it, he guessed he would have to temper his sword intent slowly on his own.
As for the remaining upgrade opportunity, he would use it later. Using it now would definitely make him pass out.
He glanced at his bracelet. Having delayed for so long, his ranking had dropped.
【Points: 248】
【Rank: 3】
【Cumulative Defeats: 45】
It seemed the two people behind him were quite close. He didn't know which of the three schools they were from.
If one of the teams was Anya's, then two of the current top three were from Radiant Academy.
He imagined that if the grade director, Wills, found out, he would surely be grinning from ear to ear.
While thinking, Jiang Lin continued to weave through the forest, searching for the biomes in his memory.
However, the reality was exactly the opposite of what Jiang Lin imagined.
At that moment, in the meeting room, Director Wills felt a mountain of pressure.
The fierce-looking gold badge warrior across from him had a face as dark as stagnant water, and Director Vien from the neighboring school also had a subtle expression.
In truth, if Jiang Lin had defeated the two from Morning Star Magic Academy through fair and square frontal means, everyone would probably just feel admiration.
But the series of methods Jiang Lin had displayed were too perverse and unspeakable. Those tragic scenes were still lingering in their minds.
"I'm going out to see my brother."
The gold badge warrior stood up.
"Ahem, I'll go with you."
Salas hurriedly followed. He was afraid the other man would be too impulsive and rush into the secret realm to beat up Jiang Lin.
Though he knew that with the man's personality, he certainly wouldn't do such a thing.
Still, he wanted to see the two little kids who had been victimized by Jiang Lin.
...
At the secret realm exit, many rookie teams had already been eliminated.
If there were injuries, the Temple priests and the school doctors from each institution were there to treat them promptly.
Aside from some students who felt they hadn't performed well, most of those coming out now knew their own limits.
Therefore, the atmosphere at the scene wasn't too gloomy.
A flash of white light appeared at the exit; another team had been eliminated.
Just as others were preparing to gloat and see who had been knocked out, they were shocked to see two eyesores.
"Holy crap, what happened to them?!"
"How did they get beaten so badly their pants are gone??!"
"Did they experience some kind of 'defeated' cutscene??!!"
After seeing the two clearly, the crowd was even more shocked and confused, especially the students from Morning Star Magic Academy.
Aren't these the number one and number two guys from our school? How did their powerful alliance end up with them losing their pants??
"Damn it! That Wei Yimin, I'm not done with him!!"
Frederick gritted his teeth and looked at his teammate.
However, he didn't expect this guy to have no major emotional reaction. Instead, he looked at him calmly.
"Call me Daddy!"
Frederick was confused: "What kind of fit are you throwing?"
The other guy helped Frederick remember: "We just said it. Whoever gets fewer kills in the secret realm calls the other 'Dad'. I, your father, got more kills than you, right?"
Frederick was indignant: "Screw that, we ran into an accident. It doesn't count!"
"Hey, are you going back on your word?"
Frederick didn't want to argue anymore. "Fine, fine, fine. You're my dad, you're my dad."
"Oh, say it properly."
"Dad!"
Hearing Frederick finally say it, Eli finally showed a satisfied smile, which then froze on his face.
"You brat, you're still in the mood to claim fathers here? Hmm?"
The fierce-looking Crixus pressed down on his brother's head.
"Ah, Brother! Why are you here!"
"Brother, he and I are settled. It has nothing to do with you!"
"You still have the mood to mess around? Haven't you embarrassed us enough? Put your pants on, now!!"
While they were making a scene, the name Wei Yimin also reached the ears of the students present, leaving a terrifying impression in their hearts.
...
Inside the secret realm, Jiang Lin tirelessly traversed the forest, hunting every demonic beast in sight. He soon arrived at a lake where demonic beasts occasionally came to drink and rest.
Similarly, many other teams were also hunting demonic beasts there.
Thus, a black shadow descended from the sky, blocking the path of a team running through the woods.
He stood before the three of them like the sun, the holy light longsword in his hand flashing with blinding brilliance.
"Halt! I opened this mountain! I planted these trees! If you wish to pass, pay the toll!"
Rate on N.U.
