Soon, Ming Yu understood what Lia meant by "getting serious." Her seemingly slender hands gripped the spear and swung it with incredible speed. The nearly two-meter-long spear was as light as a feather in her hands, whipped into a wall of motion, with every strike aimed at the vital points on Ming Yu's chest.
Ming Yu felt a headache coming on as he faced the swift, storm-like assault. Even though the training weapons weren't sharpened, getting grazed by such a heavy spear wouldn't be pleasant. Left with no choice, Ming Yu could only do his best to parry with his tachi, barely deflecting Lia's attacks. But for the moment, he could only defend, and the situation had become passive.
*This can't go on for long,* he thought anxiously as he faced Lia's increasingly fierce attacks. *I have to find a way to break this situation, or it's only a matter of time before I'm defeated.*
"Not bad, but how long can you last? Give up, you don't have a chance," Lia said, her attacks not slowing as she applied verbal pressure on Ming Yu.
"That's not for certain. I, for one, think I can turn this around." Even though he was at a disadvantage, he couldn't lose in terms of spirit.
In the midst of the stalemate, Ming Yu's understanding and grasp of combat deepened. As if blessed with sudden insight, he seemed to see Lia's attack trajectory clearly. In a daze, he executed a backbend, dodging one of Lia's strikes.
With her strike missing, Lia's spear was momentarily unable to be retracted due to inertia, leaving her in a stiffened state. *This is my chance!* Ming Yu's heart leaped. As he straightened up, he delivered a roundhouse kick to Lia's hand that was holding the spear, knocking it to the ground. At the same time, he pressed his tachi onto her shoulder.
"My win," Ming Yu said, letting out a heavy breath as he withdrew his sword.
"I... lost?" Lia stared blankly at her right hand, finding it hard to believe. She had clearly had the upper hand just a moment ago, and then suddenly, she had lost.
Picking up the fallen spear, Lia looked Ming Yu in the eye and said solemnly, "You're very strong. I hope we can fight again next time."
"It was a fluke. You're not weak either," Ming Yu said with a shrug. It really was a fluke this time; he had been on the verge of giving up. That feeling of sudden insight was truly miraculous, as if the world had slowed down.
"Lia's attacks are too one-dimensional, overly reliant on her weapon. Ming Yu has too little combat experience and a poor grasp of timing," Himeko critiqued with pinpoint accuracy.
Indeed, Lia's attacks relied almost entirely on her spear. After the spear was knocked away, there was a clear pause and daze. If she had reacted the moment the spear was disarmed, she might have been able to dodge Ming Yu's follow-up attack, and the outcome would have been uncertain. As for Ming Yu, his attacks lacked coherence, often based on impulse. This was an unavoidable flaw for a newcomer like him. After all, before coming to this world, Ming Yu had barely been in a fight, let alone this kind of combat. If not for the skills provided by the System, he would be no different from an ordinary person.
He checked the System again to see his gains.
Host: Ming Yu
Honkai Energy Points: 5
Weapon: None
Stigmata: None
Skills: Basic Close Combat (LV2: 32/300), Basic Swordsmanship (LV2: 163/300)
Evaluation: C (Congratulations, Host, you have successfully shed your status as cannon fodder and entered the level of a weakling. You have taken the first step towards becoming the strongest.)
This battle had added ten experience points to both of Ming Yu's skills and even five Honkai Energy points. Although it seemed low compared to Lia's C-rank strength, it was understandable that points gained from a sparring match would be less. Combat was indeed the shortcut to becoming stronger. But the lack of a Stigmata and a weapon still irked him. A two-star weapon was not enough against powerful Honkai Beasts; it was simply too fragile. However, an opportunity to acquire a powerful weapon would come soon. What he needed to do was to get as strong as possible before then.
After returning to the formation, Ming Yu received praise from those around him. It seemed Lia was considered quite skilled among them. But thinking about it, it made sense. The students' strength was mostly between C-rank and B-rank, with the top students perhaps at peak C-rank to B-rank, but there weren't many. An A-rank Valkyrie like Fu Hua was already in a league of her own. As such, Fu Hua had already begun active duty and often had to go on missions. She only retained her student status and would attend classes when she had no missions.
Based on this battle, Ming Yu concluded that his own strength was roughly at the upper tier of C-rank, which was quite good. This meant that when he had the trial version Stigmata, he was at least at peak C-rank. No wonder killing Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies in the later days in Nagazora didn't feel very strenuous.
"Hmph, you did pretty well. Although you're still a ways off from this lady, it's acceptable," Kiana said, as always.
"You did great, Ming Yu," Mei encouraged. *Mei is so heartwarming.* But Kiana also had her unique charm. Ming Yu didn't dislike it, because that was just who Kiana was.
"Ming Yu-gege was amazing," Bronya also offered a rare compliment.
After the combat sparring, there was weapon handling practice. In addition to various cold weapons, there was also a wide variety of firearms. Among these, one had to be proficient in at least three types of cold weapons, while only a basic familiarity with firearms was required. There weren't many strict demands, as the power of ordinary firearms was simply insufficient compared to high-level armaments. Therefore, only a certain level of understanding was needed.
Because the sparring took up a lot of time, today's lesson only covered the use of long weapons like spears, without touching on other content. To be fair, the curriculum at St. Freya wasn't intense. For students at this level, the classes were quite relaxed. Perhaps this was because Theresa, the Principal, wanted everyone to experience the life of an ordinary student.
In terms of graduation standards, as long as one's theoretical grades weren't too terrible and their combat ability reached the level of a B-rank Valkyrie, graduating smoothly wouldn't be a major problem. But Ming Yu's goal was not just to graduate smoothly. For him, academy life was just a means to an end. What he wanted was to become stronger—to possess S-rank power. Only with S-rank power could he begin to have control over his own life and death, and only then would he have the qualification to join the game.
After leaving the training grounds, Ming Yu prepared to head to the library to look up information and prepare for his next moves. Mei also intended to go to the library, so she grabbed Bronya, who was ready to go back and play games, and Kiana, who wanted to wander around, under the pretext of "making progress together."
"Oh, Mei, class is finally over. Let's go have some fun," Kiana pleaded incessantly.
Mei glanced at Ming Yu, who was snickering on the side, and said unhurriedly, "Kiana, you need to be more serious too."
"Then I want an extra chicken leg tonight. Class was so tiring," Kiana said, holding up one finger to start bargaining.
"Alright, but just this once," Mei said helplessly, tapping Kiana's forehead with her finger.
Having gotten her approval, Kiana's face broke into a brilliant smile, and she let out a laugh as if her cunning plan had succeeded.