"I know, but I might as well try," Li Wen smiled at him, his expression relaxed and natural. "It doesn't cost anything, anyway. Just think of it as... motivation to train over winter break."
Wei Wu hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but remind him:
"I'm being serious, don't take this lightly. Knowing this school's usual bullshit, the selections this time will, nine times out of ten, use a virtual arena. The entire grade will be watching in the virtual world."
He swallowed, his voice dropping lower, tinged with a hint of anxious worry:
"If you really get in the arena, what if... and I'm just saying what if, you get insta-killed by the virtual opponent in the first exchange? That's a public execution in front of the whole school... It'll be a huge loss of face!"
After listening, Li Wen nodded, his expression still calm. "Thanks for the warning. We'll see what happens. There's still a whole winter break before the selections. Time to train."
He couldn't just tell Wei Wu, 'Bro, don't panic. I have a cheat.'
Without another word, Li Wen walked straight to his usual spot in the corner.
His gaze swept over to Xue Jun, who wasn't far off. The other student was already immersed in his spear practice, seemingly oblivious to their little exchange.
He pulled the polished, refined steel saber from the familiar weapon rack. As the cold hilt settled into his hand, the familiar sensation immediately calmed Li Wen's mind.
'Activate! [Absolute Focus]!'
VMMMM—
An invisible and silent field of focus enveloped him. The Lv2 skill's stealth was perfect. To an outside observer, he simply appeared more composed than usual, emitting no discernible aura or fluctuation.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
He swung his blade!
Boosted by 120% focus (100% his own + 20% comprehension boost from the skill), Li Wen's world instantly narrowed to the sharp whistle of the blade cutting through the air and the flow of power through his body.
The light flashing from his blade seemed to have been infused with a new soul.
His slashes were as fast as lightning, their angles vicious and cunning. Compared to yesterday's practice, their trajectories were more precise and deadly, losing the stiffness of rote imitation and gaining a fluid ease born from deep understanding.
His upward strikes were no longer monotonous upward flicks. The twist of his wrist and the subtle shift of his waist and hips combined perfectly, forming a continuous wave of power.
During his spinning parries, his footwork was as nimble as a phantom's. Every shift landed him precisely where he needed to be at the end of the blade's arc, making the transitions between moves silky smooth, without the slightest hitch.
The moves were no longer independent but had completely merged into a single whole, filled with a sense of breath and the rhythm of combat.
This was no longer simple bladesmanship, but more like a rhythmic dance of the blade, executed with effortless grace. Where the will went, the blade followed.
All signs clearly indicated that his attainment in bladesmanship was only a cicada wing's breadth away from the Great Perfection realm of Advanced Bladesmanship.
[Skill: Bladesmanship · Advanced (Accomplished 90→94/100)]
[Skill: Bladesmanship · Advanced (Accomplished 94→97/100)]
[Skill: Bladesmanship · Advanced (Accomplished 97→99/100)]
The golden numbers on the panel were jumping frantically, getting closer to completion with each leap.
And reality mirrored his outward performance.
Thanks to the two brief practice sessions—last night and just now during his lunch break—stacked with the twenty percent comprehension boost from Lv2 [Absolute Focus], he had already pushed his bladesmanship experience points way up.
Now, in this final stretch of practice, that last bit of required experience was forcefully pushed to the critical point by his training, which combined a deep foundation with double comprehension.
[Skill: Bladesmanship · Advanced (Accomplished 99/100)]
He withdrew his blade and stood tall.
Li Wen slowly exhaled a long, steady breath.
The moment [Absolute Focus] receded, an unprecedented sense of fullness and control flowed through his entire body.
He could clearly feel the bottleneck. That final barrier was within arm's reach, needing only an opportunity, a single thought, a moment of epiphany...
He gently caressed the cold steel of the blade, his gaze sharp, like a peerless blade about to be unsheathed, containing an indescribable edge.