Chapter 20 Silver Moon
With that, the two engaged in battle again. While they exchanged blows using the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique, Fang Xingjian still managed to gain the upper hand very quickly even if he was suppressed in terms of attributes, since he had achieved level 30 in the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique. This forced his opponent to give up on using the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique and to switch to another set of sword techniques.
However, this sword technique was completely different from the Chaotic Strike he had previously used. Once set into motion, Kaunitz’s right hand turned into illusions, and the muscles on his hand trembled at an unbelievable speed. This was accompanied by an overflowing sword light, as if mercury had leaked on the earth. He thrust towards Fang Xingjian, and it was like the sun, leaving no openings and no corners untouched.
Fang Xingjian gave a cold snort as he was pushed out of the circle. His top was shredded and he was covered in wounds all over, looking extremely disheveled.
The Grizzly Bear Sword Technique was after all a basic sword technique used for training. A technique used for training the body would not have strong offensive prowess.
“He’s just overestimating his own abilities. Who does he think he is? To think that he would dare challenge Kaunitz.”
“There’s no helping it. The gap between them is too large. Once Kaunitz stops using the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique, Fang Xingjian can no longer face him on equal footing.”
Having defeated his opponent yet again, Kaunitz looked at Fang Xingjian with an amused gaze and asked, “What, you want another round?”
Fang Xingjian saw that another technique had appeared in his Techniques Column, namely the Silver Moon Prayer Sword Technique (6%). A surging will to fight shone in his eyes.
Just like this, Fang Xingjian repeatedly charged forth, continuously suppressing the other party with the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique, only to be repeatedly defeated by his opponent’s Tresia Academy sword technique.
He was completely covered in dust and traces of blood. When the other students saw his sorry state, their eyes filled with mockery and sarcasm.
“Is this guy an idiot?”
“Hmph, he is really overestimating his own abilities. Does he think that he can win like this?”
Ogden could also not bear to see anymore of this and spoke out, “This persistence is useless. Enough is enough, Fang Xingjian, don’t bring embarrassment to The School of Sword Arts.”
Vivian’s expression was somewhat unsightly too. She had not expected that there would be such a huge gap between Fang Xingjian and Kaunitz. She looked at Fang Xingjian during the fight and then glanced at Kaunitz, pondering to herself.
“Shut up!” Kaunitz bellowed softly, immediately suppressing the surrounding voices. “Can’t you see that I am practicing with Fang Xingjian?”
Kaunitz looked at Fang Xingjian and thought to himself, “This fellow is persevering more and more after I’ve changed to a different sword technique in each round. Hmph, he really is talented.
And when I practice the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique with him, I also gain experience more easily.”
The corners of his lips curled up as he asked, “Do you still want to continue?”
Fang Xingjian did not say anything, but drew his sword. He displayed the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique, rushing towards and thrusting at Kaunitz.
Seeing their constant fighting and Fang Xingjian’s continuous defeats, most of the students felt mockery, contempt, empathy and pity putting themselves in his shoes. After a few minutes, most of them did not continue watching, but went back to their own sword practice.
Vivian, Ogden and some others took a few final glances, complicated gazes flashing in their eyes, then went to the side to practice their sword techniques.
‘Stronger. I must become stronger. If not, one day, I will be like Fang Xingjian, who is stepped upon by others. This isn’t the future I want.’ This was the thoughts that ran through most people’s minds.
Therefore, they devoted much more effort to their sword practice, and they practiced even harder than ever before as preparation for the upcoming Prefectural Selection.
They would at most glance a few times at the exchange between Kaunitz and Fang Xingjian in between their breaks. Looking at his figure covered in wounds was like looking at a clown.
Fang Xingjian did not care about this. He only had five years’ time. Within these five years, he had to attain power by any possible means. It was not just to pass the Empire’s Grand Selection, but to aim for the best results as well.
For example, his first goal was to be the Prefecture Champion, placing first in the Prefectural Selection. In the Empire, the one who emerged on the first place in the Prefectural Selection was known as the Prefectural Champion, first place in the Regional Selection as the Regional Champion, and finally, first place in the National Selection was known as the National Champion.
In the Empire’s history, it had been two hundred years since there had last been a person with supreme powers who had won all three titles in a row.
Fang Xingjian had already fought tens of battles against Kaunitz in one and a half hours, being defeated over and over again. But what did it matter? What did some physical injuries, a sixteen-year-old youngster suppressing him and some of the students’ contempt matter? All these were nothing when compared to that night’s conversation and the seven day long torture. Compared to that, what he was experiencing could not even make an imprint on Fang Xingjian’s mind.
After the consecutive battles, Kaunitz could not help but gasp for breath, despite his stamina.
On the other hand, Fang Xingjian was so exhausted that he was half-kneeling down on the ground, not moving an inch.
Compared to their usual practice, this method of sparring required one to exert all their body’s energy in an instant. Therefore, they depleted their energy and stamina much faster than usual.
However, Fang Xingjian felt that everything had been worthwhile. He saw his Stats Window change, now displaying Chaotic Strike (42%), Silver Moon Prayer Sword Technique (32%), Descent of Holy Light (30%), and Tresia-Style Foundation Sword Technique (12%). He could not suppress the excitement in his heart.
He exhaled a deep breath, looked at Kaunitz, and said, “Let’s stop here for today. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
“Hmph.” Kaunitz gave a cold snort before he turned around to continue practicing the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique.
Not long after, Fang Xingjian had had enough rest, so he continued practicing the Eagle Sword Technique.
Over the next few days, Fang Xingjian became increasingly busy. In the morning and evening he had to help out with work at The School of Sword Arts. He had to spend time practicing the Eagle Sword Technique, and even to spar with Kaunitz. Although he constantly lost to his opponent, he was also secretly acquiring Tresia’s sword techniques.
Fang Xingjian also realized that the higher the experience percentages grew, the slower the speed at which he managed to secretly steal the skills.
It was actually a very simple idea. Although he was very talented, he was restricted by his current level, which was insufficient to make up for his lack of sword technique knowledge. He had never seen the Chaotic Strike before that time, so it was obvious that he could only learn a move at a time, each time he witnessed the technique.
Still, as the number of moves he learnt increased, and those which he had not yet learned decreased, Fang Xingjian’s progress stagnated if Kaunitz did not display the moves which he had not yet seen.
Half a month’s time passed by. His Eagle Sword Technique progressed significantly, and after reaching level 30, it had given him the effects of 3 additional points in agility, 3 in reaction, 3 in endurance, and 3 in flexibility.
This changed his attributes to: strength 20, agility 27, reaction 14, endurance 11, and flexibility 15.
With this increase, his strength and agility attributes had grown slightly closer to Kaunitz’s. Coupled with the fact that he was becoming increasingly familiar with his opponent’s sword techniques, he could persevere for a longer period of time, which forced Kaunitz to continue displaying new sword techniques, which in turn allowed Fang Xingjian to acquire them.
Even if Fang Xingjian wanted to defeat his opponent, there was still quite a bit of a difference between their abilities. It was already hard enough to compensate for the gap between their attributes alone.
Of course, if he had displayed a level 30 Grizzly Bear Sword Technique from the very beginning, Fang Xingjian could have instantly defeated his opponent’s low-leveled Grizzly Bear Sword Technique. However, in order to secretly acquire the sword techniques, he would obviously not do such a thing. Instead, he allowed sufficient time for his opponent to change to another set of sword techniques, and to reveal his actual abilities.
‘The few sword techniques which Kaunitz has displayed are all on the same standard as the Nine Yang Divine Sword Technique. They all seem to be tapping into the organs’ strength. Moreover, his attributes were all higher than mine to begin with. That’s why he’s be able to fully suppress me once he displays his own techniques.’
Kaunitz had practiced the sword for ten years, inheriting the Tresia Clan’s Sword Technique, which had been passed down for hundreds of years. Of course, the endless medicine, supplements and tonics had not been for nothing either.
‘My training has still been too short.’
However, it was too bad that the difficulty of the Nine Yang Divine Sword Technique was actually much higher than the other sword techniques. After all the practice Fang Xingjian had done, he had only been able to reach level 8. Although he could feel his organs contracting slightly, it had not reached the level where his attributes would increase.
Of course, Kaunitz only thought that his opponent was very talented, and could quickly adapt to the techniques he used. Kaunitz could not have thought that his opponent would be able to grasp the way in which he channelled his energy, and to gradually learn the whole set of sword techniques simply by observing and coming in contact with it. He was only thinking that the amount of time required to defeat his opponent had gotten increasingly longer, and that there had been many times where he’d had to display new sword techniques.
After all, even with his specialty ‘Force Sense’, he would still be required to understand the profoundness behind the sword technique before he could truly acquire his opponent’s sword techniques.
However, given Fang Xingjian’s repeated losses, his popularity in The School of Sword Arts plunged as well. There was almost no one who was willing to practice with him, and everyone avoided him like a plague. Despite his very obvious progress and the times when he could put up a fight against Kaunitz’s full prowess for some time, the result was still the same.
That was because in their eyes, Fang Xingjian had already become Kaunitz’s daily punching bag. Who would dare to approach him? Were they not afraid of Tresia Clan’s power and influence? Fang Xingjian’s talent had been extremely low when compared to the Tresia Clan’s influence.
That day, when Fang Xingjian entered the training grounds, he saw the typical gazes of detest, contempt, and mockery from the people around him. Looking at how they had avoided him, Fang Xingjian did not show any reactions, but merely started to practice his Tenauer-Style Body Strengthening Sword Technique by himself.
His next goal was to perfect this sword technique by reaching its maximum level.
The surrounding people glanced at him a few times, and then went back to their own affairs. Time passed by very quickly, and only four months remained until the Prefectural Selection. The other students devoted even more effort to their sword practice, hoping to reach a breakthrough before the start of the Prefectural Selection.
Lambert glanced at Fang Xingjian, who was quietly practicing. From the day he had been defeated and humiliated by Kaunitz, he had started keeping a low profile. Seeing Fang Xingjian like this, he silently nodded to himself.
‘Don’t collapse. These rubbish people around here are all blind.
‘To be able to withstand Kaunitz’s pressure and yet able to improve daily by leaps and bounds….
‘You are the real genius.’
Silence filled the training grounds, leaving only the rustling sounds of people going through sword practice.
Fang Xingjian gave a cold snort as he was pushed out of the circle. His top was shredded and he was covered in wounds all over, looking extremely disheveled.