Xi Ya shattered two more mana crystals and then stopped his training.
The more he practiced, the more he felt it wasn’t enough.
Golems were just golems after all—they only attacked with set patterns.
Every time, the golem used the same few offensive routines.
He’d fought it so many times he had practically memorized them.
If he had to repeat it blindfolded, he could win.
But tomorrow he would be fighting a person.
People were different.
Everyone had their own sword habits and could change their tactics on the spot.
A golem could never imitate that.
Worse yet, people could use all kinds of Sword Techniques, and the low-level magic golem in front of him didn’t even have that function.
From the other end of the training ground came the sound of fierce combat.
Xi Ya looked up.
Over in that area, a senior student was locked in a heated battle with a high-level magic golem.
The light of various elemental spells flashed across the arena.
The scene was intense, and Xi Ya felt a bit envious.
A high-level magic golem had the ability to record Sword Techniques.
Unfortunately, first-year students who had just enrolled weren’t allowed to use them.
And Xi Ya didn’t know a single Sword Technique anyway, so even if he could use one, he couldn’t record anything.
If only someone could spar with him.
Xi Ya placed his sword back on the weapon rack, rolled his sore shoulder, and prepared to leave the training ground.
‘I’ll head back for now…’
The moment he pushed open the door, he almost collided with Dailina.
Today Dailina hadn’t let her hair hang loose; she had tied it into a ponytail.
“Huh? Dailina?”
Xi Ya was walking so fast that at first glance he thought it was someone else, but then he looked again and recognized her.
“Xi Ya? I was just about to look for you.”
“You were looking for me?”
“I heard from Feili that a Regular Class student challenged you to a sword duel. I thought you might be practicing swordsmanship here, so I came to see if I could help…”
As she spoke, Dailina noticed his shoulder trembling slightly.
“Huh? Did you get hurt again?”
“No, no, no! I’m not hurt. I just over-trained and my shoulder is a little sore.”
Xi Ya quickly explained.
He felt like in Dailina’s eyes, he was as fragile as glass—she had to check if he was broken every time she came.
“Sore shoulder, huh? I can help you recover.”
Dailina raised her hand, aiming it at Xi Ya’s shoulder.
“Even that can be fixed?”
Xi Ya asked, puzzled.
“Of course.”
A soft blue light glowed in Dailina’s palm.
“Xi Ya, please don’t move.”
“Okay.”
[Healing Technique]
Xi Ya felt a warm surge of mana seep into his right shoulder.
It was like a gentle hand softly massaging his aching muscles.
“That feels so good…”
He couldn’t help but sigh.
It felt as if his shoulder was soaking in warm water, and he almost moaned in comfort.
A moment later, the soreness in his shoulder was completely gone, as if it had never existed.
“There, all done. How do you feel?”
Dailina withdrew her hand and smiled.
“Thank you, Dailina. I never knew the water-affinity Healing Technique could cure soreness too.”
Xi Ya had always thought the water Healing Technique was inferior to the light-affinity Holy Healing.
The books all said so, and the church always claimed light healing magic was superior.
They insisted that if you could use Holy Healing, you should never use the Healing Technique.
Holy Healing was indeed powerful.
Its effect was immediate.
No matter how severe the injury, as long as you had enough mana, it could heal in a short time.
In comparison, the Healing Technique was far inferior—it only enhanced the body’s natural recovery, allowing it to heal itself.
But that recovery speed was far too slow, and the effect wasn’t necessarily better than Holy Healing.
From that perspective, Holy Healing completely outshone the Healing Technique.
Naturally, humans praised Holy Healing more.
But no one had ever used Holy Healing for something as trivial as a sore muscle.
When Xi Ya had used Holy Healing earlier to treat the shoulder he bruised against the golem, the injury healed, but the vibration pain from the blow hadn’t gone away at all.
Now Xi Ya understood—the Healing Technique could also cure the minor problems that Holy Healing couldn’t.
‘Good grief, I learned something new again.’
The books practically screamed, “The Healing Technique is garbage.”
He had foolishly believed them, but now it seemed completely unreliable.
‘Looks like reading too many books isn’t all good either.’
“Since your shoulder is fine now, let’s continue training. I can be your sparring partner.”
“Huh? You want to spar with me?”
“Mm.”
Dailina nodded.
Dailina wanted to practice swordsmanship with him?
Xi Ya was stunned.
In the game, Dailina always used magic.
He had rarely seen her use a sword, and he had no idea what her swordsmanship level was.
But Dailina was a mage who specialized in magic.
Her sword skills couldn’t be that great, right?
Still, if Dailina was willing to help, why would he complain?
“Alright, thank you for the trouble, Dailina.”
A few minutes later.
Sword Technique: Clear Wind
Xi Ya was hit by several invisible wind blades and nearly blasted out of the training area.
He hurriedly adjusted his posture to land and barely stabilized himself.
Dailina held her sword with both hands.
The residual gusts of the wind blades slowly dispersed around her, and a few strands of hair that had floated up gently fell.
“Ah, I’m sorry! Xi Ya, did I hit too hard?”
She quickly ran over, her expression full of apology.
“No, no. I didn’t expect you to be so skilled with a sword too.”
On the surface, Xi Ya was calm, but inside he was freaking out.
‘Wow, how is Dailina so strong? One move and she nearly took me out.’
“This is my family’s Sword Technique. The Coleman family has been famous for wind magic for generations, but we’ve also produced a few Sword Masters. This technique was passed down from them. I learned some from my father when I was young.”
Dailina explained.
Xi Ya knew all that.
He just hadn’t expected the move to be this powerful.
He had assumed that since Dailina didn’t use a sword much, she wouldn’t be able to unleash much power, and he could withstand Clear Wind.
But thinking about it, Dailina was in the Elite Class.
Her practical combat scores were high, so she definitely had some skill with a sword.
Unlike him, who had gotten in through the back door.
Without the Dolores Transformation, he was nothing.
Sword Techniques were just too strong.
What was the point of pure swordsmanship?
Just unleash a Sword Technique and knock the opponent down.
And as for Xi Ya—he was like a grunt with no skills, only normal attacks.
How could he fight against a hero who could use abilities?
No, he couldn’t give up.
He had to train until he could counter Sword Techniques, or else tomorrow he would definitely lose.
“Should we keep going?”
Dailina hesitated when she saw his condition.
“Yes, keep going. Don’t worry about me.”
Xi Ya pushed himself up and gripped his sword again.
***
That night, Xi Ya returned to his dorm.
After closing the door, he flopped onto the bed with a thump.
He and Dailina had practiced all afternoon.
At first, he had been worried about Dailina—that she would use up too much mana spamming her Sword Techniques.
But in reality, Dailina still had plenty of mana left, while he was the first to collapse from exhaustion.
Still, the afternoon had been very rewarding.
He had learned how to use mana to strengthen specific parts of his body, a technique Dailina taught him.
Before, he could only strengthen his entire body at once, which consumed a huge amount of mana.
With his mana pool, the reinforcement was either too weak or lasted too short to be useful.
But now, he could strengthen just his legs to make his dodges faster, then switch to strengthening his arms when it was time to attack, increasing his striking power.
With that mana boost, he was able to dodge Dailina’s Sword Techniques.
‘Good. Tomorrow shouldn’t be too much of a problem now.’
Thinking like this, Xi Ya soon fell asleep.
Not long after he had drifted off—
“Hey, kid~”
“ZZZ”
“Hey, kid~”
“ZZZ… Huh?”
Who is that… Don’t they let people sleep?
She opened her eyes and found the surroundings were a dark red.