Chapter 76 Competition
While the battle of the First Prince versus the Headmaster and Huang Lin was extremely awesome, from the beginning to the end, the speed at which they fought at was too fast, such that no one in the school had noticed anything wrong.
Furthermore, just when the Headmaster returned to his office, he discovered that the librarian, Manny, who had helped Fang Xingjian previously, was already standing there waiting for him since god knows when.
The Headmaster asked, “Why have you thought of visiting me?”
“Old man, I’ve been watching Fang Xingjian ever since the beginning.” Manny no longer had that flippant and insincere attitude that he usually adopted. His tone was serious, his face was solemn, and his eyes reflected the gaze of one who had been through alot in life.
“An ordinary commoner, who depended on his own talent and efforts, taking steps forward one step at a time.
“I watched as he cultivated over 20 hours per day.
“Watched as he endured the supercilious looks and ridicule from others.
“Watched as he transitioned into a Windstorm Sword Hero.
“Watched as he trashed that Griffin until he scampered off like a rat.
“I feel that I can no longer continued to be so dispirited.”
Headmaster Jackson’s gaze was overcome by emotions, as he stared at his son, saying, “Manny, to think that… ever since you failed the Regional Selection over ten years ago, you have been dispirited till today. To think that you would be encouraged by Fang Xingjian, and have decided to pick yourself up and rise once again.”
Manny’s countenance was calm, “It’s still too early to talk about rising again. My talent can only be considered mediocre when compared to those true freaks. But seeing how even the youngsters today are putting in so much effort, I don’t wish to let myself continue to sink into depression. Old man, from now on, I want to spend some time to recover. You should get someone else to take over the job in the library.”
“Good, good, good.” Headmaster Jackson’s face was filled with smiles. “As long as you don’t continue to stay demoralized, you can do whatever you want.” At this moment, the great expert who had put up such a strong fight against the First Prince earlier had now abruptly turned into an old neighbourly uncle who doted upon his son.
…
That night, Fang Xingjian sat down crossed legged in a quiet room in his villa. While he was circulating the Waves throughout his entire body, he was also circulating the Ice Age Meditation Art at full power within his mind, unceasingly increasing the experience for his mental cultivation method.
His mind was filled with calmness and cold, as he thought about everything that had happened today unceasingly.
After a full two hours, he opened his eyes as he exhaled a mouthful of impure air.
‘The rate at which my mental cultivation method is leveling up is too slow.
‘With the feelings of injustice in my heart, it’s hard to calm my thoughts.’
Fang Xingjian knew that the reason why the progress for his mental cultivation method was slow was because of that old hag Rebecca from the Tresia Clan as well as that First Prince, causing his mind to be filled with endless distracting thoughts. Yet he had no way of eradicating all those thoughts completely.
He then contemplated on how he should proceed with his cultivation.
He was only left with four years and two months out of his lifespan of five years, and was eight months away from the next Regional Selection.
With regards to his weapon, Huang Lin and the Headmaster were already trying to work something out, so he did not have to concern himself about it.
Now, for him, other than the mental cultivation method as well as the Killing techniques, he would be continuously cultivating his other techniques for twenty-four hours a day.
While his Supreme Mistwind Sword of the Killing Path had already reached level 18, he believed that he would only need a few more days to bring it to level 20. Even if level 20 was not the maximum level, he would still be able to reach the maximum level in less than a month. If that was the case, it was time for him to come up with a new training plan.
‘Teacher told me not to level up first. This is the right strategy to take. Each increase in level for the Windshadow Sword Divinity would provide an increase of 11 points to the agility attribute. If I leveled from level 10 to level 19, it would provide me with an increase of 99 points in agility, raising my speed to an extremely horrifying level.
‘But if that’s the case, if I continue to increase my agility attribute, if it exceeds 180 points, then for each additional point, I would need to expend over 180,000 potential points, as compared to now, with my agility at over 70 points, I only require 70,000 potential points to increase 1 point for my agility.’
However, it was obvious that Fang Xingjian would not continue to drag on and not level up. Although Huang Lin had wanted him to wait for a year or two, Fang Xingjian knew his own condition very well. He was only left with four years and two months, and to level from level 10 to level 19, it would take ordinary Knights an average of one year.
Fang Xingjian gave himself half a year’s time to reach level 19. In that case, if he wished to reach level 19 before the Regional Selection next year, he would need to work hard to level up two months later.
‘There’s only two months left for me to be raise my attributes by using a lower amount of potential points. After two months, I’ll go all out to level up, reaching level 19 of the first transition before the Regional Selection.
‘Then… I’ll need to think of ways to accumulate even more potential everyday.
‘Although my current potential accumulation rate is already over ten times more than that of ordinary humans, it is still too little for two months.
‘But I’ve already learnt the all the Nurturing techniques the academy has to offer. If I want to learn new Nurturing techniques which does not overlap with my current ones to increase my potential, I will need to learn from other places…’
Just as Fang Jianxing was contemplating, his ears trembled slightly, and he heard a subtle vibration in the air.
Supreme Mistwind Sword was a sword technique which controlled the airflow through the sword technique itself, thus Fang Xingjian’s control over the airflow was exceptionally precise. He slightly exerted strength using his feet, his whole person seemingly floated up gently, as if he had become weightless. After which, with a flicker, he disappeared from the secret room.
Outside the villa, Jack and Anthony knocked on the door. Upon seeing the maid who had opened the door, Jack hurriedly stated, “We are looking for Fang Xingjian, it’s urgent.”
“But Sir is currently cultivating in his secret room.” The female servant timidly replied, “Lord Huang Lin had instructed, when Sir is cultivating, no one is to disturb him.”
“But it’s really urgent! Do you know that tomorrow is the deadline to register for the inter-class competition? Kaunitz hasn’t been coming to the academy for a whole month and it’s said that he’s about to be expelled.
“There’s only eight of us participating in the competition. We were already ranked last in last month’s competition. If we’re participating with only the eight of us, we’ll still be eliminated in the first round! Do you know how terrible the punishments for the classes ranked in the last three are?
“Not only would our allowance be deducted, our cultivation resources would diminish too. Not forgetting that these rankings will be reported back to the Empire!”
If the results were reported to the Empire, they would naturally be recorded in the archives maintained by Knight Association and would be of tremendous influence to every Knight’s’ future. Moreover, to the aristocrats, if their resources were diminished, all they had to do was to get more from their clans. However, to Jack and Anthony, it was a great disadvantage.
On the contrary, if one achieved good results in the inter-class competition, not only could they receive even more resources, they would also receive more attention from all the various important characters.
But of course, because of the difference in the amount of time they had spent in their first transition, it was extremely tough for junior classes to defeat senior classes. Most of them would thus aim at defeating classes who were closer to theirs, or hope to have a breathtaking performance when fighting against senior classes.
And now, Fang Xingjian’s Class 256 was without Fang Xingjian and Kaunitz, considering that they lose out in numbers and were young, their performance was naturally unbearable to watch.
“Enough.” Anthony gazed at the timid maid as he patted Jack and said softly, “We don’t have really have to meet Xingjian, but after he is done with his training, could we trouble you to let him know that we had came to look for him?”
“Mmm… okay… I will inform Sir.” The maid nodded, saying seriously.
At that very moment, the three of them simultaneously felt a whirlwind swept by, accompanied by white-colored sword Qis dissipating into the air as Fang Xingjian gently descended down from the skies, appearing before the three of them.
Fang Xingjian indifferently asked, “Inter-class competition?”
“That’s right, Xingjian.” Seeing Fang Xingjian, Jack immediately got agitated. “The first inter-class competition was one month after the first transition, and we had just learnt Killing techniques. Even the students one year more senior than us had a year more training than us. There was no way we were able to defeat them and thus we were eliminated just after the first round.
“You’ve transitioned into a Windstorm Sword Hero. For the upcoming inter-class competition, you must definitely participate together with us and teach those b*stards a lesson.”
Anthony added, “Xingjian, if you are busy, it’s fine even if you don’t come. I heard from Lord Huang Lin that you are at the critical phase of your cultivation.”
“Inter-class competition? Sparring with other students?” Fang Xingjian rubbed his chin, thinking to himself, ‘Every student in this academy came from different places and learnt Nurturing techniques from all various factions and schools. If I can make use of this opportunity to steal their sword arts while sparring with them, I’ll be able to accumulate even more potential daily.
‘But they would usually only use Killing techniques in battle… I have to think of some other ways.’
Thinking of this, Fang Xingjian’s eyes narrowed. He stared at the two in front of him who were filled with anticipation. “Teacher did indeed tell me to focus on my cultivation and ignore the other matters in the academy. However, I’ve achieved some progress in my Killing technique and it’s indeed the time to test it out through actual combat.
“I will participate in the upcoming inter-class competition this time.”
“Excellent!” Jack laughed uproariously, “The other time, we were bullied badly by those old fellows. Xingjian, you’ll have to help us teach them a lesson this time around. Hahahaha, you are our class’s trump card now.”
Anthony reminded, “How could it be so simple? Those senior students are all people who have been training here for one to two years, five to six years, or even seven to eight years. There are also those who, like Xingjian, were the Prefectural Champions. Many of them had already reached level 19 in the first transition, and some of them have even participated in the Regional Selection before. Their strength is absolutely not be underestimated.”