Growth Potential in Every Aspect

It had to be said, Shien had used that strike very cleverly.

Because the weapon in his hand was merely an ordinary Two-Handed Sword, not even a Magic Weapon, let alone something comparable to the Holy Sword, and because he had to hide many of his skills, Shien used a few tricks. By striking the Golem's knee joint, he threw off its balance and made it drop straight to its knees.

If he had used the Holy Sword, Shien could have chopped the Golem into pieces in a single blow.

Even without the Holy Sword, Shien could have split this Golem in half with the attack boost granted by his max-level Two-Handed Sword skill alone. With the boost from Limit Break added on top of that, it would have been even easier.

But in order not to stand out too much, Shien held back his strength and deliberately made it seem as though he had defeated this opponent through clever tactics.

That way, Shien could conceal many of his skills while still displaying enough merit to pass the adventurer assessment.

Thus, as the Golem lost its balance and fell to its knees, Shien began an unrelenting assault.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Amid a series of fierce impacts, Shien kept chopping heavily at the Golem's knee joint, sending stone chips bursting from the struck area and flying everywhere.

The kneeling Golem swung its arms, attempting to attack Shien, but Shien darted behind it, avoiding the thick stone arms that whipped up powerful gusts of wind. He continued chopping at its knee joint without pause, leaving it unable to stand.

Bang!

After Shien had struck it an unknown number of times, the Golem's knee was finally smashed apart, turning into countless pieces of rubble that scattered across the ground.

Having lost one leg, the Golem crashed heavily to the floor with a thunderous impact.

"Now!"

As though he had been waiting for this moment for a long time, Shien leaped onto the Golem's back. Facing the Golem's head as it lay on the ground, he raised his greatsword high as if using every ounce of his strength, then brought it down with tremendous force.

Bang!

With an explosive cracking sound, the Golem's head split apart and shattered into countless fragments.

And so, after "putting in quite a bit of effort," Shien successfully defeated the unfortunate Golem.

(This should do the trick, right?)

Shien wiped his forehead as though wiping away sweat. While putting on a somewhat exhausted look, he secretly made a victorious gesture in his heart.

However, when Shien turned around and looked behind him, he was met with a series of astonished expressions.

"He actually won?"

"Um..."

"That strength..."

Tier, Lumya, and Merika all looked either surprised or astonished.

It was not just the three of them. Even Vivian wore the same expression.

"I never expected you to defeat it. It seems your strength is far greater than I imagined, Shien."

Vivian spoke with clear surprise in her voice.

That reaction made the corner of Shien's mouth twitch slightly.

"Um... is that so strange?" Shien asked Vivian weakly. "Didn't you say this Golem wouldn't be a dangerous opponent for me?"

At those words, Vivian's expression became a little strange.

"I did say that." Vivian smiled wryly. "Golems are famously slow and cumbersome monsters. Even inexperienced newcomers should be able to barely avoid their attacks, provided the level gap is not too great. They should not get hit, so Golems are naturally not dangerous. But defeating this kind of monster is likewise not something a novice adventurer who is around ten levels lower can do."

Shien's expression froze when he heard that.

Looking at him, Vivian continued with the same strange expression, "After all, Golems may be slow and clumsy, making their attacks difficult to land, but their bodies are made entirely of rock and minerals, so their defense is famously high. To defeat such a monster, you need a weapon with considerable destructive power, such as a heavy hammer or battle-axe, or else bombard it with intermediate-level or higher magic. I have never heard of anyone cutting one down with a sword while being lower level than it..."

In other words, Vivian had not intended for Shien to defeat the Golem. She had wanted to use this opportunity to see how Shien performed when fighting a monster that "could not be defeated, yet was not dangerous."

Since Shien did not know Vivian's intentions, he naturally tried to pass her assessment by appearing to "put in some effort to defeat the monster." In the end, he actually brought the Golem down.

"You are only level ten, have not learned a single skill, and are using newly acquired equipment that has almost no advantages besides being sharp—not to mention that it cannot compare to a Magic Weapon. Yet under those conditions, you defeated a monster that was higher level than you and not easy to bring down. Do you really think we would not find that strange?"

Vivian's words made Shien feel terrible all over.

Seeing Tier, Lumya, and Merika still looking at him with considerable surprise, while even Vivian's gaze had grown deep and thoughtful, Shien gave an awkward laugh.

"So, my strength is still decent, and I did not disappoint you all, right?"

Shien could only force the conversation onward.

"Yes. It is surprising, but it is a good thing." Vivian gave Shien a meaningful look before continuing, "Since you can even defeat a Golem nearly ten levels above you, you should be able to learn skills soon. No, rather, with such a performance, it would be stranger if you had not learned any skills. Perhaps this also means you have high growth potential in every aspect?"

"Growth potential in every aspect?" Shien asked reflexively. "What does that mean?"

"What? You do not know?" Vivian was startled, her expression becoming even stranger. "Everyone's growth potential differs in every aspect based on their training direction and talents. That should be common knowledge, should it not?"

Common knowledge?

For Shien, this so-called common knowledge was truly something unrelated to him, and matters like this were also the most troublesome.

Still, Shien more or less understood what Vivian meant.

"Although a person's strength will certainly increase when their level rises, not every aspect of their abilities will improve." Vivian explained, "When one levels up, the abilities that improve differ according to one's training direction, areas of aptitude, and talents."

For example, when a strength-focused warrior leveled up, their physical strength would definitely improve the most.

By the same logic, when a mage leveled up, the first thing to improve would certainly be their magic power. If they had neither aptitude nor talent in physical abilities and had never trained them at all, then those abilities would not improve when they leveled up.

Therefore, the abilities each person gained through leveling up were different.

"For someone like me, since I am a defense-oriented vanguard, increases to my endurance and damage resistance are the most obvious and significant when I level up. My other abilities do not improve as noticeably." Vivian continued, "For someone like Merika, increases to magic power will be the greatest when she levels up. As for physical abilities, even now, she is no different from an ordinary girl, you know?"

That was how it worked.

Third update!

Sorry it was a little late. I was readjusting the pacing. I hope everyone will continue to support me. o(╥﹏╥)o