"Light Shadow Slash," Part One

But Fengyun took it to heart, because he had long decided to follow the path of a warrior. Practicing magic was only meant to help him travel more smoothly along the road of cultivation in the future!

Besides, he wanted to use the fact that he cultivated as both a warrior and a mage to have more in common with the protagonist, Lin Lei. That way, when the time came to cling to his thigh, he could hold on more securely!

After Black Mountain explained the situation to the Scribe at the entrance and completed the registration, the Scribe handed Fengyun two dull gray plaques. One was engraved with "Manual," and the other with "Combat Skill."

He then instructed him, "Once you enter, keep these two plaques on you at all times. The battle qi manuals and Combat Skills stored in the pavilion are protected by magic arrays."

"Without the plaques, you won't even be able to view the introductions to the Combat Skills and battle qi manuals. Come back to register after you've made your choices."

Fengyun nodded to show that he understood, then walked straight into the pavilion. Seeing more than a dozen neatly arranged bookshelves, he did not hesitate in the slightest. He went to the first shelf at the front and selected a basic battle qi manual called the "Blood Courage Manual."

Most basic battle qi manuals did not involve attributes and had low limits, with little difference between them. They were mostly used to reward common soldiers who had earned merit in the military.

So there was nothing much to choose from. Following Black Mountain Instructor's instructions, he directly chose the manual Black Mountain had once cultivated. If he encountered anything he did not understand later, he could ask him directly, avoiding the risk of exposing himself when consulting other instructors.

There were far more Combat Skills to choose from!

Of the dozen or so large bookshelves in this room, only the first contained all kinds of battle qi manuals. The rest were filled with Combat Skills.

Students were given an hour to make their selections here. That hour had been set aside specifically to give them sufficient time to choose a Combat Skill.

Though there were many Combat Skills here, fortunately, they were arranged very systematically. Saber, spear, sword, halberd, fist techniques, kicks, and movement techniques were all sorted onto different shelves according to whether they specialized in defense or offense.

Fengyun first looked through the defensive Combat Skills and those related to fist and leg techniques. He found that their power and characteristics were nothing impressive. They were merely extensions and combinations of the various punches and kicks from the basic fist techniques they practiced daily.

He then turned to the weapon-related Combat Skills, which were also his main goal in coming here. After all, he was about to undergo the Monster Trial.

Although Black Mountain had said that the organization had already arranged personnel to receive them in the trial area, and that he himself would serve as the accompanying instructor to watch over them, having a weapon in hand and learning one or two weapon Combat Skills that would keep him from fighting barehanded would give Fengyun a greater sense of security.

But just like the fist and leg techniques before them, these low-level weapon Combat Skills were nothing special. Their introductions boasted as if every single one had extraordinary potential and formidable power, but after reading the portions available to him, he was certain that these Combat Skills were trash as well.

After privately lamenting that, as a transmigrator without even a cheat, he truly was not some protagonist who could conveniently find a powerful Combat Skill or a crippled divine technique amid a pile of garbage, Fengyun finally chose two Combat Skills that barely suited his preferences. One was "Mighty Strike," and the other was "Light Shadow Slash."

"Mighty Strike" was an explosive secret technique. It could be used not only with weapons, but also with fists and legs. It could slightly increase one's strength and unleash a more powerful attack.

It sounded good, but since it was classified as a low-level Combat Skill that Fengyun could choose, its drawbacks were just as obvious as its advantages.

The reason "Mighty Strike" was called a single strike was because its enhanced strength lasted only a short time—just two or three seconds.

Furthermore, using this move would leave its user in a weakened state, unable to recover for a while. Thus, it could only be used as a trump card.

Once used, either the enemy died, or he did!

However, "Mighty Strike" had upgraded versions that could eliminate its short duration and weakness drawbacks. As an explosive technique, it was still quite good.

"Light Shadow Slash," meanwhile, was a light-attribute-oriented Combat Skill adapted from the low-level Combat Skill "Phantom Slash." Once mastered, it allowed one to launch an additional slash when using battle qi slash attacks with sharp weapons such as sabers or swords, much like when performing "Phantom Slash."

Compared to "Phantom Slash," the additional slash of "Light Shadow Slash" had the added variation of appearing and disappearing. Whether the accompanying battle qi slash was visible or hidden depended on a single thought.

But every gain came with a loss. "Light Shadow Slash" had the advantage of concealing the additional slash, but its disadvantage was its increased difficulty of cultivation!

Strictly speaking, "Light Shadow Slash" could be considered an attribute Combat Skill. If not for the creator of this Combat Skill being too lazy, resulting in it having almost no significant difference from "Phantom Slash," it would not have appeared in the low-level Combat Skill section.

As an attribute Combat Skill, only warriors with the Light Attribute who had cultivated it to mastery could completely conceal the accompanying battle qi slash. Otherwise, the additional battle qi slash could not be fully hidden and would be noticed by the enemy at once, losing any value as a surprise attack!

Therefore, without compatible attributes or a Light Attribute battle qi manual to support it, choosing "Light Shadow Slash" would be worse than choosing "Phantom Slash"!

After hesitating for a moment, Fengyun ultimately chose "Light Shadow Slash" between the two.

Although "Mighty Strike" was more powerful from an overall perspective and even had upgraded versions afterward, it was too extreme in the early stages.

And while "Light Shadow Slash" was more complicated and difficult to learn, even somewhat flashy, and learning it was not as good as learning "Phantom Slash," "Light Shadow Slash" happened to suit his attribute!

Moreover, he had been planning to use this Combat Skill to test one of his ideas, so he chose "Light Shadow Slash."

When he emerged with the "Blood Courage Manual" and "Light Shadow Slash," the Scribe responsible for registration frowned. "Light Shadow Slash!"

"Ah, another little fellow fooled by its name? Kid, seeing as you're young and inexperienced, and you haven't used up your selection time, I'll give you a chance to replace it."

"Go exchange it for 'Phantom Slash.' If you want to learn attribute Combat Skills, wait until you reach Level Three and have your elemental aptitude tested. Then you can choose an attribute Combat Skill that truly suits you."

"Don't aim too high. You'll only delay yourself!"

Zhao Fengyun cupped his fists and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior. But as a reserve member of the Training Camp and a believer of the Lord, should I not always remember where my accomplishments come from?"

"I chose the 'Blood Courage Manual' as my battle qi manual, so naturally I should choose a Light Attribute Combat Skill that symbolizes my Lord!"

"Even if I can't cultivate it to mastery, it doesn't matter. According to the introduction, 'Light Shadow Slash' was only slightly modified from 'Phantom Slash.' At worst, I'll simply practice it as 'Phantom Slash.'"