Senior Sister

"Use your awakened power against me. Don't hold back."

After Luo Er spoke, she waved a hand, signaling Nan Jin and Zhong Wei to move farther away.

Then she closed her eyes.

The young woman placed one hand behind her back and pointed the other at the center of her brow.

"Come. Make your move."

Sweat beaded on Gu Shen's forehead... He simply had not awakened any so-called Transcendent Ability. Though he carried the Truth Ruler with him, he could not possibly take it out and activate it now. This secret had to be guarded carefully.

How was he supposed to make a move?

There was no way he could!

Nan Jin silently retreated with her sword in her arms and stood beside Zhong Wei, waiting quietly... Gu Shen's formidable talent existed only in the files. They had yet to witness it firsthand.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

The Training Field was so quiet that a pin dropping could be heard.

"..."

Luo Er slowly opened her eyes. Yet there was no disappointment in them. They were as calm as a mirror as she smiled faintly. "As expected, you can't use it? You seem to differ from what those old fellows at the Adjudication Court had guessed... If you took the assessment now, forget an S—you probably couldn't even get a C."

Gu Shen silently clenched his fists.

"All right."

A hand lightly patted his shoulder.

Gu Shen's pupils contracted. He had not seen at all how Senior Apprentice Sister Luo had moved. In an instant, she had arrived beside him.

"Don't be discouraged. Being unable to use one's Transcendent Ability due to overexertion is extremely common." Senior Apprentice Sister Luo chuckled. "Doesn't this prove that Zhong Wei and I came to Great Wisteria for a reason?"

Gu Shen froze for a moment.

He looked behind him and saw the smiles on the other two faces.

They all thought... he could not use his Transcendent Ability because he had "overexerted" himself?

"Your fate lies in your own hands."

Luo Er turned and walked toward the rack of swords and blades in the Training Field. "The assessment is in fifteen days. Every hour from now on is crucial. Now... special training has begun."

She arrived before the massive rack.

Without Senior Apprentice Sister Luo making any movement, the entire rack suddenly began to tremble. The sharpened swords, sabers, and other weapons rose into the air one after another... These alloy-forged pieces of equipment were extremely heavy, each weighing dozens of pounds!

Even an untrained adult man would find them quite difficult to wield.

There had to be nearly a thousand pounds of weapons here, right?

Luo Er slowly turned around. At the same time, blade after blade turned their edges along with her, swimming through the air like fish, their bodies swaying and giving off clear, crisp chimes.

She asked, "Does this scene look familiar?"

Gu Shen stared at Senior Apprentice Sister Luo as though he had seen a ghost.

At that moment, within ten meters of Luo Er, sword and blade edges filled the air. It looked exactly like the scene when he had first used the Truth Ruler and tried to imitate Nan Jin's Sword Domain... How had she replicated it? Had the ruler's secret been discovered?

"I used Profiling."

She smiled slightly. "I went to the fire scene last night. Through Profiling, I reconstructed part of what happened there... I had hoped to use Profiling to directly determine your Transcendent Ability, but unfortunately, your image in the profile was too blurry."

"My Transcendent Ability should be... related to mental power."

Fortunately, the ruler had not been discovered... Gu Shen inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Pretending to speculate, he spoke slowly.

Chu Ling had mentioned Profiling before... This was a power exclusive to the Mental Affinity. It seemed Senior Apprentice Sister Luo was a Mental Affinity Transcendent! In a sense, his use of the Truth Ruler was also a manifestation of mental power. This explanation should not reveal any flaws.

The backlash after using the ruler was incredibly fierce. Chu Ling had said it was related to his insufficient mental power... Senior Apprentice Sister Luo's special training could help him perfectly this time.

Gu Shen took a deep breath and helplessly described his symptoms. "Ever since the fire, I keep feeling as though my mental power has been drained dry... I lay around for two days, yet my mind still feels completely empty. It's hard to focus, and I often feel a stabbing pain."

Luo Er listened seriously, nodding from time to time.

"A normal phenomenon. Your mental power is too weak... It seems this is an area that requires harsh training."

She beckoned.

Zhong Wei and Nan Jin both came over.

"Strength, speed, mental power, control... The Adjudication Court's assessment is actually very simple. Newcomers are evaluated in these four aspects. No matter which of the three affinities they belong to, they can receive an objective evaluation under this four-sided scoring system."

Luo Er suddenly raised both hands, her back facing the open space of the Training Field.

That hovering mass of flashing blades suddenly erupted into motion. Short knives and longswords began to dance without warning.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Silver light filled the air like snow!

The next instant.

Dozens of standing targets and wooden dummies in the Training Field were struck in the bullseye, heart, forehead, and other vital points by the swords and blades sweeping through the air... For a moment, the ringing of sharp weapons erupted in unison, piercing the ears.

"At their core, Transcendent Abilities have no inherent hierarchy. The only differences are combat wisdom and degree of development. A newcomer who has only just awakened may possess powerful Transcendent source energy, but still be unable to control it perfectly."

Luo Er said, "Strength corresponds to power. Speed corresponds to evasion. Mental power determines how long one can wield Transcendent power. And control represents precision and range."

"Even if you possess powerful source energy, if you cannot hit your opponent, then exhausting all your strength will only result in a fleeting bloom. Such a Transcendent... can hardly be considered a true powerhouse."

A bead of sweat formed on Gu Shen's forehead, slowly slid down, and finally fell onto the blade of a dagger right before him.

Clang.

It sent a crisp, slender ripple of water spraying outward.

That dagger hovered before his cheek under the control of mental power. Its invisible chill nearly pierced his skin and seeped into his bones.

This was... a monster in the truest sense.

Controlling dozens of swords and blades at once—what terrifying mental power was that?

This was not some weightless, intangible sword intent...

And unlike his frenzied slaughter on the rooftop, where everything had been aimed at the same target... Every sword Senior Apprentice Sister Luo controlled struck precisely into its target. Most terrifying of all, she had not used her sight to assist her aim at all!

Clearly, this too was an application of Mental Affinity Transcendent power. She could see the world behind her, and her "gaze" was sharper than an eagle's.

Gu Shen took a deep breath. With difficulty, he extended two fingers and moved aside the dagger hovering before him.

The dagger was perhaps only a centimeter away from piercing his skin.

Gu Shen knew that if his hand had trembled just now, even slightly, the blade would have drawn blood.

He did not feel fear. He only felt... awe.

When Gu Shen looked at Luo Er again, he seemed to see the awe-inspiringly powerful soul contained within that seemingly slight body.

Like a mountain, like an abyss.

Her lecture just now about powerhouses had actually sounded somewhat hollow and weak.

But when Luo Er said it—

It was simply too right, too true... because she was, without question, a powerhouse.

With a hum.

The dagger slowly flew up and landed in Luo Er's palm.

"Want to learn?"

"Call me Senior Sister..." She smiled. "I'll teach you."

"...Senior Sister!"

Gu Shen nodded vigorously. "From today onward, you're my real Senior Sister!"