Sword Aura

Only after Duke felt such scorching heat at close range did he realize that Battle Qi was far more complex than he had imagined.

He had never thought that the Battle Qi within his body could actually transform into tangible flames. This had already surpassed the limits of his understanding.

What exactly was the principle behind this? This thought arose in Duke's mind for no apparent reason, and he wanted to figure out the principles and process behind it all.

But there was no way to begin now. He was clearly lacking far too much relevant knowledge.

Not only could he not understand it, but Vivian herself did not truly understand the principles behind it either. She had merely cultivated according to the technique's instructions and achieved this effect.

The lesson on the combat skill lasted a full hour, and Vivian explained every part of it with perfect clarity.

There were no written materials for this combat skill. Everything was stored in Vivian's mind, so Duke needed to be especially attentive and memorize every detail himself.

Duke listened closely, maintaining intense focus throughout as he tried to commit everything to memory.

At that moment, he realized the benefits of having high mental power. He could remain focused for long periods and concentrate his mind to an exceptional degree.

Ordinary people could not stay focused for very long. Their minds would always wander after a while.

"Treat the longsword as an extension of your body..." Vivian said slowly.

Even after the lesson ended, Duke had yet to get the hang of it.

But this was within Vivian's expectations. Anyone who could grasp it in such a short time would be considered extraordinarily gifted.

And she was one of them. Back then, she had gotten the hang of it in only a few minutes.

"All right, that's about it. Go back and properly study how to use Battle Qi." Vivian returned the longsword to the weapon rack and picked up her great axe, preparing to continue her training.

Duke naturally understood that it was time for him to leave. After bowing again in gratitude, he departed the castle under a servant's guidance.

Before leaving, he took another look at the great axe in Vivian's hand. It was not something an ordinary person could afford to use.

Such a massive axe would require an unknown amount of pig iron even if it were forged from iron.

What was more, this axe was not forged from iron. The layered patterns across its surface were highly unusual.

Duke looked at his own longsword and thought that even if he possessed the same strength as Vivian, it would be difficult for him to defeat her.

The moment they clashed, the longsword in his hand would probably be chopped apart by her axe. Their equipment was simply worlds apart.

Combined with Vivian's full-body armor, Duke could not even imagine how he might defeat her. At present, he had no chance of winning at all.

Hugging the chest of Gold Coins, Duke quickened his pace back to the estate without wasting a moment.

Even within Maple Hill City, it was possible to invite trouble.

If someone set their sights on him, they would naturally not dare act within the city, but being targeted was troublesome enough.

The moment Duke returned to his room, he sat down cross-legged and began controlling the Battle Qi through his body.

He continued familiarizing himself with it, pondering how to control and circulate Battle Qi as he followed Vivian's instructions and attempted to attach it to his longsword.

The process was indeed difficult, but Duke found that he could clearly sense the flow of Battle Qi and precisely control its circulation.

Could this also be the effect of mental power? Duke wondered.

Only after immersing himself in controlling Battle Qi did he discover that high mental power seemed to provide tremendous assistance in cultivating combat skills.

As long as one's mental power was high enough, one could perform extraordinarily minute manipulations while controlling Battle Qi.

About three hours later, Duke held the longsword in his hand, its blade emitting a faint white glow.

At the same time, a brand-new branch grew from the Skill Tree.

[Burning Wave Sword Art: LV1 (1/100)]

Duke let out a sigh of relief. As long as the combat skill had been solidified on the Skill Tree, everything would be easy from there.

No matter how difficult the combat skill was, he just had to grind it.

Duke immediately began grinding proficiency. He discovered that he needed to maintain Battle Qi on the sword blade for one minute before his proficiency increased by one point.

Maintaining that state continuously consumed Battle Qi. With his current amount of Battle Qi, he could at most exhaust it all in ten minutes.

In actual combat, he would also need to consume Battle Qi to fight, so he would not even be able to last ten minutes.

To fill up the combat skill's proficiency as quickly as possible, Duke planned to cultivate the Breathing Technique every day after exhausting his Battle Qi. That way, he could recover Battle Qi while also grinding the Breathing Technique's proficiency.

This would form a beneficial cycle, allowing both the combat skill and Breathing Technique to progress.

Ten days later.

[Burning Wave Sword Art leveled up. Constitution +0.5, Strength +0.3, Agility +0.5]

During this period, Duke had remained inside the estate. Taking advantage of the fact that no missions had been assigned from above yet, he buried himself in grinding proficiency.

Every day, apart from eating and sleeping, he ate magical beast meat and grinded the Breathing Technique and combat skill.

After raising the combat skill's proficiency, Duke's physical attributes received a considerable increase.

Other than mental power, all of his attributes had now reached 8.7 points.

At this level, ordinary skills would inevitably grant very few attribute points.

Yet Burning Wave Sword Art had given him so much after merely reaching LV2. It was clear that this combat skill was truly exceptional.

The more complex a skill was, the more attribute points it could provide.

Duke held the longsword as Battle Qi surged within his body and quickly attached itself to the blade.

With a thought, a section of pure white Battle Qi formed into a blade at the tip of his longsword, effectively extending it.

This was the effect of mastering Burning Wave Sword Art: Sword Aura.

If he had enough Battle Qi, Duke could construct an entire blade out of Battle Qi with nothing but a sword hilt.

In actual combat, Sword Aura could produce remarkable results.

When facing an enemy, both sides generally had a good sense of the attack range of each other's weapons.

If the longsword suddenly extended without warning, its attack range would expand considerably, while the area the enemy could defend would abruptly shrink.

In a life-and-death battle, it was often difficult to react to such a change. A moment of carelessness could result in one's throat being pierced by the extended Sword Aura.

However, maintaining Sword Aura also consumed a great deal of Battle Qi. Duke could sustain it for at most five minutes before the Battle Qi in his body was exhausted.

This state also increased proficiency faster, granting two points per minute. In essence, it was the same, but it saved Duke some time when grinding proficiency.

Maple Hill City. Duke once again arrived at the Soaring Eagle Merchant Guild.

His previous supply of magical beast meat had been nearly exhausted, so he needed to purchase another batch.

This time, he planned to buy better magical beast meat, such as meat from High-Tier Magical Beasts.

Earl was still seated behind the counter like a small mountain, layers upon layers of fat piled across his body.

Looking at all that fat, Duke suspected that this guy would not die even if he went hungry for half a month. The fat on his body alone would sustain him for a long time.

"Do you have meat from High-Tier Magical Beasts?" he asked directly.