Skill Merge

The world spun!

Xia Lun's eyes flew open. The dizziness hammered his brain like a heavy mallet. He blinked, but the spinning sensation did not ease in the slightest. He even felt as though he were about to break free of gravity and float into the air.

A few seconds later, the dizziness subsided, and everything before his eyes gradually returned to normal.

"The head referee is warming up!" As soon as his dizziness passed, Xia Lun immediately cracked a bad joke to ease his nerves. "Still, I really didn't expect the referee to be the hidden champion. Defeating him directly ended the Special Memory.

"The referee favored the other side to curry favor with Bird. But after Bird spoke up, he knew his future was hopeless, so he surrendered outright to avoid death or permanent injury.

"But no matter what, defeating a hidden enemy should be a good thing in terms of the outcome, right?"

To be fair, Xia Lun was not all that certain about his own words. He was still somewhat confused even now; everything above was merely his speculation.

After all, the final developments in the Special Memory had unfolded far too quickly to be normal.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to check the Information Panel first.

[You have perfectly accomplished the objective in the Special Memory "Courtly Tournament"!]

[Based on your performance, you have obtained the skill "Swordsmanship Focus".]

[Warning: The effects of the skill "Swordsmanship Focus" overlap heavily with those of the skill "Heightened Focus". The two skills have been merged!]

[Warning: The mental health consumed by "Heightened Focus" will increase substantially!]

"What?!"

Xia Lun's pupils contracted, and his heart immediately tightened.

The skills had merged?!

Had all his efforts been for nothing?

He hurriedly continued reading.

[The effects of "Heightened Focus" have been enhanced!]

[Heightened Focus: At the cost of severely and permanently damaging your mental health, you may voluntarily enter a state of heightened focus. In this state, your perception and thinking abilities will improve, your thought speed will increase, and based on your sensory abilities, you will have a chance to discern an enemy's weakness.]

[Based on your health condition, you may safely use this skill up to 4 times per day!]

[Additionally, while fighting with a sword, after a brief focused meditation, you may immediately gain a weakened version of "Heightened Focus". There is no safe-use limit for this effect.]

This was great news!

His mental state was already "0/0, Critical Error" anyway. Taking even more mental damage was not a problem at all...

Xia Lun clenched his fist, then grabbed the armrest and excitedly rose from the game pod.

"What a haul." He could not help muttering to himself. "Heightened Focus gained the ability to discern weaknesses; its safe uses increased by one; and now, as long as I'm holding a sword, I can enter a downgraded focus state without limit. This is way too strong."

"From the standpoint of combat enhancement alone, the gains from this Special Memory are no worse than those from the previous script!"

With a thought, Xia Lun manifested his short sword, Night Plume, in his right hand and directly activated Heightened Focus—he intended to test this so-called weakness discernment effect.

The next instant, the passage of time suddenly slowed. All sound seemed to be dragged into a deep trench and silenced. His pupils narrowed slightly, and every ripple in the airflow, every dancing speck of dust, became unbelievably clear.

He turned his head toward the solid-wood striking post beside the game pod.

Though it was only a glance, Xia Lun clearly felt that as his thoughts shifted, the solid-wood striking post seemed to peel away from its surroundings in his field of vision. He could clearly see every tiniest indentation on it, the direction of the wood grain, and the splinters along its edges.

There was no doubt that the clarity of his perception had improved somewhat, but Xia Lun still felt a trace of disappointment—the "discern weakness" effect had clearly not activated.

He stared at the wooden post for a few more moments, but it was still useless. The post appeared completely unchanged.

"Maybe something went wrong?"

In his Heightened Focus state, Xia Lun's thoughts were exceptionally active, and the mental activity carrying them flashed through his mind like lightning.

But just as he was about to look away and examine things more carefully, the wooden post in his vision suddenly turned into a chaotic mass of color blocks and countless intersecting contour lines, like a punctured balloon!

The next instant, the color blocks silently evaporated and condensed. Sparkling points like stars rose from the muddled colors, while the contour lines twisted and knotted into thin threads connecting those points.

At that moment, everything else in Xia Lun's vision remained normal. Only the striking post had become an abstract, bizarre geometric form composed of points and lines.

As if struck by inspiration, Xia Lun moved his fingers and lightly cut toward the line forming the geometric body's main axis. Accompanied by a faint resistance that was nearly negligible, the line was severed, and the strange geometric body made of points and lines instantly dispersed like an untied knot!

The next moment, Xia Lun exited Heightened Focus.

Crash!

The striking post let out a dull sound. Its brown lacquer peeled away layer by layer, and the solid wood crumbled inch by inch along its grain. In less than half a breath, the hard striking post disassembled itself into a pile of splintered wood, like an ox carved apart by a master butcher!

"Huh?" Xia Lun was stunned. "It shattered in one hit?"

He looked at the short sword in his hand in disbelief, then turned to the Information Panel.

[You have discerned the weakness of "Solid-Wood Striking Post".]

[Safe uses of Heightened Focus: 3/4]

"So discerning weaknesses takes a certain amount of time," he silently deduced. "But no matter what, this enhancement has greatly improved my combat power.

"The next time I face a monster like the Mentor, I won't have to slowly whittle it down like last time. Now, I should be able to activate Heightened Focus, discern its weakness, and directly inflict severe injuries.

"But by ordinary logic, the stronger the monster, the harder it should be to discern its weakness. It took me about three seconds to find the solid-wood post's weakness. Finding a powerful enemy's weakness would definitely take longer. It's even possible that I won't be able to find its fatal weakness before Heightened Focus ends.

"So overall, I can't rely on this skill too much."

Xia Lun shook his head and committed those thoughts to memory. Then, as part of his daily routine, he checked his death countdown.

[Maximum remaining survival time: 3409:20:12]

"Looks like entering a Special Dream Entry also consumes seven hours. That's the same as normal Specialized Dream Dives and Expert Dream Dives."

Thinking this, he left the basement, crossed the corridor, and arrived at the study on the second floor.

"It's time to gather some new information," Xia Lun thought.