Shien's Fighting Prowess

The Blood Moon Blood Mist surrounding Blackpine Fief churned like dirty water. As the Blood Moon Season approached, the chill brought by the Blood Moon grew stronger each day.

The training ground was filled with the stench of sweat mixed with hormones.

The area was cleared out, and Shien stood in the center. The Second Tier protective aura on his body, which had previously seemed sluggish, suddenly emitted a buzzing sound.

The force was no longer firmly attached to the body as it had been before; it began to vibrate along with the surrounding cold wind.

With his eyes closed, Shien could clearly feel that the barrier that had been pressing down on him inside his body had finally been broken open, and new power was slowly flowing in through his pores.

The Third Tier, the Resonance Realm, has been achieved.

Shien slowly opened his eyes, his gaze devoid of much emotion, and simply clenched his fist.

When he took over this body, it was filled with a superficial foundation forcibly created by the family's inferior secret medicine.

Let alone in actual combat, even swinging the sword a few times in training makes my chest feel tight and constricted.

But now it's different. Every muscle feels heavy and solid, as if it has been hammered back to its original state. This is the foundation he has built up through countless days and nights of hard work.

Meanwhile, the guards standing guard with swords around him were all watching Shien. These were almost all Knight who had followed Shien from their families to Blackpine Fief, so they knew Shien's specific situation.

Six months ago, Shien barely reached the Body Tempering Realm, but in the past six months, he has actually broken through to the Resonance Realm.

Such a rapid breakthrough would be enough to make anyone tremble, no matter where they were. The lord is simply a genius among geniuses. As for why he was so weak before, they all imagined it was because he was an illegitimate child and was suppressed by his family.

Shien drew the standard Holy Silver Longsword from his waist with a backhand motion.

The moment the newly generated Battle Aura flowed into the blade through the hilt, the originally dull Refined Steel and silver-plated surface suddenly emitted a high-frequency vibration.

A dazzling platinum glint quickly rose from the edge of the blade, and the entire sword trembled slightly in his palm.

Shien glanced down for a moment, and already knew what was going on. This was one of the requirements for reaching the Resonance Realm: resonating with the weapon.

Once the blade enters this state, its armor-piercing ability will be significantly enhanced, and even the bone armor and keratin of Magic Creature may not withstand more than a few blows from it.

But knowing it isn't enough; he needs a real battle to thoroughly familiarize himself with this newly developed body.

Shien looked up, his gaze sweeping over Ivan in the corner.

Ivan is absolutely loyal to himself, but because of this, he will definitely stop when Lian Zhen reaches a crucial point. This kind of fight, which leaves room for maneuver even at the very end, is meaningless to him.

"Gareth." Shien raised the tip of his sword, pointing it at the tall Knight not far away. "Draw your sword."

He chose a Knight was least likely to show mercy and whose strength had been at the Resonance Realm for many years.

There was a moment of silence on the sidelines.

Gareth glanced at the lord for a moment, said nothing, and simply reached out and grasped the hilt of the broadsword.

"Clang!"

With his greatsword drawn, Gareth's feet sank, and the veteran, who had honed his skills in the Resonance Realm for many years, pounced on him.

The broadsword, imbued with heavy Battle Aura, pressed down fiercely from the front.

But Shien didn't even blink; deep within his mind, the skill matrix instantly lit up.

[Lv.3 Macro Battlefield Command]

In his field of vision, Gareth's movements suddenly slowed down.

Power comes from the shoulders and back, the waist and hips twist, and the Battle Aura flows through the arms and the spine of the sword, then into the blade.

The sword strike was still heavy, but it was no longer impossible to strike.

A decision flashed through Shien's mind almost instantly.

The old wound under the right rib of the opponent slowed down the flow of Battle Aura, and that was the opening.

[Lv.3 Battle Formation Force-Deflection Barrier] and [Lv.1 Ghost Shadow Step] are activated simultaneously.

The Holy Silver Longsword slanted forward, narrowly missing the back of the broadsword.

A piercing screeching sound erupted, sending sparks flying everywhere.

Shien felt a numbness in his hand, but with the relief of the pressure, he slid sideways and cut directly into Gareth's blind spot on the right.

[Lv.2 Gale Slash] The sword suddenly turns, slashing diagonally at the ribs.

The platinum glow collided violently with the protective aura, producing a tearing sound that made one's teeth ache.

The thick layer of Battle Aura on Gareth's body was actually cut open by this sword.

Gareth's expression changed, and he was about to swing his sword back in a counterattack, but Shien's steps had already changed.

The longsword was suddenly retracted.

The next instant, [Lv.2 Viper Thrust] pierced straight up to the throat from below, the angle so vicious it seemed designed specifically to kill.

Then came a series of rapid, almost suffocating, suppressions.

[Lv.2 Weakness Insight]

[Lv.2 Short-Term Battle Aura Burst]

Shien never Battle Aura with him. Instead, he acted like a scalpel, repeatedly cutting into the areas where Gareth was most vulnerable, gradually dismantling the veteran's heavy and fierce swordplay.

Gareth grew increasingly frustrated as the game progressed.

His sword was heavier than Shien's, Shien Battle Aura was stronger, and he was more experienced.

But every time he exerted force, it was as if he was half a beat too late; before he could fully swing the sword, his opponent would have already seized the next opening.

This feeling is the most irritating, like being entangled in a net.

After dozens of rounds, Gareth was finally forced to let out a low growl.

He simply stopped exchanging blows with Shien and directly unleashed the Battle Aura he had cultivated for many years within the Resonance Realm.

A shockwave, purely propelled by the sheer volume of Battle Aura, suddenly exploded outwards, like a ring-shaped shockwave that sent Shien, who was locked in close combat, flying away.

This blow landed squarely on his chest.

Shien was only at the initial stage of the Third Tier.

Maintaining the high-frequency resonance of the Holy Silver Longsword for an extended period, coupled with his brain constantly switching between multiple skills under extremely high intensity, had already pushed his Battle Aura and physical strength to their limits.

"Bang!"

Shien's right arm trembled violently, and the Holy Silver Longsword finally flew out of his hand, embedding itself diagonally into the Frozen Tundra in the distance with a low hum.

He himself collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, sweat dripping from his chin and falling into the mud, but his icy blue eyes remained utterly calm.

That's enough. He's reached the limits of this body.

Gareth stood still, gripping the greatsword in both hands, but his arms were trembling uncontrollably.

He looked down at the young lord kneeling on the ground, his lips moved, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

There was a moment of silence in the arena, followed by a deafening roar of shouts.

Those Knight who had spent years risking their lives on the edge of a knife all stared intently at the center of the arena.

The young lord, kneeling heavily in the Frozen Tundra, had only just entered the Third Tier Resonance Realm, and his Battle Aura still carried a hint of awkwardness from his recent breakthrough.

But he somehow managed to force Gareth, an old Knight who had endured decades of hardship, to the point where he could only rely on his total Battle Aura to forcefully break through the situation.

"Did you all see that reverse slash just now? That's a deadly move used by spearmen to slit a horse's belly!"

"The previous move was clearly a diagonal slash from the Border Knight! How the hell did he parry that? If I were in that situation, my wrist would be broken!"

Chaos erupted around them as everyone mentally replayed the actions they had just performed, growing increasingly uneasy with each passing thought.

In the minds of these veterans, the pressure of a heavy sword, the speed of light cavalry, and the ruthless tactics of spearmen that specifically target the lower body and weaknesses are not the same thing at all.

Those are killing methods honed from different military branches and different approaches; trying to force them together will only confuse your own mind.

But Shien insisted on twisting them all together.

There were no abrupt pauses, nor the obvious breaks that occur when changing moves.

The whole thing flowed like water, one move after another, ruthless, smooth, and inexplicably strange.

Those actions that should have been contradictory became methods of killing in his hands.

This is the most chilling part.

You can't guess where his next sword will come from, nor can you guess where he will appear next.

That wasn't orthodox swordsmanship; it was more like taking countless crude and practical battlefield killing techniques, kneading them together, and then forcibly shaping them into a monster that could only bite.

After a brief period of deathly silence, an uncontrollable frenzy surged forth.

Long live the Lord!

I don't know who shouted it first.

The next moment, a chorus of rough, hoarse shouts swept across the entire training ground with a deafening roar.