Chapter 10: Ordinary Yet Confident.

The stones struck Sart’s body, greatly restricting his movements.

After the first round of volleys ended, he glared viciously at Shu Yue, who had already pulled back some distance.

He stepped forward and charged explosively toward her once more.

Shu Yue continued to kite him.

The ranking system in this world was actually quite simple. It started from the apprentice level, also known as zero-tier, which was divided into three stages:入门, 见习, and 正式…

Once one crossed the apprentice level, they entered first-tier.

Those who could be called first-tier combat power were evaluated after their mana had reached a certain quantity.

Mana could amplify physical strength to an exaggerated degree. The minimum standard for first-tier combat power was the ability to exert one ton of force with a single hand under mana enhancement, and reach a speed of fifteen meters per second.

First-tier combat power already surpassed the vast majority of ordinary humans. Within it, there were two main systems: the technique system and the combat technique system. Simply put, it was the difference between mages and warriors. Even if one cultivated the technique system, they could still use mana to amplify physical strength, but their primary means of attack remained spells.

Shu Yue walked the technique path. Her offensive methods were concentrated on the spells extended from Fertile Earth Upon the Body. However, her strength and speed had also reached first-tier standards.

Sart clearly followed the combat technique system. Combat techniques converted mana into more condensed battle qi, providing higher amplification and reinforcement to the body than raw mana. Thus, both strength and speed were far more terrifying. The downside was that it had nothing to do with spells and could only use battle qi techniques.

Normally, his strength and speed should have been superior to Shu Yue’s. But Shu Yue had the bloodline amplification!

Even without activating her bloodline, the silver dragon blood still provided roughly twenty percent enhancement to her body. Therefore, Sart could not crush her in speed. On top of that, Shu Yue tirelessly used him to practice Stone Pierce, constantly harassing and obstructing him while dodging and weaving.

Shu Yue was essentially walking a dog, playing a game of chase with Sart.

She flashed aside to avoid a thrust from the wooden sword, then jumped back and sent several stones flying toward Sart.

Sart instinctively protected his head. Shu Yue had been aiming at his face the entire time.

But this time was different. One stone struck him squarely on the shin bone.

Battle qi could strengthen the body and reduce pain, but it could not completely nullify it.

“Ugh!”

The pain caused Sart’s pursuing steps to falter instantly as he let out a low grunt.

Shu Yue held a wooden sword but never clashed with him directly. Instead, she kept harassing him with spells…

He glared with wide, round eyes, staring fiercely at Shu Yue. From the corner of his eye, he also saw the spectators.

They were whispering among themselves, clearly not expecting the fight to turn out like this. Wasn’t this supposed to be a proper duel with swords clashing and raw strength competing like real men?

Well, Shu Yue had something to say about that. Who said anything about being real men?

She was a girl now, so of course she would fight in a girl’s way.

Shu Yue did not care about those strange looks at all.

She didn’t care, but Sart did. He cared greatly about face.

This wasn’t a duel at all. She was clearly toying with him!

Sart’s anger deepened. His eyes looked like they were about to spit fire. Originally, he had wanted to defeat Shu Yue fair and square like a knight, ruthlessly crushing her arrogance, then ask the baron to annul Emily’s engagement. Because this effeminate guy was unworthy of Emily.

Shu Yue casually swung the wooden sword in her hand. She had never properly learned swordsmanship, so using it felt far less natural than spells.

The reason she held it was simply to mislead her opponent. Many magical beasts liked to use this trick too.

“What’s wrong? Already out of strength? You’re not very good, are you~”

“Enough!” Sart roared furiously. “I originally wanted to defeat you honorably, but you keep using these despicable little tricks. Since that’s the case, I won’t hold back anymore!”

“Hehe. What this young master cultivates is techniques. Am I supposed to fight in close quarters without using spells?” Shu Yue spread her hands. “Is your brain also full of muscle?”

Both combat techniques and spell techniques could reach the peak of power, but their focuses differed. Combat techniques granted faster combat power in the early stages and were much stronger than mages of the same tier. However, they also required far more cultivation resources—magic potions, spiritual liquids for body tempering, all kinds of heavenly materials to strengthen the body—so one could withstand the violent power of battle qi. For nobles, this wasn’t an issue. Power that could be piled up with money was very cost-effective.

In contrast, the technique path depended more on personal talent. The better the talent, the faster and stronger the progress. This path could not be piled up with money, so nobles often chose to invest in combat techniques.

Therefore, when Shu Yue said Sart’s brain was full of muscle, it wasn’t entirely baseless. Someone like Sart clearly relied on family resources to achieve his current level at such a young age.

Although his future ceiling was almost locked, that ceiling was still quite high for ordinary people.

Seeing that Shu Yue still looked down on him, Sart gritted his teeth and erupted with astonishing momentum. He gripped his sword with both hands and activated a combat technique.

Stone Wall!

A wall of earth and stone rapidly rose in front of Shu Yue, blocking Sart’s path.

The consecutive slash combat technique struck the wall. The brutal force actually cleaved the stone wall apart.

Shattered stones flew everywhere as dust filled the air.

Shu Yue seized the moment. She threw the stones in her hand. Under mana enhancement, their speed increased dramatically and struck Sart’s sword-holding hands with precision. At the same time, she summoned an earth spike toward his chest. He ignored the pain in his hands and used his sword to block.

Because everything happened too quickly, Sart failed to keep a firm grip. The wooden sword was knocked flying.

The instant the sword left his hand, another wooden sword flew over. But its target wasn’t Sart—it collided with the airborne sword, sending both flying five or six meters away.

Shu Yue clenched her delicate fist. She could use earth and stone manipulation to fill out her figure, but she couldn’t disguise the size of her hands. Her hands were fair and slender. Even clenched into fists, they looked dainty and exquisite.

This punch pierced through the dust cloud and landed solidly on Sart’s face.

Bang!

Along with the sound of fist meeting face came Shu Yue’s clearly displeased voice.

“Are you even capable?”

“!”

No man could tolerate being told he was incapable. Sart was still dazed from being punched in the face, but he still gathered battle qi and swung a fist at Shu Yue’s face. Shu Yue tilted her head to dodge, then countered with a backhand punch that twisted his nose and sent him staggering.

Shu Yue had already been extremely annoyed by these guys, and Sart was the most blind one among them. Naturally, she hit with real force and showed no mercy with her words.

“So, are you capable or not?”

“Aaaargh!”

Sart roared and lunged at Shu Yue. After taking two punches to the face, his rationality had clearly gone offline.

Who in his family would dare treat him like this?

Even his father had never slapped his face, yet this country bumpkin dared to do so!

However, Shu Yue’s small fist sent him crashing to the ground with one punch.

Sart lay sprawled on the ground like a roadside stray. The moment he crawled up, Shu Yue punched him in the face again, scattering the little battle qi he had managed to gather.

“You’re clearly so ordinary, so where does all this confidence come from?”

A trace of blood now stained Shu Yue’s fair fist.

At this moment, the young attendant who had been sparring with Sart earlier finally reacted. His master was being beaten! He had suddenly been hit. Just moments ago, his master had been the one chasing Shu Yue.

“Insolent! Stop right now!” He shouted furiously and drew his sword, slashing toward Shu Yue’s raised arm.