The other student’s Basic Swordsmanship did not seem to be very high. Xiao Lin estimated it to be around LV7 or LV8, because his own basic swordsmanship was also LV8. Even though a saber was different from a sword, he could still get a rough idea of it.
The tutor was anxious and planned to stop everything, but he paused halfway after seeing Xiao Lin’s movements and muttered in disbelief. “Impossible! Phantom Steps. Footwork like this is surely the highest level!”
“It really is Phantom Steps!”
“Isn’t this his first time in class?”
“He’s a freshman too. Is the Phantom Steps course offered during freshman year?”
“Nonsense. The freshmen are still learning basic courses now.”
Everyone reacted with suspicious looks in their eyes. Phantom Steps was not difficult to learn, but even though they were in their sophomore year, it was almost impossible to master and practice Phantom Steps to the highest level.
Xiao Lin was not very comfortable with the first few stabs, but he soon became thoroughly proficient in the technique with the subsequent attacks. By the third minute, he could just close his eyes and rely on the saber’s sound against the air to predict the direction of the opponent’s swing in advance. With that, he could easily move his feet and effortlessly dodge the attack.
The more the tutor looked at it, the more frightened he became. Such anticipatory ability could definitely be achieved by mastering Phantom Steps to its peak and it was something he could do, but he required repeated practice from the beginning of his sophomore year until his senior year before reaching that level.
The three-minute time limit was fleeting, and Xiao Lin, who opened his eyes again, waved the longsword in his hand again, smoothly blocking the oncoming blade. “I’m done. I’ll be heading back now.”
After saying that, Xiao Lin did not linger for long and walked through the surprised crowd. He left the training hall immediately. The instructor was still momentarily in shock before he suddenly ran to Xiao Lin and shouted angrily, “You came here just to mess with me!”
It was obvious that the incident had casted a shadow on the tutor. The other sophomore students had weird expressions and turned to ask Wu Qin about Xiao Lin. None of them knew Xiao Lin, and Wu Qin was the only one who knew him. Unfortunately, Wu Qin knew very little about him and never interacted with him, except for that chance meeting in the meditation room before. The one thing she could confirm was the undeniable fact that Xiao Lin was a freshman who had only entered the academy that year.
“He couldn’t have just watched the senior’s demonstration and learnt it from that?” a woman surmised with uncertainty.
“How’s that even possible! This isn’t a game where you can learn a skill with a few clicks!”
“There’s no other possibility. Didn’t Wu Qin say that the guy started to meditate in only three minutes?” The woman confidently offered up some evidence to back her theory.
The others were also taken aback. With that thought, Wu Qin’s post on the sophomore forum seemed to ring true. After all, it happened before their very eyes, and unless Phantom Steps was offered for freshmen year, the woman’s theory was the most likely explanation.
Later that day, a similar post was published again in the sophomore forum. Some people even re-read Wu Qin’s post from a few months ago. Both posts were re-released and immediately attracted a lot of fierce discussion.
That was a story for another time, and Xiao Lin—who has just experienced the wonders of Phantom Steps—had no intention of lingering and wasting any more time. Although the Academy Genius replication time limit had passed, his past few experiences dictated that the skill would be learned if they had already reached the requirements. Even if his replication skills ended, his body would remember some of the skills’ experience and use, and as long as he could practice it in time, he could certainly transform that experience into true proficiency.
The practice of Phantom Steps was divided into two parts. The first part was familiarity with the eight basic steps and the proficient use of various footwork linkages. That was not the difficult part. Anyone who was willing to spend a lot of time to practice would almost certainly master it.
Then came the second part: the actual combat anticipation and the corresponding use of footwork. Those eight footwork movements were not to be used indiscriminately, as doing so would not enable him to dodge any attacks.
Time was very precious to Xiao Lin. He could not spend a month, let alone half, getting slowly acquainted with the skill. He frowned and contemplated this all the way out of the training hall, then thought of a way. In fact, the fastest way to improve had popped up in his mind long ago, and that was the simulated battle system.
Actual combat was always the fastest way to improve, and the simulated battle system was the best method to meet that requirement. When he was in New Washington, he knew that this system was originally developed for students to train better, but it was very expensive. The price and cost of use made it impossible for all academies to popularize its use because each use would consume valuable energy stones.
Each colonial academy certainly bought a few sets of equipment. An example was the one Xiao Lin saw in the swordsmanship training hall earlier that day, which affirmed that Dawn Academy had the same battle system, but either students were rarely allowed to use them, or they were unavailable to junior students.
Xiao Lin was different. He believed that his universal card permission would not pose a problem. He did not go back to the dormitory since it was still early, so he just dropped by the swordsmanship training hall. There was no swordsmanship class arranged for that day, so he could avoid anyone else interfering.
After going to the training hall next door, he swiped the card gently in front of the tight room door, which swung open silently. As expected, the simulated battle system was rare and precious, but he had the permission to use it. Xiao Lin breathed a sigh of relief and could not help but wonder just how much authority the dean had granted him.
There were some spare energy stones in the room, but it did not matter that they were all of the lowest level. The opponent that Xiao Lin needed to simulate should only be below Black Iron-level.
He had learned how to use the battle system when he was in New Washington, and Dawn Academy’s system was not too different from New Washington’s. Firstly, he had to adjust the various data of his virtual opponent in the system. Xiao Lin did the settings in an arbitrary manner, but the important point was for the basic skill to be set to Basic Swordsmanship LV9. If the swordsmanship level was too high, the effect of the Phantom Steps would be too low, but if the swordsmanship level was too low, the intended effects of practice would not be achieved.
After fiddling with the settings, Xiao Lin placed a milk-colored cone-shaped energy stone in the groove and stepped into the battle room after activating it. With a flicker of the shadow, the simulator soon appeared in the center, and two health bars appeared on the wall.
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