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nStanding by the entrance to the room, Valyr could not help but stop in his tracks and stare at what was before him, his mouth somewhat slack-jawed from the sheer awe he felt.

nIn the center of the mostly empty room before him was a woman that looked to be only a few years older than him, exuding great grace and skill as she wielded the azure-colored spear she held. Going through all of the basic movements of the spear, smoothly transitioning through each movement with great speed, Valyr instantly realized that this woman in front of him was the one who would test his prowess with the spear.

n‘From how she’s wielding the spear, she’s definitely spent the majority of her life polishing her control over it. In fact, I feel like the spear has already become an extension of her, indistinguishable from her body if we’re talking about the aura they exude.’ As this thought popped up in his mind, Valyr continued to watch the woman wield the spear as if she were performing in front of a crowd, eventually becoming entranced.

nAfter some time, the woman threw the spear as if it were a javelin, causing Valyr to snap out of his engrossed daze as he wondered why the woman had threw it all of a sudden. Fortunately, it did not take long for the answer to reveal itself as the woman swiftly extended a sturdy thread of mana towards the spear, barely grasping it at the dull end as the spear’s momentum was brought to an instant halt, only for her to execute the same basic movements soon after.

n‘Using one’s mana to wield one’s weapon… that’s definitely only something those at Rank 2 and above can do.’ Looking at what currently unfolded before him, Valyr’s expression quickly turned solemn. Although it was general knowledge that most people wielded weapons with their hands, at higher class ranks, it was possible to substitute one’s hands with mana, allowing one to be far more flexible in wielding the weapon compared to wielding it with one’s hands.

nIn fact, Valyr recalled that if he ascended to his Rank 2 class, he was certain that he would be able to unlock a skill similar to what the woman was using, though it would lean more towards forging. ‘Though the level of fine control she’s showing with it is at a lower level than what’s achievable with something like Mana Arm, it’s still commendable since she’s probably rely on pure mana manipulation here.’

nWith this in mind, he continued to watch the woman wield her spear, with the only difference this time around being the fact that she was wielding it with her mana. Eventually, the woman stopped brandishing her spear, allowing it to slightly hover in the air before executing another move.

nBang!

nIn an instant, the spear had accelerated to a great degree, only for the woman to instantly halt the spear’s movements before accelerating it once more. Due to the speed at which she executed the move, the spear’s movements were superimposed on top of each other, prompting a sound similar to faint thunder to resound throughout the room.

nHearing the sound of faint thunder, Valyr’s eyes could not help but widen in slight surprise, only for him to become solemn once more as he changed his impression of the woman. ‘She’s definitely Rank 3 at the very least. To think I’d see witness someone execute a Double Strike firsthand before even entering the core cities.’

nFrom the name itself, a Double Strike was a movement that relied on swift movements in order to send out an attack that looked like it was only one attack, but was actually two attacks at the same time. Though there were skills that existed throughout the world that allowed one to achieve a Double Strike without worries, those skills paled in comparison to a Double Strike, which was considered an advanced movement for every weapon.

nIndeed, a Double Strike could be done on any weapon one wielded.

nEven though the requirements were stringent, needing one to have high AGI and DEX, as well as great mastery and knowledge over one’s weapon, being able to utilize Double Strike during fights sometimes meant the boundary between life and death. On top of that, being able to do a Double Strike meant that one had the ability to learn Triple Strike and the variants beyond it in the future.

nAs Valyr continued to watch the woman execute Double Strike after Double Strike while only relying on the strand of mana she extended to the spear, the latter eventually stopped as she finally noticed Valyr’s presence near the entrance of the room, bringing everything to a halt as she dispelled the mana strand she used before catching the spear that fell from the air.

n“How long have you been watching?” While affixing the azure-colored spear behind her back, the woman looked at Valyr and asked the question in a slightly embarrassed tone. “I presume you’re the one’s getting their spear prowess tested, right?”

nNodding in response, Valyr closed the door behind him as he moved closer to the woman. “Yes, that would be me. Also, I’ve been watching since you wielded the spear and did a couple sets of basic movements with it.”

n“That’s…” Just as the woman was about to respond to Valyr’s words, her demeanor changed in an instant as she could not help but take a look at Valyr, focusing specifically at his irises. Noticing this, she decided to cut her answer short as her expression turned solemn before shaking her head. “Never mind. Let’s start the test.”

n“Your full name?” she asked.

n“Valyr Zeihardt,” said Valyr in response, extending his hand out for a handshake. “You?”

n“Arcenne,” the woman replied back, accepting the handshake with a slight frown on her face. Soon after, she tightened her grip around Valyr’s extended hand, prompting the latter to frown as he wondered why her demeanor had changed all of a sudden. Thankfully, it did not take long for him to receive his answer.

n“Arcenne Stelyra,” Arcenne said as she continued to shake Valyr’s hand with a tightened grip. It was only after a few seconds had passed did she finally let go of Valyr’s hand, causing the latter to shake his hand to relieve some of the pain he felt. Nevertheless, with Valyr now privy to the woman’s full name, he now had an idea of what was going on.

n‘To think such a talented woman with the spear would be part of the Stelyra noble clan,’ Valyr inwardly muttered, feeling the faint hostility emanating from Arcenne’s eyes as she stared at him in silence. ‘Then again, everything she’s done so far makes sense. The Stelyra noble clan is known to side with commoners more than nobles, after all, treating most of the latter with disdain.’

n‘I just don’t know how much disdain the clan has for the Zeihardt noble clan, though.’ Thinking that it would be next to impossible for him to ask the woman before him regarding the relationship of their clans, Valyr placed the thought at the back of his head for now, thinking that everything would eventually unfold in front of him.

n“So? Are you going to take the test or what?” Arcenne looked at Valyr and opened her mouth, inwardly wondering why he had gone silent for quite some time. “We’re both wasting our time here if you’re just going to dawdle around.”

n“Or perhaps you entered the training hall and scheduled a test for your spear prowess after you found out I was around?” As these words came out of Arcenne’s mouth, she could not help but look at Valyr with a slightly disgusted expression. On the other hand, Valyr was left at a loss for words, wondering once more what his noble clan had done for the woman before her to have such a biased opinion on him.

n𝒪𝗏𝒍xt.𝓬𝒪𝐌

nLetting out a light sigh, Valyr went ahead and took out the True Tideblood Spear from behind his back, gripping its shaft tightly with both hands before taking in a few deep breaths to make sure his emotions were tranquil. At this point, the expression Arcenne had on her face had changed into that of slight confusion, then to that of understanding as she quickly realized that she was in the wrong here.

nBut of course, she wasn’t going to admit that.

nInstead, in response to Valyr brandishing his spear, she went ahead and retrieved the azure-colored spear behind her back, wielding it more or less similarly to how Valyr wielded it as she opened her mouth sometime later. “I don’t know if you’re going to take this test seriously or not, but let me tell you the mechanics of the test. We’ll be going all out against each other in terms of skills and spear movements. However, there will be no hitting of body parts, only the spears.”

n“At the start, I’ll be fighting you with the prowess of a beginner with the spear, and then I’ll gradually increase my level of prowess as time passes. The level of prowess you will obtain highly depends on the level of prowess you end up being defeated or give up on. Naturally, the higher the level, the better.”

n“Also, don’t hold back just because I’m a woman,” she added at the end. “I have the power to kill you many times over. If I wanted to, I would’ve done so already.”

n“If you’re ready, go ahead and—!”

n“True Blood Drive!”

nBang!

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