Chapter 406: You

"Whoa! Master-level Gale Phantom Body! Impressive!"

"Damn, I'm dizzy— which one's the real Cao Ren?"

"He opens with his ultimate move right away! Cao Commander isn't giving Xu Jingming even a sliver of chance!"

"Compared to Cao Ren's Master-level proficiency in Gale Phantom Body, Xu Jingming's combat skill proficiency is far too low."

"......"

Gale Phantom Body is an A+ level combat skill only accessible to elemental wind-affinity users.

At beginner proficiency, it can form only one phantom body.

The higher the proficiency, the more phantom bodies it can generate.

Cao Ren's twenty-three phantom bodies undeniably shocked every spectator in attendance!

Even if they merely confused the vision, the critical point was that these phantoms could also cast spell-based combat skills alongside the original body!

That's downright Biantai!

Twenty-three spell-based combat skills released simultaneously—who could withstand that?

Meanwhile, this Master-level proficiency combat skill.

Created a stark contrast against Xu Jingming's merely Intermediate-level proficiency in Thunder Prison.

"Master-level proficiency... come to think of it, the combat skills Xu Jingming knows aren't particularly high in proficiency."

Su Qingli thought silently.

This was also the only current weakness she had identified in Xu Jingming.

But Xu Jingming is only twenty years old—he's rapidly advancing his rank while mastering so many combat skills.

Slightly lower proficiency is understandable.

"Look! Cao Ren's attacking!"

A voice from somewhere made everyone refocus their attention on the arena.

Indeed, the twenty-three Cao Rens in midair simultaneously raised their right hands, then slashed downward!

Swish! Swish! Swish!......

Under the enhancement of wind-element weapons at their wrists,

twenty-three razor-sharp wind blades surged toward Xu Jingming!

These wind blades seemed compressed with terrifying energy, their edges so sharp they appeared to slice through the air itself!

"We're done! Twenty-three wind blades have completely sealed off Xu Jingming's escape routes!"

"Judging by the energy fluctuation of these blades, they must also be at Master-level proficiency, right?"

"Indeed, it seems Xu Jingming has no choice but to take them head-on."

"......"

After Chen Hai's battle, everyone knew.

Once Xu Jingming activates his Mind Net, he can predict opponents' movements and dodge in advance.

But Cao Ren launched twenty-three wind blades at once—even if Xu Jingming sensed their trajectories, he still couldn't escape!

Spell-based combat skills require casting time and are far slower than simple wind blades!

That meant Xu Jingming could only rely on his physical body to brute-force endure these wind blades!

But sixth-rank mid-tier wind blades were no joke—even a true sixth-rank enhancement-affinity user might not survive them.

Not to mention Xu Jingming, a mere fifth-rank lightning-affinity user who'd only trained body-strengthening combat skills.

Even with an S-class battle suit, he couldn't withstand them!

"Will this battle end now?" Spectators held their breath, watching the arena intently.

Yet, just as the twenty-three wind blades were about to strike Xu Jingming, golden light blazed suddenly.

Crackling—

Amidst piercing thunderous roars, a perfectly spherical golden thunder barrier

materialized instantly around his body, shielding him completely!

Ding! Ding! Ding!......

A series of sounds rang out as the razor-sharp wind blades slammed into the thunder barrier—yet all were deflected!

Not a single crack, not even the slightest tremor, appeared on the entire thunder barrier!

"Huh?!"

The Cao Ren in midair froze in surprise.

Though the phantoms created by Gale Phantom Body could cast combat skills, they could only cast those below B-rank.

Their power was also only two-thirds of the original.

Even so, twenty-three continuous wind blade strikes shouldn't have failed to break even a thunder barrier.

Also, wasn't Xu Jingming's casting speed too fast?

True, B-rank wind blades were weaker than A-rank combat skills—but they won by sheer speed!

Just now, from casting to impact, it took less than half a second.

Yet Xu Jingming still managed to summon his thunder barrier in time—something Cao Ren hadn't anticipated.

In fact, not just Cao Ren was confused; many spectators in the gymnasium were equally baffled.

"Thunder Barrier is an A+ level combat skill—its casting time is usually one to two seconds. How did Xu Jingming do it so fast?!"

"It's absurdly fast, and the defense is terrifyingly strong."

Most spectators present were only second- or third-rank users; not understanding was normal.

But soon, a Thunder Martial Arts Academy instructor stepped forward, astonished, and explained:

"A normal Thunder Barrier isn't that fast, but Xu Jingming's isn't normal.

Judging by the condensation and defensive power of the thunder, his proficiency is at least Grandmaster-level!

Possibly even Perfection-level!"

Thunder Barrier was a mandatory combat skill for lightning-elementalists.

With their sharp eyes, they saw the core issue at a glance.

"Wait... Perfection-level proficiency? That's insane!"

"Combat skills at Perfection-level can be cast instantly! No wonder Xu Jingming was so fast!"

Below C-rank, any combat skill could reach Perfection-level with enough practice.

But above C-rank, Perfection-level proficiency was almost exclusively attainable only by the skill's original creator.

Most elementalists could only reach Grandmaster-level.

Yet Xu Jingming not only reached it—he achieved it with an A+ level complex combat skill!

At this moment,

those who had just been criticizing Xu Jingming's low skill proficiency suddenly felt slapped across the face.

"P... Perfection-level?"

Xia Lan, seated in the front row, widened her eyes in shock, her heart surging with disbelief.

She'd thought it was already absurd that Xu Jingming learned an A+ level skill in one afternoon.

But she hadn't expected him to master it to Perfection-level in just over a month!

This was simply unbelievable!

Cao Ren on the alloy arena also heard the murmurs from the stands.

He blinked, then quickly regained composure:

"Perfection-level Thunder Barrier is impressive, but defense alone won't defeat me.

Besides, how many more of these attacks can you withstand?"

As he spoke, the twenty-three phantoms began moving erratically through the air.

Simultaneously, the rings on their hands glowed faintly, brewing terrifying energy.

Clearly, Cao Ren was preparing to cast another spell-based combat skill.

And this one was far stronger than the previous wind blades!

"Cao Ren's using a more powerful combat skill!"

"This is bad—the number of phantoms is too high, we can't pinpoint the real one!"

"Indeed, Master-level Gale Phantom Body is having too great an impact on the battle."

"......"

Elementalists feared no crowd tactics—but Cao Ren's twenty-three Gale Phantom Bodies were different.

First, they hovered high in the air, too distant.

Second, their movement was too fast, making spell targeting nearly impossible.

Right now, for instance, Cao Ren's phantoms were scattered all around Xu Jingming's head.

They wouldn't cluster together—not even a single AoE attack could hit them all!

"He can only be taken down one by one, or wait until Cao Commander's phantom energy depletes and they vanish."

Gale Phantom Body, in essence, was composed of wind elements.

After casting two or three combat skills, their wind energy would exhaust and they'd disappear.

But even those two or three attacks were enough for Cao Ren to suppress Xu Jingming—and inflict serious damage.

After all, even Perfection-level Thunder Barrier couldn't endure endless elemental output.

Yet, just as most of the audience thought so, a deep voice suddenly rang out from the alloy arena:

"Lightning Chain!"

PS: Another chapter coming soon—long-awaited request for gifts, thank you, dear readers~~