Chapter 88: Good Steel Belongs on the Blade

We'll stop here today.

Ji Huai sheathed his blade and stood, "Tomorrow is the practical assessment; today's training time is cut in half."

"Good." Qin Chuan let out a deep breath, immediately easing his sore body.

Now he can already block five or six of Ji Huai's attacks.

Don't think it's just a few more strikes; Ji Huai's swordplay is myriad variations—clearly the same basic sword motions, yet in his hands they carry a sense of returning to simplicity and authenticity, leaving Qin Chuan utterly unable to predict what the next strike will be, forcing him to meet each move and adapt on the fly.

Therefore, each additional strike blocked is a great improvement.

According to Ji Huai, once Qin Chuan can withstand ten of his moves without defeat, his swordsmanship can be considered usable.

"Have you been to Azure Vast Mountain?" Ji Huai suddenly asked, causing Qin Chuan to blink in surprise.

"No." Qin Chuan shook his head.

Although Azure Vast Mountain is a local scenic spot in Changxing City, entry requires payment.

To Qin Chuan, such scenery is enough to appreciate from afar with a few glances; there's no need to go inside.

And most importantly, he previously didn't have that spare money.

"This is an introduction to Azure Vast Mountain's environment." Ji Huai tossed Qin Chuan a small booklet, "Go back and read it yourself, think about what skill to bring tomorrow."

"Good." Qin Chuan took the booklet, his face showing a hint of surprise.

He could feel that Ji Huai had revealed these in advance to help him.

In order for him to place first and obtain that starlight equipment material?

That explanation works, but Qin Chuan faintly felt it wasn't that simple.

Seeing Qin Chuan's doubt, Ji Huai disassembled his long blade into a metal bracelet; as he turned and left, his flat voice drifted into Qin Chuan's ears.

"Tomorrow's practical assessment will have observers sent by the admissions offices of various universities."

Qin Chuan couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

Various universities' admissions offices?

He instantly understood.

During the previous practical assessment, Ji Huai had mentioned that the practical assessment is similar to independent recruitment; outstanding performance and excellent grades could lead to reduced-score admission or even recommendation from universities.

Zhou Zixiu also mentioned that if he performed well in the subsequent assessments, he would likely receive a recommendation for the extraordinary combat program from Yanbei and Hua Qing.

And the purpose of the universities' admissions offices sending observers goes without saying.

Watching Ji Huai's retreating back, Qin Chuan's eyes held a hint of gratitude.

After these days of constant interaction, he had discovered that this person was cold-faced but warm-hearted.

——

"No surface rivers…"

Leaning against the bedside, looking at the booklet in his hand, Qin Chuan showed a thoughtful expression.

Azure Vast Mountain, as a mountain forest scenic area, naturally has plenty of water, but there only underground dark currents, no surface rivers.

For the water element, it's difficult to directly draw water from the underground dark currents.

Of course, this problem isn't much for Qin Chuan.

Nowadays, Zhou Zixiu's extraordinary theory course has finished the water element and begun the ice element.

Some of its content gave him new inspiration.

By using the ice element's ability to control temperature, letting gaseous water in the air condense into fog, the water element can then control it; the mountain forest's air humidity is not low, so it can be done.

Of course, this doesn't mean Qin Chuan must use this method.

Because he has a better option.

After the Contract Ice Cream, he had never tried carrying two active ice-element skills.

"Let's try the sword technique tomorrow." Qin Chuan looked forward to it.

Although he hasn't yet reached the standard Ji Huai called 'usable'.

But Ji Huai's standards are high, so naturally they are higher than ordinary people's.

With his current sword level combined with Breaking Frost Slash, it would only be stronger than Darkflow Bind.

After all, the former is a pure output skill.

With an idea in mind, Qin Chuan placed the booklet on his bedside, lay down full of anticipation, and quickly fell asleep amidst the incoming fatigue.

When his consciousness awoke once more, he found himself in the Dream World.

"Luo, what did you mean yesterday by saying you wanted to pull off a big job?"

Yue Li's slightly resentful inquiry came from beside his ear.

Before leaving the Dream World yesterday, seeing the Elite Tier Level 20 Blue Scale Jiao only ten thousand meters away, Qin Chuan excitedly blurted out that tomorrow he would pull off a big job.

Without waiting for Yue Li to ask for details, it became eight o'clock.

Thus Yue Li kept this matter in mind for a full sixteen hours.

This damned Luo actually left things hanging!

"Ah…" Feeling Yue Li's slightly murderous gaze, Qin Chuan scratched his head embarrassedly, "It was just an accident, purely accidental."

"I know the location of an Elite Tier Level 20 Blue Scale Jiao; killing it can yield a medium-grade resource needed for Shui Hua's advancement."

"Elite Tier?!" Yue Li exclaimed, her eyes instantly lighting up.

When she was at the Juvenile Tier, she had already jumped ranks more than once or twice, so now she naturally had little fear.

Moreover, this is a Level 20 Elite Tier, the weakest among Elite Tiers.

"No wonder you said you wanted to pull off a big job." Yue Li smiled and said, "For a Growth Tier to kill an Elite Tier is no easy feat."

Going from Growth Tier to Elite Tier requires not only advancement but also evolution.

For this reason, the strength gap between Elite Tier and Growth Tier is far greater than that between Growth Tier and Juvenile Tier.

Although there is currently no accurate species value data, the Special Affairs Group's released information includes an estimate of the Elite Tier's strength.

The weakest Elite Tier at level 20 is estimated to have a species value of 4000, which is twice that of a Growth Tier at level 20.

Moreover, Elite Tier Spirit Beasts possess a piece of Starlight Equipment, allowing them to use the equipment's affix effects to gain additional boosts to themselves.

Even the weakest Starlight Equipment crafted from two pieces of Starlight Equipment material provides a boost from its equipment affix effects that is still quite advantageous when facing Spirit Beasts without equipment.

"Shall we attack together?" Although she said that Elite Tier isn't so easy to kill, Yue Li was already eager to try.

"Good." Qin Chuan nodded.

Originally, he planned to kill the Blue Scale Flood Dragon alone to earn the 1,000 achievement-point achievement 【Cross-tier Kill II】.

The Cross-tier Kill series achievement requires a 1v1 kill, but that "1" does not refer to a Contract Spirit Beast, but to the player.

According to his original plan, as long as he contracted a second Spirit Beast and maximized the strength of both Spirit Beasts, this goal seemed not difficult to achieve.

But after observing and inferring some of the Blue Scale Flood Dragon's abilities over the past five days, he realized that this wasn't so simple.

Shui Hua and Xue Gao together couldn't take down this guy; they also needed to add Time Stop.

Time Stop has now accumulated again to seven seconds.

Seven seconds is enough to cross-tier.

But this deal isn't worth it.

Because if he teamed up with Yue Li to kill the Blue Scale Flood Dragon, he could earn a 500-achievement-point achievement 【Barehanded Cooperation】 without consuming Time Stop.

So, consuming seven seconds would only net him an extra 500 achievement points.

Unlike when he killed the Shadow Leopard earlier, whether or not he has those 500 achievement points, he can still firmly hold first place on the achievement leaderboard, and the hidden benefit it would bring is minimal.

After obtaining the Golden Talent at the limit of Time Stop, Qin Chuan came to value Time Stop even more.

Good steel should be used on the blade.

(End of chapter)