Chapter 10: Airborne Slash and System Limitations

Saying it, he did it.

Gao Wen opened his badge ability again; when he focused his gaze upon himself, the familiar pale blue screen appeared before his eyes once more:

【Name - Gao Wen】

【Potential - Bai Yin】

【Rating - Iron: A standout among small fries, still a small fry, with latent abilities within the body yet to be unearthed.】

"Bai Yin-level potential?"

"With my physique raised to LV-5 and the Balanced Trait awakened, my body has already undergone a transformation."

"Perhaps even this Bai Yin-level potential is an effect brought about by this transformation, though that still requires further verification."

"And even if the latent abilities of this body are developed to their limit, is it merely Bai Yin?"

"What methods are there to advance further and enhance one's potential?"

After pondering without result.

Gao Wen lowered his gaze, his eyes falling upon the rating, and murmured:

"A standout among Irons..."

"Does this mean my current combat power is at a critical point, and with one more step, I can reach a Bronze rating?"

"For now, the main task is still to familiarize myself with this body."

Thinking this.

Gao Wen closed the system interface, walked out of the captain's cabin, and came onto the deck.

At this moment.

Night had deepened, and the sea breeze brought waves of coolness.

The pirates who had originally been resting on the deck had all returned to the ship's cabins.

Gao Wen slowly drew the long sword from his waist and, following the sword techniques learned from memory, gradually began to wield it.

Zing!

Zing!

Zing!

Bai Yin light flashed across the deck, accompanied by frequent sounds of splitting air; Gao Wen's sword speed grew faster and faster.

What his predecessor had learned was the most orthodox knightly swordsmanship; it possessed no flashy moves, yet every stroke was perfectly balanced and peaceful, laying an incredibly solid foundation.

But in Gao Wen's hands, it became something entirely different.

Sharp and swift, discarding all cumbersome techniques and variations, relying on extremely fast sword strikes to go straight to the point, pursuing the utmost killing power—it was swordsmanship born solely for slaughter!

The benefits brought by Godspeed were not limited merely to the speed of attack; even Gao Wen's own movement and neural reaction speeds had increased significantly.

Relying solely on Gao Wen's original body, it was impossible to fully unleash the effects of Godspeed.

But now, with his physique also raised to LV-5, Gao Wen was different.

With his base stats nearly doubled, he could completely withstand this kind of explosion, not to mention the bonus from the Balanced Trait.

Constitution, Strength, and Dexterity growing in sync allowed his body to enter a state of perfect balance.

Every ability in his base stats could be exerted to the extreme, while the burden on his body was nearly zero.

"My judgment was correct!"

"Constitution, Agility, and Strength complement each other; to fully bring out their effects, only by synchronizing all three can one achieve the most perfect state!"

Amidst a sky filled with sword light.

Gao Wen's eyes grew brighter and brighter; as he practiced move after move, he felt a surge of comfort, every cell in his body feeling immensely excited.

Even more, power welled up endlessly from within his body!

Finally...

Hiss!

As Gao Wen swung his sword, a silver airborne slash shot forth from his hand; after severing the warship's railing, its momentum undiminished, it flew dozens of meters away before slowly dissipating.

"An airborne slash?!"

Looking at the smooth cut on the railing, Gao Wen could no longer suppress the excitement in his eyes.

"Does this mean that these skills common to swordsmen can be mastered independently, even without system traits?!"

"Fortunately, I chose Godspeed back then; after all, the other two skills can be mastered through bitter cultivation on one's own."

Gao Wen silently expressed his relief, then calmed his mind to continue practicing his swordsmanship.

As he became increasingly familiar with his body whose base stats had soared, the swordsmanship in his hands became ever sharper and swifter, until finally, on the deck, only the sound of the blade splitting the air could be heard, with no sight of the person wielding it.

The crowd was awakened by the commotion on the deck; seeing the constantly flashing silver light and the shooting sword qi, they all involuntarily swallowed hard.

"So fast!"

"That shooting sword qi is the Airborne Slash, a technique only Sword Masters can master!"

"I've only seen such an ability in legendary tales!"

They exchanged glances, and in each other's eyes, they all saw undisguised awe.

With someone of such strength on the ship, who else could it be but Captain Gao Wen?

"Hoo~"

Exhaling a breath of warm air, Gao Wen ended his cultivation, only then realizing that a red sun had already risen on the horizon.

He had not rested the entire night, breaking out in a foul-smelling sweat that soaked through his clothes.

Yet his body felt not the slightest bit of fatigue; on the contrary, amid such high-intensity cultivation, he felt power continuously welling up from within.

As if something sleeping deep within this body had been completely awakened!

At this moment Gao Wen was finally certain that his Bai Yin-grade potential must be related to the Physique enhancement and the Balanced Trait, with the latter being the more likely cause!

After all, if it were merely a Physique enhancement, the growth of basic attributes could not possibly bring about such a fundamental change.

"If Bai Yin-grade potential can already achieve this much, then what of the higher grades—Gold, Legendary, even Mythic?"

Gao Wen muttered to himself, quietly tightening his grip on the long sword in his hand.

"So long as I cultivate diligently, I will surely be able to go further, even match those of Legend."

Gao Wen had this confidence, but then he felt a sticky sensation on his skin—the impurities expelled by last night's Physique metamorphosis mixed with sweat, sending waves of a nauseating stench.

He turned and walked back to the cabin, gave himself a quick wash, changed into fresh clothes, and returned to the deck.

Yet the pirates were already lined up neatly on the deck, and without Gao Wen needing to urge them, they took the initiative to begin practicing swordsmanship.

Last night they had witnessed Gao Wen's swordsmanship—both the ghost-like speed and the airborne slashes—filling them with longing, so naturally they practiced all the harder.

For a time the deck held nothing but the sound of blades clashing.

Seeing this, Gao Wen gave a slight nod, corrected a few of their stances briefly, then left the pirates to train on their own.

By late at night, the group finished their training.

But contrary to Gao Wen's expectations, the experience the group provided began to shrink.

Over fifty people were training on the deck; at the previous rate, they should have provided more than ten points of experience in a day.

But today, whether the Physique gains or the Swordsmanship gains, both were only a pitiful single-digit number.

"What's going on?"

Gao Wen's brow furrowed slightly as he looked at the pirates resting on the deck, and quietly opened the system panel:

【Name—Gabe】

【Potential—Black Iron】

【Rating—Black Iron: Swordsmanship Apprentice, Potential Exhausted.】

"Potential exhausted…"

Gao Wen read the contents of the rating and gradually understood.

How could a person's ability improve without limit?

As time goes by, one will inevitably reach a point where no matter how much one trains, one cannot advance a single step further—even maintaining one's original state becomes impossible.

Black Iron-grade potential means one can grow to at most Black Iron-grade.

And for the uniformly Black Iron small fry aboard the ship, the speed at which they hit their own limits was far faster than Gao Wen had imagined.

It was foreseeable that the shrinking of experience was only the beginning; from here on, Gao Wen's gains would grow lower and lower.

"I need to speed up the recruitment of new people."

"If it really won't work…"

A fierce glint flashed through Gao Wen's eyes.

He didn't consider himself a good man, but he couldn't bring himself to harm common folk.

After all, they were a pitiable lot to begin with, and besides, you couldn't squeeze much oil out of a pauper—but some people were different…

"Steal people from my peers!"

(End of this chapter)