Chapter 7: 6. Powerful Skills

6. Powerful Skills

The Wind-Breath Sword felt heavy in his hand.

Leon had adventured for many years and his physique was not bad, but he had very few opportunities to use a sword, so he spent some time finding the right way to exert force.

He swung the sword, but his experience did not increase.

Is that not right?

He walked to a tree and slashed the blade against it, but the experience still did not rise.

Does this not count as a weapon slash? It seems the focus is not on the weapon. Although the system is convenient, it does not allow for cutting corners.

Regarding a "qualified weapon slash," Leon understood the theory of force and knew it required imbuing the slash with magic.

In this world, magic interferes with the world; spellcasters are those with stronger spirituality who rely on drawing sufficient magic to cast spells. Those with weaker spirituality practice physical professions, which require less magic.

However, Leon was currently a Tier 1 Warrior, the type who had just entered the realm of mortals.

In the mortal realm, physical professions primarily use magic to strengthen themselves, but Tier 1 is just the beginning; he could not even utilize it properly and could only rely on instinct to apply it to strengthening his movements.

How should he do this?

Leon wanted to slack off one more time, so he gathered magic in the way a spellcaster would and then slashed.

Hmm, that does not count; as expected, one must be down-to-earth.

He tried to recall what he had learned at the Warrior Hall ten years ago; he chose the Warrior profession because it could be seen as the foundation for all melee professions.

At the time, he used money he had saved from working to sign up, and spent another month standing in stances and swinging a wooden sword.

Finally, under the guidance of an instructor, he took an assessment using a real weapon, and after passing, he was told he was a qualified Tier 1 Warrior.

Because he had used his first earnings for that training, yet only learned how not to injure himself with a weapon, he felt cheated afterward, so the memory remained quite clear.

What was the standard defined back then?

It seemed to require his breathing and force exertion to reach a certain level.

Thinking of this, Leon held the Wind-Breath Sword, adjusted his breathing and stance, and calmed his heart to feel the muscles in his arms, waist, and back.

Swinging a sword requires muscles to exert force in sequence and transmit that power to the sword...

After adjusting roughly, Leon earnestly slashed out with the sword.

What he did not expect was that as soon as the Wind-Breath Sword began to swing, air currents surged around him; the formed wind seemed to have a will of its own, gently yet powerfully pushing his arm and amplifying the force of his slash.

The meadow in front of him was split in two by the sword wind, and many flower spikes were severed, flying everywhere.

[Practiced Profession: Warrior]

[Tier: 1. Next Tier: 25/100 Experience]

There it is.

Sure enough, by relying on a qualified slash, the experience for the Warrior profession increased.

Since he had a sword, the matter of finding ore was temporarily cast to the back of his mind, and Leon began to practice earnestly.

As long as he slashed a qualified strike, he could gain 1 point of experience.

But this strike was not qualified every time; after all, he was a spellcaster, and after practicing for an hour, he felt fatigue and needed to rest before trying again.

However, this process of becoming stronger step by step in a down-to-earth manner, with a clear progress indicator, gave Leon a sense of satisfaction even though his arms were sore.

By the time he came to his senses, the trees at the boundary between the meadow and the forest had suffered; although Leon tried his best not to cut them down, many trunks were covered in scars.

Because he was watching his experience rise, he was looking forward to the feeling of advancing as a Warrior, and his excitement was slightly excessive.

"It's a good thing this is an uninhabited wilderness with no shortage of trees, otherwise I might be accused of destroying the ecology by nature conservationists."

The many airspaces of the Nubis world contain all sorts of people; some seem to live in future cities, while others retain primitive lifestyles, and there is no shortage of extreme environmentalists among them.

Half a day passed, and by evening, Leon paused and stopped his practice.

He heard the system's notification sound.

[Practiced Profession: Warrior]

[Tier: 1. Next Tier: 75/100 Experience]

[Obtained Tier 1 Warrior Skill: Strong Physique]

He actually learned a new skill?

Previously, when looking at Zoe's panel, he noticed she also had this skill, but every time she appeared, he never had time to consider it.

He knew that while training in melee professions brings an increase in physique, it does not mean everyone can become incomparably fierce; only a portion of people's physiques will transcend racial limitations and ascend to a new level.

Perhaps they are the ones who obtained "Strong Physique." In the past, Leon did not have a panel and did not know this also counted as a skill.

[Skill: Strong Physique]

[Activation Method: Passive]

[Through tempering and repeated magic reinforcement, the mortal flesh has crossed the barrier]

Feeling the hot current surging through his body, Leon exhaled, clenched his fists, and felt power radiating from the tendons and bones of his palms.

He gripped the hilt of the Wind-Breath Sword tightly and slashed forward; in an instant, the tree trunk in front was split into two, and the powerful strike pushed the trunk a short distance before it began to topple toward him.

Dodging the falling trunk, Leon smiled.

The system is truly powerful.

In Nubis, to advance in professional training, one must rely on arduous training to become familiar with controlling magic, and learn more profound methods of magic control in the moment of enlightenment; only then does it count as an advancement.

And skills are the professional techniques mastered during this process.

A small number of skills can be learned through the instruction of others, but the opportunities to learn good skills are few and far between.

As a Tier 9 Spellcaster, the extra skills Leon had mastered were only Spiritual Affinity, Spell Writing, and Multiple Spellcasting.

These three skills he had worked hard to obtain all had strong operability and were quite deep in their usage.

He had always been proud of this.

But now, having learned a skill just by gaining professional experience, he felt a sense of loss, yet overall he was still very happy.

Leon jumped in place, feeling the lightness of his body.

The feeling brought by this improvement was similar to when he used his full spirituality to strengthen spells; the magnitude of Strong Physique was much lower, but fortunately, it was permanently active.

By the time night fell, his experience was 90/100, just one step away, but Leon truly could not lift the sword anymore.

His whole body was sore, but he was satisfied.

Returning to his room, Leon took out some Calming Flowers he had gathered.

Their spirituality was to soothe pain and assist in healing.

Leon strengthened their spirituality, and the surface of the small white flowers glowed with a faint green light; he then performed "Extraction" and "Infusion," and the healing spirituality inside the flowers was introduced into his own body, where it began to take effect.

Amidst the cooling and soothing sensation throughout his body, he fell straight asleep.

The night passed without incident, and the next morning, Leon was woken up by hunger.

He had practiced with his sword too much the night before and was too tired to eat dinner. His body, however, needed to replenish energy and was now protesting sternly.

Gnawing on the travel bread that had become even harder, Leon began to miss the exquisite meals at the Holy Capital's restaurants: red yam stewed with Earth Dragon meat, salt-baked Wasteland Beast leg, cheesecake made from Griffin eggs, all drizzled with craft syrup.

He was too lazy to go catch fish, and besides, it did not taste good; leaving Satus Island sooner meant he could eat good food sooner.

Shaking off the breadcrumbs from his body, Leon decided to head toward the mining site.

Although he was not in urgent need of an iron sword, he still intended to try the system's equipment manufacturing on the island.

Because his exploration level met the requirements, the system map marked the merchant's location, and there was a blacksmith shop there where he could borrow tools.

Leon opened the door and was bumped into by someone head-on.

The young girl clutched her pert nose and stepped back a few paces, looking up at him with a grievance.

"It's you again?"

"Ye-yesterday, what method did you use to make the wind stop? Was it sorcery?" the girl asked.

After a night, her panic and helplessness had all become past smoke and clouds.

Is this person an elementary school student who talks to you the next day as if nothing happened after an argument?

Leon did not answer her directly; he just closed the door and walked toward the outside of the woods.

The young girl followed behind with small steps.

"Yesterday, what method did you use to make the wind stop? Was it sorcery?"

She asked again.

"It was magic."

"Ah, so that was magic, Mom said... so are you a mage?"

"A mage is a researcher who specializes in magic; there are other professions in the whole sky that can use magic."

"Whole sky? Professions?"

The young girl was like a curious kitten, following step by step, refusing to let go.

It seemed there was no end to it.

Leon sighed and stood still, looking at the girl.