Chapter 113 : Chapter 113
Chapter : 113
“Do you have a weapon?” Barnet's gaze swept over Yan Yunqing's body, not seeing anything that looked like a weapon.
He casually picked up a wooden sword from a weapon rack at the side and tossed it to Yan Yunqing.
“If not, use this for now.”
Yan Yunqing reacted quickly, reaching out to catch the wooden sword.
It was heavy in his hand, and luckily, Yan Yunqing instinctively tensed his arm, preventing the sword from crashing onto his foot.
“It's made of Sinking Ironwood, a bit heavier than a normal greatsword. Can you swing it?”
Barnet pointed to the other wooden swords nearby, “If you can't, there are other wooden swords over there. None of them are sharpened, pick whichever you like.”
Yan Yunqing weighed the greatsword in his hand. It did feel a bit heavy, but he had added quite a few points to his constitution and strength before, so this weight was nothing to him.
He shook his head, “This one is fine, no need to change.”
They were all wooden swords. A heavier sword felt better to swing, and Yan Yunqing would actually find the other light wooden swords unfamiliar.
Barnet raised an eyebrow, “Good kid, come on then.”
Barnet also took a sword from the weapon rack, but compared to the greatsword he had tossed to Yan Yunqing, the one in his hand was a lighter one-handed sword.
The one-handed sword was more flexible and agile, with faster attack speed, but its damage was not as good as a greatsword's.
The greatsword was cumbersome with a slow attack speed, but with the bonus from its own weight, every hit dealt high damage.
It also came with a bit of a defense bonus and anti-interruption ability.
Barnet and Yan Yunqing found an empty spot and stood facing each other.
He raised his wooden sword horizontally in front of him, “Come, you attack me first.”
Yan Yunqing lifted the greatsword. This was his first time using a greatsword. Previously, when fighting demonic beasts, he mostly used magic.
Only when they got close did he occasionally slash a couple of times with a longsword, with no proper form to speak of, at most using it as a means of a sneak attack.
But he had still figured out some swordsman techniques during that demonic practical training schedule.
Even though he was now using an unfamiliar greatsword, those techniques were still applicable.
Yan Yunqing pushed off hard with his right foot, lifting the greatsword and sweeping it horizontally towards Barnet.
This attack had a wide range; even if Barnet dodged, he couldn't completely evade its scope.
He simply didn't dodge and met Yan Yunqing's greatsword directly with his one-handed sword.
Instantly, a piercing sound of two swords scraping against each other resounded throughout the training ground.
Barnet only felt a weight on his wrist. He felt immense pressure transmitted from the sword in his hand.
He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. As expected of a level fifty-nine swordsman, this strength was really good.
It was just that his moves were too simple, with too many openings for a counterattack. He still needed more practice.
“If this is all the strength you have, it's not enough for me to let you off for skipping class today.”
Barnet spoke slowly, tensing the muscles in his hand and knocking Yan Yunqing's greatsword away.
“If you can't give me a good match result today, I'm afraid I'll have to make a note on your attendance record.”
“By the way, what was your name again?”
Yan Yunqing lifted the greatsword again and couldn't help but purse his lips upon hearing that, “Isn't it a little late to be asking this question now?”
Barnet: ?
Before Barnet could react, Yan Yunqing lifted his greatsword again and charged forward.
He knew his swordsman skills were definitely not as good as Barnet's, and even a pure contest of strength wouldn't be enough.
So he could only try to defeat Barnet by leveraging his own strengths.
Yan Yunqing's greatest strength, or rather, something that others couldn't compare to, was only his well-rounded stats.
Because of the system panel, he had freely distributable points every time he leveled up.
His previous stats were too squishy, so Yan Yunqing had initially distributed his points fairly evenly across all basic stats.
Later, after storming the Bartovita royal family to kill Feu and then going to Mandiper to stir up trouble, Yan Yunqing added many points to his strength and agility, adhering to the principle of running if he couldn't win.
Now, swinging the greatsword was also full of vigor. One, two, three times…
Barnet took every one of Yan Yunqing's attacks, growing more and more surprised as they fought. He knew the weight of Sinking Ironwood; it was even heavier than a typical greatsword.
He hadn't expected the kid before him to have such a fast attack speed while swinging a greatsword.
If his feeling wasn't wrong, was this kid's attack speed getting faster and faster?
It was as if… he had already gotten used to the weight of the Sinking Ironwood and found his rhythm?
Barnet's gaze on Yan Yunqing brightened a little.
Looking at those thin arms and legs, Barnet had initially thought he didn't have much strength. At least, it should be impossible to swing a greatsword like that.
Yet this kid managed it, and with such speed. Could it be natural divine strength?
This is a born swordsman!
Barnet was delighted to find a talent, and he treated this guidance practice with even more care. He also made a mental note of Yan Yunqing's appearance, thinking to himself:
Such a promising talent can't be thinking about skipping class every day. I must set him straight. In the future, he might even become a Swordsman of Honor.
Yan Yunqing didn't know what Barnet was thinking, but he could feel Barnet's attitude gradually getting more serious because he was finding it harder and harder to fight him. This also made him focus more on this battle.
He increased his speed a bit more. This was basically Yan Yunqing's limit. If he wanted to improve further, he could only continue to add points to both strength and agility.
Ping, ping, pang, pang, the sound of clashes was incessant. The students practicing with each other on the side couldn't help but stop their movements and look towards Yan Yunqing and Barnet.
“Is that a guidance match?”
“Probably. Look, Teacher Barnet is only defending and not attacking, it should be a guidance match.”
“Is that a greatsword made of Sinking Ironwood in his hand? I respect him as a warrior, sparring with Teacher Barnet with a greatsword. Isn't he afraid of being beaten until he throws up last night's dinner?”
“Why do I feel like Teacher Barnet is at a disadvantage? Is it my imagination?”
“That's definitely your imagination. How could this guy possibly beat Teacher Barnet? Isn't Teacher Barnet already level seventy-nine?”
In terms of strength alone, Yan Yunqing knew he was no match for Barnet, but with his strength and continuous attacks, plus the weight of the Sinking Ironwood, it was indeed enough to give Barnet a hard time.
At least, Barnet was now really feeling a bit of soreness in his wrist, which was faintly numb, completely from the shock of the Sinking Ironwood's weight.
Yet even he was finding it hard to bear, while Yan Yunqing, who was using the greatsword, acted as if nothing was wrong, swinging the greatsword without stopping.
Barnet seriously suspected if he was an ox in his past life, how could he have such inexhaustible ox strength?
This couldn't go on. By just defending, he would sooner or later be worn down to death by this kid. Barnet decided to switch from defense to offense.
At the very least, he couldn't be worn down to death by a skinny kid in front of so many students.
That would be too lame.
Barnet found an opportunity in a lull in Yan Yunqing's attacks. With a turn of his foot, he sidestepped to dodge a side slash from him, simultaneously retreating several steps to make Yan Yunqing lose his original attack rhythm. He instantly thrust his sword, striking at Yan Yunqing's arm.
Caught off guard, Yan Yunqing was actually hit by Barnet. Now his attack rhythm was completely disrupted, and a dull, throbbing pain spread from his arm.
“Remember, a swordsman's every strike must have a clear purpose. Attack your target swiftly and precisely.”
As he spoke, Barnet launched an attack towards Yan Yunqing. Yan Yunqing raised his sword to block, but Barnet changed the direction of his sword mid-way and struck Yan Yunqing's side waist.
Pain shot through him, but Yan Yunqing became even more focused.
The next sword strike came again. Yan Yunqing's eyes sharpened, and he raised his sword to parry.
After successfully parrying the blow, he quickly swung his sword in a horizontal slash, giving Barnet no time to react, and chopped down with one stroke.
Barnet's attack missed. He hadn't expected Yan Yunqing to be able to strike in the very instant of parrying.
An opening was seized, and he was directly slashed on the chest. The immense weight of the Sinking Ironwood knocked him back several steps with a dull thud.
Barnet sucked in a breath and touched his chest. He was certain that blow would leave a purple mark on his body.
Fucking painful.
He looked at Yan Yunqing strangely, unable to figure out how he had delivered such a heavy blow when an attack after a parry had basically no opportunity to build up power.
Yan Yunqing was about to press forward when Barnet called for a stop.
“Alright, alright, is your stamina that good? You've been swinging that sword for so long, and you can still keep chopping?”
Hearing this, Yan Yunqing stopped, resting the greatsword on the ground. Only then did he have a moment to catch his breath.
His stamina bar was indeed about to bottom out. Based on the remaining stamina, he could at most continue swinging this greatsword for a dozen more chops.
“It's alright,” Yan Yunqing lied without changing his expression.
“Bullshit.” Barnet walked over and casually pinched Yan Yunqing's arm, feeling the faint tremor in the muscles beneath. “Your hands are shaking now that you've stopped. You call this alright?”
Yan Yunqing blinked, changed his tune, and said honestly, “I think I can still swing it a dozen more times, but that's the limit.”
Barnet nodded, “That's about right, I figured as much.”
After all, his own hands were almost numb. Unless this kid was a monster, he couldn't possibly continue swinging that greatsword made of Sinking Ironwood.
“But your technique looks very rusty. Especially the way you exerted force in the first few strikes was very strange. It was only later that your power generation shifted from your arms to your waist. What? Never practiced with a greatsword before?”
Barnet was very curious. In his opinion, Yan Yunqing's greatsword swings were full of openings.
It was only because his attack speed was fast enough and dense enough, coupled with his excellent stamina and strength, that he could fight with him until now.
Yan Yunqing: “Yeah, I used to use one-handed swords or daggers.”
Hearing the word "dagger", Barnet frowned in disgust. “What's a proper swordsman doing playing with daggers? You're not thinking of following the rogue's path, are you? Let me tell you, the rogue's path is an unorthodox style.
It relies on getting close for sneak attacks. Only by succeeding can you gain the upper hand. But if you encounter a demonic beast with high enough vigilance or high defense, you won't even be able to break its defense.”
“A proper swordsman should face the enemy head-on and look for opportunities to break through from the side!”
Yan Yunqing could see it. Barnet had the typical mindset of a power-type swordsman. This type of swordsman and those who followed the rogue's path were mutually disgusted with each other.
Only slightly less than how much they hated mages.
Yan Yunqing was at a loss for words. But he was indeed not a swordsman who followed the rogue's path. He was actually a mage, the type most hated by swordsmen.