Chương 104: Level 1 Expert Swordsman
Chương 104: Level 1 Expert Swordsman
Read up to chapter 143 ahead of others on Patreon/ MountainDuskWalker; join for free to check out all the exclusive character art.
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[ Simulation Complete! ]
[ Simulation Results: 1- Rank 1: Flowing Spirit Sword Forms evolved into Rank 2: Proficient level: 'Mercurial Frost Sword Art'
2- Rank 1: 'Iron Body Foundation Art' successfully evolves into Rank 2 Proficient level: 'Yin-Mercury Body Art'
3- You have successfully broken through to Expert Level.]
[ Compiling ten years of martial arts memory, muscle adaptation, and meridian expansion... Preparing for neural and physical injection. ]
[ Would you like to receive the simulator feedback?]
[Yes/No]
"Yes," Alex's eyes snapped open as he hurriedly chose 'Yes'.
Boom!
His back arched off the sofa as ten years of brutal, non-stop muscle memory and martial comprehension slammed directly into his brain and body in the span of a single heartbeat.
Not only that, these ten years of practice actually allowed him to break through to B Rank without any external help, which was an unexpected surprise even he didn't expect.
With his current aptitude, he thought he might fail many times to break through to Expert Rank; however, it might be due to the evolution of his breathing technique that caused his smooth breakthrough.
He gasped, his high-pitched voice catching in his throat as an intense, burning wave of energy suddenly exploded out of nowhere from the center of his chest.
It felt as though someone just poured molten silver directly into his heart, coursing through his entire body and mana circuits.
The gaseous mist that was drifting lazily through his mana circuits only moments ago was gone, replaced by a heavy liquid mana that coursed through his body like mercury.
"Ngh!" Alex bit down on his lower lip, suppressing a sharp moan of pleasure and pain as his physical body forcibly adapted to the evolution.
His heart hammered like a war drum.
Beneath his flawless, porcelain skin, intricate pathways of faintly glowing silver lines lit up along his arms, neck, and thighs, the visual signature of an Expert Rank swordsman who had successfully triggered the Liquefaction Event.
Sweat poured from his pores, drenching his silk shirt in seconds.
The thin fabric clung tightly to his wet skin, highlighting the noticeable swell of his chest and the sharp, perky nipples together with the defined curve of his waist.
The Ecdysis process was also slightly stimulated by the massive influx of liquid mana; his breasts felt heavy, tender, and uncomfortably tight against his clothes, pulsing with a gentle warmth as his feminine secondary traits solidified under the nourishment of B-Rank mana.
The air in the private room grew thick and heavy with a rich, intoxicating scent of sweet pheromones that were not under his control.
The feedback was very quick; it only took a matter of minutes, but it was very painful, but also very satisfying.
Alex slowly sat up, resting his forearms on his knees as his breathing steadied.
The glowing silver veins beneath his skin slowly faded from view as he reined the liquid mana back into his sword seed, hiding his true depth.
He looked down at his hands. His fingers were slender and delicate, looking like they belonged to a pampered princess who had never touched a weapon in her life.
But when Alex lightly clenched his fist, the air inside his palm produced a sharp, audible pop.
The sheer physical force and explosive speed hidden inside his slender body had reached a terrifying new level.
However, he was still a bit short to consider a True Expert Swordsman, as he wasn't able to comprehend his own Sword Intent.
And looking at the simulator logs, together with the memories, he still didn't know why he failed to comprehend one.
But that was for him to think through for later, he quickly opened his status panel, watching the updated numbers reflecting his leap in strength.
[ Name: Alex ]
[ Age: 19 / 250 ]
[ Race: Human / Snake Demon Hybrid (Mutating) ]
[ Feminization Progress: Phase 2/9 (Ecdysis) - 67.4% ]
[ Profession: Expert Swordsman (B-Rank), Temptress, Apprentice Alchemist ]
[ Cultivation Level: B - Rank, Level One (+) ]
[ Cultivation Technique: Rank 2: Yin-Mercury Body Art - Lv 2 (367/5000) (Proficient) ]
[ Martial Skills: Rank 2: Mercurial Frost Sword Art - Lv 2 (1799/5000) (Proficient) ]
[ Source Power: 248 ]
[ Profession One: Swordsman ]
[ Professional Rank: Expert Rank, Level One (Corresponds to B Rank) ]
[ Professional Talent: Sword Mastery Lv 7 (Sword skill proficiency gain increased by 80%) ]
[ Professional Skills: One-handed Sword Mastery Lv 5, Two-handed Sword Mastery Lv 3, Liquid Edge Lv 1 (Allows user to coat weapons in dense liquid mana, sharpening the cutting edge and eliminating air resistance) ]
[ Professional Attributes: ]
[ Swordsman Attribute 1: Physique +150 (Average of Strength, Defense, and Agility) ]
"250 years of maximum lifespan, Expert Level professionals could already live for more than two hundred years, then what about Master Level professionals?" Looking at his maximum lifespan, it had jumped to two hundred and fifty years.
He couldn't help but think about those levels above Expert level…
And, following his lifespan, his base physique attributes increased significantly; they actually more than doubled.
He could feel that, if he fought with himself from before his breakthrough, he could defeat the old him in less than five moves, that too without using a sword.
And despite spending three hundred and sixty-five points of Source Power on the simulation, his remaining balance already climbed back up to two hundred and forty-eight, constantly fed by the roaring crowd waiting for him outside.
However, the speed at which the source power increased began to decrease with the sounds of cheers.
Alex wiped a bead of sweat from his chin, feeling the smooth, sensitive texture of his skin.
Right now, he felt light enough to float, yet heavy enough to crush a truck with a single kick.
He slowly flicked his fingers, channeling a thin, controlled thread of his new liquified mana through his palms, which swept over his clothes like a cold, dry wind.
The moisture trapped in his silk shirt evaporated instantly, leaving the fabric clean, cool, and comfortable against his skin.
As the damp cloth pulled away from his torso, he let out a soft sigh of relief.
With his Ecdysis progress accelerating to 67.4%, Alex felt his breasts become slightly fuller, heavier, and more hyper-sensitive.
Yet, the Yin-attributed liquid mana seemed to accelerate his feminization even faster.
Now, dry and comfortable, the soft silk brushed gently against his plump curves.
Without the supportive blazer to hold his breasts in place, every little movement made the soft flesh bounce slightly against his ribs, sending a strange, electric buzz straight down to his lower belly.
He was getting stronger by the minute, but his body was also becoming undeniably softer, more sensitive, and way harder to ignore.
He pushed the distracting heat out of his mind and focused back on the blue interface floating in front of his eyes.
While his combat stats had taken a new leap, his gaze drifted down to the bottom of the panel, locking onto a specific line in the spells column.
[ Spells: Demon Snake Summoning Lv 1 (2/100) ]
"System," Alex whispered, keeping his voice low in the quiet room. "Spend 50 points of Source Power to simulate training for Demon Snake Summoning."
[ Confirm Input: 50 points of Source Power on Demon Snake Summoning Lv 1? ]
[ Yes / No ]
"Yes." The simulation void expanded instantly, plunging Alex's consciousness back into the endless, silent expanse of his own mind.
[ You invest fifty points of Source Power into the deduction and mastery of Demon Snake Summoning. ]
[ You train for 1 day. Standing in the boundless gray void, you channel a thread of your newly enhanced liquid mana into the dark runes circling your mana core.]
[ You sketch the summoning circle in the air over and over, calling forth low-level demon snakes to study the initial energy expenditure. ]
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Chương 105: Level 2 Demon Snake Summoning
Read up to chapter 145 ahead of others on Patreon/ MountainDuskWalker; join for free to check out all the exclusive character art.
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[ You train for 10 days. Through constant repetition, you notice something important: the serpents you summon are not being pulled from some random, alien dimension. They are actual beasts living in wild, hidden pockets of your own world, dragged across space by your mana. ]
[ You quickly thought of increasing your mental perception to improve the chances of summoning selective Demon beasts instead of summoning random beasts.]
[ You train for 40 days. You realize that training a spell is fundamentally different from practicing a martial art. While sword forms rely on physical motion and muscle memory, summoning requires precise mental splitting, spatial frequency tuning, and bloodline resonance. The progress is brutally slow. ]
[ You train for 80 days. The initial ease of Level 1 vanishes. You discover that calling a serpent isn't merely opening a door and grabbing a beast; the dark runes inside your mana circuit act as an intricate spatial contract.]
[You find that to increase the skill's proficiency, you must manually carve and refine these runes using your own willpower, mapping out the biological frequency of reptilian species across different spatial layers. ]
[ You train for 120 days. You suffer repeated mental backlash as you try to force larger demon snakes through the summoning; your Recovery talent helps you recover from your mental injuries.]
[ You train for 180 days. You finally comprehend the basic trigger of the first tier. By harmonizing your Naagin bloodline with the dark chain of runes around your mana core, the runes suddenly become double in density, weaving a deeper, highly complex geometric pattern! ]
[ Your spell 'Demon Snake Summoning' successfully enters Level 2 (0/1000). ]
[ You train for 200 days. Stepping into the second level opens a floodgate of new arcane knowledge in your mind, completely shattering your previous assumptions about the spell.]
[ What looked like a simple utility skill at Level 1 is actually an Advanced summoning Art. You stare at the new proficiency requirement to level up, 1000 points, and realize that it's getting harder to practice this spell. ]
[ You train for 250 days. Every time you begin the summoning, you feel that your consciousness becomes more active and you can vaguely sense all nearby snakes within a radius of a few miles around you.]
[ You train for 300 days. You begin experimenting with the internal structure of the Level 2 summoning circle. You notice a dormant energy conduit bridging the gap between the caster's mana and the summoned beast's materialization matrix. You tried to decipher it but failed.]
[ You train for 350 days. You achieve a small breakthrough in spell utility! You can now summon selective snakes from your surroundings, with a maximum of ten snakes at the same time.]
[ You train for 400 days. You continued your experiments, and you found that by feeding your pure Yin-attributed mana into the summons, you can now artificially nourish and mutate the beasts after summoning.]
[ You train for 500 days. Your understanding of the space slightly improves.]
[ Simulation Complete! ]
[ Simulation Results: 'Demon Snake Summoning' successfully upgraded to Level 2 (590/1000). You have unlocked the secondary traits: Enhanced perception & Mana Infusion. ]
[ Compiling two hundred days of training, spatial calculation, runic mapping, and bloodline resonance... Preparing the feedback.]
[ Would you like to receive the simulator feedback? ]
[ Yes / No ]
"Yes," Alex murmured, bracing himself.
A sharp, icy needle of pain stabbed directly between his temples as hundreds of days of continuous training, experimenting, dense spatial geometry, runic theory, and beast manipulation flooded into his brain.
"Ah..." Another soft, breathy gasp escaped his lips.
"Damn it... this spell is way more complicated than I thought," Alex muttered, lifting a trembling hand to wipe a bead of sweat from his collarbone.
Before the breakthrough, he really thought Demon Snake Summoning was just a cheap trick to summon small snakes for scouting or acting as meat shields during a fight.
But after experiencing the simulation, he realized the terrifying effect of this modified spell.
"I was looking at this completely wrong," Alex thought, his dark eyes widening as he stared at his pale, slender palms.
"This isn't just a basic summon. It's a scalable, high-level arcane summoning art bound directly to my Naagin bloodline." Not to mention, it could actually resonate with his Naagin bloodline to improve the summoning success rate.
He finally understood the mechanics of the space.
The serpents weren't being pulled from some random, alien dimension; they were native beasts residing within the wilderness and hidden crevices of this very world.
By mapping the runic frequencies, he could now cast his mental perception outward like an invisible net, sensing every cold-blooded reptile within several miles of the coliseum.
Even more terrifying was the unlock of Mana Infusion; it would actually allow him to force-evolve serpents using his own pure yin attribute mana, turning simple low-level snakes into terrifying B-Rank or A-Rank monsters completely loyal to his own will.
[ Name: Alex ]
[ Cultivation Level: B - Rank, Level One (+) ]
[ Source Power: 204 Points ]
[ Spells: Demon Snake Summoning Lv 2 (590/1000) ]
With a few more minutes left on the overhead arena countdown, Alex sat quietly on the velvet sofa, letting his breathing slow to a steady, rhythmic pace.
He closed his eyes and focused his mind, as he reached out through his Demon Snake Summoning connection, searching for the mental link to the little black viper he summoned and secretly released earlier to scout the building.
Thanks to his enhanced perception, he found the tiny beast's signature almost instantly.
With a smooth, practiced ease, he shifted his awareness, letting his human senses fade into the background as he shared the serpent's senses.
His perspective plummeted to the floor.
The warm, well-lit VIP lounge was replaced by a cold, dark ventilation shaft smelling of a distant, metallic smell of blood.
He could see the thermal signatures of stadium guards walking through the corridors below, their heavy boots vibrating against the ground.
For the next minute, Alex guided the little viper through the hidden crawlspaces and drainage pipes, searching for any sign of Liria or the psychotic Lady Clara.
But the underground complex was like a big concrete labyrinth.
Without a floor plan, every corner looked identical, leading into dead ends or locked exhaust fans.
"Alas..." Alex sighed softly; a wave of disappointment washed over him. "This place is too big. Trying to navigate this blindly is just wasting my time."
He released his direct control over the viper's movements.
Instead of micromanaging its path, he sent a simple, overriding command directly into its primitive brain.
Left to its own natural instincts, the black snake flicked its tongue and slithered silently down a narrow drainage pipe, disappearing into the dark.
Alex didn't open his eyes just yet. Sitting on the sofa, he could feel his mental power was stronger and sharper than it had ever been.
A sudden thought crossed his mind; he still hadn't forgotten about the Iron Armored Serpent King, the giant mutant beast that protected him outside the city, back when his body first began to change.
It was captured by the Windrake family knights over a week ago; there was a good chance they must have dragged that beast here to be used in the arena.
Soon enough, he found it deep underground; its aura was faint, flickering weakly in the darkness like a dying candle.
He couldn't sense it properly, but he could feel it.
Right beside the Serpent King, Alex sensed three more powerful serpent signatures.
Each of them radiated powerful auras of Spirit Beasts.
Yet, just like the Serpent King, they were barely hanging on. Their vitality was completely drained.
Their breathing was dangerously shallow, their hearts beating only once every few minutes.
Alex suddenly realized they were keeping them barely alive, just to drain their blood and use them as fuel for the ritual!
He winced; unknowingly, a predatory rage began to boil inside his heart. He crossed his left arm over his stomach to steady his breathing while clenching his free hand into a fist.
"Damn it," Alex whispered, his eyes glowing with a cold, blue light in the dim room. "Clara, you psycho bitch... and this whole damn Windrake family. You really don't know when to stop."
He looked at the digital clock on the wall. There were only three minutes left before the arena gates opened for his match against Abu.