Xiao Lin knew very little about Song Junlang’s past–only that the latter was a rather well-known genius whose strength once reached Gold-rank eight years ago. However, it fell to Bronze-rank after being defeated in a later battle and had yet to show any signs of improving.
Perhaps Song Junlang was deliberately avoiding that past of his and refrained from mentioning it in front of Xiao Lin. Under Xiao Lin’s repeated requests, Department Head Song held the sword again and remained silent for some time.
Xiao Lin noticed the slight change in Song Junlang’s eyes. It was no longer the usual laid-back laziness and was instead replaced by a very focused and dignified demeanor. Xiao Lin also noticed that Song Junlang’s sword was a little strange.
It was to be expected, since that was the first time he laid eyes on Song Junlang’s weapon. After all, the impression that the head of logistics left on Xiao Lin was that of a man who constantly played with his hybrid species.
Song Junlang’s sword was very worn out. The rust-stained blade had long lost its luster, and the edges had many gaps. What left Xiao Lin most speechless was that the sword tip was obviously broken. Regardless of how he looked at it, the sword seemed to have been taken out from a garbage dump.
Song Junlang suddenly executed a move. He did so in a very slow manner, raising the sword and swinging it down. Each movement could be seen with clarity. What followed was the sound of howling wind. Xiao Lin was just about to poke fun at the broken sword when he immediately focused his attention.
It appeared to be the most basic Slashing action in Basic Swordsmanship, but the sound of wind and air friction in Xiao Lin’s ears grew increasingly harsher. After less than half a second, a small tree more than 10 meters away was sliced off at the trunk and fell over, with the neat gap fully displaying the sword’s power.
Xiao Lin instinctively took a few steps back and activated his replication skill without hesitation.
[Replication target: Song Junlang. Replication activated; scanning commenced…]
[Skill: Elementary Elemental Sword Aura (MAX), skill rating E+]
[Replication complete!]
Xiao Lin had already drawn out his shortsword. Ten minutes was not a lot of time. First thing he did was close his eyes and quickly go through the elemental sword aura methods that kept surging into his mind. Replication was indeed a very intriguing ability. Rather than being a pure copy of the skill, it also included the skill experience of the person being replicated.
The increased use of replication allowed him to be more and more aware of his talent. Although simple copying was effective at critical moments, its practical use was still quite limited. Experience was much more important compared to 10 minutes of using that skill.
Although Song Junlang was only Bronze-rank as of then, he had once reached Gold-rank in the past, and an experience like that was not something that any ordinary person possessed.
Xiao Lin slowly raised his shortsword, but did not immediately brandish it. He was finally able to understand everything after going through Song Junlang’s valuable experience.
Elemental sword aura, that is, external sword aura, was where a person used their sword to directly guide the worldly elements to form sword aura. It was the use of such external forces that lent it the name external sword aura.
It was not difficult to understand such a definition, but the tricky part was the guiding process. It was also the key reason why external sword aura was more difficult to get started with than internal sword aura. The guiding process had to be based on basic meditation in order to integrate one’s sword aura with the elements. In turn, that would eventually result in a sword move.
The process was very slow at first. After Song Junlang gave his demonstration, he stopped to watch. He knew that Xiao Lin was trying to comprehend everything and did not bother him.
Xiao Lin held up his sword for several minutes and finally opened his eyes again. There was a profoundly, enlightened look in his eyes and he finally swung the sword down. There was a rush of force cutting through the air and sailing far. A few seconds later, the small tree that had been cut into two sections by Song Junlang had another scar, but the difference was also very obvious. Although it was still waist-length, the scar was uneven.
Xiao Lin looked at Song Junlang, befuddled. The latter shrugged and explained out of the blue, “It’s control. Although I’m surprised that you’re able to use this powerful sword technique, all elemental sword techniques require a high degree of control. Otherwise, its power would be greatly reduced upon execution.”
Xiao Lin was obviously a little disheartened with that move. Compared to internal sword aura that required only physical strength, external sword aura consumed both physical and mental strength. Despite being able to replicate Department Head Song’s Elementary Elemental Swordsmanship, his basic attributes would not increase too much because of it, though the consumption of energy was still quite alarming for him.
Although Song Junlang was not someone who ordinarily attended to his proper duties, he was really good at giving pointers for elemental swordsmanship. He walked to the little tree, touched the gap, and after thinking for a while, said, “Your elemental affinity with wind is too low. Elemental swordsmanship is actually quite difficult to practice. Although it’s not technique dual cultivation, elemental swordsmanship does require a certain level of basic meditation and elemental affinity as a support to better exert its power. Frankly speaking, most people who practice elemental swordsmanship are purely looking to torture themselves.”
“But you learnt it too…”
“I used to be a genius, after all.”
“It feels really weird when you say that about yourself.”
Xiao Lin chided him slightly. In fact, it was the T-rex who told him that there were many restrictions for external sword aura, though it had the huge advantage of being very powerful. During the early stages, its power could be said to internal sword aura of the same level.
However, the biggest drawback of magic-martial art dual cultivation could be unequivocally seen in elemental sword aura. After the initial strong phase, the progress would be much slower as one advanced, since it relied on the support of basic meditation and elemental affinity. The T-rex probably switched to internal sword aura during that time because she reached a bottleneck in elemental sword aura.
Song Junlang also told him that the peak period of elemental sword aura was probably around the Silver-rank, after which inner sword aura would practically trump it.
Although Dawn Academy did not force students to choose between internal and external sword aura, the tutors generally recommended students choose internal sword aura first.
Song Junlang spoke in a rather serious tone when it came to that. “The reason I was able to maintain my peak when I reached Gold-rank was because of the support provided by my talent. It’s only suitable for elemental sword aura.”
He did not specify what talent, but Xiao Lin was a little surprised by it. After some careful thought, the bottleneck of elemental sword aura was actually the difficulty of balancing both meditation and swordsmanship. However, after the upgrade of his Academic Talent skill, the learning efficiency increased by 200% and could fully support the continued cultivation of elemental sword aura.
After the ten minutes of copying, Xiao Lin and Song Junlang talked a lot about elemental sword aura. In that respect, Department Head Song was obviously more of a professional than his teacher.
As the subject of their conversation deepened, Xiao Lin also gradually developed some curiosity about Song Junlang’s past. When he once again brought up the topic as to why Department Head Song suddenly lost his strength, the man’s smile instantly froze.
After a long silence, his face returned to that tired look again. He yawned, and said indifferently, “It’s getting late. You should head back.”