Chapter 88 Confidence
Robert frowned and left. He was unable to understand what Fang Xingjian meant, or rather, he had understood but he still could not believe it.
'Faster than sound?'
Thinking of this, he only felt the hair at the back of his head standing up, as if forcing him to stop his train of thought.
An arrow breaking through the speed of sound and a person breaking through the speed of sound were two completely different concepts. Robert did not even dare to imagine, and was truly unable to believe that Fang Xingjian had achieved the state at which he he could physically break through the speed of sound. He had just transitioned a month before. Could a first transition Windstorm Sword Hero exceed the speed of sound?
Even out of those people who were at the pinnacle of the first transition, very few were able to physically break through the speed of sound. And those who could were almost surely freaks who had been stuck at the peak of the first transition for over tens of years, or even decades.
'To be able to transcend the speed of sound at the age of sixteen, how can that be?' Shaking his head, Robert headed to his villa. Although his mind told him that it was impossible, recalling Fang Xingjian's confident smile, recalling how the other party had, all the way so confidently clinched the title of Prefectural Champion, become the Windstorm Sword Hero, defeated Kaunitz, defeated Class 253... He started feeling uncertain again.
That night, he took half of all his savings and went to the academy's underground gambling den, and bet on Fang Xingjian winning.
…
At the same time, a senior from Tresia Knight Academy who had become a Knight four years before, Class 252's Xiu Yi, sat upright in his room, unmoving.
On the table in front of him, there was a ring flashing with a faint silver light. The whole room seemed to resonate with excitement just because of that ring.
Xiu Yi looked at the ring on the table, his eyes brimming with pure greed.
'Ring of Lightning, made from the finger bones of a Knight with Waves which were electric in nature.' In Xiu Yi's mind, he silently recalled the relevant information related to the Ring of Lightning.
As long as this ring was worn, and synchronized with the user's Waves, it could be activated or deactivated in accordance to the user's wishes.
As long as the Ring of Lightning was activated, a layer of invisible and colorless lightning armor would form, going from the arm to the chest and to the stomach. It was unable to provide any physical defensive abilities, but it could inflict lightning damage on all attackers, with a numbing effect.
It also meant that after using the Ring of Lightning, if someone were to punch or kick his arms, chest, or stomach, or to clash with his longsword, the person would be electrocuted and numbed.
Electricity was a very special attack. It could use a human body as a transmitting medium, and during the transmission process, it could destroy a person's blood, nerves, muscles and other organs. It was an attack that both the strong and the weak would find difficult to fend off.
'Even if it's Fang Xingjian, as long as he touches my body during battle, no... As long as his sword touches mine, then his body will get an electric shock, and will automatically become numb.
'His attributes are very advanced, and the numbing effect might not be significant. But if his body turned numb during close combat, it would be enough for me to kill him ten times.'
This Ring of Lightning was simply created to deal with enemies who were specialized in high speed. No, rather it could be said that in a fight with warriors of the same level, this Inferior Remains Divine Weapon would be able to suppress almost all close combat opponents.
An excited smile lit up Xiu Yi's face. This Ring of Lightning was a rare find even amongst the Inferior Remains Divine Weapons, even in the Tresia Clan. But now, Rebecca had taken it out of storage and had given it to him.
Moreover, Rebecca had promised that as long as he could defeat Fang Xingjian, this Ring of Lightning would belong to him.
If getting an Inferior Remains Divine Weapon was considered a great deal, then being able to defeat Fang Xingjian in front of so many people would be an outstanding performance.
It was because Fang Xingjian had just transitioned into a Windstorm Sword Hero, and had even defeated all ten Knights in Class 253, singlehanded.
Defeating him in one-to-one close combat would be an extraordinary result, and Xiu Yi would stand out from the ordinary Knights.
Fang Xingjian was very strong, his talent astonishing, and his performance brilliant.
Many people were in awe of him and full of admiration for him. They also wanted to defeat him in order to become famous, and gain recognition from important characters.
Xiu Yi was obviously one of them.
'If I defeat Fang Xingjian tomorrow, my status in Tresia Clan will rise so much that even Kaunitz wouldn’t compare to me.
'There's even... even a chance that I would get in the good graces of the few characters in the Imperial Capital.
'I can and definitely will defeat him!'
Xiu Yi gradually put on the Ring of Lightning, Waves circulating throughout his body and gradually synchronizing with the Ring of Lightning.
'He has the ability to control longswords from a distance, and to send them flying.
'But I can block them with my techniques.
'I must force him into close combat!'
…
Class 252's Prefectural Champion Renault was sitting quietly in the middle of a vast stretch of grassland, holding onto a more than two meter long enormous longbow.
The gigantic longbow was engraved with various streamline inscriptions with unknown meanings. The bowstring seemed to be a combination of countless muscles that were glowing faintly.
Stroking the gigantic longbow in his hand, Renault was brimming with confidence.
This was his weapon, an Inferior Remains Divine Weapon – Sacred Bow, a strong high-speed longbow. It could communicate with ether particles, forming predefined magnetic routes to create a force field through acceleration, and then using the accelerated force field to fanatically increase the speed of the arrows.
With this bow, he was confident enough to challenge all of his enemies.
Renault stroke the longbow, countless shrieks ringing out at the edges of the grassland.
Ten servants were standing in different areas, equipped with crossbows and arrows, simultaneously releasing arrows towards Renault.
These crossbows were obviously military grade equipment, sent by Renault's clan to support him. Even an ordinary person without any extraordinary powers would be able to create a tremendous force with them, as long as they had sufficient training beforehand. At the very least, in terms of speed such an attack would not lose to an ordinary Knight's full-powered dash.
These ten servants were only about a hundred meters away from Renault, and the ten crossbows were being shot out at the same time, less than a second away from fatally injuring Renault.
But in this short time span, Renault's hands moved so fast that they turned into a series of mirages, five sharp arrows suddenly appearing on the bowstring and soon disappeared, after which another five sharp arrows appeared and disappeared again.
Within the bowstring’s tremor, one could possibly even see a subtle ripple, trembling in the air and in one's heart.
In the blink of an eye, Renault picked up the arrows, pulled the bow, launched the arrows and stopped. A series of crisp sounds came from the air, and all ten arrows sent in his direction were shot down.
Renault's steward came out from the darkness, applauding loudly and happily saying, "Congratulations, Young Master, for attaining a breakthrough once again, and reaching the stage of launching ten shots with one look for the Dragon Slaying Archery! There's a chance for you to clinch first in the upcoming inter-class competition."
Renault was practicing the Dragon Slaying Archery, a horrifying Killing technique which controlled arrows like a magnetic field with high speed continuous shots as the foundation, tapping on the natural reactive effects that the ether particles had on each other.
"I'm still a little bit off from those at the top spots, Class 248's Hamil and Class 249's Ralph, the strongest Knights in the academy, aren’t that easy to deal with." Renault smiled, showing a confident look like never before. "But there's no doubt that I'll be able to deal with Fang Xingjian tomorrow. His defence is too weak. So what if he has great speed?
"Is he faster than my arrow?
"With my 'Eye of the Mighty Hawk', it's impossible for him to dodge my shots.
"Moreover, I've seen all of his movements today.
"He cannot escape my sight with his speed."
Eye of the Mighty Hawk was a speciality Renault had trained to attain in order to power up his archery. From the name alone, it was obvious that it would increase his visual abilities.