13: Sword's True Speed; Evaluation

"You'll be fighting against me," Talen said.

The boy was only around 16 but was already an inner disciple in one of the strongest sects. However, it wasn't that surprising due to the fact that the Divine Sword sect only takes people with high potential.

"Can I use my sword?" Wen asked

The elder shook her head.

After choosing a standard longsword, Wen rushed back to the large arena which they were in.

"What cultivation realm are you in?" Wen suddenly asked.

"3rd Golden Core," Talen replied uneagerly.

"Eh? Then isn't this unfair! I'm only at the 8th Spirit refinement!"

The elder who was going to inspect Wen's match frowned, "If you want to get in the sect, you'll have to do this,"

"Fine,"

Everyone there frowned at Wen's disrespect.

< Quest received: Defeat Talen

Reward: 2500 SP

Difficulty: Medium >

'About time. Oh, and also, show me that one screen where all my things show, status screen?'

[ Name: Wen Li

Race: Human

Quests: Defeat Talen

Reward(s): 2500 SP

Difficulty: Medium

SP: 16,500

(Later on, when the boost multipliers is a lot, the cost will be a random amount cause' I don't want to calculate all that math...)

Bought: 1.50x Sword Mastery | 1.25x Alchemy Mastery | 1.50x Physician Mastery...

Mastery: [SwordMastery: 7% | Physician: 4% | Cooking: 3% | Alchemy: 2% | Illusions: 0%...

Skills: [ The Sword of Light | Sword's True Speed | ]

Inventory: [3 Spirit's Spirit Cultivation | Book For Nerdy Physicians | Studying Acupuncture Points | The Book of Alchemy | The Art of Artificers | Ivor's Illusion | Cooking food for Dummies |]

'Sigh, I was hoping to get more System Points for this quest,'

"Hey, kid, you ready or what?" The elder asked impatiently.

"Yeah, I'm ready,"

"Alright then, when you're ready to fight, I'll signal the start of the evaluation,"

"I'm ready," Talen said.

"Me too,"

"Alright, bow,"

Talen and Wen bowed down a bit.

"5, 4, 3... 2... 1... and... start!"

Clang!

Almost immediately, the two swords clanged, leaving the young swordsmen in a standstill.

Wen quickly withdrew and stepped back, waiting for the other to attack. However, Talen was doing the same thing, waiting for Wen to attack.

"..."

Long silence.

"You guys haven't even fought for 10 seconds yet! Talen, if you don't continuously attack him, I'll lower you back to outer disciple!"

'The F#ck?' Talen thought, and quickly sent a barrage of stabs to Wen.

Wen hastily and successfully blocked most of the attacks and managed to move away from the rest. After the sudden attack, Wen steadily moved forward.

Talen stopped attacking, waiting for Wen to get closer. Once they got close enough, Talen went for a hard slice at Wen's shoulder, which he knew he would block.

Wen saw the sword coming down at his left shoulder and raised his sword to defend himself.

'This is almost too easy,' He thought.

Wen then quickly moved to the right while withdrawing his sword to block future attacks.

Talen swung his sword at Wen's waist, but not too hard, as he was scared of actually hurting him.

Wen quickly stabbed Talen's left arm, at his biceps. Not too hard, but enough to cause a lot of pain, and enough for Wen's sword skill to activate.

Wen quickly stabbed Talen's left thigh and right shoulder as Talen's movements started to crumble.

From the corner of his eyes, Wen noticed the female elder's expressions looking pained.

However, Wen ignored her and quickly grazed Talen's cheeks. With Wen's newfound speed, every thrust, cut, and strike was getting more and more deadly, affecting Wen to be more careful.

Wen stopped for a bit. 'Four hits, I need 2 more,' Wen quickly began moving again but this time, at a controlled speed.

Talen was already shaking. His thigh, cheek, and arms were hurting. He eventually fell down on his bottom as Wen approached.

Wen slowed down his speed and lightly grazed Talen's tanned skin, ending the fight with his 5th and 6th hit.

'Damn, this sword skill is overpowered!' Wen exclaimed inwardly after feeling his full speed.

"Do you surrender?" Wen asked in a pitying voice.

"Y-yes," Talen stood up with his head still down low, clearly ashamed of himself for falling down during a match.

"Sigh, well done, contestant." The elder congratulated. "Please give us a few minutes to properly decide what we should rank you as,"

Wen nodded as the elder left to meet with the others, leaving Wen and Talen alone.

"..."

"So, um, Talen, how old are you?"

Talen looked back at Wen with a respectful gaze, "I'm 16, and you?"

Wen stretched his arms as he sat down with Talen. "Yawn, I'm a couple of hundred years old,"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you heard right. I just wanted to evaluate the sects on this continent,"

"W-what?"

Wen burst out laughing, "Hahaha... That was just a joke..."

Talen's face grew red in embarrassment.

Wen regained his posture after a few seconds, "Don't worry, that really was just a joke, I'm actually 16,"

"W-wow, you must be quite the talent to be able to beat me,"

Just before Wen was about to answer, a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Haha, acting proud, now aren't we?"

"N-no, I wasn't trying to, elder Bai, i-it was a compliment-"

"Well, of course, I know that." Elder Bai turned her attention to Wen who was sitting down. "anyway, I came back because we decided what kind of disciple we're going to put you as."