For the strong, actual combat would always be the best test. No matter how high level or how famous a secret technique was, if it couldn't be tested in actual combat, it would still be worthless.
The recent battle with Rosemary (Kaloshín)'s undead army was probably the most intense one since my reincarnation. To me, that was not only an actual battle, it was also a good opportunity to test my abilities and determine my future path of development.
There were many problems exposed in the battle. The most obvious one was that my ability system was too complicated, I lacked a killing move that could end the battle in one go, and the combination of abilities and character positioning was slightly messy.
Magic and martial arts were often the exclusive rights of long-lived species. It wasn't just because they had enough time to squander, allowing them to climb to the peak of both magic and martial arts. It wasn't just because of their natural talents and stats that allowed them to reach a realm that short-lived species couldn't reach. The most fundamental reason was that they had inherited secret techniques that allowed both magic and martial arts to overlap.
The Twilight Blade and Jade Thorn were the most fearsome weapons of the Elven race. Those warriors who wielded magic swords wore light leather armor and chose the most suitable buffs and enchantments for themselves. Their long years of training allowed them to not lose out to any opponent in terms of combat techniques. The magic swords hidden in their sleeves were even more fatal.
They were experts in adding various abilities to themselves and their magic swords. As long as one made preparations beforehand, the Twilight Blade, which seemed to have a wild fighting style but was actually cautious and intelligent, was a killing machine that could take on a hundred enemies on the battlefield. The Jade Thorn, on the other hand, specialized in all kinds of concealment, sense elimination, and anti-detection spells. Against them, one had to be prepared for the strange situation where the enemy would disappear four or five times in a hundred days. Of course, the prerequisite was that one had to avoid their fatal ambush first. They were the super assassins that gave Mages the most headaches.
The Blood Tribe's Tainted Blood Demon Swordsmen, the Dwarves' Golden Armored Warriors, the Demon Hunters who were taboo existences, the Black-Winged people's Cursed Spear Dancers, and the most commonly seen and infamous Death Knight, which made all living beings tremble in fear, could be considered as classic troops that had the advantages of both magic and martial arts.
Unlike human high-tier troops that relied on equipment and mounts, these special inheritances often appeared in the form of job advancement. They had their own unique ways of fighting and training. It was the accumulation of countless years of the long-lived species, and there was basically no possibility of it being passed on to outsiders.
Perhaps there weren't many of them, but once they appeared on the battlefield, they would definitely be nightmares for the non-humankind.
Of course, humans have tried their best in this aspect. The Arcane Knight, the Gold-rank Mage Knight, was created in this way. However, the Arcane Knight is a notoriously weak job class. Not only does it require a lot of talent, but in order to cast spells, the Arcane Knight can't wear heavy armor. As a melee fighter, the Arcane Knight is weaker than warriors and Holy Knight of the same level. The only skill that the Arcane Knight has is the Fireball Spell.
That's right, this Mage Knight's forte was the Three-Circle Fire Spell, Fireball. Perhaps it was effective in low-level battles, but in a Gold-rank battle, no one would be afraid of a Three-Circle Fire Spell.
The supporters of the Arcane Knight had tried their best to argue against it. Together with the theory of fire magic, they proposed that "five fireballs stacked on top of each other can destroy everything. We don't need any other magic at all." That was how the strange "Five Fireball Church" was born.
At the end of the day, it was because magic and martial arts weren't perfectly combined, and there wasn't a clear definition of the role.
In my eyes, the reason why the Arcane Knight failed (even though the number of new Arcane Knights doesn't exceed a single digit every year, the Five Fireball Church still refuses to admit its failure) was mainly because he split his attention between two different fields. He tried to be all-powerful in both melee and long-range combat, but the result was that he was useless in both fields.
The reason why those non-humankind succeeded in their job class advancement was undoubtedly because they had a goal and a specialty. Then, they used magic and martial arts to make that specialty blossom. As for abilities that were completely useless to their goal, no matter how useful they were, they wouldn't choose to learn them.
The most obvious reason was that those successful dual job classes were all powerful melee fighters or powerful long-range fighters. None of them intended to be like the Arcane Knight, crushing warriors in melee and blasting mages away with long-range fireballs. In the end, they were crushed by the other party's weakness.
One specialty has many strengths. With the "specialty" as the core, one would realize one's role. Using other strengths to make up for one's shortcomings, using one's strengths to make up for the "specialty". This was pretty much the general thinking of a warrior with multiple abilities.
Then, as someone who possessed four different powers, if I were to develop them evenly in an attempt to create an all-rounded warrior, I would probably end up as a useless Arcane Knight.
"What am I best at? How do I use other powers to make my strengths into a specialty and make up for my shortcomings? "
After completing my reincarnation, I had been pondering over this question. Furthermore, I already had an answer.
"If you had to choose a job, the Death Knight who specializes in Soul Summoning is definitely the most suitable one for you. If your talent in Holy Light is 10 points, your Necromancy would be 20 points and your swordsmanship would be at least 40 points. Just the combination of Necromancy and swordsmanship would allow you to stand at the peak of the Death Knight. Didn't you see how Xiluo's strongest Death Knight, Lionheart, took the initiative to become your follower forever? In the end, it is because you have already achieved unprecedented achievements in the field of Death Knight. "
"Pui, I am a Saint Knight. Also, I also know Ice …"
"Cough, please don't say that I was the one who taught you Ice Magic. I can't afford to lose my face. If your talent in Holy Light is 10 points, then your talent in Ice Magic would at most be 0.1 points! Back then, my head must have been crushed by a door to have followed your request to teach you Ice Magic. Let me ask you, after comprehending the essence of Ice once again, have you learned a new Ice Magic? "
Of course … I haven't! If I had the time, I would rather use it to practice my equipment and research on Undead Creations. Isn't anything better than this hopeless Ice Magic?
As expected, my straightforward reply caused the enraged silly cat to pounce at me once more. She started biting down on me.
As a teacher, Heloise was quite qualified. Although most of the students she taught were rebellious disciples and perverts, at the very least, she was outstanding when it came to teaching students in accordance with their aptitudes. Even though this kind of advanced personality education was also the main reason why there were more and more weirdos among her disciples.
Cough, I can't say anymore, otherwise that darned cat would try to take revenge on me again. The feeling of being drenched in milk in the morning was terrible. The last time, I spent an entire morning explaining to Renée, who woke me up with a piece of white paste on my hand.
However, judging from what she said about my talent, the darned cat had already told me what I was best at — Swordsmanship.
Just like how Adam mocked me in the past, while the other Holy Knight's basic function was as a meat shield, using Divine Arts and Holy Light to strengthen their defense and support abilities to become the so-called leader of the team, what I was best at was my offensive swordsmanship. In fact, after several reincarnations, my swordsmanship, which was the pride of a warrior, surpassed most Sword Saints in this world. Without a doubt, this was an ironic joke that left others speechless. Furthermore, it made Adam, who was known as the best swordsman in this world, feel indignant.
"A Great Sword Saint who couldn't even defeat a Holy Knight in swordsmanship? One of the best swordsman in the world? What a joke! "
However, as he grew, so did I. In the end, I was still able to suppress him. Perhaps, what Adam regretted the most during his time in the Underground World was that he was unable to defeat me in swordsmanship.
But this was to be expected. Not mentioning my decent talent in swordsmanship, the power of swordsmanship was originally a skill. When the skill was honed and raised to the level of art, it was the comprehension of life and the world. These things could be washed away by reincarnation, but it wasn't difficult to pick them up again.
From a certain standpoint, I was the true undying and long-lived species. While the other long-lived species were extravagantly wasting their time, enjoying 200 years of childhood, I was like the short-lived species, viewing time as life itself. Every day, I was thinking and trying to achieve something. The battles and experiences that I had gone through today were probably more than a dozen Valkyrie combined. When these comprehension and skills settled down, when the accumulated swordsmanship and secrets of three lives finally changed from quantitative to qualitative, I didn't think that any Sword Saint would be able to reach my level.
In my eyes, the Beastman Sword Saints were overly crude and lacked emotions. The Elf Sword Saints pursued the limits of techniques and neglected the cruel essence of the art of killing. If the two were to be combined and train in the swordsmanship of both races at the same time, perhaps a pure Sword Saint would appear.
As for the Dwarven Sword Saints and the Human Sword Saints? Those Dwarves actually dared to call themselves Sword Saints? Just with their Dwarven Downswing, Dwarven Rolling Blade, and Dwarven Mountain Splitting Axe? The Human Sword Saints were even more of a joke. Seventy percent of their abilities were the same as the Human Sword Saints, and they couldn't even use sword energy without their equipment? Normally, I would treat them as a joke.
In that case, my future path of development was already clear. I would specialize in close-combat swordsmanship, while the other powers would serve as support and bonuses.
However, pure swordsmanship would still meet with bottlenecks in top-level duels. Not mentioning those creatures that were immune to physical attacks, the gigantic bodies and thick defenses of Great Demons, Dragons, and other creatures were far too difficult to deal with with with just the "small toothpicks" in the Sword Saints' hands. Otherwise, we wouldn't have worked so hard to help Adam win the Inheritance of the Phoenix so that he could use the Phoenix Flames as a support for his swordsmanship.
But when I confirmed that close-combat swordsmanship would be the core and the other powers would serve as support, I confirmed the direction of my future, and my path became much wider.
"Sword Dance Ultimate: Flowing Water Swift Sword."
Ice magic gathered on the true ice sword. Under the influence of ice magic, the stream-like sword intent transformed into the beautiful ice river of my homeland. That was why I gave it a new name.
"Ice Sword Ultimate: Instant Ice River!"
The clear and translucent ice sword was as beautiful as a luxurious crystal sword. As the sword path flowed like a river, the sword energy and freezing air that spread out transformed into a beautiful ice river in midair. Then, when reality and illusion overlapped, the water surface and the Seafolk in front of me simultaneously became a part of the ice river.
In the instant that I was frozen, the proud Naga military officer arrogantly commanded the Fishmen and Sea Beasts to surround me. The Fishmen army that swarmed toward me turned into moving ice sculptures. The leaping fishes and waves froze at the very last moment. In front of the Instant Ice River, not a single living being was able to react at all. Their memories were still frozen at the instant that they were frozen.
Under the buff of ice magic, the Silver-rank swordsmanship that was supposed to be a restraining type turned into a Legend-rank swordsmanship with incredible offensive power. As far as the eye could see, all the Fishmen within a 30-meter radius around me had been cleared. The frozen river water became my best escape route.
"Un?"
The first time I fused my sword technique and Ice Magic together, it resulted in a power that was greater than three. Even I was shocked. After all, when I tried it in private, I didn't have such a ridiculous increase in power.
"Heh, it's me. If we were to compare our talent in using ice, even the White Dragons wouldn't be a match for us! "
Irene's voice sounded from beneath me. Only then did I come to a realization.
Frigid Maw was at the pinnacle of ice and snow creatures. The power of ice and snow that she brought to me was several dozen times that of my current Bronze-rank body. Furthermore, her control over the ice element wasn't as bad as mine. When I made my move, she didn't just stand by idly. She was helping me adjust and control the ice element, coordinating with my ultimate to adjust the power. This was just like a dual-core CPU operating in parallel, forcefully increasing the might of this move by countless times.
Alright, I knew that there would be people who would complain that the analogy of a magical fantasy world wasn't suitable. I also knew that if Irene could be considered as the most advanced CPU, I would probably only be considered as an outdated 386. Making do with it a little, wasn't this just an analogy?
But at this moment, I realized that I had underestimated the effectiveness of external objects. Indeed, my talent in using ice was terrible, but if I were to teach this to Irene Béla, wouldn't it make up for this flaw perfectly?
Similarly, if I were to give the Power of Death, the Power of Holy Light, and the Power of Law to other Magic Pets to boost them and create more secondary cores, my combat strength might increase explosively.
"Heloise!"
Alright, at this moment, I decisively thought of the 'Omniscient' Heloise. However, the current Heloise only had knowledge and techniques, but she didn't have a physical body that matched her past strength and boundless knowledge. It was obvious that she couldn't meet my requirements.
"The plans for Heloise's 37 Modifications (regarding the change in color of the four limbs) and Heloise's 38 Modifications (regarding the three stages of transformation) should be activated as soon as possible. Right, there's also the Super Cat Leo! Un, I can add at least a dozen other modifications, such as adding the ability to grow bigger after eating mushrooms, or the ability to throw fireballs after eating flowers. Hehe, that sounds interesting. "
At this moment, it wasn't the time for me to be thinking about such messy matters. I was already quite close to my destination. While it would feel great to charge into the enemy's ranks single-handedly, doing so would be equivalent to exposing myself to the entire battlefield. If the enemy's commander wasn't a fool, he would send his elites to intercept me sooner or later.
As expected, after charging past this street corner, two Sea Giants suddenly appeared in front of me.
The gigantic Sea Giants could barely reach the city walls. Even in the Giant Family, they could be considered huge figures. Wielding rusty ship anchors as their weapons, they possessed boundless strength. On land, an adult Sea Giant would at least have the strength of a Gold-rank human. In the water, once they unleashed their talent of stirring up giant waves, even a giant dragon wouldn't dare to fight against them.
Their most well-known hobby, other than fighting against Sea Dragons, was to find trouble with large ships. The number of ships they had sunk was uncountable, but the reason for their attacks was often inconceivably simple. Sometimes, it was because they wanted to add to their meal, and sometimes, it was because they hoped to obtain a good weapon.
It was impossible to forge weapons in the water, and it wasn't easy to obtain metal weapons in the sea. Only large ships had large anchors that the Sea Giants could use, and they could also use the crew to add to their meal.
When this unfortunate news spread, some ships even brought along brand-new giant battle anchors as payment for the passage. Unfortunately, the overjoyed Sea Giants would first accept the payment, then dismantle the anchors and use them as backup weapons before using them as dinner.
"The reason why we didn't keep our promises? Ha, little thing, do you know how to communicate with barnacles and sea cucumbers? Un, we don't know how to either. "
This was a lesson and maxim bought with his life by a certain "intelligent" navigator who gave away a heavy anchor as payment for the passage.
Giants with coarse skin and thick flesh weren't easy to deal with, and the Sea Giants, who were born as the Sons of the Sea, were even more so the giants among the giants. When the two giants moved slightly apart, their gigantic bodies blocked the entire street. Following the stomp of the giants, raging waves began to rise. As long as one was struck by the waves, they would definitely shatter on the spot.
In the street behind the giants, the Church of the God of Law was shining with a dazzling divine light, and the invisible gallows were filled with the corpses of the Seafolk.
As the Church of a True God in the God's Domain, it wouldn't fall before the fall of this city. Bearing the crime of war and genocide, they actually dared to barge into the Church of the God of Law. Should I praise the Seafolk for their lack of information and thoughtlessness?
According to the rules of the God Wars, after this city changed owners, the God Statue would probably be tainted.
But at this moment, I didn't have the leisure to worry about my God Statue of Wumianzhe. The giants were already in front of me.
"Little worm, don't move! Let Rabaha trample you to death! "
"Knight? Yet another tin can. Baines doesn't like tin cans, it gets stuck in his teeth! "
Being blocked by the giants meant that there was no way out. But at this moment, I had no other choice.
"Since there is no other way … Only the courageous will emerge victorious!"
The Ice Dragon Spear spun furiously and Irene started to increase her speed. My other hand suddenly swung my sword to hit the water, causing huge splashes of water.
"Useless tricks of the little worm! Scream as much as you can for Rabaha, Rabaha loves to watch the last performance of the little worm! "
The Sea Giants in the water were far more agile and powerful than they were on land. With a light grab from Rabaha, a thick wall of waves suddenly appeared on the surface of the water to block the charge.
Following that, just as the tip of the spear barely broke through the wall, the giant had already grabbed the tip of the Dragon Spear that was advancing at high speed. Although the spinning tip of the spear cut his left hand, the heavy anchor in his right hand swung down towards the Knight.
"That's it? How boring! "
"Boom!"
The giant anchor that was several tons in weight fell, sending rocks and snow flying all over the place. The entire street shook.
"Eh? Where's the little worm? "
But when the giants realized that their target had disappeared, it was already too late. Under the cover of the waves created by both sides, I, who had long thrown away my Dragon Spear, had already stepped beside the giants.
"Secret: Blade Storm!"
As I spun, the loli Snow Lady who was floating in mid-air summoned ice and snow, causing a whirlwind of ice and snow to appear.
【Swordsmanship Secret: Blade Storm: When using this skill, you will turn into a high-speed whirlwind of blades. The rapidly spinning blades and sword energy will deal heavy damage to all enemy ground troops in the vicinity.】
At the start, it was just a normal Blade Storm. But when the power of ice and snow started to overflow from the two swords, it started to leak and erupt, causing the entire world to start snowing.
The originally formless sword energy turned into ice blades and spikes under the infiltration of the ice and snow, causing the might of the Blade Storm to increase exponentially.
But this was only the beginning. An even more lethal attack was a pleasant surprise.
At this moment, water was constantly being sucked into the whirlwind. As the whirlwind of ice rapidly condensed into ice shards and ice arrows, they were then flung out by the centrifugal force. Due to a freak combination of factors, I mysteriously turned into a spinning top that continuously shot out ice arrows.
Under the full support of the Snow Lady Irene who was in mid-air, every single ice blade that was shot out at high speed was filled with the power of ice. It was comparable to an ice arrow shot out by a Silver-ranked Ice Mage at full power. The might of a single one of them might not be terrifying, but when the number of them was enough to cover the entire sky, turning everyone's field of vision into a sheet of white, the Blade Storm had evolved from a Legend-ranked AOE secret to a Saint-rank magic sword secret with astonishing destructive power.
The whirlwind of ice continued to spin furiously. Houses, thin ice, lampposts, no matter what it was in the past, under the assault of this concentrated rain of ice arrows, they were all instantly shattered into pieces.
When I finally came to a stop, feeling dizzy, there was nothing left in my surroundings. The two incomparably strong Sea Giants had already turned into beehives with thousands of ice arrows embedded in their flesh. The one who was further away was still breathing, but the one who was closer had his head filled with ice arrows. It was obvious that he could no longer survive.
When the Giants fell to the ground and I was gasping for breath weakly on the ground, Kolos, who was riding on a thunderstorm, had already rushed over.
"Great, Lord, you are fine! Everything is in a mess now, what should we do?! "
Gritting my teeth, I struggled to stand up. Every second that I dragged on would increase the danger I was in.
"Everyone, gather up. Bring along the supplies and rations, we will kill our way out!"
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