"A good sword!"
Ryan praised, but his sword was even faster and swifter; with one swing, ten sword shadows crisscrossed.
The Noble Eldest Son jumped onto a wooden crate, his expression grim as he watched Ryan, who was surrounded by a group of people yet still at ease.
The opponent's sword blurred into a single streak in his vision; he couldn't tell which was the blade and which was a sword shadow.
Or rather, they were all swords.
"Ah—!" A scream rang out as someone's calf was kicked and broken by Ryan.
After all, to make someone fall, besides exhausting their stamina, you could only injure them and make them lie down!
And those who fell would become obstacles for others advancing, and their screams would scatter others' courage, diverting their attention.
Ryan broke out of the first encirclement and entered the second.
The Noble Eldest Son waved, telling the few people still watching to carry off the injured and clear the Training Field, so they wouldn't be restricted.
Speaking of which, carrying people on the battlefield was a technique Instructors taught for rescuing teammates during battles with monsters.
Now, it was being used for a private duel.
Should one call it ironic, or a practical application of knowledge?
With a little thought, the strategy for multiple people to defeat a powerful monster, which he had reviewed, surfaced in his mind.
These trainees were not old, but having passed the screening during registration, their Talents and potential in Mondstadt were quite good.
Soon, they adjusted their formation.
Anemo, combined attack technique!
Content that the Instructor had not yet taught.
Commoners wouldn't know it, but nobles, with their deep foundations, already had ways to learn it.
Even if only a dozen people participated, it could greatly enhance their combat power.
They used commoner trainees as cannon fodder to attack Ryan.
The Noble Eldest Son personally entered the fray, micro-managing the formation, attacking from left and right.
Heavy breathing, like a roaring wind.
Gradually became uniform.
That was each trainee activating the Westwind Breathing Technique, stirring the surrounding air.
Wind! Wind!
Intersecting air currents blew up wood chips and dust.
The trainees, in their unity, actually gained various insights, and their swordsmanship greatly improved.
Footsteps pounded.
Their might was tremendous.
It held a ten-thousandth of the power of the Knights of Favonius from five hundred years ago, when they fought countless monsters.
If a hundred people were like this, how much more inspiring would the scene of a thousand, ten thousand people, with the Anemo blowing, sweeping away everything, be?
They were the elites Acting Grand Master Jean wanted to cultivate; they were the future combat Knights.
How could they be so easily defeated!
By one person!
Were they a joke, or was the outsider a monster?
Ryan narrowed his eyes; amidst the wind and sand, a cold light shone like the moon.
This playful duel was sliding towards an intensity no one could have imagined.
The air was suffocating; clothes and hair flew wildly.
A loud shout.
Shaking a hundred meters.
The people of Mondstadt turned their heads towards the Training Field. Were their Knights still training so late today?
Some secretly peeked, dumbfounded!
What was going on?
What was that fast-moving black dot in the middle?
Had a powerful monster invaded through the side gate?
More and more people gathered to watch.
But those in battle, giving their all, concentrating, didn't care about being exposed or not!
They had only one belief!
Win!
Ryan's clothes were torn, and blood marks appeared on his body.
Sweat disappeared into his skin before it could drip.
The sword in his hand, though its hilt was not slippery, was swung rapidly, rubbing against the air, and the intense heat from the clashing blades made the hilt and blade feel as if they had just been taken from a furnace.
The grey light on the wu feng sword dimmed.
Small nicks appeared on the blade, then were melted by the high temperature.
"Not enough! Still not fast enough!"
Ryan murmured, swinging the blade with his arm, watching the Claymore's edge he couldn't avoid, and the swirling air currents.
Breaking through limits again and again.
"Not running enough, not swinging enough, not thinking enough, not reacting enough… I can still be faster!"
The model in his mind seemed to be collapsing, his spirit felt like it was Burning.
"I fight because I crave to defeat them with overwhelming power! To teach them a lesson! To make them fear!"
"Stalemate and defeat, I'm not satisfied!"
His expression turned fierce, then he suddenly stopped.
He paused for a breath, and three sword marks were slashed across his back.
Ryan's abdomen swelled, then contracted.
Using the Westwind Breathing Technique, he inhaled and exhaled large amounts of air, exchanging internal and external gases!
His mind cleared.
The painful and fatigued nerves, like being repaired and regrown after damage, became unblocked.
The world was no longer the same.
When he ran again, everything outside seemed to stand still.
Everything slowed down!
He was a little faster, but he hadn't broken the limits of time.
This was his mind rapidly operating, his nerve reaction speed elevated, causing the Claymore trainees' slashes in his vision to seem to hover in the air.
This was—Bullet Time!
...
Mondstadt Central Avenue.
Acting Grand Master Jean, with golden hair, a neat Horsetail, and dressed in a Knight's cloak, was inspecting Mondstadt with a relaxed, full-figured woman wearing a large blue-purple wide hat.
"Jean, you should have come out for a walk long ago!" Lisa elegantly covered her yawning mouth with her hand.
"Visiting the people, calming hearts, that's also your job. It's more effective in understanding the people's sentiments than staying in the Knights of Favonius office all day!"
Jean brushed the strands of hair from her ear and waved to the greeting citizens.
"When I come, what I hear might not be the truth!"
"Earlier, I heard someone complain that the prices at the Mondstadt restaurant were too high! But after I arrived, I didn't hear it anymore! Instead, they praised the restaurant's good taste! And, they recommended the new dishes from Good Hunter!"
"Good Hunter?" Lisa looked at the restaurant by the fountain, "Is that the Little Cutie from another world, making other-worldly dishes?"
"I'd like to try them!"
"Ryan should be on leave now. He joined the Knights of Favonius Training Field and hasn't cooked for a long time!" Jean recalled the man from another world she sparred with that day; reports about him were submitted to the Knights of Favonius daily.
"That's truly a pity!" Lisa looked at the equally disappointed customers over there, their heads drooping, shouting for a coral fish, like ruffled kittens wondering if they even knew how to cook.
"That Little Cutie is very hardworking and determined!"
"Kaeya's report mentioned something about seeing the past and future, a person of Teyvat's truth, a mortal destined to surpass the gods… and something about the center of the Universe…"
"I have a premonition that he must be very interesting too!"
"His mind holds many wonderful knowledges!"
A meaningful light was in Lisa's eyes, then quickly dimmed.
"Lisa!" Acting Grand Master Jean frowned slightly.
"I know!" Lisa looked around, "I was just saying, Little Cutie, pursuing strength excessively comes with a price, you know!"
"Amber borrowed quite a few books from me for him!"
"Let me think, which one is due back!"
Suddenly, a Knights of Favonius hurried over!
"Something's wrong! Acting Grand Master Jean!"
"Something happened at the Training Field!"
...
"Hoo—!"
"Heh—!"
Amidst the turbulent currents of strong wind, there was an incongruous gentle breeze, breaking apart the turbulence.
Screams made the onlookers involuntarily cover their eyes.
Blood stained the ground, and wood chips became dark red dust.