The heavy alloy door of the training chamber closed silently behind him, shutting out the clamor of the outside world.
The air inside was cool, filled with the faint, mixed scent of metal and sweat. Li Wen did a few simple stretches to loosen his slightly stiff joints.
The morning had been mentally draining, but his physical exhaustion wasn't significant. He regulated his breathing and rested for only about ten minutes before he felt mostly recovered.
TAP!
A light tap of his fingertip on the virtual control screen instantly activated the holographic projection.
A soft light coalesced in the center of the room, and the lifelike image of the composed, capable, long-saber-wielding middle-aged man from yesterday afternoon appeared before Li Wen once again.
To truly master something, one had to constantly review it.
While the system granted him a passive skill that prevented him from ever forgetting a technique, true comprehension and the constant pursuit of perfection required countless hours of observation and practice.
Yesterday, he had merely skimmed through the entire sixty-four-form sequence, gaining only a preliminary, general concept. Today, he needed to break it down in more detail, understand it, and commit it to muscle memory.
He changed his strategy. Instead of watching the entire set before practicing, he would watch one move, pause, and then imitate it several times, trying to grasp the subtle movements, the trajectory of power, and that unique aura—like a great rainbow piercing the sun—within each of the middle-aged man's forms.
Time flowed by quietly amidst his focused imitation and contemplation.
When the bell signaling the end of the school day rang, Li Wen finished the last few forms of his planned practice almost in perfect sync with it.
Beads of sweat rolled down his well-defined jawline, dripping onto the glossy, mirror-like composite floor.
He walked over to the console and pulled up the training settings panel.
He still needed to reserve about an hour in the evening to enter the [Absolute Focus] state and cultivate the Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill, so his time for saber practice had to be condensed.
After a moment's thought, he set a thirty-minute countdown timer.
HUFF… Taking a deep breath, Li Wen stood firmly in the center of the room, his gaze as sharp as a blade's edge.
'Activate—[Absolute Focus]!'
The instant the command was given, the world seemed to fall silent, as if a mute button had been pressed. At the same time, it felt as if he'd been plunged into a rapidly spinning kaleidoscope.
All irrelevant sensory information was stripped away and blocked out. His mental clarity and information-processing abilities skyrocketed.
VMMMM—!
An indescribable current, both hot and cold, erupted from the depths of his mind. The thirty-percent boost to his comprehension was instantly activated.
In his vision, the only thing remaining was the standard-issue alloy saber that had been his companion for days. Every subtle line on its body, the cold, hard glint of the forged alloy—all of it was now infinitely clear.
In his mind's eye, the sixty-four decomposed forms of the Rainbow Light Saber Skill played out as if on a high-speed loop, simultaneously slowed down for analysis and comparison.
The vague points and difficulties from his previous observations were now being unraveled layer by layer by his overclocked mind. Sparks of inspiration crackled and flared incessantly, like an overloaded circuit.
The key junctures for generating force, the subtle shifts in his center of gravity during transitional movements, the pattern of qi drawn by the blade as it sliced through the air... All the combat secrets hidden deep within the exquisite diagrams of the forms were being unlocked like a deciphered code, pouring ceaselessly into his consciousness.
When this state of highly concentrated enlightenment reached a critical point, Li Wen's muscles tensed in concert. His gaze abruptly locked onto an invisible "target" before him.
First Form—Long Rainbow!
SHIIING—! The crisp sound of metal singing through the air tore through the tranquility of the training chamber.
Li Wen stomped his right foot, his body shooting forward like an arrow released from a bow. With a sudden flick of his wrist, the saber flashed out from his waist in a diagonal slash, like a bolt of white silk.
WHOOSH—! The heavy alloy saber cut through the air at high speed, letting out a low, sharp whistle.
Before the saber's momentum had faded, the tip of his advancing foot tapped the ground. He twisted his waist, coiling and releasing like a drawn bowstring.
Second Form—Rainbow's Shadow!
The saber follows the body, the body advances with the saber!
In an instant, Li Wen's figure became elusive within the spacious training chamber.
One moment, the sharp edge of his blade was pointed at the eastern corner of the room; the next, with a shift of his feet, a heart-stopping flash of the blade had already veered toward the west.
His footwork was no longer simple, basic maneuvering. It was now a fusion of the Rainbow Light Saber Skill's unique arcing dashes and instantaneous changes in direction, making him unnaturally fast.
The angles of his strikes were cunning and unpredictable. They appeared to be wide, sweeping motions, but they concealed a variety of follow-up attacks. Both the speed of his strikes and the agility of his overall movement far surpassed the limits of his previous high-level saber arts, even at the Perfection realm.
Such was the terrifying potential of a top-tier saber skill.
And this was merely in the "Not Yet Initiated" state, without having achieved full comprehension.
The fluency Li Wen now displayed was separated from the true initiate-level of the Rainbow Light Saber Skill by only the thinnest of margins.
Even if he couldn't break through today, after such an intense afternoon of comprehension and practice, he was confident that success would come naturally tomorrow.
BRRRING! BRRRING! The thirty-minute timer he'd set went off right on schedule, emitting a sharp, urgent buzz.
The figure flashing and maneuvering at high speed inside the training chamber came to an abrupt halt. All of his overclocked thoughts and heightened senses receded like a rapidly ebbing tide.
Intense mental fatigue crashed down on Li Wen's mind and body like a heavy block of lead.
HUUUUUU—!!!
He forcefully exhaled a breath of turbid, burning air, as if trying to expel all the residual waste from his body's exertion.
Leaning on his long saber, Li Wen panted slightly, sweat pouring down his forehead and neck like rain.
He immediately summoned his character panel, his gaze precisely landing on the [Skills] column:
[Skills: Saber Arts - Advanced (Perfection), Saber Arts - Top-Tier (Not Yet Initiated)]
Huff… Seeing those three words, Li Wen wasn't discouraged in the slightest. On the contrary, his eyes grew even brighter and sharper.
'I'm only missing the last dozen or so forms! I've already nailed the first fifty-plus forms this afternoon. All of tomorrow afternoon will be enough to completely master the essence of those last dozen and string them all together!'
The criteria for reaching the initiate level of a top-tier saber skill were crystal clear:
One had to be able to perform the complete sixty-four forms smoothly and without interruption or obvious errors, all while understanding their core principles.
In his overclocked state today, he had completely absorbed the intricacies of the forms themselves. The only thing he lacked was the continuity to fully integrate the final dozen or so, relatively more difficult "variation" and "burst" finishing moves into his body's muscle memory.
'One day? That's more than enough!'
Li Wen walked toward the weapon rack at the side, his movements a bit slow but filled with a satisfied resolve.
His sweat-soaked tracksuit clung to his back, and the cool sensation was surprisingly pleasant and relaxing.
He carefully placed the saber—his companion in "battle" for the past two days—into its slot on the rack. Then, he turned and left the training chamber that had witnessed countless drills and breakthroughs.
At the end of the corridor, the twilight's afterglow streamed through a massive floor-to-ceiling window, casting a long shadow on the floor.
The shadow appeared slightly weary, yet it held a sense of power, like a butterfly about to break free from its chrysalis.
Far from crushing him, the pressure of the exam in two days was like a whetstone. It made this newly forged "blade" of a man even more eager to be unsheathed and tested.