This is Furan's current status panel.
[Name: Furan
Class: Rune Warrior (Half-star), Apothecary
Attributes: Constitution 2.5, Spiritual Power 2.3
Skills: Swift Wind Breathing Technique (Proficient) (Mastery: 25/10000)
Pharmaceutical Studies (Proficient) (Mastery: 8621/10000)
Rune Craft (Mastered) (Mastery: 543/1000)
Star Gazing Technique (Entry) (Mastery: 76/100)
Wind Blade Spell (Mastered) (Mastery: 281/1000): Condenses a Wind Blade in the hand, then releases it to strike the enemy.
Sky Strike (Mastered) (Mastery: 431/1000): Can only be executed in the air, delivering a heavy blow to the opponent from above.
Traits: Move With the Wind, Skilled Apothecary
Spiritual Power (Can condense Spiritual Power into runes; when used in battle, your Spiritual Power can be converted into strength at a ratio of 1:0.3, rounded down.)]
It was now the end of the academic year; less than a week after this swordsmanship class, it would be time for the assessment.
Furan had used these nearly three months to train her panel to an incredibly luxurious level; she felt she had trained everything she possibly could.
First was the Breathing Technique. After long-term sparring with Bella, her Breathing Technique had finally reached the Proficient level, after which she stopped practicing with Bella.
This was because Bella could no longer beat her. Every time they used their Breathing Techniques, Furan's strength was now comparable to Bella's, and she was more agile, resulting in Bella never winning again.
Her attributes had seen a massive boost due to the upgrade of her Breathing Technique and the acquisition of the Rune Warrior class. With the stacking of melee skills, her Constitution surpassed her Spiritual Power for the first time.
In addition, she discovered a money-burning path while practicing Rune Craft. She found that if she intentionally broke off the drawing after completing a quarter of a rune on a weapon, she would still gain 1 point of mastery.
And because the rune wasn't finished, she could draw on a single weapon three times, meaning one weapon could provide three mastery points.
Moreover, this method took much less time than fully engraving a rune on a weapon—only half the time.
Since completing a full rune usually only rewarded 2-4 mastery points, intentionally ruining weapons was much faster than honest engraving.
The only problem was that the Magic Craftsmen didn't seem to adapt well to this kind of mass production. Even though they had pushed aside other work, the delivery dates were repeatedly delayed.
As a result, her orders were now backed up by over a thousand swords. Due to her large-scale purchasing, the price of baishan copper remained stubbornly high.
The Rune Warrior class also brought the trait [Spiritual Power]. It was excellent; she had tested it and found the buff could be toggled at will, though Spells could not be used while it was active.
She was already prepared now, specifically to take down Richter, someone she hadn't even met yet.
Returning to the match with John: after the bout began, Furan didn't use her Breathing Technique and simply slashed forward with her sword.
John initially frowned when he saw Furan didn't activate her Breathing Technique immediately; it wasn't a good choice.
Did Furan think the strength he displayed changed based on the opponent's current state? It didn't. From the start, he performed based on the opponent's peak condition.
Furan would suffer a major loss on the first exchange. John thought about it and slightly reduced his force.
But the force transmitted after the wooden swords collided startled John. He hurriedly increased his strength and only breathed a sigh of relief after parrying the attack.
How did Furan manage to have such a strong Constitution now? He felt this force was higher than Bella's without her Breathing Technique, though still a notch lower than when Bella had it active.
If Furan had this level of Constitution in her base state, combined with her naturally high Agility, John had a thought that startled even himself.
Furan could go take the High-level Apprentice assessment right now, and she would likely even secure a decent ranking.
In his mind, Furan should only have reached this level of strength after a year or two in the Sword Chant School. This was far too illogical.
An apprentice who originally couldn't even perform the simplest of slashes correctly had become a powerful 'High-level Apprentice' in just a few short months.
After another exchange of blows, Furan also realized John's strength was growing. If she didn't activate her Breathing Technique, she wouldn't be able to keep up.
Furan instantly gathered the wind around her and began a storm-like assault.
A bead of sweat appeared on John's forehead. As he expected, with her Breathing Technique active, her strength was slightly higher than Bella's.
He now deeply regretted not replacing his wooden sword in time. During the previous fight with Bella, this wooden sword had already been bent; in the current battle, John could even hear the sound of it about to snap.
This wooden sword wasn't designed for a fight of this intensity. He could feel Furan's wooden sword bending as well, but his would likely be the first to give out.
John was forced to activate his Breathing Technique. His strength and speed rose significantly compared to before, shifting the situation from Furan holding a slight advantage to John taking the upper hand.
For a moment, Furan wanted to activate [Spiritual Power]. She felt that if she did, she would certainly seize victory in the current situation.
But she ultimately dismissed the idea. Her current growth in Constitution could still be explained away by the Body Tempering Method and 'thick accumulation breaking through,' but if her Constitution suddenly jumped another level during combat, it would be hard not to suspect some secret technique.
Besides, she didn't necessarily need to use that. After narrowly dodging an attack, Furan lightly brushed her hand across her sword. The movement was extremely fast; she estimated even Bella wouldn't have reacted in time if she saw it.
John saw the movement too, but he didn't think it could achieve anything and didn't pay it much mind.
He had to go all out. Although he knew Furan's strength was somewhat off the charts, he would likely be laughed to death by his friends if he actually lost.
However, the next attack exceeded John's expectations. The two wooden swords collided, but this time the sound of the impact was much softer.
This was because John's wooden sword snapped. Most of the blade absorbed the kinetic energy and flew off, leaving the wooden sword in his hand barely longer than a dagger.
Not good, the thought flashed through John's mind. He wanted to block the next attack as quickly as possible and then retreat to create some distance.
But it was too late. Furan was still more agile than he imagined. Even though he blocked this strike, the blade still touched his body from the side.
John set down his battered wooden sword, gave a bitter smile, and let out a long sigh before saying:
"Furan, I look forward to the day you become a Formal Mage."
After this exchange, he realized Furan would definitely pass the trial and become a Formal Mage of the Sword Chant School within three years.