Elite Mages' Academy

Chapter 184: Classification of Sword Aura

“Next up, I’ll be teaching you two Basic Sword Aura mastery.”

After the exercise, the tutor Cheng Na did not give the two of them much time to rest. After randomly assigning the rest for pair training, she called Xiao Lin and Cheng Ming to a separate training room next door.

Cheng Na was clad in a fitted black leather jacket as always, which accentuated her exquisite and slim figure. Xiao Lin however, did not dare have any thoughts of that T-rex, and the fact that Cheng Na would be able to teach Basic Sword Aura so readily was a bit unexpected.

Normally, the arrangement of the courses was determined according to the general progress of the whole class, meaning that Cheng Na would only start teaching sword aura when most of the students in the swordsmanship class reached the same level. On that occasion however, it was equivalent to a separate lesson. There had never been such a precedent.

Cheng Ming was also equally as surprised. He scratched his head because his own Basic Swordsmanship level was only LV6, which was one level short of the Basic Sword Aura learning requirements. Being the honest person that he was, he reminded Cheng Na awkwardly, “Tutor, I think you forgot that I still can’t learn Basic Sword Aura.”

Cheng Na said, “Don’t worry, your talent adds another level to your basic skill. In other words, your actual basic level is actually basic swordsmanship level five, and its far less difficult for you to upgrade from level five to level six than it is to upgrade from level six to level seven. Do you understand?”

“I don’t.” Cheng Ming shook his head honestly.

Cheng Na paused and said annoyed, “Let’s put it this way; there’s still half a month left. It’s entirely possible for you to upgrade your Basic Swordsmanship to level six. That way, your actual level will be able to reach level seven and meet the requirements for sword aura. Instead of waiting until then, it might be better to remember the essentials of sword aura in advance so you can catch up by then.”

“Catch up?” Cheng Ming was still confused.

Xiao Lin had a sudden thought and whispered, “The tutor is talking about the third monthly exam. It’s an important one, and it’ll help you a lot if you can master sword aura by then, even if you only master a tiny little bit!”

Cheng Ming finally understood it. Cheng Na glanced at Xiao Lin faintly in a tacit response to his answer. She then continued, “It’s not difficult to get started with Basic Sword Aura. The difficulty lies in mastering it. It’s actually similar to swordsmanship. If you want to go further with the way of the blade, sword aura is something that has to be mastered.”

Xiao Lin and Cheng Ming both listened carefully, but Xiao Lin felt a little weird in his heart. He felt that he was vaguely able to guess why Cheng Na was so willing to teach Basic Sword Aura.

The dean said that he would personally be selecting the map for the third monthly exam, which meant that the difficulty would see a huge increase. Cheng Na gave him and Cheng Ming a separate lesson because there were the only ones who had the ability to master Basic Sword Aura within half a month.

Having sword aura was definitely a qualitative leap.

“First of all, you need to understand what sword aura is. I’m sure you must’ve seen it in various novels or games, and I believe your history teacher has already mentioned the many novels and stories on Earth originate from the New World.”

Cheng Ming’s eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly. Although he had never played online games, he was obsessed with swordsmen in Wuxia novels. That was an important reason for his decision to choose Basic Swordsmanship.

Cheng Na said, “However, there are actually two types of sword aura on Planet Norma. Internal and external sword aura. The so-called internal sword aura is the power of the sword that comes from within oneself. Swordsmen can enhance their sword aura through years and years of tempering and practice. External sword aura is somewhat similar to spells. The swordsman communicates with nature’s four major elements, thereby inducing the power of the elements to release the sword aura.”

“Magic sword?” Xiao Lin blurted out. “Magic-martial arts dual cultivation?”

“Of course not!” Cheng Na stared fiercely at the interrupting Xiao Lin. “Although external sword aura includes some spell damage in the scope of its lethality, the main essence is still the physical damage that the sword aura inflicts. It cannot be used as mental power to execute spells, so this is fundamentally different from the dual cultivation of magic and martial arts!”

Xiao Lin shrugged. “Well, then, Tutor, do you think we should learn external or internal sword aura?”

“The two schools of sword aura have their own characteristics. The early stages of external sword aura require a certain level of mastery in Basic Meditation, and the starting point is relatively high. The initial lethality is very powerful, but your stamina will be insufficient later on. On the other hand, internal sword aura requires a long time to accumulate in order to hone it, but it’s later progress will be higher than that of external sword aura.”

After a pause, Cheng Na said again, “These two schools of sword aura are studied by many on Planet Norma. Each school thinks that they’re promulgating genuine sword aura, just like black mages and white mages in the spell world. Each side doesn’t take kindly to the other, but there’s no such conflict in our colonial academy. It all depends on your personal preferences and choices.”

“What school of sword aura did you learn?” Cheng Ming asked.

“I learnt external sword aura first, then later I switched to internal sword aura,” Cheng Na answered truthfully. She pondered for a moment before explaining, “From a long-term perspective, the destructive power of the internal sword aura at the latter stage is better than external sword aura.”

Cheng Ming laughed. “Then I must choose the most powerful one. I’ll learn internal sword aura.”

Xiao Lin hesitated for a moment, then smiled. “I’ll learn external sword aura then. I’m quite confident in my Basic Meditation.”

Cheng Na was not surprised by their choices. She nodded and said, “Sure. I’ve mastered the basics of both anyway. Alright then. Cheng Ming, I’ll teach you the basics first. The basics of internal sword aura is actually very simple, but the focus will be on cumulative drills.”

Xiao Lin did not express any opinion and listened carefully.

When swordsmanship mastery reached a certain stage—LV8—a special kind of airflow would be produced whenever a sword was swung. It could be called inner Qi, fighting Qi, or sword aura. The name was not important, but that special airflow was the embryonic form of the sword aura, and the first step to practice an internal sword aura was to thoroughly control that airflow.

Due to the fact that sword aura could only be considered a kind of force when it was first generated, the sword user could not control the sword aura as and when they pleased. That was the threshold to enter practice; constant training was required until it could be released and retracted at will, and only then could they be considered to be crossing the threshold of entry.

Cheng Na’s explanation was very simple. In fact, there was nothing more for her to say. Although the threshold to practice sword aura was based on her own comprehension, it depended highly on her own aptitude and ability as well. Cheng Na was not worried that Cheng Ming would not be able to learn sword aura; as long as he reached Basic Swordsmanship LV8, mastering sword aura was just a matter of time.

Cheng Ming left first after listening. He did not have any interest in the explanation of external sword aura. Since he had decided to learn internal sword aura, it was basically impossible to change his mind. The first thing he had to do was to upgrade his basic swordsmanship to LV7.