Elite Mages' Academy

Chapter 650: Golden Sword Aura

Lycanthropy was just a B-rank talent, and it was a relatively common body transformation talent. After activation, it greatly enhanced the strength of the user’s body, and also enhanced recovery abilities. Normally, those talents that were limited by time were not rated very highly, and the werewolf form itself had some side effects — namely that it was very easy to lose control after activating it.

However, King Lycanthropy was different; it was an S-rank talent, and possessed all the abilities of Lycanthropy, but stronger. The talent also had a passive ability that greatly increased all the user’s attributes when the user was injured. That ability greatly increased when the talent was activated as well, which meant that, whenever the user received grave injuries, the user could very easily break past their own physical limits, and could even compete with those with SS-rank talents!

Smith himself was equal to Cheng Ming in skill, but after being heavily injured by Cheng Ming, Smith had eclipsed Cheng Ming both in speed and power.

“King Lycanthropy’s power might be very horrifying, but it’s not suited for team battles. However, in a duel like this, it’s practically unbeatable after being activated,” Xiao Lin muttered. With his incredible memory, the amount of information he had crammed during this time was immense. After pausing, he turned and looked at Raymond, and he said, “An interesting strategy.”

Raymond nodded in agreement, saying, “Cheng Ming is very strong as well, but it’s best if he surrenders. Since you understand the King Lycanthropy talent, you should know how this is going to play out.”

Xiao Lin’s expression was a little ugly as he said, “King Lycanthropy’s side effects are worse than Lycanthropy. Even though you can keep your rational thoughts, the urge to kill is extremely high. After activating King Lycanthropy, the user’s actions will be affected. However…”

Xiao Lin turned the topic around. “All of you are underestimating Cheng Ming. He will never admit defeat!”

Just as Xiao Lin and Raymond expected, other than Cheng Ming’s initial advantage, Raymond quickly gained control of the fight. The claws in his hand did not lose out to Cheng Ming’s blade, and was potentially even sharper. Each attack Smith made after transforming tore into Cheng Ming’s armor easily, even clawing at his flesh. Due to the special effects of the talent, the wounds could not even recover by themselves. Cheng Ming would definitely have to undergo special treatment after the battle in order to recover.

The whirlwind-like assault lasted for over a minute, and Cheng Ming was already littered with wounds. The armor on his body was a mess, so Cheng Ming just threw it aside. However, Smith’s attacks had stopped as well, because the hairs on his body had slowly begun to recede, and the redness in his eyes were rapidly fading. There were not many wounds left on his body.

“I see.” Xiao Lin looked at Raymond in realization. “Smith should be specialized in courses that emphasize self-recovery. On top of the King Lycanthropy’s natural recovery ability, even after heavy injuries, he can quickly recover, and will not fall into the awkward trap of being unable to fight after being heavily injured.”

“More or less, but even if Smith has lost the power of his active talent, the victor is already decided. That student of yours does not have any self-recovery techniques, and Smith will be able to defeat Cheng Ming even in his normal state,” Raymond said.

Xiao Lin had slowly begun to relax his tense nerves. It was the first time he let out a smile since the start of the match. “Raymond, I’ll have to express some regret. If Smith had thrown aside all caution and maintained that state, we might really have lost this match. However, it’s different now. I don’t know how much information your side has on Cheng Ming, but I know very well that Cheng Ming is way too humble normally. He’s so humble that a lot of people forget his hard work and skill!”

In the match, Cheng Ming spat out a mouthful of blood as he looked at Smith who had reverted to his normal state. Even though his injuries looked much more severe than Smith’s, he did not plan on giving up at all as he slowly picked up the sword in his hand.

“Does Cheng Ming have any more trump cards?” Hearing Xiao Lin’s words to Raymond, Sheng Guo could not help but ask.

“He does. I’ve sparred a lot with him, and I know him very well. It’s just that he’s never had the confidence usually, but I don’t think he has a choice now.” Xiao Lin did not shift his gaze from the match. He understood Cheng Ming’s skill the most, so he trusted Cheng Ming the most.

Cheng Ming did not attack immediately after assuming a fighting stance, and seemed to be waiting for his strength to recover. Smith’s attack did put a lot of pressure on him earlier, but if one inspected closer, they would notice a formless aura condensing around Cheng Ming.

It was the purest form of sword aura, but with their current skills, it was incredibly rare for anyone to control sword aura to such a pure form. Cheng Ming’s sword aura was different from Xiao Lin’s elemental sword aura. His sword aura was the purest, and it was incredibly hard to train, but with how bitterly hard Cheng Ming worked, it was nothing worth mentioning.

“Let me see what level your sword aura is at!” Xiao Lin was actually looking forward to it as well. Cheng Ming rarely revealed his full skill during practice. It was not that he disrespected his opponent, but Cheng Ming was just too much of a nice guy. He knew that his explosiveness would definitely cause heavy injuries, or even death, to the other person, which he was not willing to see.

If Smith had not forced him to such a degree, Xiao Lin doubted that Cheng Ming would reveal his true skill.

Boom!

In a flash, the arena seemed to erupt in a thunderous explosion as a golden, lightning-like sword aura filled the arena.

“Golden sword aura!”

“Oh my god!”

The spectators all exclaimed as everyone’s expressions looked like they were extremely interested. Judge Academy’s expressions were mostly dejected, while Dawn Academy was full of smiles. Cheng Ming had always been a friendly person, and being on the same side, everyone naturally did not want to see Cheng Ming lose.

Golden sword aura was a highly ranked sword aura, and could only be mastered with the purest form of sword aura. There was no way for Xiao Lin’s elemental sword aura to be used that way.

Golden sword aura was incredibly difficult, and had a condition of being at Gold rank. Cheng Ming’s swordsmanship was already at Silver rank, and with the effect of his talent, he was able to fulfil that condition. Even so, the hard work he had to put in did not diminish.