Chapter 50: Noah’s Awakening: Obtaining Another Return!

Victor’s right hand had already gripped the Crimson Flame Fang; Shadow Blink could be activated at any moment, but... it was not time yet.

On the ground, Noah stared at the rapidly approaching bone blade, and time seemed to slow down.

The previous thirteen clashes... every movement, every angle, where the Sword Wolf’s left claw came from, where its right claw would land next—everything replayed inside his mind.

Why had he been knocked away? It was not because of strength; the disparity in strength had existed since their first clash.

The real problem was... he had been defending. He had been defending the entire time, but why did he have to block?

The purpose of a sword... had never been to block the enemy’s sword; it was... to strike the enemy first.

At that moment, the look in the young man’s eyes suddenly changed. Within Victor’s vision, system notifications began flashing madly.

[Target has entered a state of extreme mental concentration.]

[Sword Heart awakening conditions have begun to trigger.]

[Warning: Target is currently facing a genuine threat of death.]

[Embryonic Sword Intent is condensing...]

Noah did not rise; he did not even attempt to block.

When the bone blade was less than half a meter from his throat, the longsword in his hand thrust forward.

There were no flames, no lightning, no elemental mana of any kind; it was only a single sword strike, fast, precise, and... without hesitation.

Puchi! The sword entered through the Riftclaw Sword Wolf’s lower jaw and pierced straight through its skull!

The bone blade stopped less than three centimeters from Noah’s throat, and a drop of blood fell from the Sword Wolf’s mouth.

Plop. It landed on the young man’s face.

The entire arena fell completely silent. Several seconds later, the enormous corpse collapsed to the side.

Noah remained on the ground, breathing heavily; his hand was still wrapped around his sword, and across the surface of that ordinary fine-grade longsword... an extremely faint strand of white sharpness flickered, then vanished.

Before Victor’s eyes, a golden system notification suddenly unfolded.

[Conditions fulfilled!]

[Target has successfully condensed Embryonic Sword Intent during a genuine life-or-death battle!]

[Hidden Talent awakening conditions completed: 3/3.]

[Advanced Swordsmanship: Completed.]

[Mana-circulation defect repaired: Completed.]

[Embryonic Sword Intent: Completed.]

[S-grade Hidden Talent—Sword Heart—officially awakened!]

Boom! The next second, the previously calm mana inside Noah’s body suddenly erupted.

Countless tiny white sword lights appeared around him, and his Level 15 aura began rising rapidly.

[Level: 15 → 16!]

[Talent: Low Level Swordsmanship Perception → Sword Heart!]

[Sword Heart]

[Quality: S]

[Effect One: Greatly increases the learning efficiency of sword-type skills.]

[Effect Two: Swordsmanship proficiency growth speed +300%.]

[Effect Three: Greatly increases perception of sword-type attack trajectories, weaknesses, and rhythms.]

[Effect Four: Greatly increases the growth speed of Sword Intent.]

Noah slowly sat up. He did not seem to understand what had happened; he only lowered his head and stared at the sword in his hand.

"That strike... That sword strike..."

He could feel it; something had changed.

In the past, when practicing his swordsmanship, he needed to think, he needed to judge, and he needed to correct himself constantly.

But now... when he looked at the Riftclaw Sword Wolf lying on the ground, more than a dozen possible points of attack instinctively appeared in his mind, and even many movements from the earlier battle that he had previously failed to understand had become exceptionally clear.

"Young Master." Noah looked up. "I think I..."

Victor had already walked over to him.

"You awakened."

"What?" Noah’s eyes widened.

"You have awakened your true talent." Victor looked at the system panel.

S-grade. It had finally appeared, and it had awakened far earlier than Victor originally expected.

According to the original plot, Noah would leave the academy two months later and die four years after that without ever discovering this talent. But now, his fate had become completely different.

Another system notification soon appeared.

[Investment target Noah Green has completed a major growth milestone.]

[Original Fate: Withdrawal from the academy two months later; death four years afterward without discovering Sword Heart.]

[Current Fate: Sword Heart awakened.]

[Degree of Fate Deviation: Extremely high.]

[Long-term investment has triggered a stage return!]

[Calculating...]

[Stage return multiplier: 450×!]

Victor’s eyes suddenly brightened upon seeing the astronomical multiplier.

This was not even a new investment; it was the return from the previous investment of 173,000 gold coins producing a second reward.

This was the truly terrifying aspect of the system!

[Please select your stage-return reward.]

[One: 77,850,000 gold coins.]

[Two: King-grade sword skill—Aurora Sword Codex.]

[Three: Permanent attributes—Spirit +60, Agility +30.]

[Four: Special Talent—Combat Intuition.]

Victor’s gaze flickered slightly.

He did not rush to make a decision. Skills, attributes, and gold could all be obtained again as his strength and influence increased, but talents were different.

Even within the academy, where countless gifted students gathered, truly high-grade talents were rare, and special talents were rarer still. More importantly, a powerful talent was not merely another ability; it could affect every battle and continue providing value as its owner grew stronger.

For ordinary people, obtaining even one suitable high-grade talent could determine the direction of their entire future. For Victor, who possessed Infinite Evolution, however, its value was even greater. A rare talent was not necessarily the endpoint, it could become material for something far better.

"Inspect Combat Intuition."

[Combat Intuition]

[Quality: S]

[Type: Special Combat Talent]

[Effect: Greatly enhances the host’s instinctive perception of danger, attack direction, enemy movements, and combat rhythm during battle.]

[Can undergo fusion evolution with certain perception-type and combat-type talents.]

[Detected that the host possesses "Infinite Evolution."]

[Potential Evolution Path: Unknown.]

When he saw the description, Victor was even more confident in his choice.

"Choose..."

...

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