Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 142 Hidden Reward

Li Xia watched Alvin run off in a hurry. Just as she stepped into the conference room, she heard a hearty voice laughing loudly.
"This is the hunter who saved dozens of his companions? He's a good lad!"

A notification from the Hall of Light popped up:
[Main Quest 1 Hidden Side Quest: Rescuing the Drowning Hunter Completed]

Number of people rescued: 23

[Completion: 91%]

A robust figure turned around and looked at Li Xia with his arms crossed. Although he had a full head of white hair, he looked to be only about forty years old.

The Commander-in-Chief looked Li Xia up and down, then nodded in satisfaction.
"I heard from Alvin that your guild has an excellent record, having hunted a fire dragon before. What are your plans for the New World?"

Please select the reward category.

1. Hunting 2. Exploration 3. Research

Li Xia chose to hunt without hesitation.

Even though Li Xia didn't say anything, the Commander-in-Chief seemed to hear a reply.

"Oh? Do you want to continue hunting?"

He thought for a moment, then turned to look at the swordsmanship master:

"Master, I think we can teach this young man the two techniques that the investigation team just developed!"

The sword master, completely encased in armor, nodded coolly.

"Yes—that's fine!"

He stood up, his armor clanking as he stood.

He waved to Li Xia:

"Young man, come with me!"

The two followed the mountain path to a training ground not far away, where various tools used by hunters for practice were displayed.

The Palico at the door waved its paw at the two of them and closed the door.

The sword master picked up a long sword that was as tall as a person. It looked a bit like a samurai sword, but in reality, they were quite different.

It's more like a nodachi with a blade that's a full 1.5 meters long, making it impossible for ordinary people to use.

Li Xia was also very curious about how they practiced sword sheathing and iaido.

The sword master had no idea what Li Xia was thinking, and instead spoke in a low voice.

"It has been decades since the first survey team came here. In these years, our hunters have discovered some brand new techniques in the process of fighting monsters."

In particular, the 'Foresight Slash' and 'Spirit Blade Helmet Slash', when used properly, can greatly enhance a hunter's strength.

Li Xia suddenly became very interested. These two moves were very famous and were also called Jianqie and Denglongzhan.

He immediately began to listen attentively to the sword master's explanation.

The sword master walked to the center of the arena and flicked a spark to ignite the fuse of the gunpowder barrel.

The fuse was burning rapidly, but he stood still, drew his long sword, and slashed it at a pillar not far away.

A faint white stream of air flowed along the blade the instant the gunpowder barrel exploded.

He suddenly flung the blade away and crouched on the ground.

"boom--"

Amidst the violent explosion of the gunpowder, the sword master's body suddenly flashed with alternating blue and white light, accompanied by an extremely crisp sound:
"Ding"

As if losing all friction, the whole person suddenly spun backward.

When he stood up again, he was completely unharmed!

"This is the essence of 'seeing through'—" the sword master said in a deep voice, hoisting his longsword onto his shoulder.

"First, use an attack to guide the internal energy to the blade. In the instant before being attacked, use the return of the blade to spread the energy throughout the body."

When attacked, the airflow covering the body is dissipated, creating a backlash that provides a very brief period of safety.

The 'ding' sound you just heard was the sound produced when air currents collide.

The force of the collision will cause the body to shift backward, avoiding further damage.

So that’s it!
Li Xia nodded; he understood. It was roughly the principle of the explosive reactive armor. Although the gas wasn't very strong, it was enough to provide a very short period of safety upon detonation and also propelled the body to rotate.

Seeing through something doesn't mean there's no harm; it's just that the body is strong enough that the damage from the reaction is absorbed by the body.

"But there are two more points to note—"

The sword master raised his finger:
"First, the Foresight Slash can avoid most damage, but some damage is extremely powerful and cannot be blocked by Foresight Slash."

Yes, explosive reactive armor definitely has a strength limit, that's for sure.

"Secondly, its reaction time is extremely short. It can only be seen when the fighting spirit on the blade flows back into the body to form a large passage, which is less than 0.2 seconds."

Therefore, you can only use Foresight Slash freely when you are very skilled. Remember, never use Foresight Slash casually. Many hunters use this move carelessly.

This resulted in damage that could have been easily avoided by rolling landing squarely on him, and he was pushed back to camp by the Palico in a cart.

Li Xia almost burst out laughing. Isn't this just 'Mijuto Cat'?

The term "見居登猫" refers to "見切", "一合", "登龙", and "猫車".

"Remember what I said, and never attempt to cut without being proficient!"

The sword master gave another warning, then picked up his sword again and walked to the wooden stake.

"drink!"

He suddenly thrust forward with his knife, then swung it left and right twice, before stepping forward and slashing upwards, causing the pillar to crackle and crumble.

Li Xia noticed that as the sword master moved, his longsword was slowly glowing.

As he cleaved the pillar and sheathed his sword with a graceful, gymnastic Thomas spin, the entire blade was covered in a shimmering, milky-white light, like water.

"Alright!"

The sword master let out a low roar, gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands, and charged forward a few steps as if thrusting, stabbing straight into the wooden pillar.

He stomped his feet on the pillar several times in quick succession, leaped into the air, and then raised his long sword high.

"brush----"

A blinding beam of light drew a shimmering vertical line in the air as he fell.

Immediately afterwards, a dense array of slash marks and the sound of slashing erupted from the pillar.

The wooden pillars exploded in an instant.

"This is the Air Blade Cut!"

The sword master sheathed his sword: "Use the backflow of battle aura generated by striking monsters to condense it on the blade, and guide the aura blade to explode with a sufficiently long slashing distance."

This creates multiple slashes—also known as the Rising Dragon Slash!

Handsome!
The hall's notification popped up at just the right time.

The sword master has taught you new techniques—See-cut and Rising Dragon.

[Related techniques that cannot be developed into skills will be incorporated into the Skill Limits system, which can be viewed in the Skill Limits details.]

These two are not skills?
Li Xia thought about it carefully and it seemed to make sense, since those two could only be considered techniques.

It's not difficult to use; the key is timing.

Just as he was about to check the details, he heard the sword master calling out to him.

"This is the result of the New World Survey Team's research over the years, and we should make good use of it."

Let's go, there's something very important waiting for us.

The two walked towards the door, when the sword master suddenly remembered something and casually asked:
"These two techniques require a blade that is long enough to create a large channel for battle qi."

The potential of the katana is unmatched by other weapons.

By the way, what kind of katana are you using? A ore katana or a bone katana?

"Oh, I'm using a spear."

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

(End of this chapter)