People in the Alliance, Time Management Master

This concludes the collaborative discussion.

It may seem very brief and without hesitation, but in reality, both parties made their choices after careful consideration.

Sally turned to look at the back of the hall and gently waved her arm. Soon, a burly, bearded man dressed as a butler stepped forward.

"Dear Mr. Mu Bai, in order to better understand you and help you adapt to your new identity as quickly as possible, I would like to collect your physical data using some simple tests. What do you think?"

Sally turned back to Mu Bai, looking at him with a questioning gaze, her tone very polite:

"The test will not be dangerous and will not waste too much of your time."

"No problem, it's the least I can do," Mu Bai readily agreed.

This is similar to a company hiring. The salary offered depends on the applicant's abilities, and an interview is still necessary after obtaining a resume.

Your reputation is like a resume; the real test is the most important part of the interview.

Resumes can be fabricated, and reputation can also be built on hype and deception.

“Thank you for your understanding.” Sally nodded slightly, then gave the order to the distinguished butler: “Take Mr. Mu Bai to the test. Do not neglect him.”

"Yes."

…………

Ten minutes later, Mu Bai followed the butler to the Philos family's training ground.

Like all the buildings we've seen before, the training ground is spacious and impressive, consisting of a large riding arena and several different training rooms.

The butler glanced at the hilt of the sword at Mu Bai's waist and asked, "Mr. Mu Bai's preferred weapon is a sword, is that right?"

"Ah."

"Then, shall we conduct the test in four areas: swordsmanship, agility, strength, and reaction time?"

"no problem."

"Okay." The butler bowed slightly and extended his right arm, pointing with his white glove to a training room on the right. "Please move to the training room for your test. After you're done, just keep walking inside."

"Yes, thank you."

Mu Bai returned the gesture with a hat-removal salute, then strode into the training room.

Thanks to the rows of exquisite and expensive chandeliers on the ceiling, the interior was fairly well-lit. On both sides of the corridor were frosted glass panes made of various colored lenses, through which light shone through the blurred windowpanes, appearing somewhat eerie under the arc lights from outside.

A fantastical blend of technology and antiquity... Mu Bai thought that this training room should be a dedicated training room for swordsmanship or assassination, with a design that leans towards an antiquated style, yet also exudes a steampunk vibe.

At the end of the corridor was a space resembling a dojo, with an iron gate serving as a partition, and training rules posted on the wall next to it.

After reading the small print, Mu Bai unconsciously frowned.

Although the system granted him the ability to speak Runeterra's common language, reading long texts, especially those containing technical terms, still presented him with some difficulty...

"Mechanical wooden stakes, slashing points, timing, statistics, up to one hundred... and there's also a powder bomb for harassment..."

As Mu Bai read the rules, he glanced into the dojo and roughly understood them:

The dojo has many self-moving humanoid mechanical wooden stakes. You score points by slashing the stakes with your sword until you have 100... Well, the unit should be "stakes".

During the event, powder projectiles will be fired from various corners as a distraction; if you are hit by a powder projectile, you will not score any points for any slashes within ten seconds. The time taken will be used as the standard for judging the score.

"One hundred...that feels quite tiring." Mu Bai took a deep breath and pushed the door open to enter.

………………

Outside the training room.

The butler stood quietly by the door, waiting.

A family agent who had just finished training greeted him warmly: "Butler Rhodes, are you waiting for someone?"

"Yes." The butler smiled and waved.

"Waiting for the new agent? The one personally invited by the patriarch?"

"Yes, Mr. Mu Bai is testing inside."

"Oh." The agent nodded. "I heard he's very skilled with his sword. He must get full marks on every strike during the training on the wooden stakes, right? Ten points per strike, and he'd finish after cutting down ten stakes."

"Hmm, maybe Mr. Mu Bai will break the record."

The butler glanced at the empty corridor and suddenly felt a mix of curiosity and anticipation.

The previous record holder was from Ionia, with a time of one minute and forty-six seconds, and is currently the head swordsmanship coach of the Philos family.

Whether Mr. Mu Bai's reputation is based on hearsay or genuine talent remains to be seen, depending on how long it takes...

Chapter Thirty-Five: Playing well is cheating?

Inside the training room, dozens of wooden stakes move left and right under mechanical drive. There are also many openings in the surrounding walls. A stake that is chopped will crawl into the opening and then be replaced by a new stake.

In addition to the wooden stakes, small holes next to the opening continuously fire powder bullets at extremely high speeds, forming dense barrages.

Ordinary people would have to exert tremendous effort just to dodge the powder bombs, let alone seize the opportunity to strike the wooden stakes.

"One hundred...that's a bit troublesome..."

Mu Bai stood in front of the red line that marked the start of the test, carefully observing every possible foothold.

In order to demonstrate his "value," he must ensure that he achieves the best results in the tests and not miss any opportunity that might allow him to improve his scores further.

Theoretically, blowing air directly is the fastest, but the rules restrict "slashing" attacks, so using a tornado to clear the field usually doesn't count.

The only option is to target the easiest places to inflate the numbers within the rules.

"To the left front... there are too few wooden stakes, that won't do."

“The right side… has enough stakes, but they’re too scattered. It’ll take a lot of time to cut them down. No way.”

"You can see both sides directly in front at the same time. There are the most and densest number of wooden stakes. The only downside is that there are also a lot of powder bombs, making them difficult to dodge..."

"Powder bombs... never mind, let's just break through from the front."

Having made up his mind, Mu Bai immediately gripped the hilt of his sword, slightly bent his body, and tensed his left leg behind him, like a cheetah that had been lying in wait for a long time.

Get ready, select your target, and then... draw your sword!

Step forward and slash!

The Dolan sword slid out of its scabbard, the warm light from the chandelier reflecting off its blade and creating a sharp, cold glint.

In the blink of an eye, the head of the nearest wooden dummy fell to the ground.

Steel-Slicing Flash - A circular sword strike!

Mu Bai spun around on the spot, his sword blade like a nimble venomous snake, and in an instant, he chopped down four more wooden stakes.

As before, the method is decapitation—the connection between the head and body of the stake is the thinnest, making it the easiest to cut off and saving the most energy.

Just as he was about to continue enjoying himself, several powder bombs suddenly came flying at him. If he were hit by even one of them, his final test score would be significantly reduced.

This is like when you're farming minions and Garen suddenly jumps out of the bush. If he escapes, great, but if he gets sent back to the Blood Pool, you'll have to wait a long time for nothing.

Seeing the powder bullet about to hit him, Mu Bai remained calm and continued to use the forward slash while swinging his sword to the side.

"Face the storm!"

Actually, the main training focus of this training room is reaction and evasion. Using the wind wall is somewhat like having a cheat code, but he can't care about that now.

If it doesn't say you can't use it, then it's allowed.

Does playing well mean you're cheating?

The wind wall unsurprisingly blocked all the powder bullets, and Mu Bai continued his charge with his sword, advancing relentlessly.

……

…………

A few minutes later, Mu Bai sheathed his sword, leaving behind a pile of dummy heads and wooden stakes shattered in various colors by powder bullets.

"I'm definitely... a little tired." He wiped his sweat and looked up at the timer on the wall.

Three minutes and twenty seconds.

It was alright, pretty much as I expected, a normal performance.

Mu Bai shook his slightly sore arms, then followed the butler's instructions and walked towards the corridor on the other side of the training room.

This corridor is shorter and dimmer than the one we came through.

The further you go in, the lighter the smell of engine oil, a symbol of technology, becomes, replaced by the fresh scent of wood.

At the end of the corridor was a wooden door, with several living vines coiled around it. From behind the door, one could faintly hear the sounds of fighting and the clash of wooden swords, quite crisp and clear.

"It seems the next step is a practical test..."

Mu Bai stood in front of the door, straightened the wrinkles on his clothes, and then pushed open the wooden door.

ga-

The moment the wooden door opened, all the sounds of fighting, crashing, and sword swinging ceased. More than a dozen pairs of eyes in the kendo arena turned to Mu Bai.

One of the men, a scarred man with a sword at his waist, stepped forward first, extending his right hand. "Mr. Mu Bai?"

"Yes, Mu Bai."

“Morgan, head swordsmanship instructor of the Firos family. I will now conduct the test for you.”

The man named Morgan shook hands briefly before quickly withdrawing his hand, his seemingly polite tone concealing a hint of contempt and hostility.

He had already heard of Mu Bai's name before the steward told him that he would be tested. He had heard it from the disciples.

He remained skeptical of the rumors circulating outside.

Because he was a seasoned swordsman himself, he believed he knew very well the limits of swordsmanship.

A master swordsman can easily take on multiple opponents; that's quite common. But to say you can defeat dozens of armed thugs head-on with a sword... that's wishful thinking.

Ha, those who seek fame and fortune.

"How shall the next test be conducted?" Mu Bai, of course, had no idea what the other party was thinking, so he asked politely.

"Don't rush." ​​Morgan rested one hand on the hilt of his sword and the other inside his kendo uniform, his expression haughty. "Tell me your results on the wooden stake test first, and I'll arrange a follow-up test for you depending on the situation."

“Three minutes and twenty seconds,” Mu Bai replied without hesitation.