Earth's Greatest Magus

[Combat puppet level 9]

Emery gripped his sword tightly as his body assumed its usual fighting stance, prepared to fight the available maximum level of the wooden puppet. 

As he took his fighting stance, the puppet had taken its move. It leapt high into the air, brandishing its sword downward, it was apparent that it was preparing to slam down for a powerful strike.

Clank!!

It was the highest level, so of course, the strike the puppet launched was as fast and strong as if it was using a battle art. Still, Emery managed to parry the attack perfectly.

The combat puppet used a movement technique and strike steps that was not inferior to the [Weeping Phantom], but as soon as the sword was swung down upon Emery, he still managed to dodge the strike perfectly.

The same sight kept on happening for the next half a dozen attacks. Emery moved seamlessly while dodged, parried, and blocked all the attacks from the puppet with his own weapon. From his expression, he seemed to be able to do all that without much problems.

But in fact, for the first few seconds of the training, Emery was feeling very confused. He still remembered how just some time ago, he felt level 8 was far too difficult to beat. But apparently his growth was too fast, as now not even level 9 could catch up to him in terms of technique and strength.

Since his training with the grandmaster Magus Atika back in Ouroboros, Emery's skills in sword fighting have advanced extensively, and now his mastery over the sword has gone to such a terrifying degree.

Thanks to refining the basics of all attacks and defenses, now Emery was able to easily predict the trajectory of the wooden puppet's attacks.

Realizing that not even the level 9 puppet was able to keep up with him, Emery decided to end the fight quickly. He didn't even need to use his [36 Divine Technique], as he only used simple basic attacks such as slash, strike, and thrust. Within a few moments, he had managed to disable the wooden puppet.

[Congratulation, the level 9 combat puppet was defeated]

[Received 5 battle power]

[You have completed all levels in the art of sword, you are now an official Sword Expert]

[You may receive one battle art of your choice as reward]

Emery had almost forgotten about such a reward. A permanent battle power and a battle art skill definitely a great reward.

Without further ado, he walked towards a nearby panel and looked through the list of sword techniques which he could choose from.

Emery skimmed through the standard technique list and proceeded to swiftly ignore all the techniques listed in there before going straight towards the one mattered to him – the advanced techniques.

[Advanced Weapon Technique]

[Dual - Soulless Stream]

A series of combo attacks that build up its momentum to deliver an unstoppable attack to the opponent. Consisting of four stages which also depict the degree of mastery: 4 strikes, 8 strikes, 16 strikes, and 32 strikes

[Sword - Sonic Leap]

A charge-type skill that allows the users to charge toward the enemy at up to three times the user's normal speed.

[Sword - Hellraiser]

A charge-type skill that builds up into a powerful arc-shaped slash that cuts through everything in its path.

[Sword - Omega Strike]

A charge-type skill that builds up into one powerful downward devastating strike.

Emery had seen the first two skills in the past when he defeated the level 8 combat puppet, so he set them aside for them. As for the new ones; [Hellraiser] was the skill used by Zach during their duel. Having been on the receiving end of the skill, he knew very well how powerful it was when utilized correctly.

Out of the 4 options he had, Emery had no plan to take up dual-wielding again, so the first [Soulless Stream] was immediately disqualified from his mind. Thus it brought him to a choice between a fast thrust attack [Sonic Leap], a powerful area slash attack [Hellraiser], or one powerful strike [Omega Strike].

To be able to quickly move toward and strike the enemy, [Sonic Leap] sounded amazing to possess. However, Emery already had his [Blink] which already did the most important feature of the skill. 

As for [Hellraiser], it might have worked wonders in the hands of the Dragon bloodline protege who wielded a greatsword which allowed him to create as big arc slash as possible. But it won't be as effective for his normal sword. 

Thus Emery landed on the only option and finally chose to take up [Omega Strike], thinking that it could be a good replacement for his [Heroic Strike] who hadn't been that effective anymore with his current power level.

The skill was quickly embedded in his mind but unlike the normal skill, it would take him some time to master it. 

After Emery learned the skill and walked out of the arena, Magus Shena approached him.

"As I said before, your sword skill is already at master level. You should go ahead and take the sword master level exam so you can get the official title and reward."

Emery had heard once before that the reward would be a skill that could help any swordsman to achieve their sword aura, so of course, he was pretty much interested. Seeing the gleam in his eyes, Magus Shena added,

"I will check for you later whether there will be another qualification exam, and I will inform you right away if there is any."

"Yes, thank you, senior," Emery added gratefully.

Now that his own training was done, he went to watch how Klea's training with the sword was going.

From afar, he could see that sweat had dampened her face and body. She was really struggling, even at level 7, and even after struggling hard, she still failed the test. 

Realizing that Emery was watching, the girl took a moment to rest and walked over to him.

"Wahh sword is not easy at all Emery... I feel so untalented." She pouted and whined in a cute manner.

Hearing this, Emery could only let out a wry smile.

The girl had almost zero basics in the sword. She had only been using it here and there a few times and never had real training. As for Emery, in spite of the years of childhood sword training with his father, subsequently the sword training with Magus Xion, only after 3 years could he finally defeat the level 7 combat puppet. 

The fact that she was able to reach level 7 despite all those shortcomings clearly displayed her overwhelming talent. Hence Emery couldn't help but feel an inexplicable sense of dilemma when he heard Klea's words.

"Just take your time, Klea. I am sure you will advance soon enough." He then added, "In fact, I can teach you a thing or two about it."

For her, there was certainly nothing that sounded better than getting a private lesson from Emery.

"Yes, i'd love that"