The characteristics of Favonius Bladework are lightness, speed, and precision, used to protect Mondstadt.
The preceding section involved complex evolutions of basic swordsmanship, without straying from the scope of chopping, slashing, thrusting, and sweeping.
Ryan quickly learned!
Next, came a five-hit attack combo, a killing move!
For the first strike, step forward into a bow stance and cleave diagonally downwards from the right.
For the second strike, let your body follow the Sword, slightly straighten your knees, and swing back to the right side.
For the third strike, turn with the momentum, raising the Sword over your head from the right rear and cleaving down.
For the fourth strike, thrust forward, using the momentum to continue turning, holding the Sword with both hands, and performing a crescent-shaped diagonal slash from right to left.
For the fifth strike, lower your body, step into a bow stance, swing back from the left side to the right, and sweep horizontally forward.
Finally, sheathe the Sword, holding it in front of you.
Ryan watched for a long time, realizing that this was just Acting Grand Master Jean's normal attack in the game.
He practiced a few times, memorizing the breathing pauses, muscle exertion, footwork advances and retreats, and the coordination of his eyes, hands, and feet.
The blade swung, cutting through the air, producing a whooshing sound.
"Good!" the Instructor exclaimed, watching Ryan's graceful Sword technique.
"This killing move is swift; you must cut down the surrounding wooden stakes with your Sword within two seconds to pass."
"Along with speed, you must possess strength!"
"Five segments connecting to five segments, continuous and endless, able to be freely disassembled, and sustained indefinitely, that is Major Achievement."
"For ordinary people, the weight of the Sword can be negligible at first, but in continuous combat, as the body tires, the Sword will become heavier and heavier until you can no longer perform the Sword technique!"
"Our training is to cut wood, long-term wood cutting; speed, strength, and precision must not decrease in the slightest!"
"The longer you can sustain it, the more outstanding you are! In the future, you will be able to deal with more enemies!"
Ryan trained repeatedly, meticulously comprehending.
From the surface, this killing move seemed no different from ordinary swordsmanship, still a combination of basic Sword forms, but after a hundred repetitions, he felt himself drawing in the wind.
Not Wind Elemental, but natural wind.
There was a profound mystery inherent in this Sword technique.
Three minutes of rest.
The Instructor demonstrated again.
"Beyond killing moves, there is another technique, a Sword skill exclusive to Wind Elemental Vision wielders!"
"However, it can also be used without a Vision, it just won't be as effective!"
"Step forward, cleave diagonally downwards to repel the enemy, then sheathe the Sword to gather strength, step forward and uppercut. This is a thrust, designed to knock away weapons or enemies."
"The lifting motion requires more strength!"
"A weak lift can only disarm Hilichurl's wooden clubs and Hilichurl, while a strong one can disarm Pyro Axe Hilichurl Brute's fire axes and Pyro Axe Hilichurl Brute."
"Acting Grand Master Jean's renowned Anemo Pressure Sword is this very move!"
"By utilizing the power of a Wind Elemental Vision and accumulating a storm, one can directly throw people flying into Cider Lake outside the city."
"Do you see that leading Damselette with the Horsetail among the trainees? Her name is Ellin, and she loves to imitate Acting Grand Master Jean, using this Sword to disarm other trainees' weapons during sparring."
"If you get a chance, you can practice with him!"
"He is almost up to the standard of an apprentice Knight!"
Ryan looked strange, taking a minute to learn this heavy attack from the game.
Relying on his strength, he sparred with the Instructor, and after a few rounds, he learned to find opportunities in attack to disarm weapons.
This was a disarming technique.
It was also the method of determining victory or defeat in sparring.
The first to be exhausted would inevitably be the first to lose their grip on their Sword.
In a life-or-death battle, when capturing an enemy alive, the target of the disarming strike could be the opponent's weapon, or their wrist, their collar or cuff, or even directly into the skin…
Clang!
The Instructor's weapon was once again disarmed by Ryan.
Although he was experienced in combat, he was ultimately no match for Ryan's youth, and his strength and stamina were superhuman.
After half an hour of intense sparring, with no holding back whatsoever, he was truly defeated in swordsmanship!
The more intense the combat, the more focus is required, and it consumes a great deal of physical and mental energy. For ordinary people in a life-or-death struggle, being able to last five minutes in one breath is considered a rare Talent.
If one's strength is inferior to the opponent's, and their Qi and spirit are at a disadvantage, the duration of resistance will be even shorter.
Killing an enemy within a few seconds or a dozen seconds is the norm.
Trying to fight multiple opponents like a madman, without companions to give you a breather, you could be dragged to death by successive waves of enemies in just a few minutes.
"Your progress has far surpassed everyone else." The Instructor calculated the time, troubled by his inability to teach Ryan more knowledge.
It had only been a few days, and he had already learned everything.
He would likely pass the selection assessment for a formal Knight very soon.
"Go and practice with them! The same swordsmanship, when wielded by different people, has different styles, which can broaden your horizons."
"Here's an announcement, it's the combat Knight strength selection standard for the Knights of Favonius."
The Instructor took out a wooden board with a large sheet of paper pasted on it.
"Within the Knights of Favonius, different roles have different requirements for becoming a formal Knight. Like that slacker by the side door, and some who patrol the city, they can't even defeat a Slime or Hilichurl."
"Among them, being able to fight a Mitachurl is already considered an amazing feat."
The Instructor said with a look of disdain, "Their only advantages are their thick skin, handling some mundane disputes in the city, and being liked by old grannies!"
"Acting Grand Master Jean wants to train a team of combat elites to deal with the monsters during the Dragon Calamity."
"Therefore, the selection for formal Knights is exceptionally strict. Besides normal performance, etiquette, swordsmanship, rhetoric… and knowing the 'Knights of Favonius Handbook' by heart, the most important thing is meeting the combat power standard!"
"Vision wielders need to destroy five randomly scattered wooden stakes within a ten-meter radius in half a second."
"Ordinary people without a Vision need to destroy six wooden stakes, arranged horizontally or vertically, within a five-meter radius in two seconds, to become a formal Knight!"
"Those who complete it in over three seconds but within ten seconds are apprentice Knights."
"Beyond that… are trainees like you!"
The Instructor pointed to a row of logs against the wall.
"The wooden stakes used for the assessment are not the current training logs, which are thigh-thick, but large wooden stakes made of four thigh-thick logs, one in the middle and three supporting, all bound together."
"They are extremely thick, stable, and tough."
"When placed, each bundle is at least one meter apart. You must cut them down with a single strike, and the cut surface must be flat and smooth."
"If you knock them over or away with the flat of the blade, that is the biggest failure!"
"Strength, speed, accuracy, and even the order of cutting are all tests!"
"The shortest path, the fastest way to kill the enemy."
"If your swordsmanship is not refined, in every assessment, someone will chip their blade or get their Sword stuck in the wooden stake."
"The assessment for Claymore and Sword is the same. Claymore has stronger force but is slower, while Sword has weaker force but is faster! I expect you to be the best among everyone in this batch."
"Surpass ordinary formal Knights by destroying six wooden stakes placed within a five-meter radius, all in one second!"
Ryan looked at the wu feng sword in his hand, feeling a bit of pressure.
The sharpness of the weapon fixed for this assessment was not quite enough.
In one second, destroy six randomly placed large wooden stakes within a five-meter diameter range.
This was equivalent to the game where Aether, using a wu feng sword, destroyed the high-HP logs from Ellin's past assessment.
One second, an ordinary person takes one step, and the time is up!
A slight difference, a few tenths of a millimeter, is the difference between heaven and earth, a gap that makes it impossible to complete.
"Instructor, bring the wooden stakes, I want to try!" Ryan picked up his Sword and adjusted his breathing.