"I barely have any personal time all day now," Sonia poured out her grievances. "Starting at eight in the morning, I have required courses or general education classes. Since I transferred to the Swordsmanship Department, I don't have to take Water Sorcery Department classes anymore, but I still have to attend Introduction to Swordsmanship and Practical Swordsmanship. On top of that, Professor Trozan inspects my swordsmanship progress and spars with me almost every single day. I practically never stop moving during the day."
Truth be told, Sonia found it strange as well. Professor Trozan wasn't some retired academic with nothing better to do than tend to flowers and shrubs; he was the renowned Hidden Hand Sword Saint, the flagship sorcerer of Sword and Rose Sorcerer University.
Even if Trozan had taken Sonia and Felix on as research apprentices, there was still no reason for him to check in on them every day. It wasn't as if Trozan had never seen a genius before, and the time of a Three-Winged Sanctuary Sorcerer was hardly so worthless.
Yet not only did Professor Trozan visit them daily, he even carved out time to spar with Sonia—a privilege reserved solely for her, while Felix could only watch wistfully from the sidelines.
Felix was clearly the senior student, yet Professor Trozan favored her so blatantly, leaving Sonia embarrassed but secretly thrilled.
She had wondered whether this might be the Watcher's doing, but dismissed the thought as impossible—that was the Hidden Hand Sword Saint!
Controlling her was probably the Watcher's limit; how could he possibly control Professor Trozan?
Besides, if he could truly control Professor Trozan, why would he waste it on having the professor beat her up?
"I know you want me to make achievements in swordsmanship," Sonia pleaded in as polite a tone as she could muster. "But my daytime workload is already heavy enough. I don't need to be forced through two hours of swordsmanship training at night as well.
"Besides, that training doesn't accomplish much. Now that I have Wave Sword, I should use Wave Sword as a core to summon other supporting sorcery spirits, rather than continuing basic drills..."
Sonia felt a little guilty saying this.
Although she was right that upon becoming a sorcerer, she should shift from swordsmanship training to 'sorcery spirit training'—namely, honing her skill in utilizing sorcery spirits.
Some might find this strange: wasn't the Wave Sword sorcery spirit born of knowledge Sonia had personally summoned and fully comprehended? Why would there still be room for improvement?
This was because Sonia fully understood the 'theory,' but had not fully analyzed 'reality.' The process of using a sorcery spirit was the practice of bridging theory with reality, so there was naturally still vast potential to tap into.
For instance, the 'Inner Wave Sword' she had just used to kill the orc sorcerer was the fruit of her past two days of study.
This technique no longer treated Wave Sword as a ranged attack; instead, it condensed at the tip of the blade, detonating only after the tip pierced into the enemy's body to instantly inflict devastating damage.
Wave Sword still had many tricks waiting to be unlocked, so sorcery spirit training was undoubtedly necessary.
Not only that, but if Sonia mastered the techniques of Wave Sword to the utmost, she could even summon corresponding supporting sorcery spirits.
For example, if Sonia achieved complete mastery over 'Inner Wave Sword,' there was a high probability she would summon a sorcery spirit called 'Inner Space.' The Inner Space sorcery spirit could compress the power of the Wave Sword sorcery spirit to a hundred percent, and could even temporarily store it inside an enemy or an object, detonating suddenly at the sorcerer's thought.
Because two sorcery spirits were used, 'Inner Wave Sword' would transform into a 'Miracle: Inner Wave Sword' that was far more powerful and unpredictable to enemies.
Of course, this was merely a rudimentary miracle that wouldn't even be listed in the *Sorcerer Miracle Index*, devoid of any commercial value.
Yet this reflected a sorcerer's normal path of growth: summon a sorcery spirit, then build upon it to summon supporting sorcery spirits, branching out into an entire system of miracles.
So Sonia's request was actually quite reasonable.
The problem was that she was a sword sorcerer.
Among sword sorcerers, there was a saying: if you only wished to be an ordinary sword sorcerer, simply following the academy's curriculum would suffice; but if you aspired to become a Two-Winged Gold, a Three-Winged Sanctuary, or an even higher realm of sword sorcerer, you had to master three sorcery spirits: 'Slash Sword,' 'Thrust Sword,' and 'Cut Sword.'
Ultimately, all swordsmanship sorcery spirits were derivations of these three: Slash, Thrust, and Cut. While mastering these three spirits didn't necessarily make one overwhelmingly strong, failing to master all three guaranteed a fatal flaw.
Therefore, Sonia continuing her basic swordsmanship drills over the past few days was seen by everyone as completely rational; even Felix had not neglected his training. Any aspiring sword sorcerer apprentice would seize this window to lay a solid foundation.
Why, then, did Sonia ask the Watcher to cancel the training?
Aside from the minor issue that she was genuinely exhausted and had zero recreational time, the primary reason was that she wanted to test how much say she actually had.
It wasn't that she was running an obedience test on the Watcher, but Sonia was never one to willingly remain under another's thumb.
Even if the Watcher rejected her this time, it wouldn't matter. Sonia could drop hints, advance step by step, and remind the Watcher every day of how much she sacrificed and how hard she worked. After all, the crying child gets the milk.
One day, Sonia would figure out the Watcher's psychological bottom line and thought patterns.
When that time came, who controlled whom would be an open question...
"You make a good point."
Yaxiu nodded, seemingly convinced by the Sword Princess.
Sonia froze slightly. *Is the Watcher really this easy to talk to?*
"However, let me ask you this—if you had two extra hours at night, what would you spend them on?"
"Probably... reading, watching plays, attending balls to make more friends?"
"In other words, purely entertainment and play, right?"
Yaxiu tapped his fingers against the hull, recalling how his old boss used to brainwash employees.
"Have you ever met someone with a better family background than yours?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever met someone with a better background than yours, whose talent is also equal to yours?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what the scariest thing in this world is? It's that someone with a better background and equal talent is working even harder than you!" Yaxiu said with earnest gravity. "The moment you give in and stop to rest, others will seize the chance to widen the gap between you."
Sonia felt a subtle tremor in her heart, thinking of Felix driving off in his sleek silver luxury car.
"Don't waste your life at the very age you should be striving. Don't cling to comfort in the prime years of struggle. In this world, the starting line for too many people is already our finish line. Are you truly content to spend the future looking up at the backs of others, content to remain just an ordinary person, leaving your mark nowhere in this world except the Sea of Knowledge?"
Sonia's lips moved, but she ultimately shook her head. "I'm not content."
Yaxiu continued with grave sincerity, "So, Sword Princess, this mindset of yours is terrible, and you can't blame me for criticizing you. You feel tired? Good—comfort is for the elderly. You want to enjoy life? Of course you do—enjoyment is for successful people.
"In the prime of your youth, you must bravely step out of your comfort zone and fulfill your life's value through hard work. Don't let other people's lives blind you—are you willing to be like them, doomed to remain ordinary forever? Don't let desires cloud your reason; desire will only slow down the speed of your blade.
"Fight hard for the things you want. That way, if you fail in the future, you can freely blame the world without having to loathe yourself.
"We sorcerers ask nothing of past lives and seek nothing from the hereafter; we seek only to live this life vigorously, passionately, settling scores and living without regret!"
Sonia fell silent for a long time before nodding heavily. "You're right, Watcher!"
*Great, tricked her...* Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief. He still wasn't quite used to this line of work. After all, it had always been his boss giving him motivational pep talks; now it was his turn to brainwash someone else.
Come to think of it, stoking other people's anxiety was rather entertaining. No wonder his boss was always reposting anxiety-inducing articles on Moments.
"So reducing the two-hour training to one hour shouldn't make much difference, right?"
Yaxiu blinked. Suddenly, he noticed the zone prompt in 'Void Realm Exploration' change from 'Wait a moment' to 'Right now!' He quickly changed the subject. "No more chatting. On your guard—we're entering a dangerous area!"
The small boat sailed through layers of white mist, and an islet came into view.
Upon the islet lay an enormous white-furred fox. Its fur refracted arcs of purplish-white light like a fallen moon, breathtakingly beautiful. Curled up beneath a tree, its body and tail were tucked into a fluffy ball that made one itch to bury their hands in its fur.
"It's a Foxlight Dragon," Sonia whispered, her voice unable to conceal her excitement. "It's asleep!"
The boat quietly came ashore. They tiptoed up to the Foxlight Dragon's head, exchanged a glance, and prepared to strike with full force.
Sonia assumed a sheathing stance, while Yaxiu used his Substitute sorcery spirit to summon a substitute. Holding unsharpened longswords, both pointed their blades at the Foxlight Dragon's head—in the Void Realm, Yaxiu's consciousness was free from the limits of his physical body, naturally unbound by the chip in the back of his neck, allowing him to use sorcery spirits.
Only after testing had Yaxiu realized that although the substitute popped at a touch, it could still launch attacks before being punctured. In a situation like this, he could bring it out to pile on extra damage.
As for the unsharpened longsword, just as Sonia could produce a wooden sword, Yaxiu could naturally summon the weapons he had used during the deathmatches. In truth, what Yaxiu wanted to summon most was firearms, but the problem was that he had never touched a firearm in reality and couldn't visualize one...
With preparations set, the two mouthed the countdown: Three, two, one—strike!
"Iai Wave Sword!"
"Dual Slash!"
The slumbering Foxlight Dragon was hit directly in the head by three swords simultaneously. It let out a piercing screech that nearly left Yaxiu and Sonia deaf, and the sonic blast shattered the substitute instantly.
Yet the Foxlight Dragon seemed utterly dazed by the assault. Unable to even stand, it could only thrash and snap blindly on the ground.
Naturally, neither of them cared about fighting honorably against a beast. Kicking it while it was down, they aimed their weapons at its head and pummeled it relentlessly, Yaxiu even taking the opportunity to stroke its luxurious fur.
After a dozen seconds, the Foxlight Dragon let out an indignant roar, its body dispersing into a puff of white smoke.
It left behind three dormant sorcery spirits, which seemed dazed, staring blankly at the unfamiliar sorcerers. But Sonia didn't look at the spirits; instead, she reached down and picked up a lustrous orb from the ground.
"What is this?"
"An Experience Orb." Sonia stared intently at the bead, an unconcealable hunger gleaming in her eyes. "No restrictions, no prerequisites. As long as a sorcerer absorbs this Experience Orb, they gain all the insights of that knowledge creature and achieve instant mastery over a sorcery faction!
"If it belongs to the same faction, it can even cause a sorcerer's realm of knowledge to skyrocket, paving a smooth path forward with no further bottlenecks!
"Exploration in the Void Realm is an accumulation of ten thousand miles.
"An Experience Orb is an instantaneous epiphany!"
Chapter 42