By the third strike, Fenrir was forced to dodge sideways, his right foot nearly stepping out of the circle.
By the seventh strike, his greatsword was knocked off course by the iron sword, the blade grazing his shoulder as it passed.
By the fifteenth strike, the tip of the iron sword was held three inches from his throat, stopping steadily.
“Improved again.”
Jiang Lin withdrew the iron sword and nodded slightly.
“It took fifteen strikes to bring you down, three more than yesterday.”
Fenrir panted heavily, the webbing of his hand splitting again as blood dripped down the hilt.
But his eyes were brighter than ever.
He grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.
“Again!”
Once Fenrir’s practice concluded, Jiang Lin turned to Alicia.
She held her slender elven sword, a faint, barely perceptible trace of anticipation in her pale gold eyes.
“Do you still have that feeling from yesterday?”
“Yes.”
Alicia held the sword level before her eyes, the blade glinting with a faint blue cold light in the morning sun.
“When I woke up this morning, I could still feel it. It’s very faint, but it’s definitely there.”
“Then continue. Close your eyes, feel it, and let it guide you.”
Jiang Lin walked up to her and raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together as a tiny point of extremely faint deep blue light condensed at his fingertips.
“I will touch your blade with my sword intent.
“Don’t resist, and don’t try to capture it intentionally. Just feel its flow from the blade to your arm, and then to your mind.”
Alicia closed her eyes and gripped the hilt with both hands.
The point of deep blue light at Jiang Lin’s fingertip trembled slightly, and a wisp of faint sword intent drifted out, brushing over Alicia’s blade like a thin veil.
The blade vibrated gently, emitting a clear, crisp chime.
Alicia’s brow furrowed slightly before smoothing out.
She could feel that cold, pure sword intent slowly flowing into her palm along the blade.
It didn’t invade her consciousness but instead flowed and swirled within her sword like a silent underground river.
She allowed her own sword intent to reach out and touch it.
At first, it was just a tiny contact, like two petals meeting by chance in the wind, parting as soon as they touched.
But as time passed, her sword intent began to resonate with that cold, pure sword intent, like two strings tuned to the same frequency vibrating together, producing the same hum.
When she opened her eyes again, the sword in her hand was vibrating gently.
It was her sword intent—still weak, but undeniably present.
“Very good.”
Jiang Lin withdrew his sword intent and said to her,
“You’ve found the feeling of sword intent. Next, you need to constantly deepen that sensation and make it a part of your body. Practice every day without interruption.”
Alicia bowed solemnly. “Thank you, Teacher.”
The midday sun filtered through the gaps in the canopy, casting dappled light across the Seventh Training Ground.
Fenrir slumped on a stone platform at the edge of the field, panting heavily, his training uniform soaked with sweat.
Alicia sat cross-legged under the shade of a tree, meditating with her elven sword across her knees, the blade emitting a faint cold glow.
Jiang Lin stood in the center of the training ground, having already returned the iron sword to the weapon rack.
He was flipping through Zoe’s notes, his gaze landing on the chapter titled “Spatial Anchoring.”
“Spatial anchoring is the establishment of a stable spatial marker at specific coordinates.
“It is the foundation of all high-tier spatial magic formulas. Without anchoring, it is impossible to perform precise space folding or construct stable teleportation channels.”
He flipped to the next page, which featured a complete magic essence circuit diagram for the spatial anchoring formula.
Seven core nodes were arranged in a ring, each with annotations written in red ink by Zoe.
“The precision of the anchor determines the success or failure of all subsequent formulas. For every one percent increase in error, the probability of teleportation failure increases by ten percent.”
“Reading those notes again?”
Carlos’s voice came from behind.
Jiang Lin turned to see Carlos standing behind him, his dark brown eyes falling on the notes in his hand.
“Spatial anchoring?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not easy to learn.”
Carlos walked to his side. “I remember spatial anchoring is almost part of the advanced curriculum, isn’t it?
“How many days has it been since you started?”
“Maybe I’m just exceptionally gifted.”
Carlos’s voice caught in his throat.
He turned and walked back to the edge of the training ground, sitting on the stone platform with his arms crossed, staring blankly at the sky.
In the afternoon, Jiang Lin went to Zoe’s research room again.
Zoe was standing in front of a crystal container, holding a silver metal ring, seemingly adjusting some parameters.
Hearing the knock, she said “Come in” without looking up.
Seeing it was Jiang Lin, Zoe’s hand paused for a moment.
“How is your mastery of spatial cutting?”
“It’s alright.”
“Spatial cutting.”
Jiang Lin raised his right hand and made a gentle swipe in the air.
An extremely fine black gap opened wherever his fingertip passed. Its edges were as smooth as a mirror, and the void within was so deep it seemed capable of swallowing all light.
The rift existed for only half a breath before quietly mending itself. Space returned to its original state, leaving not a single trace behind.
Zoe didn’t speak.
She simply took a thicker notebook from a drawer, placed it on the desk, and pushed it toward Jiang Lin.
“These are the advanced notes on spatial magic.”
Her voice was as cold as ever, but for the first time, there was a hint of exhaustion in her tone.
“Spatial anchoring, spatial oscillation, and teleportation array architecture are all inside.”
She paused before adding, “Read them first. If there’s anything you don’t understand, come find me.”
She paused again and added another sentence. “Though, I probably can’t teach you much else anyway.”
Jiang Lin took the notes with both hands, stored them in his spatial ring, and bowed slightly.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
Zoe waved her hand, signaling that he could leave.
Jiang Lin turned toward the door, with Elune following behind him.
That night, Jiang Lin flipped through Zoe’s advanced notes in the living room of Elune’s small building.
He had already grasped the theory of spatial anchoring during his previous space perception exercises.
In essence, it was establishing a stable spatial marker at specific coordinates to serve as a reference point for all subsequent high-tier formulas.
He closed his eyes and began calculating an optimization plan for the formula in his mind.
After an unknown amount of time, he opened his eyes and began to construct the formula.
This time, he didn’t use any auxiliary means. Relying solely on his perception of space elements, he condensed magic essence into an extremely fine silver thread that slowly extended through the air.
The first track, passed.
The third track, passed.
The fifth track, passed.
At the end of the seventh track, a pale silver light point condensed in his palm.
The initial light was as weak as a candle in the wind, but under his guidance, it gradually expanded and stabilized.
Eventually, it formed a silver sphere the size of a fist, hovering and slowly rotating in the air.
The spatial anchoring within the sphere was complete; that coordinate point would remain stable for a period of time.
No matter what spatial fluctuations occurred afterward, its position would not change.
Then, Jiang Lin opened his system panel.
He saw the countless days and nights he had spent repeatedly refining this formula within his consciousness space.
In those days, he had failed time and time again, the magic essence circuits collapsing at his fingertips more times than he could count.
The backlash from the space elements had left his hands numb from the vibrations of countless practice sessions, the skin on his fingertips splitting and healing, then splitting again.
But he hadn’t given up, constantly adjusting, optimizing, and refining through each failure.
When his final attempt succeeded, the silver light point hovering in his palm no longer flickered but remained as steady as a rock.
【Spatial Anchoring (Uninitiated) → Spatial Anchoring (Limit-broken)】
【Space affinity slightly increased.】
He opened his eyes, and the silver light point in his palm dissipated.
He put away the notes, stood up, and walked to the window.
Outside, the moonlight was like water.
Moonlight roses bloomed slowly in the night, their silver-white petals glowing softly under the moon like fallen stars.
In the distance, the massive moonlight stone atop the Moonlight Tower emitted a constant pale blue glow, the runes on the tower’s surface flowing slowly in the night.
“Learned spatial anchoring too.”
Little Black was curled up on the windowsill, its amber cat eyes half-open.
“What are you learning next?”
“Spatial oscillation.”
Jiang Lin opened Zoe’s advanced notes to the chapter on spatial oscillation.
“Creating spatial oscillations in a designated area to interfere with the stability of all spatial formulas within range.
“It can be used to counter teleportation arrays or destroy an enemy’s spatial defenses.”
He paused and added, “Once I finish these last few formulas, I can start learning more advanced spatial magic.
“Perhaps I can even integrate the space attribute into my sword qi attacks.”
...
Over the next few days, Jiang Lin’s life became regular and fulfilling.
Every morning, he went to the Seventh Training Ground to teach Fenrir and Alicia swordsmanship.
Fenrir’s Basic Swordsmanship became more and more solid.
Though he still retreated step by step under Jiang Lin’s sword, the number of strikes he could withstand had increased from the initial dozen to over twenty.
Alicia’s sword intent was also growing steadily, the resonance between her and the elven longsword that had accompanied her for years deepening.
She barely needed to guide it anymore; as long as she held the sword, that weak but firm sword intent would flow naturally.
In the afternoons, he went to Zoe’s research room to practice spatial magic using the spatial rift stability sample.
Zoe had completely given up on active teaching, only providing brief answers when he asked questions.
Most of the time, she simply sat behind her workbench, head down as she wrote and drew with her quill.
Occasionally, she would look up at Jiang Lin’s figure by the crystal container, a complex expression flashing in her eyes.
In the evenings, he returned to Elune’s building to read Zoe’s advanced notes and deduce the theory of teleportation array architecture.
It was a massive and precise system, ranging from the calculation of teleportation coordinates to the maintenance of spatial channel stability.
From the allocation of magic essence supply to the protection of vital signs during the teleportation process, every link required the accumulation of vast knowledge and the support of immense calculations.
Jiang Lin went without sleep, his mental energy being replenished as it was consumed, pushing his limits every single day.
Elune stayed by his side the entire time. From their first meeting in Silverleaf Town to their familiarity at Silver Moon Academy, she didn’t talk more, but her quiet presence had become a habit.
On the eighth day.
Jiang Lin opened his eyes from meditation, his golden eyes reflecting the morning light spilling through the window.
A week ago, he was still repeatedly trying the basic formulas of space perception.
Seven days later, he had mastered all seven basic formulas in the spatial magic system.
That morning, Jiang Lin finished teaching Fenrir and Alicia at the Seventh Training Ground as usual.
When he returned to Elune’s building, lunch was already laid out on the coffee table.
Elune was sitting on the sofa, holding a letter sealed with the Silver Moon Academy wax stamp.
“The academy just sent this.” She handed the letter to Jiang Lin. “It’s about that secret realm opening early.”
Jiang Lin opened the letter and scanned it quickly.
The secret realm’s official name was the “Starfall Corridor,” located deep within the Starfall Mountains in the northern part of the Silver Moon Kingdom. It was a trial space opened by an ancient elven archmage thousands of years ago.
The internal environment was complex, with a large number of ancient magic constructs and guardian puppets remaining.
His gaze skipped over a long list of unfamiliar elven names until it stopped at the very last line:
“Special Guest Participant: Matthew (Human), 4th-rank peak, swordsmanship tutor.”
“The academy added you?!”
Elune glanced at it. “A Special Guest Participant doesn’t need to go through selection. Did Tutor Carlos get this for you?”
“Maybe.”
Jiang Lin folded the letter and put it in his spatial ring.
“When does the secret realm open?”
“In three days. We’ll gather at Silver Moon Academy and take a teleportation array to the Starfall Mountains together.”
Three days later, at the main square of Silver Moon Academy.
The morning mist hadn’t fully dissipated, and the scent of moonlight roses drifted slowly through the air.
Over sixty elven students had already gathered in the square, wearing matching silver-white light armor with swords at their waists, gathered in small groups and talking in low voices.
When Jiang Lin and Elune walked from the end of the tree-lined path, the conversations clearly went quiet for a moment.
He was still wearing his simple deep blue robe, without a sword at his waist, and a black cat was perched on his shoulder, yawning.
Compared to the fully armed elven students, he looked more like he was out for a stroll.
“Teacher Matthew.”
Fenrir squeezed through the crowd, his greatsword—almost as tall as he was—slung diagonally across his back. His brawny frame was exceptionally conspicuous in the sea of people. “You’re going too?”
“Yes.”
“That’s great!” Fenrir grinned. “With you there, I feel much more at ease.”
Alicia stood at the edge of the crowd, her pale gold eyes watching Jiang Lin calmly.
Today, she had changed into a set of light silver-gray leather armor, with her slender elven longsword hanging at her waist.
She bowed slightly in greeting but didn’t speak.
Carlos stood in the center of the square, speaking in low tones with an older elf dressed in a silver-white robe.
Seeing Jiang Lin, he gestured for him to come over.
“Matthew, come here for a moment.”
Jiang Lin walked over, and the older elf turned around.
He looked extremely old; the pointed ears unique to elves drooped slightly, and the wrinkles on his face were layered like the bark of a thousand-year-old tree.
But those pale silver eyes were still clear, with a faint flow of stars visible deep within his pupils.
“I am the Dean of Silver Moon Academy, Alderon Starsong.”
His voice was aged and steady.
“So, you are the human Carlos mentioned?”
...
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