Jiang Lin, feeling a bit stubborn, checked the task the system had issued once more.
【Temporary Quest:】
【Jie jie jie! The pride of heaven, adored by all, stands before you. As a demon lord, you must naturally take her for your own!】
【Requirements: Ravage the opponent mercilessly, turn her into your furnace, and then ravage her again.】
God damn it, what kind of 'ravaging' are we talking about here?!
And what the hell is this 'furnace' thing? Am I still in a fantasy world?
Is this really not a system from some dark cultivation novel??
I’m a paladin, you bastard!
Jiang Lin felt his composure cracking slightly. However, there didn't seem to be any punishment for failing this temporary quest; he would just lose the chance to upgrade any skill to the maximum level.
"Your swordsmanship... it's very strong."
Anya, whose breathing had returned to normal, spoke to Jiang Lin with a serious expression.
"It was just luck. You're overpraising me. It's only because you suppressed your abilities across the board,"
Jiang Lin replied politely.
Anya thought for a moment before saying:
"Do you have time later? If you do, we can set a time to spar a few more rounds!"
Within those eyes that were usually cold and aloof, an intense fighting spirit flickered.
Noticing Jiang Lin’s somewhat shabby clothes, she paused for a moment before adding:
"I can pay you for your time."
Hearing this, a sudden spark of inspiration flashed in Jiang Lin's mind. He looked at Anya and asked:
"No problem. I can spar with you during the free practice session later. However, I've exhausted quite a bit of stamina. Do you have any magic potions to restore it?"
Jiang Lin remembered that Anya’s family was quite wealthy and seemed to have ties to the city lord. She likely carried some magic potions on her.
Anya looked at him strangely.
'He's already exhausted after five or six minutes?'
'That doesn't seem like the stamina of a level 2 paladin!'
Of course, she didn't say this out loud. Instead, her spatial ring flashed, and she pulled out a magic potion filled with a crimson liquid.
Seeing this, the surrounding male and female students couldn't sit still:
"God damn it, Jiang Lin actually dared to ask Lady Anya for a magic potion!"
"Curse him! My goddess is actually giving things to another guy!"
"I'm so mad! I’m going to go home and punch the training dummy a thousand times!!"
"Look at you getting all emotional again..."
Anya, as the top student of the entire year, was quite famous and very beautiful. Naturally, she had plenty of admirers.
However, because Anya was usually cold and focused entirely on her cultivation, very few people could get close to her.
As a result, everyone naturally had a huge problem with Jiang Lin.
...
Jiang Lin took the magic potion from Anya and glanced at the system with anticipation, waiting to see how it would react.
His stamina wasn't actually that low; he had only asked for the magic potion to see if he could trigger the system's trashy detection mechanism.
Ravage = Combat.
Furnace = Alchemy Cauldron = Pills = Magic Potion.
If the system could judge it like that, then sparring with her again might actually complete this temporary quest.
And even if it didn't, it wouldn't matter. It was just a free magic potion, after all. As a talented paladin, she was naturally helpful and charitable; she wouldn't care about a common magic potion.
Though, compared to getting a free magic potion... the resentful glares from the other boys and girls in the class seemed much more terrifying...
At that moment, as if sensing Jiang Lin's gaze, the system began to load.
A dotted circle appeared in the quest list, spinning in place.
After a long while, as if the system's 'pig brain' had finally finished processing Jiang Lin's staggering wisdom, it actually issued a settlement!
【Jie jie jie! Even the pride of heaven has fallen to your blade. Ravaged and broken, she trembles as she offers her most precious item (the magic potion), eagerly anticipating the next time you ravage her (a duel).】
【Quest Completed.】
【Reward Obtained: Upgrade a designated skill to the maximum level.】
Looking at the text provided by the system, Jiang Lin fell into a long silence.
'Seriously, bro? Do you even dare to read back what you just wrote?'
'You must have majored in journalism, didn't you?!'
It felt exactly like a fresh graduate with zero experience trying to pad their resume by spinning every little thing they'd ever done.
Jiang Lin had exhausted every trick and ounce of effort to deal with this trashy demon lord system.
'Is this the way of the demon? Truly terrifying.'
Fortunately, the system's reward arrived as promised:
【Please select a skill:】
【Basic Swordsmanship (superlative) (Can break through limits), Paladin Breathing Technique (skilled), Low-level Healing (skilled), Low-level Strengthening (novice)】
The other three skills were within Jiang Lin's expectations, but he was surprised to see 【Basic Swordsmanship (superlative)】 on the list.
The note after it said "Can break through limits"?
Was there another level of proficiency beyond superlative?
Jiang Lin was curious.
But his top priority right now was to raise his level. After all, if he couldn't raise his level, he wouldn't get into the Middle Magic Academy, and everything else would be for nothing.
Therefore, he had to make good use of this chance to upgrade the breathing technique to the maximum level.
Without hesitation, Jiang Lin selected the 【Paladin Breathing Technique (skilled)】 option.
In the next instant, a flood of memories poured into his mind.
He seemed to see himself sitting alone on a giant boulder, practicing the 【Paladin Breathing Technique】 day and night.
Days passed, but because his temperament wasn't the most suited for a paladin, his progress with the breathing technique was incredibly slow.
But that didn't matter. After all, he had plenty of time.
The sun and moon raced across the sky like they were mad, and time flowed frantically, yet he remained as still as the rock beneath him.
Even as his body aged from a youth to a young man, then middle-aged, and finally old, he continued to practice this most basic breathing technique.
Finally, one day—
【Paladin Breathing Technique (skilled) → (superlative)】!!
At the same time, his level increased, and his life level advanced to the next stage:
【Level】: 2 → 3
As the massive amount of memories continued to flood his brain, the boredom and loneliness of practicing a single skill for countless years also surged into Jiang Lin's heart. His body was also being forcibly altered to become more suited for this breathing technique.
Finally, Jiang Lin slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. The exhaustion and aged look in his eyes were hard to hide, making him look like an old man at the end of his life.
He opened the magic potion Anya had given him and drank it down. A warm current flowed through his body, washing away some of his exhaustion.
Rate on N.U.
