Chapter 30: The Tale of the Swift Blade Swordsman

Swish, swish, swish!
Blades of wind relentlessly sliced into the towering trees, as Luo Yong slowly grew accustomed to casting spells, learning the ebb and flow of his magical energy.
Normally, as a necromancer, one rarely encountered issues with mana depletion. Summoning skeletons or demons consumed energy only once; afterward, the summoned creatures persisted without further drain, able to exist for quite a long time. Compared to this, other schools of magic seemed somewhat lacking.
Yet, every type of magic possesses its own strengths and weaknesses. That is why many heroes team up, compensating for each other’s shortcomings.
Luo Yong, as a Pretender, could study many different types of magic according to his own attributes—all through disguise. In effect, he could wield both necromancy and wind magic.
“A pale gleam, floating on the blade!”
Gale Slash!
Muttering a simple incantation, Luo Yong swung his longsword down upon the tree he had been tormenting all afternoon, a tree both physically and spiritually exhausted.
Cough.
Crack!
His sword bit three inches deep into the trunk before refusing to go further.
“Uh… This tree is far too thick…”
He pulled the sword free and glanced around. There were no slender trees here; the further he ventured into the forest, the taller and sturdier they grew, making felling them exhausting work.
He pressed onward, practicing the wind blade spell he had just learned. With each repetition, his casting became more fluid.
In fact, basic spells could be mastered to the point of instant casting by most heroes after some practice.
After what seemed an entire morning, Luo Yong could now conjure a wind blade a meter wide, slicing half a foot deep into a tree—and he could cast it instantly.
When night finally fell…
Cough.
As the forest dimmed once more, Luo Yong stopped before a gigantic plant, taking a moment to rest.
Continuous practice had worn him out, and his potions were running low.
Still, his progress was satisfactory.
He selected a large leaf, the blade of his sword flickering with a greenish glow; though the edge was blunt, a hint of sharpness lingered.
Swish!
With one stroke, the seemingly tough leaf was cleaved in two.
To Luo Yong’s surprise, the leaf quickly retracted; its wound closed, and no more sap oozed out.
“Wakaka…”
Even a slow-witted person would realize: this towering plant was actually a monster.
Thanks to his unique profession, he had survived; anyone else might have been swallowed whole in a careless moment, leaving not even a trace behind.
“It’s already dark, and it still managed to startle me, damn it!”
Annoyed, Luo Yong ignored the fact that the creature had done nothing to him—it was he who had trespassed into its territory.
With a flick of his wrist, a wind blade shot out, striking the main stem and making the plant shudder.
Then, slowly, it rose from the ground, uprooting itself and retreating deeper into the forest.

Luo Yong was briefly astonished, then gave chase. He could not let a wounded monster escape.
Though the twilight was deepening, the forest held no real danger for him; he could move boldly and freely.
And as he pursued, he practiced channeling wind magic for movement, focusing the wind element beneath his feet and unleashing it, instantly increasing his speed.
“Ha! This must be what they mean by ‘wind beneath your feet!’” Luo Yong said, feeling somewhat pleased.
Soon, he spotted a patch of the same strange plants he’d been hunting.
He couldn’t quite identify their species—something like the giant man-eating flora from games, clumsy and surely lacking in intelligence.
The one he’d chased was the smallest; the others were broader and taller.
He stopped, observed carefully, and saw nothing unusual.
Then, waving his staff, he summoned two skeleton soldiers to test the waters.
Pop, pop…
Two odd sounds echoed as the skeletons were surrounded and pressed together by a group of plants.
In truth, the monsters hadn’t sensed any intruder; they were simply startled by the sudden assault, and in their panicked dodging, ended up in this predicament.
The skeletons struggled valiantly to fulfill their mission, but at their current level, their efforts were futile.
“How high must my level be to qualify for hunting monsters in an intermediate secret realm?”
Luo Yong pondered, unleashing another wind blade.
Hiss!
Just as its name implied, the wind blade was razor-sharp, seemingly able to cut through anything.
At such close range, it sliced one unsuspecting plant monster clean in half.
If its leaves had blocked the attack, perhaps it would have lasted longer.
“A Wind Speaker and a Storm Sorcerer are two distinct professions. Their skills overlap somewhat, but they’re still different.”
He recalled how the Storm Sorcerer, eager to recruit him, had demonstrated a powerful level 8 instant spell—a miniature tornado.
At higher levels, that spell would indeed be a devastating area attack.
But for single-target damage, wind blade was more straightforward.
With this realization, Luo Yong cast several more wind blades, intending to retrace his steps and explore along his original route.
Just then, beside the fallen ‘man-eating flower,’ a gem larger than a fist rolled to the ground, sparkling in the gloom.
“Looks like there’ll be no rest tonight…”
He muttered, rummaging through his storage space for a recovery potion and gulping it down.
Then…
Before he could start casting, a faint yet dense rustling sounded; the Greedy Spider rushed forward, seemingly even more excited than Luo Yong, and snatched up the gemstone in a flash.
“How much gold can this one fetch?”
Gazing at the cluster of ‘man-eating flowers,’ Luo Yong felt as if he saw a mountain of treasure before him.
Indeed, the intermediate secret realm was extraordinary!
Thinking of the monsters here and the gems they dropped upon defeat, Luo Yong felt his blood surge with excitement.
He raised his sword, infused the blade with wind magic, and struck with vigor.

“Gale Slash!”
Swish, swish, swish!
With each blow, another plant monster fell easily.
Oddly enough, though he remained at level 13, the skeleton soldiers summoned by necromancy could not inflict real harm on the monsters of this secret realm.
Yet, wind magic—especially the wind blade—boasted high single-target damage, and the enchanted sword with Gale Slash felled monsters in one strike.
Cough, sometimes two… or three or four…
Still, it was far better than before, when he could only stare helplessly.
“Could it be that Wind Speaker is actually an evolved form of Storm Sorcerer?”
As he cut down monsters, Luo Yong mused over the strengths, weaknesses, and synergies of magic.
One gemstone after another dropped to the ground, producing an addictive sound.
Pop!
Suddenly, a different sound rang out, distinct from the gems.
Luo Yong was about to investigate when the Greedy Spider snatched it up first.
“I need to see what it is—could it make my already good mood even better?”
Talking to himself, he caught the mechanical spider when it wasn’t looking, flipped it over, and shook out its contents.
To his surprise, he had already collected a pile of gems in such a short time.
At first, he hadn’t noticed, but now he saw they were all purple, uniform in size and shape, glowing with an alluring light.
The item he sought lay quietly among them: a scroll, intact.
Unlike any scroll he had encountered before, it was unique, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint how.
As he gazed upon it, Luo Yong felt something strange stirring within him.
The sky was still dim; he picked up the scroll and stored it in his ring, letting the Greedy Spider gather the remaining gems.
After drinking more recovery potion and adjusting his state, Luo Yong resumed his emotionless monster-hunting.
This world of grinding, this path of accumulating experience and leveling up, this… this…
Damn it!
Suddenly, Luo Yong stopped, noticing the ‘man-eating flowers’ before him hadn’t diminished at all. A sharp question struck him:
He was stuck at his current level—no matter how much he grinded, it made no difference. Was all this experience simply wasted?
With that thought, Luo Yong sat down, reflecting on his journey in this world, trying to find a solution.
“Seems that when I killed spiders, I stopped leveling at three, but after a few quests, I leveled up again…”
That wasn’t truly being stuck.
He was certain this situation was different.
But where was the problem?
He pondered until dawn, the sky gradually brightening, marking another new day.
Unable to find an answer, he set the issue aside for now.
Then, he unrolled the scroll and examined its contents.
In an instant, his eyes widened in disbelief.