Chapter 80: Crescent Slash

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Crescent Slash

"Splendid. In that case, since you appear so comfortably detached from my lecture, why don’t you stand up and answer my question?"

Professor Jones rested his palms flat against the lectern, his sharp hazel eyes fixed upon Eric with an expectant, challenging glint behind his thin wireframe spectacles.

Eric rose to his feet in a smooth, unhurried motion, clearing his throat. He offered no frantic, flustered excuses. He knew full well that in the eyes of an elite academic faculty, sliding beneath the door right on the instructor’s heels and subsequently drifting into a trance mid-lecture painted an immediate target onto his back.

"Tell me," Professor Jones asked, his tone dry and analytical, "what are the comprehensive taxonomic classifications of beasts documented across our known world?"

Eric didn’t hesitate for even a fraction of a second. With a silent mental pulse, the *Myriad Beast Encyclopedia* unrolled across his spiritual consciousness, cross-referencing millennia of biological records in a fraction of a millisecond.

"Professor," Eric projected his voice with crisp, resonant clarity, allowing it to echo across the curved tiers of the lecture hall, "the known biological taxonomy is structured into ten overarching classifications: Avian, Mammal, Reptile, Aquatic, Insectile, Spirit, Fae, Demon, Angel, Draconic, and Undead."

A faint ripple of surprised murmurs washed through the desks. Many freshmen had barely memorized the basic anatomical boundaries separating ethereal Spirit-types from biological Undead types.

Professor Jones arched an eyebrow, a hint of genuine academic intrigue softening his critical gaze.

"Fair enough. Then take it a step further: what are the elemental affinities governed across these eleven categories?"

Eric met the instructor’s gaze without blinking.

"The four foundational elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth. The polarity spectra encompass Shadow and Light, anchored by Dark. The auxiliary high-impact elementals are Lightning, Ice and Nature. And crowning the hierarchy are the two apex elements: Space and Time."

Absolute silence hung in lecture hall 301 for two full heartbeats.

Professor Jones pushed his wire spectacles up the bridge of his nose, the icy condescension completely wiped from his expression, replaced by genuine, professional respect.

"Impressive, boy," Jones admitted with a decisive nod. "Thorough, precise, and without a single wasted syllable. Take your seat, and ensure your attention remains anchored to the class for the remainder of this session."

"Yes, Sir." Eric sat down smoothly, letting out a quiet breath through his nostrils.

Beside him, Jenna gave him a sharp, celebratory nudge with her elbow, flashing a beaming grin.

From the far corner of the topmost tier, Alena Blackthorn’s liquid ruby eyes flicked toward him once more through the sunlit dust motes, carrying an amused, approving glint before she quietly returned to her ink sketches.

For the next two hours, Professor Jones showed the skeletal density variations and bone-marrow mana conduits separating mountain drakes from wetland seraphs. Eric absorbed every structural detail, utilizing CRI’s academic frameworks to contextualize the raw, omniscient data provided by his system.

When the bronze bell finally chimed across the corridor to conclude the lecture, Eric’s stomach let out a hollow growl so violent that Jenna collapsed over her satchel in muffled giggles.

"Come on, genius," she said, slinging her leather strap over her shoulder. "Before your stomach begins digesting your spine."

At the central dining pavilion, Eric didn’t waste a single moment. He loaded a wide wooden tray with roasted lamb shanks, mounds of spiced root vegetables, and thick slabs of crusty hearth bread, tearing into the feast like a starving direwolf.

Jenna propped her chin in both palms from across the table, watching the carnage with wide eyes.

"Wow, Eric, you’re actually terrifyingly smart. The look on Professor Jones’s face when you rattled off the entire world taxonomy without blinking was pure gold!"

"Ifts nwothin," Eric mumbled around a colossal mouthful of savory lamb and roasted potato, waving his fork dismissively. "Jusst baasic fowundations."

"Swallow your food first, dummy! You look like a squirrel," Jenna laughed.

Eric downed a tall flagon of chilled spring water, wiping his jaw with the back of his linen sleeve and exhaling a long, satisfied sigh. "Haahh... sweet heavens, I was starving. I hadn’t touched a single bite of food since yesterday evening. Finally feel human again."

Jenna leaned forward across the dark wood table, her eyes sparkling with pure, unadulterated mischief.

"By the way... do you have a thing for that Alena girl?"

*SPURT—!*

Eric choked violently, spewing a fine mist of water across the flagstone floor and coughing frantically until his entire face turned cherry red.

"W-What?!" Eric wheezed, pounding his breastbone with his fist. "No! What on earth are you talking about?! There’s nothing like that! Absolutely nothing!"

Jenna threw her head back and let out a peeling, musical laugh that drew amused glances from neighboring tables of upperclassmen.

"Ahahaha! Oh, your reaction is just way too precious! You should see your ears right now, they’re practically on fire!"

"You... absolute menace," Eric glared, rubbing his burning ears with both palms.

"Oh, come on, it’s fun teasing you," Jenna grinned, utterly shameless.

"Drop it," Eric muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "We are literally just dorm neighbors. Nothing more."

"Yeah, sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, loverboy." Jenna waved a hand dismissively before adjusting her satchel. "Anyway, the weekend is officially here. No mandatory lectures until Monday evening. What’s your schedule looking like?"

"I already submitted an independent research requisition to Professor Sonia," Eric replied, his voice dropping into serious focus. "Once the laboratory clearance is dispatched to my smartband, I’ll be dedicating most of my open hours there."

Jenna’s eyes widened slightly. "Already? Wow, you really don’t waste a single second, do you? But seriously, be careful, Eric. Freshmen only receive one subsidized departmental grant. If you burn through premium reagents without producing verifiable empirical data, the administrative penalties are ruthless."

"No need to worry about that," Eric smiled calmly, his dark eyes brimming with absolute confidence. "I know precisely what I’m doing."

"If you say so. Best of luck, then! I’m heading back to the eastern grounds, Jim just pinged my smartband."

"Catch you later, Jenna."

Once she departed, Eric cleared his tray, rolled his shoulders, and walked briskly toward the martial training sector in Research Building 7.

With two full days of open weekend stretching before him, he had zero intention of letting his martial foundation sit idle. Major General Harlan Holt had demanded measurable proficiency by next Thursday, but with his Rank-C *Skill Comprehension*, Eric had no desire to wait an entire week.

He wanted *Crescent Slash* integrated into his muscle memory today.

Checking in at the dojo reception desk, Eric spent a nominal deposit to lease a private, reinforced sparring chamber lined with kinetic dampening runes and impact-absorbing granite slabs.

Selecting a standard, balanced steel practice blade from the wall rack, Eric stepped into the center of the ring.

He didn’t swing immediately. He closed his eyes, activating *Skill Comprehension*.

The neural conduits governing mana compression illuminated across his consciousness, tracing the exact trajectory: drawing starlight mana from his Mana Heart, funneling the flow through his shoulder gate, accelerating the current down his forearm meridians, and compressing the aura along the weapon’s primary cutting edge.

First hour... second hour...

He swung the arming sword hundreds of times, calibrating the density and surface tension of the mana coat.

Third hour... fourth hour...

The ambient air inside the sealed chamber cracked with sharp, whipping sonic drafts. Sweat drenched his linen shirt, but the *Ring of Tranquility* continuously pulsed cool, lucid vitality into his core, neutralizing physical fatigue before it could settle into his muscle fibers.

Eric widened his stance, sank his center of gravity, and locked his dark eyes onto the heavy ironwood training pillar anchored across the floor.

He drew a sharp, measured breath. The refined liquid mana of the *Seven Star* circulation didn’t merely coat the blade, it gathered along the edge, condensing into a razor-thin, shimmering blue boundary that hummed with absolute structural stability.

*SWOOSH!*

Eric stepped forward with a flawless *Shadow Step* pivot, whipping the blade through the air in a violent, sweeping crescent.

*SHRRRIIIP!*

A brilliant, crescent-shaped wave of pressurized blue mana detached cleanly from the steel, screaming across the ten-meter gap with terrifying velocity.

*CRACK!*

The mana crescent struck the ironwood pillar dead center, shearing two inches deep into the reinforced wood before detonating with a sharp kinetic pop that scattered jagged splinters across the stone floor.

Eric stood motionless in his follow-through, the blunted practice blade resting level with his shoulder.

A crisp, translucent chime chimed softly in his vision:

│ STATUS PANEL

│

│ Name: Eric

│ Race: Human

│ Cultivation Stage: Soldier

│ Level: 2 (73%)

│ Talent: Appraisal (Rank D), Skill Comprehension (Rank C)

│ Skills:

│ - Shadow Steps (Rank D) [Mastery: Major]

│ - Advanced Swordsmanship (Rank D) [Mastery: Major]

│ - Crescent Slash (Rank D) [Mastery: Entry]

│ Contracted Beast: 1/2

The technique was officially etched into his status profile.

Eric lowered the sword, a fierce, triumphant grin splitting his face as he wiped the stinging sweat from his jaw with his wrist.

"Entry mastery unlocked," Eric whispered, clenching his right fist as the starlight mana humming along his knuckles receded.

"Let’s go."