Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

Chapter 67: Surprising Gains

An ordinary person should have already been lying on the ground foaming at the mouth by now.

But the kid in front of him not only endured it, even the strength and frequency of his strikes had not diminished in the slightest. From the looks of it, he could still continue for a while.

Necros pondered for a moment.

Perhaps the other party possessed an extremely rare physique talent, one that could forcibly compress the consumption of this violent combat technique into a range that ordinary people could endure.

At this thought, the old man’s gaze grew increasingly fervent.

Such one-in-ten-thousand aptitude was simply too good—so good that even an old man like him, long past his prime, could not help but feel envious.

That love for talent beat intensely within his heart at this moment.

Just watching wasn’t enough; he had to test it personally.

“Raven… no, Lance.”

Necros suddenly spoke, his voice loud and clear.“Want to try some real combat?”

Hearing the old man call his real name, Lance’s movements—madly grinding proficiency—paused for a brief moment.

He sheathed his sword and stood upright, showing little surprise at having his identity exposed.

After all, this was an official institution. Every parchment filled out during registration was archived. Those detailed personal records were not for show.

In this world, the cancellation and inheritance of an Adventurer identity came with strict procedures, nothing like casually registering an online account in his previous life.

“Ha…”

Lance exhaled a breath of turbid air and raised his hand to grasp the edge of his chainmail hood, slowly pulling it back.

As the hood slipped down, it revealed the youthful face beneath.

His short black hair was slightly disheveled from sweat, his features sharp and handsome, and a trace of excitement from the Breathing Technique still lingered in his black eyes.

Looking at this somewhat youthful yet vibrant face, a hint of appreciation flashed in Necros’ eyes.

“Accompany this old man for a spar.”

The old man loosened his wrist and issued the invitation with a smile.

“Consider it repayment for the guild taking you in for so long, how about it?”

“Of course, I won’t let you work for nothing.”

“If you perform well, I’ll give you some extra rewards.”

At the word “rewards,” a bright smile instantly bloomed on Lance’s face.

There were benefits to gain?

Now that changed everything.

“Then Guild Master, you’d better be careful.”

Lance gripped the training shortsword again, his tone carrying eager confidence.

Necros wasted no words. He casually took a similar shortsword from the nearby rack, holding it horizontally in front of his chest in a seemingly loose defensive stance.

“Come.”

The moment his words fell—

Lance moved.

“Hiss…”

With a sound like a high-pressure pump activating, the Aether within his body was driven to its absolute limit.

If before he had merely opened the floodgates slightly for training, now it was a complete release.

His stamina bar was like a collapsing dam—instantly drained and refilled within each breath.

This extreme cycle generated terrifying kinetic force.

Lance transformed into a gray afterimage as he dashed forward, the high-temperature white vapor exhaled from his mouth leaving a clearly visible trail in the air.

There was no fancy probing.

His opening move was the thousand-times-tempered killing strike.

Castro Thrust!

The shortsword tore through the air with a sharp whistle.

However—

“Clang.”

With a light sound, that inevitable strike was effortlessly blocked by the old man’s shortsword.

Necros didn’t even move his feet in the slightest. With just a slight turn of his wrist, he neutralized the impact.

【Castro Swordsmanship Proficiency +1】

【Dragon-Hunting Breathing Technique Proficiency +1】

“Not bad.”

Necros nodded, offering a brief comment with a smile.

Though he appeared calm on the surface, the shock in his heart far exceeded what he showed.

With the enhancement of the Breathing Technique, this kid’s strength and speed had surged so dramatically.

The power of that strike had already surpassed the limits of an ordinary person, even brushing against the attribute threshold of a low-tier professional.

Lance did not give the old man much time to think.

With his first strike failing, he immediately used the rebound force to adjust his posture and launched an even more violent offensive.

In this space, he had no need to consider defense at all.

He directly abandoned all defensive stances, pouring all his focus into extreme offense.

Thrust! Thrust! Thrust!

The shortsword turned into a dense torrential downpour, wildly pouring toward the old man before him.

With the excessive burning of Aether, combined with Lance’s lack of control over energy, a large amount of energy converted into heat and dissipated outward.

The sweat on his body evaporated the moment it emerged, his entire figure seeming to be enveloped in a layer of steaming white mist.

This was a true humanoid steam engine.

A series of dense metallic clashes rang out within the training hall.

This high-intensity burst lasted for nearly over a minute.

Just as Necros was preparing to increase his strength slightly to test Lance’s limits—

Lance’s figure suddenly halted. He rapidly retreated several steps, voluntarily withdrawing from the battle circle.

He panted heavily, the shortsword in his hand drooping as he assumed the appearance of exhaustion.

He couldn’t continue.

If he kept going, it would truly exceed common sense.

A newcomer lasting one minute of high-intensity burst could still be explained as exceptional talent.

But if he lasted five or ten minutes without collapsing, he would probably end up being dissected for research.

One had to know when to stop.

【Castro Swordsmanship Proficiency +8】

【Dragon-Hunting Breathing Technique Proficiency +16】

Looking at the abundant rewards displayed on the panel, Lance was overjoyed.

The gains from this short minute were equivalent to a long period of hard training.

Seeing Lance stop, standing there with heat rising from his entire body, Necros immediately put away his shortsword and quickly walked over.

“Don’t relax just yet.”

The old man’s serious voice rang out.

“Your current state is very dangerous. The Aether in your body is still burning from inertia.”

“The Breathing Technique is like igniting a fire within your body. The stronger the fire, the more careful you must be when extinguishing it.”

“If you cut off control right now, the uncontrolled energy will burn your lungs.”

Necros raised his right hand, his palm aimed toward Lance from a distance.

“Follow my guidance. Slow it down.”

The next second—

It felt as if an invisible field began to expand from where the old man stood.

Lance suddenly felt the surrounding air become viscous.

The sensation was extremely strange, like a fish happily swimming suddenly being frozen together with the water in its tank.

The flow of Aether in the surroundings came to a complete halt for an instant.

Even the originally violent, surging energy within his body was forcibly calmed under this invisible suppression.

A faint sense of suffocation rose in his chest.