Imperial Swordsmanship was created by the Ninth Generation Sword Saint, comprising three offensive moves and three defensive techniques.
Although it hadn't reached the level of martial arts and didn't possess great power, this set of swordsmanship served as a very solid fundamental textbook for introductory swordsmanship, laying a good foundation for the Empire's swordsmen.
Three offensive moves:
Thrust, Diagonal Slash, Horizontal Sweep.
Three defensive techniques:
Quick Dodge, Block, Roll.
Although the name of this swordsmanship was very ordinary, and its actual power was also ordinary, because it was created by a Sword Saint, many swordsmen would learn this set of swordsmanship in their youth.
The Empire also did not forbid the spread of this swordsmanship, because it was simply too basic. It could neither instantly enhance a swordsman's strength nor could it be used to analyze the weaknesses of Imperial swordsmen. After all, such fundamentals basically had no flaws.
Herculean taught Tsukasa this set of swordsmanship not entirely because it was created by a Sword Saint. Another reason was that he believed that with Miss Astrea's physical capabilities, what she lacked was not martial techniques and other skills that enhanced strength; what she lacked was precisely this perfect foundation. With the monstrous physical capabilities this young lady displayed, as long as her foundation was solid, she would likely immediately possess formidable strength.
Ultimately, martial techniques are a kind of skill that allows a martial artist to exert their own limits, or even exceed their own limits, of strength.
If one is already strong enough to defeat an opponent without using martial techniques, then there is no need to use them. Moreover, basically all martial techniques gain power by overdrawing one's stamina, making it impossible to use these skills multiple times in combat.
Mastering martial techniques at the beginning of learning martial arts is not a good thing. Because when you need martial techniques to improve yourself, it means your potential has almost reached its peak, and it's time to break through your bottleneck by using martial techniques.
Moreover, very few people can actually learn martial techniques, because it means they have broken the limits of human potential and gained strength approaching that of other races.
But Miss Astrea doesn't need these yet, because the physical capabilities she currently displays are already comparable to those powerful heteromorphic races.
Furthermore, without even a foundation, learning more difficult martial techniques would not be an easy task.
When teaching Miss Astrea Imperial Swordsmanship, Herculean was already mentally prepared, because she was, after all, the successor of the Astrea Family, the Sword Saint's lineage. Her talent was bound to be terrifyingly high; this was a historically proven fact. He was ready to be surprised, but he never expected that this young lady's talent would be so monstrous!
One week!
In just seven days, this young lady completely mastered Imperial Swordsmanship.
And her mastery was nothing short of perfect!
Even with a critical eye, he could only give it a four-word evaluation: 'utterly impeccable'!
"As expected of the Astrea Family's young lady."
Herculean could only conclude this way.
Although he did witness the young lady's superhuman diligence and seriousness during practice, mastering Imperial Swordsmanship so quickly was still too outrageous! The fastest recorded time for mastering Imperial Swordsmanship was three months. This was a record spanning hundreds of years in the Empire, with many of the Empire's powerhouses leaving their marks in this competition. No one would doubt that the Astrea Family's young lady could break this record, but the record was broken too quickly; the gap between three months and one week was enough to make other swordsmen question their lives.
Moreover, that record was merely for mastery. The way this young lady was performing now clearly indicated that she had already thoroughly comprehended this swordsmanship!
"Captain, was my performance satisfactory?"
Tsukasa asked at this moment.
Herculean said with a complicated expression, "Do you know what the fastest record for learning this set of swordsmanship is?"
He decided to stop pretending. When the young lady heard his words, a look of understanding appeared on her face.
Ah, that's great.
She finally knew that she was truly a genius.
Herculean felt that he was finally liberated.
He no longer had to endure this torment.
He no longer had to act as a coach, going against his conscience, pretending not to see the other party's genius, striking their confidence, and thereby spurring them forward.
He didn't know if he had successfully spurred the other party, but he knew that his own confidence had been completely shattered this week. He had originally been quite proud of his strength and talent.
Although he wasn't a true genius, he felt he had talent. But facing the monster of the Astrea Family, who could confidently say they had talent? Compared to such a monster, they were practically useless.
He said faintly, "The fastest record was set by the Empire's Sword Master back then. He took three months to master this set of Imperial Swordsmanship, then spent a year absorbing its essence, supplementing his own swordsmanship foundation, and creating a new unique martial art.
Afterward, he challenged the Sword Saint of that generation, was defeated in three strikes, and from then on, there were no more Sword Masters in the Empire."
"He died?"
Young lady, isn't your focus a bit strange? Herculean suppressed the urge to retort and replied, "No, he retired."
"Oh."
Shi had no interest in the events of the past.
She looked at the sword in her hand, thinking about her efforts over the past few days. Although, based on her current achievements, Herculean seemed to think her talent was very high.
But she wasn't very sure.
Because during training, she didn't feel any boost from the Astrea Family bloodline. The reason she mastered this swordsmanship so quickly was, firstly, because this swordsmanship was, after all, the most basic of basics. Secondly, her mental strength was strong enough to quickly detect and adjust her mistakes during training. Coupled with her powerful physical stamina, she could endure training for a long time. Although it appeared to only take a week, in reality, it might not be far from that Sword Master's three months. She couldn't feel even a tiny bit of the so-called Astrea Family bloodline potential.
Could it really just be a useless background setting? She touched her black hair. Sure enough, shouldn't the Astrea Family have red hair?
But it cannot be confirmed yet.
Perhaps this swordsmanship was too simple, easily mastered even with her abilities, so it didn't trigger the Astrea Family's bloodline talent. She felt she shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly. She should look for more difficult martial arts to confirm this carefully.
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