For this reason, when Lin Xiaolu accepted Mu Mian's challenge, it was not a simple "Seed Level" facing "Leaf Level," but rather an "amateur with no combat training" against a "soldier with systematic combat training."
Just placing these two descriptions side by side is enough to make one feel the huge gap between them.
Even if the sparring match includes rules and restrictions, allowing both sides to only use Magic Armor abilities, the gap is immeasurable.
Therefore, regarding the outcome of this sparring match, Emerald Sparrow couldn't be optimistic at all. So much so that her aura of worry even affected Tu Dinggui and Dogtail Grass beside her.
"What's wrong? Is there something upsetting?" Tu Dinggui closed the book in his hand and looked at Emerald Sparrow.
"Nothing, just looking at those two people on the platform, I have some thoughts." Emerald Sparrow shook her head.
"You're talking about Mu Mian and that magical girl named... Bai Mei?"
Tu Dinggui glanced at the opposing platform, with a slightly surprised expression: "She and you are teammates from the same city squad, she should be considered your senior, right?"
"...She is indeed my teammate."
Emerald Sparrow said expressionlessly: "So I'm a little worried about her."
"Isn't she said to have an SS rating? SS should be pretty strong, right?" Dogtail Grass asked curiously.
"She's only at the Seed Level; her opponent is at the Leaf Level. The rating from the Magic Armor test represents potential more than current combat effectiveness." Emerald Sparrow sighed and explained in a more understandable way: "So, this actually..."
"Oh, it's started."
Dogtail Grass's voice interrupted Emerald Sparrow.
Everyone's gaze focused on the platform above, and they saw: both sides had already made their moves.
Lin Xiaolu held a light blue spear in her hand, while Mu Mian drew the longsword from her waist. The two rapidly approached each other, accompanied by a series of "clang" and "clang" collision sounds. One silhouette suddenly retreated, stepping to the side.
Surprisingly, it was Mu Mian who was the first to retreat.
After just a brief exchange, there was already a hole in her stomach, and the crane feather cloak draped over her was torn into several pieces by some unknown force.
However, fortunately, these "injuries" were not very serious to a magical girl, as they were all healed through a surge of Magic Power.
"Elusive attacks."
Mu Mian commented seriously: "I clearly swung my sword at your weak spot, but not only did I fail to hit, my hand got hurt instead. This feeling... Is it thread?"
"If you're curious, I can explain it to you after the fight."
Lin Xiaolu, who had first driven back her opponent, took a deep breath in relief, but she maintained a serious demeanor: "Right now, we're in battle, and I won't reveal my abilities to my opponent."
"Indeed, I overstepped."
Mu Mian expressed understanding, then crouched down again, slightly raising her sword: "Then, next, I'll change my tactic. Please guide me."
Lin Xiaolu didn't dare to be careless. She tightened her grip on the spear while secretly setting a few threads around her, tightly watching the opponent's figure.
This was the strategy Emerald Sparrow taught her.
If the opponent is fast, and you're worried they might approach from unexpected directions and launch an attack, you can use threads as sensing tools. Even if your visual and Magic Power perception reaction speed can't keep up, you can determine the direction of the attack based on where the threads are triggered.
And if the opponent isn't wary of the threads, this presents an opportunity to strengthen these sensing threads, transforming them into traps that cut the opponent—Lin Xiaolu used this method to injure Mu Mian in the previous engagement.
Mu Mian's sword was quick, and currently, Lin Xiaolu had no way to judge her abilities, so earlier, she used her "Sure Hit" ability and the function of the threads in her nervousness. While the threads blocked the opponent's offensive, she let the spear bypass Mu Mian's defense and pierced through her body.
Since this combat plan was effective, Lin Xiaolu didn't intend to change it immediately...
—The line on the left was triggered.
The perception from the Magic Armor interrupted Lin Xiaolu's thoughts, bringing her attention swiftly back to the duel. She almost instinctively mobilized Magic Power to strengthen the thread on her left side while she swung her spear—
Clang!
A loud collision sound echoed, the great force almost knocked Lin Xiaolu to the ground.
So fast!
Lin Xiaolu mused inwardly, because she almost couldn't see clearly the opponent's attack movements. It was solely due to the thread sensing that she managed to block this strike, and the more serious issue was, what happened to her threads? Did they completely fail to stop the opponent's attack?
She looked toward the direction of the attack, only to find Mu Mian was blocked several meters away by several threads, musingly observing her.
—Just now, she had directly thrown the sword in her hand, bypassing the obstruction of the threads.
"Now I understand, it really is thread."
She nodded: "As for why the spear could hit me, it must be another ability... but it's not important now, at least not at the moment."
She opened her hand, and the longsword she had just thrown swiftly flew back to her hand. Lin Xiaolu tried to intercept it with threads but, ultimately, was a step too slow.
"An interesting ability, though I don't know what aspect of potential the SS rating refers to, it's indeed just potential for now."
Mu Mian evaluated: "Then, the next strike will be in three seconds, I'll be more serious. Please be careful."
Three seconds later? What does she mean? Is this guy bluffing me?
Lin Xiaolu was unsure of the opponent's intentions.
She had never encountered someone who would announce their attack timing in a fight; is there even one benefit to doing such a thing?
But regardless of whether the opponent was bluffing, the fact was that their offensive hadn't stopped. So, Lin Xiaolu reinforced the threads in her surroundings again—this time, she planned to take the initiative and control the opponent's movements before they could act.
However, after she made this judgment, Mu Mian in front of her seemed completely unaware of the ever-tighter threads around her, moving forward.
In the first second, Mu Mian drew a circle with her longsword around herself. After that, Lin Xiaolu lost the sense of the threads in front of her.
In the second second, Mu Mian began to accelerate forward, the longsword in her hand stirring with some special rhythm, then cutting all the threads along Lin Xiaolu's set path.
In the third second, the opponent arrived in front of Lin Xiaolu, with both hands raising the sword to the upper left, then abruptly swung the blade down.
Lin Xiaolu couldn't just sit and wait for death, and in fact, she had made adequate preparations, because she had already marked the opponent's sword with thread. As long as she used the Sure Hit ability, regardless of any changes in the attack, her spear would definitely be able to block—
Her thoughts ended here.
In the fourth second, Lin Xiaolu only felt as if her head had been knocked by something, Magic Power was completely unresponsive, and she subsequently felt exhausted and dropped to the ground.
In the fifth second, Lin Xiaolu lost to Mu Mian.
