```
"Ha!"
With a shout, Ingrid raised her wooden sword high, stepped forward, channeling all her strength into the blade, and struck down with full force at the armored dummy in front of her!
Crack!
With the sound of the dummy shattering, the wooden sword stopped at the edge of the ninth ring.
Ingrid withdrew her wooden sword and resumed a cautious stance, using the breathing techniques taught in school to exhale a long breath, quickly recovering her energy.
'At this rate, I should be able to summon the Slashing Sword Technique Spirit by the end of this month,' Ingrid thought.
As a Mage University with a legacy of centuries, Sword Flower University already had various guiding techniques for training mages. The training dummy in front of Ingrid was a tool designed specifically for Sword Master apprentices to get started.
The dummy looked like a wooden stake with a core marked by ten rings, made of extremely hard material. When an apprentice could slice into the core's tenth ring with a single strike, it indicated that their swordsmanship talent was sufficient to summon their first Sword Technique Spirit.
Generally, there were three types of One-winged Technique Spirits that Sword Masters could summon, namely "Slashing Sword," "Piercing Sword," and "Cutting Sword." Ingrid, who was engaging in slashing practice, naturally aimed to summon the Slashing Sword Technique Spirit.
Ingrid took a couple of seconds to adjust her breathing. By now, the dummy had returned to its original state, as if Ingrid hadn't split it at all.
This was the strength of the training ground at Sword Flower University—no matter the extent of the damage, all the dummies in the training ground would quickly recover. As long as you still had the energy, you could thrash the dummy all you wanted, after all, it wasn't the dummy that would end up crawling out of the training arena.
Boom!
As Ingrid continued her slashing practice, she suddenly heard the training ground doors being blasted open, and couldn't help but glance over in distraction. Though the apprentices were sweating and shouting incessantly, this was actually a very orderly place, and seldom did anyone dare to cause trouble here.
Those who dared to stir up trouble here would soon find dozens of Sword Master apprentices, all pent up with Sword Qi, looking for a "close physical exchange" with them.
Last semester, Ingrid had a few persistent suitors, but they never dared to approach her in the training ground. After all, an action that disrupted training would only need a slight frown from Ingrid for the nearby hot-blooded apprentices to jump out and uphold justice.
Hot-blooded, reserved, combative, filled with the scent of male hormones, these were the labels of the training ground.
At Sword Flower University, there's a well-known joke, "Some guys initially take up swordsmanship to pursue girls but end up practicing to compete with other guys. Perhaps it's not that love loses to strength, but that compared to complex love, it's easier to pursue pure strength?"
But tonight, complex love had stepped into the territory of strength on its own accord.
Appearing at the doorway was a figure with ruby-lustered hair, her skin dazzlingly white, features so exquisite they seemed to be meticulously sculpted by an artist, a slender waist that could be held easily, and long, shapely legs.
A rose that should've bloomed at banquets had abruptly blossomed amidst a forest of swords in the training ground.
But what caught the Sword Master apprentices' attention the most was what she held in her right hand—a training wooden sword.
"Sonia?"
When Ingrid watched Sonia walk across half the training ground, find an unused dummy, and start lifting her wooden sword to train, she was filled with confusion.
Although Ingrid didn't harbor any ill feelings towards Sonia, in her understanding, Sonia was someone who would never engage in swordsmanship.
Unlike the graceful and elegant female sword masters depicted in "Fantasy Epics" and "Knight Dramas" in the Light Screens, real-life female Sword Masters, to summon Technique Spirits and master Spells, even had to train their physical attributes to surpass those of men.
Calluses covering hands from wielding swords aside, arms, legs, and even waist muscles would become sturdier and well-developed due to training. Those actresses appearing in the Light Screens, employing exquisite swordsmanship with dainty, muscleless hands, simply didn't exist in reality.
Even the Sword Technique Spirits wouldn't acknowledge a mage with a frail physique. Ingrid had grown tired of hearing the news about Technique Spirits that abandoned their masters as they aged.
Although some said female Sword Masters had a kind of "strength beauty," Ingrid's own observation was that there were far more men pursuing female Water Mages than those pursuing female Sword Masters.
She admitted that even the likes of Sonia and Lois, these delicate Water Mages, looked much more attractive and refined than someone like herself, who was like a rough man.
She harbored no resentment over this, as while she trained, Sonia and the others were applying makeup and skincare products. Everyone got what they were pursuing.
That's why Ingrid was so surprised; after all, if Sonia were to start training in swordsmanship now, wouldn't it all be for nothing? It would not only hinder her Water Technique Faction studies but also affect her carefully maintained appearance.
However, upon noticing a handsome young man nearby who was wiping his sweat and still wearing a full training outfit despite the hot weather, Ingrid suddenly understood.
Felix Vosloda, a first-year student in their class, a genius apprentice in the Sword Skill department.
Although Felix, like Ingrid, was still training hard to summon his first Initial Technique Spirit, unlike Ingrid, who merely aimed to summon the basic Slashing Sword Technique Spirit, Felix aspired to summon the Vosloda Family's secret Technique Spirit, the "Wave Motion Sword."
Each mage's Initial Technique Spirit was crucial, even determining the mage's future development path. Thus, families with the means would try to find suitable cultivation methods for their talented members to summon the strongest and most fitting Initial Technique Spirit.
Even Ingrid, from a rural noble family, had a family-secret Technique Spirit cultivation method, just not one suitable for her.
There was no doubt the Wave Motion Sword was superior to the Slashing Sword, and Felix's training intensity undoubtedly surpassed Ingrid's—he earned the title of Sword Skill genius because his swordsmanship skills and training intensity far exceeded those of his peers.
Last semester, during the Sword Skill department's end-of-term sparring, Ingrid lost to Felix, but she accepted it wholeheartedly. After all, not only was he more talented than her, but he was also more diligent. His reputation as a swordsmanship genius was deserved.
But compared to his swordsmanship talent, what interested the girls more was the other side of Felix.
Even though Ingrid came from the countryside, she knew the Vosloda Family was a top elite in the Kingdom of Stars and one of the Starry Council's five pillars.
Duke Vosloda, also known as the "Starforger," controlled the most advanced steel factories in the Kingdom of Stars, operating in fields spanning civilian and military sectors, bearing significant sway in military, political, and commercial spheres. He was arguably the most powerful person in the nation.
As the duke's second son, Felix should rightfully attend Truth University; however, for some unknown reason, he came to Sword Flower University. Many quietly speculated whether he was out of favor with the duke.
Nevertheless, even if Felix wasn't favored, he was still a direct descendant of the Vosloda Family, remaining a member of the top echelon despite any setbacks. Naturally, many sought to climb the social ladder by cozying up to him.
And Felix's social skills matched his swordsmanship talent, nearly swapping a female companion every week, changing women faster than changing clothes.
During the busiest times, Ingrid noticed a different female companion visiting the training ground for five consecutive days, making her both disdainful and impressed—how could someone have the energy for other pursuits after such intense training?
She herself felt like melting into her bed after training.
Skilled, attractive, and with many rumored relationships, Felix undoubtedly was the focal point of the training ground. If Sonia had a special purpose, her only possible target could be Felix.
But back when their dorm room relationship was better, during one chat about the boys at school, Lois, Adelle, and Sonia all made it clear that they kept their distance from Felix.
After all, for a flirtatious noble scion like Felix, the inevitable outcome would be a politically arranged marriage by Duke Vosloda. Holding any expectations and clinging to him would surely result in being an insignificant part of his ex-girlfriend group.
Although Ingrid, with her romantic fantasies, didn't appreciate their naked materialism, she admitted their judgment was correct. Over the year, none of Felix's girlfriends lasted more than a week.
Was Sonia not here for Felix? But besides Felix, no one else here could catch her eye...
As Ingrid pondered, Sonia, with a deliberate and measured manner, began her training.
"Ha!" Accompanied by the breathing technique, Sonia struck the dummy with her sword, but she didn't even pierce its surface.
Ingrid watched for a while, shaking her head repeatedly: Sonia's dominant hand was unstable, her off-hand weak, footwork loose, and overall sluggishness, none of her movements were proper.
Even her attire wasn't changed into a convenient training outfit, still wearing her fine, bright everyday clothes.
Even the shout sounded more like a whine.
Rather than saying she came to train, it looked like she was trying to grab attention.
Whatever her purpose, it surely wasn't training.
Ingrid stopped paying attention and returned to her own practice. Swordsmanship training emphasized the unity of heart, body, and technique, with focus being paramount. Every strike required full mental engagement, calculating the strength to exert, the strength to reserve, the rotation of the shoulders, the wrist movements, the footwork... only when all these details were grasped could one call it a strike.
Laziness bore no meaning, for every bit of effort by the mage apprentices was for themselves, not others.
Only when an apprentice's ability resonated with the Void Realm could they summon a Technique Spirit out of thin air, thereby crossing reality and obtaining the pass to the Void Realm, becoming a true Void Wing Mage.
For Ingrid at her current level, she needed to rest slightly every three strikes, stop to relax her muscles after thirty, managing to swing her sword nine hundred times in two hours constituted one complete session, bringing exhaustion significant enough for her to fall asleep right touching her pillow post-bath.
"Ha!"
"Ha!"
"Ha!"
After a few minutes, Ingrid couldn't contain her annoyance, looking at Sonia in dissatisfaction—within just a few minutes, Ingrid heard Sonia swinging her sword dozens of times, with no breaks in between, which was sheer madness.
Ingrid had every right to be angry, similar to a severe examination setting suddenly having a careless student not even reading the paper before writing answers, all the while commenting things like, "So simple," "This is it?" "Is it possible someone actually doesn't know how to do this?" Surely the others would view that student as mischievous.
Presently, Sonia's actions were tantamount to mischief.
Yet, just as Ingrid was about to warn Sonia, she realized she was mistaken—even though Sonia's movements were still rough and rookie, each action strictly adhered to Swordsmanship Manual standards, each swing exhausting all her energy, with sweat dripping down her nose, undeniably not just playing around.
Moreover, compared to a few minutes prior, Sonia's swordsmanship had visibly improved, her wooden sword even managing to slice into the dummy's first ring edge!
Although still lowering the overall swordsmanship level of the training ground, she looked like she already had a bit of a swordsmanship foundation, something only a few months of practice could give!
"She practiced swordsmanship before?" Ingrid pondered.
Yet, she still believed Sonia wasn't here for training—as exhibiting such exertion and wastage soon would make Sonia unable to stand, far from achieving training effectiveness, though perhaps effective for weight loss.
I see now, she must be here for body sculpting! I've heard of that!
Ingrid suddenly felt she understood Sonia's purpose, though, she thought Sonia wouldn't last much longer.
After all, even for Ingrid, a seasoned Sword Master apprentice, she could only manage two hundred fifty-six consecutive swings in eleven minutes.
For a swordsmanship novice like Sonia to last a few uninterrupted minutes was already impressive.
Just as Ingrid was feeling a bit tired and decided to pause for a break, she began counting Sonia's swing repetitions, intending to guide her a bit when her form started faltering—though she didn't believe Sonia would switch to the Sword Skill department, as long as it could foster a deeper interest in swordsmanship, that would be a positive outcome.
```