Nolan was all too familiar with the aggravation of dealing with elemental shields or barriers.
Especially when facing Abyss Mages, the advantage of his new specialization was immense. These enemies had frail bodies and relied entirely on their elemental shields for defense.
Without their shields, they were as vulnerable as ordinary humans, easily susceptible to lethal damage. Of course, their shields were correspondingly strong.
But now, with his new specialization, *North Wind*, Nolan had a small chance for his attacks to penetrate these elemental shields and barriers, directly striking the body.
This specialization was incredibly practical, albeit somewhat unreliable due to its low probability.
He couldn't rely on it to work every time, as its effectiveness depended on luck.
However, with enough attacks, it would eventually activate, ensuring he wouldn't be helpless against such defenses.
Even though he now possessed a Pyro Delusion, as well as the Wind Elemental Power that he had mastered through his specialties, he could basically deal with most of the elemental shields.
When he encountered a more stable geo elemental shield, he could also prepare a heavy weapon to break it.
However, none of these were as good as [North Wind]. After all, those mentioned above required a process of utilizing elemental reactions to take down the shield.
The stronger the enemy was, the thicker their elemental shield was, and it might take a long time to break it, all while enduring enemy counterattacks.
It's very dangerous.
The [North Wind] specialty, he didn't need to worry about this at all.
He could stay at a distance, firing arrow after arrow. As long as one arrow hit, the creature hiding behind the elemental shield would be injured.
Even if it didn't kill them, it would significantly impact their subsequent performance, providing Nolan with a substantial advantage.
This specialty offered solid reliability.
Nolan, Lumine and Paimon went into a Mondstadt's department store on the street and purchased some cream, eggs, flour and other ingredients for making cakes.
After returning home, the girls excitedly began to prepare the cake, while Nolan lay on the light blue sofa and looked at the character panel.
[Adventure EXP: 7760]
These Adventure EXP were accumulated while battling the Rift Monsters with Lumine.
According to his prior plan, he aimed to upgrade his swordsmanship level, hoping to unlock another secret-art level skill.
*Experience Points -4499*
*Rhine One-Handed Swordsmanship Lv.1 (1/100) > Rhine One-Handed Swordsmanship Lv.10 (Charge/Ready to Fuse)*
The exceptional characteristic of *Charge* allowed him to build momentum while executing sword techniques, unleashing an incredibly swift and powerful strike.
According to the knowledge that surfaced in his mind, this strike could cut through steel without causing significant damage to the sword itself. This was an extraordinary characteristic that greatly enhanced the power of his swordsmanship.
Nolan attempted to fuse it with the "Favonius Royal Swordsmanship," but unfortunately, the new skill did not evolve into a secret-art level technique.
[Royal One-Handed Swordsmanship Lv.10 (Flickering Candlelight, Wind Stillness, Charge)]
It seemed to have only gained an additional extraordinary characteristic, with not much change in name. However, the power had indeed increased.
It felt as though an ordinary person, not particularly powerful, possessing such a level of swordsmanship could traverse most wild areas unimpeded.
With over three thousand two hundred Adventure EXP left, Nolan decided not to hoard them and immediately invested three thousand EXP into his level.
As a warm current surged within his body, it didn't take long for him to complete another round of enhancement, reaching level thirty-one.
Just as he felt pleased with this level up—
"Crash!"
Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass and a girl's startled cry echoed through the room.
A shard of glass flew towards Nolan. His reflexes quick, he caught it, then sat up and looked towards the two preparing the cake at the table.
"What happened?" Nolan asked Lumine and Paimon, puzzled.
"Uh, I accidentally used too much force," Lumine said, dispelling the vortex of wind elemental energy from her hand. She wiped foam from her face with the back of her pale hand, looking slightly embarrassed.
"You wouldn't use the wind element to whip egg whites, would you?"
Nolan knew that making a cake required beating egg whites into a fine foam, a somewhat tedious task. He hadn't expected Lumine to come up with the clever idea of using swirling wind elements for the task, only to misjudge the strength and shatter the bowl.
"Ugh! Traveler, you idiot! Foam got all over me!" Paimon fumed, hands on her hips.
"Haha…"
Lumine wiped the white foam from her chest, imitating a certain playful bard by sticking out her pink tongue in a cute attempt to get away with it.
"Let me help you clean up," Nolan said with a smile.
Due to her lack of experience, Lumine ended up covered in egg white foam. It took them the entire afternoon, but they finally managed to make a barely passable cream cake.
In the early morning, brilliant sunlight streamed through the window, casting its glow on Nolan.
Though he had awakened, he lingered in bed for another half hour before finally getting up. By then, Lumine and Paimon had already prepared breakfast.
He stretched in the front yard, squinting and yawning. As he opened his eyes, he saw two figures outside the wrought iron gate, waving at him.
It was Amber, her long brown hair tied with a bunny ear ribbon, and Eula, whom he hadn't seen in a while, dressed as always in her form-fitting leather suit and over-the-knee black high-heeled boots.
"Amber, Eula, what brings you here?" Nolan walked over, opened the gate, and invited them in.
"Good morning, Nolan. I'm here to deliver your flight license, and Eula, well, she insists on testing your swordsmanship or something..," Amber said, placing her hands on her soft waist, a smile lighting up her fair face.
He did recall Grand Master Jean mentioning that the reconnaissance squad would return for a break, so it wasn't surprising that Eula, the squad leader, would come back.
However, he thought Jean would assign her to clear the rift monsters in Wolvendom. Since it was an urgent mission, they would have at most half a day to resupply before heading out.
He didn't expect Eula to skip resting and come over to test his swordsmanship. Her dedication touched him deeply. Fortunately, his skills had reached an impressive level, not disappointing her... um, mentorship.
"Hmph, I just wanted to see if you've been slacking off. If you have, I'll hold a grudge!"
Eula said, crossing her arms and lightly pressing them against the light blue, gold-patterned tie that draped over the center of her leather suit, accentuating her figure.
"Of course, my swordsmanship will absolutely surprise you," Nolan replied with a smile.
"Alright, let's hold off on the swordsmanship test for now. I'll give you your flight licenses and relay Master Jean's instructions, then I need to get to work," Amber said, taking two booklets from her Vision and handing them to him.
As Nolan accepted the flight licenses, he noticed the additional message in her words: "Is there something Grand Master Jean needs us for?"
(End of Chapter)
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