Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 187: Learning the Phantom Steps

‘Post?’

‘Genius?’

Xiao Lin was even more confused when he heard it. On the other hand, Wu Qin blushed in embarrassment. She had spread the matter on the sophomore forum, but unfortunately no one believed her at all.

Everyone knew how difficult it was to get started with Basic Meditation, yet he succeeded in just three minutes? It was ridiculous!

With the rumored person-of-interest sitting right there, everyone exchanged glances. The man closest to Xiao Lin asked in a half-joking tone, “Hey, dude! I heard you entered the meditative realm in only three minutes? Is that for real?”

Wu Qin also looked at Xiao Lin expectantly. She was very upset when she was questioned, and she had planned to ask Xiao Lin for clarification later on. Alas, Xiao Lin went to New Washington and was nowhere to be found.

Xiao Lin touched his nose and smiled. “I’m sure it’s just a joke. Three minutes to enter meditation? Why don’t I know about this?”

“You!” Wu Qin glared at him all of a sudden. He was blatantly lying.

Xiao Lin did not want to cause too much trouble. He went there for the purpose of learning and he shook his head even more firmly when he sensed the gossipy tendencies and curious eyes of the people around him. After indicating that it had nothing to do with him, he said helplessly, “Guys, I think you should at least consider the tutor’s feelings.”

A noisy classroom was not that big a deal, but hardly anyone was paying attention to the tutor on the stage. He looked incredibly sullen, but he could not say anything. In theory, he could silence them all with his tutor’s authority, but the world was a wheel—he could not have known what the future held when those people reached their third year. One of them might become his classmate, or even his immediate superior in the future.

Xiao Lin’s words had more or less lifted him out of his predicament. He quickly shot Xiao Lin a grateful look and cleared his throat before interjecting, “Although the Phantom Steps only has eight basic movements, it’s very easy to master. I believe everyone here has almost mastered it, but the real use of Phantom Steps is in actual combat. When should we use a certain action? The connection of each action extends to dozens of changes.”

Everyone pursed their lips and understood that they were still in class. They restrained themselves and the tutor soon continued to give detailed explanations. Xiao Lin was in luck. The Phantom Steps course started at the beginning of the month. He had only missed two classes in two weeks, so there was not much that he missed.

As the man said, the eight movements of the Phantom Steps were very basic, so much so that Xiao Lin felt he could imitate them after watching them a few more times. The difficulty lay in seamlessly incorporating all eight movements in actual combat.

The man randomly picked a student to come up for a demonstration. The opponent’s job was to attack while he was responsible only for defending. It ended up with the student failing to even touch the corner of the tutor’s clothes after a full twenty minutes of attacking. Instead, the student was left tired and panting.

Xiao Lin was surprised to see it. ‘It’s a really interesting skill,’ he thought to himself. Miraculous effects could be achieved, especially when one faced an unruly attack.

The tutor probably gained some confidence from that and allowed the class to practice freely in groups. He took the initiative to come up to Xiao Lin and smiled. “You’re a newcomer, so I’ll explain the fundamentals of each action to you separately.”

Xiao Lin suddenly remembered something and asked casually, “Tutor, what grade is Phantom Steps?”

“F-plus. Hehe, you don’t need to call me Tutor. Senior’s fine. I’m only a third-year student acting as a temporary substitute tutor. Phantom Steps itself is not a very advanced skill.” The man was very soft-spoken, perhaps even a little humble.

Xiao Lin was rather surprised. “It’s rated just F?”

Wu Qin, who had been paying attention to the situation, could not help but remind him, “Of course. Phantom Steps is only the most basic in this series of skills, so the most it’ll be is F.”

“What about advanced skills?”

The instructor hurriedly replied, “There’s too few changes in Phantom Steps and it’s easy to be restrained. Advanced skills, such as Apparition Hundred Steps, are based on these eight fundamental movements. There’s also the higher-level Divine Shadow Step and stuff like that.”

Xiao Lin breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, “You could’ve said so earlier.”

“Said it earlier?”

“Senior, your Phantom Steps must have reached the max, right?”

“Well, the highest level of the Phantom Steps is level six and I’ve reached it long ago.” The man was rather pleased with himself, but he was more confused if anything.

Xiao Lin flashed a bright smile. Things would be much simpler then. He said, “Could you show me again, please?”

The man thought for a moment and happily agreed. Xiao Lin had the dean’s support and was also a polite freshman who left a good impression on the tutor. The man immediately called another student to practice with him, and the sequence was the same as before—he defended while the other student attacked at random.

[Replicate skill: activate!]

[Scanning the skill to replicate, Phantom Steps LV6 (MAX)!]

[Skill evaluation F+, within replication range. Replication, start…]

[Replication successful!]

Xiao Lin immediately interrupted the man and the student in training. He was very eager to try his hand at it. “Practice with me.”

“Junior Xiao Lin, it’s still too early for you to practice. First you need to master the eight basic moves before you can understand the most basic cohesive movements, then…”

Before the lecturer was finished, Xiao Lin impatiently drew a training sword from the weapon rack next to him and thrust it toward the nearest student. His replication time limit was only three minutes, so there was no time for him to explain things.

Although the training sword was made of wood and did not cause substantial damage, it would certainly arouse anger if a stranger suddenly used it to attack. The man he attacked did not even know Xiao Lin and yelled angrily in response. After that, he also drew a training saber from the weapon rack and slashed it at him.

Xiao Lin yelled back in acknowledgement and retreated a little later. He distanced himself from the man and the skill information which he had replicated in an instant told him that Phantom Steps required some distance in order to execute. He stabbed simply to provoke the opponent and avoided making more offensive moves. The opponent had to be allowed to attack, as he needed to adapt his body as much as possible within those three minutes in order to remember the Phantom Steps’ essential moves.

The man was merciless when he was angry, but fortunately, he was only using a training saber. Most of the others were onlookers and did not step forward to stop him.

Take two steps forward, turn left three steps, retreat, move a half-step to the left, move forward sideways by four steps…

The basic essentials of Phantom Steps kept flashing in his mind. Faced with the threat of the sword, he was able to evade it with ease. Phantom Steps was not a series of footwork that emphasized speed, but rather avoidance through precise anticipation. So long as the footwork was well connected, all attacks were virtually harmless.