Mage Manual
Chapter 302 - Chapter 302 Chapter 258 We Cant Be Without the Sword Maiden_2

Chapter 302: Chapter 258: We Can’t Be Without the Sword Maiden_2 Chapter 302: Chapter 258: We Can’t Be Without the Sword Maiden_2 Sonia used to think it was about tailoring teaching to the student’s abilities, but now that Professor Trozan had suddenly shirked the responsibility of giving feedback onto her, a thought shot through her mind–could it be that Professor Trozan actually had no clue about theoretical instruction?

But she didn’t know how to give guidance either!

She was just a novice Sword Master who had been learning swordsmanship for less than a month!

Nevertheless, watching Professor Trozan guiltily avert his gaze, Sonia still felt compelled to protect her mentor’s reputation as much as she could. Remembering the recent battle, she tried to come up with suggestions from the perspective of the Sword Technique Faction, but her mind was filled with simple, direct commands:

“Round 8, upward swipe to the chest.”

“Round 13, retreat and stab at the throat.”

“Round 15, sword light to the belly.”

“Round 19…”

Amid the puzzled looks of the onlookers, Sonia voiced eight commands, “These were eight opportunities you had just now. If you had seized even one of them, you could’ve easily overcome your opponent.”

“It’s impossible!” Cathy, who had just won, immediately contested, “I controlled the entire fight; he never stood a chance!”

The male student was visibly frustrated, but couldn’t find words to argue back. In the end, being unskilled was the original sin; even breathing was a mistake for the loser. Plus, he had already lost the Vanguard match in the friendly competition. The school forum was likely rife with criticisms of how he had embarrassed Sword Flower University.

Belger was, however, somewhat surprised. He turned to Trozan, “Hidden Hand Sword Saint, was this your guidance?”

Professor Trozan gave him a glance, then looked at Sonia, who seemed a tad flustered, and nodded emphatically, “Yes, those were my instructions. So you understand why I couldn’t be bothered to give feedback, right? There were so many chances to win, yet my student just missed them all. Sigh, it’s not that your students are particularly strong, but that ours are just too weak.”

As Sword Flower University’s popular professor, Professor Trozan had a way of getting under people’s skin, and students from Trajectory University were nearly in tears from his comments. Seeing this, Belger dropped the nice act and snorted, “Play the battle playback, let’s appreciate Professor Trozan’s expert guidance!”

Belger didn’t doubt that Trozan could provide such accurate, surgical technical advice, but Professor Trozan had obviously been staring into space just earlier, clearly playing with the Veil, not focussed on the match at all! Plus, by intentionally having the student give feedback, it was clear that these comments didn’t come from Trozan but rather from the top student of Sword Flower!

While the Gun Technique Faction had become much more flexible since incorporating the Mechanical Stick, it was still at its core a straightforward and vehement Magic Faction, and Gun Masters were typically strict and disciplined. ‘Spinning Cherry Fierce Saint’ Belger was a prime example of this.

What he despised most were those who slacked off on the job, like colleagues who got distracted from work and didn’t pay attention to their appearance–like Trozan. Even without any personal grudge, the sight of them irked him. Now that Trozan had handed him the chance, Belger didn’t mind giving her a bit of humiliation.

As for whether that top student could give the correct feedback… Belger had done some digging. A month ago, she was still a first-year in the Water Magic Department but likely had trained in swordsmanship for many years before, which allowed her to summon a Sword Technique Spirit during battle and become a Mage. Then, by luck, she encountered a Vortex in the Void Realm and suddenly possessed the silver Full Wings.

However, such lucky individuals often had one glaring issue: a shallow foundation. Her understanding of the Sword Technique Faction was probably far inferior to her level of Magic Power. Let alone instructing others, she likely didn’t even know how to guide herself.

This was also one of the reasons for Belger’s dissatisfaction with Trozan: promoting a student who had become a Mage less than a month ago to a top-ranked combatant position was only conceivable due to Trozan’s personal bias. There wasn’t any other explanation.

Belger had little respect for school professors who played with power like this.

Not to mention, not only did Trozan shirk her own duties, but she also pushed a student to the forefront as a shield, which Belger viewed as a disgrace to the title of a professor!

However, as the Light Screen in the auditorium began playing the freshly concluded battle replay, the hall gradually fell silent, and even Belger showed a look of astonishment.

Upward flick to the chest, retreat and stab at the throat… Each point Sonia instructed was a pivotal moment that could turn the tide of the battle! If the Sword Flower Vanguard had taken action as Sonia had instructed, they indeed could have easily broken through Cathy’s long spear blockade!

Cathy’s face turned deathly pale as she watched, unable to believe her victory had been such a fluke; but her opponent had an equally hard time, stomping their feet in distress at the thought of missing so many openings and suffering such an embarrassing defeat.

As the replay came to an end, the auditorium remained silent until the host’s voice, as if imbued with vitality, rang out, “Thank you very much to both professors for their meticulous guidance. Next, please welcome the two students from the Vanguard battle to the stage…”

Watching the second friendly match kick off, Professor Trozan rubbed his temples like a woman just waking up from a hangover, “I really can’t even slack off… I’ll handle the commentary for the next match, Sonia. Your reviews make everyone miserable.”

Sonia’s first instinct was to thank the professor for sparing her– but she quickly realized that commenting was the professor’s job in the first place, and now Trozan was merely fulfilling his responsibilities. Why should she be thankful?

She should have been questioning the professor’s sudden passing of the buck!

How infuriating, this was the terrifying aspect of power, a mere whim of those above could severely test someone below, who not only couldn’t resist but would feel grateful when let off the hook by those above… such enviable authority!

I too yearn to become such an Upper, where every word and action is as thunderous as rain and dew!

Sonia still didn’t understand why Trozan said her commentary would make people unhappy, but upon closer inspection, she noticed that the Sword Flower Vanguard she had commented on appeared disheartened, and the winning Vanguard from Trajectory University looked pale and crestfallen, clearly hurt by her words.

But Sonia hadn’t meant any harm; her guidance wasn’t borne from faction realm prowess, but from the “Sword Command Technique”!

The “Sword Command Technique” didn’t offer any significant personal enhancement, yet it had almost miraculous effects when used to direct others.

Sonia felt increasingly that her victory from the night before was ever so fortuitous–had Demilo been able to properly command his troops against them, even the Observer’s sturdy and swift sports car would have been rendered scrap metal under the precise art of command like a scalpel.

Unfortunately, the Observer had dragged the battlefield into a cesspool, preventing Demilo from employing even a tenth of his abilities. Together with the collaborative work of their three mages, they had narrowly slain the unlucky Heroic Soul.

As she pondered, the second Vanguard battle began, but Sonia glanced once and lost interest–quite frankly, even the Observer’s combat skills were more delicate than theirs.

Although these two Vanguards likely each possessed the magic power of a silver Half-wing, they seriously lacked real battle experience. They fought without the necessary cruelty and viciousness. To put it in the Observer’s words, “You can’t kill with this kind of fighting.”

Sonia even doubted that they had slain more than a few Fish Dragons.

Uninterested in watching the match, Sonia thought about chatting with Reonie but saw that her senior was looking down at something.

“Read what?”

“Astrology.” Reonie lifted the book she was holding, its cover titled “1668 Year * Seventy-Two Star Constellations and Their Fates”.