C64 The Cruel Training

Day two, day three, day four. Black Treasure fought daily, and though each battle ended in defeat, his combat experience steadily grew. From the initial 1100 points in his first fight, he climbed to 1500 points. However, over the following days, his experience only inched up by 100 points, plateauing at 1600.

With just fifteen days left until year's end, President Jager led the top ten students from each grade, along with their mentors, on a journey to the Capital, Heavenly Star City, for the triennial grand magic tournament. Vice-President Slit also accompanied them, leading thirty students.

Following several teleportations and flights on their mounts, they arrived at the Capital of the Heavenly Star Kingdom on the morning of the fourteenth day. Weary from travel, they settled into their arranged accommodations to rest, awaiting the start of the competition the next day.

In the evening, Zhang Xing continued his routine of entering the island to observe Black Treasure's battles. Upon departing the academy, Zhang Xing had realized that Black Treasure's combat strength had plateaued at 1600 points due to a bottleneck. He knew that a breakthrough would herald a significant leap in Black Treasure's abilities.

Zhang Xing's strategy involved relentlessly imparting his knowledge on the application of mental energy. He guided Black Treasure through the process of learning a magic skill, becoming adept in its use, and eventually achieving mastery. He taught him the art of communicating with magic elements and the meticulous manipulation of those elements using mental energy.

Zhang Xing shared his insights from reaching the Minute Subtlety Stage and the Heaven Man Unity. He didn't expect Black Treasure to adopt his style of magical combat against the red dragon, as it would be futile; the dragon race was immune to all lower-tier magic, such as the Pace Slowing Arts, Blind Arts, and various other auxiliary spells.

Instead, Zhang Xing hoped Black Treasure would draw inspiration from his approach to find the key to breaking through his bottleneck during combat. The dragon race, inherently both mages and formidable warriors, tended to favor the latter's style of combat.

Black Treasure lived up to Zhang Xing's expectations, gradually grasping the application of strength in his clashes with the red dragon.

At the same time, he had also discovered the red dragon's Achilles' heel.

The red dragon's arrogance had diminished, as over the past ten days, the once-insignificant Small Black Dragon had grown increasingly resilient.

Particularly in the last three days, Black Treasure's claws had managed to scratch the most vulnerable spot on the red dragon's tail.

The red dragon could no longer treat Black Treasure as a mere punching bag.

Two minutes into the twenty-second battle, as the red dragon was poised to snatch at Black Treasure's belly with a swift claw.

Suddenly, Black Treasure's deep black eyes shone with an intense brightness. His body quivered and shifted in an inconceivable manner.

The red dragon swiped at empty air.

Before he could process what had happened, he was struck by a formidable force and sent tumbling head over heels.

In the ensuing battles, the red dragon's assaults, no matter how fierce, always fell short, never reaching Black Treasure.

Conversely, Black Treasure's strikes never failed to find their mark.

Zhang Xing watched with a grin.

Black Treasure had an epiphany, mastering the realm of Mental Minute Subtlety.

To Black Treasure, the red dragon's once-blistering speed now seemed sluggish.

When he concentrated, the world around him appeared to slow down, as if the frames in his vision were reduced to a crawl.

To onlookers, it seemed inevitable that Black Treasure would be struck by the red dragon's massive tail.

Yet, in the realm of the impossible, Black Treasure made the conceivable a reality.

The system displayed a surge in Black Treasure's combat power, skyrocketing from 1,600 to 2,000 points.

But that was just the beginning. Over the next two minutes, his combat power steadily climbed from 2,000 to an impressive 3,000 points.