If you closed your eyes, you might even feel as if the person sitting there on the ground had become a razor-sharp sword.

Aria scratched her head.

Although she didn’t understand Gauss’s current state, seeing him safe and sound put her completely at ease.

“Hum!”

At that moment.

The energy on Gauss seemed to reach some kind of peak.

Energy overflowed outward.

Rachel silently positioned herself like a solid wall, shielding the three of them behind her.

Then she turned her gaze to Gauss, an expression of disbelief spreading across her face.

It wasn’t that the energy on Gauss was monstrously terrifying.

In fact, she hardly felt any direct threat from it—the gap between them was simply too large.

But the energy emanating from Gauss was clearly not something that normally came from someone who had just condensed a rank.

It far exceeded that level, to the point she briefly thought the figure before her might be a Level 3 or 4 sword professional.

She knew, however, that the Gauss in front of her wasn’t that—he was someone who hadn’t even fully and completely condensed his sword profession yet.

She couldn’t help but become curious: what would Gauss become once everything settled?

The air by Gauss trembled in ripples.

Countless tiny dust motes were pushed aside by an invisible force.

As time passed, astonishment deepened in Rachel’s eyes.

She even felt from Gauss a kind of force that threatened the very essence of the soul,

so she ordered Aria and the others to step farther back.

She herself, though, was unconcerned.

Soul and body are not two separate entities;

a strong body and soul fused together can withstand that level of emanation.

Gauss was caught in an inner storm.

It was as if he stood inside a chaotic space made of countless shards of will and fragmented memories. If he tried to examine any shard closely, it blurred like flowers seen through mist—hazy and indistinct.

Only certain insights about the “sword” flowed rapidly through him.

“What is a sword?”

“A tool for killing?”

“A force for protection?”

“An extension of technique?”

Deep among the chaotic thoughts, an essential idea suddenly exploded like thunder, lighting up the sea of his consciousness.

“The sword is will!”

Gauss “saw” it!

A streak of sword-light rose from deep within his soul.

“Clang!!!”

Even his Basic Swordsmanship and experience with white-collection sword techniques were broken down, refined, and then melted into a concentrated will-aggregation within his body.

A slender, delicate, beautifully glowing pure light-sword finally condensed next to the Mana Cup!

A clear sword-tone, not originating in the material world but ringing through the whole soul, abruptly sounded—like the first cicada cry of midsummer beginning the prelude.

A singular Heart Sword had been forged.

Inside the training room, an invisible ripple spread suddenly.

But this time it was no longer merely an energy tremor;

it felt like a proclamation of existence by a blade revealing its edge.

The Heart Sword was announcing its arrival to them, to this world.

Aria and the others involuntarily stepped back another pace.

After the ripple swept past, all the overflowed auras and energies around Gauss were swiftly, like streams returning to a river, absorbed back into his body, leaving not a drop.

He remained seated with eyes closed, his posture unchanged.

Yet if one paid close attention, something was different.

Two contradictory temperaments—completion and sharpness—appeared on him simultaneously.

Gauss opened his eyes.

Rachel’s gaze met his.

Instead of overwhelming sharpness, there was a bright, crystalline clarity.

As if his soul had been bathed and cleansed.

Such pretty, gem-like eyes.

Even though Rachel had no interest in the jewelry ordinary women adored, seeing such a gaze still made her exclaim inwardly.

Gauss was silent for a moment while his mind slowly woke from the earlier chaos.

He seemed to have glimpsed many inexplicable memory fragments, which all dissipated as he came to, like waking from a dream.

“How do you feel?” Rachel asked with concern.

Aria and the others stepped forward again.

“Very good. I successfully condensed a second profession,” Gauss nodded, a satisfied expression on his face.

At that moment his status panel updated.

“Current professions: Magician lv4, Sword Soul lv2.”

Yes!

The instant his sword profession condensed, it leapt straight to Level 2 in one go!

Moreover, in terms of combat power, he felt it might be far beyond Level 2.

Besides that.

“Strength +1”

“Constitution +1”

The new sword profession granted him two attribute points.

Strength: 11–12

Agility: 9

Constitution: 10–11

Intelligence: 14

Perception: 10 (9)

Charisma: 10 (9)

However... after formally condensing the profession, Gauss could clearly sense that the second profession could not stably provide attribute points like the main profession.

This increase was probably only the bonus for the moment of condensation.

It’s a common issue for secondary professions;

those rare dual-profession adventurers experienced the same.

It’s like a marginal effect—you must spend more time to harvest small gains,

whereas if you spent that time on your main profession, you might achieve greater progress.

Of course, in theory, in the most perfect case a dual-profession holder has the highest possible ceiling.

From Gauss’s perception, a secondary profession does not reduce the main profession’s ceiling.

In other words, two people who both push their main profession to its peak could have a dual-profession holder with another equally leveled potential waiting to be realized.

This requires sufficient talent, energy, and effort to push both paths forward concurrently.

Gauss was confident in this.

There probably wasn’t anyone in this world with a stronger “talent” than him.

He also didn’t worry that splitting focus would cause the other profession to regress.

Besides, the Sword Soul profession wasn’t inherently incompatible.

He slowly raised his right hand.

The motion was natural and calm, without any fierce aura. His fingers aligned like a sword and he gently pointed at the empty space ahead.

No sound, no light, no strange phenomena.

“Slash!”

Gauss exhaled a long breath.

“What are you doing, Gauss?” Aria widened her eyes;

she had thought he was about to demonstrate his new power, but instead he was only pretending, making a few arm motions in the air.

“Nothing at all happened.”

Gauss glanced at her.

He was silent for a moment, then looked at her with a caring expression for a little while.

Serlandul and Shadow only instinctively felt that Gauss’s motion had been more than it appeared to be, but since they hadn’t personally experienced it, they couldn’t tell what level it had affected.

Only Rachel understood.

That attack could strike the soul.

What a mysterious profession....

Even though her power far surpassed Gauss’s—so that even if he launched an attack at her without moving it could not harm her—if opponents were of comparable strength, a method that could attack the core was terrifying.

Gauss smiled and didn’t explain much.

Sword Soul: the purest form of the sword—so pure it doesn’t even need a sword.

Profession trait: Will-Sword

This trait allows its potency to be layered onto most attack methods at will.

On top of the original base, it stacks diverse damage types to maximize power.

When he wielded a sword, the power of his sword skills would also become stronger.

“Congratulations, Gauss,” Rachel offered.

But deep down she still harbored a bit of uncertainty—whether condensing a second profession was ultimately good or bad for a genius like Gauss.

Probably only the future could decide.

Besides, whatever insights she might have could not justify interfering with Gauss’s choice.

This was entirely Gauss’s own will.

“Thank you very much for your help, President,” Gauss said gratefully.

Rachel had indeed helped him a great deal—providing the precious dragon-moss extract and taking time out of a busy schedule to guide him.

Without her, the condensation of the second profession would have likely been delayed.

“Did something else happen just now?”

Although Gauss had been immersed in his breakthrough, he had subconsciously sensed something.

Rachel didn’t hide it—she briefly told Gauss about the attack and the commotion in the city.

“More trouble?” Gauss sighed. “It would be nice if we could coexist peacefully, but unfortunately...”

Sena City’s undercurrents were obvious even to him, a newcomer who had only recently arrived.

All the more so to those who had lived here a long time.

Often, problems persisted because of tangled interests and historical grievances—hardly reducible to simple right and wrong or “discrimination.”

Hatred only deepens through mutual entanglement.

A cycle of despair.

“Yes.”

Rachel’s tone carried some helplessness.

“The Adventurers Guild is a vast, neutral organization stretching across the continent, maintained by many intelligent races and nations. Our primary tenet is noninterference in local politics and absolute neutrality. In cases of unrest in a city, unless it poses a direct threat to the guild itself or large numbers of civilians, we cannot and will not intervene lightly in internal city matters.”

“If they hadn’t attacked our guild outpost directly, I wouldn’t have stepped in personally.”

What angered her most was the sense that some shadowy force was trying to drag the Adventurers Guild into the mess.

But that concern was not hers alone to handle;

this was only one branch, and the main Sena City guild would investigate.

“Understood.”

In human cities the guild membership is mostly human;

in dwarf, elf, and halfling towns their respective races make up the guilds.

Within the alliance of accepted races, the Adventurers Guild must remain impartial;

it cannot wear tinted glasses against other races just because it’s in a human town.

Therefore this attack could only be classified as an ordinary assault.

“By the way, Gauss, you might want to be a bit more careful,” Rachel hesitated before finally warning.

“Is there specific intel?” Gauss scratched his head.

“No, it’s just my guess—no evidence. The timing of that explosion was awfully convenient;

I won’t rule out that it could have been aimed at you.”

“It’s probably just a coincidence.” Gauss filed Rachel’s concern away. “But thank you, President Rachel. I’ll be more careful.”

From a rational perspective, this was a large-scale disturbance—under the recently tense racial tensions, it made sense.

To say the East Branch’s explosion was specifically to target him and disturb his breakthrough would be a stretch.

Admitting that outright would seem a bit narcissistic.

“All right, President Rachel. We’ll take our leave now.”

Gauss had completed his breakthrough.

He bowed farewell to Rachel and felt a little hungry.

Besides, such a huge commotion had unfolded at the doorstep of the Adventurers Guild;

as branch president she surely had much follow-up work to do.

She’d probably be working overtime for the next two days.

“Be careful on the road.”

.....

After leaving the Adventurers Guild building, Gauss saw the square scarred and ruined as he had expected.

Although cleanup and repairs were underway, the violence of the earlier explosion was still obvious.

“Let’s go back to the inn first.”

Gauss shook his head.

Lately his strength had advanced quickly.

He didn’t know whether it was related to the tense atmosphere in Sena City.

This world seemed to have a notion similar to a phrase from a past-life film: chaos is a ladder.

When adventurers are too comfortable, their growth slows;

conversely, constantly exposing oneself to events—especially major incidents—accelerates strengthening.

Thinking back from the start of the year until now, how many events had he and his team experienced?

They explored the maze outside Barry City and faced life-and-death crises within.

They arrived at Lincrest Town to help establish an outpost, joining several battles, one a sizeable beast tide defense.

Then came a special, non-public commission involving hundreds or thousands of goblins, culminating in burning their lairs to annihilate the goblin tribe.

They arrived in Sena City and claimed rewards—his first sea voyage.

And then the recent events.

Objectively speaking, his experiences were rich.

Most professionals would not participate in so many events in such a short time.

And nearly every one was a “special event,” not repetitive, mundane commissions.

Of course, he had also completed a large number of ordinary commissions.

Coupled with having the Adventurer’s Manual as a golden finger, it’s not hard to understand why his leveling was faster.

Once I learn Fly, we’ll take a commission and leave Sena City for a while, he thought, glancing at his three teammates.

Although chaos can create opportunities, he actually didn’t want to get tangled in Sena City’s current complexities.

Compared to those shadowy plots, he preferred pure commissions and adventures:

in the verdant forest, across the boundless sea, atop treacherous mountains, in low valleys—so many goblins still awaited his arrival.

Call it impotence or self-comfort if you like.

He’d clearly realized that, at least for now, he couldn’t save the world. He could only slay goblins.

This was his contribution to this world.

Everyone has responsibilities and roles to play, and what he could do was kill monsters—no upper limit.