Seeing that the atmosphere was perfectly set, Arkz stood in the center of the arena and began to announce the rules for the arena competition.
"First! Never act on impulse!"
"Second! Absolutely never let any wrongdoing slip by!"
"Third! Absolutely fair and brilliant refereeing!"
"The absolutely fair referee, Arkz, has arrived to be seen!"
The crowd below let out jeers, clearly very dissatisfied with Arkz's time-wasting behavior.
Arkz paid no mind to this; instead, he took the boos from the audience as cheers for himself and bowed in thanks.
"It seems the audience cannot wait any longer, so I shall announce the rules for this competition for everyone."
"The rule for this competition is—the contestant who renders their opponent unable to resist or knocks them off the stage is the victor!!!"
"The match now—begins!!!"
After declaring the match officially started, Arkz quickly ran off the stage. Remaining on the stage would just make him a punching bag for the two fighters.
Following Arkz's order, Barbara swung her fists and mercilessly attacked the position of Acting Grand Master Jean.
"Straight Punch Rush!"
Barbara, who had not undergone formal training in close-quarters combat, threw a weak and powerless punch.
As the highly experienced Lionfang Knight, Acting Grand Master Jean immediately spotted too many flaws in the punch.
"The posture for generating force is wrong, the speed is too slow, the weak point is exposed. At this moment, only..."
Acting Grand Master Jean showed hesitation on her face and did not choose to counterattack, but instead slightly sidestepped to evade the attack.
Because Barbara's momentum was too strong, she actually couldn't stop herself in time and rushed straight toward the edge of the stage. Fortunately, she managed to grab the vines along the edge of the stage in time to avoid falling off.
At this moment, Barbara's back was facing Acting Grand Master Jean, leaving her rear completely undefended. At this time, even a light kick would cause Barbara to lose her balance and fall off the stage, but Acting Grand Master Jean did not choose to seize this opportunity to pursue.
"Barbara, if you want to prove that you can protect yourself now, then prove it to me!"
"But at your current level, you can't even deal with the Hilichurls by the roadside!"
Acting Grand Master Jean drew the dandelion breeze sword from her waist, her eyes becoming firm and sharp.
Barbara, I don't know if your recent erosion by Abyssal Power is a blessing or a curse. I know that everything you said earlier was your true thoughts hidden deep within your heart, thoughts you couldn't tell anyone else.
Every person in Mondstadt has the freedom to choose the future they desire.
This, of course, includes you, my sister.
Since you want to become strong and protect everyone with your own power, then as your older sister, I should also give you some support.
But if you fail my test this time, then Barbara, you had better go back and train some more!
As if sensing Acting Grand Master Jean's resolute belief, her Vision began to glow, and even the sword in her hand chimed softly, as if excited for the battle to come, or perhaps responding to the owner's agitated heart.
Barbara struggled to turn around. She had almost fallen just now and had only just managed to climb back up.
If she were to lose the match today for such a ridiculous reason, she, Barbara, would have no face to go home and see anyone!
When she raised her head and saw Acting Grand Master Jean holding the dandelion breeze sword, her gaze no longer held its usual gentleness but was firm and sharp like a lion's, Barbara was first startled, then burst into an excited laugh.
"Hahahaha, have you finally gotten serious, Sister!"
Sensing her disadvantage in physical combat, Barbara did not continue throwing her clumsy punches but chose to summon the Hydro Element for ranged attacks.
"The grand performance is about to begin!"
"Look forward to it, everyone in the audience!"
Unlike the clear and beautiful water streams composed of musical notes from the past, the Hydro Element summoned by Barbara this time was murky, like sewage.
The pitch-black Hydro Element, like ink, transformed under Barbara's control into terrifying, black venomous snakes with sharp fangs, howling wildly behind her.
Thanks to the superb Hydro Element manipulation skills she developed as a Healing Nun to treat the injuries of the sick, the black water snakes Barbara shaped were exceptionally realistic.
These black water snakes not only had sharp teeth and dark pupils, but their bodies were even carved with tiny scales.
Judging solely by this superb Hydro Element manipulation skill, Barbara's strength was definitely extraordinary.
Below the stage, Rosaria looked at the black water snakes behind Barbara with some shock: "Is Barbara's strength really this immense?"
The others also nodded in shock, agreeing with Rosaria's question.
Is the Abyssal Power really that powerful? Can it transform a frail Healing Nun into the powerful figure she is now! This defies Elemental theory!
Right! It must be that Barbara was powerful all along, just hiding her strength!
Arkz looked at the heavily made-up Barbara on the stage and couldn't help but sigh: "To be able to summon so many water snakes in an instant, just how much Elemental Power does Barbara possess?"
"A normal Vision holder doesn't have this much Elemental Power."
"I can explain that."
Rosaria stared intently at the movements of the two on stage, unwilling to miss any detail, but she didn't stop talking, answering the question Arkz had just asked.
"When ordinary Vision holders first receive their Vision, the amount of Elemental Power they can mobilize is very small, usually only enough for them to cast one or two Elemental Skills."
Noelle and Fischl nodded. They had only recently passed the novice stage and still had a deep impression of the period where they had to carefully manage and plan their use of Elemental Power due to its scarcity.
"As the strength of the Vision holder continuously increases, the amount of Elemental Power their Vision can contain grows, and the amount of Elemental Power they can mobilize also continuously increases."
"However, when strength hits a bottleneck and extraction becomes difficult, there is another way to increase the reserve of Elemental Power."
Hearing this, everyone present perked up their ears. This kind of minor technique, while seemingly insignificant, was actually extremely valuable and precious.
To be able to get this for free today was truly wonderful!
Rosaria kept her eyes fixed on the stage, still speaking at an unhurried pace.
"That is to continuously exhaust one's Elemental Power and then recover. As long as one keeps repeating this step, the Vision holder's Elemental Power reserve will naturally increase."
"This is just like improving one's physical strength through training—continuously consuming and then recovering physical strength will lead to effective improvement."
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