411 Black Rock Hand, the Obsession in the Girl's Heart (Second Update, Seeking Monthly Votes) Lin Luo’s cultivation showed no progress whatsoever. Three months passed in the flow of time, and he remained firmly at the peak of the Spirit Tier. No matter what effort he exerted, he could not touch the threshold of the Earth Tier. He had already interacted with Earth Tier powerhouses, yet he hadn't gained any enlightenment, which left him deeply disappointed.

“Must I really wait until level 4?” Lin Luo materialized the Book of Contracts, and two World Hearts floated out from within. One was the Heart of Space, for which Lin Luo already had a candidate. Although he didn't know if the fit would be perfect, given that person's attributes, an 80% compatibility rate should not be an issue.

As for the other one… it remained completely unyielding, just as before. Lin Luo had attempted to merge it with Setsuna or the others, but not only did no compatibility prompt appear, but they actively rejected it the moment it manifested near them.

Lin Luo vaguely felt that World Hearts also possessed certain peculiarities. This particular one, he suspected, might require some special condition to be normalized—much like identifying certain equipment in online games that could only be used after appraisal. It was likely this kind of quality.

“These two World Hearts are useless for now, so the remaining people are just Black Rock and…” Lin Luo put away the World Hearts and the Book of Contracts, frowning in thought.

Since reaching level 3, absorbing Essence Codices no longer reduced his experience points beyond adding supplementary abilities. To advance to level 4, he needed to sign six Contractors. Evangeline was the first, Mokona the second, Sakuya the third. Among those in the Sky City who had not yet contracted with him were only Black Rock and [omitted name, presumably from context], and he had no immediate plans for the latter. He hadn't specifically asked Black Rock yet.

“It seems necessary to go discuss this with Black Rock.”

After leaving the Time Chamber, Lin Luo inquired among the passing maid servants and learned that Black Rock was on the sixth floor of the main hall, which served as a training ground. Apparently stimulated by Mercurydoll’s recent breakthrough, Black Rock had been tirelessly improving her strength there for the past two months.

The sixth floor—this was a training facility Lin Luo had specially created. It could alter the battlefield terrain and set combat modes according to the user's consciousness. Currently, only one figure stood within this training ground: the black-haired, twin-tailed girl, Black Rock Hand.

The battlefield she had chosen was mountainous terrain, incredibly complex in topography, and the attack mode she selected was 'Stealth Assault.'

Black Rock stood silently on an open patch of ground, her left hand holding a cannon and her right gripping a sword. Her expression was calm yet grave. Suddenly, a silhouette burst from behind a nearby rock and lunged directly toward her back.

Black Rock’s expression tightened. Before the dark shadow could close the distance, she swung her sword out like lightning. But the silhouette was faster than her; it vanished before the blade even made contact, as if it had never been there at all.

This was the Stealth Assault mode. One never knew when the attack would appear or when it would disappear; it was completely untraceable. Among all attack modes, this one ranked eighth in difficulty.

It wasn't that she didn't want to challenge higher difficulties, but with her current ability, tackling the eighth difficulty was already her limit, because within this training ground, the 'enemy’s' strength would always be one level higher than the user's.

“……” Facing the vanished enemy, the girl remained expressionless, though a faint trace of anxiety flickered beneath the surface.

The entire training ground featured thirty-six battlefield attack modes. Managing to challenge the eighth difficulty was already remarkable, but Black Rock was not satisfied. Everyone else was challenging the top five, and even Evangeline and Mikoto were already taking on the third difficulty, yet she was still stuck at eighth.

Black Rock’s strength remained at the early Spirit Tier. Excluding Yoshino Shikifū, whose power system was different, and Mokona, who wasn't a combatant by nature, among all the Hosts, her combat power was the weakest. Although she possessed the protagonist's luck of this world, allowing her to barely fight opponents at the mid Spirit Tier, defeating them was incredibly difficult.

She could once contend with Mercurydoll, but now Mercurydoll had surpassed her and was aiming for even higher echelons. Even against the weakest Mokona, Black Rock sensed an immensely powerful force hidden within the other girl's body—a power that made her tremble with fear.

“Mercurydoll broke through in this very battlefield, so I must too…”

The girl gritted her teeth and stated in a low voice. She wasn't competing out of a desire to boast or keep up with others; rather, she could not tolerate her own weakness. Born into this world, her duty, or the mission she assigned herself, was to protect it. But currently, she couldn't even protect herself, let alone the world and others… She couldn't accept this.

How could a protector be reduced to someone who needed protecting!

“Slash!” Just then, the shadow darted out again, aiming for her heart. The girl cried out sharply and swung her long sword fiercely toward the opponent, and then… Screeech!

Black Rock’s body seemed to freeze in place. She looked down and saw a dagger embedded in her chest, her own sword still mid-swing.

“Zero out. Trial concluded.”

As the mechanical electronic voice sounded, the scene blurred suddenly. The complex mountainous terrain immediately transformed into an empty room. Not only did the shadow disappear, but the dagger in Black Rock’s chest also vanished. She had not been injured or killed by the stab.

This was natural; no matter what injury was sustained in this training ground, it caused no harm to the person, as it was merely a virtual projection.

After the combat ended, Black Rock’s legs gave out, and she sank to the ground, her eyes full of dejection. This was her 108th attempt, and not a single victory. This made her feel useless.

“You look quite disheartened, young lady.”

Just then, Black Rock heard a voice from behind her. Acting on instinct, she turned to look and found that Lin Luo had arrived without her noticing, walking toward her with a smile on his face.

Black Rock quickly stood up from the ground, fixing her gaze on Lin Luo without speaking.

“I heard you’ve been practicing here frequently lately. While effort is a good thing, as the saying goes, haste makes waste. Losing correct judgment due to anxiety will never lead to growth,” Lin Luo approached the girl and chuckled, “Just like when I trained in the Time Chamber for three months, hoping to break through quickly, but ended up gaining nothing.”

“I haven’t lost correct judgment,” Black Rock said faintly. The resolve to become stronger was not wrong, and striving for it was not wrong either.

“But you haven’t won yet, have you?”

“Uh…” The girl’s expression changed slightly, and she opened her mouth but could say nothing. She could not refute that statement.

“Interested in sparring with me?”

As Black Rock hesitated over how to respond, she was suddenly stunned by this question. She knew Lin Luo’s strength very well. If he used his full power, even if everyone here combined, it would be hard to defeat him. What meaning was there in someone like that fighting her… regardless of difficulty?

Lin Luo seemed to know what the girl was thinking and smiled faintly. “This is a training ground, after all. With a slight adjustment, we can have a fight where we are evenly matched.”

If two users dueled in the training ground, to maintain balance, the stronger party would be suppressed to match the weaker one. This meant Lin Luo would be suppressed down to the early Spirit Tier.

“How about it? Want to try?”

“…Yes.” Black Rock nodded slightly. If that was the case, the fight held meaning. If she was lucky, perhaps she might gain some inspiration from this battle.

…

A moment later, the mode was adjusted. The terrain was similar to before: a complex jungle, complete with swamps, thorns, and rocks. Utilizing the terrain was quite crucial in such a battlefield. As a seasoned combatant, Black Rock was accustomed to various environments, so the moment the battle began, she swiftly dove into a thicket of bushes, instantly vanishing from Lin Luo’s sight.

“This is rather tricky. My Perception Domain won't work here; I’ll have to rely purely on instinct,” being suppressed to this degree was also quite troublesome for Lin Luo. Fortunately, Black Rock’s protagonist luck was also nullified here, leaving her to rely on experience.

Lin Luo did not immediately pursue the girl. Instead, he observed the surrounding terrain. Similarly, Black Rock, hidden in the bushes, was observing Lin Luo’s movements while searching for an opportunity. Both harbored the exact same intention.

After several minutes, Lin Luo suddenly leaped onto a tall tree and then unleashed more than ten blasts of Thunder Strike Spear toward a patch of bushes. This attack immediately set that area ablaze, and a figure swiftly burst out of the flames, launching twenty Rock Cannonballs rapidly toward Lin Luo.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Atomic Collapse erupted, shattering all the rock projectiles. Immediately afterward, a Sword of White Mist appeared in his right hand, blocking a swift slash coming from Black Rock.

Lin Luo suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet give way—that single strike had snapped the branch he was standing on. He immediately began to fall, and Black Rock seized the opportunity, aiming her massive cannon in her left hand directly at Lin Luo’s head.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The instant she fired, Lin Luo utilized instant movement to teleport behind Black Rock, and the Sword of White Mist slashed directly toward the girl’s head.

Neither combatant held back in this fight; after all, this was only a projection, and they wouldn't actually die even if killed here, so there was no need for reservation.

Under the onslaught of their attacks, the surrounding environment rapidly changed. Although he possessed five percent of the Rule Force, this amount of combat power was insufficient to suppress Black Rock. Whether it was the girl’s rock cannonballs or her slashes, they were no longer purely physical attacks, as her strikes were now imbued with blue flame.

This was the first time he had seen Black Rock use this flame. It managed to pierce through his defense of Rule Force. A sword descended, blue light flared, and the Shield of White Mist shattered!