Chapter 52: Basic Blocking
Cheng Na left coolly yet again. No one dared to take her words for granted anymore. Their hesitation lasted only a moment and they soon divided themselves into two-person teams in order to start practicing.
All of them had gradually begun to get acquainted with each other after one week. Inadvertently causing injury to a stranger because of misapplied force was one of their greatest worries, especially since they were engaging in one-on-one training with real swords. As a result, the first thing everyone did was look for an acquaintance or a classmate, or at the very least, someone who stayed nearer to them in the dormitories.
None of them took the initiative to seek out talented students. The acting monitors went through the same process and formed pairs after a brief discussion. An awkward problem soon appeared, because a few minutes later, Cheng Ming and Xiao Lin were the only ones left without a partner.
No one dared pair up with Cheng Ming. Aside from his high strength value and LV3 Basic Swordsmanship, his honest and open character did not automatically guarantee that he would not lose his grip and somehow injure his partner. If that happened, redemption points would have to be used for the sake of healing any sustained injuries.
In fact, some people did seek out Xiao Lin in the hopes that he would be a pushover, but he spared no courtesy in rejecting any malicious invitations. He just ordered a magic wand, and was left with only a few redemption points, so he did not want to waste it for no reason whatsoever.
Many of those who invited him to practice with them were students from his own class. Xiao Lin could easily see through their ill intentions—they either wanted to make a fool out of him, or force him to unnecessarily waste his redemption points for treatment.
“Cheng Ming, let’s practice together!” Xiao Lin found it was more reliable to train with an honest person like Cheng Ming.
“Haha! To tell you the truth, I’ve been wanting to try it with you!” Cheng Ming smiled earnestly. “I know your strength is relatively low, and if you accidentally hurt yourself, um, this...this...”
Cheng Ming was probably trying to tell Xiao Lin not to hold it against him if Xiao Lin accidentally got hurt. Everyone understood that accidental injury would result in redemption points being used up, and it was likely that Cheng Ming felt rather awkward bringing that subject up.
What an honest person!
Xiao Lin looked at the stammering Cheng Ming and felt slightly touched. He smiled and said, “Accidental injuries are inevitable in training! In fact, you can try to control your strength just like that T-rex, I mean, the tutor. Every time she makes a move, she controls her strength to the desired level in a very precise manner. That’s swordsmanship too. Just look at all the novels. That’s how they portray it, right? Be at ease and exert control. That’s the sword way’s highest state!”
Cheng Ming’s eyes lit up and he slapped his forehead, saying, “It makes sense! Okay, I’ll control my strength as much as possible, but I’m worried I won’t have it as easy as the instructor. If an accident happens, and you know... Ahem, I hope you’ll forgive me!”
“It’s okay! I don’t mind!”
Several other class monitors nearby looked at Xiao Lin speechlessly. Xiao Lin was clearly reluctant to face Cheng Ming and his strength value of over 20 points because injury would be inevitable. As a result, he deliberately duped Cheng Ming into lowering his strength before practicing, and Cheng Ming was probably the only person who would eat all that up.
No one noticed that Cheng Na was still standing at the door and had not yet left. She stood there quietly for some time, having just wanted to see whether those freshmen were going to slack off on purpose. Having inadvertently eavesdropped on Xiao Lin’s conversation with Cheng Ming, she frowned unexpectedly before leaving.
Practice then began.
As expected, Cheng Ming deliberately restrained his sword strength, but found it difficult to achieve it perfectly. The difference in strength and the Basic Swordsmanship level caused the duo’s training to be almost completely one-sided. Xiao Lin could barely parry away his attacks and could do nothing to fight back.
In reality, practicing with a partner and practicing alone were two completely different concepts. Xiao Lin gradually began to realize that it was not really difficult to practice the tutor’s basic sword moves by himself. Rather, the true test of one’s ability was whether one could find their feet when executing it in actual combat.
When Cheng Ming struck forcefully using the chop move, Xiao Lin had to use the sprinkle maneuver to divert Cheng Ming’s strength, and even so, only barely managed to escape injury. It was important to execute the sprinkle move in a standardized manner. For example, the sprinkle move could only be executed at its finest when his strength was concentrated on the front of the blade before drawing it in an arc across his body.
If he used other basic moves, such as point or cloud, or when his sprinkle move was not accurately performed, it would either result in the sword being knocked from Xiao Lin’s hand or Cheng Ming’s blade giving Xiao Lin a superficial cut.
Fortunately, the wound was very minor, and Cheng Ming did not exert all of his strength as agreed in the beginning. Xiao Lin did not receive treatment immediately. The training hall’s treatment system had a detection mechanism in place: it would be forced to start if it discovered a fatal or serious injury, but in the case of minor injuries, the injured person would be asked whether or not medical treatment was required. Xiao Lin refused and gritted his teeth before resuming training.
Those around him could not help but revel in the tragedy with gleeful expressions. The discrepancy in strength between themselves and their partners was not nearly as big as Xiao Lin and Cheng Ming’s.
Cheng Ming’s moves were swift, and with the help of his LV3 Basic Swordsmanship, he mastered the basic moves Tutor Cheng Na taught equally as quickly. Although he had yet to achieve comprehensive mastery and effortless movement, he could still complete each move in a methodical manner without giving Xiao Lin the slightest chance to fight back.
Xiao Lin smiled bitterly to himself as he practiced. He initially tried to seek out an opportunity to use his Slashing, but evidently, a skill which required time to power up was worthless in actual combat.
An hour and a half passed, and no matter how well Cheng Ming controlled his power, Xiao Lin was already covered with scars. Cheng Ming panted slightly, but did not feel too tired because of his good physical strength. In the end, he could not bear to continue with the practice and kindly said, “Let’s take a break! Would you like to be treated first?”
Xiao Lin had long taken off his school uniform and the white t-shirt he wore was already covered with hideous blood stains. Sweat and blood mixed together, making it even more painful when it stuck to the wounds. Xiao Lin did not intend on ignoring Cheng Ming’s words on purpose, but the truth of the matter was that he was completely drained of all strength. It took him a while before he spoke weakly, “Heal me!”
The creamy-white beam of light immediately descended from the ceiling and covered Xiao Lin’s entire body. It was warm, comfortable, and felt like a hot spring. The wounds and pains all over his body disappeared instantly, and the light faded away after just a few seconds. Save for the blood stains and tears on his shirt, traces of his injuries were all but gone.
“It’s mystifying!” Xiao Lin exclaimed, but soon felt another headache coming—the treatment had used up 50 of his redemption points.
Many people in the training hall began to receive treatment with white beams of light, but their injuries were not actually that serious. Of everyone’s injuries, many only had minor skin lacerations that came at a cost of 10 to 30 redemption points. Even so, a lot of them regretted it.
“How many redemption points did you use up?” Cheng Ming asked concernedly, with the other acting monitors pricking up their ears immediately.
“Fifty. ”
“That much!” Cheng Ming immediately felt guilty and annoyed. “It’s all my fault! I really did try my very best to keep my strength value below ten, but it’s crazy difficult to get right!”
Although Xiao Lin did not have as accurate an eye as Cheng Na, he felt that Cheng Ming displayed at a strength value between 10 and 20 in those earlier strikes. Coupled with Cheng Ming’s LV3 Basic Swordsmanship, it was no surprise that Xiao Lin was beaten up to that extent.
“No, I think I’m the one who should thank you!”
Xiao Lin did not blame the honest Cheng Ming, who had done his utmost best to control his strength. Xiao Lin would have been maimed if Cheng Ming’s strength value was more than 20 points.
Xiao Lin glanced at the countless shifty, yet attentive gazes cast on him from all around. He decided that he might as well not hold his voice back and patted Cheng Ming’s shoulder very cordially. After a chuckle, he said, “Thanks to you, my Basic Swordsmanship has reached level three, and I even mastered Basic Blocking!”