“Good. I don’t ask more than that from any neophyte. Can you use any other weapons besides your fists?”
Alex nodded. “Spear, fangtian ji, gladius, pike, and to a lesser degree, dao.”
“Good. The dao especially.”
Alex did his best to hide his frown, earning an instant glare. “Do you think you’re better than a daoman? Is that it?”
Alex swallowed as half the class hissed at him. “Not at all, sir. It’s just that such wasn’t my focus.”
The man nodded. “Of course not. Yours are an infantryman’s skills, no? You’re some legionnaire's half-blood, right?” He flashed a cold smile at Alex’s nonplussed gaze. “Don’t look so shocked. Word gets around. And it’s the only explanation for how you managed to survive your first couple of bouts that makes sense. As to your soldier’s prejudice, sure, it’s true that saber against spear, spear will almost always win, and that’s doubly so if it’s a band of hapless daomen facing off against a well-disciplined regiment of pikemen presenting a bristling hedge of spearheads five rows deep! Or at least, those are the harsh battlefield realities mortal soldiers must contend with.”
He flashed a smile that sent shivers down Alex’s spine, gesturing to the racks of weapons. “Now go on, boy. Alex, is it? Go on, Alex. Grab a spear. I’ll grab a lowly dao, and we’ll see who wins our first match.”
Alex winced, knowing he was being set up, but helpless to do anything else save put on a brave face and do as he was instructed, carefully not selecting a massive eighteen-foot long spear, and there were precious few of those, but a well-balanced training spear that felt perfect in his hands, the blunt copper spearhead expertly controlled with every twist of his wrists and torso.
“You warmed up enough, Alex?”
“Of course, Master Pan,” Alex said. And as soon as the words had left his mouth, his opponent was a blur.
Qi Perception skill check successful!
He could see the blur of movement, sensing the release of stored Qi as his spear was effortlessly knocked off-line as his opponent grabbed the shaft, torqued his hips, and yanked Alex forward a step, Alex knowing to step forward into the pull before wresting it back in their contest for the spear, much like one would reeling in a stubborn fish, earning a single tight smile from his opponent.
Quickness check made!
He just barely dodged the blazing-fast dao covered in Qi whipping for his face as his opponent exploded forward, separating Alex from weapon with a single sharp tug, Alex barely tumbling away before what would have been a killing blow.
Alex’s heart was hammering. Even though he had no doubt the man would have pulled his blow, even though he knew it was a training blade, Alex had still felt death caressing the edge of that blade.
Master Pan just smirked, placing a single foot on Alex’s chest.
“I concede, sir, you are my better,” Alex quickly said.
“Of course I am. But that’s not the point. I don’t suppose you actually understood what the point was, besides being shown your place in the order of things?”
Alex ignored the handful of quiet snickers. “To demonstrate to your students that the dao is an ideal accompaniment for martial forms? The way your Qi resonated between you and your weapon, you fought with it as if it were an extension of you.”
The man chuckled. “As if you or any student could actually sense the flow of Qi, save perhaps your own. And even that’s wishful thinking. But your deduction is correct. The dao, saber, and other curved swords, made of a single piece of folded steel, are some of the best weapons we know of for channelling the flow of Qi using any number of forms. In contrast, long thrusting polearms comprised of two or more opposing elements, like wood and steel, are some of the worst.”
Alex blinked at this and the way everyone nodded as if it were a given, even Zhao Doushi. Which made no sense to Alex, because he had never found it any harder to use Adderstrike with a polearm, gladius, or his fist. To say nothing of his shin strike, but he already knew he was bending the rules there.
“And you’re unlikely to learn any combat techniques suited for overcoming those weaknesses until you hit Silver.” The entire class chuckled at the thought of the Ruidian in their midst achieving anything like that. “Or should you join the Royal Legion and be deemed a worthy enough soldier to be accepted into an elite regiment. For most others, a short wooden staff for those aligned to Wood or Water, or a dao, jian, or similar weapon for those aligned to Metal or Fire is considered best for most aspiring cultivators. Those with an Earth affinity can go either way.”
He turned back to the class. “Break time is over. All stickmen are to face off against daomen. Points are pooled just like before!”
Alex heard a number of groans as well as pleased chuckles.
“Points?”
The instructor nodded. “Ten points is equal to one credit hour. You earn a point for every tap that makes it through your opponent’s defenses, and we keep a running tally. At the end of each week you put one credit into the pool for every ten points you’re in the hole, and I give you one credit for every ten points you’re up. If you’re under ten points, it carries over to the next week.”
Alex winced. “So if I lose… I could be in serious credit hour debt, just working to pay it off.”
His instructor grinned. “I find having a stake in the game motivates students to take it seriously. The stakes mean students won’t let themselves get casually hit if the duel is to first blood, and they won’t submit until they’ve tasted real pain during a submission match. Even so, this is still far safer than those fools who actually agree to be training dummies.”
Alex blinked at this. “Training dummies?”
Pan nodded. “Officially called sparring partners. The credits are good, but you’re volunteering to allow another student to strike you full force, so long as no blows are deliberately fatal or crippling. Depending upon the nature of the contract, you will either be allowed to fight back just as hard, for those simulating a true martial contest, or you may be permitted only to defend, your opponent effectively using you as a training dummy in the pursuit of mastering a new martial technique or Qi attack. Least common and safest for you is an opponent seeking to master his defenses, paying you strictly to go on the offensive.”
Alex nodded. “I’m guessing being permitted only to defend is the most common and dangerous option?”
“Actually, no, that’s the riskiest and best paying. Most cultivators want a partner who will spar all out, without risking any loss in school rankings. By hiring you via what is effectively a mercenary contract, they bypass the risks of defeat, while still honing their skills. Most sessions are for half a glass of intense sparring.”
Alex winced. “It sounds like a great way to get hurt. And what happens if you’re injured early on?” Alex then blinked, immediately kowtowing, realize he had allowed himself to get overly familiar with the man, as if he were talking to an American professor, not a cultivator who could crush him in a heartbeat and expected absolute deference from every student, let alone someone like him.
“This one apologizes if his questions seemed at all impertinent.”
The man’s chuckle was surprisingly good natured. “Get up, Alex. I’ll never blame a soldier for asking questions, so long as he obeys the orders he is given. As to your question, they’d be fools to injure you before the end of their purchased time block, since the credits are yours to keep either way. And cultivators who get a reputation for deliberately injuring partners soon find it very hard to find a regular partner.”
He frowned at the paired-up students, Alex noting one particular kid hooting his victory before his vanquished partner.
“Sheng Jie, get up here! Come test the newblood.”
A tall young man with wide shoulders and aristocratic features frowned at Alex. “The Ruidian? Very well, if you insist, master.”
“I do.” Pan grinned. “Quit dawdling, Alex. Find a dao that feels comfortable in your hand. And since we
’re not going to wait for you to don full armor, grab a helmet and shield. Well, don’t delay, boy, go!”
Alex blinked, suddenly finding himself racing to the dao rack, frowning as he quickly traced out basic patterns with several before finally settling on a one that moved and flowed in his hands just like the one he would practice with when sparring with Liu Li, whose soft green-eyes and thoughtful expression he remembered so well, and he could only imagine what she would think of him now, with how far he had come.
Not for the first time he was grateful for all her lessons, and was beyond grateful she and her father had taught him the fundamentals of this weapon, even if he hadn’t taken to it as readily as fangtian ji or spear. At rank three, he thought he was competent, just needing some polish. He grimaced. Perhaps a hell of a lot of polish was in order, but at least he had the fundamentals down. He hoped.
Bronze helm strapped comfortably under his chin, he held his boss-gripped bronze-rimmed shield mid-range as he approached his smiling opponent with sword in a high hanging guard. Alex took slow steady breaths, trying to get a measure of his opponent.
The young man was several inches taller, even if his shoulders were no wider than Alex’s own. He wore a lamellar cuirass with padding underneath, with thick quilted pants to protect his legs. The air flashed with moulinets as Sheng Jie’s blade seemed to all but dance in the air. If the cultivator wasn’t the equivalent of rank five adept, and in tune with his blade, he was damned close, Alex thought, just glad that at least their training weapons were blunt.
Qi Perception in effect. Perception check made!
Alex tuned out all distraction, just focusing on his smirking opponent, taking in the shifts in stance and balance as they each took the measure of other, his opponent’s blade lashing out in teasing, feinting blows as if emulating flame, Alex hardly moving his blade at all, save to keep his point always in line with his foe.
Skill check made!
After his opponent spent some seconds trying to lull Alex into a pattern, his teasing strikes became a genuine double strike lunge, feinting a high slash before dipping low for what would have been a belly-ripping draw cut from hip to sternum, snarling in frustration when his blade clanged twice against Alex’s shield.
Then his eyes widened and he hissed, only then feeling the weight of Alex’s blade against his neck. “You cheated.”
Perception check failed! You have been caught off guard! You have been critically hit and taken 2 Medium Wounds! Skull and knees successfully save versus rupture. You are stunned!
Alex blinked, so caught off-guard by the rebuttal to his blade against the guy’s neck that he had no idea how to respond, only mirroring his opponent’s suddenly relaxed pose, their match clearly over, before bending over with a grunt as the youth kicked him out of the blue, full force in the knee, then slammed the back of Alex’s helm with the hilt of his dao. And for all that the blade edge was blunt and curled for safety, the pommel was solid metal and could easily kill a man.
Alex groaned, suddenly sick with pain as mocking laughter washed over him, a thick-soled boot suddenly slamming into his lower back. “This, the vaunted wildcard of the trials? Look how easily I bested him! Cheating is the only way you survived the arena, fool! Don’t think you can do that here!”
“Sheng Jie. That’s enough. He’s stunned and crippled, and that’s an automatic submission. And you were to take his measure before you broke him. Your analysis?”
“There was no measure to take, Master Pan! He’s just a cheating stinking fish of a Ruidian, flopping on the ground like the fool he is!”
“And how was he cheating?”
“He dared to kiss my neck with his blade. My armored neck! He was mocking my defences, implying he would have killed me in a real fight! No one else would dare such.”
Master Pan sighed. “That’s because you’re of noble birth, and no one wishes to cross your family. But in warfare, no one will care, Sheng Jie. Best you learn to fight against all types of opponents, including and most especially those who don’t know who you are!”
“Well it’s not like this pathetic excuse for a fighter could have taught me anything. Look how quickly I bested him.”
Master Pan gave a dry little chuckle even as Alex burned with shame. “Isn’t that the sad truth of it.”
Alex’s knee throbbed so bad he would fear it broken, were it not for the message flashing across his mind’s eye. In that moment, he felt so furious and humiliated that he’d almost welcome that bitter pain. After all he’d endured, all he’d been through! Surviving the trials only by desperate skill and expecting the worst from all his opponents, dodging all their attempts to pin him down and destroy him, delivering deadly blows the instant there was an opening to do so. Only to fall into the deadliest trap of all, the lull of complacency, showing him like nothing else that no matter how skilled he thought he was, no matter what he had overcome previously, all it took was falsely assuming that there was any such thing as a just and fair fight, and lowering his guard just long enough for his foe to kill him.
He had been a fool to underestimate this arrogant popinjay, having fallen into the trap of assuming a casual teacher-sanctioned sparring match would be anything less than a potentially crippling duel for a Ruidian like him. And after how badly he had underestimated the bloated merchant cultivator who secretly had the strength of an elephant, he should have known better than to ever let his guard down around anyone.
And yet he had, and was now paying a price in humiliation and mockery, with the class laughing and jeering at him, or at least those sycophants beholden to the noble scion Sheng Jie. And the scathing look in Zhao Doushi’s gaze made the humiliation all the greater.
Alex bit his lip until it bled, swearing to himself that he would learn from this folly. He would eat this humiliation and forge a resolve to treat every contest as a death match, at least for him.
He would never take anyone’s good nature for granted again.
Master Pan shook his head sadly. “Alright, let me take a look… good. Nothing’s broken save your pride, boy. How about you and Master Zhao head out early today? I doubt you’ll be able to accomplish anything on that knee until the swelling goes down. I’d put a compress on it if I were you, and come back to class three days hence, no sooner.”
“Or never at all,” sneered Sheng Jie. “Cheaters like you will always lose before true warriors, Ruidian half-blood!”
5
“You’re a fool!” Zhao Doushi snapped at a humiliated Alex, unable even to limp without exquisite agony as Sheng Jie and his cronies laughed and mocked, the rest of the class saying nothing, but their contempt-filled smiles made it clear that his complete humiliation before the arrogant cultivator had cost him whatever standing he might otherwise have earned.
In their eyes he was now truly trash, having both cheated and failed, and been born a Ruidian, or so Sheng Jie claimed. A miniature glimpse of history in all it’s dark glory, a humiliated and furious Alex thought as he cried out and grasped Zhao’s begrudging shoulder. History was always written by the victors who would forever decry themselves righteous and their conquests ordained.
“You had that boy mastered! But you had grown so soft, so trusting, that the minute he pulls back with a child’s helpless accusation, you are confused and vulnerable and of course that’s when he strikes!” Angry eyes glared into his own. “Can you guess what Master Pan is telling his students right now?”
Alex flushed hotly, all his focus on just keeping up with a pitiless Zhao who was all but dragging Alex along and far from being sympathetic, seeming to take angry satisfaction in Alex’s agonized limp.
But Alex was no longer playing the fool. His now painfully acute hearing got the gist, loud and clear.
“Learn from the Ruidian,” said Master Pan.
“What an idiot he was, master!” snorted one student. “He was treating a submission match like a game with points and honor. He let his guard down when Sheng Jie started bleating. He didn�
��t even ask for terms or match-end!”
“He deserved what he got, Chi Xiao!” snapped Sheng Jie. “He dared touch my neck with his blade! As Sage Shen Qie once counselled, noble superiority is by heavenly mandate, so any peasant or slave who dares stride beside a noble does it by foul means alone! Therefore, by definition, he’s a cheater and got exactly what he deserved.”
“Yeah, you sucker-punched him and near cracked his skull,” snorted one girl.
Sheng Jie laughed. “I only regret that he isn’t dead at my feet. My brother lost five gold to that cheating fool.”
“So learn from his folly,” counselled Master Pan. “Unless you spar with a kung fu brother or sister—”
“Which we are!” declared the girl once more. “But he was an outsider and a foreigner. He got what he deserved.”
“Don’t interrupt, Qie Qie. Unless you spar with a kung fu sibling, never assume a friendly bout is anything less than a fight for your life,” counselled Master Pan. “That includes any sparring match with any other cultivator here at the academy looking for a ‘friendly bout.’ It might be just that. Or they might be eager to see just how badly they can break you. And why should you always fight as if your opponents are out to kill you?”
“Because trust must be earned, not assumed,” said yet another student.
“Correct. And you’ll all note the advice I was willing to impart even to the Ruidian! I hope you all were listening. Until you’re Bronze, I expect you all to avoid signing up to be anyone’s ‘kung fu companion.’ He’ll be lucky to be walking in a week. And he’s even luckier Sheng Jie didn’t crack his skull! And you owe me a new helmet, Sheng Jie.”
“Yes, Master Pan,” sighed Sheng Jie. “I’ll even buy you a steel one to replace the bronze. Not that you can’t simply have that thousand-year-old helmet recast, but never let it be said I’m not gracious in victory.”
More than a few students snorted and laughed at that, and Alex’s ears burned with shame. Bitterness as well. He sensed with them a friendship, a camaraderie between them all that he would forever be excluded from, their master as much mentor and coach as instructor.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Forsworn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 3 Page 7
