Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Skill Improvement
Translator: 549690339 |
While practicing dagger lighting technique at the Black Panther Gym in the real world) his coach once told Song Jian, regardless of the fighting style or the presence of weapons, from the moment of first contact, he must receive standard instruction and not blindly practice on his own.
Once bad habits are formed, they are incredibly hard to correct. Adhering to wrong practices not only nullifies improvement but can also harm the body over time;
Just like Song Jian’s situation – the sword move he had summarized from half a day of fighting was filled with errors. He knew this in his heart, but sword practice was not his true aim; he merely wanted to catch Duan Jian’s attention since they were both in the same building.
After over an hour of the practice, Song Jian found his entire right arm numbing, with unbearable itching, swelling, and pain at the shoulder joint. He was drenched in sweat and about to give up when he finally heard Duan Jian’s voice.
“Master!11 Turning around with a weary face, Song Jian greeted Duan Jian respectfully.
“Swordsmanship is not practiced this way!” Duan Jian shook his head, raising his right hand. The silver metal orb that had been revolving around him suddenly expanded into a long sword and flew into Duan Jian’s right palm.
Holding the longsword, he oozed an imposing demeanor which forced Song Jian to involuntarily step backward until his back hit the wall.
Even the continual echoes of monster roars around him came to an abrupt end, as if the whole world fell into silence;
“A sword is an extension of the arm, not just a dead object!”
“Don’t control your sword with your hand; control it with your will, your spirit, your soul…”
“Your hand can control the dimensions around your body, but your will and spirit can fill the space between heaven and earth. Control the sword with your spirit. Wherever the mind moves, the sword reaches…”
Walking and talking about his understanding of the sword, Song Jian found his words somewhat inexplicable. He felt that he understood yet didn’t understand at all.
It was like when a post-doctorai mentor lectures first-year university students. What they impart is not just specialized knowledge of the first year but a concept, a direction, a guiding path.
Maybe many students couldn’t understand at that time, but if you persist, there will eventually come a time when everything seems illuminated. Only then will you comprehend the true intentions behind their teachings.
Duan Jian was doing something similar now. He didn’t tell Song Jian how to hold the sword, how to use it, or impart any substantial sword skills, but he was enlightening Song Jian with a certain ideology.
After listening to Duan Jian for a long time, Song Jian looked at him perplexedly.
Duan Jian, feeling his throat parched from talking, saw Song Jian’s excited expression and couldn’t help but snort, “It’s impossible to carve rotten wood! ”
Ready to leave with a swing of his sleeve, Duan Jian was stopped by Song Jian, who rushed towards him and grabbed his leg: “Master, you can’t leave! At the very least reach me one sword technique so that I can defeat a level 15 elite boss. Otherwise, do you really want to watch me blindly practice till 1 ruin my arm?”
Song Jian cried out, squeezing the corners of his eyes to try and force out a few tears, but to no avail. In the end, helpless, he applied saliva to the corners of his eyes.
“Enough, stop pretending… you really are…” Duan Jian was a bit helpless for a moment before suddenly asking, “Do you know a fat guy with the surname Mu?”
Song Jian was taken aback and shook his head.
“You two truly are alike. Thick-skinned! Get up. I ll teach you how to use a sword.” After speaking, Duan Jian yanked Song Jian up by his left hand.
“Watch carefully. I will only demonstrate once. How much you can grasp is up to you!” With that, Duan Jian began demonstrating the basic sword technique.
Song Jian opened his eyes wide, not daring to blink, afraid of missing a single move.
System prompts flooded his view like a waterfall. His passive skill, [Cold Weapon (Sword Class) (Basic)], was rapidly improving.
System: Sword Controller Duan Jian imparts basic sword technique to you, your [Cold Weapon (Sword Class) (Basic)] skill proficiency has improved by 20 points.
System: Sword Controller Duan Jian imparts basic sword technique to you, your [Cold Weapon (Sword Class) (Basic)] skill proficiency has improved by 21 points.
In just a few minutes, Duan Jian had finished demonstrating the basic sword technique. Turning around, he sent his sword flying into the air where it shrank back into the size of a finger before curling into a smooth, silver metal orb. This orb slowly floated back to Duan Jian’s side and began revolving around him like a satellite.
“That’s all the help 1 can give you. Anymore and I would be breaking the rules. It doesn’t matter to me how much you’ve managed to grasp. Just know that if you haven’t hunted a level 15 elite boss by tomorrow, don’t show your face to me anymore1.” Duan Jian left after giving Song Jian a stern look.
Song Jian wiped the sweat from his brow and stood still with closed eyes. Beneath his eyelids, his eyeballs were shifting rapidly. His right hand was twitching involuntarily, wanting to shake from time to time, as if it wasn’t under his control.
At this moment, in Song Jian’s mind, every details of Duan Jian’s basic sword technique demonstration was being replayed.
After a long while, Song Jian let out a sigh, and a serious expression appeared on his face. He mused inwardly, “The gap is truly enormous!”
Only after witnessing a real sword technique, did he realize his own deficiencies. Composing himself, Song Jian started practicing exactly as Duan Jian had demonstrated;
In just a few tens of minutes, Song Jian’s passive skill, | Cold Weapon (Sword Class) (Basic)], rose from level two to five, improving at a terrifying speed;
[Cold Weapon (Sword Class) (Basic)]: Passive, Level 5, Increase in power of sword weapons by 30%, Armor Break +1.
Now that he had started practicing, the skill’s improvement rate was extremely slow. One reason was the high level of the skill, which demanded higher proficiency. The other reason was the disparity between Song Jian’s and Duan Jian’s mastery of sword techniques, naturally causing their proficiency to be different.
The night passed like this. As the sun slowly rose, Song Jian only then laid down his sword and sat down on his bedtorest.
At this moment) Song Jian’s aura was drastically different from the previous day. The transformation over the night seemed to have allowed him to take an important step on the path of martial arts.
Duan Jian stood with his hands behind his back, high on the rooftop, looking at the slowly rising sun. The corners of his mouth held a faint, indistinct smile.
