Chapter 18

After a hearty breakfast, the next lesson was Common Tongue. It was then that Zhao Mai discovered that the half-orc Soru could only speak but not read or write very well, and his biggest problem was that he disliked learning to read and write.

In this aspect, Zhao Mai far surpassed the half-orc. Intensive, cramming-style learning had long become a part of his life. Memorizing a hundred words a day was nothing for any Chinese student, and even doubling or tripling that amount was not unbearable.

This was an essential part of integrating into the new world, but it was also the most tedious and boring part. Since the final written form was in Chinese, we should respect the author's great idea of taking a break and quickly gloss over this part.

Whether on Earth or Golarion, whether human or half-orc, pure cultural studies were hard to get excited about, but combat was different. The ranger family, including the animals they raised, had no habit of taking naps, so they started their martial training right after eating without wasting a minute.

The huge canopy of the forest ranger tree blocked the midday sun, leaving only a few intermittent bright spots on the grass, and the temperature under the shade was not very high. Zhao Mai rubbed his belly, holding a spare shield in one hand and a slightly purple short stick in the other. The end of the stick was wrapped in thick cloth, keeping its weight consistent with a short spear.

The half-orc standing opposite him held two wooden knives, slightly curved. These were modeled after the ranger's curved swords, all crafted by Karl. These wooden weapons wouldn't cut or amputate, but they wouldn't be light on the flesh either.

Soru kept rotating his wrists, taking the time to adapt to the feel of the weapons in his hands. He squinted at Mike, finding him full of vulnerabilities. Heavy footsteps, petrified waist muscles, and a dull gaze—this was clearly on the same level as the farmers in the village!

"I think, if we were in the wilderness, it would only take a dog-headed man to take you down!"

Zhao Mai's Common Tongue wasn't that good yet, so he could only understand some simple, commonly used words. So, in a broken manner, he thought the half-orc said, "I... want... to... kill... dog-headed man..."

He knew he might have misunderstood, but by then, Soru had already pounced with a fierce attack. A chill ran from his coccyx to the top of his head, and he instinctively raised his shield and closed his eyes.

Closing his eyes meant giving up the ability to respond to and handle the battlefield situation. Soru wouldn't be foolish enough to hit the shield; instead, he slightly turned and slashed the wooden knives at Zhao Mai's ribs.

The piercing pain hit him, and Zhao Mai was knocked to the ground. "This kind of injury isn't fatal yet!" The half-orc stepped forward and brought the wooden knives down again.

Reserve Grain barked and rushed over, standing by Zhao Mai's ear, baring his teeth at the half-orc in a loyal manner. Soru paused, his eyes narrowing, and he let out three "ahs," scaring Reserve Grain into silence. He could only press his butt against Zhao Mai's head and keep baring his teeth at the half-orc.

Zhao Mai took a deep breath and slowly got up. Looking at the half-orc, he couldn't suppress his anger: "I'm not good at martial skills because I never learned them as a child. Being taught and bullied isn't a big deal; it's just tuition. But if you dare to bully my dog, that's unacceptable! Reserve Grain can't even chew bones; he's just a little puppy. What kind of skill is it to scare him?"

If I hadn't been forced to study as a child and instead gone to Shaolin Temple to become a martial monk, your current skills wouldn't even be worth my attention. In Zhao Mai's mind, Soru had already been beaten several times by the Great Power Palm, the Bone Separating Hand, the Blood Transformation Skill, and the Star Absorption Technique, and he no longer looked scary.

"A Liang, stand aside and watch me show my power!" Since no one else understood Chinese, he could boast without fear of being caught.

Soru glanced at Karl, seeing no particular expression on his face, and then turned to watch Zhao Mai get up. This time, he instinctively felt that something was different about his opponent. The half-orc used the same tactic, launching a surprise attack without warning. The two knives attacked from the 7th and 3rd positions (remember how to divide the positions? Think of the number pad on a computer).

This time, Zhao Mai learned his lesson and wouldn't close his eyes again. He saw the order of the two strikes, stepped diagonally, and used his shield to block. Due to the position, the two knives attacking from opposite directions couldn't continue simultaneously; only one could turn and continue slashing, while the other had to retract to a defensive position. Zhao Mai's diagonal movement forced Soru to turn to maintain the continuous slashing.

This actually slowed down the speed of the two knives.

Karl, watching from the side, was taken aback. He wasn't sure if this reaction was a coincidence or a combat instinct. Yesterday, he had only taught the most basic blocking posture, with no mention of footwork. If Mike could show similar excellent reactions later, it would mean he had a high aptitude for martial skills.

The two wooden knives hit the spare shield in sequence, and the impact was like hitting a stone. This was more uncomfortable than hitting a stone because martial artists would subconsciously estimate the stress changes based on the battlefield situation and use additional force from their wrists and tiger mouths to compensate for the rebound. However, the unbreakable spare shield was different from a regular shield; when the weapon hit it, there was no damage or sound. This meant that all the energy applied to the spare shield was completely deflected and canceled out by the impact...

Prepared to deal with the rebound, but finding nothing, though this was lighter than hitting a wall, it was still quite uncomfortable. Soru's movements paused, which would have been a good time to counterattack, but Zhao Mai lacked experience and couldn't recognize or seize the opportunity. He could only cautiously prepare for the next attack.

Karl sighed softly. He saw that Mike indeed lacked battlefield experience, not even recognizing the opponent's staggered steps. However, his use of the shield was proper, indicating that yesterday's hard work wasn't in vain.

The two knives continuously hit the spare shield, and no matter how much force was used, they couldn't budge it. This had its advantages and disadvantages because Zhao Mai couldn't feel the vibrations and thus couldn't determine the changes in the opponent's force, nor could he distinguish between real and feint attacks. He could only mechanically respond to each strike.

Excluding factors of strength and speed, what remained was purely technical response. The attacks from different areas and the corresponding postures were all covered in Karl's detailed explanations. Zhao Mai needed to form the correct conditioned reflexes and then integrate them.

The wooden knives gradually turned into numbers, and martial skills became equations. Martial training was a process of finding the optimal solution. This might be a bit biased, but for beginners, it was the safest path. Even if the pinnacle of martial skills was to win without using techniques, didn't great martial artists also start by learning and breaking down techniques?

The half-orc had a natural physical advantage, while Zhao Mai had a head full of martial theories. For a while, neither could gain the upper hand.