Chapter 125: Chapter 125

So, what would Afric do?

Without a moment’s hesitation, Afric decisively chose to erupt with his Whole-Body Force. He had already been toyed with by this apprentice standing before him, or at least that was how he saw it. If he continued to accomplish nothing, his journey in this Martial Tournament would likely come to a premature end.

Furthermore, he had always harbored that glimmer of hope: to achieve a sudden enlightenment regarding the secrets of Whole-Body Force in the heat of combat, advancing to Formal Knight just as Chris had done, thereby unlocking an entirely new chapter in his life.

The instant his mind made the decision, Afric’s body immediately responded. In that split second, both his speed and power surged dramatically.

But over the course of several blade exchanges, he likewise realized that his opponent’s speed and strength were in no way inferior to his own. Ron was only slightly outmatched in combat experience, and when it came to pure force manipulation techniques, he was actually superior.

Even in the heat of such an intense battle, Afric couldn’t suppress a thick wave of jealousy welling up inside him. How was it fair that his opponent could possess such talent while he had languished at the quasi-Knight stage for so many years?

He then channeled that jealousy into fuel, disregarding his body’s overloaded state as he poured even more power into his longsword. With every swing and every thrust, sword winds radiated outward in all directions.

Seeing this, Ron remained completely unfazed. Panicking wouldn’t help anyway. The current situation had unfolded entirely within his predictions, and was even trending toward the more favorable outcome.

If Afric’s power were a bit greater, enough to solidify the sword wind into a tangible force, Ron would have immediately forfeited. But Afric couldn’t achieve that; his actions only served to needlessly inflate his energy consumption.

The use of a sword always prioritized efficiency. Whether thrusting or slashing, the goal was to pierce through the air with the smallest possible surface area, not to widen the contact area pushing against it.

Whether Afric was doing this intentionally or not, it revealed one glaring fact: his mastery of force control was still sorely lacking. If he couldn’t even command a rigid, inanimate object like a longsword, how could he possibly hope to control the infinitely more complex human body?

Ron was certain that unless a miracle occurred, Afric’s Knight’s Path had likely already reached its end.

Of course, for Ron right now, even though Afric had little room left for improvement, the man standing before him was still an opponent he needed to treat with the utmost caution.

…

In the arena.

Ron remained completely silent, and Afric lacked the energy to spare for any demoralizing taunts. The swords in their right hands clashed incessantly, with the bracers on their left arms occasionally joining the fray, adding an extra layer of unpredictability to their swordsmanship duel.

In terms of combat experience, Ron was indeed inferior to Afric. But wasn’t this fierce exchange the best possible teacher? This kind of experience wasn’t like Whole-Body Force, a skill that required endless hours of repetitive training. It was simply a matter of perspective.

Once he had seen it, he had learned it. When it came to applying what he learned, Ron was confident he was no worse than Afric. He simply hadn’t considered certain possibilities before. That was all.

At this point, Ron even hoped to exchange blows with Afric a little longer so he could absorb even more combat experience from him.

But the intermittent sensations of soreness and swelling radiating from within his body warned him that he couldn’t hold out much longer. His body was already sending him alarm bells: he needed to end this fight as quickly as possible.

With that thought, Ron’s gaze hardened and his swordsmanship style shifted once more. Previously, to seize the initiative in his assaults, he had largely adhered to the principles of energy conservation and shortest travel paths when wielding his blade, making his offense razor-sharp.

If his opponent couldn’t counter, they would only be forced into perpetual passivity.

If Ron’s body could hold out just a little longer, this swordsmanship style and strategy would be more than sufficient to defeat Afric. But reality was cruel: his body was on the verge of giving out.

During their exchange just now, he had already gathered a considerable array of parameters regarding Afric’s body. These parameters were synthesized from tactile feedback and the spatial awareness provided by his other senses.

Given Ron’s current state, rather than calling them parameters, it would be more accurate to describe it as fluid intuition born from multimodal perceptual analysis. Or, to use a more traditional term:

Sword Heart Illuminated!

At this moment, Ron’s understanding of Afric rivaled Afric’s own self-knowledge, perhaps even surpassing it in comprehensiveness. After all, no matter how well a person understood their own body, without the relevant conceptual framework, it was all just a muddled haze.

But Ron was different. He had deliberately tested and measured, so naturally he had grasped the relevant concepts beforehand.

For example, the angle of arm extension, force output curves at different positions, blind spots in the field of vision, turning radius, and so on. All of these elements combined to form Ron’s fluid intuition regarding Afric.

Guided by this fluid intuition, Ron knew exactly how to deliver his strikes to elicit the precise reactions he wanted from Afric. If these sword moves were chained together, it essentially amounted to completely controlling every single one of Afric’s movements.

This formed a series of calculated inducements, pushing Afric’s movements toward maximum energy expenditure, even forcing him beyond his normal range of motion, until openings appeared.

Thus, from the very first strike of his tactical shift, Ron had already foreseen Afric’s defeat. Sure enough, by only the sixteenth strike, Afric’s body began to tremble involuntarily.

The next moment, the sword was knocked from his hand. When Ron pressed the blade’s tip against his throat, Afric’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot. He simply couldn’t believe that he had been bested by a mere apprentice.

And an apprentice who had only been training for a little over a month at that!

At this moment, Afric felt the world spinning around him. His subconscious disbelief tumbled out: “Impossible, how could I lose to an apprentice!”

But the very next moment, without Ron needing to deliver another strike, Afric’s thoroughly depleted body could no longer support itself, and he collapsed directly to the ground.

Only then did Ron retract his sword, bow to Foss, and stand quietly in place, awaiting the official verdict.

“Ron, wins!”

After announcing the result, Foss immediately signaled for the attendants at ringside to carry Afric away. He then asked Ron: “How long do you need to rest?”

“Today is probably not going to work. If Afric had held on for just a few more seconds back there, the one collapsing would have been me.”

“Alright then, rest well today, and we’ll have another match tomorrow. Is that acceptable?”

“No problem,” Ron replied.

Unlike the initial match arrangements that had been nearly impossible to refuse, Foss’s inquiry now was a genuine consultation. Ron could clearly distinguish the difference.

If he refused, he didn’t need to worry at all about any retaliation. This was the autonomy he had personally earned with his sword.

However, Ron had no intention of refusing. He had already discovered the benefits of these matches. Beyond gaining more combat experience, they also allowed him to hone his own swordsmanship strategies.

Of course, he had lied about one thing. While he claimed he couldn’t fight again today, in truth, with the 【Transcendent Body Refinement Technique】 Secret Pattern Program, he could rapidly recover his physical condition. It would simply cost him some Life Energy.

And Life Energy was nothing more than eating more meat, provided there were sufficient Ignition Potions.