Chapter 31: Chapter 31
Ron was also having a hard time with it at this moment. When he saw the conical object inside the box Arnold opened, his body suddenly went out of control, but at its core:
His true form’s consciousness was actually involuntarily pulling away from the body.
He could indeed detach his consciousness from the body to control it like a game with a controller, but in order to not show any flaws in his daily life, and to experience the transcendent more intuitively:
During the daytime, Ron almost always used Full-Immersion Control Mode, so the sudden onset of this state left him shaken on one hand.
On the other hand, he even began to suspect that the territory had discovered his flaws and was deliberately messing with him.
However, this thought was merely fleeting. Ron was not so paranoid as to jump to such conclusions; this was clearly just a display of authority by the Chief Instructor to put the apprentices in their place.
Sure enough, once Arnold closed the box, the crowd on the training ground gradually recovered. Ron was arguably the fastest among them to recover, since all he had to do was switch back to a first-person perspective.
During those few seconds of detached consciousness, he briefly checked his body’s condition and found no damage. However, during the interval when Arnold’s box was open, the rate at which Pollution Secret Patterns appeared on the surface of the Light Orb had skyrocketed.
It felt as though several years had passed in an instant, and these newly emerged Pollution Secret Patterns were all mixed right into the Body Secret Patterns.
Before he had time to ponder this, Arnold handed the Wooden Box to Leland, who had fetched it earlier. He then turned around to gaze expressionlessly at the crowd. Naturally, his primary focus was on the apprentices who had stepped out of line.
“Look at you! With that cowardly look, you still want to fight Aberrant Beasts and Evil Spirits? You can’t even stare directly at a single horn of an Aberrant Beast. What can you do?”
Hearing Arnold mention that the box contained an Aberrant Beast’s horn, the eight men wanted to speak but hesitated, ultimately saying nothing.
Arnold’s reprimand continued, “Your training is far from enough! In my eyes, only those who can look straight at an Aberrant Beast without any adverse effects are considered qualified! Otherwise, let alone fighting, you won’t even be able to hold your ground on the edges of the battlefield!”
At this point, everyone understood one of the most important goals of apprentice training: to reach the level where they could stare down an Aberrant Beast.
The eight men, who had previously held their heads high, now lowered them. No matter how arrogant they were, they wouldn’t go so far as to think they were already qualified.
After all, just a single horn of an Aberrant Beast had left them in such a pathetic state.
If it were a whole Aberrant Beast, they would likely be corrupted the very moment they laid eyes on it!
“Military Judge! Take them away, give them ten lashes, and then expel them from the Territory Guard!”
As soon as these words fell, the eight troublemakers shuddered. Begging for mercy with sobs in their voices, they cried out, “Instructor, we accept any punishment, just please don’t drive us away! We still want to serve the territory!”
“Now you know regret?” Arnold maintained his expressionless facade, but his tone seemed to soften a bit.
The instructor in charge of those eight also began to plead on their behalf. “They’ve only been training for a day. Give them another chance. I’ll keep a strict eye on them from now on!”
“Yes, Captain, please give them another chance!”
Several instructors pleaded together, and after much coaxing, Arnold finally relented:
“Since you are all pleading for them, I will give them another chance, but the whipping cannot be avoided. Furthermore, if they cause any more trouble in the future, you will all be held equally responsible.”
Following that, the Military Judge took the eight men to the side of the grounds and, right in front of over a hundred people, began carrying out the whipping.
Perhaps they truly drew courage from their shame. Bare-chested, the whip struck their unprotected bodies with loud cracks that echoed across the entire training ground, yet not a single one of them let out a scream.
By the time the ten lashes were finished, only two men could barely stand with the support of others, while the remaining six had all passed out.
The Sis Territory rarely had the death penalty. Most punishments were whippings carried out by specialized Military Judges and executioners who excelled in the craft. It went without saying that this was not a punishment one could easily bluff their way through.
In Ron’s eyes, even an adult might not be able to endure ten lashes, let alone a few teenagers.
However, he merely felt the punishment was slightly too harsh; he didn’t think those boys didn’t deserve to be punished. Instead, considering the crisis facing the Sis Territory, perhaps he should integrate himself even more proactively.
…
After this minor interlude, everyone became exceptionally proactive during the morning training. Ron treated the tedious drills as a means to hone his mind, viewing it as a genuine path of discipline to resist external pollution.
In the afternoon, everyone continued their Sword Stance training under the instructors’ guidance. Even the fellows who had just been whipped forcefully endured their pain and joined in.
Sword Stance training was a process that truly strengthened the body. Enduring the temporary pain to participate would actually help their bodies recover faster. If they missed this session out of fear of the pain, they would have one less training session than everyone else.
Who knows how much of a price they would have to pay in the future to make up for it!
After three rounds of training, the sky had already darkened. Under Chief Instructor Arnold’s orders, today’s training was concluded, but they were notified of a new item for tomorrow afternoon:
Sword-Holding training within practical combat drills.
According to Morris’s private reminder, Sword-Holding training was part of practical combat, but it also tied into the first stance of the Ice Sword Art. As long as one could perfectly pass the Sword-Holding training, there was a high probability of fully mastering the First Sword Stance.
It would even be beneficial for mastering the subsequent Sword Stances.
Ron was highly anticipating this. After leaving the training ground, instead of returning to his own home, he went to Jason’s house. He had some questions he wanted to ask Jason.
…
Jason’s family, whether it was Liya or Aunt Mary, warmly welcomed Ron’s arrival. Jason just hadn’t returned yet. Ron shoveled snow outside Liya’s house for a while before Jason finally arrived.
“Uncle Jason.”
“Ah, Ron! How has the training at the training ground been these past two days?”
“Pretty good. There are just some things I can’t figure out, so I wanted to ask for your advice, Uncle Jason.”
After enduring two full days of training, the mental outlook of both Ron and “Ron” had undergone quite a transformation. Because of this, he no longer over-concealed his words when he spoke, his tone growing closer and closer to his true self.
Jason didn’t care about these details. He was about to signal Ron to go inside and talk, but seemingly remembering something, he asked a question first:
“Tell me what it’s related to first. Even though I don’t plan on hiding things from Liya and the others anymore, there are still some matters that aren’t suitable for them to know.”
“Mm.”
Ron nodded, then hinted, “This morning, Chief Instructor Arnold brought out a box…”
“Stop, say no more. I know what you’re going to say.”
With that, Jason patted Ron’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s take a walk over there and talk as we go.”