Chapter 90: Chapter 90

“Uncle Jason, how do we spar?”

“Sparring with raw strength would be too unfair to you, so let’s spar on technique. I want to see your grasp of the Sword Stance.”

Saying so, Jason walked to stand before Ron, planted his feet, extended both hands in front of Ron’s chest, and then gave the specific condition:

“I won’t use more strength than you. As long as you can move me half a step, you win!”

“That simple?” Ron instinctively thought Jason was joking.

But seeing Jason’s serious expression, he knew that this kind of sparring, popular among Knights, probably wasn’t that simple, so he accepted the arrangement.

However, Ron didn’t immediately launch an attack. Instead, he circled around Jason twice, observing the state of the muscles on the other man’s body to deduce the state of his Whole-Body Force.

Since Jason was confident enough to not move a single step, Ron needed to give it his all!

“Ha!”

When he reached Jason’s back once more, Ron struck without warning, both hands surging with full strength as he shoved Jason hard from behind.

Just as Ron thought his sneak attack might have succeeded, even feeling Jason’s body inevitably tilt forward, an accident still occurred.

Jason’s body only tilted forward slightly before completely neutralizing the force of Ron’s push. Then, with a sudden straightening of his torso, he sent Ron stumbling back two steps.

It felt to Ron as if he had first pressed into a ball of dough, and then the dough had rapidly hardened in an extremely brief span of time. During this process, his force was entirely dispersed, and the subsequent recoil was an entirely separate movement.

This reminded him of a phenomenon from Earth: non-Newtonian fluids!

If a Knight’s mastery over force allowed their muscles to become something akin to a non-Newtonian fluid, then not only could blunt impacts and brute force be neutralized, but even piercing stabs could be impeded.

At this thought, Ron recalled the Wastelander child he had killed during last night’s trial. The child’s mastery of Whole-Body Force was far inferior to a Knight’s, yet its body itself was considerably tougher.

If the two were combined, wouldn’t that be invincible?

“Ron, keep going! You’re not thinking of giving up, are you?”

“Of course not! I was just observing your openings!”

Though he said this, Ron, having personally experienced the Knight state, was well aware of one thing: Knights practically had no openings.

If an ordinary person’s Whole-Body Force was a tangled mess, then a Knight’s Whole-Body Force state was like a woven, condensed sphere, capable of delivering full power in any direction.

Compared to the Whole-Body Force of the entire body, sheer limb strength could no longer play a decisive role.

Realizing this, Ron gradually understood the significance of this sparring format. It wasn’t about the competition Jason had initially described, of making the other person move; rather, it was a form of training that allowed both parties to feel the flow of each other’s force and respond accordingly during their exchanges.

This was indeed a training that only made sense between Knights, because those below the Knight rank hadn’t yet completed the whole-body combined force state, making such training largely meaningless.

But if a Knight took the initiative to demonstrate, then through this kind of training, an Apprentice could also reach the Whole-Body Force state more quickly.

This was never a spar to begin with. It was simply Jason giving him guidance!

If he had focused on winning and losing from the start, he would have wasted this precious instruction!

At this thought, Ron stopped circling Jason, no longer trying to find openings. Instead, he stepped to Jason’s front, placed both hands on Jason’s wrists, and under Jason’s astonished gaze, seized the other man’s wrists and began to push, squeeze, press, and ward off. [1]

During this process, the force in Jason’s hands shifted in response to Ron’s changes in strength. With almost no visible movement between them, the two experienced an array of completely different Whole-Body Force states.

After roughly a quarter of an hour, Jason finally couldn’t help but speak: “Have you seen Knight training before? How did you come up with this simplified training method?”

“Uh…”

Ron was momentarily tongue-tied. Was he supposed to say that seeing the Knight training reminded him of Tai Chi Push Hands from his homeland? But he had a ready-made excuse:

“I’ve never seen Knight training before, but when you extended your hands in front, Uncle Jason, it just came to me.”

“If it’s only this kind of push hands training, it leans more toward weapons training. A complete Knight training regimen encompasses far more than this. But for you, this simplified training method might actually be more suitable.”

Once Ron understood this was a training session, both of them tacitly dropped any mention of the sparring they had initially agreed on and focused entirely on the training at hand.

Of course, for Jason, it was more of a one-sided demonstration and guidance.

…

By the time Liya came out to call them for lunch, this training session, which had lasted nearly an hour, finally came to an end.

Ron looked at Jason gratefully and was about to say something, but Jason just waved his hand. “Come in and eat. I can already smell the roasted meat.”

“Mhm.”

During normal training, Ron could only eat the boiled meat at the training ground. While there were seasonings, and sometimes Ron would even deliberately arrive early to help with the cooking, the Sis Territory’s seasonings were truly limited, and he couldn’t just add them freely.

By the end, it always devolved into saltwater boiled meat, the flavor far too monotonous.

Not to mention, Liya’s house had surely prepared vegetables as well, which were unavailable at the training ground. It wasn’t that the territory couldn’t afford them, but eating vegetables was simply inefficient.

After all, if they were already providing Ignition Potions, would they really skimp on a few vegetables?

Ron hailed from Earth and paid more attention to a balanced diet, so during the intense training of the past month, he would still set aside a few days to come to Liya’s house to vary his palate.

…

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Andre had already reported the situation of Ron assisting in the search for critically wounded soldiers up the chain of command. The message passed through one intermediary before ultimately arriving before Foss.

Second floor of the Bell Tower.

Hearing the name “Ron” once again, Foss’s state of mind was entirely different from the last time. Having just emerged from a life-and-death battle, he desperately wanted the territory’s strength to be replenished, or rather, restored.

“Go call Andre over!”

“Yes, Young Master Foss.”

While his subordinate went to find Andre, Foss began to review Ron’s file. When he saw the entry related to family background, he couldn’t help but sigh.

Setting down the documents in his hand, that page, that line, clearly read “Son of He Luo.”

Before long, Andre arrived at Foss’s quarters in the Bell Tower. After a brief salute, he began recounting everything he knew about Ron’s assistance in finding the critically wounded soldiers.

“That’s about all of it. If Young Master Foss wishes to know more details, you could have Jason explain, or let Ron elaborate in person.”

“No need. Knowing this much is sufficient.”

Foss didn’t actually care about the details. He merely needed a reasonable pretext to allocate resources to the other party, lest the Knights feel resentful. That was all.

The reason he had called Andre over for a careful inquiry was simply to disseminate the news that he was paying attention to Ron, so as to avoid interference with the young man’s progress, while also facilitating the continued provision of resources.

“You can go back now. The rewards will be distributed to the Territory Guard shortly. Just ask the Quartermaster when the time comes.”

“Yes.”

After Andre departed, only Foss remained in the room. He leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the decorative patterns on the ceiling, and murmured:

“Let’s hope you can achieve the Senior rank as quickly as possible!”

…

[1]: Push, squeeze, press, and ward off (推、挤、按、掤) correspond to core techniques in Tai Chi Push Hands (太极推手), a traditional Chinese martial arts practice where two partners maintain contact through their hands and arms, sensing and redirecting each other’s force.