Volume 3: Chapter 16 – Physical Training
“Come on, let’s chat while we eat.” We arrived at the princ.i.p.al’s exclusive dining room. At first, I was a bit nervous and ate the food bit by bit. But when I saw what Teacher Wen looked like when eating, I felt that my previous image was simply too elegant.
Teacher Wen had one foot up on his chair and was noisily, madly scooping up food into his mouth, making food fly all over the place. Dong Ri gave me a sheepish smile. I heard Teacher Wen’s voice: “Zhang Gong, why aren’t you eating. Quick, eat some more.”
After hearing Teacher Wen’s encouragement, I’ll definitely be blunt. I started sweeping up food like a tornado. From morning until now, I’ve only eaten some traveling rations. I’ve been hungry enough to die for a long time. Now it was their turn to be dumbstruck. In the short time Teacher Wen wasn’t paying attention, I’ve already cleared off more than half the food on the table.
“Wah, this kid. Has Lao Lun been starving you so much, that you came over here to balance it out?” Teacher Wen teased me.
Now that I’ve already started eating, I can’t resume being polite. I’ll eat until I’m full before I’ll consider it again. With my mouth full, I answered with a m.u.f.fled voice, “Teacher Wen, if you don’t hurry up and eat, you’ll be hungry later.”
“Ah! Dong Ri, eat quickly. He’s eating too fast, we won’t get anything to eat if we don’t hurry up.”
How can we still chat while eating like this, it’s literally just like a compet.i.tion. By the time all the food was cleared, I reckon I was the only one who was full. Teacher Wen grudgingly said: “Looks like we need to make more food in the future. Old Di sent me a rice bucket.”
After returning to the log cabins, Teacher Wen said: “Ah, Zhang Gong. From now on you’ll live with Dong Ri in the house on the left. Old Di let me train you for half a year. Will you be able to persevere?” I saw a bit of craftiness in his eyes. Looks like my life’s going to get difficult. Then I must not embarra.s.s Teacher Di. I resolutely answered: “No problem. I will certainly persevere.” Inwardly I believe that, with the foundations I learned from Big Brother, I will definitely be able to cope with whatever comes up.
We started to idly chat. From our conversations, I learned that Teacher Wen is a radiant knight and Dong Ri is an earth knight. Underneath Dong Ri’s blonde hair was his unique characteristic as a half-elf – pointy ears (half-elves are very rare, they are the results of when a human and an elf mate. They have humans’ intelligence as well as elves’ talent. Take Dong Ri as an example, he has a human’s structure but an elf’s face. Elves are all very handsome, on this point Dong Ri makes me admit my inferiority. I know that in terms of talent, he’s certainly not any worse than me. It’s just that he wasn’t as lucky as I was, hehe). Teacher Wen said that Dong Ri’s archery skills are ancestral skills. They are extremely powerful, he even admits his inferiority in this aspect.
I accidently said: “Dong Ri’s archery skills are that good. If he learned some magic to make some magical arrows, then it will be even more powerful.”
They both stopped talking and were looking at me weirdly. Dong Ri’s eyes were also showing boundless desire. I asked: “What, was what I said wrong?”
For the first time, Teacher Wen started to get serious and said: “No, what you said couldn’t be truer. If you didn’t come, I was going to have Dong Ri go to Old Di to get him to teach him some magic. Now that you’ve come, you two can learn from each other. In exchange, I will also teach you some martial arts.”
I said smiling: “Don’t be so serious sir. Brother Dong Ri and I certainly won’t let you and Teacher Di down.”
Starting from the next day, Teacher Wen had me do physical training with Dong Ri. Teacher Wen had very rigid requirements, even harsher than Big Bro Zhan Hu. If not for the fact that I had a certain amount of foundation, I would have collapsed long ago. Teacher Wen even praised me saying that my physical ability isn’t like a mage’s. How could he possibly known that I’ve already been training for two months?
I was finally able to rest in the afternoon. Originally, Teacher Wen also wanted to teach me battle spirit, but I told him that I’ve already learned some battle spirit from a friend and didn’t want to change it. Teacher Wen wanted me to show him, but I muddled through by saying that my friend didn’t want me to show it to other people. Teacher Wen got a bit angry and said that he won’t bother with me anymore then. The next day, he increased the level of my physical training by a lot. Nearly killed me.
That’s good. The Ascending Dragon’s Judgement truly is a good battle spirit cultivation method. I only need to sit down and meditate for a while then my physical strength will be restored. My magic power seemed to have reached a bottleneck. I couldn’t find a method to continue advancing but I had this feeling of being enriched. However, I sensed that with my current strength, I could even move the mountains and fill the seas. My magic power was like the unceasing torrent of the Yangtze River. I used the same method that I used to teach Big Brother Zhan Hu to teach Dong Ri light magic. His acceptance was even quicker than that of Zhan Hu. When I experienced his sword techniques, I could only describe them as frightening. It is said that within 800 meters, relying on his keen sight he could cut off the right wing of a housefly without even touching the left wing. Teacher Wen had exaggerated that with one glance, Dong Ri could identify the father and mother of a housefly. Dong Ri’s personality is rather easygoing. A few parts of his character are quite similar to mine. Although we haven’t known each other for a long time, we’ve already become exceptionally good friends.
Evening was the best part of the day for us because we could go out and have fun.
Time goes by so fast. I’ve already been in Xiuda city for over a month. Today, Dong Ri and I went out to play. We were just outside the academy when someone called out to Dong Ri.
“Big brother Dong Ri.” A delicate voice floated over.
Dong Ri and I turned around at the same time. A red-haired girl approached us, maybe younger than us by a year (I’m two months older than Dong Ri). She had big, watery eyes and very long hair. I poked Dong Ri and whispered to him: “Your girlfriend?”
Dong Ri’s face immediately went red. He hurriedly explained: “No, we’re just ordinary friends.” I teased: “Really? Doesn’t look like it. Hehe.”
At this point, that red-haired girl already arrived in front of us and said to Dong Ri: “Big brother Dong Ri, long time no see. Is Teacher Wen being too strict? You seemed to have lost weight.” Wow, she’s this concerned about him and he still says she’s not his girlfriend.
Dong Ri muttered: “h.e.l.lo Miss Hua Lun.”
Miss Hua Lun angrily said: “Didn’t I already tell you, don’t call me Miss Hua Lun. Call me Hong Xue okay. Eh, who is this?” She had only noticed me now, am I really that insignificant? I’m practically being regarded as air.
“Hua Lun, ah, no, Hong Xue. He is my friend, a student of a friend of Teacher Wen’s. He studies magic.”
I smiling said: “h.e.l.lo Miss Hua Lun, I am Zhang Gong Wei.”
She also replied kindly, “h.e.l.lo, I’m Hong Xue Hua Lun. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I said to Dong Ri: “Dong Ri I still have some things to do. You and Miss Hua Lun talk, I’ll go ahead.” I speedily slipped away without waiting for Dong Ri’s reply. Haha, let’s give this kid a chance.