"Sorry. I should have told you before I asked them to come over."It was later that night, and I had just arrived home. As usual, Dad was on the couch watching anime. Something about a hero with a s.h.i.+eld being discriminated against and bullied by the whole kingdom even though they were the ones who arbitrarily summoned him (apparently all they wanted was the other three heroes, and the s.h.i.+eld hero was just an unneeded extra). Anyway, Dad raised his head to stare at me after I informed him about my society.
"Let me get this straight. You want me to help train your society members?"
"Yeah…is that all right?"
Dad raised an eye brow. "Well, I don"t mind, but why?"
"Because you"re the only person I can think of. It"s thanks to you that I managed to develop my magic and combat skills to how they are today. If you could teach my friends the same thing…"
I thought for a bit, reflecting on what Dad drilled into me for the past five years.
"You mentioned something about building a solid foundation. The majority of the members in my society are first year students, so I think now"s the best time as any to help them develop a strong foundation."
"That"s correct. They won"t be good as you because you have about four more years of training in martial arts than them, but they might have a slight advantage over their peers." Dad thought for a while. "But don"t misunderstand. They are not going to grow strong overnight. There is no such thing as instant success. They"re going to need to train for a long time, so if your goal is to build a society of strong members to challenge the other societies, this is not going to work."
Dad was familiar with how the society system worked, having enrolled in Jing Tian Magic Academy when he was a student. He was aware of the intense compet.i.tion between the sects, and the advantages of being in a great sect as well as the disadvantages of being in a small sect. him shook his head sadly.
"This is more of a long-term measure. Your friends are still not going to be able to fend for themselves and start winning a bunch of matches in the first six months. I"m not sure if your society will survive for that long."
"I"ll handle that." no, I wasn"t intending on team-killing the opponents. I decided to choose an alternative route – taking more missions. They were much more dangerous, but the return was higher. Thanks to accomplis.h.i.+ng two missions in a row, we still had a surplus of prestige points, though they were much lower now that we had just lost to Crimson Spear Society. And Dong Fang Yue Chu"s losses while I was unconscious, though I recouped half of that by beating Theodore Hammond from Thunder Hammer Society.
"How?" Dad watched me, but being an alumni he knew how the system worked, so he merely sighed when he remembered the other way. "Don"t do anything too reckless or dangerous, okay? As you are right now, rank D monsters are your limit."
"I understand." I bowed my head slightly. "Back to the topic, I think that is fine. I don"t want instant success. I am building a society, and I need to look toward the future. The members will not be here forever, but the society will remain even after we graduate. I want to leave behind a strong society where members can join without being hara.s.sed or bullied. I want my juniors to be able to fend for themselves and become powerful in their own right even after I graduate. I don"t need them to win immediately. I want them to establish a firm foundation so that they can strike out on their own, especially for their own futures."
Dad grinned. "That"s actually pretty mature and thoughtful of you. Excellent! True leaders think of their members, and place the welfare of their subordinates above all else. What is a society without its members? Only with a strong, loyal core of members would a society survive and prosper. For that, we need to build a solid foundation from which they can build upon and fortify on their own later. I like that!"
"Actually, I"m just the vice-president," I informed Dad. He c.o.c.ked his head to the side, and then shrugged.
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"Still a leaders.h.i.+p position. You"re still responsible for taking care of your subordinates."
I wasn"t comfortable with calling my juniors subordinates, but whatever. Now that I had obtained Dad"s permission, I was going to lead them here tomorrow.
"Thanks. I"ll bring them to the dojo tomorrow evening. You"ll be home, right?"
"Sure!" Dad grinned. "Looking forward to it!"
*
Dad wasn"t kidding when he said he was looking forward to it. When I had my members a.s.semble in the dojo the next day, he was practically rubbing his hands in glee.
"It"s been a while since my dojo has been this crowded!" he exclaimed in delight. He wiped tears of joy from his eyes. "The Huang dojo has finally been resuscitated!"
Stan and w.a.n.g Fei turned to stare at me.
"Uh…" Stan began uncertainly.
"This is my Dad," I introduced him. "He"s the one who taught me how to fight. I know this may seem unorthodox, but I"ve asked him to teach you guys as well."
"You…you are…!" Dong Fang Yue Chu, on the other hand, was ogling Dad. "Aren"t you Huang Shun Yin?! The Angel of Fire?! That legendary summoner who wiped out the Syndicate just last week?! As well as the one who took out a horde of Rank B monsters in the Chao Zhou Valley?!"
"Ahem…yeah, that"s me." Dad scratched his head and laughed sheepishly.
"Amazing! I knew Vice-President Richard is awesome, but I didn"t expect his background to be this amazing too!" Harvey was nearly weeping from the magnificence of it all. Dad just stared at him, not sure what to say.
Then he turned to me and whispered, "Hey, Richard…is it my imagination, or is your society full of guys? Where are the girls?"
"We don"t have any female members in our society. They didn"t want to join us."
"Not even one?"
"Not even one."
"What about your girlfriend? I thought she"s in your society."
"She"s not my girlfriend, and she"s from another society."
"Um…" Stan began, and Dad quickly straightened up and coughed.
"Ahem, okay. Let"s begin." He swept a glance across them. "I know you"ll probably have your doubts about my training, but trust me when I say it"ll benefit you in the long term."
The first year students exchanged glances, with Harvey being the most enthusiastic one out of them.
"First things first. No magic in the dojo. If you"re caught using magic during training, I"ll triple your regimen. Is that understood?"
"No magic?" Stan blurted out. Dad grinned.
"Yeah. No magic. Is there a problem?"
"But if we don"t use magic, how are we going to become stronger?"
"Oh, you don"t get it, do you?" Dad shook his head. "It"s precisely because you"re too reliant on magic that you won"t be able to get very far. Everything stems from having a solid foundation. Magic is just a tool…a weapon – if you haven"t achieved a proper base or form, then all the magic in the world is useless to you."
"Huh? How is that…?"
"You don"t believe me?" Dad squinted at him. "What"s your name?"
"Stan."
"Okay, Stan. Come and attack me. Use whatever magic you have. Your Divine Device too, if you want."
Stan frowned, but he obeyed. Moving to the front, he drew his guns and took aim. Squeezing the trigger, he unleashed several bolts of energy.
Dad simply vanished. The next moment, he appeared in front of a startled Stan. The first year tried to adjust his aim, but Dad simply flicked his forehead.
"Whoa!"
Stan was so taken aback that he toppled over and fell.
Dad shrugged. "I didn"t even use magic. That was just pure martial arts."
"Hey, that"s not fair!" I protested. "I"ve been practicing martial arts for years and I still haven"t achieved that level of movement! We can"t use pure martial arts against mages! We don"t stand a chance without magic!"
"You"ve only been practicing for five years, and you started late. I"ve been practicing for over two decades, and I"ve been doing so ever since I was a kid. Don"t be impatient."
He then turned back to Stan and helped him back to his feet.
"But that"s not the point. Your reflexes…your form…your accuracy and the way you aim…your stance…all these stem from a solid martial foundation. They don"t need magic. Often mages use magic and spells as a crutch, and they tend to ignore all these important basic techniques." Dad smiled sinisterly. "If you follow my training, you"ll have an advantage over them, because your intrinsic form and reflexes will always be better than them. Magic is a weapon you use on top of those techniques, form and movements, not a crutch to aid those techniques. Think of it as a house. A house with a solid foundation won"t crumble even when battered by a hurricane, but a house with all these fancy decorations and paint would be instantly demolished if it doesn"t have a firm foundation. Don"t mistake the means for the ends. Magic is a weapon, not a crutch."
Harvey"s eyes were s.h.i.+ning as he hung on to every word that Dad said.
"Yes, sir!"
"Okay, let"s begin then." Dad reared up to his full height. "All of you, to the mat! Get ready! I"ll be teaching you a few basic forms!"
"Yes, sir!"
"And remember, no magic!"
"Yes, sir!"
And thus our non-magic, intensive martial arts training began.