CHAPTER 22

282 AC

He was stronger than me. If this was two years ago, I would have lost to him after a few exchanges because of the power difference, but now I have made tremendous progress with my sword training, and with the help of buffs, now I’m able to fight 13 to 14 years old boys to a stand still, but I have never fought against a teenager before, but I have to fight him so I can get what I’m promised.

As my base stats, I have 2.6 str and 2.8 spd with 0.5 buffs to both. I reach 3.1 and 3.3, respectively. The buffs don't show any visual effects, and their effects are internal. The only way for someone to know is by being sensitive to mana. I have seen Wyland fight with others his age, so I had an excellent estimate of his power level.

He has 3.5 str and 3.3 spd, he is a lot stronger than me even when I’m buffed, but we have the same speed when I’m buffed. So I cast my buffs "volhen gryves (aspect of bear)" and "volhen keli (aspect of cat)" second after my buffs took effect, his and my sword clashed. I acted like he was forcing me back. I let him push me around a bit for a few moves, but I was mostly in control.

"What the hell are you mumbling, you weirdo."

Every time he was striking, I was angling my sword a bit to the side so his force would dissipate a bit but not so much that he would notice. I could feel every strike vibrate through my hands. It shook my bones, and my hands hurt greatly, but I had to fight like this. I have to bide my time for an ambush, a counter strike.

In the last two years of training, I realized something. To most, it might look obvious, but realizing something and implementing something to a fighting style is completely different. You don't fight strength with strength; you can fight hardness with softness. If your opponent is stronger than you, you need to be fluid like water or elusive like the wind.

If he is in a hurry and not stronger, you need to be as hard as a boulder. Be unmoving if you are striking. You need to be explosive and volatile like fire. This way, you can disturb their rhythm. In most fights, If you control the rhythm, you will control the fight.

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In this fight, I'm going to be like water. I'm going to let every strike flow around me. Wyland was starting to get cocky, thinking I wasn't able to strike back, I was in control, but he did not realize that thanks to how I positioned myself and where I dodged, he was only doing high strikes to the head and upper torso, he was becoming predictable without realizing. It was like there was a phantom moving a few seconds before he moved and showed me how he would move.

It was like I was reading an open book. I saw all of his subtle movements. I could see on his face he was starting to become annoyed and frustrated. He got ready to do a diagonal cut to the left side of my neck and was ready for that. I held my sword in my left hand while putting my right hand to my sword's flat side and acted like I was going to block the strike. When he saw that, he smirked.

He knew he was stronger than me, so he trusted his biggest assets: size and power. When his strikes were a few centimeters away from me, I did a big backstep, and I could see his eyes going big with surprise. He tried to adjust his swing, but he was struck with such force because he thought I was going to block. He wasn't able to take a forward step to chase me.

So his sword swished past the tip of my nose with 1 cm, because he missed with such force he lost all of his balance then I put my sword at his neck and waited for him to give up. He was looking at me, all angry and unwilling to accept it, but he took a deep breath, then did a heavy sigh and said.

"It is your win today, but I’m not going to underestimate you next time."

I turned around and looked at Rodrik with eyes full of expectation. He looks at me, then looks at Wyland like he is going to eat him alive. Wyland saw this and took his leave really fast. To me, it looked like his spd became 10 for a second. He must have warned him to use all of his power from the start.

He started scratching the back of his head and said, "Okay, I will talk to the lord about the hunting and gate pass. I still think it is too early for you to leave the castle, but a promise is a promise, and I will only do that after you spar with me for a bit."

"This is not fair. Why do I have to do something I know is futile? You just said a promise is a promise. Why are you suddenly adding new conditions? It is % 100 that I’m going to lose."

"Of course, you are going to lose, you brat. I didn't get old enough to lose against a snot-nosed kid. I will talk to lord even when you lose. We are not sparring for that. Now come here, or are you that scared to fight this old man."

"Hmph, do you really think that kind of provocation going to work on me, old man? For the record, Sir Selmy is far older than you, but no one in their right mind would fight him one-on-one."

"HAHAHA, fair enough, you are right, snotty brat. Now come at me however you want."