Chapter 58: As It Turns Out, I am Only an Ordinary Person
After practicing the Demolition Fist, the dragonman youngster began to cultivate the battle skill - Surge.
This battle skill was quite compatible with the Bursting Explosion battle qi, and could help him increase his speed greatly.
Like Demolition Fist, when the dragonman youngster also practiced Surge, he began to control its power.
Battle qi consumption rate, directional tuning, and what kind of drive is formed, all of these needed lots of practice for one to engrain it into their body’s muscle memory.
Only when he had muscle memory could he use Surge instinctually in actual combat.
The dragonman youngster submerged himself into the seawater and floated in it to practice Surge.
As he floated in the current, firecrackers crackled from all sorts of places on his body from time to time, producing force that pushed him in any direction.
The persistent practice made the young man gradually feel hungry.
He swam out and trudged onto the beach, took out some magic beast meat stashed in the rocks, and devoured it.
The beach also had someone else on it.
It was a giant and human hybrid – the big guy.
The big guy was huffing, he had been practicing the basic fighting steps.
He occasionally moved horizontally, jumped about, kneeled, and rolled, strictly following the training the dragonman youngster had drilled into him through repeated lectures.
The dragonman youngster took good care of the big guy, and had carefully selected his battle qi technique.
But the big guy was dumb, and never succeeded in refinement, thus he was still like this.
On the ship, the big guy pretended to be vicious, however, the survivors knew what he was really like.
Therefore, while the mercenaries were doing bombardment training, he and the big guy came to this island so that he could cultivate battle skills, and the big guy could train.
Since he couldn’t breakthrough with battle qi techniques for the time being, the young captain decided to teach the big guy wrestling techniques.
The most basic of these skills was steps.
The big guy was very obedient, and after the dragonman youngster told him how to train repeatedly, he had been doing so without the thought of resting crossing his mind.
But upon seeing the big guy training hard, the dragonman youngster nevertheless shook his head.
Due to the big guy’s subpar intellect, he had already forgotten the stepping technique the young man had painstakingly taught him, and now was moving clumsily, covered in flaws.
“Oh dear, practicing like this is out of the question.”
The young man recalled how the big guy performed on Mystifying Monster Island.
In the barracks defense battle, the big guy had fought with a wooden club. As a result, when he met face to face with a Strong Life White rhinoceros, he was pierced in the belly by its horn, the heavy injury taking him out of the fight.
Due to the magic prohibition environment, the big guy’s superior body actually made him perform better there.
However earlier, he was easily overpowered by Zong Ge. Later on, he became a laborer for the ship building effort, and could only devote his body to that.
The big guy’s vicious tendencies were not what he was inherently, rather it was for the sake of the old boatwright’s safety and was provoked when something threated the latter.
He was naturally cowardly, fearful, and had low self-esteem.
In his gigantic body, there was a weak and pitiful soul.
The dragonman youngster sighed to himself, pity welling from his heart.
“Stop for now, let me teach you again.” Said the dragonman youngster.
“Father.” The big guy immediately lowered his head, and prudently walked over to face the young man, he also realized he was doing it all wrong.
“It doesn’t matter, we’ll do it together again. Watch carefully.” The dragonman youngster smiled patiently.
The big guy’s eyes opened wide, and he did his best to watch and follow.
The dragonman youngster taught him how to move his hands, and the big guy copied it decently.
The dragonman youngster treated this as a break.
After a short time, he allowed the big guy to practice alone and dove back into the sea.
He continued to practice Demolition Fish and Surge, and when he ran out of battle qi, he followed his battle qi technique to refine more battle qi.
By the time he returned to the beach, he once again saw the big guy’s movement had been completely deformed.
“Stop, practicing like this won’t result in anything, on the contrary, this kind of practice will injure yourself.” The young man stopped the big guy.
The big guy trembled all over, huddled his body, carefully waddled back to the young man, and softly whispered, “Father, don’t be angry at this small, foolish child.”
When he saw the big guy dripping with sweat and holding his breath, despite wanting to plainly pant, the young man’s heart softened, “I was worried that you would harm yourself. Your practice movements need to meet standards.”
“But it’s fine, it’s fine.”
“You will get better and better.”
The dragonman youngster patted the big guy’s knee and warmly consoled him.
The big guy’s mood gradually steadied, and he gazed down at his new father, the corners of his mouth gradually rising to expose an innocent smile.
He noticed that no matter how terrible he did, the dragonman youngster would always show concern and not harshly criticize him, and was very patient in instructing him.
“Father, likes, small child.” When the big guy realized this, happiness flooded both his body and mind.
As Zong Ge was leading the three ships back, Mu Ban was hammering away.
The survivors had six ships, and while three were out training in naval warfare, the remaining three were being retrofitted and remodeled.
Clang, clang, clang.
Mu Ban struck iron nails firmly into a plank, then he tugged at it with all his strength.
The plank did not move a single jot.
“Your craftmanship is quite good.” A boat repair master on the dock praised from the bottom of their heart.
“Are you interested in staying and working here?” A foreman asked, trying to recruit Mu Ban.
Mu Ban smiled and shook his head.
He wasn’t a genuine expert at this kind of carpentry work.
Of course, he still liked it.
“Following with the ships is very risky, pirates are too rampant nowadays, they kill, loot, and commit any crime imaginable.” The foreman did not want to give up.
But Mu Ban had already withdrawn himself into his work and continued to hammer away.
The clamor stilled his mind.
“Ah, they’ve returned.” Fei She saw the group of training mercenaries through a porthole, and immediately became anxious.
He was responsible for the food, but this work was quite heavy.
“I have to pay close attention.” Fei She sliced an onion, then tossed it into a pot.
The iron cooking pot was half as tall as a person, and inside it had potatoes, legumes, tomatoes, and other ingredients.
After adding in the onions, Fei She covered the pot and increased the heat.
A rich aroma began to waft into the air.
Fei She coughed, and began to observe the yellow crab alchemy puppet.
The latter was cooking magic beast meat in the kitchen.
Fei She was only an ordinary person, he could not do such a thing.
Using the yellow crab alchemy puppet to cook was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but they had no choice, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps lacked a magic chef. Zi Di could actually do it, however, she was busy elsewhere and could not spend valuable time and energy doing that.
The yellow crab alchemy puppet was their temporary magic chef, and they had installed kitchen utensils onto its crab claws.
Magic beast meat went into a cooking pot, with one crab claw providing heat and the other stirring the spoon.
Still, let it be said that it was quite decent at it.
After watching it for a spell, Fei She lost interest.
He looked at his own firewood, then carefully took out a list and studied it.
The list was densely packed with the price of goods.
By studying regional prices, one could analyze therefrom the circumstances of the market, as well as how to make money. This was the type of work that Fei She felt the greatest sense of achievement in.
Very quickly, he immersed himself in it and forgot about everything nearby.
Fei He was only snapped out of it when hot water splattered from the pot, scalding him.
After dinner, it was time for cultivation again.
Bai Ya was tired and sweaty.
“I can sense that I am improving every day.”
“It feels truly wonderful!”
Bai Ya clenched his fists, and despite his exhaustion, he was still excited.
He felt that every day had a purpose.
Xu Ma had been somewhat skeptical the first time he saw him cultivate.
“Hold on a second, Hei Ya (Bai Ya’s alias), my junior brother, why do you spend so long cultivating battle qi every day?” Xu Man asked.
Normally, the greater one’s aptitude, the longer they would cultivate.
Bai Ya hadn’t cultivated for long, but he told Xu Ma previously that his talent was pretty good!
This made Xu Ma confused.
Bai Ya shook his head.
Xu Ma interjected, “It seems you are quite beaten right now.”
Bai Ya shook his head again, “Of course not, I’m doing quite well right now. After all, bombardment training uses up less stamina compared to weapons practice.”
“Today, I will cultivate a bit longer.”
Xu Ma: ?!
He blankly stared back, “What is your aptitude actually like?”
Bai Ya was full of confidence, “I feel it’s pretty good. Many battle qi techniques suit me, I just picked one amongst them.”
“That’s…all?”
Bai Ya grunted.
Xu Ma covered his eyes with his hand, sighed, then put his hand down, “Are you misunderstanding what determines cultivation aptitude?”
“Listen to me well, youngster.”
“Cultivation aptitude is not determined by how many battle qi techniques suit you.”
“Many powerful bloodlines can only one or two battle qi techniques.”
“Battle qi aptitude is determined through how efficient one can refine battle qi.”
“For example, when a bronze level bloodline cultivates, their battle qi looks like a murky mist. An iron level one looks like raindrops from congealed fog, a silver level looks like a gurgling stream, and a gold level one looks like a torrential waterfall.”
Bai Ya was struck dumb by those words.
Xu Ma then asked, “What are you?”
Bai Ya: …...
He finally gave his answer to Xu Ma.
Xu Ma sighed again, “Smelly youngster, stop training, there is no future for you there.”
“Don’t worry, I will still protect you.”
“Just sincerely follow me.”
“What do you mean by no future?” Bai Ya nervously stoop up, “Are you telling me I can never become a cultivator?”
“Basically.” Xu Ma said as he threw up his hands
Bai Ya turned pale, he was unwilling to abandon his last bit of hope. “Basically? Is there still a way?”
“Sure, maybe your bloodline will be awakened one day.” Said Xu Ma.
“What is a bloodline awakening?”
Xu Ma explained, “Sometimes, in the beginning, a bloodline hidden within a body does not appear. As one continues to grow, the bloodline might appear. Perhaps due to some enormous event, the bloodline is stimulated and appears prominently, that is a bloodline awakening.”
“Maybe you have a bloodline that might be awakened in the future?”
Bai Ya’s face became flushed, and he anxiously asked, “When will such a possibility happen?”
Xu Ma gazed at Bai Ya, he wanted to shake his head, however, he decided to shrug his shoulders, “I don’t know, I am only a bronze level fighter.”
“So, it is.” Bai Ya was at a loss.
Xu Ma extended his hand and took the other’s hand, “Don’t think about it, bloodline awakening is not something you can decide. Since your cultivation today is finished, why don’t you go with me on a trip.”
“To where?”
Xu Ma put on a mysterious tone, “We shall visit a crucial person!”
A short time later, Lan Zao opened his door to see Xu Ma and Bai Ya.
Xu Ma stooped down and cajoled with a smile, “Ah, Lord Lan Zao, a token of my consideration to thank you for your help last time.”
After saying that, he pulled out some rum.
Lan Zao looked at both of them, he showed no trace that he recognized Bai Ya. He didn’t take the wine. “I didn’t help you with anything.”
“Aiya.” Xu Ma stuffed the bottle into Lan Zao’s hand, “My Lord, I just wanted to get closer to you!”
Lan Zao coldly glared, “You and I are both bronze fighters, as long as you work diligently, the mercenary corps will not treat you unfairly.”
Lan Zao saw that Xu Ma intended to use him to climb the ranks, and he despised such people from the bottom of his heart.
Xu Ma smiled and flattered him even more, his fawning remarks seeming to slip out of him.
Lan Zao’s expression grew even colder.
When Xu Ma gradually ran out of ideas, he suddenly pulled Bai Ya towards Lan Zao, “Look, I brought my little brother with me. Ever since he heard about you, he has admired you in particular. He is the reason why we came to pay you a visit.”
Bai Ya: …...
Lan Zao: …...
Xu Ma nudged Bai Ya’s back, “Hei Ya, didn’t you have some difficult trouble?”
Lan Zao keenly noticed that Bai Ya looked somewhat amiss.
Bai Ya struggled to open his mouth, “Lord Boatswain, my aptitude isn’t good. When I heard Senior Xu Ma explain it, uh…do you know about bloodline awakening?”
Bai Ya’s drooped down.
Bai Ya misunderstood his own aptitude, but the other survivors understood it clearly. It wasn’t that they wanted to play a joke on this young man, rather, after going through trials and tribulations together, the survivors didn’t want to tell him the truth and were afraid of dealing a shock to the youngster.
After all, Bai Ya wanted to become a knight and marry his sweetheart. Everyone knew of his affair with the noble lady.
Based on Bai Ya’s aptitude, this was impossible.
Knights were not cavalry, they had to be cultivators!
If the truth was spoken, Bai Ya was bound to die of heartbreak.
But even if it wasn’t said, Bai Ya would notice it sooner or later.
And now, he knew about it.
Bai Ya had saved Lan Zao’s life, thus Lan Zao pulled the door open, “Fine then, come in.”
Bai Ya walked in.
Xu Ma giggled, and wanted to follow.
Ding.
A moment later, Lan Zao closed the cabin door and nearly hit his nose.