Chapter 25: Why does this combo include flipping hair?

Afternoon, training ground.

Xi Ya pulled an unsharpened iron practice sword from the weapon rack and stepped onto the training field.

Although swordsmanship couldn’t be mastered in a day and last-minute cramming was useless, he still wanted to try.

Xi Ya wasn’t clueless about the sword—he could understand various sword techniques at a glance, and every combo move was crystal clear in his head.

But his body was too weak, his reactions too slow.

His movements could never keep up with his thoughts.

He was the type who got it instantly in theory but failed in practice.

Yesterday, his level had risen to 4, and all his stats had increased slightly.

What if—just what if—this small boost was enough for his body to keep up?

Holding onto that sliver of hope, Xi Ya inserted a magic crystal into the humanoid golem across from him, equipped it with a training iron sword, and prepared to give it a try.

Once Xi Ya was in position, he shouted, “Begin!”

The golem’s eyes glowed red, and it raised its sword and charged at him.

Xi Ya assumed a stance, various counter-strategies flashing through his mind.

The golem quickly reached him, raised its sword, and slashed down hard.

Xi Ya immediately raised his sword to block.

The golem’s blow landed heavily on his blade, the tremendous shock numbing both his hands.

His arms went weak, and the sword nearly slipped from his grip.

‘Whoa, why is it so heavy?’

Xi Ya stumbled back two steps.

Before he could steady himself, the golem’s second strike was already sweeping toward him.

He couldn’t dodge in time; it struck his shoulder, sending him tumbling to the ground.

“Ah! Stop! I give up!”

The golem received the command, sheathed its sword, and returned to its original position.

Xi Ya clutched his shoulder, gritting his teeth as he sat up.

‘That hurts so much.’

Just now, his plan had been to block first, then dodge the sweeping sword, and immediately counterattack the golem’s lower body.

But he could barely even withstand the first strike.

His body couldn’t react to the following sweep at all, let alone counterattack.

It was already a miracle he hadn’t been killed by the golem.

The only thing that had worked in time was his surrender at the end.

Xi Ya cast a healing spell on his injured shoulder, and suddenly recalled the scene from yesterday morning when he had faced the forest wolves.

Back then, his mind had been completely blank.

He had simply followed his body’s instincts and easily dodged the wolves’ pounces.

‘How did I dare do that back then? Why did I think I could dodge them?’

Now, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

If he hadn’t dodged back then, he would probably have died there.

But when he calmed down and thought carefully, he realized that his movements back then had been very similar to Duoluolisi’s.

If his speed could keep up, it would have been almost identical.

‘Does that mean I have the same combat instincts as Duoluolisi?’

Xi Ya also noticed something else.

When the golem had raised its sword to strike, his body had actually resisted blocking, insisting that the blow shouldn’t be met head-on.

But he hadn’t followed his body’s instincts.

Instead, he had forced his body to block according to the sword techniques in his mind.

The result?

He didn’t listen to his body, so he ended up lying before it.

Xi Ya suddenly had an idea.

What if he tried emptying his mind and relying on his body’s instincts?

He stood up and gripped the iron sword again.

“One more time.”

He gave the command to the golem, took a deep breath, and cleared his mind of all sword techniques.

‘Don’t overthink it. Just follow the body’s instincts.’

The golem attacked again, still a downward slash.

This time, Xi Ya didn’t meet it head-on.

He twisted his wrist, angling his blade to meet the golem’s sword.

At the moment of contact, he pulled his hand back, letting the edge slide along the golem’s blade, deflecting most of the tremendous force.

His wrist felt light, nothing like the numbing pain from before.

The golem’s second strike came sweeping in.

Xi Ya bent his knees slightly, leaned back, and perfectly dodged the sweep.

As he straightened up, he subconsciously raised his left hand and brushed it past his ear.

‘…???’

‘Why did I do that?’

‘What kind of combo move involves flicking your hair?’

The golem gave him no time to think.

Its third thrust aimed straight for his chest.

Xi Ya sidestepped, but the dodge was wider than necessary—the blade ended up several fists away from his chest.

‘Huh?’

‘What’s going on? Why dodge so far?’

‘Completely unnecessary… Damn!’

Xi Ya realized it.

He was using Duoluolisi’s swordsmanship.

Duoluolisi had two lumps of flesh on her chest.

If she didn’t dodge that wide, she’d get a sword through her chest.

The golem’s thrust missed, and its momentum made it stumble forward, exposing the magic crystal on its chest.

‘Now!’

Xi Ya didn’t hesitate.

He thrust straight at the crystal on the golem’s chest.

The sword tip struck the crystal.

With a crisp “crack,” a thin fracture appeared on its surface.

The golem’s eyes flickered a few times, then dimmed, and it stopped in place.

A few seconds later, the golem rebooted and returned to its original position.

Xi Ya stared at the cracked magic crystal on the golem’s chest, stunned for a few seconds.

‘It ended that easily?’

Duoluolisi’s swordsmanship was truly formidable.

She never met any attack head-on—either deflecting or dodging, waiting for the opponent to show an opening, then striking a vital point.

This style was perfect for someone like him, with a frail body that couldn’t take hits.

If he used this style tomorrow, he might actually have a chance.

But those extra movements mixed in… were they really necessary?

Xi Ya dared not think further.

What if there were more moves like covering the chest, pressing down the skirt, pulling up socks?

If he did those while fighting an opponent…

He couldn’t help but shudder.

‘That would be too embarrassing.’

‘No, I need to practice hard and get rid of these movements!’

The magic crystal on the golem’s chest shattered completely, and Xi Ya stopped training.

Normally, one magic crystal only lasted for about four or five rounds of practice, but Xi Ya had gone over twenty.

It wasn’t because this crystal was an exception and tougher than others, but because Xi Ya was too weak.

The damage others inflicted in one hit took him several strikes to match.

Magic crystals cost money.

From that perspective, his weak strength was actually a good thing—it saved training expenses.

But Elite Class students used training facilities for free, and magic crystals were free too.

So saving on crystal costs didn’t help him at all.

Xi Ya didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

‘Might as well have given me Duoluolisi’s monstrous strength. Smashing one in a single blow would be way more satisfying.’

In those over twenty rounds of practice, he had worked hard to correct those superfluous movements.

He never expected there really were chest-covering and skirt-pressing moves!

He had originally intended to completely omit them, but if he forcibly skipped them, it messed up the following techniques.

In the end, he had to find substitute movements.

Flicking his hair became touching his ear.

Covering his chest became clenching a fist against his chest, as if ready to punch.

As for pressing the skirt…

He thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out how to change it.

Yet he had to, because leaving it made him look like he was covering his crotch—the movement was too awkward.

Finally, he decided to just forcefully shake it off.

After all, he probably wouldn’t need that mid-air move, and even if he did, the airtime was enough to adjust to the next motion.

After struggling to fix it for half a day, he felt mentally exhausted.

He thought this was more tiring than practicing swordsmanship.