Chapter 63: Agile Training

  I'm late, sorry! Let's just consider it a small holiday for National Day...

  For warriors, training is a tedious thing. Although Bruni was chattering away telling stories by their side, after a long time, even this nagging became a kind of tedium.

  The iron gauntlets on his hands were naturally getting heavier, and the magnificent solid breastplate was also testing Johnny's endurance. The old man's story had begun to repeat itself, just like all grandfathers who liked to drone on in front of their grandchildren, some stories would be brought up again and again.

  Those naughty grandsons would often impatiently interrupt their grandfather's "In the year XX..." and retell a story they had heard countless times, but Johnny didn't. This wasn't because he was well-behaved. Every time he interrupted the old man's topic, Bruni would find two heavy wooden swords to practice with him.

  It's truly etched in my heart.

  Jony also suggested learning some specific martial arts. In his heart, although it's not a game, XX slash, OO break this kind of thing should exist, right?

  "What specific martial arts? What do you mean by specific martial arts? Are you planning to go to the battlefield or return to the south to perform?" The old man scolded bluntly, "The only purpose of a warrior is to defeat his opponent, not to show off some fancy moves. You want to learn something practical, huh? Alright, I've also accumulated some combat experience, but you'd better think about those few battles where you defeated me first!"

  Those few battles? Johnny fell into reminiscence. It seemed that this old man always took advantage of me inhaling to suddenly attack, although I blocked it but still felt uncomfortable for a long time. He also kept staring at my center of gravity and kicking, couldn't dodge at all. Alright, most importantly, how did this guy have so much strength?

  "Do you understand now?" Brunie asked.

  "I see," Johnny bowed and replied, "Your strength is too great, and you always attack the spot where I'm most vulnerable."

  Bruni nodded: "Not bad, so you'd better practice your strength first. I know that Lancelot is always carrying the barbarian technique with him all day long. Without strength, teaching you anything would be a waste of time. You continue to practice, where did we just get to? Ah, in the Northern Army... there was once..."

  How many times has it been? Johnny can't remember. Anyway, it's annoying. He can only turn his frustration into shouting and strength, and work hard to train.

  Joni finally understood the suffering the villagers had endured.

  －－－－－－－－－

  Compared to Johnny, Astrid's days are quite comfortable. In fact, her days are very comfortable, whether relatively or absolutely.

  Carefully practicing and playing general practice have completely different effects. Astrid, who is now vengeful, practices archery very hard, even if her fingers are already calloused, they can't withstand such intense torture. Every day ends with her fingers bleeding, making Lancelot feel heartbroken beside her.

  It's called being pampered because Ais Wallenstein has been receiving treatment from Urd - after all, she's a girl and this is her first time seeing blood. Moreover, archery relies more on technique and familiarity rather than brute strength, unlike warriors who build muscle through training. So taking it easy isn't a bad thing either.

  Ten days later, Aisling's accuracy had greatly improved. If she were to return to the scene of her first encounter with Johnny at this time, the arrow that saved him would not be a blind shot that startled him. It was truly an arrow in the middle, and even with rapid shooting, there were very few cases where the target was missed.

  Astrid, having gloated for a moment, made her request to Lancelot.

  "Lancelot, is there anywhere around here where we can go hunting?" Aisling asked, holding up her bow and looking at Lancelot with adoration, "I want to try shooting something that's actually alive."

  What's alive?

  "Wrapped around me, sister, you wait a moment." Such small things are not enough to defeat Lancelot.

  In the winter wilderness, there was no living thing, but in the village, there were quite a few living people. Of course, for Lancelot who had already decided to correct his wrong behavior, forcing such things was impossible. She just said one sentence to those boys.

  "Astrid's sister needs someone to help her practice! Is anyone coming?"

  Everyone is here.

  "Now, Sister Astrid needs someone to be a living target. Does anyone want to go back?" Lancelot only revealed the truth after they arrived at the location.

  She didn't really want to be a living target. But Lancelot's prestige had been built up over the years, and even if she was unwilling, no one dared to make any moves after she asked. And so the source of the living target was settled just like that.

  Strictly speaking, Lancelot did not use force this time.

  "Sorry everyone, please dodge the arrows I shoot as much as possible." Ais said with a sweet smile. The arrows in her quiver had already been replaced with blunt ones. Although it would still hurt if they hit someone, at least they wouldn't cause injury.

  With a considerate female companion by your side, a devoted pastor in the church, and an obedient target on the training ground... how can life be more nourishing than this?

  －－－－－－－－

  A month later.

  "Praise to you, Odin, your profound martial arts are my goal to move forward, your indomitable spirit is the driving force of my efforts. Glory be to Odin, the true god who controls the battlefield, may your glory forever shine upon humanity, I hope for your blessing to always accompany me, guide me, teach me, and protect me. Freedom!"

  Joni thrust his great sword into the ground, his hands clasped on the hilt in devout prayer. Just now, Bruni had acknowledged his strength and decided to move on to the next stage of training.

  "Don't be so smug, kid. You've only gotten a bit stronger, that's all." The old man poured cold water on him as usual. "If you go find Lancelot now, you'll just be able to hold out for a little while longer, what's there to be proud of?"

  He paused for a moment and then said: "However, your devout appearance is good. Do you want to become a pastor?"

  "No." Johnny shook his head, then looked puzzled, "Don't pastors pray?"

  "Not really," Bruni chuckled, "we wouldn't make such a big deal out of something so insignificant."

  Although he said so, Bruni was still quite moved in his heart. For a month, although he relied on divine techniques to recover his body every day, he persisted in completing the amount he had arranged for himself every day in that month and finally achieved success. This is much better than those kids in the village who shouted about being tired and wanting to become great heroes like him? Bah!

  "Next is agility training." The old man paced back and forth in front of Jony, "Osidin's main force is the two-handed swordsman, and what two-handed swordsmen value on the battlefield can be summed up in one word: agility."

  It's just two words in Chinese, and Joanie feels a little nostalgic.

  "This breastplate you're wearing, priests never wear it into battle. For a two-handed swordsman like yourself, this heavy armor will hinder your strength. And when facing the giant axes of the northern barbarians, even the thickest steel plate is just that - a steel plate. They can knock you down with their axes as if they were hammers. So what's most important is agility, you must have nimble hands and feet." Bruny stopped in his tracks, standing before Jony, "Of course, when the kingdom recruits soldiers, they don't strictly require your reaction and footsteps to be that agile, they just see if you can wield your weapon easily. But those clumsy new recruits either die or learn quickly, with most of them dying. Do you understand what I mean?"

  Of course I understand, you're threatening me. Joanie kept a solemn expression on her face, but was secretly scornful in her heart.

  "The day before yesterday, I had a blacksmith in Orvissa make this thing for me," Bruny said, going back into the house and fetching two pairs of leg bindings. "Put these on."

  Joni took over the leg wraps, which were quite heavy. Upon closer inspection, iron blocks were stuffed into the fabric strips at intervals. Bending down to tie the two contraptions to his feet, he tried moving around and indeed found it somewhat restrictive.

  "How about it, can you run with it?" Brunie asked.

  Joni tried running a few steps. The greaves weren't too heavy, but with the weight of the breastplate added on, even jumping was very difficult. He slowly walked back and said: "No good."

  "That's about it." Bruny looked relieved, "My estimate was correct after all. You're at this level. Alright, here's the training content. The other day I heard you say that a girl named Astry who came with you is practicing archery? Using those village brats as targets?"

  "What's wrong?" Johnny had a faintly ominous premonition.

  "That's great, let's go find her." The old man was delighted and pulled Johnny along as they set off.

  "Wait a minute." Johnny wriggled free from the old man's grasp. "You mean you want me to be the target?"

  "Ah, I knew you were clever!" Bruni chuckled, "Don't dawdle, let's go."

  With a bitter face, he followed the old man to the temporary archery range on the outskirts of the village. Aisya was resting, and Lancelot was talking to her beside her. As for those targets, they were now sitting on the ground panting - it really hurts to be shot by an arrow, so running is a desperate attempt.

  "Astrid!" Joni shouted, waving his hand.

  "Jony?" Astrid also stood up and greeted with a smile.

  Lancelot's face turned somewhat unsightly: "How did you come here?"

  "Can't I come?" Johnny feigned surprise, his previous worried expression gone, "Are you the lord of this place or something?"

  "Is that Lancelot?" Brunie interrupted the two, "You've grown up so much! Time really flies. I still remember when you were just this tall and always had a group of little rascals following behind you. You were the king of kids even back then, truly impressive."

  "Who are you?" Lancelot only then noticed the old man beside Johnny, and along with him, those resting archery targets also looked over.

  "Don't you recognize me? Brunie Ray, sir! I even taught you swordsmanship when you were a kid!"

  At the sound of this loud and clear name, the people sitting down quietly got up and fled in all directions.

  "Sir Brunel?" Lancelot's face also changed a bit, "You...you're..."

  "I want to let Johnny be a target for Astrid, so both of them can improve." The old man patted Lancelot's head, "Little girl, come with your grandfather to chat over there."

  Lancelot had no choice but to follow Brunhilda meekly, and neither her seniority nor her strength allowed her to disobey. As they left, Lancelot didn't forget to give Johnny an angry glance.

  Oh no, it seems like because of this old man's reason, Liangzi Jie has become bigger. Qiao Ni thought to herself.

  But it doesn't matter anyway, we never saw eye-to-eye: "Astrid, I'll be your target."

  "Alright!" Astrid had no objection, and she also found that the targets from earlier were gone. "Tell me about what's been going on with you these past few days later, it's been almost a month since we last chatted."

  I was thinking of you! Johnny was overjoyed: "Okay, as long as Lancelot doesn't object."

  After chatting for a bit, Joanie walked out fifty steps and turned around shouting: "Let's start!"

  Astrid nodded, raised her bow and arrow, took aim without hesitation, and shot directly at Johnny's chest.

  Is this starting already? So soon! Johnny felt a bit downhearted, but his face showed an encouraging smile as he nodded at Astrid.

  But Astrid, who had entered a state of practice, was no longer the same Astrid as usual. She didn't pay attention to Johnny's movements, but kept drawing her bow, shooting arrows, drawing her bow, and shooting arrows, each one hitting Johnny's chest accurately. Even with his breastplate protecting him, the loud clangs made him feel uncomfortable all over.

  "Run!" Astrid's hands didn't stop, but her mouth was giving orders.

  Joni didn't want to be shot again, so he started moving regularly from side to side. Wearing such equipment couldn't run very fast, Aisley just glanced at each arrow and continued to shoot, the sound of metal hitting kept ringing out, like someone was holding a hammer nearby and beating a drum.

  "Joanie!" Brunie yelled back, "Can you keep it down? I'm getting sick of listening to this. Are you trying to drum up some business?"

  Lancelot muttered under his breath: Can this old man still get annoyed?

  Joni himself was anxious, being shot at like this was really frustrating. Thinking about it, Aisling was just an ordinary ranger, and he had been so... This couldn't be described as humiliating anymore. If they were to go into battle and encounter professional archers, wouldn't they be doomed before even achieving their goal, causing heroes to shed tears?

  Joni stopped moving and stared in Estelle's direction. He planned to wait for the arrow to shoot out before dodging to one side.

  At this time, Astra drew her bow again, looking in the direction of the arrow's flight. Joanie held her breath and moved two steps to the left - she really couldn't run.

  This time the arrow didn't hit his chest. Johnny only felt that his right arm was struck, although not enough to knock him down, but it hurt a lot. When Johnny covered his arm and was stunned, Astrid shot two more arrows at the armor.

  When did she become so formidable? Joanie remembered the little girl who was surrounded by goblins back then, that little sparrow who always had a few arrows shot empty behind her.

  "Alright then..." Jony dodged to his right, avoiding a flying arrow.

  "Perfect!" He exclaimed with excitement. Before the words had even fallen, a very monotonous "thud", an arrow shot into Johnny's back.

  "My god, this is killing me!" Joanie cursed inwardly as she struggled to dodge the constantly flying feathered arrows. She couldn't help but miss the dull strikes and chops of the past few days. At least those training sessions weren't so humiliating!

  The shooting finally stopped.

  "Not bad, Joanie!" Astrid returned to her cute little girl state, "You dodged my five arrows just now!"

  Yes, yes, after dodging, you were shot by an arrow. Joanie didn't feel a hint of joy in her heart. Although there were indeed many heavy objects on her body, just because Aisutierie had hit herself multiple times while rolling around, Joanie didn't dare to underestimate Aisutierie's current archery skills.

  He feels under great pressure, really great pressure.

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