Chapter 18: Levels of Martial Arts

*Drip*²

The sound of water dropping reverberated as droplets of water trickled from Insig's messy wet hair.

Insig dried his hair with a towel while looking at the mirror. Insig has always been a superficial person, that's why he has the habit of observing the face and temperament of a person.

Insig observed his facial features. His light complexion makes him look clean, pure, and bright. Like the blue sky in the morning, it makes you feel calm when you stare at it.

His sharp eyebrows look like the wings of a falcon, giving off a sense of strength and manliness.

His bright brown eyes had a tint of gold. It becomes even more pronounced when hit with sunlight, making him look smart, vigorous and pure. It was like his eyes held stars within them.

His sharp nose and thin pink lips make him look alluring, making you want to taste them. Especially when his tongue occasionally playfully licks his lips.

His scrawny yet not thin build makes him look harmless and cute. Like an innocent hard-working teen.

His mature, yet vigorous and kind temperament makes him look easy to get along with.

His messy wet black hair gives him a sense of coolness and sexiness and shows the right amount of forehead.

His ears are.... yeah, they're still ears.

His forehead isn't that wide, making it the perfect height from his eyebrows to his hair, making him look more handsome with his short and clean sideburns.

His jawline isn't sharp, making him not look overbearing.

'Well, enough with that self-obsession.'

Insig can't help but be happy with his rather good face. He is a rather prideful person and doesn't want his face to bring him down.

'Yup, I'm ready to go!'

Insig's current destination is the public [Training Field]. This field was made for everyone. The seniors are rather busy. And sometimes, there are those who work out but don't have a senior leading them, meaning, they can't enter the specialised field. Making this public [Training Field] rather popular

This field was for all kinds of elements. But you can't use offensive magic unless you're in the sparring stage.

Insig stepped outside his room. The breeze was still cold as the morning sun had not risen yet.

The dark blue sky, drizzled with sparse stars, hiding shyly above the soft clouds contrasted harmoniously with the golden orange light radiating in the horizon, creating a beautiful scene. It was like seeing the 'hope' in the darkest time of your life.

Insig set out and went to the training field. Because of the emergency yesterday, Insig wasn't able to train with Rolly. So they agreed that tomorrow morning, they would train at the training field.

Insig stepped at the training field. It was at the east of the camp. There, he saw a large field. There was no grass growing there. Only the hard ground beneath.

There were lines indicating the jogging area, the training area, and the sparring area.

Insig looked around and saw many people. There were people sparring, people training martial arts together, and shirtless people exercising(flexing) their bodies.

Insig examined his surroundings, looking for any clue to where Rolly might be.

"Hey! Insig! Over here!"

Insig suddenly hears someone calling for him. He located the sound and found out that Rolly was in the jogging area, having already seen him.

Hurriedly, Insig approached Rolly and asked.

"Sorry, Am I late?"

"Hahaha, I thought that you might come early and get lost so I came rather early. Don't worry, we're not late."

"We're?"

Insig noticed that Rolly was including himself.

"Oh, I haven't told you yet?"

"You think I'll ask you if you already told me?"

Insig looks at him speechlessly.

Hearing that, Rolly laughs and scratches his nose.

"Hahaha, well, here's the thing. A rather young leader of a squad is going to show a Gold-Level Offensive Arts here. Even though I know some Martial Arts, they are only Silver-levelled, so I wanted to learn a bit."

Insig was shocked when he heard that.

"WHAT!?!"

He then saw that the surrounding people all looked at him. Realising that he spoke too loud, Insig bowed his head in shame.

'I mean, come on, that's a Gold-Level!'

Martial Arts literally means to finish a conflict beautifully. It doesn't mean to be graceful or elegant. Everyone has their own sense of beauty, and Martial Artists have given birth to different kinds of beauty in finishing conflicts.

There are Martial Arts that focus on stopping an enemy— this is for a compassionate and disciplined person.

There are also Martial Arts that focus on violence— this is for the ruthless type of person.

There are defensive Martial Arts, Martial Arts that focus on beauty, or Martial Arts for weapons. But, how different they may be, they stem from the same source.

That is, they all take into account the enemy's movements.

Martial Arts have different moves based on the enemy's moves. If the enemy uses his right fist, you use a certain kind of stance, moves, and you attack with different kinds of counters based on your Martial Arts.

But the thing is, not all of them are omnipotent. Some Martial Arts are just naturally stronger than others. For example : Martial Art (1)'s stance takes into account the: enemy's attack ;enemy's counter ;and enemy's escape.

On the other hand, Martial Art (2)'s stance takes into account the: enemy's attack ;enemy's counter ; enemy's escape ; and an ambush of another enemy.

So naturally, Martial Art 2 would be more complicated, more flexible and stronger.

And this is what causes the power gap. The Martial Art's power is based on its creator. And no one's ever omnipotent.

Martial Arts are ranked based on their creator. Bronze level means it's a Core state creator. Silver Level means it's an Integrated state creator. Gold Level means it's a legendary Sage creator. It means they mostly came from royalties or such.

"Hah! Keep dreaming! They're Flame element based, so they can only help you a little bit."

Rolly smashed his dreams of fighting a Level 10 enemy. A Gold-Level Martial Arts is known to hold the power of Laws and strengthen magic, although they have to be compatible with your element.

"By the way, you look kind of different today."

Rolly looks at him weirdly.

"You only figured that out just now?"

Insig looks at him speechlessly. Martial Artists had to have good combat sense and good prediction abilities to use Martial Arts efficiently. That's why they are rather famous for their observational skills.

They can spot a single twitch in an opponent's body, be it heart beat, twitch of a finger or ear, or even the things that happen inside your body. That's why some Martial Artists possess excellent medical abilities.

'Looks like he is not a reliable Martial Artist.'

Rolly didn't know that he already got a low evaluation from Insig.

"Hahaha, sorry, I was focusing on other things."

Rolly said embarrassingly.

"Like what? Boobs and ass? Belly button and abdomen? Thighs and feet?"

Looking at Rolly's horny face, he must be right.

*Slap*

Insig was so speechless that he face-palmed himself.

"Please don't tell me that you learned Martial Arts just for this."

Insig pleaded to Rolly to keep his sanity intact.

But Rolly didn't answer, he just smiled shyly.

'Oh f*ck me!'

Insig breathed in deeply to calm himself down.

'I shouldn't rely on him. Also, he must be joking.... right?'

"Well, anyway, I just purified my body."

"Oh! You look... beautiful."

Rolly said, trying to compliment him.

"BEAUTIFUL MY ASS!"

Insig screamed angrily, he breathed heavily trying to keep his sanity intact.

*Huff*³

'Insig, don't take him seriously. Don't take him seriously. Don't take him seriously.'

Insig said to himself as he closed his eyes.

Then he heard Rolly laughing.

"Hahaha, calm down, don't be so angry. I'm sorry, okay?

He looked at Rolly and felt that he kinda wanted to punch him, but he endured it.

'Calm down Insig. Calm down, you still need Rolly to help you on your basics. Just remember, don't expect too much from him'

"Anyways you still have to build your foundation, meaning the muscle memory, and muscle strength. Let me see your body first."

Rolly thought that Insig might get impatient if he idled any further, so he took the initiative to start.

Hearing that, Insig removed his shirt.

Rolly looked at him funnily.

"Hahaha, you look like a white stick. Look, can you even lift with those stick hands? Hahaha!"

"Laugh one more and this stick hands will kill you"

Insig threatens him, his ears red from shame.

"Okay, okay, fine, I won't laugh."

Rolly tries his best to hold his laugh but his mouth still forms a smile.

*Cough*²

"Anyway, you should do some stretching first."

With that, Insig did some light stretching. After 10 mins, he then jogged around.

"What? You're tired already? You haven't even finished 2 laps yet."

*Huff*³

"But... huff....huff.. I can't breathe."

"Don't worry, life element users are the best slaves if you know what I mean."

"Wait.... No way! That would be so tiring."

Insig looked nervous. Just jogging for one lap already took the most out of him.

"What are you still waiting for? Move! If you can't finish 10 laps in 20 minutes, I'm gonna make you suffer even more."

Rolly looked strict when he said that.

"Wait! You're not serious are you?"

Insig looked nervously but all he saw was that Rolly was already holding a watch.

Helpless, Insig administered life energy into his cardiovascular system and his legs. He jogged the whole field while healing himself.

*22 minutes later*

*Huff!*³

The sound of heavy breathing reverberated as Insig sat on his butt.

"Did...huff....huff...huff... Did I do it?"

"You're 2 minutes late. Because of that, you should do 200 more push-ups"

Rolly looked at him like a scary gym instructor.

"What?!! 200?! Can't I get a rest?"

Insig looks at him pleadingly.

"Sure, you can. Just don't come back running to me if you need me to help you in training."

Hearing that, Insig deliberated for a second and hurriedly did 200 push-ups.

"You must do it within 8 minutes. If you're a single second, you'll have to do 200 curl-ups."

Hearing that, Insig pushed himself even harder. But even if life magic can grant him endless stamina, it can't grant him strength.

Insig finished the 200 push ups but it took him 15 minutes. After all, he only had his healing abilities to rely on.

Even though he had joined the military, he hasn't received much training since healers won't even get to see the battlefield. Now that war was about to come any day, training the healers to fight would also just be wasted since healers relatively have weak combat abilities. That's like twice the effort and half the result.

'My arms and legs hurt so bad, I feel like they're gonna come off every minute.'

Insig looked despairingly at the sky while breathing heavily.

'When is this gonna end? I thought that this would be easy.'

"What are you doing? Do some curl ups! Seeing as you can still relax, I'll add 100 more!"

Seeing Insig listen and follow him, Rolly was glad.

'The enemy has been restless lately, it's likely that they are confident that they are gonna win. Insig can train slowly but that would not give him instantaneous results. I'm sure that with this training regime, Insig will be able to lift a boulder when the next attack occurs.'

Rolly was actually anxious, he just doesn't show it obviously. He was worried that by the time another fight comes, Insig will be gone just like his friends.

*Minutes later* *Huff*³

"Catch."

Insig heard a sound that said to catch something but he was a second late, he suddenly felt a metal hit his head.

*Bang*

"Ouch!"

Insig looked up and saw a canteen. It was heavy and filled with water. He looked grudgingly at Rolly who threw the canteen at him.

"Oops, sorry. Anyway, you should rest for a bit."

Rolly apologised but his face was laughing at him.

Insig drank all of the water and breathed a sigh of relief. When suddenly, he hears murmurs around him.

"Hmm? What's that?"

"Oh, looks like they're here"

Insig saw a group of people following a young person in the front. He looked rather proud and noble with the way he walked and his raised chin.

But what caught his attention was the white-haired person behind the group who's smiling wryly. It was like he was being bullied but he was persevering.

"Wait... Is that...."